The Shangyuan Festival!
As a vital thoroughfare along the Northwest trade route, Longshan Prefecture was bustling and prosperous. For the New Year, festive lanterns and colored banners naturally adorned the streets, with colorful lanterns lit before every household in celebration.
The city authorities held a dedicated lantern fair, and wealthy merchants put up elaborate lanterns of their own to display their standing. From the seventh day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth, these lanterns burned night after night to pray for a better year ahead.
The Shangyuan Festival marked the grand finale of the fair, making it the liveliest night of all.
"It's so beautiful!" Ardai gasped in delight.
In truth, they had already ventured out over the past few days to see the grand lanterns throughout the city. There was the Divine Dragon Lantern crafted by the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor, the Celestial Maiden Lantern by the Wang family, and all manner of other displays made by various factions.
To be frank, even Wang Yu, who had transmigrated from modern times, had his eyes opened.
Indeed, truly opened. He found that the festive lanterns crafted by the artisans of Longshan Prefecture were far more exquisite, intricate, and gorgeous than any he had ever seen in the modern world.
In terms of pure craftsmanship, the ancients genuinely surpassed modern men.
Beyond the massive feature displays, the smaller lanterns were dazzling with vibrant colors and bizarre shapes, each possessing its own unique charm. Even where the silhouettes were slightly similar, the painted designs upon their surfaces differed completely.
After strolling about for several days, aside from a few basic red lanterns, Wang Yu had rarely seen any duplicate designs.
Thus, even with a visit every evening, each night brought new wonders to behold.
Li Yunxiu walked on Wang Yu's left, while Ardai strolled on his right. Several guards from the prince's manor, dressed in plain clothes, surrounded them closely, while Zhao Shan and Zhao He followed not far behind.
As the three walked along, they caught sight of Zhao Yingjie and Yuan Feifei in the distance, thoroughly wrapped up in each other. Wang Yu paid no mind to the shameless pair. Then he spotted Wei Gutong and Yan Ziyu strolling hand in hand nearby, and he immediately called out to greet them with a smile.
Besides the Han people, quite a few Western Regions merchants happened to be staying in Longshan Prefecture at this time. Those who had witnessed such sights before took it in stride, but those encountering the festival for the first time wore expressions of utter shock.
"The craftsmanship of the Han artisans is truly divine!"
"If not for the gems and spices our Western lands offer, I fear they wouldn't spare us a single glance even if we begged on our knees."
"The Celestial Empire truly lives up to its name!"
Listening to the praise from the foreign merchants around them, Wang Yu took it in stride, Li Yunxiu remained composed, and Ardai felt a burst of shared pride.
Though she was a princess of the White Qiang tribe, Ardai's mother had been a Han woman, and Ardai herself had previously visited the Han lands incognito. She had always regarded herself as half-Han, and naturally took great pride in Han culture.
"Match the couplet! Match the couplet! Solve the lower line and win a lantern!"
A loud shout drifted from nearby. Wang Yu glanced over and saw a rack outside the doors of Yayun Zhai, hung with a dozen or so exquisite lanterns. A shop assistant held a strip of paper, calling out loudly to the gathered crowd.
At the fair, besides the vendors peddling all kinds of snacks and toys, the most numerous were the lantern peddlers selling festive lanterns.
Aside from ordinary vendors, established shops like the Wang family's Yayun Zhai also held activities to join the fun, court good fortune, showcase their prestige, and spread their reputation.
These merchant activities ranged from athletic pastimes like pitch-pot, shuttlecock kicking, and arm wrestling, to literary pursuits like lantern riddles, couplet matching, and drinking games.
Yayun Zhai had chosen couplet matching. The Wang family had prepared over a hundred fine lanterns and had given them away over the past eight days. By now, only a dozen or so remained, but every single one was a masterpiece of beauty.
By this point, Li Yunxiu was already holding a lotus lantern, while Ardai's hands were still empty. For one, she thought every lantern she saw was gorgeous and could never make up her mind; for another, she had been munching on maltose candy, pastries, and candied hawthorn skewers all along the way, simply having no free hands left to hold a lantern.
