Today was the Lantern Festival. When An Yuxiao returned home, he saw the young ladies and young men of An Mansion busy hanging lanterns. Even Anting Feng came back to help.
I also saw that the entire Anpinghou Mansion was decorated with lanterns and colors and was full of joy.
An Xili saw him and hurriedly came over to say hello: "Li'er has met his father."
"I've met uncle." Antingxuan and Antingfeng also saluted quickly.
The girls in the second and third bedrooms went to their own business after seeing the gift.
"What are you doing?" An Yuxiao asked.
"Reporting to my father, it was the second sister who said that our family has not been very lively this year. Taking advantage of the Lantern Festival today, we decorated the house to be more festive and prayed for the eldest sister and brother-in-law, hoping that they would return safely." An Xili explained.
An Yuxiao was even more happy when she heard that her daughters were so sensible and united, and said: "It's not enough to just hang lanterns. During the Lantern Festival, we also need to have wine and lantern riddles. This will make it lively."
He added: "Xuan'er, you are a scholar, I will leave this matter to you."
Antingfeng said: "Uncle, I am not a literati. I can't recite poems and write poems, but my lantern couplets are no less than Tingxuan's."
"You can help too."
An Tingxuan was in trouble and said: "A few brothers and sisters in our house are guessing lantern couplets together. There are too few people. This is so boring. Uncle, let me ask some friends from the school to join us. They are all scholars. It must be interesting."
Suddenly, An Yuxiao thought that since the government established official schools, students have stayed in the school in order to take the Spring Examination at the beginning of the year, and some of the students who wanted to take the exam did not go home to celebrate the New Year.
He added: "Today is the Lantern Festival, Xuan'er, go and call your friends at home, tell the kitchen to prepare more food and wine, and invite them to An Mansion to celebrate the festival. It will be more lively if there are more people guessing lantern riddles."
"Yes, uncle." An Tingxuan immediately went to call for someone.
In the evening, An Tingxuan invited all the guests over. An Xili searched around but couldn't find Zou Heng, and thought to himself: "Master Zou has the best relationship with brother Xuan. He didn't go back to his hometown to celebrate the New Year. Why didn't he come? Could it be that he was rejected by the second sister, so...but didn't he say that he would wait for the second sister all his life? "
At this time, she hurriedly pulled An Tingxuan out and asked, "Brother Xuan, you didn't invite Mr. Zou?"
"Please. If he doesn't come, it seems he wants to read. He is determined to prepare for the exam, so he studies very hard."
"Oh, so that's it." An Xili murmured, "But today is the Lantern Festival, and he can also take a rest. Doesn't he want to see the second sister?"
Everyone in An Mansion knew that the Zou family went to An Mansion to propose marriage to An Xixiu, so An Tingxuan also knew that Zou Heng liked An Xixiu.
So, I just heard him say: "Zou Heng seems to be sick. It's quite pitiful to be alone in Kyoto without any friends."
Suddenly, An Xili looked towards An Xiqiu again and saw that she was sitting at a table with several sisters, the old lady and others, drinking and chatting. There were separate tables for men and women in An's house.
She looked at the sky again. It was rare that the moon hung in the night sky. The streets must be very lively at this time. Every year on this day, they would go shopping after dinner.
She whispered again: "Brother Xuan, please do me a favor..."
After An Tingxuan heard this, he also looked in the direction of An Xixiu. He was a little embarrassed, but he also thought that Zou Heng was indeed quite pitiful. He might have drank some wine, and with the help of his courage, he agreed: " Okay, I'll take care of this. You can take Sister Xiu out first."
So, An Xili glanced at him and walked towards the female guests' table.
