Born into a farm family, I became rich by pressuring my parents.

Chapter 46 The Lantern Festival
"What's wrong? Can't walk?" Jiang Mingshun asked loudly.

There were too many people around, and there was noisy chatter and laughter everywhere. Jiang Jinyu leaned against Jiang Mingshun's ear and tried to make the sound louder: "Dad, where are we going?"

"Let's go to the Centenary Bridge in Xicheng first," Jiang Mingshun replied: "If you take a walk on the Centenary Bridge, you will be safe and healthy this year."

The Baisui Bridge is the largest bridge in Guangxin County. Because of the connotative meaning of its name, it has become one of the most important attractions in the county. It has become a custom to come here on the night of the Lantern Festival to "walk the Baisui".

The Lantern Festival Lantern Festival was not originally held here. There was a large square in the west city, and that was where the Lantern Festival was held earlier.

However, after a fire, the Lantern Festival was suspended for a few years.

Then, the new county magistrate came to take office and held the lantern festival again, but he did not dare to hold it in a lively place like before. Instead, he changed the location to Dongcheng where the Baisui Bridge is located.

One reason is that because of the custom of "walking to a hundred years old", people have the habit of coming to the Hundred Years Bridge during the Lantern Festival.

Secondly, I also paid attention to the fact that there is a stream under the bridge. After all, this can't be burned again, right?

Sure enough, there has been no fire in the Lantern Festival for so many years, and the venue of the Lantern Festival has been decided.

Jiang Jinyu hugged her father's neck and looked around.

They came in through the South City Gate. The terrain outside the South City Gate is flat and the soil is fertile, which is most suitable for growing crops, so there are many villages outside.

There are naturally many more people than other places.

Coupled with the people who live in Nancheng, the road from the city gate to the inner city can't even see the end, it is densely packed with people.

Jiang Jinyu wanted his father to wait in the nearby shop instead of rushing there when there were the most people.

But now they couldn't even turn around, let alone leave the center of the crowd.

Sighing helplessly, Jiang Jinyu prayed silently in her heart, hoping that after entering the inner city, a group of people would be diverted out, and it would be more relaxed, at least giving her space to turn around and hide.

The inner city is indeed much more relaxed than the outer city.

Jiang Jinyu looked around curiously. This was her first time in the inner city. She usually bought and sold things at the market in Nancheng and rarely went inside.

Sure enough, Jiang Jinyu thought clearly, the inner city is like a wealthy area. The streets are more than twice as wide as those in the outer city, and the roads are cleaner and tidier.

Walking towards Dongcheng, there were more people around again.

Jiang Jinyu was held by Jiang Mingshun, and her field of vision was much wider than usual. She looked out and saw the crowds of people in front of her, as if everyone around her was being carried forward.

"Dad," she whispered to Jiang Mingshun, "let's go later. There are many people in front of us."

Jiang Mingshun also saw the scene in front of him. He thought of the feeling of being trapped in the crowd in Nancheng just now, and stopped walking forward.

"Sure," Jiang Mingshun put his daughter down, held her hand tightly, and said as he walked out, "Let's go find a restaurant to have something to eat first."

They had been out for two hours, and seeing that they couldn't go back in a short time, they might as well go and have a good meal first.

Jiang Jinyu had no objection. As long as she was not allowed to squeeze in crowds of people, she would not go anywhere.

Dinner was early today, and Bai finished her household chores more than an hour earlier than usual.

She went back to the kang and lay down, leaving the last oil lamp in the room, so that the man and his daughter would not have to wash up in the dark when they came back.

In the middle of the night, a dog barked suddenly.

Immediately afterwards, other dogs in the village also started to roar, first at the head of the village, and then gradually through the entire village.

Finally, Bai Shi was awakened from her sleep by this unusual sound.

She looked to her side for the first time, but the man hadn't come back yet.Seeing that her son was about to wake up from the noise outside, she quickly picked up the child and coaxed her gently with "oh, oh" sounds in her mouth.

Bai's hands kept shaking and his eyes looked out the window without blinking.

After a while, the barking of dogs outside slowly stopped, but the crowd's voices became louder and louder.

But everything must be fine, Bai Shi kept praying silently in her heart.

She walked around the house anxiously and wanted to go out several times to check on the situation, but stopped because of the child in her arms.

I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly there was a knock on the door outside the yard.

The yard at home is very large, and the sounds from outside are already very quiet when they reach the house.

In the past, when someone came knocking on the door, Bai always thought the sound was too small to be heard. However, the sound of "ding, thump" coming through the wooden door was like thunder exploding in her ears.

She hesitated to go over.

"Sister-in-law, are you in there?" Xu Shi saw that no one came to open the door, so the people outside shouted at the top of their lungs: "I am Minghui, open the door for me."

Ms. Bai was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what she was doing and put the child back on the kang, then hurriedly ran out to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, Jiang Minghui peeked in and saw that the mule cart was not in the yard, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Ah," he hesitated and asked cautiously, "My eldest brother hasn't arrived home yet."

His eldest brother came to see him yesterday and asked him if he wanted to go to the city for a hundred years walk together.

Jiang Minghui has always been a lively person. In previous years, he would go to the lantern festival on foot, but this year he would go even more if he could ride in a mule cart.

Unexpectedly, he started to have a stomachache as soon as he got up this morning. He couldn't go anywhere far from the hut, let alone go to the city to see the lights.

Although I feel much better at night, I don’t dare to go far.

Seeing many people in the village happily going to the city, Jiang Minghui was still regretting it, but he didn't want to be woken up by the noise outside in the middle of the night. He also heard the news that the Baisui Bridge had been trampled down from the villagers who had just returned.

"Hiss." Jiang Minghui gasped, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back. There was only one thought in his mind. Fortunately, he didn't go.

After he calmed down a little, he looked around at the crowd of people who had just returned from the city, but suddenly found that his elder brother was not there.

He was stunned for a moment.

"My eldest brother didn't come back with you?" Jiang Minghui pulled the person closest to him and asked anxiously, "Have you seen him in the city?"

The person who was pulled was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "We met on the road. Mingshun also asked us if we wanted to take a mule cart, but there were too many of us so we didn't get on."

"We arrived late," he said hesitantly, "not long after we entered the city gate, there was chaos inside."

"We didn't know what happened earlier, so we just followed the people inside and ran out."

"Only after I came out did I find out that the Centenary Bridge collapsed."

"Many people fell into the river, and the whole city was in chaos."

Jiang Minghui spoke vaguely, but Bai already understood.

"So," she turned pale, grabbed Jiang Minghui's arm, and asked in a stiff tone, "didn't your eldest brother and niece run out?"

(End of this chapter)