Chapter 97 Lantern Festival For the next two days, Mei Cheng'an was basically in a state of receiving and replying letters. The fifteenth day of the first month. Mei Cheng'an squeezed out a reply letter in the afternoon and invited Princess Roujia to go to the street to attend the Lantern Festival in the evening. Mei Cheng'an received the reply letter soon. Roujia herself had no objection, as she also wanted to meet Mei Cheng'an, but Prince Jing disagreed, arguing that such an important festival as the Lantern Festival should be celebrated with family (him as the father), and they could also enjoy the lanterns at home. She also said that the streets were crowded and it would be inconvenient and dangerous for a little girl like her to be in a busy city. In short, it means it is not accurate. Mei Cheng'an didn't know whether to laugh or cry. With the strength of himself and his four maids, how could he not protect his wife? But Prince Jing didn't know that it was understandable that he was worried. Roujia also said in the letter that Prince Jing meant that if he really wanted to see Roujia, he could go directly to Prince Jing's mansion, where there would be lantern shows, singing and dancing, banquets and everything, and he was welcome to go. Mei Chengan smiled bitterly helplessly. Going out with your sweetheart to enjoy the lantern festival is one thing, but going to your sweetheart's home to celebrate the festival with her family is another thing. Parents can understand the former, but parents will be jealous of the latter and it is impossible for you to go.
At the end of the letter, Roujia said that she hoped he would not be anxious and asked him to stay at home and spend time with his parents during the Lantern Festival, as they would have many opportunities to meet in the future. Look, look, my wife is still the most understanding and caring one. Whatever, I’ll find another opportunity later. Roujia asked him to spend more time with his family. Spending time with his family was certain, but the key point was the word "well". Mei Chengan thought about it for a while and came up with an idea. After putting down the letter and putting it away, he called his sister to go out together. The two of them strolled along the street and collected a lot of beautiful lanterns, such as Panchi lanterns, fairy candles, rotating heron lanterns, and animal lanterns, such as cat-shaped lanterns, rabbit-shaped lanterns, fox-shaped lanterns... What impressed Mei Cheng'an the most was a fish lantern, which was made of bamboo as the frame, lightweight cotton cloth as the skin, and hand-embroidery to depict three-dimensional details. In addition, it adopted a three-section design, so the fish tail could swing flexibly, vividly showing the dynamics of the fish swimming in the water. This makes the entire lantern look like a real, vivid fish, which is incredibly beautiful. Mei Cheng'an specifically asked the vendor selling the lanterns and learned that the name of this fish lantern was "Fish Playing in the Moon." The more he looked at it, the more he liked it. Mei Cheng'an wanted to book all the Fish Playing with the Moon lanterns on the spot. Unfortunately, he was not the only one who liked this lantern. Most of them were sold out, and only the last two were left. Two is fine, it’s better than nothing. Mei Chengan immediately signaled Hongshu to pay. Mei Cheng'an's original plan was to keep one for himself and give one to Roujia. As a result, when the younger sister saw this fish lantern, she couldn't take her eyes off it, her eyes were full of love. She asked Mei Chengan how many he bought. After learning that there were only two, the younger sister's eyes flashed with regret, but she didn't say much. Mei Cheng'an smiled and gave her the lamp that he had originally intended to keep for himself. He thought he couldn't forget his sister just because he had a wife. It was fair and just for each of them to have one lamp. He had already appreciated it anyway, so instead of keeping it empty in his hands, he might as well give it to his sister to make her happy. When they had almost finished purchasing the lanterns, the two returned to the mansion and began to set up the lanterns in the inner courtyard. Halfway through, Mei Cheng'an left his sister alone to direct the servants to hang the lanterns, and returned to the courtyard. He had his own task, which was to make up lantern riddles. Not many lanterns were bought in total, only about a dozen or twenty, so he only needed to come up with twenty riddles. He cut the red paper into thin strips, thought for a moment, then picked up his pen and started writing. He finished in just a short while. After collecting the riddles, Mei Cheng'an took them to the backyard and hung the riddles under the lanterns one by one. Mei Yuxi came over curiously, and seeing that each riddle was interesting, she began to guess silently. The riddle is: a jar with two mouths, only for fire, not wine, an everyday object. Mei Yuxi crossed her arms, rested her hands on her chin, tilted her head and frowned, her eyes full of confusion. How could he open two holes in a jar? If he opened them on both sides of the bottom, wouldn't it leak? If he opened them on both sides, what would it look like? How come she had never seen it before? If it wasn't for wine, it would leak, but if it was for fire...
