A life of ups and downs is pure joy

The warm winter sun protected the only part of Lin Qinghuan's face that was exposed to the outside like a mother's hands. Today was the Little New Year of the Dasheng Dynasty. Standing at the gate of Sheng Mansion, she watched everyone busy packing things to take to the temple fair.

"Fifth sister, have you never thought that the plaque at the entrance of the Lin Mansion would look like this?" Lin Qingyi said as she stood beside her.

"Why is it the Marquis' Mansion?" She originally thought that the plaque read Lin Mansion or General's Mansion.

"The emperor gave daddy the name Marquis Luo Feng, although everyone is still used to calling daddy the general." Lin Qingyi whispered in her ear.

"Aren't big brother and Ancai going?" She looked around and didn't see Lin Yuzhi, so she asked Lin Ancai.

"They and Daddy must first go to the ancestral hall to clean the tablets before they can go to the temple fair." Lin Qingyi took out some sour plums from her pocket and handed them to her, continuing, "The journey is a bit far, so take this, in case you need it on the way."

Two carriages set off slowly. Lin Qinghuan, Lin Qingyi and Lin Qingwan sat in the back carriage, while Lin Qingyao, Lin Qingru and their grandmother sat in the front carriage. Hong Qi followed closely beside Lin Qinghuan. The huge team set off to the outside of the city. She was as excited as a three-year-old child all the way. She would lift the curtain from time to time to look at the hustle and bustle of Luofeng City.

"What delicious food is that?" She pointed at the colorful stall in the distance and asked the two calm girls in the car.

"Which one?" Lin Qingyi stretched her head and looked hard. "Those are colorful glutinous rice balls. Each different color corresponds to a different flavor. The ones at the Drum Tower stall are really unique, especially the fried ones." Lin Qingyi swallowed her saliva after she said that.

"Fourth sister, do you know why you have acne on your face?" Lin Qingwan, who was originally resting with her eyes closed, glanced at Lin Qingyi and said unhappily.

"What's wrong with smallpox? Second sister's prescription can cure it." Lin Qingyi replied.

"Yinan," Lin Qingwan paused and continued, "No matter how good Second Sister's prescription is, it can't cure your root cause."

"You don't need to worry about it. The pox won't appear on your face."

"We are sisters, and I am reminding you kindly."

"My two sisters, it's all Huan'er's fault for being too talkative. We're quarreling again." Lin Qinghuan quickly pretended to be pitiful and asked the two female Bodhisattvas to stop fighting each other. After saying that, she coughed violently.

Seeing this, the two men hurriedly handed her a handkerchief, water, and patted her on the back, temporarily stopping the fight. They knew that the two were incompatible, and they didn't know why they were allowed to ride in the same car.

"Qinghuan, second sister told you not to be anxious or angry. You coughed so hard that we were scared to death." Seeing that she calmed down for a while, Lin Qingyi looked at Lin Qinghuan with a face full of grievance. Lin Qingwan next to her also had a pale face and pretended to be nothing happened.

"It's okay. As long as the two sisters are fine, Huan'er will naturally stop coughing."

"I should have let my second sister come along, but she just doesn't like crowds." Lin Qingyi watched Lin Qinghuan finish drinking the water, took the cup, and wiped the residue from the corner of her mouth for her.

"Fifth sister, didn't you say that your prescription was very effective this time? Why are you still coughing so badly?" Lin Qingwan asked.

"No matter how powerful the prescription is, do you think it's a magic pill?" Lin Qingyi said.

Fearing they would start fighting again, Lin Qinghuan quickly said, "The prescription is effective. It's just that we finally got out to play, and I might have been too happy and excited."

"Then sister, please close your eyes and rest for a while. The journey is quite long." After saying this, Lin Qingwan continued to rest with her eyes closed.

Lin Qingyi glanced at her, took Lin Qinghuan's arm, and started playing the arm-cutting game again. Hong Qi, who had flown to the roof of the car while coughing, saw this and went back to the team.

After several hours of bumpy ride, they finally arrived at the gate of White Horse Temple. The servants brought over the stool for getting off the horse, and Chuxia stepped forward to help Lin Qinghuan get off the car.

