Chapter Seventy-four: Yuan Xiao

  If it's such a small Lantern Festival, Cao Sheng estimates that he can also eat 50 or 60 of them without any problem.

  However, the main problem now is not the Lantern Festival itself, but when eating Lantern Festival food, almost everyone in Huayeju is here, old and young crowded together, extremely lively.

  But Qiū Yuàn was not there.

  Where is she?

  Someone asked on her behalf: "Where is Autumn Ink? Why didn't she come to eat the Lantern Festival?"

  Shanhu swallowed the yuanxiao in her mouth and was scalded, sucking in cool air: "Autumn Ink sister left this afternoon."

  The house was spacious, and after Gui Zhi and Gui Yu left, their house was uninhabited and became a storage room. After Shanhu and Wen Hong arrived, they lived with Qiu Zhan together, the house was divided in half, and Qiu Zhan lived in the inner half of the house.

  I don't know if this arrangement was made on purpose or just a coincidence. But for Qiu Yan, it's definitely inconvenient.

  Three people live in a house, even if there is a partition board in between, she has scruples about doing anything in the house.

  Chao Sheng had a room of his own, although it was extremely narrow, so narrow that one could walk from the east wall to the west wall in one step, and one person could barely turn around, two people would definitely not be able to stand. But after all, it was his own place.

  Don't worry about saying something you shouldn't say in your sleep and being heard by others, don't worry that your things might be secretly rummaged through by someone else, don't lie awake listening to other people's snores, coughs, and grinding of teeth...

  So Cai Sheng generally went in and swept the room from inside to outside. Near New Year's, she also found red paper to cut window flowers, make lampshades, and made the bed clean and tidy, except for the bedding and pillows, there were also small cloth brooms made of scraps of fabric, a small pillow made of old fabric sewn together.

  Although this is just a temporary place to stay, after all, it is now her own world.

  She has slept on a heated kang, slept in a pile of straw, and lived with others in the same room. Now she finally has only herself. She can look in the mirror, make funny faces, lie sprawled across the bed, hum songs, talk to herself...

  Here, she has a brief, stolen freedom.

  What happened to Autumn Ink on the Upper Yuan Festival?

  Chao Sheng glanced at Auntie Li, who was scooping up a spoonful of yuanxiao and placing it into the bowl of a small eunuch.

  She doesn't seem to be surprised or uneasy at all.

  Maybe she does, but Chao Sheng can't see it.

  The Lantern Festival is really delicious, steaming hot. And so many people are crowded together to eat, with a sense of closeness and intimacy, like a family.

  This feeling is really great.

  His eyes were a bit moist, probably due to being steamed by the hot air.

  The Lantern Festival will set off fireworks, right in the direction of Danfeng Gate.

  The people of Yiqiu Palace, some stood on the steps, some under the corridor, and one carried a stool to stand on top - pointing to Dengfeng to see the distance - unfortunately, this height, cough, really can't see very far.

  "The time has come."

  "At this time, His Majesty the Emperor, Her Majesty the Empress, the imperial consorts, and our own prince must have all arrived at Danfeng Gate already."

  "Right. Time to set off fireworks."

  These people are absolutely right.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, a red light suddenly shot up high in the distant night sky and exploded with a loud bang.

  One after another.

  With words, it's all about universal celebration, sacred virtues, national peace and people's happiness, world peace. And with flowers, there are large clusters of fireworks, drawing countless colorful lines in the sky. There are also several blooming at the same time, forming patterns in the night sky: dragon, phoenix, qilin, deer, peony, peach...

  Even though it's already very far away, it still makes people gaze in a daze. I suppose the person standing under those fireworks must feel even more vivid and intense.

  The fourth prince and second prince's lanterns should have been presented to the emperor already, right?

  They should be right above Danfeng Gate now, just below these fireworks. And there's the Eighth Prince, who also picked a lantern and is walking with his two older brothers, but his lantern wasn't made by him, it was an exquisite carp lantern, no one knows where he got it from, the lantern was huge, almost as tall as the Eighth Prince himself. When the lantern was lit up, the red glow illuminated the Eighth Prince's tender face, so adorable that it makes people want to scream.

