Song in the Clouds c30

.......................................................................................................................

Yun Ge’s injuries were a lot lighter than Xu Ping Jun, in addition, her heart was light, so she recovered quickly under the care of Physician Zhang. By the time it was the Lantern festival, she was already out of bed.

On the day of the lantern festival, in the morning, Liu Fu Ling had to pray to the Taiyi god. [1] As it was said that the gods of heaven, earth and people were in charge of the first, middle and last interval[2] of the year; people often lit lanterns to celebrate the god of heaven’s liking for happiness. Thus, when at sunset, Liu Fu Ling had to light the first lantern of the festival at the city gates.

Once the Emperor had lit the first lantern, every one of the common folk will light their prepared lanterns in succession, praying to the god of heaven for happiness in the upcoming year.

Under the protection of Qi Xi and Mo Cha, Yun Ge snuck out of the palace while everyone was crowding around the city gates. As they walked, thousands of lanterns lit up one after another, lighting up trees and flowers, making them shining and radiant, throwing light upon the heavens and earth, like it was made of multicolored glass.

After spending such a long time kept in the palace, upon seeing such a beautiful scene, Yun Ge couldn’t temp down the excitement within her, and found an excuse for her own action- since her matter wasn’t urgent, she could play for a while before going off to settle her matter. She knocked against the carriage, ordering Fu Yu to stop, then smiled. “No wonder the border tribes lust after the Central Plains. With such wondrous scenes, who wouldn’t?” When Mo Cha saw Yun Ge getting off the carriage, she hesitated before saying. “Missy, it is very crowded outside. It is better for us to just watch the festivities from inside the carriage.”

Yun Ge ignored Mo Cha, and got off the carriage with Fu Yu’s assistance. Mo Cha looked at Qi Xi pleadingly but since Yu An had ordered them to listen to whatever Yun Ge said, Qi Xi shook his head slightly, indicating that they will do as Yun Ge wished. With Qi Xi and Fu Yu clearing the crowd in front for Yun Ge and Mo Cha, Liu Shun at the back protecting her, the quintet walked along the streets, admiring the lanterns as they walked.

There were many talented people in Chang An, the lanterns these people made had a different charm about them. Those lanterns were no longer simply for praying to the god of heaven. Those lanterns had drawings, or words. Some talented groups of people even hung the lanterns they made to display, inviting people to rate their lanterns, the winner would laugh, the loser would have to buy everyone drinks, those who didn’t win or lose were upright and enchanting, often becoming the topic of people’s conversation.

There were also talented women who would sew poetry or riddles on the lanterns, if someone managed to come up with the following line of the poem, or guess the riddle, they would earn a patch of needlework personally hand sewn by the woman.

Although the prize wasn’t valuable, it was special and had a crowd of young noblemen clamouring for it.

Yun Ge laughed as she watched. “This is almost the same as the grasslands’ practice of racing horses or singing love songs to woo ladies, only the people of the Central Plains are more reserved.”

“Since we have met coincidentally, why don’t we admire the street lanterns together?” Huo Cheng Jun nodded wordlessly, Meng Jue looked sharply at Liu Bing Yi but didn’t say a word. Liu Bing Yi laughed heartily. “Miss Huo, please.”

And so, the trio connected by complicated relationships walked together, admiring the lanterns. Although their group had grown bigger, their words grew less.

Unintentionally or not, Liu Bing Yi started walking slower, allowing Huo Cheng Jun and Meng Jue to walk side by side, choosing the admire the lanterns and people alone. Huo Cheng Jun was walking on the outside; sometimes someone from the crowd would collide into her. Meng Jue seamlessly moved to the outside, protecting her from the jostling crowd.

There were various lanterns of different shapes and sizes. The big ones were almost human-sized, the small ones were only as small as a fist, some were made out of premium silk, others were made of lambskin.

Huo Cheng Jun was still in a daze, not really noticing the lanterns above and beside her. Some were hanging low, she didn’t bend as she crossed, some lanterns touched the road, she would forget to dodge, but Meng Jue would always help her move the lantern aside just as she was about to collide into it, or gently pull her aside.

His heart was even harder and colder than steel, yet his actions were always so gentle and tender. She suddenly wanted to scream, or cry, asking him why, why? She had too many questions, but so what if she asked him? After tonight, she would become someone else together, if he was an enemy to the Huos, then he would be her enemy.

So what if she asked? Today was the last time!

Forgetting the past, blocking out the future, just only living out tonight, just like their first meeting, without hatred or bias, only searching for perfection. Huo Cheng Jun smiled and pointed at the round lanterns above her. “Meng Jue, what is this lantern called?” Meng Jue took a look.

“Yu Shan [3] Small Ball Lantern.”

“What about the one that looks like an archway?”

“Tian Wang [4] Lantern.”

“Then what about that one that looks like a silk ball? A silk ball lantern?”

“Although it looks like a silk ball, but each side of its flower patterns are like the patterns on tortoises, so the people call it Tortoise Pattern Lantern to represent longevity. During the Lantern Festival when the late Emperor was sixty, someone presented a huge Tortoise Pattern Lantern to the late Emperor, a 108 candles could be placed within the lantern. Once lit, it could be seen almost 10 li [5] away.”

“Was there really such a big lantern? I wonder how big the biggest lantern here today is.”

.......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................

[2] 15th of the first lunar month was Lantern festival, 15th of the seventh lunar month was the Hungry Ghost Festival, 15th of the tenth lunar month calendar was the Water Lantern Festival.

[4] Tian Wang means the Prince/King of Heaven

[6] As the character for 皇(referring to Emperor/Imperial-) is the same as 黄 (surname), it could also be a homonym, referring to Liu Fu Ling as Master Huang instead of his majesty so their listeners wouldn’t know less, but since TH didn’t change the Chinese character, I shall use his imperial highness, referring to those gentlemen connected to the imperial family.

[8] 念念不忘 – an idiom that means to bear in mind constantly, to constantly think of
[9] Was curious when I read this and went to find the answer on Baidu. Readers have cracked the riddle, though Tong Hua never verified it but I think it is legit. Hidden scent 暗香 , so hidden away the 日 from ‘香’(scent) you get ‘禾’,Clear Snow 晴雪',the character‘雪’(snow), clear skies would mean no rain (‘雨’), so you have to take that part away from the character, getting 彐. Join them together and you get 秉 (power and authority)[DUN DUN! FORESHADOWING], that is why Meng Jue used ‘encompass’ to show them being joined together, hence oneupping the scholar’s ‘brilliant’ riddle, showing that Meng Jue was the better one. That was how he intended to take him down a notch. Liu Bing Yi added deep and shallow to show which character was on top and which was at the bottom. Such brilliance, huh.

Chapter end