Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty Two People About Twilight (Part 1)
The east wind blooms at night, thousands of flowers and trees blow down, the stars are like rain, and the fragrance of BMW carriages is everywhere. The sound of the phoenix flute moves, the light of the jade pot turns, and the fish and dragon dances overnight; the moths and the willows are golden, and the smiles are full of fragrance. I look for him for thousands of times, but when I look back, the man is in the dim light.
"Qingyu Case. Yuanxi"
The Shangyuan Festival is today's Lantern Festival, and it is also the Lantern Festival for the whole nation to revel in. It has been prosperous since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, where the commodity economy is highly developed, the Shangyuan Festival has developed to the climax of history. The Tokyo Bianliang, which has a population of two million, is bustling and bustling.
If the New Year is a day for ancestor worship and family connections, many shops are closed and the streets are deserted, then the opposite is true for the Shangyuan Festival. The legal festivals of Shangyuan Festival are the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth days. The city gates will not be closed in these three days, allowing people inside and outside the city to have a party all night.
After the tenth day of the lunar month, lanterns began to appear on all major streets. An excited atmosphere quickly fermented in the capital. Major merchants were even more eager to stock up on the Shangyuan Festival and make a fortune.
The most attractive thing on the Lantern Festival is undoubtedly the lanterns, but the lanterns in the capital are not arranged in disorder, but have a prescribed range, all placed on large streets, including Yu Street, Panlou Street, Changqing Street and Daxiangguo Temple as the four centers. In addition, there are also oceans of lanterns outside the Eastern Song Gate of the State, Xiliang Gate of the State, Fengqiu Gate of the State in the North, and Nanzhou.
The streets are covered with various colored sheds, including crown combs, pearls, rouge, clothing, flowers, collars, boots, shoes, toys, etc., and all kinds of snack stalls have long rows. If you are tired of playing and watching, you can go to various greenhouses to listen to music and dance, and enjoy various masters with unique skills.
The Lantern Festival starts from the 14th day of the first lunar month. Early in the morning, the capital was decorated with a sea of lanterns. A mountain shed was set up in front of Xuande Building in Da Nei, and lanterns were hung by each household. Rich families made of lanterns made of five-color glazed glass or even white jade and hung them at the doorstep. The lanterns were painted with patterns such as landscape figures, flowers and feathers.
From the afternoon, there were crowds of people on the streets, and people couldn't wait to take a sneak peek at the streets. Countless stalls and vendors were even snatching up land, and various colored sheds began to prepare stocks. The festive atmosphere was surging in the streets and alleys. No matter how poor the family was, they would go out to watch the lights and enjoy the rare annual festive celebration.
Today is not the day of the Lantern Festival, and tomorrow's fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the most lively time. The emperor will bring the imperial concubine to the Xuande Tower to share the fun with the people and throw a lot of money.
Although it wasn't the day when I was watching the lights, Hu Qing'er was also itchy. She finally convinced Sisi. The two of them took Xique and Yang's mother and daughter to Panlou Street and Changqing Street to watch the lights. Li Yanqing's meeting accompanied them to Yu Street and Daxiangguo Temple to watch the lights on the next day, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
Of course, when they look at the lights, they will sit in the ox cart and watch the lights like most powerful women. There are too many disciples at the Shangyuan Lantern Festival, and they will stretch out their hands whenever they have the chance. This is also a stubborn disease that cannot be eliminated since ancient times.
There are many folk stories about forcing the robbery of the folk girls during the Lantern Festival, but it is extremely rare. Even if the robbery of the folk girls happens, it will never appear on the street. The reason is very simple. If the public anger arouses public anger, more than a dozen people will easily be trampled to death like ants under the siege of tens of thousands of people, and they will not be found. They will only die in vain.
Li Yanqing was called to help by his father in the afternoon. This year, Baoyanzhai spent thousands of cents of money to rent more than a dozen colorful sheds in various parts of the capital, and also built a huge Chang'e flying moon lantern. The three big words "Baoyanzhai" are written on the full moon, which is particularly eye-catching.
In fact, Li Yanqing had nothing to do when he came to Baoyanzhai. His father Li Daqi just found an excuse to let him come over and discuss the marriage.
"I talked to Mr. Zhong. This time the Cao family gave him a marriage of 200,000 guan, 5,000 acres of land, and a three-acre house. This is twice as much as the Gao family gave Zhou Zhixian County. It is said that it is the highest time in the Cao family's marriage to daughters. We can't be stingy!"
