"Candied haws - candied haws made from fresh hawthorns -"

"A bowl of distiller's grains dumplings, five cents!"

"Look, girl, this little rabbit lamp is snow-white, so cute! Would you like one?"

"He Lantern makes a wish! Wishes come true!"

"Hey, my lord, please stop! Seeing that you have an extraordinary bearing, you must be a scholar, right? Would you like to take a look at our newly bound "Three Biography of Spring and Autumn"?"

The long street was bustling and bustling. Ming Tan, with sharp ears, took Lin Shurong's arm and said excitedly, "There are candied haws on the left! Let's go and see!"

Lin Shurong turned her head and glanced at the bookstore on the right that was soliciting sales, smiled meaningfully, and followed Ming Tan's strength to walk to the left.

"Hey, girls, do you want to string candied haws?"

The peddler was hugging his candied haws stand. When he saw two luxuriously dressed girls walking in front of him, he immediately smiled enthusiastically and said, "My hawthorn is the freshest, and it's sweeter than the icing sugar on top." !"

"Hey, really?" Ming Tan looked at the candied haws on the pole in surprise, and saw that all of them were red and round, which was very pleasing.

She couldn't help being moved, she tugged on Lin Shurong's sleeve, and said confidently: "Please treat me!"

Lin Shurong laughed, and seeing the peddler making a "four" gesture, he took out his purse, touched four coins from it, and handed it to the other party.

The peddler accepted the money with a smile, handed over two bunches of candied haws, thought for a while and said, "Today is the Fangji Lantern Festival, and it's rare for old man Wen to come out of the stall. His river lanterns are famous in the capital for their efficacy! Two If the girl is interested, you can walk up to the river, otherwise it will be crowded with people." He looked at the older Lin Shurong, and winked his eyes kindly, "I also heard that the young ones put out lights to beg Marriage, but one must ask for one!"

Lin Shurong frowned, and was about to say something, but Ming Tan who was at the side was already eager to speak first: "Okay, thank you brother for reminding me!"

Afraid of queuing up later, she was anxious and pulled Lin Shurong to turn around and leave.

"...Your Highness," the latter joked helplessly after being dragged all the way by her, "You are still so young, do you have a marriage you want to ask for?"

"Bah, bah, who wants to ask for marriage?"

Ming Tan squinted at her, and suddenly seemed to think of something, narrowed his eyes, and gossiped maliciously: "It's you... Miss Lin's beauty and talent are well-known, and she is about to reach the age of Ji, and the ice people still have a good reputation." Didn't you break through the threshold of your Lin Mansion?"

Although Ming Tan almost engraved the words "Do you have someone you like" on his face, Lin Shurong still had a calm expression on his face, and did not answer. Pushing the candied haws in his hand to the latter's mouth, he said with a smile, "Eat yours."

Ming Tan told Candied Haws to gag, and rolled his eyes reluctantly, but at least he didn't gossip.

The two of them walked slowly towards the river, with Mallow and another maid from the Lin family following behind; from a distance, the long street was brightly lit and people were coming and going, and many women were holding a lantern in their hands , Qiao Xiaoqian said, looking at the direction is also going to the river.

"I've also heard about the name of the Wenjiahe Lantern Shop's efficacy," Lin Shurong said thoughtfully, "plus it will be the Qiqiao Festival soon... no wonder there are so many girls going there."

Ming Tan felt a sudden sense of crisis from what she said, stood on tiptoe, looked at the river, saw that the water surface was still pitch black, not very bright, but felt relieved again, and bit off half of it with a "click" candied haws.

"Hey - so sour!"

The sourness of the hawthorn immediately exploded in the mouth, and even the icing could not relieve it much.Ming Tan covered his cheeks, almost burst into tears from the soreness, and said angrily: "Black-hearted profiteer! Is it sweeter than icing sugar?"

Seeing the other party being so sour, Lin Shurong also became a little curious. She raised the candied haws in her hand to her lips, bit off a small piece lightly, and tasted it carefully.

"..."

