This lantern market is terrifyingly large.
The eight people split up and used various displacement cards to weave and explore through the crowd. After returning to the tree, Xiao Lou drew a miniature map on the ground based on everyone's descriptions of the road and the arrow marks they left behind.
As he drew, he explained to his teammates: "The entire lantern market is shaped like the Chinese character '申' (shen). There's a long main road in the middle, lined with round red gauze lanterns on both sides. The road ends at a stone bridge; beyond that bridge is our target."
The finish line—the lamppost.
He drew an asterisk at the location of the lantern tree, and then said, "In the middle section, after excluding the main road without lantern riddles, what remains is the character '日' (sun). There are three horizontal streets and two vertical streets. To make it easier to continue, let's divide the work..."
" Captain Yu and I will be in charge of the two vertical streets. As for the Three of a Kind cross street, Lao Mo and Liu Qiao will be in charge of the farthest one; CEO Shao and Ye Qi will be in charge of the middle street; and Long Sen and Teacher Qu will be in charge of the closest street. Everyone remember your positions and don't get confused."
His arrangement was indeed very thoughtful. The [ Light as a Swallow ] card allows for aerial leaps using the Lightness Skill, making it the fastest movement speed, so he placed Liu Qiao and Lao Mo at the farthest point. The [ Teleportation ] card also provides fast movement speed, so CEO Shao and Ye Qi were positioned in the middle. The [Jump] card, due to its 8-meter jump, is not convenient to jump through a bustling crowd, so Long Sen and Qu Wanyue were placed on the street closest to the tree. The two could easily walk out of the street and activate their skills near the stone bridge.
After careful consideration, everyone felt extremely impressed with Professor Xiao's arrangements.
The seemingly incredibly complex lantern market, after being divided into groups like this, becomes simply two paths for each group. Even the most directionally challenged person can't go wrong by walking in a straight line, right?
Professor Xiao took charge of the most difficult and confusing parts, the two vertical streets!
After assigning tasks, the group re-entered the lantern market.
In Diamond Secret Room, all attack and control cards are disabled. Passersby will block their way, and some people will accidentally bump into them. Yu Hanjiang has no choice but to continue to hold Xiao Lou's waist to protect him. This intimate action makes Xiao Lou's cheeks burn, but the red lanterns all around make his blush less noticeable.
After crossing the main road, there are significantly fewer pedestrians on the side streets.
Xiao Lou soon spotted a palace lantern hanging on a shelf. It was a classic six-sided, six-cornered design, made of paper, with beautiful patterns painted on each side. Red silk threads hung from the six corners of the lantern, making it look very delicate.
Under the warm candlelight, the patterns came to life. The lanterns, in terms of both shape and exquisite craftsmanship, were quite different from the identical red gauze lanterns on the main road.
Xiao Lou stepped forward and asked gently, "Is this a riddle?"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "That's right, as long as you can guess the answer to the riddle, I can give you the lantern."
Just as expected. The ancient Lantern Festival did indeed feature many activities like "guessing lantern riddles and giving away lanterns." The lanterns were inexpensive to make, all handmade, and given away were for good luck. Unlike modern lantern markets, where colorful electronic lights with various musical effects are sold everywhere. Xiao Lou much preferred this traditional Lantern Festival.
Xiao Lou reached out and picked up the lantern hanging on the shelf, carefully examining the patterns on it.
The lantern in my hand has a picture of a scholar on the first side, holding a folding fan, looking dignified; a rooster on the second side; several gold ingots on the third side; and when I rotate it further, there's another rooster.
Yu Hanjiang frowned in thought—what is the connection between a scholar and a rooster? And what is the connection between a rooster and a gold ingot?
Before he could even figure it out, Xiao Lou smiled and said, "A lot of talented people here, aren't they?"
The shopkeeper nodded vigorously: "That's right, that's right! Madam guessed it so quickly, the lantern is for you!"