"Sister Qingyi." A girl about the same age as Lin Qingyi was standing on a carriage in the distance. She had two upturned buns on her hair and was waving her arms happily towards them.

"Ruoyun, you're here so early." Lin Qingyi let go of Lin Qinghuan's arm and ran over, then turned back halfway, pulled her up and walked over quickly. Lin Qinghuan felt the familiar girl's power again, and Chuxia hurried to catch up.

"Who is this sister? Why haven't I seen her before?" After the three of them met up, the girl with the bun looked at Lin Qinghuan in confusion and asked.

"You are so short-sighted that you don't even bow to the eldest lady." A lady who was walking over scolded the girl with a bun on her head before Lin Qingyi could say anything.

"Ruoyun greets the young lady." The girl with a bun bowed to her obediently. Lin Qinghuan looked at Lin Qingyi.

Lin Qingyi put one arm around Lin Qinghuan and the other around Ruoyun. "Alright, alright, Qinghuan doesn't care about these empty formalities. Aunt, let's go play." Then she grabbed the two girls and ran away.

"Hey, you kid." The lady was left complaining helplessly behind.

Ruoyun kept looking at Lin Qinghuan secretly, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

"Why are you peeking at Qinghuan like this?" Lin Qingyi saw through it and exposed it.

"I've only heard of one legitimate daughter, Sister Qingyao, who is much older than us. Why haven't I seen this younger sister?"

"Of course you haven't seen it. Qinghuan has been weak since childhood and has never left the house. She is only now feeling better."

"Who is Sister Ruoyun?" Lin Qinghuan looked at them both curiously and asked.

"This is my uncle's house, Qinghuan, don't move." Suddenly Lin Qingyi became very serious and said to Lin Qinghuan seriously.

"What's wrong? Why can't you move?" Lin Qinghuan watched Lin Qingyi's face change in a second, and suddenly felt a little nervous, with a bad premonition coming.

"There's one on your body, there's one," Lin Qingyi hadn't finished speaking when she felt a gust of wind passing by her. She saw a large colorful spider split into two halves and fell to the ground. Even the corpse scared Lin Qinghuan so much that she couldn't stand still for a moment.

"The girl is fine, she is dead." Hong Qi supported the panicked Lin Qinghuan and said softly.

"Sister Hongqi, your kung fu is so cool." Lin Qingyi looked at Hongqi wearing a mask with shining eyes, admiration written all over her face.

Seeing that Lin Qinghuan was fine, Hong Qi returned to the team as if nothing had happened.

There were many carriages parked in this spacious area, and each carriage had a sign of a different mansion, such as Zhang Mansion, Chen Mansion, etc. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone at the same time. After waiting for a while, the sound of horse hooves and carriages came from afar. Lin Qinghuan saw a carriage of the same level as the one in the Marquis' Mansion, and the two generals beside his father whom he had seen in the reception room last time riding horses in front to lead the way.

"Marquis Luo Feng, Grandmother." As Daddy appeared before the crowd, most of the people in the carriages on both sides emerged. Ruoyun returned to the lady she had just met. Everyone bowed deeply to Daddy and Grandmother. Following behind them felt particularly grand, and she could clearly feel that Lin Qingyi and Lin Qingwan's backs were straighter than usual.

Many young ladies from official families present were dressed very beautifully, and most of them had their eyes on Lin Yuzhi, whispering to each other shyly and affectionately. Lin Qinghuan secretly glanced at Lin Yuzhi, not wanting to be caught by him.

"What's wrong? Big brother has some makeup on his face, why is Qinghuan laughing like that?" Lin Yuzhi looked at his sister and asked in confusion.

"It doesn't matter whether big brother has flowers on his face or not. What matters is that big brother has attracted a lot of peach blossoms." She looked at the flowers and girls around her and said.

"Qinghuan is now making fun of big brother. Could it be that he also saw these in ancient books?" Lin Qingyi said mischievously.

"What an interesting book this is. Lin Qinghuan, please lend me one." Lin Ancai replied. Lin Qingyi turned around and kicked him, but Lin Ancai dodged it.

"Yuzhi, come here." Lin Yuzhi was about to speak when he heard the voice of the general father calling him. The elder brother patted Lin Qinghuan's face and walked forward.

