The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 790 - 719: Guessing Lantern Riddles

Chapter 790: Chapter 719: Guessing Lantern Riddles

The door to the private room closed in front of County Magistrate Yang, who shook his head and walked into his own chamber with his hands clasped behind his back.

He went to the window and took a glance at the street outside, which was gradually getting busier, nodded in satisfaction, and turned to give an order, "Light a few more lamps to make the room brighter."

The yamen runner complied and lit a few more lamps before standing by with his hands clasped.

County Magistrate Yang stood at the window with his hands behind his back, watching the lively scene below and said, "Go tell County Captain Zhang that everyone should put in extra effort tonight to ensure the safety of the entire city. After the Lantern Festival, I’ll reward them handsomely."

The yamen runner agreed with enthusiasm, knowing that when the County Magistrate promised a generous reward, he meant it.

Manbao pulled her two friends back to the private room, and Bai Erlang asked, "Will your family split up?"

"No," Manbao replied. "My dad said as long as he and my mom are still around, our family won’t split up."

Even Bai Shan couldn’t help but be amazed. "Your parents can still work in the fields; how many years will that be later? No wonder County Magistrate Yang is anxious. By then, your grandnephews would have already grown up, right?"

Manbao did the math and admitted it was true, but added, "Better to benefit one’s own family than the yamen, huh. If we split up, each of my six brothers would have to serve in forced labor every year. It’s fine now with County Magistrate Yang in charge, but what if we get a bad one in the future? Wouldn’t that mean a one-way ticket?"

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had both been to see the forced labor and indeed, it was very hard. Almost everyone who returned from their service had lost a significant amount of weight.

But according to laborers, County Magistrate Fu treated them quite well; at least they started and finished work on time every day, and work was suspended during rain or snow, so they didn’t have to work overnight in the bad weather, which would have been truly life-threatening.

With that in mind, Bai Shan nodded and said, "Then it’s better not to split up the family."

Manbao finally understood a bit of her dad’s unwillingness to split up the family and laughed, "No wonder my dad is so adamant about not splitting up."

Bai Shan said, "No wonder people in the village always say having an elder is like having a treasure; every time an old person in the village passes away, their family seems so heartbroken, even though they weren’t that dutiful in life."

"Eh, whose family are you talking about? I always thought our villagers were quite dutiful," countered Manbao.

Bai Shan replied, "So-so, I guess. They’re not undutiful, but I wouldn’t say they’re exceptionally dutiful either."

He didn’t specify which family and went to the window, saying, "Look, the lanterns on the mountain are starting to light up."

Manbao and Bai Erlang immediately shifted their attention and rushed to look outside, only to see the lantern mountains within their field of view lighting up bit by bit. In less than a moment, an entire mountain made of lanterns was illuminated. Manbao had never seen such a lantern display before and couldn’t help but exclaim "Wow," wide-mouthed in amazement.

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had both seen it before, but as they were still young, seeing it again thrilled them no less, and they unwittingly joined Manbao in exclaiming "Wow" aloud.

County Magistrate Yang, standing by the window next door, couldn’t help but shake his head and smile upon hearing the exclamations from the adjacent room.

He watched the people outside cheering and revealed a contented smile.

In truth, this wasn’t very lively compared to the festivities he had seen before – it didn’t even compare to one-tenth of the bustle he had experienced – but he still found this atmosphere comforting.

County Magistrate Yang thought, perhaps it was because this was the city he governed?

Didn’t he play a part in creating this lively atmosphere?

The three youngsters, Manbao among them, stood on their tiptoes, craning their necks at the window to see all the lanterns on the mountains get lit, then turned around and called out to their friends with excitement, "Come on, let’s go down and have a look."

The trio and Daji ran downstairs. Bai Shan took out a small silver piece and tossed it to the shopkeeper, "We’ve booked the room. We’ll be back later for a late-night snack, so please keep an eye on our door for us."

The shopkeeper promptly acknowledged, watching the three run out of the wine house.

Daji followed the three, sticking closely to Bai Shan as soon as they went out.

Although the street was crowded with people, they weren’t jam-packed, so they wouldn’t get separated, but it wasn’t feasible to run either. The three moved forward together, occasionally stopping to look at items or lanterns for sale on the roadside stalls.

Then...

"Wow, this lantern is so beautiful, hey, Silang, what a coincidence, you’re here too?"

Zhou Silang turned his head, greeted the trio, then continued on with his wife, resuming their own shopping.

After browsing for a while longer, Bai Shan thought a toy at one of the roadside stalls was amazing, started to take a look, and suddenly someone called out, "Young lady, you’re here too? We’ve already finished looking around, so take your time. We’re going to play over there..."

As they ambled their way to the lantern mountain, the trio bumped into several acquaintances, including the Zhou Family and other villagers. But there were no long exchanges – after all, if they wanted to talk, they could do so any day in the village, so most exchanges were simply a quick greeting before everyone went their separate ways to have fun.

Finally making it to the base of the lantern mountain, the three of them looked up at the constructed lanterns and joined the flow of people starting to circle around the mountain.

"Look, there are riddles on the top; if you guess them right, you can take a lantern," exclaimed Bai Erlang, who had sharp eyes and spotted the writing on the lanterns.

Bai Erlang squinted his eyes to see the riddles above, and, catching the excitement, Manbao and Bai Shan squinted as well.

After one round, the three were each holding a lantern, and subconsciously compared the lanterns in their hands, then laughed together. Manbao, holding her lotus lantern, boasted, "Mine is the tallest and the prettiest."

Of course, the riddle was also the most difficult.

Bai Shan replied, "That’s because you have the best eyesight. If it weren’t for the fact that I couldn’t see the riddle on the top lantern, I would have guessed it right."

"I could have too," said Manbao.

"Me too!" chimed in Bai Erlang.

Since they couldn’t possibly climb up to see the riddles, it was easy to brag without proof.

This was also a rule among the lantern mountain financiers. Usually, the lantern hanging at the very top was the best and most expensive, with the most difficult riddle. In order not to let someone guess it right, you had to figure out how to see the riddle for yourself.

Of course, not every place played by these rules. In big cities like Yizhou City and the capital, where there were many wealthy people, they didn’t mind giving away lanterns, so riddles were displayed openly. If you liked one, there were copies prepared underneath, and someone would fetch the lantern for you once you guessed it correctly.

Bai Shan glanced at the crowd gathered around the lantern mountain and noticed that there were many onlookers but only a few trying to solve the riddles. His eyes twinkling, he tugged at Manbao and said, "Let’s go, let’s see if we can solve the riddles for all the lantern mountains. We could each choose one lantern we like and guess, how about that?"

Manbao liked the sound of this game, her eyes sparkling as she nodded, "Sounds good!"

Bai Erlang naturally tagged along, expressing a bit of timidity, "If I can’t guess it right, you guys have to help me."

Bai Shan and Manbao stood to his left and right, sandwiching him in the middle and reassuring him, "Don’t worry, we’ll definitely help you, and I think the riddles in our county are not that hard."