Xu Shiyan stayed in Daying for another two days, during which he visited his uncle Zhou Anping, his second uncle Zhou Anfu, and his aunt Zhou Guizhi.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Xu Shiyan returned to Donggang with his wife, children, and sister Su Anfang.
The wedding date of Su Anfang and Li Zongliang was set for June 17, 1984, which is May 16 of the lunar calendar.
At that time, the spring plowing had ended, the venue was not too busy, and the weather was not particularly hot, so it was just the right time to hold a banquet.
The wedding date has been set, so Su Anfang should stay at home and prepare for the wedding with peace of mind.
But Su Anfang said that she didn't know anything and wanted to go back to Donggang and ask Xu Shiqin to teach her how to embroider curtains and curtains.
Su Weizhong and his wife knew clearly that their daughter was in love with someone and did not want to stay in the camp.
What could I do? We were already engaged, and we were going to get married in a few months. Oh my, I was turning a blind eye, so I nodded in agreement.
Just like that, Sister Su Anfang followed her back to the Xu family.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is not the New Year, so there is no work to do at the festival. They are all on holiday and don’t go to work.
So, on the ninth day of the first lunar month, Xu Shiyan invited his colleagues to attend, and on the tenth day of the first lunar month, he invited Huang Shengli and others.
In the blink of an eye, it’s the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the Songjiang River Forestry Bureau has set up ice lanterns again, and this year there is news that fireworks will also be set off.
Li Zongliang and Li Chengrong had made an appointment with Sister Su Anfang early to watch the ice lanterns and fireworks together on the evening of the 15th.
"You two should go too. Yingzi has been taking care of the children in the past few years and has never gone out to wander around.
Now that the children are older, leave them at home, and you, your wife, and Shiqin can all go out and relax."
We had dinner early on the afternoon of the 15th. Before Li Chengrong and the others came, Xu Chenghou told Xu Shiyan.
"Dad, why don't you and mom go see the ice lanterns?"
Isn’t it a good idea to leave the children with the elderly while they go out shopping to watch fireworks and ice lanterns?
"Your mother and I went for a walk a few days ago and took a look." Xu Chenghou casually made excuses.
They did go there, it was during the day, to see the yangko dancers, and they took a look at the ice lanterns.
What's the point of looking at the ice lanterns during the day? They only look good when the lights are on at night.
"You go ahead, there will definitely be a lot of people going to Songjiang River tonight, it will be extremely crowded.
Your mother and I, with our old arms and legs, will not join in the fun.
You young people go out to have fun, so you should keep an eye on them. Although we arrested a group last year, there are quite a few ruffians in Songjiang River.
Hua'er and Fang'er are both young girls, and Xiao Li and Xiao Li haven't had any problems, so there will be a few more people here tonight to take care of them."
Xu Chenghou is so old, what can’t he expect?
He asked his son and daughter-in-law to go and relax for one reason, and to protect Su Anfang and Su Anhua for another reason.
Xu Shiyan thought it right, so he stopped being stubborn with his parents. He only told Xu Haiyuan and Xu Jinping not to be naughty at their grandparents' house and to go to bed early at night.
The main reason is that the children go to bed early and go out late at night. After walking around for a long time, these children are so sleepy that they almost fall asleep.
When a large group of people go out, they can't disturb everyone's interest because of their children.
Besides, there are too many people at this time. What if the child is not watched and lost?
Let's forget it and wait until the children are older in a few years.
Xu Haiyuan was obedient and didn't make any fuss about going to see Bing Deng. "Well, dad, don't worry, I'll take care of my younger brothers and sisters."
The older the baby grows, the more he looks like an older brother.
Xu Shiyan thought that since he was going to see the ice lanterns, it would be better to have more fun together. So he asked Huang Shengli, Sun Xiaofeng and others.
It’s rare to have an entertainment project these days, and who wouldn’t want to go? So these people all brought their wives, and some even brought their younger sisters and brothers.
Now, there is a big group of people.
At 6:30 in the evening, Li Chengrong, Li Zongliang, Han Limin and his wife, and Han Lixin and his wife came together.
Brothers Han Limin heard from Li Chengrong that they wanted to take Su Anhua to see the ice lanterns.
When they thought about it, they might as well take their wives with them and go out for a stroll, and they happened to be with Xu Shiyan.
When we got here, we found that many people had gathered at Xu Shiyan's end.
So we all walked to Songjiang River together, chatting and laughing, without driving or riding bicycles.
The ice lantern is located in the open space in the square to the west of the bureau building, where Xu Shiyan sold fish.
The Forestry Bureau had money, so it brought back a lot of huge ice blocks from the lower reaches of the Songhua River in the north, and found people to carve them into ice lanterns of various shapes.
The inside of the ice lantern is hollowed out, and a light bulb is put in. After the power is turned on at night, the entire ice lantern will appear colorful, crystal clear and dreamy, which is very attractive.
When Xu Shiyan and others arrived at the square, it was not yet seven o'clock, and all the ice lanterns were powered on. They were colorful and dreamlike, as bright and gorgeous as the Crystal Palace.
The square was crowded, and many people had gathered, wandering around everywhere, stopping in front of each ice lantern to admire it carefully.
"My Iceberg Beauty Wife"
At seven o'clock sharp, someone lit the fireworks that had been prepared on the bureau building.
Clusters of colorful fireworks of different shapes spread out in the sky.
Combined with the ice lanterns on the ground, the night shines like day, or even brighter than day.
Waves of exclamations erupted from the crowd.
I don’t blame you, this is the first time in many years that the Forestry Bureau has set off fireworks in addition to ice lanterns during the Lantern Festival.
Everyone looked up at the sky, and every time a firework exploded, everyone let out bursts of exclamation.
Fireworks these days are not cheap, and the Forestry Bureau was not willing to set off too many. After about ten minutes, the fireworks stopped, and everyone could finally lower their heads.
"It's so beautiful. I've never seen such beautiful fireworks." Su Anying said excitedly, leaning next to Xu Shiyan.
"Well, if you want to see it in the future, I will bring you here every year."
The Forestry Bureau made ice lanterns every Lantern Festival, and this custom continued until 1995 and 1996.
Later, the Forestry Bureau was in a recession, so it didn’t have enough money to fix the ice lanterns.
A few years later, fireworks were still set off, but gradually there were no more fireworks.
Ice lanterns and fireworks have become beautiful scenes in the memory of Songjianghe people.
The couple chatted in low voices here, while Li Chengrong and Li Zongliang saw a candied haws seller on the other side and quickly bought one for their partner.
Xu Shiyan looked up occasionally and saw them handing the candied haws to the Su Anfang sisters.
Xu Shiyan pouted, these two boys are quite good at pleasing their partners.
"You two wait a moment, I'll buy you two candied haws."
Xu Shiyan turned around, called Su Anying and Xu Shiqin, and waited for him nearby. Then he quickly went to the candied haws seller and bought one for his wife and sister.
Xu Shiyan had just paid and held the candied haws in his hand. When he turned around, he found that where his wife and sister were standing, several people were surrounding them.
Xu Shiyan was stunned for a moment and walked back quickly.
When I got closer, I found a few boys in their twenties talking to Xu Shiqin with playful smiles.
Xu Shiqin ignored them with a cold face, and those people talked in a flirtatious manner, and one of them even touched Xu Shiqin.
Xu Shiyan saw that this was not bad, so he stepped forward, raised his leg, kicked the kid who made the move, and kicked the man away.