Ming Tan was about to wait for her face to turn green from sourness, but saw that Lin Shurong didn't look strange at all, and even blinked, turned to the former with some doubts, and said honestly, "It's very sweet, not sour at all."

Ming Tan looked at her vigilantly, a little unbelieving, so he took another bite—this time he really cried.

"Fuck, why is this!"

The little girl was so angry that she raised her sleeves to wipe away the physical tears from the corners of her eyes, and complained sincerely: "Now the candied haws depends on the food, right?"

Lin Shurong smiled softly beside her, and didn't even hand her a handkerchief.

Ming Tan laughed so that his anger rose from his heart, and the evil turned to his guts. He kicked his feet and rushed towards Lin Shurong, grabbing the other's arm and yelling: "Give me a taste of yours!"

Lin Shurong was taken aback, and hurriedly kept her hands away, for fear that the stick would poke the other party, she said helplessly, "I've already eaten it, don't you think it's disgusting?"

"Don't dislike it!" Ming Tan said without hesitation, "Don't fight for candied haws, I want to see how sweet yours is!"

Seeing that she was so determined to compete with the candied haws, Lin Shurong hesitated for a moment, and finally turned the candied haws sideways, and handed them to Ming Tan's lips.

Although the latter was a little surprised why he was feeding her, he didn't think about it any more. He simply opened his mouth and bit off a whole hawthorn in one bite.

"...you eat slowly." Lin Shurong glanced at the stick in his hand and said speechlessly.

Ming Tan puffed his cheeks, chewed hard twice, and found that this skewer was indeed much sweeter than his own!

Not nuclear yet!

pissed her off!

"Don't eat it, don't eat it," she happened to pass by a small bucket for discarding sundries on the long street, she threw the candied haws in her hand, and said boldly, "I want to eat yours!"

Seeing that the other party was so naive, Lin Shurong couldn't help sighing, took out a handkerchief, wiped the sugar stains on the corners of Ming Tan's lips with his own hands, and then handed over his own candied haws.

But he didn't want to, Ming Tan stretched out his hand, but pushed her arm back, and said politely: "Since you paid the bill just now, then I didn't take advantage of it for nothing, let's share it."

Lin Shurong raised her eyebrows. Seeing that the other party was calm and didn't feel that there was anything wrong with what she said, she also laughed, "Okay. It's all up to you."

So, the two of them ate the string of non-sour candied haws intimately, one by one.

Mallow behind her raised her eyes, saw the figures of the two girls rubbing against each other, pursed the corners of her lips, and lowered her head again.

It seems that Miss Lin's status in the princess's heart...is no longer what it used to be.

……

When Ming Tan swallowed the last mouthful of hawthorn, they finally came to the legendary Wenjiahe Lantern Shop.

I saw an old man lazily leaning on the recliner, and a long table in front of him was covered with all kinds of river lanterns, holding a cattail fan in his hand, fanning himself one after another.

Seeing someone coming from the side, he didn't make any gestures to welcome the guests, he just raised one eyelid and said slowly: "A cup of ten coins."

"Take it casually?" Ming Tan wondered.

The old man waved his hand like chasing flies: "Take whatever you want."

Ming Tan: "..."

She rolled her eyes, and was about to grab one from the table when she saw the old man suddenly opened his eyes, sat up straight, and quickly took out two more lamps from the cardboard box next to the recliner, with a "snap" Dropped it in the middle of the table.

Ming Tan was startled, and retracted his hands——after a closer look, he found that these two new lamps were very different from the others, it could be called the difference between cloud and mud.

"..." Ming Tan looked at the crumpled lotus lanterns next to them, then at the pair of exquisite dragon boat and phoenix boat lanterns in the middle, and asked again quite speechlessly, "Take whatever you want?"

The old man still seemed to be chasing flies, shaking the cattail fan quickly, and said in the tone of talking to a fool: "Take whatever you want."

Ming Tan narrowed his eyes, grabbed a lotus lantern, and turned to leave.

"Ehhh!"

At this moment, the old man immediately jumped up from the reclining chair, threw the fan, blew his beard and stared and said, "You girl, are you an idiot?"

"You're the idiot."

