Chapter 98: The Lantern Festival

  Ten taels? Qin Dai'er found it amusing, but when she turned her head around, she saw a figure clad in fiery red.

  Another one who loves wearing red, must all women who wear red act like Qin Qianxin?

  Qin Dai secretly sized up her opponent, who was only about 28 years old, with a goose egg face, apricot kernel eyes, and was a standard beauty. She wore a cherry red silk jacket with golden threads, and underneath, she wore a matching embroidered hundred flower skirt, looking delicate and beautiful, like a blooming rose.

  The other party was dressed in a way that was neither common nor rich, but rather noble. Among the thousand golds of Taizhou, she knew a few, but there wasn't one like this in her impression.

  The woman in red was also secretly sizing her up, seeing that she was young and yet not flustered when things happened, with only a hint of unexpectedness in her eyes. Without thinking, she felt a few points of curiosity arise, so she opened her eyes wide to take a closer look. She saw that she was wearing a yellow satin jacket, paired with a dark green embroidered auspicious cloud patterned satin long skirt, which did not make her appear old-fashioned, but rather made her complexion even more delicate and tender. Her whole body emitted an air of aloof coldness, like a snow lotus flower.

  While the two were at a stalemate, the surrounding area had already gathered a crowd of onlookers. In ancient times, people's entertainment activities were scarce, so they couldn't help but talk about some gossip to pass the time. Nowadays, it was rare to see two beautiful girls standing still in the middle of the street, and such a commotion couldn't be missed.

  "This girl, you're being unreasonable. Our young lady has already paid the money, so this lamp belongs to us. If you like it, just find another one for yourself. Why are you resorting to violence?" Ruyi knew that his family's young lady also had some martial arts skills, but since he hadn't seen them in action before, he couldn't help feeling a bit worried. Fortunately, he was on the side of reason, so he wasn't afraid of her turning things upside down.

  The woman in red smiled and completely ignored Ruyi, but said to the vendor selling flower lanterns: "Twenty taels."

  Qin Dai'er turned her head, wanting to hear what the little peddler had to say.

  The boss shook his head like a wave drum, "This girl has already paid the money, and the lamp is hers." Businessmen must be honest, this girl came first and got it first, there's nothing wrong with that.

  After all, he is a well-behaved and obedient person.

  Qin Dai Xin looked at the red-clothed woman and said: "Miss is so rude, can't it be just for this lamp?"

  The woman heard this and thought she was timid and afraid of trouble. She felt a sense of joy in her heart and said, "You can just let me have it, why ask so many questions."

  Qin Daiyan shook her head, "There's no such principle in this world."

  The woman in red frowned, "Fifty taels."

  Qin Dai Xin smiled and said, "Does this young lady think I'm someone who lacks money?" There was a hint of inquiry in her tone.

  The woman in red raised an eyebrow, few people dared to speak to her like that. She felt displeased and said, "This lamp is something I've taken a liking to, name your price!"

  Ai Lian stepped forward and said to the crowd, "Has anyone ever heard of such a reason? The things we buy with our own money are naturally what we like. What's the logic in giving them to others? This young lady is holding a whip and looks furious. She's not asking us to give way, she's clearly trying to snatch it from us." She saw that the red-clothed woman had a bad temper and was afraid her own mistress would be at a disadvantage, so she stepped forward to try to shield her mistress.

  The murmurs of surprise and curiosity immediately spread over:

  "Also don't know whose daughter she is, so arrogant."

  "Look at her age, it's not small anymore, I'm afraid she hasn't gotten engaged yet! Alas, no wonder, with this temper, who dares to marry her?"

  "Don't think that just because you have some money, you can act tyrannically."

  "I've never seen anyone so shameless."

  “……”

  The woman in red didn't take the few people seriously, but she didn't like the people around her pointing and whispering about her. In order to leave this place as soon as possible, she raised her head and said: "You have to let go, whether you want to or not, I'm going to take this lantern today." After speaking, she flicked her wrist, ready to retract her whip. This sudden movement would likely pull Qin Dai's heart out of her chest.

