Firecrackers exploded in the night sky, and a long stream of people poured south from all corners of the city in a joyful and leisurely atmosphere. The border city under the lanterns looks so lively. Looking down from the heights, the light was greatest in the south of the city, followed by the north and west of the city, and beyond the wilderness fell into darkness.

Tonight's Qu Bai City is like a shining point of light suddenly blooming on the northwest wasteland.

According to Qu Bai's habit, on July 24, the city will be lit up for the festival for five days and five nights, without sleep. Among them, the "Puyuan Festival", which kicked off on the evening of July 26, is the most lively.

Around the border city, all the small counties, farms, and even the northerners living on the border line in further places will flock here to stay here for a few days and make a fuss before leaving. Different from the lantern festival full of poetry and fireworks in the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, the people of the north are obviously more down-to-earth, and every household will make full efforts to put their own food, craftsmanship and even unique skills on the street on this day to show off and sell.

Overnight, people will gather together in twos and threes, make lantern festivals, visit night markets, and taste snacks, releasing all the irritability and enthusiasm of summer in jubilation.

After nightfall, a prosperous scene, Nian An and Qiuqiu set up their own small stalls in a fairly lively place outside South Street. Qiuqiu sorted the Ruyi-shaped knots that had been carefully woven with red rope since the previous two months, and the grasshoppers and moths made of wormwood, and carefully placed them on a square cloth in front of him.

The little girl's craftsmanship was already exquisite, and as soon as it got dark for an hour, the small things made of knots and wormwood on her stall had been robbed by the first two or three waves of people.

She and Nian An were happily betting to calculate when they would sell out today, when seven or eight more men came not far away, stopping and turning their heads to look as they walked. Look, it should be a caravan that has only entered the city in two days, and everything is fresh.

The man in the lead was the first to come over and paused for a moment in front of the small shop with his hands behind his back.

Good guy, he didn't have any fees, and he didn't ask for the price, so he directly spent money to wrap up thirty blessings here in Qiuqiu.

"Traveling thousands of miles from south to north, I think these little things are the most interesting. The man held a beautiful blessing knot in his hand and sighed.

Qiuqiu motioned for Nian'an to come over and take the silver, and he was skilled enough to wrap the blessing knots together. It's about to be handed over.,The girl simply bowed her head and added the last few remaining blessings to others at one time.,It's a gift.。。

The caravan leader shook his hands in place for a few steps, just in time to catch a glimpse of Nian'an's somewhat pointed ears under the lamplight.

"Young man, are you a demon clan?"

Nian An turned his head and looked at the tall man, and said with a smile: "Half-demon." ”

The caravan man picked up his hand and rubbed it on his chin, as if recalling the past.

"A few years ago, there were a lot of people like you in the north, but now they have all moved to the demon realm further north. Where do you live here...... Are you still used to it?"

Nian An didn't speak, grinned.

Qiuqiu happened to pack the blessing knot in his hand here, and respectfully sent it to the caravan man.

The man looked at Nian'an, carried the package in his hand, thanked him, and took seven or eight people to the main street.

Qiuqiu wiped the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand, bent down and began to clean up the shop. Nian An cleaned the area around the shop, and came over to help Qiuqiu put away the few grasshoppers woven from wormwood.

The two buried their heads and finished their work.

Suddenly, they looked up at each other at the same time, and said in unison. "Give it to them. ”

Qiuqiu burst out laughing, and Nian'an laughed along.

"Last year, it was sold out until midnight, but today is good, as soon as three or two waves of big households came, they were all taken away at once. I have to go to Pear Blossom Lane to have a look today, I heard that Lord Dujun and Mr. Wei are going to have a poetry meeting today. The girl patted the bulging money bag hidden in her clothes, and looked very satisfied.

Nian An thought about it, nodded with a smile: "I heard that many talented people and scholars from the northwest have also gathered here today." I haven't seen this kind of poetry in our northwest for many years, right?"