It turned out that a group of civil officials were chatting with the general, and as the eldest son, Lin Yuzhi had to be in front of them. The flattery of officials over there was really a waste of time and boring. What really attracted Lin Qinghuan was the lively temple fair in the distance. The bustling sounds could be heard here, and Lin Qingyi looked over where she was looking.

"Want to go for a walk?" Lin Qingyi straightened Lin Qinghuan's face with her hands and said to her.

"Well, when can we go?" She glanced at the officials who were still chatting and asked Lin Qingyi anxiously.

"We can't join in the excitement over there." Lin Qingyi pointed to the temple ahead, "That's where we want to go."

"Can we only go and burn some incense and pray to Buddha?" Lin Qinghuan instantly lost all his energy. He stared at the hustle and bustle in the distance, then looked back at the quiet temple, pouting in grievance.

"What's wrong with Huan'er? Are you feeling unwell again?" Lin Qingyao asked with concern when she saw Lin Qinghuan's mournful face.

"Big sister, I want to go." She looked at the hustle and bustle in the distance sadly, and said to Lin Qingyao with grievance.

"You are so weak, and there are so many people and complicated situations over there, you can't go." Lin Qingyao pinched Lin Qinghuan's face and said softly. Before she finished speaking, Lin Qinghuan's crying skills came into play again, and big tears of grievance began to fall down.

"Hey, Huan'er, why are you crying?" Lin Qingyao wiped her sister's tears with a handkerchief and said with a smile.

“…” Lin Qinghuan just sniffed without saying anything, still staring at the excitement in the distance.

"Okay, okay, after we finish our business, I'll take you out for a walk. Let me make it clear, you can only play for a while." Lin Qingyao looked at Lin Qinghuan who was crying, and Lin Qingyi who was watching her, and then she compromised.

Lin Qinghuan was so happy for a moment that she couldn't help laughing out loud. Lin Qingyao looked at me helplessly and pinched her face hard. "Okay, you stay with Qingyi for a while. I'll go see if Qingru has woken up." After that, she returned to the carriage surrounded by her maids.

"Fifth sister, you change your expression too quickly. You must act better next time." Lin Qingyi leaned close to her ear and complained.

It was past midnight when the worship ceremony began. The ancients believed in Buddhism and always felt how pious they were now. A hundred years later, the Buddha would still remember the good and evil. Lin Qinghuan looked at the back of the general. In order to protect his country, he was a kind and great contributor, but for the neighboring country, did he play the role of a sinful devil?

"Why are there only these adults and people from our Lin Mansion? Where are the ordinary people?" The yard was full of officials, their families, and a group of soldiers. Lin Qinghuan asked Lin Qingyi curiously in a low voice.

"Today is the Little New Year. Ordinary people do not worship Buddha but only go to the market. From the Little New Year until New Year's Eve, ordinary people worship Buddha and pray to gods. This is called the end of the year. The emperor worships gods before the common people. The emperor is far away in Kyoto, so the local officials do it on the emperor's behalf to ward off disasters and bring blessings to the people." Lin Qingyi's small classroom began again. After listening, Lin Qinghuan finally understood that one should worry about the world before enjoying the world.

"I want to pay my respects, too." Lin Qinghuan muttered to himself as he looked at the magnificent Buddhist temple. Suddenly, he began to have some secret hopes in his heart. He came here for no reason. Could there really be any magical existence? If he was more pious, perhaps he could live a peaceful life here!

"Don't be anxious. After Daddy and the others finish their worship ceremony, we will accompany Grandma to worship together. Take a break first and watch the excitement." After saying this, Lin Qingyi continued to watch the worship ceremony.

Lin Qinghuan had no choice but to continue watching the excitement out of boredom, and by the way, looked around to see the dignitaries in Luofeng City, trying to recognize their faces. Lin Qingru was too young and sleepy on the way, and was still sleeping in Nanny Zhang's arms with drool all over her face. She really felt sorry for Nanny Zhang's arms, thinking that this little babe must be quite heavy. Lin Qingyao and Lin Qingwan stood quietly beside their grandmother, without saying a word.