Ordinary clear day

Chapter 35 Ice Lantern
Zhang Bao was stunned: "Thoughts? What thoughts?" Then he came to his senses: "You mean, the pick-up..."

Mr. Su nodded: "It's the twelfth lunar month of winter, and there have been several heavy snowfalls. According to the situation in previous years, the weather will continue to be cold. Presumably, the cost of making ice lanterns in such weather is limited, and If it is made bigger and often asked to be looked after, as long as it is careful not to damage it, it can be frozen for at least ten and a half months without melting, right?"

Zhang Bao thought about it, and it turned out to be a good idea, so he said: "Sir, you are polite. I will talk about it with Mr. Fu Yin tomorrow. It will not be difficult to find some carvers in the city. As for the ice lantern method, I will turn around later." I asked a few children to write a detailed method, and then asked someone to ask someone who knows how to do it, and it will be safe."

Mr. Su added: "It's best to ask the little girl who waited on her more. Didn't she say that her family did it when she was a child, so does she still remember? She seems to have said that she is from the Songhua River. If you can't find it in the city If anyone knows how to make ice lanterns, I’m afraid I’ll have to go to the Songhua River to find them.”

Zhang Bao frowned: "How is it possible? Time is too tight. If no one knows how to do it, Mr. Fu Yin will naturally find another way. Let's think about it first and prepare something else."

Seeing this, Mr. Su changed the subject and brought up the issue of the meal when picking up the driver: "Mr. An from Feihe Tower in the east of the city has already promised to be a chef. His culinary skills are very popular with the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. Almost every time he came to Fengtian, he would be asked to come into the palace to cook. It's just that Mr. Xu from Dongyuanjiang is unwilling to go out no matter what. When asked the reason, he only said that he was old and his hands and feet were not flexible. Yi, so he refused to go. But others say that he is actually in very good health, which is really boring."

But Zhang Bao smiled: "What's so strange about that? He was originally a descendant of the imperial cook of the previous dynasty, so it's not surprising that he doesn't want to work for the current court, but he's just a stubborn old man, so don't worry about it."

Mr. Su nodded: "It's just that in this way, only Mr. An can take charge of the overall situation. The students are worried that he won't be able to bear the load."

"He has a large group of disciples and grandchildren to help him. You don't have to worry about it. Besides, besides Feihe Tower and Dongyuan River, isn't there any other good restaurants in Fengtian City? Even if there are none, the palace still enshrines It's the royal chef."

What Mr. Su actually wanted to say was not this. He found that speaking too obliquely would cause troubles in communication, so he said frankly: "In the eyes of the students, no matter how exquisite the dishes dedicated to Shengjia are, they are probably not as good as The craftsmanship of the royal chefs in the imperial palace in Shangjing is so exquisite that the emperor might say that it was a waste of money, so the gain would not be worth the loss. It would be better to offer various kinds of food from Fengtian, so that the emperor and the empress dowager can also taste it. Fengtian's rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, etc.? In this way, cooking is much easier, and the emperor may think that adults are frugal and will not waste money."

Zhang Bao was awakened by his words, looked at him in surprise, and said, "Mr. is indeed my wise man, why do you want to come here? I will speak to Lord Fuyin tomorrow about the ice lantern and Fengtian food. Presumably he will also agree. If I can really make a contribution this time, it will be all thanks to my husband, and I will ask you to give me more ideas in the future."

Mr. Su just smiled modestly.He firmly believes that as long as he behaves well, he will be favored by the nobles in the future, and he will definitely have the opportunity to go to school again. When he has the opportunity to be promoted to Jinshi, with the connections he has accumulated so far, he will be able to achieve great success. To see him?The eldest brother and sister-in-law in the family must also regret it, right?
Zhang Bao called Chunxing overnight to ask about the detailed method of making ice lanterns, and Shuning added the method of making colored ice lanterns, which made him feel that this method is very feasible.Shuning guessed his thoughts slightly, and told him the ice lanterns and ice sculptures in the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in his memory, and provided sculptures such as dragons, phoenixes, tigers, lions, dogs, fish, and birds.In fact, she was also a little bit excited. Maybe she could see the modern Harbin ice lantern show in Fengtian City hundreds of years ago?

The next day, Zhang Bao went to the yamen with Mr. Su with the detailed method of making ice lanterns.There was no news that day, only when Chang Gui went to deliver meals at noon, he saw several officials gathered together and seemed to be having a discussion meeting, but there was no consensus, and it was noisy, and the sound spread to the front yard.

When Shuning heard about this from Chang Gui, she rolled her eyes and thought about it.Most of these officials had never seen the ice lantern before, and they had no way of imagining what it looked like. They felt that it was a bit risky to pick it up just like this, but they couldn't think of other ideas.That being the case, she will show them an example, which may increase their confidence.

She poured the red paint into the water and stirred it to make a large light red ice lump, and asked Huzi to carve the most beautiful one according to the lotus in the painting "Picture of **" enshrined by Mrs. Tong in the main room. Simple single-layer lotus, although the craftsmanship is rough, you can still see the shape of the lotus.Then she took a small bowl to make a mold, put a small cup in the middle, and froze a yellow hollow lump of ice, chiseled a few small holes, used it as a flower core, poured water on it and connected it to the ice lotus, and then Insert a candle, pierce a few holes with a red-hot iron drill, put on a strong hemp rope, and an ice-red lotus lantern is made.