Although the aristocratic family is rich, they cannot withstand the wanton squandering of marriage. Zhou Chun married a senior daughter and was a Jinshi to catch a son-in-law. He only got 100,000 guan and 3,000 acres of dowry, generally like a legitimate granddaughter, who only had 100,000 guan and 3,000 acres of land to marry. Generally, the dowry of a partial daughter or a distant daughter would be less.
The reason why Cao Yun got a dowry of 200,000 guan and 6,000 acres of land when he got married was mainly because Li Yanqing was born in Tanhua, and Li Daqi was the owner of Baoyanzhai, so he would definitely not be stingy even if he married his only son, so the Cao family came up with the conditions for a generous marriage this time.
"My father is doing this, so don't ask me about it!"
Li Yanqing turned around and wanted to escape, but was caught by Li Daqi, "You are not wrong with marrying a wife, how can I worry about everything?"
"How much betrothal gift is my father going to give?"
Li Daqi stretched out a finger, "I plan to give a betrothal gift of 10,000 taels of gold."
Li Yanqing was secretly shocked. He actually had 10,000 taels of gold. How much money did Baoyanzhai make?
"Don't be petty. Ten thousand taels of gold are worth about 200,000 pounds. The dowry given to the Cao family is similar. We are not as good as the Cao family in terms of status, but we cannot be worse than theirs in terms of property."
"I'm not stingy, Daddy will do this!"
"In addition, your house is a little small, I think it's better to rent another ten-acre house to look better."
Li Yanqing shook his head, "This is unnecessary. The Cao family is a large mansion of hundreds of acres. What can we do if we rent a house of fifty acres? The house I live in is still half empty!"
Li Daqi was right to think about it. It was meaningless to compete with the Cao family for face in the house. He sighed, "If it were Qiantang County, I would not be afraid of him at all."
"How many houses did Dad buy in Qiantang County?"
"At least there are thousands of acres! It was all instigated by you, a bastard. After buying so many houses, Fang La was captured. Now the government does not know whether it recognizes it or not!"
"How could it be that there is a record in the government. Even if the record is burned, and we have a deed in our hands, what are we worried about?"
Li Daqi nodded, "I'm going to go to Hangzhou after you set your wedding date, get the house done, and start working on your wedding after you come back."
The Cao family will marry the Emperor at the end of this month, and the Cao family is particularly busy, so the marriage period for marrying a daughter will be at the earliest until mid-February.
At this time, Manager Wu called the boss outside, and Li Daqi stood up and said, "I won't care about you these two days. There are too many things to do. I'm going to do it, so you can arrange it yourself!"
After saying that, Li Daqi walked out quickly, and Manager Wu came up and said, "The goods are all ready, the owner will see how to distribute them."
"It's just according to last year's plan, but there are a little less on Yu Street and a little more on Panlou Street, so you can ship it now."
Li Yanqing also walked out of the living room and saw hundreds of large wooden boxes piled up in the yard, like a hill. The boxes were covered with Baoyanzhai's logo, but the words "Li Ji Yanzhi" were written on the box with ink pen. He looked at it and found that almost all the boxes were Li Ji Yanzhi.
Li Ji Yanzhi is a low-end product of Bao Yanzhai. Although the profit is far less than that of Bao Yanzhai, the sales volume is very large. At first, Bao Yanzhai never admitted that Li Ji Yanzhi had a relationship with him and was very secretive about it. However, after it was gradually exposed, it did not affect Bao Yanzhai's reputation, but caused Li Ji Yanzhi's sales to rise sharply. In the end, Bao Yanzhai could only admit that Li Ji Yanzhi was his own brother.
"Why are it all Li Ji Yanzhi?" Li Yanqing asked a manager next to him in confusion.
The manager laughed and said, "Young Master is not aware of anything. In the past two years, we sold Li Ji and Bao Yanzhai together. Later, we found that Bao Yanzhai was not easy to sell during the Shangyuan Festival. Instead, Li Ji Rouge was selling well. It has been like this for several consecutive years. Therefore, this year, this year, Bao Yanzhai will no longer be sold, but all Li Ji Rouge will be sold."
"Why is it not easy to sell?"
"Because it is sold in a colorful shed, cheap things are sold very well. If you really want to buy Baoyanzhai Rouge, you will definitely go to the store to buy it. People are afraid of buying fakes."
