Poor Family Chapter 521

  Chapter 521 A date at dusk (Part 1)

  Dongfeng puts flowers and thousands of trees at night, blows down, stars are like rain, and BMW carved cars are fragrant all over the road. The sound of the phoenix flute moves, the light of the jade pot turns, and the fish and the dragon dance all night; I looked for him thousands of times in the crowd, and suddenly I looked back, but the man was there, in a dimly lit place.

  —"Sapphire Case. New Year's Eve

The Lantern Festival is today's Lantern Festival, and it is also a lantern festival for the whole people. It has been prosperous since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, when the commodity economy was highly developed, the Shangyuan Festival developed to the climax in history. It has two In Bianliang, Tokyo with a population of one million, the hustle and bustle of the Shangyuan Festival is even more prosperous.

If the New Year is a day for worshiping ancestors and bonding between clans, many shops are closed and the streets are deserted, then it is the opposite when it comes to Shangyuan Festival. The legal festivals of Shangyuan Festival are the 14th, 15th and Sixteen or three days, the gates of the city will not be closed during these three days, allowing people inside and outside the city to revel all night.

After the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, lanterns began to appear on the main streets, and an atmosphere of excitement quickly fermented in the capital. The major merchants were even more eager to stock up on goods, and they were all ready to show their talents on the Lantern Festival. Make a fortune.

The most attractive thing about the Shangyuan Festival is undoubtedly the lanterns, but the lanterns in the capital are not placed randomly, but within a specified range. They are all placed on the wide streets, among which Yujie, Panlou Street, Changqing Street and Daxiangguo Temple is the four major centers. In addition, there are outside the Dongsong Gate of Zhouzhou, Xiliang Gate of Zhouzhou, Fengqiu Gate of Northern Zhouzhou, and the southern area of ​​Zhouzhou are also a sea of ​​lanterns.

All kinds of colorful sheds are set up along the streets and shops, and there are all kinds of goods such as crown combs, jewels, rouge, clothes, flowers, collar wipes, boots, toys, etc., and there are all kinds of food stalls. After getting up the long dragon, if you are tired of playing and watching, you can go to various greenhouses to listen to songs and dances, and enjoy all kinds of juggling by masters with unique skills.

The Shangyuan Festival begins on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month. Early in the morning, the capital city is decorated as a sea of ​​lights. Lanterns are set up in front of the Xuande Building in Da Nei, and lanterns are hung in every household. Lanterns are made of five-color colored glaze or even white jade and hung at the door of the house. Landscape figures, flowers and feathers are drawn on the lamps.

From the afternoon onwards, the streets are crowded with people. People can't wait to go to the streets to see it first. Numerous stalls and hawkers are vying for the site. Various color sheds start to stock up. The festive atmosphere is surging in the streets and alleys. No matter how poor people are, they will go out. Watching the lights, enjoying the rare annual festival.

  Today is not the first day of Shangyuan Festival. Tomorrow, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month will be the busiest time. The emperor will bring his concubine to the Xuande Tower to have fun with the people and throw a lot of money.

Although it wasn't to watch the lanterns, Hu Qing'er was also very itchy. She finally persuaded Sisi, and the two of them took Magpie and Yang's mother and daughter to Panlou Street and Changqing Street to watch the lanterns. On the second day, that is, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, I accompanied them to Yujie Street and Daxiangguo Temple to watch the lanterns.

Of course, when they look at the lanterns, they will sit in the bullock cart to watch the lanterns like most dignitaries. There are too many apprentices at the Shangyuan Lantern Festival, and they will stretch out their salty hands whenever they have the opportunity. This is also a stubborn disease that cannot be eradicated since ancient times. .

It is not uncommon for folk women to be robbed during the Lantern Festival in many folk stories, but it is extremely rare. Even if there is a robbery of women, it will never appear on the street. Public anger, under the siege of tens of thousands of people, a dozen people will easily be trampled to death like ants, and the murderer cannot be found, so they can only die in vain.

Li Yanqing was called by his father to help in the afternoon. This year, Baoyanzhai spent thousands of dollars to rent more than a dozen colorful sheds in various parts of the capital, and also built a huge lantern of Chang'e Flying to the Moon. There are three big characters of "Bao Yan Zhai" written on it, which is particularly eye-catching.

  Li Yanqing actually came to Baoyanzhai for nothing, his father Li Daqi just found an excuse for him to come over to discuss the marriage.

"I talked to the old general Zhong. This time the Cao family gave 200,000 yuan of dowry money, 5,000 mu of land, and a three-mu house, which is more than the dowry money that the Gao family gave to Zhouzhi County. It is said to be the highest among Cao's married daughters, so let's not be stingy!"

