Since the eleventh day of the first lunar month, lantern festivals have been held one after another. And curfews are getting looser.
In Nanjing City, everyone from high-ranking officials to ordinary people can enjoy it.
At night, Nanjing city is brightly lit and crowded.
On the day of Shangyuan Festival, Xu Qin came to the palace listlessly, having already prepared everything he needed to prepare. The effect depends on tonight.
The children of merchants were all dressed up exquisitely. This year, the entire palace prepared 8,000 palace lanterns, hung with riddles.
Five thousand lanterns were placed along the Meridian Gate alone to entertain the people. These palace lanterns were all made in the palace by merchants.
Xu Qin had already planned the place before the Meridian Gate. Major merchants occupied a space and put up lanterns according to their own abilities, competing to attract attention.
The huge Aoshan Mountain is more than ten feet high, like a blazing flame reaching the sky.
From the Meridian Gate to the Fengtian Gate, Xu Qin had two huge mazes made with cloth screens.
After Fengtian Gate and before Fengtian Hall, there are various interesting levels and various grand performances.
As soon as night enveloped the city of Nanjing, the whole world was filled with lights and noise. Especially this year, the emperor is enjoying himself with the people and opening up the palace to a limited extent.
Although you can only go to the Meridian Gate, ordinary people are still excited enough. It soon became crowded.
The busiest thing today is the Wucheng Bingma Division. Notices were posted three days ago and the sidewalks were painted. In and out.
The entire Meridian Gate and the left and right gates of Chang'an were illuminated by lights as bright as day. The scholars were all dressed up elegantly, and the women, accompanied by their families, were as beautiful as flowers.
Just after Shenshi, Zhu Di went to the morning gate to enjoy himself with the people. Waves of long-lived voices roared past under the Meridian Gate.
Zhu Di looked at the brightly lit world and was filled with emotions. Reach out and say hello to your subjects.
He had to wait until he was satisfied with the three cheers.
"Light up..." Zhu Di then ordered.
Immediately, nine huge Kongming lanterns slowly rose on the city wall, as if nine huge moons were gradually rising into the sky.
There are four Kongming lanterns on the left, with the words "Jiang Shang Yonggu" on them, on the right, "Prosperity and Peace", and in the middle is a huge flying dragon pattern.
"This kid is really good at playing." Zhu Di said with satisfaction as he looked at the giant dragon painted with cinnabar.
The huge nine sky lanterns rise, and they are tied with ropes below so that they cannot escape. Xu Qin only hoped that there would be no wind tonight, otherwise the palace would be busy if it was lit up.
Immediately afterwards came the dance performance by the common people, which was actually arranged by Xu Qin in advance.
The first one is Baixi with a huge lineup, performing various wonderful moves on stilts. When the stilt walker team passed by, suddenly hundreds of searchlights were projected over them, immediately illuminating the team in a colorful way.
"Ho, Cai..." There were violent cheers among the people.
The searchlight is a lantern with a strong barrel. A concave glass mirror is placed behind the candle to barely act as a concave mirror, and then the front is covered with fine sand of various colors.
It can barely produce color. But this has shocked the people of the Ming Dynasty.
"What is this? Why is it so gorgeous?" Zhu Di asked impatiently.
"Your Majesty, this is the lantern made by the young master, and I don't know why it works." Wang Zhong replied.
"Where did that kid go? Why are you here?" Zhu Di walked around touching Xu Qin.
"Your Majesty, my young master occasionally felt cold, and he was afraid that he would not come if he got too cold." Wang Zhong said.
The stilts passed, followed by the lion dance.
Hundreds of lion dances came leaping in, jumping up and down with the lights on the quickly erected stands, winning waves of cheers.
"Reward..." Zhu Dicai said grandly.
Then there were dances organized by major brothels, as well as dragon dances and lantern cars organized by each brothel themselves. It was very lively in front of the Meridian Gate.
Zhu Di held the clairvoyant eye happily for an hour and rewarded him with no less than 50,000 copper coins. Then he left with satisfaction.
The stalls of merchants were crowded with various people, who began to guess riddles on the palace lanterns. If they guessed correctly, not only could they take it away, but they could also buy something in the shop at half price.
All major merchants are doing their best to compete for customers.
Inside the palace, the handsome men and beauties couldn't wait to start guessing the lantern riddles. Those who guessed correctly took the lanterns and entered the maze.
