Chapter 15 Human Life Is Linked to Kongming Lanterns
Miwuyuan is very large, and most of the rooms are locked.
There are only one or two rooms that were originally used as warehouses. Because the things in them were almost moved and the locks were broken, they were just hanging there.
After eating, Xue Hengzhao and Chi Su went there and looked for some bamboo strips and paper.
There were also kites piled there in the old years. The bones of the kites were deformed and the paper on the outside was rotten. Only the spools were removed.
"What are you doing with these Raushi bones?" Chi Su asked while holding back the choking dust and smoke, "What can this thing be used for?"
"I want to make a lantern," Xue Hengzhao said, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, "otherwise it will be inconvenient to get in and out at night."
Then I saw a few pens inserted into the pen holder carved from bamboo roots over there, so I took it over and said, "Anyway, I always have nothing to do. It's good to write and paint."
Chi Su had never been good at these formal things, but she thought since Xue Hengzhao liked it, let her do it.
Xue Hengzhao dug out a few more paints nearby. These things are really worthless in the eyes of people who are not literate.
So even people who want to get something from here will not look at it.
Back in the ear room, Chi Su went to boil water, and Xue Hengzhao was cutting paper there.
In the afternoon, Qian Sanchun sent someone again and gave each of them a new cotton coat.
Xue Hengzhao sat there writing generously and accepted everything he had received.
Then he said: "Can you talk to the boss and give us a small casserole? Sometimes I want to heat up porridge and dry food, but I often wake up hungry at night."
The little eunuch who delivered the things quickly said: "This is easy. No need to tell the boss. I will find it for you later.
Now that the nights are too long, it’s really easy to wake up hungry in the middle of the night.”
In fact, Qian Sanchun did not completely relax his guard against them. He told the little eunuch who came to deliver things to pay attention to what these two people were doing.
The young eunuch went back to report, saying that Xue Hengzhao was writing and Chi Su was drinking tea.
"Miss Xue also took some bamboo strips and said she wanted to make a lantern herself. Isn't that okay?"
"I've got some free time to write and write," Qian Sanchun stopped spinning the iron walnuts in his hand and laughed. "That means she doesn't have any trouble in her heart. But, just in case, someone still needs to be there at night.
outside the gate of Wuyuan to prevent them from running out."
There are so many people on duty during the day that they can't get out of the fourth division and eighth division.
If you want to guard against it, you have to guard against it at night.
What's more, not only at this time, but also in the past, there were people guarding the outside of Xianwuyuan all night long.
This seemingly deserted palace actually attracts much attention.
After dark, Xue Hengzhao sat by the brazier and roasted bamboo strips.
"You really want to make a lantern." Chi Su saw that she had already pierced the skeleton of the lantern, "Is this the way you said to turn over? There is nothing unusual about this lantern except that it is a little bigger." p>
Xue Hengzhao made a silent gesture towards her and said in a low voice: "Qingsheng, this thing is very important. How many lives are tied to it."
"How powerful can such a lantern be?" Chi Su knew that Xue Hengzhao was smart, but she couldn't believe that a lantern could kill someone or save someone's life.<
/p>
That night, Xue Hengzhao finished tying the lantern frame and went to bed.
During the next day, she slept almost all the time and did nothing.
Chi Su thought that she was tired from setting up lanterns last night, so he asked her to finish her meal before going to bed.
When it got dark again, Xue Hengzhao got up.
"I've slept enough during the day, but what should I do at night?" Chi Su teased her with a smile, "I'm still waiting for your lantern to save my life!"
"You boil the leftover glutinous rice in a casserole, and I'll use it to make paste." Xue Hengzhao rubbed his eyes and stretched.
Chi Su is a good person. If she trusts someone, she will do it even if she doesn't understand what the other person wants her to do.
Immediately put the casserole on the fire, add water to the glutinous rice, and simmer slowly.
Xue Hengzhao picked up the lantern stand again, looked at it, and then put it aside.
Go to the table and grind the paint, then spread out the paper and write and draw on it.
Chi Su was not interested in these things, and did not know what she wrote or drew.
She just cooked the rice paste wholeheartedly, holding a bamboo chopstick in her hand and stirring the pot again and again.
Until Xue Haozhao called her: "Come over and help me."
Xue Hengzhao had already painted a painting, and Chi Su recognized that the one painted on it was the Daode Tianzun.
It is not easy to dry a freshly painted painting, not to mention the cold weather. In order to make the painting dry faster, Xue Hengzhao and Chi Su each took the two corners of the painting and put them on the fire pot to bake.
"Your paintings are really lifelike." Even if Chi Su doesn't know how to paint, he still thinks Xue Heng can paint well.
In her grandmother's study, there are always portraits of the Three Qing Dynasties, also by famous artists.
Xue Hengzhao's paintings made her feel solemn and respectful.
After drying this piece, Xue Hengzhao then painted the portraits of the original Tianzun and Lingbao Tianzun.
Then these paintings were mounted on lanterns.
There was a blank page left, and Xue Hengzhao took up his pen and wrote the names of the three people on it.
After the lanterns were finished, the night was already deep.
Chi Su slapped her sore and numb shoulders and asked Xue Hengzhao: "It's done, what's next?"
"Do you know what day today is?" Xue Hengzhao asked her.
"I know, today is the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month." Chi Su said.
"I'll tell you what I want to say in advance," Xue Hengzhao smiled and said to her, "Come here."
It was so late at night that there was no starlight. Xue Hengzhao and Chi Su came to the northeast corner of Zhiwuyuan. This location is very hidden and can block the surveillance eyes to the maximum extent.
"Can this thing really be done?" Chi Su was trembling with cold, and her voice was trembling.
"It's almost the same," Xue Hengzhao said, "There's no wind tonight, so you don't have to worry about the lantern being blown away."
She leaned down and lit the candle in the lantern.
The lantern she made was big, with three candles in it.
As the candle burns, the lantern slowly lifts off the ground and flies upward lightly.
It turns out that what she made was a Kongming Lantern.
The Sanqing portraits were illuminated by candles, making them particularly conspicuous.
Xue Hengzhao asked Chi Su to hold the spool. Ordinary Kongming lanterns do not have threads, but theirs do.
This is naturally to take back the light.
The Royal Guards patrolling the night had just passed by, and it would be at least a quarter of an hour before they came back.
This time is enough for the Kongming Lantern to fly to the height she wants.
Outside the Wuyuan Courtyard, the people responsible for monitoring this place did not dare to slack off and paid attention to the movements at the door.
They paid too much attention to whether anyone was coming or going, and completely ignored Bantian.
What's more, the place where Xue Hengzhao and the others were located was a direction that was difficult for them to pay attention to.
The Kongming Lantern flew higher and higher, and the spool in Chi Su's hand finally ran out.
Xue Hengzhao looked up at the only light in the dark night, silently counting the time.
A quarter of an hour later, footsteps sounded in the distance.