Although the aristocratic family was rich, they couldn't afford the extravagance at the time of marriage. Zhou Chun got a dowry of 100,000 yuan and 3,000 acres of land because he married Gao Shen's own daughter and was a Jinshi to catch his son-in-law. The dowry of tens of thousands of dollars is enough for granddaughters and the like to marry, and it is even less for concubine or distant daughters to marry.

The reason why Cao Yun got a dowry of 200,000 guan and 6,000 mu of land was mainly because Li Yanqing was from Tanhua, and Li Daqi was the owner of Baoyanzhai, so he would definitely not be stingy in marrying his only son, so Cao Yun Only this time did the family come up with the conditions for a generous marriage.

   "Father can figure it out, so don't ask me!"

  Li Yanqing turned around and wanted to slip away, but was grabbed by Li Daqi, "It's your mistake in marrying a wife, why should I worry about everything?"

   "How much dowry does father plan to give?"

  Li Daqi stretched out a finger, "I plan to give a bride price of 10,000 taels of gold."

  Li Yanqing was speechless secretly, unexpectedly ten thousand taels of gold, how much money did Bao Yanzhai earn?

   "Don't be petty, 10,000 taels of gold is worth about 200,000 guan, and the dowry to the Cao family is about the same. We are not as good as the Cao family in terms of status, but we can't be inferior to them in terms of wealth."

   "I'm not stingy, I'll let daddy figure it out!"

   "Besides, your house is a bit small. I think it's better to rent another ten-acre mansion to look better."

  Li Yanqing shook his head, "That's unnecessary. Cao's house is a big house of several hundred acres, so what if we rent a house of fifty acres, the house I live in is more than half empty!"

  Li Daqi was right when he thought about it. There is no point in fighting for face with the Cao family in the house. He sighed, "If it was Qiantang County, I wouldn't be afraid of him at all."

   "How many houses did Dad buy in Qiantang County?"

   "At least thousands of acres! You, a bastard, encouraged you to buy so many houses, but they were captured by Fang La. I don't know if the government recognizes it or not!"

   "How could it be denied? There are records in the government. Even if the records are burned, we have the deed in our hands, so what are we worried about?"

  Li Daqi nodded, "I'm going to go to Hangzhou after I've set your wedding date, and get the house done, and I'll start working on your wedding when I get back."

  The Cao family is going to marry the Empress Dowager at the end of this month, and the whole Cao family is extremely busy, so the marriage date for the daughter-in-law will not be until mid-February at the earliest.

  At this time, shopkeeper Wu called the proprietor outside, and Li Daqi got up and said, "I won't take care of you these two days. There are too many things to do. I have to go to work. You can arrange it yourself!"

   After finishing speaking, Li Daqi walked out quickly, and shopkeeper Wu came up to meet him and said, "The goods are all ready, the proprietor will see how to distribute them."

   "We will distribute the goods according to last year's plan, but there will be a little less on Yujie Street and a little more on Panlou Street. We can ship them there now."

Li Yanqing also walked out of the living room, and saw hundreds of large wooden boxes piled up in the yard, like a hill, all of which were pasted with the logo of Baoyanzhai, but the words 'Li Ji Rouge' were written on the boxes in ink. Words, he looked, almost all the boxes are Li Ji Rouge.

Li Ji Rouge is a low-end product of Bao Yanzhai. Although the profit is far less than that of Bao Yanzhai, the sales volume is very large. At the beginning, Bao Yanzhai never admitted that Li Ji Rouge had something to do with him. , It did not affect Bao Yanzhai's reputation, but it made Li Ji Rouge's sales soar. In the end, Bao Yanzhai could only admit that Li Ji Rouge was his own brother.

   "Why is it Li Ji Rouzhi?" Li Yanqing asked a steward next to him puzzled.

The steward laughed and said: "Young proprietor, I don't know. In the past two years, we sold Li Ji and Bao Yan Zhai together. Later, we found that Bao Yan Zhai was not easy to sell during the Lantern Festival. On the contrary, Li Ji rouge sold very well. It has been like this for several years, so this year's Shangyuan Festival will no longer sell Baoyanzhai, but will only sell Liji Rouge."

   "Why is it not easy to sell?"

   "Because they are sold in colorful sheds, cheap things are popular. If you really want to buy Baoyanzhai rouge, you will definitely go to the store to buy it. Everyone is afraid of buying fakes."

Li Yanqing nodded, that's true. A bottle of Shanghao Baoyanzhai perfume costs five pennies, and a bottle of Liji perfume costs only one or two hundred cash. Of course, luxury goods must be sold in luxury stores, and most of the people who visit the lanterns are ordinary people. There are not many common people who can afford Baoyanzhai, so they can only make money by making small profits but quick sales.

