After talking about this topic, Wang Yunlin was immediately interested.
She asked Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan to come out of the house and pointed to the eaves to ask them.
"I'll test you again. Do you know what this thing is for?"
The two little brothers looked in the direction of Wang Yunlin's fingers.
Only then did I realize that there was a row of rusty iron hooks under the eaves. Not only were there one every half a meter, but at a glance, it seemed that there were them under every room, arranged continuously there.
No one really knows, and they have never even noticed. The two of them couldn't help but look at each other.
"Boss, you still remember, right?"
Wang Yunlin smiled and asked her eldest son again. What she meant was very clear. Hong Yanzheng had lived with them until he was a teenager.
Sure enough, Hong Yan thought for a while and finally gave the answer. "I remember it seems to be used to hang lanterns..."
"Hang a lantern?"
"so much!"
Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan were extremely surprised when they heard this and couldn't help shouting.
In fact, I really don’t blame them for their reaction, because if they were to be hung under the eaves of all the houses in this courtyard, there would have to be at least hundreds of them. Who else lights up lanterns like this?
"You still don't believe it? It's so rare and strange! Then explain to me, what are these hooks used for?"
If the boss gets the opportunity to shame Hong Yanwu, of course he won't let it go. One sentence made Hong Yanwu choke and stutter.
"No...this...it's obviously not necessary..."
Hong Yanwu was anxious to figure it out. He didn't bother to argue with his eldest brother, so he turned around and asked his mother.
"Mom, my eldest brother is just trying to show off and won't say it properly. I'd better ask you. What's going on? Our family used to light so many lanterns every day, right? It looks good, but the courtyard
What's the use of having such a bright light in the house? Besides, there are many courtyards behind. No matter how much money you spend, you can't help building it like this. It's also easy to catch fire..."
"You really understand!" Wang Yunlin said "Puch", amused by her son, and then revealed the answer to the mystery.
I'm sorry that back then, the Hong family did not hang lanterns like this every day, nor did they hang them in every courtyard.
In fact, in addition to the "Shangyuan Festival", "Hungry Ghost Festival" and "Xiayuan Festival", the Hong family only places decorations in this second courtyard during festive celebrations, birthdays, or when relatives and friends come home.
Hang so many lanterns when entertaining guests.
And something special to note is that the hanging lanterns are not ordinary lanterns. They are actually word puzzle lanterns.
You should know that although riddles are a rare form of entertainment today, in the past, especially in the Qing Dynasty, riddles were an activity used by the upper class to meet friends, and they were quite active.
For example, "A Dream of Red Mansions" has two paragraphs about riddles. One is Xue Baoqin's ten nostalgic poems, and the other is Rongning and Ning's Lantern Festival lantern riddles.
It is also recorded in "Pin Hua Bao Jian", "The fallen flower man is independent, and the Wei Yuyan flies together." Guess the word "two".
All of the above can show the popularity of riddles in the Qing Dynasty, indicating the social situation when riddles were a daily entertainment for the nobles.
In the early years of the Republic of China, this form of entertainment spread from top to bottom to the private sector. Lantern riddle guessing activities also flourished among ordinary people in the capital, and seasonal riddle guessing activities began to appear.
The so-called seasonal activities refer to the period from long summer to cool autumn. When the intellectuals in the household light up the lights every day or in the evening on regular days, they will choose suitable places in nearby streets and alleys to hang "wall lamps".
Wall lamps are usually made of translucent paper pasted on the surface of a horizontal rectangular wooden frame, with medium-burning candles or small kerosene lamps. The prepared riddle strips must be pasted on them in advance.
In this way, people nearby and those who have liked it in the past can watch and guess, so as to forget the heat. It disappears late at night, which is called "Lighting Tiger".
At that time, many people would often travel long distances to meet someone they were interested in. There were so many puzzle pieces that those who were in embarrassment could not cope with them just to have fun. Therefore, there was also the "Tiger Fighting Team"
"Another name.
Let’s talk about it fundamentally. Both “Lighting Tigers” and “Tiger Fighting Team” are probably based on the story of Li Guang shooting tigers in Peking in "Historical Records".
The predecessors also wrote Zhuzhici about this event, which is quite lifelike.
The poem goes, "Everywhere the lights of business are on, talking about dragons and tigers is also a wonder. The fan of gentleness never stops, and the years have to worry about the coming of wind and rain."
During this period when it became popular and everyone was enjoying it, two high-level mystery organizations and related periodicals even appeared.
Of those two "Mystery Clubs", one is called "Ju Club" and is hosted by the painter Li Juqi from Xinsi Hutong in Beicheng. The other is called "Xihong" and is hosted by Han Shaoheng from Nanban Hutong in Xuanwai.
They advertise themselves as "making friends through literature" and regularly invite celebrities from all walks of life to gather at their residences for dinner and quizzes.
"Spring Sound", "Autumn Shadow", "Guohua", "Yunlong Mist Leopard", and "Shenzhou Essence Record" were the most popular books and newspapers at that time introducing ancient and modern puzzles.
So at this point, we know that it was actually a very normal and common thing for the Hong family to hang lights in their own courtyard and guess riddles for fun.
To be honest, this is more interesting than playing mahjong or calling a party. The family participation is high and it is not vulgar. The whole family can have fun.
However, given their family’s financial resources, the standards of the event were indeed a bit high.
Normally, every time such a "lantern tiger" is played, about three hundred lanterns need to be hung in the courtyard, not only on the eaves, but also on the verandah.
There are also many types of lanterns hung with riddles. There are ingenious Goryeo paper lanterns, glass lanterns and glazed lanterns, and even palace lanterns bought at high prices from the palace, all of which are rare for ordinary people.
High-end goods at first sight.
As for the prizes, there are usually only four treasures of the study: pen, ink, paper and inkstone. There are also special prizes, which are the birthdays of the head of the Hong family and the "Shangyuan Festival", "Hungry Ghost Festival" and "Xiayuan Festival".
Money or silk.
In addition, after the banquet is over, there is usually another repertoire - placing "box flowers".
The now extinct "box flowers" were large and exquisitely crafted fireworks, and the process of setting them off was much more complicated.
The shelf must be set up first, and the big hexagonal boxes must be stacked up layer by layer. The first layer is for fireworks, the second layer is for fireworks, and the third layer is for characters.
Then hang up the shelf. Finally, once lit, layers of fireworks will fly into the sky, making the garden and courtyard full of flying fireballs and colorful scenes...
As Wang Yunlin vividly described those old events, it seemed that everyone was looking down upon the grand occasion of the Hong family's guests in the past, lighting up lamps and laughing.
Not only Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan were fascinated by it. Hong Lucheng and Hong Yanzheng, father and son, even fell into a dream-like memory.
This centuries-old courtyard really contains too much joy and bitterness, too much impetuosity and heaviness. Too many memories, too many years, and too many emotions that cannot be let go.
Maybe this courtyard has become decadent, maybe this courtyard has lost its splendor, maybe the former glory of this courtyard has been submerged behind the small houses, sundry shacks, and connected corridors built in different years...
But it's like everyone was young once, and some people once had their unparalleled grace. Although time has passed, how can feelings flow away so easily?
Even though they themselves seem to have forgotten and become indifferent, as long as they return here and take one more look, the strands of memories sunk in the bricks and tiles will emerge uncontrollably and bring them back to life again.
My heart tightened.
This is called home! This is home!
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