"That's nature. Qiuqiu glanced at Nian An and said: "I heard that the poetry and lantern festival in Jiangnan City is the most lively, and those talented characters who usually only live in stories are going there wave after wave in different ways." ”

The girl closed her eyes and snorted at the image in her mind.

The most is the Mid-Autumn Festival of the year, the east wind visits the flowers and thousands of trees at night, the talented and beautiful women, boating on the water, the jade pot is light, the moon is admired, and the poems are fighting, and a prosperous red dust day rises. Although ordinary people can't raft, but still have the honor to watch the beautiful scenery of this world on both sides of the riverbank, if you are more generous, you can buy a beautiful lantern made by the Jiangnan official factory, or let it soar into the sky, or let it flow with the waves, for the night and clear water to copy a bright river flowing to the world.

"Nian'an, let's go to Suzhou and Hangzhou if we have a chance. Qiuqiu's face bloomed into a moving red medicine flower that bloomed by the shore of Xizi Lake.

After the little girl said this, she was so excited that she raised her hand and pinched the money bag. However, the disappointment was that the distance seemed to be a little far away, so she pouted helplessly.

Fortunately, with the bustling scene and lively atmosphere of tonight, Nian An finally avoided the embarrassment of opening his mouth and not knowing how to comfort him.

In less than half a pillar of incense, the smile on Qiuqiu's face returned.

"Today's caravan masters are quite generous, and in a few days we will change you to an iron sword with a handle. Qiuqiu said this and glanced at Nian'an, as if she wanted to stop talking, and finally said: "Of course, we can't replace it with the best one, but in any case, it must be stronger than the broken branch you hold in your hand every day." ”

"It has a name, it's called Qingshuang!" the young man smiled a little stubbornly.

"Chirp...... Just the broken wood...... I think if you take it out, the person who dies with your laughter can fill up a big Weishui River. The girl covered her mouth as she spoke.

......

"Nian'an, you really ...... Are you studying and practicing with Yu Dao Chang?"

The boy folded the cloth on the ground and wrapped it in a wrap on his back, and nodded.

"Hey, I just can't rest assured. I always feel that what has happened around us in the last two or three months is too strange, like ...... It's like a dream. You said how good the original Qubai City was, it won't change a little bit in a few years. I always have a hunch that this song will change dramatically. ”

Nian An didn't speak, but nodded.

"These practices are all those legendary figures. Nian'an, I sometimes think at night, if you suddenly take a shining blue sword and disappear into this world one day, what should it be?" The girl seemed to be quite interested, she had actually held back this sentence for a long time, but today she still blurted it out.

"You're smarter than me, and when the time comes, I'll teach you, and you'll be sure. ”

Qiuqiu's face flushed, and she didn't know if she was looking forward to hearing some special answer. As soon as the boy finished saying this, she was stunned, but finally smiled and nodded.

"Then don't keep me waiting. This was half encouragement, half joke.

Nian An looked at Qiuqiu carefully, and the heat in his nose slid in, and he retracted his hand into the cuffs and held it, squeezing it tightly.

After the two of them put away their things, they walked along a slightly remote street next to them to Pear Blossom Lane.

There are a lot fewer people in this alley than there are on Main Street. Even on such a holiday, it still seems a little depressed. In the depths of the alley, there was actually a land temple that had been abandoned a long time ago, and on the steps in front of the temple, six or seven thin little orphans were sitting side by side next to each other, gobbling up the big white steamed buns in their hands.

They're also having a holiday.

Qiuqiu and Nian'an walked over from the side of the temple, and the group of children seemed to know the two, so they quickly raised their heads one by one and said hello to the two.

The boy and the girl came and left each of them a piece of the little craft that had been woven in autumn and thirty or forty copper plates.

The guy named Wang Zhuang, who was about seven or eight years old in this group of children, quickly got up and pulled up the four or five companions, and was about to kneel down towards Nian'an and Qiuqiu.

The two of them quickly smiled bitterly and helped the children who were not yet on their chests to their feet.

......

After Nian'an and the others had walked out of the alley for a long time, the group of children, with an average age of five or six years old, were still holding the small things in their hands and still looking at the backs of the two respectfully.