Hearing the shout, Ardai popped the last candied haw into her mouth and turned around, spotting the shop assistant holding a sheep-shaped lantern.
"Wow! It looks just like my Little White!" Ardai's eyes lit up.
Little White was a little lamb Ardai had raised, which she had mentioned before. The lantern was shaped like a little fleece lamb, exquisite and lifelike. Ardai fell in love with it the moment she laid eyes on it.
Wang Yu chuckled. "You fancy that lantern?"
"Uh-huh, uh-huh!" Ardai nodded repeatedly.
The three paused and drew closer. They saw the shop assistant paste the upper line of the couplet, written on red paper, onto the wooden rack for all to see.
"'One yuan the sun rises; nine nights the moon sets. A glorious Yuanxiao festival, where sun and moon shine together,'" Li Yunxiu read aloud, her brows arching slightly. "The Wang family does have some skill after all."
Ardai's literary learning was limited, and she asked blankly, "Is it very difficult?"
Li Yunxiu smiled. "While not extraordinarily difficult, it is by no means simple. The couplet contains the numbers one and nine, which happen to be the smallest and largest single digits.
"Beyond that, 'one yuan' signifies the beginning, while 'nine nights' corresponds to the nine nights of the lantern fair. Combined, they form the characters for 'Yuanxiao.' As for the rising sun matching the setting moon, the characters for sun and moon combine to form the character for 'shine'—to say nothing of the neat parallel."
Ardai blinked. She had received a Central Plains education from a young age and had learned a fair amount of Han culture, but her knowledge was limited. She hadn't perceived the couplet's intricacies, and only now, hearing Li Yunxiu's explanation, did she realize how much cleverness lay within.
"That's way too hard..." Ardai murmured softly, feeling that the lantern was slipping further and further away.
While the three spoke, several people in the crowd called out answers, but the shop assistant rejected them one by one, pointing out the subtle requirements of the couplet.
"With such a difficult couplet, are you planning to save these lanterns until next year?" someone grumbled.
The shop assistant laughed. "Our shopkeeper instructed that today is the Shangyuan Festival, so we must start the year with good fortune. If no one can match it, we will give them all away for free at midnight. If our guests are willing to wait, that's fine too!"
Only then did the crowd quiet down, wracking their brains in silence.
A few scholars paced back and forth, muttering to themselves, now looking as though struck by inspiration, now frowning deeply once more. Evidently, none had found an answer.
Ardai cast a longing glance at the little sheep lantern, then shook her head and said to Wang Yu and Li Yunxiu, "Let's go."
Li Yunxiu asked with a smile, "Didn't you like that lantern quite a bit?"
"It's just too hard. I doubt anyone will be able to match it. Let's wander around a bit more and come back at midnight. Maybe we'll still get it then," Ardai said in all seriousness.
Li Yunxiu broke into a soft laugh and stepped forward.
Several guards from the prince's manor moved forward with practiced discretion, subtly parting the crowd to open a clear path to the shop for Li Yunxiu.
The shop assistant noticed Li Yunxiu at once and asked curiously, "Does the young lady have a matching line?"
Li Yunxiu nodded. Without wasting words, she said in a clear voice, "'Three flowers the fire dims; five lanterns the mountain glows. Flower lanterns fill the city, where mountain and fire blaze brilliant.'"
One and nine were the extremes of numbers, while three and five paired with them naturally. "Flower lanterns" matched "Yuanxiao," mountain matched fire, bright matched dark, and the characters for mountain and fire combined to form the character for "brilliant," evoking the radiant splendor of lanterns filling the city. It was perfectly balanced in tone and structure, with an imagery that matched flawlessly.
"Bravo!" The spectators who understood the verse burst into enthusiastic applause.
The shop assistant hurriedly cupped his hands, loudly reciting Li Yunxiu's lower line for all to hear, before asking respectfully, "Which lantern would the young lady like?"
