Chapter 32 – Lantern Festival (Part 3)

Cheng-shi walked over and pulled Sixth Boy into her arms, speaking gently and softly to comfort him.

When Sixth Boy started choking earlier, Cheng-shi had been laughing happily at the playful argument between Sun-shi and Wu-shi at her own table and hadn’t noticed immediately.

By the time she heard the commotion and realized something was wrong, Xia Daohua had already rushed over to save him.

Now that the child had been rescued from the brink of death, everyone began to feel the lingering fear of what could have happened.

All the mothers started instructing their children—bite and chew the rice balls thoroughly before swallowing, never swallow them whole, and don’t speak when you still have food in your mouth, and so on.

Xia Daohua quietly returned to her seat, hoping from the bottom of her heart that everyone would forget what had just happened.

But clearly, that was impossible.

After Cheng-shi had soothed Sixth Boy, she brought him over to Xia Daohua and made him bow deeply to her in gratitude, thanking his Ninth Sister Daohua for her quick thinking and decisive action that saved his life.

Sixth Boy obediently bowed and said in a clear, earnest child’s voice, “Thank you, Ninth Sister, for saving my life.”

Xia Daohua quickly dodged and, blushing, said:

“Fifth Aunt, there’s no need to be so formal. Sixth Boy is my little brother—of course I helped him. It’s what anyone would do.”

But Cheng-shi said seriously, “Daohua, you’re a good child. Fifth Aunt will remember what you’ve done. If you don’t want me to be formal, then in the future, don’t be formal with me either.”

Seeing Cheng-shi’s expectant expression, Xia Daohua could only nod in agreement. Cheng-shi finally smiled in satisfaction.

Madam Zhou glanced at Xia Daohua, lost in thought.

The others also watched Xia Daohua closely. Seeing how modest and unassuming she was, not at all boastful, they all began praising her cleverness and sensibility.

Jiang-shi beamed with pride, her eyebrows and eyes full of delight, even as she pretended to remain calm and modestly brushed off some of the praise on Xia Daohua’s behalf.

A moment later, the atmosphere in the Xia household returned to its lively, festive cheer.

This little episode passed and was left behind.

Still, everyone had become more cautious. The mothers especially, while chatting and laughing, now kept a closer eye on their children.

Even Sun-shi and Wu-shi, who had been squabbling so merrily before, quieted down and paid more attention to their kids.

After eating the rice balls, drinking a bit of sweet soup, and resting for a while, the Xia family got ready to head to town for the lantern festival, just as planned.

Beiguan County was over a hundred li from Beiguan Village, but Beiguan Town was only a few dozen li away.

Even carrying a load of over a hundred catties, most villagers could reach town in under an hour.

Many families from the village were also heading to the lantern festival, so groups of neighbors and friends gathered to walk together, chatting and laughing along the way, making the journey lively and pleasant.

Xia Dalang supported Zhu-shi, and Jinhua pulled Yinhuā as they walked at the front.

Xia Youcai and Liu-shi attentively accompanied the elderly couple.

The second branch wasn’t about to be outdone and followed closely, constantly keeping an eye on the elders’ movements.

Xia Yujiao walked beside Madam Zhou, finally smiling again.

Second Brother and Taohua naturally took it upon themselves to look after the younger siblings.

But Third Brother and Fourth Brother—those two mischievous monkeys—couldn’t behave for even a moment. They darted around the crowd, causing bursts of gasps and scolding laughter wherever they went.

The third branch arranged for Lanhua and Juhua to walk behind Xinghua and Meihua, with the couple themselves walking behind their daughters. That way, they could keep an eye on the girls while chatting with the fourth branch.

Lihua held Xia Daohua’s hand, and Fifth Boy held Linghua’s as they closely followed Xia Youtian and Jiang-shi.

The entire Xia family turned out, excited and in high spirits.

There were many other families in the village doing just the same—taking the whole household to the lantern fair.

Even looking back, Beiguan Village was still brightly lit.

Xia Daohua’s legs were sore by the time they reached the town.

There were more guards than usual stationed at the town entrance, and a long line stretched as far as the eye could see.

It turned out that for today’s festival, the entry fee had been waived.

As soon as word spread to the nearby suburbs, everyone rushed over with their entire families. Naturally, the crowd was many times larger than usual.

But perhaps to prevent trouble, the guards at the gate were especially thorough with inspections.

Familiar faces passed easily, but if someone looked unfamiliar, not only would their bags be checked—they’d also be asked to produce a travel permit. If they couldn’t, they’d be detained and chained up on the spot.

The Xia family waited in line for nearly fifteen minutes before finally entering the town.

The lantern festival truly lived up to its name.

The marketplace was packed to the brim, shoulder to shoulder, so much so that the Xia family members were pressed tightly together. They could barely move and had no choice but to be swept along with the crowd.

From the entrance onward, lantern poles lined the road, each hung with numerous round, red palace lanterns.

Shops that normally displayed banners to attract customers were now brightly lit and decorated with various beautifully shaped lanterns at their doorways.

Some stalls had riddles written on the lanterns for people to guess.

Others showcased massive, uniquely designed decorative lanterns.

Xia Daohua remained calm, but the rest of the Xia family gasped in wonder again and again.

At the entrance to the lantern festival stood two enormous palace lanterns, taller than a person, designed in traditional octagonal style.

Made of fine wooden frames and translucent silk screens, with auspicious red backgrounds and meticulously hand-painted figures, their expressions lifelike and vivid.

Inside the lanterns burned thick wax candles—thicker than an adult’s thumb but thinner than a baby’s arm—that bathed the lantern square and the ground in a warm red glow.

Each of the large lanterns was surrounded by a short fence, reaching only about knee-high, clearly meant to keep people from getting too close.

They were to be admired from afar, not touched.

From there on, every few hundred meters, another beautiful large lantern was displayed.

Most were palace-style lanterns in varying shapes—some with eight corners, some six, others four—creating subtle variations in design.

Each also featured unique decorations.

For instance, the third lantern used a thin brocade silk surface with butterflies of all sizes made from gold foil paper attached to it. When the wind blew, the butterflies’ wings trembled slightly, as if ready to take flight.

Or the seventh lantern, a standard six-sided palace lamp, had dozens of pink peony silk flowers affixed to its surface, layered and delicate like real blossoms—strikingly beautiful.

The Xia family continued shuffling forward with the crowd, admiring all sorts of rare and delightful sights along the way.

But then, the crowd ahead suddenly started to stir—

Hehe, can you guess what happened next?

(End of Chapter)