Even if there were one or two young ladies who were lost, there wouldn’t be more than a dozen young ladies who were lost.

The officers lowered their heads and dared not answer.

The Jingzhao prefect had an extremely grim expression on his face. He lowered his head to look at the crowd below him, and his gaze gradually moved to a spot not far away: the one with the brightest lights – that was the lantern festival that was being held.

The young ladies got into trouble one after another. If the Jingzhao Prefecture suddenly expelled them and the matter became a big deal, being ridiculed and scolded would be a small matter.

The biggest problem was… it couldn’t be driven away and might even cause other troubles.

This happened at the end of the previous dynasty! At the Lantern Festival, pedestrians were having fun, but Jingzhao Prefecture suddenly ordered them to be expelled! As a result, pedestrians who were still having fun united to protest. During the shoving, someone accidentally fell.

The crowd behind was surging, and they didn’t know what was happening in front, so they rushed forward. As a result, the festival suddenly became a memorial day, causing a large-scale stampede, and nearly a hundred people died in it!

As a result, angry citizens went to the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture to protest, and relatives of those who died in the stampede even brought coffins to the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture to demonstrate!

To quell the public anger, a group of officials from Jingzhao Prefecture who had previously performed well were thrown into prison. As for the reason why Jingzhao Prefecture initially expelled people, it was because there was a fire nearby, and not many people cared about letting the people take refuge.

Of course, this kind of thing didn’t happen every time there was a festival expulsion. But… Jingzhao Prefecture Yin’s hands hanging in his official sleeves trembled slightly: He couldn’t afford to gamble! He dare not gamble!

They couldn’t drive away the enthusiastic pedestrians, nor could they let the young ladies continue to disappear, so they could only let the officers follow the crowd to see if any suspicious people might attack the young ladies.

There was such a big crowd today that all the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture had been mobilized. However, facing the crowd, they were like a drop of water falling into a river or the sea, unable to create any splash.

In this way……

“Have those officials from the Dali Temple finished voting for their lanterns?” The Jingzhao prefect turned around and asked several officials around him, with a puzzled look on his face: every day when he saw his colleagues from the Dali Temple, they were all stern and serious, who knew that these people with nothing to do would actually come to participate in the lantern festival?

Just join if you want to! The way they called on their friends to help recruit people was really unbearable to watch.

Speaking of which…

“If you have sticks, please help them by casting your ballots, so that they can be sure that they will be able to win the beauty lantern and come to help without worries!” said the prefect of Jingzhao.

…

As the wind blew, the octagonal palace lantern began to turn slowly. The red tassels on the eaves swayed slightly, and the dancing candlelight cast a hazy light and shadow.

Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but praise it with a “Good”!

They had seen the unfinished octagonal palace lantern more than once. Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu had both ruined several lampshades. They had even seen the prototype of this palace lantern.

But… this was the first time she had seen a lantern with Lin Fei’s painting on it.

The paintings of Chang’e washing her hands and making soup and the Jade Rabbit on the lantern were lifelike, funny, and cute. Not only Wen Mingtang and others who had been reminded of the lantern earlier but also many strangers who came to watch the lanterns could not help but stop when they saw the lantern, pointing at it and exclaiming “Interesting”.

It was really interesting! Wen Mingtang put the sticks in her hand into the box in front of the palace lantern. Through the gap in the paper box, she could vaguely see a pile of sticks inside.

It seemed that when it came to “recruiting people”, the people in Dali Temple were quite talented! At this rate, getting a beauty lamp should be more than enough.

After casting their lots, Wen Mingtang, Ah Bing, and Tangyuan stood there for a while to admire the painting of Lin Shaoqing from the Dali Temple before continuing to move forward.

The lantern festival area was brightly illuminated as if it were daylight. As they walked along, after viewing all the lanterns participating in the festival, they reached the front stage and could see the lanterns made by the lantern craftsmen.

Compared to the earlier lanterns that were beautiful but lacked skill, the lanterns on the stage were incredibly intricate, both in their frames and their surfaces. The lanterns depicting the Four Divine Beasts—Qinglong Azure Dragon: The Qinglong, or Azure Dragon, represents the East and is associated with the spring season. It is often depicted as a dragon with a blue or greenish hue. It symbolizes protection, power, and the element of wood., Baihu White Tiger: Baihu, or White Tiger, represents the West and is associated with the autumn season. This mythical creature is typically depicted as a fierce white tiger. It symbolizes strength, courage, and the element of metal., Zhuque Vermilion Bird: Zhuque, or Vermilion Bird, represents the South and is associated with the summer season. It is depicted as a red or fiery bird. It symbolizes beauty, grace, and the element of fire., and Xuanwu Black Tortoise: Xuanwu, or Black Tortoise, represents the North and is associated with the winter season. It is often depicted as a tortoise entwined with a snake. It symbolizes endurance, stability, and the element of water.—were particularly vivid, with every detail and corner appearing especially lifelike.

Wen Mingtang and the others were watching attentively when they heard a voice from not far away: “Humph!”

The three people were startled by the cold snort and turned to look at the person who made the sound.

But I saw a few young men and women in gorgeous robes standing not far away, and the one who snorted coldly was one of them.

The young man snorted coldly and shouted, “It’s just a show of skill! Lanterns are used for hand-held lighting. Who can lift this divine beast lantern? Even if you can lift it, can you still walk with it when you go out?”

Although this may sound a bit sour, it was not false! Wen Mingtang looked at the complicated lantern and shook her head: after all, she would not have chosen such an inconvenient lantern if she needed to pick out a lantern in the middle of the night.

Just as the young man finished speaking, a woman in a black cloak who was surrounded by the crowd in the middle spoke up: “Brother, don’t say anything, they did a really good job… ahem!”

Before she could finish her sentence, she started coughing. Looking at the woman whose face became paler under the dark color of her cloak, the young man felt anxious and distressed. He patted the woman’s back to help her calm down, and asked anxiously, “Sister, are you feeling better?”

The woman nodded and opened her mouth. Before she could speak, she burst into a violent cough.

Because of the coughing, the woman trembled all over, and her figure wrapped in the cloak, which was much thinner than that of an ordinary person, looked even more shaky.

It was as she moved that Wen Mingtang noticed that there was a thick layer of fur sewn on the inside of the woman’s cloak. One glance at it and she knew that such a cloak must be extremely warm.

But now…it was only the Mid-Autumn Festival. Wen Mingtang looked at her autumn shirt, then looked at Ah Bing and Tangyuan beside her. After walking all the way, Ah Bing even rolled up his sleeves, obviously feeling a little hot.

This woman was walking in the crowd wearing this…it seemed that her health was probably not good.

With this thought, Wen Mingtang forgot to look away from the woman. The young man who was comforting “Ah Mei” noticed her gaze and immediately glanced over: “What are you looking at? If you look again, I’ll dig out your eyes!”

So arrogant and fierce? Wen Mingtang opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“What are you looking at? Why are people from Jiangling Yuan Clan showing up in the capital at this time? And why are people from Jiangling Yuan Clan, who always look down on the time-honored Qiandeng Shop, actually looking at the lanterns made by the craftsmen of this Qiandeng Shop!”

Everyone turned around and looked at the person who spoke.

Lin Fei, dressed in a scarlet official robe, was standing not far away with Zhao You and several other familiar faces, looking over here.

(End of this chapter)

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