  The tide suddenly remembered the past ——

  She went to **** with her classmates at New Year's, the entire square was crowded with people. At the stroke of midnight, the fireworks that burst in the sky were like a dazzling visual feast.

  At that time, everyone around was cheering, she and her classmates were laughing, being squeezed back and forth, the cotton candy in her hand was also squeezed away, leaving only a sticky sugar stain. Chao Sheng was honest and didn't take out tissues, so she just held her hands like that until she came out to wash them again. When her classmate came out, her hands were clean, she said: "Hands? Oh, I wiped them on someone else's body, it's very convenient, anyway everyone is squeezing back and forth, squeezing and squeezing until they're clean."

  The tide is born with great embarrassment.

  This is really forcing someone.

  I don't know how she is doing now.

  And now——the fireworks seem just like they were back then.

  But here she is alone.

  Chao Sheng lowered his head slightly, Li Auntie stood beside him, she was also looking up at the fireworks, but her expression was not like others, admiring, joyful... Her face was expressionless.

  The tide was born with a straightforward intuition, and Aunt Li's mind was not here.

  She didn't even watch the fireworks.

  She just raised her head and thought about her own affairs.

  It's cold in the courtyard after all. After watching the fireworks, everyone stomped their feet and shouted that they were cold. Wen Yue said: "My feet are frozen stiff."

  "Go back inside and warm up."

  Chunmo came over and pulled Chao Sheng's arm: "Are you going back to the house now? Come with me."

  Chao Sheng thought she had something to instruct, but Chun Mo went and called Xia Bi and another palace maid to come together to her room.

  "Wow, your house is so warm and cozy. What smells so good......"

  As soon as Xia Bi entered the house, she fixed her eyes on the vase on the table, with a single plum blossom inserted in it. The branch stretched out at an angle, and the petals were semi-transparent, exceptionally delicate and exquisite.

  "Just like wax carved out, no wonder it's called Lantern Plum Blossom, still Spring Ink Sister will collect it."

  Others sat down, Chun Mo smiled and brought out some snacks to entertain them, sugar gourd seeds, roasted peanuts, a few scoops from the charcoal basin, even bringing out several hot and fragrant yams. There was also a large pot of steaming sweet tea.

  "I won't take it." Chun Mo smiled: "Come on, everyone eat, don't be polite."

  "Who is being polite with you."

  Xia Pen has already taken action, snatched a yam, scalded and couldn't hold it, switching back and forth between his two hands.

  Chun Mo handed a handful of sugar gourd seeds to Chao Sheng: "Eat. These are not outsiders either. This is Xia Bi, you know him, and this one is Xiao Ping, have you seen her before?"

  I've seen him of course, we were in the same courtyard, but we didn't really talk.

  Xiao Ping smiled at her, and Chao Sheng also returned a smile.

  Chun Mo picked up the teapot and poured tea, while Chao Sheng hurriedly took it over.

  Summer pen endured the scalding and peeled open the taro skin, a whiff of familiar fragrance wafted out.

  "This roasted thing smells good when eaten - Hey, do you have sugar here?"

  Chun Mo glared at her: "Your mouth is really sharp." However, despite saying so, she still took out some yellow sugar.

  At that time, sugar was very expensive, and white sugar was even more so. Yellow sugar was already not bad. There was also the worse red sugar, which was actually brown in color. Even worse was the miscellaneous sugar, which was black and looked like coal ash, with a terrible taste, but slightly sweet nonetheless.

  Summer brush uses peeled taro dipped in sugar, and bites hard.

  Delicious

  Others followed suit, and Chao Sheng also picked a small one. After peeling the skin, it was actually not dipped in sugar, and eating it like this was already extremely delicious.

  "Things that have been roasted taste fragrant."

  "Don't eat too much."

