Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 138 Lantern Festival
Qu Shaoyang came here to propose marriage, so it would be inappropriate for him to stay at Chen's house.

After the banquet, the master and the disciple were about to leave with the matchmaker.

Everyone in the Chen family went out to see them off. Chen Xiuyun took the opportunity to secretly ask Qu Shaoyang if he could not leave tomorrow and stay for a day.

"There will be a temple fair near Tiandu Palace tomorrow, and in the evening there will be a lantern festival sponsored by various chambers of commerce in the county." Chen Xiuyun looked at Qu Shaoyang with anticipation.

People in later generations often regard the Qixi Festival as Valentine's Day. In fact, the traditional Valentine's Day should be the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

On this day, the whole city is decorated with colorful lanterns hung everywhere. In the evening, many places will hold lantern festivals, dragon and lion dances, yangko dances, fireworks and other programs.

In traditional society, young girls were not allowed to go out casually on weekdays, but on the night of the Lantern Festival, girls could go out together.

Many young men and women will also take this day to meet each other.

Some unmarried young men and women will meet their ideal opposite sex while enjoying the lanterns.

This year is the first year that the Chen family has moved to the county town. They used to live in the remote Daqinggou, where was there any lantern festival?
Chen Xiuyun has longed to visit the Lantern Festival for a long time, and when Qu Shaoyang came to propose marriage, she naturally hoped that her lover could accompany her to visit the Lantern Festival.

Qu Shaoyang smiled when he heard this, "Okay, then I'll go back and tell Master that we won't leave tomorrow and stay to play for a day."

It was a rare opportunity to spend time with the girl he liked, so Qu Shaoyang naturally wouldn't refuse it.

Anyway, the two of them are about to get engaged, and they will have more opportunities to spend time together. I don’t think Chen’s parents will object.

When Chen Xiuyun heard Qu Shaoyang agreed, she immediately became happy and smiled with curved eyebrows.

"Okay then, I'll wait for you at home tomorrow."

Chen Xiuyun glanced at Qu Shaoyang, waved to him happily, and then returned to Li.

Qu Shaoyang nodded at Chen Xiuyun, turned around and left with Liu Dongshan and the matchmaker.

After the master and his disciple sent the matchmaker home, they returned to the inn. On the way, Qu Shaoyang told him that Chen Xiuyun had asked him to visit the temple fair and watch the lantern festival tomorrow.

"Okay, since we have plenty of time, it doesn't matter if we stay in Kuandian for one more day. You finally got it, kid."

Liu Dongshan was delighted when he heard this. His silly apprentice finally came to his senses and even knew to accompany the girl to the temple fair and watch the lantern festival.

"When you go out tomorrow, take some extra money with you.

If you see any small items that girls like, buy them and don’t be reluctant to spend money.” Liu Dongshan also reminded Qu Shaoyang.

The master and disciple returned to the inn to rest. The next morning, Qu Shaoyang went to Chen's house and told Doctor Chen and his wife that he wanted to go to the temple fair with Chen Xiuyun.

In fact, Doctor Chen and his wife heard what their daughter said last night. They also understood the feelings of young men and women who wanted to be together, so they did not object.

Of course, in order to prevent the two from doing anything out of line, Doctor Chen arranged for his two sons to accompany them.

So, the four of them went out together.

Chen Yunhan had spent a long time in the county and was familiar with the area around Kuandian. He led the way and took his younger brothers and sisters to the temple fair at Tiandu Palace.

It's true that this temple fair is very lively, with storytellers, monkey trainers, people performing martial arts on the street, vendors selling things, people doing shadow puppet shows and peep shows, in short, all kinds of people doing all kinds of things.

Chen Xiuyun had been living in Daqinggou before and had never seen such a lively scene. She was curious about everything she saw and wanted to join in wherever there was excitement.

"Brother Shaoyang, come quickly, here, there is something fun."

There were people coming and going at the temple fair, and Qu Shaoyang was afraid that Chen Xiuyun might get into trouble, so he followed her closely to protect her.

When passing by some snack stalls, Qu Shaoyang would buy some delicious food and eat with Chen Xiuyun.

"Take two strings of candied haws." There happened to be someone selling candied haws. Qu Shaoyang gave the vendor a few coins, bought two strings of candied haws, and stuffed one into Chen Xiuyun's hand.

Most girls like this kind of sour and sweet things, and Chen Xiuyun is no exception. She took the candied haws and took a bite. She was conquered by the sour and sweet taste and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Mm, it's delicious, Brother Shaoyang, you eat it too."

"You eat first and don't worry about me." Qu Shaoyang was not very fond of this sour and sweet thing.

I bought that extra candied haws stick for Chen Xiuyun. I guess one is not enough for this girl.

Sure enough, after eating one, Chen Xiuyun still felt unsatisfied.

Qu Shaoyang handed over another one at the right time. "Eat it. I don't like this kind of food. It would be a waste if I don't eat it."

Chen Xiuyun was a little embarrassed at first, but after hearing what Qu Shaoyang said, she just ignored it and took it and continued eating.

The two of them walked, ate, and looked around. No matter how many people were around, Qu Shaoyang always protected Chen Xiuyun, never left her side, and did not allow others to get close.

However, the brothers Chen Yunhan and Chen Yunzhe were carefree and were often attracted by the excitement and would stop to watch.

When they finished looking and turned around, their sister had already walked away with Qu Shaoyang.

"Where is our sister? Where did she go?" Chen Yunhan stood in the crowd, looking around.

"I don't know. Didn't you see it just now?" Chen Yunzhe was also confused. Where was their girl?
"I just went to watch a shadow puppet show. Wasn't our sister with you just now?"

Chen Yunhan glared at his younger brother. He had clearly seen his sister with the second brother and Qu Shaoyang just now. How come in the blink of an eye, only this big fool of his was left?
"It's okay, Shaoyang must be with our sister, let's go ahead and look for him."

Chen Yunzhe is tall. Looking into the distance, he saw two people in front of him who looked quite like Qu Shaoyang and Chen Xiuyun.

The two brothers hurried forward, passed through the crowd, and caught up with Qu Shaoyang and Chen Xiuyun.

"You two walked too fast. I couldn't see you in a blink of an eye."

Chen Xiuyun turned around and rolled her eyes at her two brothers, "You two were just busy having fun and didn't pay any attention to us, okay?"

The two brothers were very embarrassed and scratched their heads in embarrassment.

After that, he followed his sister obediently and didn't dare to join in the fun anymore.

The four of them were very tired after visiting the temple fair for most of the day, so they found a place to have a meal and rest in the afternoon.

Wait until night and go to the lantern festival.

We will be on the busiest street in the county town. There will be poles on both sides of the street with ropes hanging on them, all hung with colorful lights.

Some shops have a special area in front of them for customers to guess riddles.

Whoever guesses it will receive a corresponding reward.

Qu Shaoyang was definitely not good at guessing lantern riddles, so he wisely bought a rabbit lantern and a lotus lantern for Chen Xiuyun.

However, Chen Yunhan was so attracted by the riddle that he refused to leave until he guessed it and won the jackpot.

There were more people at the lantern festival in the evening, and in order to avoid getting lost, Qu Shaoyang and his friends had no choice but to stop here and wait for Chen Yunhan.

At this moment, on the second floor of the restaurant diagonally opposite, someone was leaning against the window and looking down, and happened to see Chen Xiuyun holding the rabbit lantern and the lotus lantern in her hands.

"Hey, whose girl is this? She's quite pretty."

(End of this chapter)