Ordinary clear day

Chapter 33
The "cotton boots" carefully sewn by his daughter made Zhang Bao more popular among his colleagues. He decided to choose something good as a thank you gift.At the end of the year, the little officials sent a few new gadgets, including a scented candle, a total of four, in four colors: red, blue, green, and yellow.This kind of candle has been popular in the capital since autumn, but it is expensive, and only rich people can afford it. Compared with ordinary candles, it is just a little more colorful and fragrant, so it is favored by the women of rich families. welcome.Fengtian City has only just started to be sold, and the supply to a few palaces alone exceeds the demand. I don't know how the little official got it.Zhang Bao gave this kind of precious and impractical thing to his daughter. It cost nothing and could please her.

Shu Ning liked this gift very much, it reminded her of scented candles in modern society, although it didn't have that kind of effect, it was good to look happy.

At night, she lit a green candle in the room, and the whole room exuded a faint floral fragrance, reflecting a circle of light green light, like a dream.She sighed and lay on the bed to admire quietly.

Chun Xing propped her chin up, sitting at the table, looking at the candlelight with blurred eyes, and murmured: "It's so beautiful. When I was a child during the Lantern Festival, my father couldn't afford lanterns, so he made poor stick lanterns. Putting the candle in, the wind will not extinguish it no matter how it blows. At that time, I like to cover the lampshade with a floral cloth, and the light will shine through the pattern on the cloth, which is very beautiful when it shines on the wall. Unfortunately, I Haven't seen a poor guy's lamp in years."

Shuning raised her head and asked her, "Where's your father? Where is he now?"

"Dead. The one who fell into the river while fishing and drowned was in the winter night."

Shu Ning felt a little heavy, so she changed the topic: "What is the poor stick lamp you mentioned just now?"

Chun Xing sat up straight, stretched her waist, and replied: "It is made of ice, and some people call it an ice lantern. My family used to be fishermen on the banks of the Songhua River. I heard that the ancestors would go out to fish in the winter night." , pour water into a pail, and get it out while it is still fresh, and dig a hole in the middle of the ice, and put a candle in it, and put it in the boat as a lantern, and the wind will not blow it out. It has been passed down there for decades. Later, during Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival, people in our area had no money to buy lanterns, so they made lanterns in this way, and put them at the door to look good, or asked children to carry them If you play with your hands, it’s a holiday. I also played when I was a child.”

It turned out to be an ice lantern.It seems that this is the prototype of the ice lantern. It originally originated from the Songhua River. Why not Harbin?
Chun Xing looked at Shu Ning looking down and thinking hard, thinking that she was wondering why she hadn't heard of such things, so she said: "Miss, it's strange that I've never heard of these things? It's actually not surprising. These are our Poor stuff, how could someone like the girl have heard of it?"

Shu Ning smiled slightly: "That's not true. I once read Mr. Gu Chifang of Qizhou's "Bai Mao Tang Ji", which mentioned that he built ice and piled snow in the courtyard and lit candles in it. The scene was very beautiful. Some people also wrote I have read the article describing ice lanterns, and I heard that in the capital, there are people who exhibited ice lanterns at the Shangyuan Lantern Festival. How about we learn from him? You have seen ice lanterns, so you should know how to make them, right?"

Chun Xing hesitated: "Although I saw my father do it, I haven't done it myself. It's not difficult to think about it, but why do you want to do these poor things?"

Shu Ning disagreed: "Who says it's something for the poor? Ice and snow are bestowed by God, so anyone can play with them, right? You just recalled playing with ice lanterns when you were a child, don't you miss it? Let's do it." Let's do it."

Chun Xing was a little moved when she heard it, and was also aroused by her interest. She nodded and said: "Okay, let's do it tomorrow. We will finish it during the day and light up the lights to play at night."

Immediately, the two of them made an agreement, and after some planning, they cleaned up and went to bed.

When I woke up the next day, I found that it had snowed in the middle of the night, and the yard that had been cleaned had been filled again.Shu Ning was a little bit happy, and just said to make ice lanterns, and it snowed a lot, which is really too embarrassing.Chun Xing was a bit worried: "Snow is so heavy, the poor people in the city won't freeze to death, right?" Shu Ning comforted her: "It doesn't matter, the yamen started to resettle them last year, and it was even colder than now , didn’t freeze to death a few, it should be better if they were resettled earlier this year.”

Ermo came into the room with a stack of clothes in her hands, and said to Chun Xing: "What's wrong with you? You don't wait for the girl to dress and comb her hair, what are you doing standing there?" Shuning smiled and said, "I don't need her to wait on me. She can do it." She gently washed her face with a handkerchief, but now it is the delicate skin of a little girl, so it can't be damaged by rubbing too hard, although she is not a beauty, she still needs to be cultivated the day after tomorrow, so that she can be a beautiful woman What a beautiful woman.

Chun Xing was a little embarrassed, and hurried up to help her. After she finished washing, she took the basin and poured it out.Ermo unfolded the clothes she brought, and said: "Aunt Yang sent them last night. I was going to make a pine flower-colored spring dress for the girl at the beginning of spring at the beginning of the year. I didn't find the material for a while, so I was delayed. Now I can make up for it." , the girl will do it."

