Zixiaoguan was going to hold a fireworks display on New Year's Eve, and the news soon spread among the wealthy circles in the north of Chang'an City.
As for why it is a wealthy area... As mentioned before, due to the inconvenient transportation and class gap, few civilians in the south of the city dare to take the risk of walking more than ten miles to the wealthy area in the north of the city to offer incense.
For the people of Chang'an, fireworks are not a strange thing. The former Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty liked to set off fireworks very much and even wrote poems to praise them.
After one comment, it was indeed quite beautiful, and many people immediately decided to come and have a look that night.
After all, there is a lack of spiritual life in this era and there is really nothing interesting to do.
Watching the fireworks is secondary, the main thing is fun.
Moreover, Chang'an City cancels the curfew during the holidays, which is a rare thing. If you don't go out and go shopping, you will miss this opportunity.
People began to arrive one after another that afternoon. Cheng Hualiang, Qin Yandao, and Yuchi Xunyu came early with their families.
Cheng Huailiang's wife was Princess Li Jing of Qinghe. She was only ten years old when she got married. At this time, she was only thirteen years old in real life. However, she was very mature both in her appearance and in her words and deeds.
She was very polite to Chen Jingke, her attitude was very low, and she was very accommodating to Cheng Hualiang - at least in front of outsiders.
No matter how you look at them, they are an enviable young couple.
Qin Yandao's daughter-in-law didn't say much more. Thinking of it, Chen Jingke still felt a dull pain in her body.
Yuchi Xunyu's biological sister Yuchiyue is not yet twelve years old this year. She is a weak-looking Qianqian who has a bit of Lin Daiyu's temperament and is not at all like a member of the Yuchi family.
He was young and newly married, so he was a little shy and would always hide behind Qin Yandao. He was very curious about Chen Jingke and always looked at him secretly.
Yuchi Xunyu's daughter-in-law is Xue Xun, the daughter of the governor of Xingzhou. She is thirteen or fourteen years old. I don't know whether it is because her family is too strict or for other reasons, but she seems a little taciturn.
There were four brothers, three in pairs, and he was the only one single. Chen Jingke felt particularly sour in his heart.
So he took the initiative to suggest that the three women should play by themselves, and the four men should play with themselves.
Naturally, everyone had no objections, so they separated.
However, the four of them did not really play around, but were making final preparations for the fireworks display to ensure that nothing would go wrong.
The biggest workload is hanging lanterns. When it gets dark at night, some disharmonious things can easily happen in every corner.
Chen Jingke had thousands of large lanterns made, lighting up the entire square and surrounding corners to provide convenience to all visitors.
While checking around, it was inevitable that they would talk about their respective lives. Cheng Huailiang said accidentally: "Brother Xunyu, does your aunt still dislike your sister-in-law?"
Chen Jingke was stunned for a moment. He just felt that there seemed to be a gloomy look between Xue Xun's eyebrows.
But after all, she was someone else's wife and he didn't dare to look at her too much. Besides, the couple didn't seem to have any disharmony, so he didn't think much about it.
Now it seems that there is indeed a conflict in the family. The problem of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has been a difficult problem since ancient times. This matter is really difficult to handle.
Yuchi Xunyu must also be worried about this matter. He shook his head and said: "Forget it, we don't mention these unhappy things during the holidays."
Cheng Huailiang had no choice but to change the topic. It was really difficult for outsiders to get involved in this kind of thing.
Chen Jingke secretly kept the matter in mind and waited until this period of time had passed before asking what the situation was and seeing if he could help solve it.
…
Businessmen have always had a keen sense of smell and know exactly where there are business opportunities.
Zixiaoguan’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display is undoubtedly the best opportunity to make money, and many vendors have made preparations early.
It's just that many dignitaries will come today, and the emperor and empress will also bring their children to participate. The security measures are very strict, and not all vendors will have the opportunity to enter.
Only those merchants who often set up stalls in Zixiaoguan and are relatively unique can enter. For example, those selling needles, threads, and brains were all turned away.
Even so, more than a hundred merchants were brought in, and soon they set up stalls.
These merchants also try their best to attract customers, offering all kinds of dolls, accessories, palace lanterns, food, exotic items from other places, etc.
…
The sky is getting darker and darker, and more and more people are coming to the fireworks show.
The Forbidden Army has long guarded the doors everywhere, and those who can enter are all dignitaries, officials, scholars, etc., and ordinary wealthy businessmen are not qualified.
Even so, the number of people soon exceeded 2,000, and it is still increasing rapidly.
Chen Jingke also met many powerful children under the leadership of Cheng Hualiang and others.
"This is the brother of the eldest son of the Duke of Wei, and the son of the second son..."
"I've admired her for a long time." Chen Jingke greeted Fang Yiai while quietly sizing him up. He couldn't help it, he was too famous.
"This is brother Li Zhen and Li Jingyang, the eldest son of the Duke of Cao."
Li Zhen was unfamiliar to everyone, and his son Xu Jingye was more familiar to everyone, so Chen Jingke couldn't help but look at him a few more times.
By the way, he also took a very covert look at his wife's belly. It was bulging. It couldn't be Xu Jingye's guy inside.
Soon a group of children from powerful families gathered around him, and the crowd surrounding him seemed like stars looming over the moon.
It is self-evident that the purpose of these people is to take advantage of this opportunity to get acquainted with him. They do not seek to become allies like Cheng Huailiang and others, but at least establish a relationship.
If he had just traveled through time, Chen Jingke would definitely have shown timidity. But it is different now. After such a long period of study and training, he can already deal with everyone freely.
When it was almost dusk, Li Shimin and Changsun Wugou came to Zixiao Temple with a large group of people.
Behind them were the prince and his wife, the king of Wei and his wife, Li Lizhi and his wife, as well as Changsun Wuji and other important ministers.
Everyone is wearing casual clothes today, and the atmosphere is very relaxed as they chat and laugh.
This kind of standard naturally requires Sun Simiao to greet him personally, and Chen Jingke can only follow behind as a small follower.
But sometimes he just wants to keep a low profile.
For example, now, Princess Jinyang is very excited when she sees him. She stretches out her little hand and says in a sweet voice: "Brother, brother, hug..."
In full view of everyone, Chen Jingke felt very embarrassed.
Changsun Wujia smiled and nodded at her, saying: "You little heartless child, if you have a brother, you won't want your mother to marry you. All right, all right, go find your brother."
Then he took her from the nanny's hand and put her on the ground.
Princess Jinyang ran up to Chen Jingke, performed a light wing spread with her little arms, and said: "Brother, give me a hug."
Chen Jingke touched his nose and picked her up.
The little girl was very happy to get her wish, and she hugged his neck and giggled non-stop.
Changsun Wugou said with some amusement: "It makes you happy, just live with your brother from now on, we don't want you anymore."
This scene fell into the eyes of everyone, and naturally there were different interpretations.
But one thing is recognized. In the minds of Your Majesty and the Empress, Chen Xiaozhen has an extraordinary status.