  Several maids' hearts were suspended, and the most worried person was Xue Qing. This person was well-known for her explosive temper, and no one dared to provoke her easily due to her special identity. Now that she had encountered the young lady, it seemed likely that she would suffer. If she took action herself, her identity might be exposed. She could only hope that her master would spare her on account of having saved the young lady once before. Her heart was struggling with this dilemma, but her hands were ready to take action at any moment.

  Just then, a pair of hands firmly grasped the owner of the whip. A familiar voice whispered into the ear of the red-clothed woman: "Hanyi, don't be reckless."

  Xue Qing let out a sigh of relief, her usual calm demeanor hadn't escaped Qin Dai's eyes.

  Qin Dai Xin followed the sound and looked over, only to see a man about 1.85 meters tall, wearing a dark green brocade robe with a thick black satin short boot on his feet, with a stern face, sword-like eyebrows, thin lips pursed, looking like a decent person. Qin Dai Xin dared to guarantee that it was their first meeting, but upon closer inspection, she felt a few points of familiarity.

  Tie Han's expression turned honest for a moment when he saw this person, but he was unwilling to give up and said: "Third Brother, I want that flower lamp."

  "Not letting go yet?" The man's voice carried a hint of unperceived majesty, his words were severe but his eyebrows revealed a faint affection, it was clear he wasn't really angry.

  Tie Han's clothes had always been most afraid of this brother, although unwilling, but also only obediently listened to him, recalling the whip, but did not hurt Qin Dai's heart at all.

  "Go and apologize to that girl."

  "I won't." Tie Han's face puffed up as he stared at the man, looking like a little kid.

  Tie Wenyang saw that the little girl's temper had flared up again, and he couldn't help but find it both amusing and helpless. He could only cup his hands in greeting to Qin Dai and say: "Miss, my younger sister is still young and ignorant, please don't mind her." Why did this miss have such a familiar face?

  Qin Dai Xin didn't want to make a fuss with her in the first place, seeing that she had apologized and he hadn't suffered any losses, so he just smiled it off.

  "Young? This young master is really good at joking, our miss seems to be even younger than your sister." Chun Li was unhappy on the side, do you need to protect your own sister so obviously?

  Tie Wenyang also discovered it, his old face turned red, and he clasped his fists: "Miss, I'm really sorry."

  It's not Qin Dai Xin's fault to be entangled to this point. She nodded to indicate that she didn't take it to heart, turned around and took the four maids back to the stall selling glutinous rice balls.

  Two old women were eating happily, completely unaware of the surprise attack on Qin Daiyu.

  "Hey, what's with the two of you having such heavy buttocks? The mistress had you follow us just to have you come and eat for free?" Ruyi was annoyed, not giving the two women any face. Just now, there was such a big commotion over there, it's impossible they didn't see it, the only explanation is that they deliberately pretended not to see.

  The two of them looked dispirited and stood aside with their hands hanging down, with a hint of disdain in their eyes.

  Qin Dai Xin's fire suddenly rose, but she quietly sized up the two of them, seeing that they occasionally exchanged a glance, and then pretended to be nonchalant, so she understood that this was probably pre-arranged.

  Protecting the master is not beneficial, and being beaten by a board is to be expected. These two are so fearless, who is backing them up from behind? Qin Dai's heart suddenly thought of the day when she was in Xiaofront Village, Ma Pozi's attitude towards herself, now these two women's words and deeds are exactly the same as Ma Pozi's that day! Could it be Qin Ruoxin again?

  The stall owner brought over a few bowls of reunion dishes and saw that the atmosphere was not right, so he put down the dishes and turned to leave.

  "Shopkeeper, these two have eaten so much food, just let them pay for it themselves." Ruyi's face turned red with anger, her small face tense, no longer caring that they were ladies.

  The shopkeeper stood awkwardly to one side, nodded and quickly left this place of trouble.

  The wet nurses personally appointed by Fang Wanru are not something that Qin Ruoxi can buy off, and if things were to be exposed, she's afraid they wouldn't have the face to protect them from getting into trouble. The wet nurses don't want to get punished, so naturally they would confess...