  Maybe eating quickly brought everyone closer together. Xia Bi threw the yam skin to one side, wiping his hands as he spoke: "This time last year there were also exactly four of us, but Xiao Ping hadn't arrived at Dong Gong yet and Chao Sheng wasn't considered familiar with us then either. By the way, where did Qiu Yan go? You didn't invite Song Can either?"

  Chun Mo smiled: "Qiu Yan has something urgent to attend to and went out, Song Can... she doesn't have the heart to meet with us now."

  Xia Bi nodded and said: "Right, she doesn't have that mood now. The matter of the Second Prince, has it really been settled?"

  "Is that fake? The Ministry of Rites has already made arrangements. The Second Prince was a bit... but" Chun Mo said in a low voice, "Didn't the Emperor come yesterday... now the Second Prince is pleasant to everyone, and the marriage will probably go smoothly."

  "This is indeed." Xia Bi said: "Yesterday, our prince slept too soundly, otherwise he would have come too. It's better to be closer to the emperor more often. Even if it's a close father-son relationship, they can't see each other often, and in a year or two, they can't even exchange a word..."

  Yes, it's said that in this Autumn Palace, all three are princes. Others hear the name and think of grandeur and majesty, thinking that being a prince is a matter of great prestige and style.

  But in fact, these three are all motherless children, and they are so far away from their father. If it weren't for the distance, there would also be a fifth prince, who is also pitiful.

  Don't you see that the sixth prince and seventh prince are all raised by their biological mothers, and they can often meet with the emperor? Can their feelings and status be the same?

  Definitely won't.

  Xiao Ping asked Chao Sheng: "Where are you from?"

  "You're from Beijing, what about you?"

  Xiao Ping speaks with a slight accent, probably not from the Beijing area.

  As expected, she said: "I am from Chongqing."

  Chao Sheng had no concept of it, and Xiao Ping said: "From our place to Beijing, it takes a month to walk."

  That's far enough.

  How did she get into the palace from so far away?

  Looking at Xiaoping, Chao Sheng thought of Xiaoman.

  She has been thinking about her less and less recently, at first she always missed her, but there was no chance to exchange messages, and they couldn't meet in person. As time went by, things accumulated, and the number of times she thought of her became fewer and fewer.

  I don't know where she is now? How's she doing?

  And those people in Huan Yi Xiang, Wu Gu Gu, Feng Yan...

  The one who makes her think of him all the time is the first in picking pearls.

  Although we can't see each other, knowing she's safe and sound is enough to put my mind at ease.

  Chao Sheng held half a yam and stared blankly for a while, Chun Mo and Xia Bi's topic had already gone far away, the people they talked about Chao Sheng had never heard of.

  Xiao Ping also chimed in from time to time.

  Then somehow it was said that in the harem, there were beautiful people. Xiaoping said: "Actually, if you want to say who is good-looking, the Empress is really good-looking."

  "Really?"

  Chao Sheng had never seen the Empress before.

  "Yes." Xiaoping said: "I once saw the Queen Mother, but I couldn't get close. The Queen Mother is really beautiful... I've never seen anyone as beautiful as her."

  Xia Bi also agreed: "Yes, the queen is already a mother of two or three children, and she's not young anymore. However, her appearance hasn't changed much compared to when she was younger. These new concubines and beauties may be young and fresh, but they can't compare to the queen's elegance and refinement."

  They all spoke in extremely low voices, and no palace maid did not love talking about these things. Although they couldn't speak openly, they would definitely talk secretly.

  "Your Majesty... is so beautiful?"

  "Yes," Chun Mo said: "However, the fourth prince's birth mother, Cheng Mei, was truly a peerless beauty. To be honest... it's just that she left too early, and her life was short-lived."

  It can't be said any further, so the topic was changed.

  Chao Sheng ate a handful of melon seeds, a taro head, and drank two cups of tea.

  Outside, footsteps and voices were faintly heard. Chun Mo got up and opened the door, asking: "What's going on? Has Your Highness returned?"

  "Wai Tou Wen Yue replied: 'No, it's Autumn Ink sister who has returned.'"

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  Why is it this time again... covering face, I really want to sleep early...

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