sbdcsierra Chapter 143 Lantern Festival
Chapter 143 Lantern Festival
The streets and alleys are filled with a joyful and festive atmosphere. People are tearing down the old couplets at the doors of every household and replacing them with new ones that have meaning for the new year.
Bright red, round, large lanterns are hung on both sides of the door. Even if a family is not particularly wealthy, they will still spend some money to buy two red lanterns on important festivals throughout the year. Even if they are not big, they are a good omen.
Walking through the streets, you can see many children who have already put on the new clothes they have been longing for, and are now happily playing with a few friends they have made an appointment with.
I passed by many stalls and met many people, all with happy smiles on their faces, indicating that today is the happiest and most anticipated day of the year for everyone.
Rong Su stood at the door, looking at the pedestrians coming and going on the street. She seemed unable to empathize with the joy on their faces, but felt a kind of loneliness and desolation in her heart.
After she had seen enough, she was about to turn around when someone suddenly appeared beside her.
Turning her head, she saw Shen Peiqing. He was standing beside her, as straight as an evergreen pine, with his hands behind his back. His profile was cold and bright, without any expression. But the fact that he stood with her so quietly made her feel as if she was not alone in this world, and she seemed to feel a little relieved.
After a short silence, Shen Peiqing suddenly spoke, his voice deep and rich, his cold tone hinting at the tranquility of a spring: "Old Doctor Xiao said there will be a lantern festival at the night market in Anrong Town tonight. Do you want to go?"
Lantern Festival? Speaking of the Lantern Festival, she still remembered that last year, when they came to Dongzhou, they stayed in a small town. At that time, there was a Qijia Festival Lantern Festival.
At that time, she, Shen Peiqing and Gu Yun went there together.
It seemed that Shen Peiqing had seen through her thoughts. He seemed to be angry, but not really. However, it was obvious that he was in a bad mood. "Make a deal with me. Accompany me to the Lantern Festival and I will promise you one thing."
Since he was in a hurry to give her the promise, Rong Su naturally would not refuse. She thought about it and said, "Okay, I'll go with you. You teach me Qinggong. This is the condition for me to go to the Lantern Festival with you."
Shen Peiqing didn't even hesitate, and nodded in agreement: "Okay."
Rong Su was a little surprised by such straightforwardness, but it only lasted for a moment. Soon, Xiao An's voice asking for advice came from behind, and he pulled her away.
Shen Peiqing watched her being dragged away, a hint of barely perceptible sadness flashing across his dark eyes.
That night, after Xiao An took them to a large table of delicious food prepared by the restaurant chef, he took the blueprints back to his room to study them in depth. He didn't seem to be in the mood to celebrate the festival properly at all.
Perhaps in the eyes of this old man, nothing is more important than learning surgical techniques well.
And today, she discovered that Xiao An seemed to have no relatives, because she didn't see any close people coming to wish him a happy new year. It seems that there are many lonely people in this world.
Then, as promised, she followed Shen Peiqing to the town lantern festival.
The Lantern Festival was much more lively than Xiao An's small courtyard, and people were everywhere.
Everyone had a happy smile on their face and held a lantern in their hands. The lanterns were of various styles, including rabbit lanterns, cat-shaped lanterns, phoenix-shaped lanterns, and lanterns depicting many bird songs, flowers and plants.
The streets are filled with endless streams of people and laughter. The shouts of vendors, the laughter of children, and the joyful sounds between lovers or couples, one after another, fill the lantern festival.
She was so absorbed in watching that she inevitably forgot that she was one of them, but Rong Su didn't feel anything at all, and didn't have any desire to be happy.
Shen Peiqing clearly noticed that Rong Su, who was walking beside him, was in a depressed mood. He lowered his eyes, then lowered his head slightly and whispered in her ear: "This is not a transaction. Is there anything you want? I can buy it for you."
Hearing this, Rong Su came back to her senses and realized that she seemed to have revealed her emotions, which he saw, and she felt a little unnatural.
But he said that it was not a transaction, which meant that he didn't need her to give anything in return. Looking at the many stalls selling lanterns on the street, she was actually a little eager to buy something, even though she had no intention of buying anything just now.
It must be Shen Peiqing who is inducing her to buy things, even though those things are obviously for children to play with.
Suddenly, two lanterns appeared before my eyes. One was a lotus lantern with beautiful petals in a pink-white transition, and the other was an exquisite palace lantern with various lifelike birds carved on it.