Mei Cheng'an pasted the last riddle on the bottom of the lantern, pulled it gently to make sure it would not be easily blown away by the wind, then turned around and saw his sister standing in front of a lantern in a daze. Mei Chengan frowned. "What are you doing? This is for tonight. What are you guessing now? I'll tell you, I only prepared these few dishes." Mei Yuxi acted as if she didn't hear anything and continued to stand there motionless without any reaction. Mei Chengan was stunned for a moment, and then he became curious. What puzzle was he looking at? He was so fascinated by it. Thinking of this, Mei Chengan leaned over and looked at the riddle. Oh, it turned out to be this one. This question was not difficult to guess. It was almost the simplest of all the questions he gave. Mei Chengan looked at his sister and found that she was frowning and looking confused. Mei Chengan also frowned and looked at the question again. Is there any problem with the question I asked? Mei Cheng'an read it word by word and frowned even more. He didn't feel there was anything wrong. Could it be that he had violated some taboo that he was not aware of? He didn't intend to guess blindly on his own, he planned to ask his sister directly. Mei Cheng'an stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers in front of Mei Yuxi. "Hey, Yuxi, come back to your senses." Mei Yuxi was startled by the sudden noise in front of her. She turned around and saw that it was Mei Chengan, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "It's you, brother." Mei Cheng'an pointed at the puzzle in front of her. "What's wrong with this question? What do you think is wrong?" Mei Yuxi looked at the question and frowned slightly again. "Brother, this question is wrong. I have never seen a jar with two mouths. I can't even imagine what that jar should look like, let alone hold fire. Are you sure it is something I can see everywhere in my daily life?" That's it? Mei Cheng'an was stunned for a moment after hearing this. He looked Mei Yuxi up and down and saw that she looked serious. She didn't seem to be joking. She really had this doubt. "you……" "What, brother, you haven't answered my question yet." "..." Mei Cheng'an sighed in his heart and nodded. “Sure, it can be seen everywhere in daily life.” Mei Yuxi looked depressed when she heard this and muttered to herself. "It can be seen everywhere, what on earth could it be?" Mei Cheng'an felt a little sorry to see his sister so stumped by such a simple riddle, and even had the urge to tell her the answer directly, but after thinking about it, he suppressed the urge. Since my sister didn't ask him for the answer, it means she wanted to guess on her own. Riddles, riddles, the enjoyment of playing riddles is not the process of racking your brains to guess and the joy of guessing the correct answer. Since others are enjoying it, how can I deprive them of this pleasure? Well, then just take your time to guess, I won’t bother you anymore.
Before leaving, Mei Cheng'an took another look at his sister who had fallen into deep thought again, shook his head helplessly, and said, "This is too stupid!" Then he turned and left. Not long after returning to the courtyard, the sky began to gradually darken. Almost in the blink of an eye, it was completely dark. Mei Cheng'an looked up and saw that it was almost time. He waved to call Qingniao and asked her to deliver the fish lantern to Princess Roujia. While the bluebird was delivering the lanterns, Mei Chengan sat on a stool, crossed his legs, and looked up to admire the night view for a while. The moon tonight was round, big and exceptionally bright. After waiting for a while, the blue bird came back with an extremely gorgeous and beautiful palace lantern in its hand, which made Mei Chengan's eyes light up. "Master, the fish lantern has been successfully delivered to the princess. The princess specifically asked me to tell you that she likes the fish lantern you gave her very much and is very happy. The princess also asked me to give this palace lantern to you, saying that His Majesty ordered the craftsmen in the palace to make this palace lantern and send it to Prince Jing's Mansion. The princess thinks it is very beautiful, so she wants to give it to you." Mei Cheng listened quietly, then stood up, took the palace lantern and looked at it carefully. It was worthy of being a product of the palace. The materials, structure and pattern were all exquisite. It was exquisite yet gorgeous and majestic. It was indeed beautiful. Thinking that this was a gift from Roujia, Mei Chengan's lips curled up. At this time, a servant came to call at the gate of the courtyard. Hongshu went over to listen and turned back to report. "Master, the Madam has sent someone to call us. We should go to the backyard." Mei Cheng'an nodded, looked around, and then hung the lantern in his hand in the most conspicuous place in the corridor. I clapped my hands, took two steps back and looked around. Hmm, this position is just right. Turned around and waved. "Walk." …… That night, during the Lantern Festival, a warm and lively small lantern festival was held in the backyard of the Mei Mansion. Dozens of lanterns of various shapes and colors have been lit up at this moment, surrounding the main hall, and the festive atmosphere is becoming more and more intense. After asking for gifts and saying blessings, the family sat down to drink a cup of tea, and then began to appreciate the lanterns and guess lantern riddles with great interest. The question was proposed by Mei Cheng'an, so he did not participate. He ate the sumptuous dishes on the table, drank some wine, and watched them having fun with a smile. Mei Zhili and Madam Mei walked together, watching the lanterns and guessing riddles together, while Mei Yuxi ran back and forth between the venues. The puzzles posed by Mei Cheng'an were not very difficult. Mei Zhili basically knew the answers at a glance. If Mrs. Mei couldn't guess the answer for a long time, he would give some hints. If she still couldn't guess it, he would whisper the answer in her ear. When the lady showed a look of sudden enlightenment and then looked at him with admiration, Mei Zhili stroked his beard and appeared calm, but he felt secretly happy in his heart. When the two of them guessed the riddle that Mei Yuxi had never guessed, Mei Yuxi quietly leaned over and listened carefully with her ears perked up. A jar with two mouths, it only holds fire, not wine. Mei Zhili figured out the answer after a little thought and smiled complacently. (End of this chapter)