   At this time, Yang Ping, the big shopkeeper of Liji Rouge, ran in and shouted: "The ship is here, let's get the goods!"

  Everyone carried a big box and walked to the pier behind, and Li Yanqing also carried a big box and sent it over.

At the fifteenth of the first lunar month, many rivers had already thawed, especially the rivers in the capital where boats could sail. There were more than a dozen small boats moored on the pier, and the small boats were piled up with large boxes, and began to flow to Baoyanzhai's various locations in the capital. Delivery of twenty color sheds.

  Li Yanqing had nothing to do today, several of his subordinates went to guard Sisi and Qing'er and the others to watch the lanterns, so he simply boarded a boat and headed for the Daxiangguo Temple in the city.

Daxiangguo Temple is one of the commercial centers of the capital. Tonight it is also the lantern center. Official and major merchants' lanterns are centered on Daxiangguo Temple and extend to the four sides of the street. There are lamp buildings, lamp trees, and lamp sheds. And various large-scale lanterns, there are hundreds of large-scale lanterns on the square in front of Xiangguo Temple in Guangda. In the middle is a three-foot-high lantern building. There is an acre, which is very spectacular.

  In the west, a huge Aoshan lantern was built, which was funded by the imperial palace. This is the second largest lantern in the capital, and the first is also the Aoshan lantern, but it is placed under the Xuande Building in the northernmost part of Yujie.

  The square is surrounded by two dense rows of color sheds, inside and outside. Nearly 300 famous shops in the capital have their own color sheds. Guangbao Yanzhai rented two of them, close together.

When Li Yanqing stepped forward, he saw that Tie Zhu and several of his men were installing a large wooden signboard. On the wooden signboard, there were dozens of small multicolored glazed lamps spelling out the three characters of "Baoyanzhai", surrounded by a circle of colored lights. lamp.

   "Tie Zhu, you fix the lantern now, how do you light it at night?"

Gu Tiezhu is the security chief of Baoyanzhai. There are more than 20 big men under his command. They are responsible for doing all kinds of physical chores and maintaining the security of the store. Tie Zhu smiled and said: "I don't know, the little proprietor. The lighting is in the back. It's very easy." convenient."

Li Yanqing walked over, only to find that there was a mini nest cart behind him, which was a wooden frame with two wheels installed on it, and a large wooden box that could accommodate one person under the frame. There were two long ropes on the wooden box, and the long rope The other end passes through the wheel, and the person stands in the box. When the two people below pull the wheel, the wooden box rises, and the people in the box can light the lamp behind the wooden sign. It is really very convenient.

  Li Yanqing said with a smile: "I think it is more convenient to use a ladder. One person is enough. This kind of wooden box needs someone to help pull it."

  Tie Zhu chuckled, "Usually young ladies go up to light lamps, they are afraid of ladders, but they won't be afraid with this lifting box."

At this time, Li Yanqing found that the strong and strong men who installed the lamps were a little embarrassed, and the three beautiful girls who sold the goods were also silent. Everyone seemed very uncomfortable. Li Yanqing immediately understood that he was a bit affecting the atmosphere here. Hehe smiled, "You guys are busy, I'm going to visit the monastery!"

He turned around and walked towards the Daxiangguo Temple. When he was far away, he looked back and saw a few strong men surrounding the three young ladies showing their courtesies. The three young ladies covered their mouths and giggled. Step into the temple.

It was getting dark early, and just after dusk, the night came quietly, and the lanterns began to be lit, and the whole Daxiangguo Temple became brightly lit, just like the fire trees and silver flowers that never go dark. The people in the capital had dinner early, and the gate opened Suo then carried his son and his wife to go out to watch the lights. Crowds of people from all directions came to the Daxiangguo Temple, and there was a lot of voices. This is just the Daxiangguo Temple. In the entire capital, at least a million people will flock to the streets to watch the lights tonight. .

  Li Yanqing was standing at the gate of Daxiangguo Temple, Cao Jiaojiao secretly gave him a note the day before yesterday, and he had another kind of expectation in his heart.

   "Brother Li!"

Li Yanqing suddenly heard Cao Jiaojiao's voice. When he turned his head, he saw Cao Jiaojiao running towards her with a smile all over her face. There was a quiet girl standing not far behind her. Could it be Cao Yun? There was a hint of surprise and shyness on her face, and her jewel-like eyes shone with joy.

  【4,000-character chapter, ask for a recommended monthly ticket! 】

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end