Xiao Lou thanked him, took the lantern, and handed it to Yu Hanjiang beside him.
Yu Hanjiang took the lantern and carefully studied the painting on it, finally figuring it out.
The two continued walking and saw another palace lantern, also hanging on a rack and decorated with patterns.
The first side depicts a simple calligraphy brush; the second side shows a pair of colorful butterfly wings; the third side shows a young couple holding hands and gazing lovingly at each other, both figures painted with remarkable realism; the fourth side shows a flock of geese flying across the sky.
Xiao Lou asked, "To fly wing to wing?"
The shopkeeper was a young woman. Seeing that Xiao Lou had guessed the riddle, she immediately handed him the lantern, saying, "Madam guessed correctly."
It was only then that Yu Hanjiang realized something – these graphic riddles were actually based on a "stream of consciousness" approach. For example, a calligraphy brush is a homophone for "compare", butterfly wings are "wings", a couple holding hands is "pair", and a flock of birds is "fly". Together, they form the idiom "flying wing to wing".
Those who have never played riddle games before will be completely baffled by these messy patterns.
But for Xiao Lou, these riddles were not difficult.
After guessing two correctly, Xiao Lou turned around and said, " Hanjiang, you go hang up the lanterns first, I'll keep looking. It'll be inconvenient for you to carry too many, so hang these two up first."
Yu Hanjiang nodded, put on his speed-enhancing shoes, and quickly headed to the tree outside the lantern market.
When he arrived near the tree, he found that it still only had some wishing charms hanging on it, and a colorful lantern that had been hung on it at the beginning—his teammates had not returned yet, so it seemed that Xiao Lou was the fastest.
Yu Hanjiang hung the two lanterns on the tree.
A notification pops up simultaneously in the floating box in front of everyone: 2 riddles have been collected.
Ye Qi was pondering the answer to a riddle while holding a lantern. He had been given a word puzzle, and the round lantern had a line of text written on it: "Round when drawn, square when written, short in winter, long in summer." He hadn't figured out the answer yet when he saw this hint. Ye Qi couldn't help but exclaim, "Who's so fast? They've already hung up two lanterns?"
Shao Qingge smiled slightly: "Who else could it be? Only our clever Madam Yu."
Ye Qi realized that the "Madam Yu" he mentioned was...
Xiao Lou immediately nodded in agreement: "It must be him! We were still looking at the questions, and he had already figured out the answer. No wonder he's a top student!"
Qu Wanyue had just found her first riddle, a poem-themed one. It was an exquisite red lantern with a line of poetry written in elegant black calligraphy: "The mountains and rivers seem to block the way, but then a village appears amidst the willows and flowers." She was just wondering what this was supposed to be when she saw a floating prompt. Qu Wanyue couldn't help but smile: "It must be Professor Xiao."
Long Sen scratched his head and said, "He's really good at solving these kinds of riddles. I think it would be faster if the seven of us helped him carry the lanterns and he solved the riddles by himself!"
Qu Wanyue agreed, saying, "I think so too."
The two exchanged a glance and continued to ponder the riddles in their hands.
The riddle Liu Qiao found was also a word puzzle. It seemed simple, but it was not easy to guess. The riddle was "A flock of geese chasing a boat".
As she was pondering the question, she saw the notification in the floating window. Liu Qiao said with admiration, "We've only found one, and they've already guessed two and hung up the lanterns. It seems we need to speed things up, or Professor Xiao will have already searched two streets before we've even finished searching one."
Mo Xuemin looked dejected: "I think that's very likely!"
Liu Qiao: "..."
So what exactly is this "swallows chasing a boat" thing? Should we just ask Professor Xiao for help?
Yu Hanjiang quickly returned to the lantern market and found Xiao Lou carrying two more lanterns.
Upon seeing Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou smiled shyly: " Hanjiang, I guessed two more correctly. Could you please deliver them again?"
Yu Hanjiang: "......"
Could you please guess a little slower?!