The lantern riddles presented by the woman are for the man to guess, and the lantern riddles presented by the man are for the woman to guess. If you guess correctly, take the palace lantern and enter the maze.
After walking out, the men and women gathered in a passage. Then enter the square in front of Fengtian Temple.
There are various games and playthroughs here, all brought over from later generations. Zhu Di came to the Fengtian people and watched the group of male and female teenagers below wandering around in the maze.
At a glance, he saw the prince, dressed in ordinary clothes and leading Zhu Zhanji around blindly. I was about to go out, but I took a detour and came back.
Zhu Di was so angry that he stamped his feet.
"Idiot, you don't turn where you should, and you turn blindly when you shouldn't. My grandson has been led astray by you."
Xu Qin held the little princess's hand and was also going through the maze. He was supposed to be in the men's maze, and after giving the little eunuch who was guarding the door a kick, he went to the women's side.
The result was embarrassing. He clearly remembered the route, but he lost the little princess. Two people are lost in a maze.
"Cousin, although it's embarrassing, I have to tell you that I'm lost." Xu Qin finally gave up.
This piece of shit clearly remembers the formula, so who changed it?
The little princess was boldly held by her little hand. In front of these people, her heart felt so sweet that she felt dazed.
Now that Xu Qin was pulling her up to Naihe Bridge, she didn't regret it. As for getting lost, it doesn't matter.
"Don't worry, cousin, we can just follow the others." The little princess whispered.
Both of them wore masks. The little princess was cured while he was ill.
In order to prevent further mutual infection, Xu Qin made a mask from cotton cloth and added toner in the middle.
Many girls are young ladies from various families. Even the daughters of merchants are rich and well-off. They are naturally happy to be let out to play in the palace today.
But when I saw a masked man pulling a masked woman in the maze, I subconsciously hid.
The more the two of them followed, the faster they ran.
In the end, the two of them could only hold hands and wander aimlessly. Then he wandered into Zhu Di's field of vision.
"Well, why is there a masked thief in the maze of women? Where is a man doing? He is dragging a girl with him. He is being coerced. Guard there, wait..."
Zhu Di found that the lewd thief seemed familiar, and that woman was even more familiar. Wasn't she his eldest niece?
"How did Xu Qin get in? How did this bastard get into the women's maze and get... lost?"
Zhu Di suddenly felt a little ridiculous. Didn't he design this maze? Why couldn't he get out?
Xu Qin didn't know how to describe it anymore, so he just took the little princess for a walk.
"It's so embarrassing that the first date ended like this." Xu Qin sighed.
The little princess didn't feel embarrassed at all, but when she heard the word "date", she thought of the date after dusk. It feels like happiness is overflowing from my heart, and I feel soft when I walk.
"Little Duke, your Majesty, please go out." A palace maid came in and blocked Xu Qin and the little princess.
The little princess was startled and hurriedly hid behind Xu Qin.
"Girl, you are talking nonsense. Why am I hanging around here if I can go out?"
What is more embarrassing than being embarrassed is having the shame exposed.
The palace maid smiled slightly and led the way until she led the two people out of the maze. Several smart girls followed him out.
The little princess went to play, and Xu Qin was slipped to Fengtian Gate by Zhu Di.
"You, a pervert, entered the women's labyrinth with your face covered. What do you want?" Zhu Di pointed at Xu Qin and asked.
"Your Majesty, this is a mask to prevent the cold from spreading. When the little princess enters the women's labyrinth, I'm afraid that she will get lost, so naturally I have to show her the way."
Xu Qin said shamelessly.
"Haha, and then you got lost? I see you've been wandering around like a donkey for a long time." Zhu Di exposed it without hesitation.
Xu Qin found the telescope in his hand and knew that his embarrassment was clearly visible.
"I clearly remembered the formula, but it didn't work when I went in. That wicked guy changed the layout and deliberately tricked me..."
Xu Qin said helplessly. He felt sore all over now and was too lazy to grind his teeth with Zhu Di, so he simply gave up.
"If you can't do it yourself, blame others. You said there was a big surprise tonight. What was it?" Zhu Di asked curiously.
"It's not yet time, but we will know when the time comes. Your Majesty, it's time to go to the Dao Fengtian Palace to have a look." Xu Qin said.
Zhu Di's favorite activity is here, which is chatting with ordinary people.
