The silly and sweet spring of crossing

He Lanyuzhi did not object to Qiu Baichen's act of revealing this notice, but when people around him saw that he, a white and tender young man in his twenties, took the initiative to be the lampmaker of King Min's fiancée, they felt that the young man was indeed Xingao, if he is angered at that time, he will not even know how he died.

However, everyone was stranger to each other, and they all wentssiped silently, and no one came out to stop Qiu Baichen.Qiu Baichen and He Lanyuzhi returned home and planned to apply again in a few days.

Xinfang City is the territory of King Min, who is the uncle of the young emperor He Lanxuan.He is the old man of the late Empress Dowager, who has always been favored. When the first emperor seized the throne, he almost wiped out all his brothers. Now that the little emperor has been on the throne for a few years, all the princes who were still alive are gone. , he is the only one left as the late emperor's younger brother.

King Min's fiefdoms are in nine big cities including Xinfang City. Because of the coast, the economy is developed and the people are rich.Twenty percent of the tax revenue in the fief belongs to King Min, and the prince of Da Chu hardly needs to raise soldiers, so Prince Min's mansion is very rich, and the cost of food and clothing is the same as in Beijing.From this point of view, the old emperor was very kind to King Min.

King Min is now twenty, but he is not yet married.Last year, the prime minister suggested to the little emperor to give King Min a marriage, choose a daughter of a minister in the court, so that he can take care of King Min and spread his branches and leaves for him.The little emperor did not refuse the prime minister's request, so he gave marriage to the eldest daughter of King Min and Wen Shangshu of Hubu.

Wen Shangshu's daughter, single-named Ling, is a well-known talented woman in the capital.Great Chu has an open atmosphere, women don't have to be completely confined in the inner room, don't have to hide their names, and it's not uncommon to show up in public.

Wen Ling and Min Wang got engaged last year, and it may take two or three years before they get married.Wen Ling is only sixteen this year, middle school girls usually get married at the age of ten or twenty, and the daughters of rich families are more likely to marry later than sooner.There is such a custom because of the great power of the Chu State, the large population, and the fact that there is no war, so the state does not encourage childbirth, and everyone's marriage and childbearing age is relatively high.

Wen Ling's mother was born in Xin Fangcheng, and she came to Xin Fangcheng this time because Wen Ling came to visit relatives with her mother, and she was going to stay for two months before returning to the capital.Her mother wanted to visit King Min, but she was told that King Min was ill and it was inconvenient to see people for the time being, so she didn't meet.

Afterwards, Wen Ling lived with his mother in his grandfather's house, and often went out to participate in activities to meet friends through literature.Wen Ling was young and beautiful, and his father was a high official in the court and the future Princess Min, so the reception he received was naturally good.The day before, she was listening to the piano and drinking tea with a few cousins ​​of her grandfather's house, when she saw a group of people coming aggressively outside.

The one who walked in the front was a tall and slender woman, the princess of Jubei Kingdom who had just met Qiu Baichen and He Lanyuzhi.There is a long list of people's names in Jubei, and everyone can't understand what they are called. It just so happens that the princess also took a Han name for herself, called Tang Na, so everyone also called her Princess Tang Na.

Donna led a group of attendants into the garden in a mighty manner, causing a group of people to look sideways.Wen Ling also looked up, and then chatted with the sisters again, but unexpectedly, that group of people came towards him in a mighty manner.

"Are you Wen Ling?" Although Tang Na had experienced the shock of her crush having a family before, she was still in good spirits.She is a typical Caucasian look, blond, and young, like a porcelain doll.

"I'm Wen Ling, Princess Donna, hello." Wen Ling stood up and greeted Donna.Although Tangna is the princess of Jubei Kingdom, Wenling is still the daughter of Shangshu, and Tangna and Tangna are regarded as peers.

Wen Ling is a typical Han beauty, a lot shorter than Donna, but she is not weak against Donna.The two faced each other, and Donna offered to compete with her, and she wanted to marry Min Wang.People around thought it was ridiculous, but in the end Wen Ling accepted the challenge.

When she got home, she asked someone to post up the notice of the lamp maker, and also asked her to go to the capital to ask her father to send someone over to help her.Wen Shangshu immediately wrote to the emperor to ask what was going on, but the response was that the emperor had no choice but to let the princess of the Jubei Kingdom back out, and everything was up to Wenling.

It was a few days before the news from his side was sent back to Wen Ling.Even though Wen Ling was taught from a young age to be reserved and not to get angry, he was so angry that he dropped his glass.

"Miss, don't be angry." Yue Hong, the little girl who followed her, saw that she was really angry, and persuaded her in a low voice. Mrs. Wen came in before the servants cleaned up the crumbs from the cup.