"I saw you seemed to be engrossed in looking at these two, so I bought them. If you didn't want these two, I would have bought another one." Shen Peiqing looked down at her, his black eyes reflecting the faint light from the lantern, seeming to reveal some golden starlight, so dazzling that it was impossible to look away.
Perhaps because his gaze was a little burning, she quickly avoided meeting his, reached out and took the palace lantern, glanced around casually, and said softly, "Why waste that money? It's just a lantern. Just buy it."
Shen Peiqing glanced at her and saw that she was staring at the palace lantern carefully. Her delicate and bright eyes seemed to carry a layer of childishness that had never been seen before. It seemed that she was not as casual as she said, but really liked it. He couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips slightly and walked side by side with her holding the lotus lantern.
"Come and take a look, come and take a look, freshly made flower cakes, and delicious, crispy almond cakes!"
An old man with a hunched back, gray hair like white cotton, and a face full of wrinkles was shouting hard. In front of him were two large baskets covered with a layer of cotton cloth that he had seen at the bun stall.
However, as she passed by, she could clearly smell a faint and slightly sweet scent, and she couldn't help but stop.
When Shen Peiqing saw her stop, he was a little confused, but when he followed her gaze to the basket in front of the old man, he understood what was going on.
He walked straight up to the old man. Rong Su saw him move and called out to him in surprise, "You, you want to buy it?"
The old man saw them and his eyebrows curved. The corners of his eyes instantly exploded with patterns. He smiled and asked, "My two guests, would you like to buy the shortbread I just made? They are delicious. Although they are not as good as those made by the chefs in the big restaurants, I spent a lot of time making them and the ingredients are also good."
As the old man spoke, he lifted the cotton cloth, revealing the pastries in the basket before their eyes. Each pastry was very distinctive, with elegant colors that were not too bright, and the smell was not too strong, as light as the fragrance of flowers.
"Old man, please give me some of these pastries." Shen Peiqing had already taken out the silver and handed it to the old man. When the old man saw that Shen Peiqing was holding three pieces of silver in his hand, he immediately panicked and waved his hands quickly.
"Hey, sir, even if you buy all my two baskets of pastries, it won't cost you three pieces of silver. One piece of pastry is only one copper coin. How many do you want? I'll pack it for you."
I watched the old man holding the oil paper bag with his helpless hands and constantly filling it with pastries.
Rong Su snatched the silver from Shen Peiqing's hand and placed it directly on the cotton cloth on the old man's basket. She smiled and said, "Old man, just take it. We give it to you because we think your pastries are worth the price. You worked so hard to make these pastries late at night, and they are worth this money."
The silver was stuffed into the cotton cloth. The old man wanted to decline politely, but Rong Su quickly reached out and took the oil-paper bag that the old man had packed. She raised the bag with a smile and said, "Thank you. We will enjoy your cooking."
After saying that, he reached out and pulled Shen Peiqing along, quickly running away. They walked all the way to the edge of the small lake. Rong Su stopped to catch her breath, then laughed heartily: "Haha, I'm really afraid the old man won't want the silver. It must be difficult for him to come out to make a living during the cold winter and the holidays, but he still manages to remain modest and earn a meager copper coin to live on."
Looking down at the oil paper bag in her hand, a fragrance immediately wafted out, but Rong Su stared at it in a daze, as if recalling some vague memory.
Shen Peiqing looked at the hand she was gently holding, his gaze moved upwards, and seeing that she suddenly showed such a gloomy expression, he frowned slightly, and couldn't help but stretched out his hand to her. His hand stopped slightly in mid-air, and he paused. He was about to stretch it towards her cheek, but suddenly changed his way and gently placed it on her head, patting her lightly.
"Didn't I say we should try out the old man's cooking? I see everyone is coming to the lake to release lanterns, but the little pavilion over there is empty. Do you want to go there?"
The weight on her head disappeared in just a moment. Rong Su was slightly stunned. When she raised her head, Shen Peiqing had already shifted his gaze to the small pavilion.
She reached out her hand and touched her head in surprise, and suddenly she saw that she was still holding his hand. She was about to let go, but for some reason, a strange idea drove her not to let go. It didn't seem to be a problem to just hold on to it. After all, he didn't refuse.
Then they came to the quiet little pavilion. Most people went to the small lake, where they placed lanterns on the lake. Then they clasped their hands together devoutly and prayed for something seriously.
Rong Su took a look, then looked away and opened the oil paper bag in her hand. The sweet aroma of the crispy biscuits inside wafted out.