Li Yanqing nodded. It is true. A bottle of good Baoyanzhai perfume costs five stag, and a bottle of Li Ji perfume costs only one or two hundred yuan. Luxury goods must be sold in luxury stores. Moreover, most ordinary people visit lanterns, and not many people can afford Baoyanzhai, so they can only make money by making small profits and more profits.
At this time, Yang Ping, the shopkeeper of Li Ji Yanzhi, ran in and shouted: "The ship is here, everyone should get the goods!"
Everyone carried the big boxes and walked towards the dock behind them, and Li Yanqing also carried a large box and sent it over.
At the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, many rivers had already thawed, especially the rivers in the capital could already be shipped. There were more than a dozen small boats moored on the dock, piled up on the boats one by one, and began to deliver goods to the twenty colored sheds set up in Baoyanzhai in various parts of the capital.
Li Yanqing had nothing to do today. Several of his subordinates went to guard Sisi, Qing'er and the others to watch the lanterns. He simply boarded a boat and headed towards the Daxiangguo Temple in the city.
Daxiangguo Temple is one of the commercial centers of the capital. Tonight it is also the center of lanterns. The official and major merchants' lanterns are centered on Daxiangguo Temple and extend to the streets on all sides. There are lantern buildings, lantern trees, lantern sheds and various large lanterns. There are hundreds of large lanterns in the square in front of Guangdaxiangguo Temple. In the middle is a three-meter-high lantern building, which is a small lantern building built by the alum building for thousands of cents of money. It covers an area of one acre and is very spectacular.
On the west, a giant Aoshan lantern was built, which was funded by the imperial palace. This is the second headlight in the capital. The first headlight is also the Aoshan lantern, but it is placed downstairs of Xuande Building on the northeast of Yu Street.
Surrounding the square are two rows of dense colored sheds inside and outside. Nearly 300 famous shops in Beijing have their own colored sheds. Guang Baoyanzhai rented two of them close to each other.
Li Yanqing walked forward and saw Tiezhu and several subordinates installing a large wooden sign. The wooden sign consisted of dozens of small colorful glass lamps and made up the three big characters "Baoyanzhai". There was a circle of colorful lanterns around it.
"Iron Pill, you can fix the colored lights now. How do you light them at night?"
Gu Tiezhu is the security chief of Baoyanzhai. He has more than 20 big men under him. He is responsible for doing various physical chores and maintaining store security. Tiezhu smiled and said, "I don't know if the little boss doesn't know. It's very convenient to light the lights behind him."
Li Yanqing walked over and found that there was a mini nest car behind it, which was a wooden rack with two wheels installed on it. Under the rack was a large wooden box that could accommodate one person. There were two long ropes on the wooden box. The other end of the long rope passed through the wheel. People stood in the box. When the two pulled the wheels below, the wooden box was raised. The people in the box could refuel and light the lamps behind the wooden sign. It was indeed very convenient.
Li Yanqing smiled and said, "I think using a ladder is more convenient. One person is enough. This kind of wooden box needs someone to help pull it."
Tiezhu smiled, "Often the little ladies go up and light the lights. They are afraid of the ladders, so they are not afraid of using this lift box."
At this time, Li Yanqing found that the strong men who installed lamps were a little embarrassed. The three beautiful girls who sold goods did not say a word. Everyone seemed very uncomfortable. Li Yanqing immediately understood that he had affected the atmosphere here. He smiled and said, "You guys are busy, I'll go shopping in the temple!"
He turned around and walked towards Daxiangguo Temple. After walking away, he looked back and saw a few strong men surrounding the three little ladies. The three little ladies covered their mouths and laughed. Li Yanqing couldn't help but curse and walked quickly into the temple.
It was dark early. Just after dusk, night quietly came. Lanterns began to ignite. The entire Daxiangguo Temple turned brightly around, like fire trees and silver flowers. The people in the capital had dinner early. When the door locked, they carried their children and wives out to watch the lights. People from all directions rushed to Daxiangguo Temple, and the crowds were crowded. This was just Daxiangguo Temple. In the entire capital, at least millions of people would rush to the streets to watch the lights tonight.
Li Yanqing stood at the entrance of Daxiangguo Temple. Cao Jiaojiao secretly gave him a note the day before yesterday, and he had another kind of expectation in his heart.
"Brother Li!"
Li Yanqing suddenly heard Cao Jiaojiao's voice. When he turned around, he saw Cao Jiaojiao running with a blooming smile. Not far behind her was a quiet girl. It was not Cao Yun. Her face was filled with a hint of surprise and shyness, and her gem-like beautiful eyes flashed with a gloss of joy.
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Chapter completed!