Li Yunxiu pointed to the sheep lantern he had held earlier and hung back on the rack. "I'll take that one."
"Right away!" The assistant hastily took down the lantern and handed it to Li Yunxiu.
Li Yunxiu immediately turned and passed it to Ardai.
"Thank you, Sister Yunxiu!" Ardai cheered happily.
Li Yunxiu turned to Wang Yu. "Let's go."
Wang Yu shook his head, pointing at the lotus lantern in her hand. "This lantern isn't as nice as the ones from Yayun Zhai."
Li Yunxiu raised an eyebrow and looked at him, not understanding what he meant.
Then she watched as Wang Yu turned and walked toward the shop himself.
Surprise filled Li Yunxiu's eyes as she watched his back. With just two or three strides, Wang Yu arrived before the shop assistant.
Seeing Wang Yu dressed in luxurious robes and carrying himself with striking, handsome grace, the assistant did not dare slight him. He bowed with cupped hands and asked, "May I ask if this young master also has a matching line?"
Wang Yu nodded. "Indeed, I have one as well."
The assistant made a welcoming gesture. "Please go ahead, Young Master."
Then the onlookers heard this young man, who appeared refined, cultured, and brimming with scholarly talent, declare in a clear, resonant voice:
"'One day the passion stirs; nine nights it does not cease. As day and night alternate, the heart bears no regrets.'"
The crowd fell dead silent.
Everyone was stunned. Several young men could not resist grinning wickedly, their eyes gleaming with the admiring look one gave a kindred spirit.
"Who is this fellow? He doesn't look like a student from Wensong Academy or Hanlu Academy."
"What talent! Truly great talent! I must make friends with him later and bring him along the next time we go to Caifeng Pavilion!"
"Open your blind eyes and take a good look! The two women with him are far prettier than any girl in Caifeng Pavilion!"
"Then you clearly don't understand—wildflowers always smell sweeter than the blossoms at home!"
While the crowd below chattered away, the shop assistant on the platform stood dazed. Looking at the meaningful smirks of the men below, and the flushed cheeks and stolen glances of the young women and maidens in the crowd, he had no idea what to say for a moment.
The assistant stared at Wang Yu, and Wang Yu stared back at him. "What are you staring at? Is my couplet not balanced?"
Though Wang Yu's lower line was riddled with bawdy undertones and its artistic conception completely out of harmony with the original theme, one could not say it lacked parallel structure.
Well, strictly speaking, the Shangyuan Festival did carry romantic connotations, so one could hardly claim Wang Yu's verse was entirely unfitting...
The assistant came to his senses at once and nodded vigorously. "Balanced, perfectly balanced! Which lantern would you like, Young Master? I'll fetch it for you!"
Wang Yu pointed to the lotus lantern hanging on the other side. "That one."
"Right away!" The assistant hastily took down the lotus lantern and scurried over to hand it to Wang Yu.
When Wang Yu returned carrying the lantern with a grin, he was met by Li Yunxiu's helpless shake of her head and a half-smiling gaze, while Ardai's cheeks were flushed rosy red, her eyes sparkling.
Wang Yu looked at Ardai. "You understood it?"
Ardai finally giggled aloud. "Brother Zhao, your couplet wasn't even subtle—how could I not understand?"
Ardai had merely studied less; she was hardly illiterate.
Wang Yu gave a chuckle, pushed the newly won lotus lantern into Li Yunxiu's hands, took the plainer one she had been carrying, and said, "Let's go."
Li Yunxiu's heart skipped a beat. Taking a deep breath, she followed alongside him.
Ardai's eyes flickered as she glanced at the lotus lantern in Li Yunxiu's hand, suddenly feeling that her little sheep lantern wasn't quite as pretty anymore.
Trailing behind them, Zhao Shan and Zhao He exchanged a glance, mutual admiration flashing in their eyes, and hastily hurried to catch up.
Chapter 105