Chapter 262: Lantern Festival

The Privy Council Mansion was very efficient and had already reserved an entire floor in Wanjing Tower for Xia Fan to stay.

There are eight wing rooms, four servant rooms, as well as the uppermost terrace and attic. The number of rooms even exceeds Xia Fan's actual needs.

"This is one of the best hotels in Shangyuan City. The people who come and go are all wealthy businessmen and distinguished guests. I believe it will not insult your status." Xin Wu helped drag the luggage into the room, and then handed a stack of name tags into his hands, the top One has a black background with gold edges, and seven silver stars debossed in the center. "This card means that you are a distinguished guest invited by the Privy Council, and you can enter and exit the city gate freely. As long as you carry it, neither guards nor officers will make things difficult for you."

"You're quite thoughtful."

"Your Excellency, you are joking. The Privy Council invites guests of all kinds, from six countries and even overseas. How to receive them has become a set of conventions." His Highness the Prince will receive you in person, but he has not returned yet, so we can only receive you with the highest standard."

"Can it get better than this?" Xia Fan sighed, "It should cost a lot of money to rent such a floor."

"How can your arrival be measured by money?" Xin Wu shook his head repeatedly, "In my opinion, this is already condescension from you."

What is professionalism? This is professionalism.

Xia Fan secretly smacked his tongue, no wonder the princess looked wary.

If he hadn't already experienced the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism and enjoyed it, he might have been a little unable to withstand the other party's enthusiastic treatment.

"You have some rest today, and I will come to pick you up the day after tomorrow in the evening." Xin Wu continued, "There will be a dinner party in the Palace Square, and it will just be a good time to wash your hands."

"Dinner party?"

"Ah, I forgot to tell you that the day after tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, which is also a celebration before the Chinese New Year. In previous years, at this time, the emperor would climb the palace walls and speak to the people." There will be many famous people attending the banquet, and it will be easier for Mr. Qian to introduce them. By the way, this Mr. Qian is the Hagoromo I mentioned before. "

Are you going to face the highest-ranking alchemist in the Privy Council so soon...

Xia Fan nodded calmly, "I understand."

"Then I'll take my leave first." Xin Wugong cupped his hands, closed the door and left the room.

He leaned against the window and saw the envoy walking out of Wanjing Tower, then turned and said to the inner room, "He left. How about these rooms?"

"After checking, the rooms are all normal. There are no secret passages and no hiding places. It is indeed a very ordinary inn." The first person to walk out was the living dead Qianyan.

Judging from the decoration, it is obviously not ordinary at all. Xia Fan raised his eyebrows, "Do you still search the house?"

"Those who don't know how to search are already dead." Qian Yan rolled his eyes at him, "In this kind of matter, experience is more reliable than anything else."

"I've also looked at it and found no traces of Qi residue." Then Luo walked into the room gently, "At least you don't have to worry about the Privy Council's surveillance methods."

Li Yi completed her inspection. "There is nothing unusual in the attic. The area you can overlook from the terrace is very wide. If there is an emergency evacuation, you can prepare a hemp rope in advance and slide down from the roof."

Xia Fan chuckled and said, "Not bad, it seems I can sleep well tonight."

"There is also Qianzhi!" Qianzhi raised his hand and said.

Everyone turned their attention to her, "Have you discovered anything?"

"Chichi is hungry."

Fang Xiandao slapped the little girl on the head.

"It doesn't matter, I'll just ask the store to bring you some food." Xia Fan said with a smile, "A high-end inn like this should have a chef on call twelve hours a day."

In fact, he was quite right.

Less than two-quarters of an hour after giving instructions to the waiter, seven or eight dishes were delivered to his door, and Xia Fan noticed that the other party did not mention the cost - obviously Wanjinglou adopted the method of recording the accounts first and waiting until the refund. The room will be settled together with the room time, which seems to be a bit like the hotel of later generations.

Qianzhi happily held the bowl and started eating.

Xia Fan repeated the messenger's words completely.

"What exactly is this Lantern Festival? Why have I never heard of it anywhere else?"

"Because there is no emperor in other places." Luo Qingqing replied, "This custom originated from the early days of Daqi. At that time, evil spirits were rampant everywhere, people were frightened, and the city was like a dead place. So the emperor walked out of the palace and personally Tell the public about the achievements of the year and the goals for the next year. This way we can eliminate fear and encourage everyone to expand outward. "

"At the same time, on this day and night, the city will also put up floating lanterns, and the lights on the streets will stay on, creating a bright and majestic effect. As long as there is light, it will be difficult for charms and demons to invade, so as to make people walk on the streets The people feel at ease.”

"Later, this custom gradually became fixed, and the content of the statement became a summary of the year and an outlook for the coming year, and was no longer limited to evil things. The act of lighting lanterns all night is still retained today, and there are more lanterns and floating lanterns than in the past. Brighter, that’s why the term ‘ten thousand lanterns’ comes from.” She paused at this point, “Didn’t you notice that there were already many lanterns hanging under the eaves along the street?”

"The Luo family in Youzhou is knowledgeable about everything." Qian Yan praised, "This Miss Luo knows a lot."

"But I am the first in the Qingshan Town Shishi Examination." Fang Xiandao muttered softly.

"So there will really be many big shots gathering that day?" Fang Yanni asked curiously.

"Well, ordinary people have their own way of celebrating, and the palace has its own way of celebrating. At least this Wandeng Banquet is recognized as a threshold for the upper class." Luo smiled lightly, "Everyone who is invited will be proud. I have heard that officials from six departments fought for the qualification."

"Then... there must be a lot of delicious food at the banquet, right?" Qian Zhi asked while stuffing chicken feet.

"What to eat is not the point. The point is that you can meet quite a lot of big people, senior officials, wealthy businessmen, alchemists... everything. As for the food, the taste can only be said to be okay, how about..." She looked at Xia Fan, "the fried crab you made."

Xia Fan smiled and shook his head, "You said it as if you had eaten it yourself."

"I have eaten it."

His smile was stuck.

Others were almost the same.

"When I first achieved advancement, I attended the Wandeng Banquet with my master." Luo said lightly, "Although everything is in the past, I don't want to deny those memories."

Sure enough, some people's starting line is different... Xia Fan sighed secretly.

After making sure that there were no major problems with the trip, he took a bag and went up to the attic.

"Do you need help?" Li followed.

"Well, it's easier for me if you come--" Xia Fan hadn't finished speaking when she saw a familiar fat cat sticking half of its head out from behind her.

"Meow--"

"This guy! Could it be the cat spirit from Jinxia City?"

Xia Fan twitched his mouth. Since he and Li were not in the same carriage, he had never noticed that there was such a passenger in the team.

"That's it. I have taken it under my command and named it, Fat Flower."

Hearing this name, the cat spirit's whiskers drooped.

"Uh, it's obviously not a calico cat."

Xia Fan squinted and looked at the other party for a while. If you look closely, this cat is pretty good, with black eye sockets and white fur, and it doesn't look like a common item on the street.

"Do you have a better name?" Li didn't insist on his own opinion.

"This body shape... this color matching..." Xia Fan pondered, "How about calling him Gun Gun."

The cat demon obviously didn't like this name very much, but the fox demon laughed, "Well, it sounds better than mine, so you should call yourself Gun Gun. Hurry up and thank Xia Fan."

The cat demon turned his head away.

Li pinched the fur behind the other's neck and twisted it.

Gun Gun hissed immediately and lowered his head to Xia Fan obediently.

This guy... is really spiritual.

Xia Fan pouted with a smile and opened the luggage package.

Inside was exactly a section of antenna pole.