"Ling'er, what's the matter?" Mrs. Wen knew that she was angry when she saw Wen Ling's face.When she encountered this kind of thing, she was also very angry. It was a joke to let Wen Ling compete with the princess of Jubei Kingdom. I don't know if the little emperor in the court, the prime minister, deliberately played tricks on their Wen family.

"What else can I do?" Wen Ling was no longer stiff in front of her mother.

"Has your cousin replied?" Mrs. Wen asked again.

"coming."

"She said that a few days ago, His Majesty received a lamp from below. It was called a palace lantern. It was made of wood, covered with light gauze, and embroidered with dragons, phoenixes and peonies. It was very cute. My cousin suggested that His Majesty order the craftsmen below Make something similar with this lamp and put it in his residence, but what do you think His Majesty said?"

"How to say."

"The Prime Minister must be unhappy." Wen Ling wanted to roll his eyes at this moment, "So in the end, His Majesty gave the lantern to his cousin, and the matter of making palace lanterns will be over."

Mrs. Wen was silent.Even if the little emperor is afraid of the prime minister now, things will not turn around this time, and he must stick to it and not lose, otherwise it will not be the face of their Wen family, but the face of the Tian family.

"By the way, I came here to tell you that the applicants for lamp makers have arrived. I'll ask them to make a lamp for selection. It's probably ready by now. Let's go and have a look." Mrs. Wen pulled Wen Ling went to the pavilion in the garden together. The lamp makers were given half an hour to make a lamp, and now they were all waiting in the yard after they finished.

"These craftsmen in Beijing can also make them." Wen Ling looked at a few, and found them very boring. They were all ordinary styles. If they were brought out, they would definitely make people laugh.

"What kind of lamp is this? Why is it so thin?" Wen Ling saw a lantern that was different from other lanterns. He said that the lantern was a bit outdated. The color of this lantern was very plain, and there were only a few skeletons. The light yellow paper is covered, and it will fall apart when pinched a little.

"The lamp maker said that this lamp is not for display, but for display." A young man came over and said to Wen Ling, still holding a fire folder in his hand.Hearing what he said, Wen Ling nodded.

"Put it over there and have a look."

"Yes." The young man lit the fire and lit the candle on the base of the lamp, and saw that the thin lamp body became more and more bulging, and after a while, it slowly floated up.

"Ah!" The little Yuehong girl couldn't help but yelled out, covered her mouth after being glared at by Wen Ling, watching the lamp fly higher and higher, smaller and smaller, and then disappeared.

"I've never seen a lantern like this before. It can actually fly." Mrs. Wen thought the lantern was very interesting, and Wen Ling also became interested in the craftsmen who made the lantern. After they saw other lanterns, they finally chose two. Famous lamp makers participated in this lantern festival.

And one of them is Qiu Baichen.

Kongming lanterns are easy to make, Qiu Baichen finished the lantern in a short time, sat there in a daze, writing and drawing on the paper with a charcoal pen, and drew a serious man holding a tender and lovely child.The child's eyebrows and eyes are somewhat similar to that of the man.Then he drew a jumping little boy next to him. His eyes were very similar to those of the other two, but not in other places.

Qiu Baichen writes and draws, and when someone calls him, he puts the scroll in his arms, and follows the boy to meet the owner inside.

At this time, Wen Ling and Mrs. Wen had already met another lamp maker. The lamp maker was nearly fifty years old and his hands were rough. He was very experienced. He also opened a lantern shop in Xinfang City, and the lanterns he made were still very special. Of course, the workmanship of those who supplied the palace was very good, so Wen Ling kept him.

The rest was Qiu Baichen. Originally, after seeing the person in front, Wen Ling would be an older craftsman behind, but he didn't expect that the one who came with the servant was actually a young man not much older than her.Although it is prejudice to say that it is not safe to do things without hair, but making lamps requires experience. At such a young age, is his craftsmanship really good? What if he can only do some opportunistic things?

"Miss Wen." Qiu Baichen greeted her politely, her attitude was neither humble nor overbearing.

"Aside from that flying lantern, what else do you do?" Wen Ling asked.

"The flying lanterns are called sky lanterns." Qiu Baichen said, "Besides, I also make ordinary and unusual lanterns."

Qiu Baichen was confident, and Wen Ling was more puzzled when he saw how confident he was.

"Then I'll provide the tools, can you make another one, it should be more delicate." Wen Ling said.

"Okay." Qiu Baichen nodded, so Wen Ling asked someone to bring the materials and asked Qiu Baichen to make a lamp on the spot.

Qiu Baichen lowered his head and began to make. The bamboo strips were cut into several specifications, and they were spliced ​​together in large and small sizes to make a frame, and then pasted paper on it. After a short time, a lifelike rabbit lamp was made. come out.

Wen Ling saw that his hands and feet were so agile, and that the rabbit lantern was not as ugly as the animal lanterns he usually saw, and he couldn't see the original shape, so he nodded.