Shu Ning took a look, and it turned out to be a thick pine-colored robe, a pair of light brown trousers, and a double-breasted waistcoat trimmed with water-red satin and rabbit fur.In fact, she didn't care much about not making that dress in spring, and she's not a real child who gets angry if she doesn't get what she wants, so it's good to make it up now.She then said: "Is it a new winter coat? It's so beautiful, it's hard for you to think about it. It's just that I'm going to make ice lanterns with Chun Xing today, so let's put on the old clothes first, lest I get dirty later and let my mother scold me."

Ermo said: "Well, what is an ice lamp? Is it made of ice? Don't be cold. Why do girls like to play these days?" , now I will play for you to see, isn’t it right?” “Why not? Girls like to play, just play, but be careful not to catch a cold.” Ermo smiled and helped her change clothes, and then helped her change clothes. She combs her hair.

Chun Xing had already returned, and when she saw this, she quickly took over the comb: "I'll do it, Mommy will take a rest first." Ermo snatched back the comb and said, "Let's go, girl, I combed her hair since she was a child, what do you want?" Something? Go to the kitchen to work when you have free time, is the steamed bun ready?" Chun Xing had no choice but to go.

Shu Ning said with a smile: "Ermo, don't be angry with her. In fact, Chunxing is very busy. She also has to take care of me and do kitchen work." Ermo nodded: "I know too, the grandmother just mentioned it. I need to hire a cook or a cook seriously. Although Chunxing is doing well, but when she is in the kitchen, the girl has no one to wait on, which is really bad." Shuning said: "I don't care, sometimes it's nice to be alone. Okay." She is not an ignorant baby, she always needs someone to take care of her, and she always needs some private space, right?
In her spare time in the morning, Shuning took Chun Xing to the yard, and called Huzi A Song to help, ready shovels, buckets and chisels, and started making ice lanterns.

Spring apricot is the main force.She poured cold water into the bucket, and it didn't take long for it to freeze. She asked the two boys to carry the bucket to the old Wu's house, warmed it up a little, and the ice cubes came out.She dug out the center of the ice lump, poured out the unfrozen water inside, took out a cylindrical space, and said, "Okay, put candles in it at night, and it will be an ice lamp."

Shu Ning took it over and looked at it, it turned out that the ice lanterns in ancient times looked like this, but it was too simple, why not make some tricks.She said: "This one is done, let's make a few different ones? We can carve something on it, or get some other colors on it."

Huzi was very interested, so he asked: "Then how should I do it? I can carve things a little, but I can paint them... Could it be possible to paint them with painting ink?" Ah Song looked at him, hesitantly said: "Why? Maybe it can be painted on? Is it possible to freeze the paint in water?" There was a taste of "you are not a fool", which made the tiger pounce on it and pinch it fiercely.Shu Ning and Chun Xing ignored the familiar scene, and discussed what color to use.

The four children played for a long time, and made several ice lanterns in red, blue, and earthy yellow. Hu Zi also carved some small birds and fish on them. Chun Xing cut a few pieces of red paper to make They are sandwiched in the ice, and it is interesting to watch.

Seeing the remarkable achievements of the children, Mrs. Tong no longer blamed them for making themselves wet and embarrassed, but told them to change into clean clothes quickly, and asked someone to cook a large pot of mutton and ginger soup to dispel the cold for them. .But secretly, both Chunxing and Huzi were scolded by Ermo and ordered them not to mess around anymore.Shuning knew about it, but felt a little embarrassed.

They were in a hurry, changing clothes, making a fire, drinking soup, suddenly there was a rush of footsteps outside, and someone shouted "Yellow jacket! It's a yellow jacket!" It seemed that many people were walking on the street. Ran.Mrs. Tong hurriedly asked Changfu to find out what happened. After a long time, Changfu came to report: "It was Beijing who sent someone to pass the decree. Go in, so I don't know what happened. The slave will go back and find out." Tong waved him to go down, and was very worried, wondering if her husband would be okay in the yamen.

It was getting dark, but Zhang Bao hadn't come back yet, and even Mr. Su and Chang Gui didn't hear from him.Tong's heart was uneasy, so Duanning volunteered to go to another house to inquire about the news, and Ma San'er was also sent to wait outside the yamen.The whole family was restless.

After a while, various rumors spread, some said that the officials in the yamen had committed crimes and were arrested, others said that the poisoned wine came from Beijing, and some said that the princes of various houses went to Beijing to celebrate the New Year , one after another.The people were a little uneasy, and some hooligans wanted to take the opportunity to make trouble, because officials from all over the place gathered in the yamen, and there was no one to preside over it for a while. After a while, they were chased away by the people of the City Guard Mansion, and a few people were arrested.

After an hour, there was still no news from Zhang Bao, Ma San'er had gone back and forth twice, and the servants of other families were all waiting for news outside the yamen.But even though soldiers were surrounded there, no one was arrested, they just stood there quietly.The news from all over also showed that no one was taken away, which made the whole family feel a little more at ease.

When Duanning came back, he was the first to shout out as soon as he entered the door: "I'm not here to arrest people! It's the emperor who is coming to Fengtian!"

(End of this chapter)