Daily life in the academy

Bai Zhi boasted that her mission was accomplished, and her steps became much lighter. However, when she opened the door, she was met with four pairs of inquiring eyes. She was startled and coughed lightly, "Your Majesty, Aunt Rou is fine. She asked me to call you in."

"Hey, A'rou, I'm here." Yan Tai smiled happily, and without even bothering to thank Bai Zhi, he quickly walked into the house and closed the door with a bang to prevent outsiders from seeing their intimate conversation.

Yan Qingchen turned his back without looking at it.

Bai Zhi looked at Mu Bailian, who had a curious look on his face, and Wen Zhe, who had a calm expression, and asked curiously, "Azhe, when did you get here?"

"It's only been a while."

Mu Bailian came forward and asked, "Azhi, have you missed me after not seeing me for a few days?"

Bai Zhi chuckled twice, "Brother, didn't we just meet three days ago?"

"Hey, you sound so nice calling me 'big brother', let me hear you call me that again..." Mu Bailian started to feel nauseous again.

"Can I call you uncle?"

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Yan Qingchen spoke up, "Alright, stop dawdling. Aren't we going to the Lantern Festival? If we don't leave now, it will be dark. There will be too many people on the street, and the carriage can't pass. We'll have to walk."

In the West Market of Sheng'an City, the lights are on, just like a dazzling galaxy falling to the earth.

In her previous life, Baizhi had read in books how poets described the beautiful scenery of Chang'an and Luoyang. Now that she had seen it with her own eyes, she only regretted that she had no camera to record these wonderful moments.

As soon as night fell, the West Market was already crowded with people.

The dazzling array of lights clashed with each other, illuminating the entire streetscape like daylight. Walking along the streets, the buildings on either side were festooned with lanterns of all shapes and sizes. There were exquisitely crafted rabbit lanterns that looked as if they would leap into life at any moment; majestic tiger lanterns swayed in the wind, seemingly roaring to the heavens; and even giant revolving lanterns, depicting myths, legends, and historical stories, with lifelike characters that unfolded into breathtaking scenes as the lanterns rotated.

In the middle of the street, a crowd surrounded a juggler. A strong, shirtless acrobat danced with his torches with a ferocious swagger, illuminating the awestruck faces around him. Nearby, artists on stilts dressed up as various characters—gods, ghosts, and scholars—moved through the crowd, interacting with passersby and drawing laughter. Children ran and laughed among the crowd, clutching small lanterns tightly in their hands, their eyes sparkling with excitement.

Bai Zhi was attracted by the fire-breathing jugglers, and she nimbly squeezed into the crowd. Before Yan Qingchen could react, the two were separated by the crowd. Helplessly, he could only stand there and wait for her.

Mu Bailian and Wenzhe had seen this countless times since they were children, so they didn't find it strange. Although they felt that Bai Zhi's reaction was a bit too big, considering that he had never lived in Sheng'an City before, it was understandable that he was a little surprised. So they patiently slowed down their pace and accompanied him to visit each stall one by one.

The three of them looked at each other and stood behind the crowd waiting for Bai Zhi to come out.

After a long while, when Bai Zhi had seen enough, she came out and saw three people standing behind her in the crowd like three small mountains. She didn't even have to look hard to find them, as the three of them were very conspicuous in the crowd.

She squeezed out with a smile, "That guy just now was really amazing. He spit out a mouthful of wine, and the fire sprayed far away. He wasn't afraid of getting burned."

"Of course, a juggler makes a living by his special skills. Look at that man's exposed arm, there are many burn marks. He must have suffered a lot before." The crowd was too noisy, so Yan Qingchen could only raise his voice to explain.

"Then I should have given two more cents. I only gave three cents..." Bai Zhi was a little annoyed.

Wenzhe smiled and said, "It's no problem. They set up stalls in the downtown area all year round and make quite a bit of money every day."

Mu Bailian couldn't stand their dithering any longer and urged them, "Let's go to the lantern riddle stall in front and take a look. That tiger lantern is really impressive. Let's go and win four of them."

"I don't want the tiger lamp, I want the rabbit lamp next to it, it's so cute..." Bai Zhi's girlish heart was overwhelmed for a moment.

Mu Bai frowned slightly, "Rabbit lantern? Isn't that something only little girls like? You, a man, can't like this."

Yan Qingchen coughed lightly and quickly said, "Who said that only little girls like rabbit lanterns? I like them too. Just looking at the rabbit makes me want to roast and eat it. Is that not okay?"

Bai Zhi reacted and quickly agreed: "Yes, I want to eat roasted rabbit." Although she was thinking that rabbits are so cute, how can we eat rabbits, but... roasted rabbit is really delicious!

Wenzhe: "In that case, I want a rabbit lantern too."

"You guys..." You must be crazy... What's the connection between rabbit lanterns and roasted rabbits?

Mu Bailian regained his composure and stopped talking in time. He shook his head and took two steps to the side, sticking to his original choice: "I want the rabbit...ah...no, the tiger lantern. How majestic."

The lantern riddle booth had also gathered quite a few people. The shopkeeper read out the rules: "Five cents per person. If you guess three lantern riddles in a row correctly, you can choose any lantern you like."

"Ah... I thought it was free lantern riddle guessing." Bai Zhi couldn't help but mutter to herself, but the shopkeeper heard it anyway. He smiled and explained, "My father worked hard to make these lanterns, so I have to charge him for his hard work."

"Ah..." Bai Zhi suddenly felt embarrassed. She quickly ripped open Mu Bailian's purse and took out five cents of silver from it and handed it to him. "The extra money is a reward from Mr. Mu."

The shopkeeper smiled and bowed to the four people: "Thank you for your honor, gentlemen. Let's start guessing the lantern riddles."

Mu Bailian swallowed it in one gulp. Since it was his money, he reached out and chose the first one in the third row. He turned over the bamboo card and saw the riddle: Eat a plum in one bite (guess a word). He read it out and thought for a long time, his face wrinkled into a ball, but he still couldn't think of the word.

Bai Zhi sighed and discussed with the shopkeeper, "Boss, our Mr. Mu is a bit slow-witted. If the four of us can answer twelve riddles in total, no matter who came up with them, we'll all pass."

He had at least a hundred riddles here, and since the four of them were generous, the shopkeeper readily agreed, "It's all up to you, young master."

As soon as the shopkeeper finished speaking, Wenzhe said, "Eat a plum in one bite. The answer is 'Kun'. Can you answer it, shopkeeper?"

"Yes, yes, please continue, gentlemen."

Mu Bailian turned over the fifth piece in the fourth row. On the bamboo plaque was written: January 1st is not today (guess a word). Before anyone else could speak, he said, "That's easy. It's the 'ming' of tomorrow, right?"

The shopkeeper smiled and nodded. Mu Bailian then turned over the sixth bamboo plaque next to him. On it was written: Thousands of words (guess a word). The four of them fell into deep thought. After a long while, Wenzhe smiled and said, "I understand, but is it enough words?"

The shopkeeper smiled and clapped his hands, praising him: "This young man is very good. This is a difficult riddle."

Bai Zhi thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why it was the word "enough", so she asked, "Why?"