Ming Tan raised his hands, glanced at him with hanging eyes, and said coldly, "Say, who are you?"

"...an ordinary Hedeng shop owner." The old man talked about him from left to right, "You can call me Old Man Wen. That's what they all call me anyway."

"Am I asking you this?" Ming Tan sneered, staring at him unkindly, "Why did you deliberately take out two new lamps?"

The old man was silent for a while, but he was not afraid of Mingtan's aura at all.Self-consciously, he stretched his arms, picked up the cattail fan from the chair again, and said slowly while fanning: "Your man should be equipped with a noble lamp."

As soon as these words came out, not only Ming Tan squinted his eyes, but even Lin Shurong's expression darkened instantly, subconsciously reached out to stop Ming Tan behind him, and said coldly: "Who are you?!"

"Oh, didn't you just say that, just call me old man Wen." Old man Wen smiled nonchalantly as if he didn't see the two guarding.

"...you recognize me." Ming Tan, who was firmly blocked by Lin Shurong, stretched out his hand, patted the former's shoulder comfortingly, and said calmly, "What's your purpose?"

Hearing this, old man Wen put on that expression of looking at a fool again, his face was speechless, "If I really have some purpose, why should I let you know that I know you?"

"..."

This seems to be quite logical.

Ming Tan looked at him for a while, and found that old man Wen still looked tired, seemingly harmless, so he relaxed a little, but still kept vigilant, and continued to ask him: "Since you are so honest , then let me ask you: Is there something strange about this lamp?"

"It's nothing strange," Old Man Wen said, "It's just more effective than the lotus lantern."

"Effective?" Ming Tan snorted coldly, "Do you think I would be so credulous about these ghosts?"

However, upon hearing her words, old man Wen suddenly seemed to be a little more interested. He beat the palm-leaf fan faster in his hand, and his slightly cloudy eyes lit up slightly.

He rubbed his chin, and said slowly: "I don't know about others, but you girl...you shouldn't believe in such ghosts."

"—!"

Ming Tan suddenly opened his eyes wide.

She stared blankly at the other party, her face turned pale, and she said in amazement: "You..."

Lin Shurong was keenly aware of her abnormality, and frowned. Just as she was about to inquire, she saw old man Wen turn his gaze to him, and jokingly said, "You're just a lay disciple who obsesses over that stinky old man, right?"

"Crazy about the abbot?"

Seeing him mentioning this name, Lin Shurong was taken aback for a moment, as if he suddenly remembered something, he couldn't help but asked suspiciously, "Could it be that you are...the one from the Pochen View..."

Old man Wen quickly waved his hand, and interrupted: "I've been out of the vulgar for a long time, why should I miss the old things?"

"..."

Hearing the other party readily admit his identity, Lin Shurong finally heaved a sigh of relief, put down his hands, turned his head and whispered to Ming Tan: "Your Highness, there is no need to worry. This is my master, the best friend of the abbot of Ci'an Temple, the head of Shangshui."

"Hey," old man Wen frowned, "it's all about the past."

But even so, Ming Tan couldn't relax at all. On the contrary, after Lin Shurong revealed the identity of old man Wen, he became even more worried.

She tried her best to restrain the trembling of her body, took a deep breath, gritted her teeth and said, "So, what do you want to do when you meet me today?"

"You are so weird, girl," Old Man Wen yawned, and said coolly, "Aren't you the one who wants to buy lamps from me?"

Ming Tan: "..."

Makes sense.

The clown was me.

She was silent for a while, and finally calmed down a lot, and said dryly: "Is there really no problem with these two lamps?"

"I love to buy it or not."

Old man Wen seemed to have lost his temper at the moment, he rolled his eyes, pouted his mouth to the side, and said very humblely, "One mile to the east is Aunt Zhao's lamp shop, please walk slowly!"

The corner of Mingtan's mouth twitched, he stared at him for a long while, then suddenly he made a move like lightning, grabbed the two dragon and phoenix boat lanterns, raised his head high and said: "If you have an advantage, don't take advantage of it, you think I'm a fool! She turned her head to Lin Shurong, and said as a matter of course, "Pay him quickly, so that the old man won't regret it!"