Each piece of pastry, reflected by the light placed aside, seems to become a little more shiny and bright, and looks very stimulating to the taste buds.
After picking up a piece, she suddenly felt the burning gaze of the opposite party. Rong Su realized that these pastries did not seem to be bought by her with money, but then she thought again, it was this guy who said so, it was not a transaction. He could buy her anything she wanted tonight, right?
So these shortbreads are all hers, yes, all hers!
Like a little rabbit guarding its food, it reached out to grab the oil paper bags, turned sideways, and looked unwilling to share.
When Shen Peiqing saw her like this, he just thought she was funny and cute, and wanted to tease her.
He leaned forward slightly, resting his elbow on the stone table. His dark eyes held a hint of amusement as he spoke in a gentle voice, "Why? Can't you give me a bite? Didn't I buy this with my silver?"
Knowing that this guy would definitely bring this up, Rong Su immediately became confident and assertive, protecting the oil paper bag with both hands and raising her chin: "You said it yourself, you will buy me everything I want tonight."
What this means is that now these pastries can only belong to her and have nothing to do with him.
After hearing this, Shen Peiqing didn't get angry at all. Instead, he smiled. That smile seemed to have a hint of doting, which Rong Su found magical.
"But, isn't this the pastry I want to buy? How can it be what you want to buy?" Suddenly, the man smiled at her cunningly, and his eyes seemed to be teasing her.
Rong Su suddenly realized that this man was playing tricks on her. She was furious and said unreasonably, "I don't care! It's already in my hands, so it's mine!"
Then, as if to provoke him, she took a piece of pastry, took a big bite, and snorted at him.
Rong Su herself didn't even notice this childish behavior, but she showed it so easily in front of Shen Peiqing.
He watched her red lips moving constantly, and a flash of depth flashed across his eyes, darkening a little, and suddenly he reached out his hand to her.
This action scared Rong Su so much that she leaned back. Seeing this, Shen Peiqing said calmly, "Don't move."
The shout of "Don't move" was like a spell, and it actually stopped her from moving. She just stared blankly at the slender white hand reaching out to her.
She stared blankly at his hands. What did he want to do? Was he going to strangle her to death just because she didn't give him the pastry?
Under her suspicion, the slightly cool fingertips moved from the direction where she thought they were going to strangle her neck to her lips, and the fingertips gently wiped the corner of her mouth. She could feel something being wiped away from the edge of her mouth.
Ah! It turned out that there were some crumbs of shortbread on her lips!
Rong Su suddenly felt embarrassed. She was a little too judgmental.
"Oh, thank you." She quickly looked away, sat up straight, and took bites of the biscuit.
Suddenly feeling a little guilty, Rong Su simply pushed the oil paper bag in front of her towards Shen Peiqing.
"I can't eat that much by myself. Share it with you."
Shen Peiqing still lowered his eyes and stared at the residual warmth on his fingertips. The soft touch just now made his fingertips feel numb, and he wanted more touch.
Seeing her push the oil paper bag towards him, Shen Peiqing took a look and said with a curled lip: "Then which kind of pastry do you think is delicious? Let me try it."
Since he was asking sincerely, Rong Su, who had eaten it before, naturally had a lot to say, and began to point at the crispy biscuits in the oil paper bag seriously.
"This almond cookie is a bit crispy, but a bit greasy, but the texture is good. This flower cookie is sweet but not greasy, and has a refreshing floral fragrance that flows over the tip of the tongue and slides into the throat. It's a very pleasant feeling. And this salty shortbread cookie is sweet and salty, with evenly distributed sesame seeds, and is crispy and delicious. I think they're all delicious, maybe you should try them all!"
Staring at her little mouth opening and closing, and listening to her sweet voice like a bell, Shen Peiqing seemed to have ignored the noise around him and was only focused on the woman in front of him.
When he saw her tilting her head and looking at him with her delicate and beautiful eyes, which were filled with a hint of innocence, he couldn't help but feel moved.
"What do you think?"
"Yeah. Let's try them all then."
Suddenly, the dark and gray sky was flashing with fireworks, and the exploding sparks formed bright stars in the air, which was beautiful beyond words.
"It's so beautiful." Rong Su couldn't help but sigh as she looked at the colorful fireworks in the sky.
Shen Peiqing only glanced at her, but he had already focused all his attention on her. He stared at her beautiful profile reflected by the colorful fireworks and murmured in agreement, "Yes, it's really beautiful."