Return To 1977 Chapter 434: Hook

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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.

It was then that I discovered that there was a row of rusty iron hooks under the eaves. And not only are there one every half a meter, but at a glance, it seems that there are them under every room, arranged continuously there.

No one really knows, and they have never even noticed. The two 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 Yanzheng thought about it and finally came up with the answer. "I remember it seemed to be used to hang lanterns..."

"Hang a lantern?"

"So many!"

Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan were extremely surprised when they heard this and couldn't help shouting.

Actually, 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. Does anyone else light lanterns like this?

"You still don't believe it? It's so rare! 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, and he didn't bother to tell his elder brother off, so he turned around and asked his mother.

"Mom, my eldest brother is just deliberately trying to show off and won't say it well. Let me ask you. What's going on? Our family used to light so many lanterns every day, right? It looks good. But what’s the point of lighting up the courtyard so much? Besides, there are many courtyards behind it. It doesn’t cost much to build it like this. It’s also easy to catch fire..."

"You really understand!" Wang Yunlin puffed, amused by her son, and then revealed the answer.

I dare say 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 spends this time on festive occasions, birthdays, or when relatives and friends come to the house. So many lanterns are hung in the courtyard when entertaining guests.

What’s important to note is that the hanging lanterns are not ordinary lanterns. It's actually an anagram lantern.

You know, although today, guessing entertainment is no longer common. But in the past, especially in the Qing Dynasty, guessing riddles was an activity used by the upper class to meet friends, and it was 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 Ningfu’s Lantern Festival riddles.

It is also recorded in "Pin Hua Bao Jian", "The fallen flower man is independent, and 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 summer period from long summer to cool autumn. When the intellectuals among the residents 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 affixed to 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 summer heat. It disappears late at night, which is called "Lighting Tiger".

Many people at that time, if they met a wall lamp that they liked, would often travel a long distance to meet up with them. There are so many puzzle pieces that hit the target, and those who are in embarrassment are unable to deal with them in order to have fun. Hence the nickname "Tiger Fighting Team".

Based on the basics, both "Lamp Shooting Tiger" 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 word cloud says, "Business lights are on everywhere, talking about dragons and shooting tigers is also a genius. The gentle fan swings without stopping, and the years have to worry about the 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 the two "Mystery Clubs", one is called "Ju Club", which is sponsored by the painter Li Juqi in Xinsi Hutong, Beicheng. The other one is called "Xihong", hosted by Han Shaoheng in the south half alley of Xuanwai.

What they advertise is "making friends through literature", and they regularly invite celebrities from all walks of life to gather at their residences for banquets and quizzes.

The "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 mysteries.

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 at that time.

To be honest, this is more interesting than playing mahjong or calling a party. It's a high-involvement event for the whole family, and it's not vulgar either, so the whole family can have a lot of fun.

It’s just that given their family’s financial resources, the standards of the event were indeed a bit high.

Normally, every time you hit "Denghu" like this. There are about three hundred lanterns to be hung in this courtyard, not only on the eaves, but also on the verandah.

There are also many types of lanterns hung with puzzle strips. There are ingeniously made Goryeo paper lanterns, glass lanterns and glazed lanterns, and even palace lanterns bought at high prices that flowed out of the palace. They are all high-end goods that are rarely seen in ordinary people.

As for the prizes, there are usually only four treasures of the study: pen, ink, paper and inkstone. There are also special prizes, that is, on the birthday of the head of the Hong family and the "Shangyuan Festival", "Hungry Ghost Festival" and "Xiayuan Festival", you have to change to a large amount of foreign money or silk and 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.

First, the shelves must be set up. The large 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 the shelf. Once finally lit, layers of fireworks will fly into the sky, making the garden and courtyard full of flying meteors and colorful scenes...

As Wang Yunlin vividly described those old events, it seemed that everyone had seen the grand occasion of the Hong family's guests in the past, lighting up lights and laughing.

Not only Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan were fascinated by it. Hong Lucheng and Hong Yanzheng, father and son, 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, 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 in the small houses, sundry shacks, and connected corridors built in different years. Behind...

But it’s like everyone was young once, and some people were once magnificent. Although time has passed, how can feelings flow away easily?

Although even they themselves seem to have forgotten and become indifferent. But as long as they come back here and take one more look, the strands of memories sunk in the bricks and tiles will emerge uncontrollably and tighten their hearts again.

This is called home! This is home!