Old Man Wen: "..."

Seeing that she had finally returned to normal, Lin Shurong couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, took out two ingots of silver from her purse and put them on the table, and said softly, "Please, Daoist."

Old man Wen had sharp eyes and quick hands, muttering "Little girl is really difficult to serve", and quickly put the two ingots of silver into his sleeve, and urged impatiently: "Okay, the money and the goods are both paid, hurry up and go away."

Ming Tan rolled his eyes, too lazy to spend too much time with this childish old man.

However, as soon as she turned around and took two steps, she heard old man Wen playing the cattail fan again, and slowly reminded: "This pair of lamps is very effective - remember to think carefully when making a wish, and don't waste the old man's heart ah--"

Ming Tan squeezed He Deng's fingertips tightly, raised his voice and said lightly: "Thank you, I will keep it in mind."

……

The candied haws peddler was sincere except that the hawthorn was occasionally too sour, and the riverside was indeed not that crowded at this time.

Ming Tan was standing by the water, playing with the river lantern in his hand.

This lamp is made into the shape of a dragon boat. At the head of the boat is a lifelike dragon head, with two horns, long beard and sharp teeth. It looks very majestic and fierce; And the bend is really vivid.

At the dragon's spine in the middle, there is a small lamp that has not been lit yet.The outer cover is a detachable oiled paper frame, which can not only protect the candles inside from being blown out by the river wind, but also carry the wish notes written by the lamp holders.

Ming Tan lowered his eyes, and lightly rubbed his fingertips against the dense and realistic cyan dragon scales on Cengzhou's body.

——Emperor Mingyi personally took the small characters for the Ninth Princess when she was born...it was called "Dragon Scale".

"It's hard not to think too much."

Ming Tan murmured to himself, then turned his head, and saw that Lin Shurong had already dismantled her phoenix boat lantern—it looked similar to Ming Tan’s, with the phoenix head at the front and the tail feathers at the back—and took out the lantern inside. On the hemp paper and graphite strips, words are being written stroke by stroke.

So fast?

Ming Tan was a little curious, and when he was about to lean over to see what she had written, Lin Shurong turned around deftly, avoiding the former's gaze, and said with a smile, "Your Highness will also be interested in my wish?"

"...Who cares?" Ming Tan who was caught curled his lips, and quickly disassembled his own lamp, holding a pen, and carefully wrote on it without thinking.

——May I inherit from the sky, and the world will be peaceful; the weather will be smooth, and the sea and rivers will be clear.

After writing these sixteen big characters, she didn't write any more, and simply folded the note and stuffed it into the small interlayer of the oiled paper cover.

Now it's just a matter of turning on the lights.

Ming Tan rolled his eyes, covered his mouth and snickered twice, tiptoed to behind Lin Shurong, tiptoed abruptly, and instantly saw the last line written by her.

"...Three wishes and nine princesses can finally fulfill their long-cherished wish—"

Lin Shurong was taken aback, and stretched out his hand to cover the paper reflexively, turned his head and smiled angrily, "Your Highness, don't look...what if it doesn't work?"

Ming Tan raised his eyebrows, not intending to admit his mistake at all, instead, he moved closer to her and smiled, "I can't see that Miss Lin cares about me so much?"

"...Since I am His Highness's companion, I can also be considered His Highness's subject," Lin Shurong wrote lightly, "How can a subject not serve the monarch wholeheartedly?"

Ming Tan wrinkled his nose, and complained: "Your metaphor is so strange. Could it be that all the courtiers will be loyal to the king?... Forget it, that's not the point."

She didn't want to argue about it, put aside these distracting thoughts, stood on tiptoe under Lin Shurong's calm eyes, raised her hand and tightly grasped the latter's front, and smiled.

Thousands of lights were instantly reflected in her eyes.

Ming Tan leaned close to Lin Shurong's ear, with a soft and soft tone, deliberately took the last two words of her name, and whispered teasingly: "Qingqing—"

"Do you, like me a little bit?"

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