  In the midst of the fire and light, Qin Dai thought of Qin Qianxin's proud face. If she was the mastermind behind it all, then everything would make sense!

  That red-clothed woman who had a dispute with herself, wouldn't she also be instructed by her? It doesn't seem like it. Although that woman was a bit arrogant, she had an extraordinary temperament. The man who rushed over later was also an extraordinary person. Neither of their identities and backgrounds were simple, so how could they be instructed by Qin Qianxin's heart? Thinking of this, she smiled at the two old women and then narrowed her eyes.

  The two old women were overjoyed and thought that Third Miss was an easy target.

  But Ru Yi felt a chill run down her spine, and the anger that had filled her chest disappeared without a trace...

  Xue Qing had a thoughtful look on her face.

  Those two siblings, whose identities were suspected by Qin Dai Xin, had also chosen a small food stall to sit down at this time. Tie Han Yi pouted with one mouth, looking very angry.

  Tie Wu Yang let out a sigh, this precious little sister of his was truly a reincarnation of the heavenly demon star, causing headaches for people! She had been born into a prestigious family, was the only daughter and youngest child, with four older brothers protecting her from above and a crowd of servants fawning over her from below, which had cultivated her somewhat spoiled and willful personality. Although she had a big temper, her nature wasn't bad, it's just that she was young and didn't understand things, but she would be fine once she grew up, right?

  For some reason, he thought of the girl holding a flower lantern. Judging from her appearance, she didn't seem to be a young lady from an official family, but she must have been born into a wealthy and noble family. She was younger than his own sister, yet so calm and composed, with a gentle and dignified demeanor. Compared to the two of them...

  Tie Han saw San Ge's worried look and immediately forgot about being angry, asking with concern: "San Ge, what's wrong?"

  "It's nothing." Ti Wei Yang stroked the nose of Tie Han's clothes, "Your temper, it comes quickly and goes even quicker. Aren't you not angry anymore?"

  Tie Han's face turned slightly red with embarrassment, and he lowered his head, saying: "It wasn't intentional, it was the delicate lantern in her hand that I really liked, so..." His voice trailed off towards the end.

  "Han Yi, you've really gone too far today. No matter how much you like something, you can't just grab it! If Father finds out about this, he'll probably ground you again."

  Tie Han's face turned pale with fright, and he hastily said: "Third Brother, good Third Brother, you mustn't tell Father about this. If you do, I won't be able to leave the house for three months."

  "You still know how to be afraid? Fortunately, that girl was not injured and did not hold it against you, which is why the matter was settled. If this were to be picked up by someone with ill intentions and made into a story, I fear that rumors of our Hou Manor bullying others would spread again." Matters in the imperial court are always unclear, and the current situation does not look optimistic - who knows how many eyes are watching every move of Iron Righteousness Manor? If we were to be caught off guard, it would be hard to avoid being dragged down.

  "Third Brother, is it that serious? Don't scare me." Tie Han's face turned pale as he tightly grasped Tie Wei Yang's hand, afraid that he had gotten himself into big trouble.

  Tie Wu Yang smiled and said, "No matter how big or small a thing is, it's necessary to be careful with words and actions. Didn't Father teach you that? This time I'll let it pass, but next time don't dare to act arbitrarily again."

  Tie Han's face relaxed and her cheeks regained their rosy color, she became lively again, and gestured to Tie Wei Yang: "Third brother, you don't know, that flower lamp is really beautiful, even better than the ones made in our mansion. The four sides are all adorned with beautiful floral patterns, and inside, there's a small, exquisite cloud swallow hidden! I've never seen anything like it before."

  There are many interesting things in the mansion, she just wants to experience something new.

  Tie Yun suddenly caught a piece of information in her words and asked, "Yun Que?"

  "Yes, with skylark as a candle holder, vivid and lifelike."

  Tie Yun's heart skipped a beat as he recalled the words spoken by that monk on that day:

  Twenty years of longing for a loved one's voice

  Wangtai outside Sifang Mountain.

  The candle's shadow shines on the cloud swallow.

  A little sister from someone's family brings a lantern here.

  PS: Updated daily, as much as possible. I just want to do what I like~