The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 791 - 780: Help

Chapter 791: Chapter 780: Help

Of course, it wasn’t difficult. Luojiang County was just a minor county, with not many scholars or literate people. On this day, many shops would hang up lanterns with riddles for people to guess, to create a festive atmosphere.

There were more lanterns than people to begin with, so if the riddles had been made too difficult, there would have been no fun tonight.

That’s why the riddles on the Lantern Hill were progressive; the riddles on the lanterns at the foot of the hill weren’t hard, and many were common sayings. Even for those who couldn’t read, if someone read the riddles out loud, the brighter ones could usually guess them.

Bai Erlang naturally disdained such simple lanterns and chose the ones that were three or four layers up, the more attractive looking ones.

The three of them guessed their way along, acquiring more and more lanterns in their hands until they could hardly carry them. They stuffed them all at once into the hands of Daji, who was walking behind them while they happily hopped ahead.

Daji: ...

It wasn’t until they had browsed the lanterns further back that the three of them realized that although there were many people looking at the lanterns, very few were actually guessing the riddles.

The few who were guessing were clearly dressed like scholars.

Manbao took a careful look and understood immediately. With a twirl of her eyes, she simply stood in front of the Lantern Hill and didn’t move, pointing at a lantern below and loudly asked, "Who wants to guess the lantern riddle? I will read the riddle for them."

The crowd surrounding the lanterns immediately responded with chorus of "me, me, me" from various people, and it sounded like quite a few were interested.

Manbao smiled faintly and read, "Fluffy and loose, flying through the sky in March, from afar resembling snowflakes, up close a bundle of softness."

No sooner had she finished than someone in the crowd raised their hand and shouted, "Willow catkins, willow catkins—"

Manbao smiled faintly, took down the lantern and handed it to him. The young man shoved his way to the front, grinning so broadly his eyes were squinted shut, and went to get the answer from the person guarding the Lantern Hill. If he was right, he could take the lantern with him.

If not, he would have to hang it back up.

Everyone followed eagerly to join the excitement and indeed saw that the answer was correct. The young man then joyfully took the lantern and dashed away, no one knew whom he would give it to.

Manbao was soon surrounded by people, "Miss, please read this one."

"And read this one too..."

Bai Shan stepped forward to help, "I’ll read for you..."

The three of them read riddles for the crowd, if they could guess, they were let to guess; if not, they would look at the face of the person trying to guess. If they looked favourable, they’d give a hint, but if not, the three of them would move on.

The ones guarding the Lantern Hill clearly did not expect there to be a need for someone to stay and read riddles to people; even though there were literate people who helped read riddles in previous years, that was only if they encountered someone desperately wanting help while they themselves were guessing.

Who would stand in front of the Lantern Hill just to read riddles?

But they couldn’t stop it because doing so did not break any rules.

However, they would occasionally interject, for example, if someone clearly hadn’t figured it out, but they hinted to someone who looked good or was young, then they would reject the guess as against the rules.

As they saw that the first and second layers of the Lantern Hill had been completely guessed away, and the third and fourth layers were missing quite a few lanterns, turning the originally nice-looking Lantern Hill into a sorry state, the person guarding the lanterns was sweating profusely. The night was still long, and if all the lanterns were actually guessed away, it would be quite humiliating. If the boss found out...

The lantern guard hurried forward and said to Manbao, "Miss, there’s another Lantern Hill further down, there’s more down there as well. Why don’t you all go take a look?"

Manbao thought about it and felt the idea was good. After all, the county town was only so big, and the evening was long. Why not do a good deed?

Manbao pulled Bai Shan and Bai Erlang along, and headed straight for the last Lantern Hill, with the crowd immediately following behind, thronging their way to the last Lantern Hill.

The originally spacious street suddenly became crowded, and the street patrol officers, noticing the change, quickly grabbed someone mingling with the crowd and asked, "Where are you all headed?"

"We’re going to guess riddles at the next Lantern Hill."

"Isn’t there a Lantern Hill up there? Why is everyone coming this way?" The officers were concerned about the possibility of accidents in such a crowded situation.

"That Lantern Hill has been almost completely guessed through. We’re here to guess at this one."

The officer looked at him skeptically, "Can you read?"

"I can’t read, but there’s a literate young lady and two young lords who read the lantern riddles aloud for everyone to guess. At the previous Lantern Hill, they helped guess over twenty lanterns! It’s a shame I’m too slow to beat the others."

The officer: "... You mean slow in the head, right?"

He let the man go and squeezed into the crowd. With the authority of his uniform and his own effort, he finally made his way to the front and saw the three very familiar figures surrounded by the crowd.

Despite knowing they were friends of County Magistrate Yang, he still had a bad feeling.

After taking a glance at the three of them, he turned and squeezed his way out to find his colleagues on duty, saying, "Hurry, go tell County Magistrate Yang, his three little friends are causing... a commotion."

The busiest part of Luojiang County was this very street. The restaurant was located in the middle of the street, not too close but not too far either, just a brisk half-quarter-hour run away.

County Magistrate Yang, after receiving the message, went quiet for a moment, then asked, "Are there many people guessing riddles?"

"Quite a lot. They’ve blocked the street completely. People from this end can’t get through, and those from the other end can’t either."

County Magistrate Yang nodded in approval, "Not bad. At least the lanterns have been put to good use. Go, take a few more men and clear a passable path in the segment where they’re guessing riddles. Aside from that, no crowding, and be careful not to let anyone fall or knock over the Lantern Hill. The rest, let them be."

However, there were only so many people in the county town, it was impossible to completely deplete the Lantern Hill of its lanterns.

At worst, there would be some crowding and jostling of people.

The officers complied and headed out, shifting half the security forces to that area. When they had finished guessing at that Lantern Hill, they moved back to the previous one, with the crowd and officers shifting accordingly.

Cheers and laughter echoed through the crowd periodically, and the officers clearing a path for pedestrians felt this year’s Lantern Festival was noisier and more bustling than previous years...

By the time Manbao and her companions had walked through all the Lantern Hills again, read countless riddles, and ensured that no one could guess the riddles higher up, and they couldn’t see anymore, they left with their own lanterns.

As everyone looked back at the now disfigured Lantern Hill, they left laughing and joking.

Many people had acquired a lantern, but even more had not.

After all, there were only so many riddles, and the slow to react had lost out.

But undeniably, there were many more people on the street carrying lanterns. When children saw other children with lanterns and they didn’t have one, they began to fuss about buying one...

The adults couldn’t resist and had to spend the money to buy them.

Thus, the number of people carrying lanterns on the street increased even more, and looking down the street, it was a series of twinkling lights, stunningly beautiful.