When it was dark and Zhang Bao was still in the yamen, Shu Ning called Chang Gui who was going to deliver food, handed him the ice lantern, and after explaining things like this, sent him out of the door.

Zhang Bao came home at Haishi. Unlike the previous few nights, his face was full of joy, as if he had got rid of the long-standing troubles.Seeing that he was so happy, Mrs. Tong asked, "Husband is so happy, but there is a plan to pick him up?"

"That's right," he nodded and said, "I proposed to decorate the palace and streets with ice sculptures and lanterns this morning. They talked about it for a long time, but they didn't have a charter. They didn't say yes, and they didn't say no. It was a waste of time. Then, the time passed day by day, I am afraid that when Shengjia came to the gate of Fengtian City, they hadn't reached a conclusion yet. But when they saw the ice lantern that Changgui brought me food, they let go It took a few hours just to arrange the details of the various places. Wouldn’t it be enough to agree early in the morning? A lot of time wasted in vain!”

He patted Shu Ning's head, and said lovingly: "My good girl is really smart, no one else can compare to her." The father and daughter looked at each other and smiled.

After one night, the entire Fengtian City was busy.Different from cleaning the snow on the streets and renovating the houses in the streets before, what people have to do this time is to dig out ice blocks from rivers, lakes, ponds and other places inside and outside the city, and call all the craftsmen to do the carving.

Because of the lack of time, the requirements for ice sculptures in the city are lower, and only a general appearance is required. Only the sculptures in the palace are carefully made, and they must be lifelike and meticulously carved.Most of the ice cubes are white or light green, and the rest of the colored ice cubes are made of water with pigments, but they are not big. Some craftsmen came up with the idea of ​​connecting several smaller colored ice cubes Together, add water to pour them into a large block, and some craftsmen think of putting more paint into less water to make a thick pigment "juice", and then pour it on the surface of large white ice cubes, so that they Shows a touch of color.

During the period, there were several small snowfalls, and the snow covered the street again. Fortunately, after several cleanings, the road surface was not too dirty, so someone thought of pushing the snow to the side of the road to make a small snowdrift, and then put it in the middle. A small ice lamp makes the road clean and beautiful.After learning this method, the people in the palace improved it by burning long glass cups of various colors, putting candles in them, and placing the cups in the snowdrifts on both sides of the aisles in the palace. As a result, the originally boring snowdrift suddenly reflected colorful lights, which is especially beautiful at night.As long as the candles are kept away from trees and flowers, even if it catches fire, it can be extinguished immediately with the snow next to it, which can be regarded as both safety and beautification.

The big money of the palace and the government also caused a commotion among the common people.Some people saw the large ice sculptures of lions and tigers on both sides of the avenue, and they also aroused their interest, so they also made smaller ones on the side of the alleys where they lived, and carved various things according to their own preferences.When other people saw someone imitating it, they also bought horses, cows, and nobles from the Mongolian grasslands in front of their houses, and made a big roc with wings ready to fly, which was three feet long. Standing on the horse-mounting stone at the gate of their house, it attracted many people to watch.

On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, the ice lanterns and ice sculptures in the whole city were almost done, and only some detailed work was left. That night, the government government ordered the whole city to try out ice lanterns.Colorful lights lit up everywhere in the city, everywhere was full of brilliance, reflected by the white ice cubes, it was like daytime, it was really like a world of glass carved from ice and jade.Not only did the common people call Amitabha Buddha, but the prefect Yuheng and many officials under him also gained some confidence in receiving the holy driver. Yuheng seemed to have seen his own road to Qingyun, and excitedly invited all the officials to come to his house After eating a big meal, he spent more than 20 jars of good wine that he had carefully collected for many years, and he regretted it when he woke up the next day.

Now just wait for the emperor and the empress dowager to come.Originally it was a matter of peace and stability, but who knew that God was playing tricks, and the sun was hanging for three days in a row, and the weather was much warmer.This was a good thing, but the people in the Fengtian City Government Office couldn’t laugh. Some of the smaller ice sculptures and ice lanterns were already starting to melt due to the sun, and the delicately carved ice lanterns in the palace were even more so. It was a little blurry, and the chief eunuch was so frightened that he hurriedly summoned all the craftsmen to mend it carefully.

But seeing that the holy car is coming soon, if the weather continues to get warmer, when the emperor and empress dowager arrive, it will be too ugly if the ice melts.Yu Heng asked people to repair the ice lanterns that had started to melt, and at the same time asked people to find out the exact date of Sheng Jia's arrival in Fengtian, feeling anxious like fire.

After being in such a hurry for a few days, when there was definite news that Shengjia was only a day and a half away from Fengtian, it snowed again.The snow wasn't too big, but it was enough to freeze the ice that had already melted a little, and let the worried people put down their beating hearts again.Yuheng gathered people to sweep the snow, make snowdrifts, place glass lamps or ice lamps in the snowdrifts, clean up the snow on the surface of the ice lamps and ice sculptures, and ask people to distribute clean clothes and arrange them next to the road. The people knelt down to welcome the holy car, told them what they should do and what they couldn't do, and asked the guards in the city to strictly guard the main roads and streets and alleys to prevent people from making trouble.

Everything is ready, just waiting for the holy driver.

(End of this chapter)