NFBE Chapter 163 The Lamp King
Chapter 163 The Lamp King
"There is also an old fisherman. Look, he looks quite realistic with the fishing net on his back," said Li Laosan.
Old man Li shook his head. "What a showpiece! What a showpiece!"
“The float is coming!”
Someone shouted, and the crowd immediately burst into cheers.
The float at the front is a huge koi carp, which jumps over the dragon gate. In coastal cities, koi carp is to Mazu like the good boy Shancai in front of Guanyin.
Represents good luck and good fortune.
The huge koi lantern is golden, and each scale is carefully carved. The fish eyes are made of a special stone that can be penetrated by the internal light, presenting a sparkling lighting effect.
Below the big koi are countless small koi lanterns, colorful and exquisite.
There was also a suona player on the float. He was wearing a gorgeous costume of a similar color to the koi. He played the suona with a smile on his face, and stopped from time to time to wave to the onlookers.
In addition to the koi and the musicians, the most eye-catching thing on the float is a sign made of lights that reads "Linglongfang."
The second float turned out to be from the Qunfang Tower. On it stood a huge beauty lantern. The beauty lantern was in a dancing posture, with an enchanting and graceful figure, and a delicate and graceful red dress that seemed to be flying.
The beauty portrayed on the lantern is a real person, dressed in red, holding a pipa and playing the beautiful music. The red veil perfectly outlines her mystery and beauty.
There was a burst of whistles and cheers from the crowd.
"Do you know, the one above is Liu Piaopiao, the top performer in Qunfanglou?" said a passerby.
"She is so beautiful! Like a fairy." said another passerby.
"She is playing the role of a fairy."
The float parade is a public welfare activity held by the people. The artists on the floats can play any role they want, but they are not allowed to play the role of Mazu by default. On Mazu's birthday, there are special women who play the role of Mazu, and it is a very grand official event.
The requirements for a woman who can be chosen to play the role of Mazu are extremely high. She must come from a noble family and most of them are ladies from famous families.
Moreover, Mazu only needs to sit in the sedan chair and be worshipped by the people, and she does not need to show her face in public.
Li Yuer muttered to herself, isn't this float just a blatant commercial advertisement?
But the floats are pretty and there are free performances, so it can be considered a public service advertisement for the benefit of the people.
The convoy was so long that it looked like a swimming dragon, slowly moving along the streets of the town.
The last float was the Wan family's float. There were four horses pulling the float. The float was huge, and on top was an exquisite pagoda lantern.
The pagoda sits on the raging waves, and the waves are also lights. What is used is Li Yuer's quicksand technology. I don't know where the Wan family got the blue powder from. The liquid inside is not water, but a clear oil-like substance. The blue powder keeps shaking in the liquid because of the power brought by the carriage, and it really looks like the undulating waves.
The exquisite pagoda is made of a solid wood carved frame, which is very sturdy. There are different pictures on each layer. The decoration of the lanterns also uses Li Yuer's colored glue technology. Because the colored glue is transparent, it creates a crystal-like effect, which is outstanding and dreamy in beauty.
There is a performing artist on each level of the Linglong Tower. The one at the bottom is a man in white dancing with a sword, the one in the middle is a woman in green playing the piano, and the one at the top is a dancer scattering flowers.
As soon as Wanjia’s lanterns appeared, they instantly attracted everyone’s attention and became the well-deserved king of lanterns in this year’s Lantern Festival.
This invisibly boosted the sales of Wanjia's new oil lamps in the later period, and they became popular throughout the entire Ningzhou Prefecture. Wanjia's oil lamps were also available in other states.
You may not have bought Wanjia’s oil lamp, but you cannot be unfamiliar with Wanjia’s oil lamps.
The Li family had a very happy Lantern Festival.
Even the few people who stayed at home lit up beautiful lanterns, and when Old Man Li and his friends went back, he brought them a lot of delicious snacks.
After the Lantern Festival, the New Year gradually fades away.
Old man Li and his wife went to Cai's house again and started to buy land and build a house.
The common people had a relatively peaceful year. I heard that it was because Magistrate Wu and his son had just given birth to a pair of beautiful twin Hu girls, and they were so happy that they had no time to cause trouble for the common people.
The beauty of Hu Ji is different from the gracefulness of the women in the Central Plains. They are passionate and unrestrained, like red flowers blooming in summer, delicate and beautiful, intoxicating.
Hu Ji has deep and three-dimensional facial features, her skin is as white as snow, and her figure is very graceful.
"Do you know who sent it?" Jia Que'er took some braised seafood from the stall and handed it to the old beggar Lao Dou. Lao Dou had no name and had been a beggar in Xinpu Town all his life. He was probably called Xiaodou when he was a child, and Laodou when he got old.
The old man is very thin, his whole face is full of wrinkles, and when he opens his mouth, he has few teeth left.
"It seems he is a big merchant from the south, his name is Xian or something."
My father is old and has a bad memory. He thought for a long time before he remembered, "Oh, right, his name is Hu Banxian."
"understood."
Jia Que'er told Li Laosan the news he had heard, and when Li Laosan returned home he told the news to Li Yu'er.
Li Yu'er said thoughtfully, "Hu Banxian was the one who secretly transported grain to the north that time."
"Hush!" Li Erlang said nervously, "Don't mention this matter anymore. Don't lose your life for irrelevant people or things."
Their family is living a much better life now. He has saved six taels of silver just during the New Year period. He doesn't want to die at all now.
Li Yuer said: "Brother, it's good for you to think this way, but we are businessmen. When our business grows bigger, you should have a sense of crisis."
"What is crisis awareness?" Li Erlang asked when he didn't understand.
"That's right. Think of all the risk factors related to our business in advance and take preventive measures. For example, if a competitor is up to no good, and someone deliberately comes to our stall to cause trouble, pretending to be sick from eating our food, what should you do?"
Li Yuer looked at the few people and waited for their answers.
Boss Li said, "Talk to them. Our stuff is not broken. Does it mean it is broken just because he says it is broken?"
Li Laosan said, "They have framed us, how can they reason with you? Besides, other guests will be worried about their own safety and will be afraid that there is something wrong with the food. This method won't work."
Li Mei'er said: "Let's report to the police."
Li Erlang immediately retorted: "Don't you know what kind of person Magistrate Wu is? Are you going to report to the authorities or are you going to fall into their trap? I'm afraid that after you report to the authorities, he will eat up both the plaintiff and the defendant, and there will be nothing left of us."
The new county magistrate was so unfair in judging cases. He didn't care who was right or wrong, he just looked at who gave more money. He not only ate the plaintiff but also the defendant. He was a ruthless character who sucked blood right into the bone marrow.
He won't let you go until he squeezes your last penny out of you.
If you don't have the money to redeem yourself, then I'll send you to the mines to work.
In short, in his eyes, ordinary people are just objects to be exchanged for money.