Thirty-two: The lamp is like daylight; people are like paintings.

  The Lantern Festival in this city originated in the Han and Jin dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and has a history of over 1,100 years. This year's Lantern Festival will last for a month and is expected to attract hundreds of millions of visitors. Today is the weekend, and as soon as I walked to the park entrance, it was already crowded with people.

  The entrance of the Lantern Festival has a tall lantern tower, after entering, there is a stone arch bridge and a long bluestone road with various stalls on both sides. Mainly all kinds of snacks, such as Dan Dan noodles, Long Chaoshou, Zhong Shuijiao, Lai Tangyuan, Korean Baozi, Tan Douhua, Sour and Spicy Noodles, Fat Intestine Noodles, Chicken Silk Liangpi, Husband and Wife Lung Slices, Glass Roast Sell, Ye Er Pa, Egg Baked Cake, San Dapao, and also Sichuan North Cool Noodles, Yibin Ranmian, Zitong Pianfen, Mianyang Rice Noodles and other local snacks.

  Located in the land of abundance, Sichuan people are famous for their love of food and eating. This has given birth to a brilliant food culture. As the saying goes, "Food is in China, flavor is in Sichuan." In this era, many famous snacks still retain their authentic and local flavors, and have not lost their original taste like they did later on due to the proliferation of chain stores.

  Just smelling the fragrance in the air made their mouths water. Although the four of them had just finished dinner not long ago, they still couldn't help but order some of their favorite dishes to eat again. Unfortunately, there were too many delicious things, and their stomachs were really limited.

  Luomanli blamed Liang Jiahui for not reminding everyone to save their stomachs to eat here. Liang Jiahui had no choice but to explain that he also came when he was a kid, and it's been many years since he last strolled through the lantern festival. He really didn't think that the lantern festival would get better and bigger every year, with both things to see and things to eat. Lin Fanghua laughed at him for being an old Chengdu encountering new problems.

  Apart from food, there are also paper-cutting, acrobatics, and folk art performances on both sides of the road. Among them, the sugar painting stall attracted many children to watch. Sugar painting is a pattern drawn with syrup on a stone board, and similar traditional handicrafts such as blowing sugar people and pinching sugar people can be found in northern China.

  The stone slab used by the sugar painter is a smooth, cool white marble. When in use, a layer of anti-stick oil is applied to it. He melts the red and white sugar over low heat on the stove into a syrup, then scoops it up with a small spoon, moving his arm slowly and shaking his wrist lightly, creating a thin stream of sugar liquid that flows onto the marble slab. Before long, the lines of sugar liquid on the stone slab form various patterns. Once the shape is complete, bamboo sticks are stuck to it, left to set, and then the sugar painting is scraped off with a small shovel. The sugar painter also sets up a wooden turntable next to him, which has a roulette-like meaning, with different-sized compartments around the circle, painted with the twelve zodiac animals and dragon and phoenix patterns. After the customer pays, he turns the wooden arrowhead in the middle, and wherever it stops, the sugar painter gives him the corresponding sugar painting. The most beautiful and largest dragon and phoenix sugar paintings are in a narrow grid, so although children all want to turn to it, they often end up with other small bird or rabbit patterns.

  Sugar painting can be eaten, but the kids always couldn't bear to eat it, they love to hold it in their hands and show it off all the way. As a result, when they accidentally touch or break it, they hastily put the remaining part into their mouths. The four of us did this many times when we were young, everyone gathered around the sugar painting stall for a while, then giggled and walked to the next place.

  After passing through the bluestone road, a group of large-scale colored lanterns with double dragons playing with beads are facing each other. The two dragon heads can move up and down continuously, as if chasing the colored ball in the middle of the cloud, it's so vivid.

  As the double dragon plays with the pearl on the mirror wall, the whole lantern festival's grand scene of "fire tree silver flower not night sky" appears before one's eyes. Along the two banks of the artificial lake in the Cultural Park, large and small colored lanterns are scattered all over, high and low, staggered and harmonious, with the light reflecting off the moonlight and the lake light, it is simply extraordinary.

  Everyone strolled along the lakeside to enjoy the scenery. The garden has ancient buildings built during the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as imitation ancient buildings repaired after liberation. Various lanterns, such as pendant lamps, hanging lamps, revolving lanterns, carp lanterns, lotus flower lanterns, wall lamps, turtle mountain lanterns, and large flower baskets, are hung throughout the garden, showcasing traditional characteristics. The colorful lanterns not only have unique shapes but also feature poems, calligraphy, rare flowers, strange grasses, flying birds, walking beasts, mythological stories, folk legends, and literary masterpieces. For example, the images of the 100 single-handed heroes from Water Margin and the Twelve Beauties of Jinling are vivid and lifelike, representing a combination of traditional lantern-making techniques and calligraphy-painting art.

  And in the garden lawn and other open spaces, a variety of large-scale colored lanterns are set up, with a wide range of materials, not only including opera stories, historical stories, folk legends, but also showcasing the development achievements of various industries in this city since the reform and opening-up. The forms of expression are no longer limited to traditional colored lanterns, but also incorporate modern sound control, laser, fiber optic and other new technologies, making the entire lantern festival a "brilliant poem, three-dimensional painting, sounding sculpture, flowing music".

  How can the Lantern Festival be less guessing lantern riddles? There is a long corridor by the lake, and various palace lanterns above are written with lantern riddles. The audience who guessed correctly remembered the number marked on it, and then went to the prize exchange office to answer. If the answer was correct, they would get a prize, and the staff would go to remove the lantern and hang up a new one. This activity is also the most popular Lantern Festival entertainment, so the corridor is crowded with people.

  Four people finally squeezed under a lamp. The tallest one, Dai Ping, read out the riddle: Emperor (make a guess).

  Everyone was thinking hard, trying to figure it out. Fanghua was also thinking: "Huang" is just "Wang" with a white radical added on top, right? - Wait, isn't this the plot of the TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty" where the prince meets his match? But that can't be right, at this time Er Yue He probably hadn't written the book yet. So what is this riddle? The imperial crown, the throne, the Japanese devils' imperial army? She thought wildly for half a day and still couldn't get it. The others also couldn't figure it out. Dai Ping said: "Let's just look at the next riddle!"

  The next one is: The prosperity of the Chinese nation (hit a modern revolutionary's name). Soon, Liang Jiahui said he guessed it, and he whispered the answer, everyone thought it was correct. So they followed the crowd to the next lantern.

  Another riddle is: The governance of Zhenguan (hit an actor).

  Dai Ping muttered to himself: "The Zhenguan administration was when Li Shimin was the emperor. It must be an actor with the surname Li. What's his name? Li Xing Sheng, Li Fu Gui, Li Fu Qiang... Ah, got it! Li Guo Sheng!"

  "Isn't that a crosstalk actor?" retorted Liang Jiahui and Lin Fanghua in unison.

  Luomanli suddenly exclaimed with excitement: "I thought of it! It's - (lowering her voice) Tang Guoqiang!"

  Everyone suddenly agreed.

  They guessed all the way, and got about seven correct. There were too many people, and many lanterns didn't even have time to squeeze in for a closer look. They walked to the end of the corridor to check their answers at the prize redemption area, only to find that some riddles had already been solved by others. In the end, they only got four correct, but it was just enough for each person to get one prize, which they divided evenly among themselves.

  Everyone walked towards the entrance after receiving the award, but they didn't walk for long before suddenly realizing that Roman Li was nowhere to be found. Probably because there were too many people, she was swept away by the crowd. Fortunately, everyone had agreed from the beginning that if they got separated during the Lantern Festival, they would all gather at the entrance.

  As expected, when the three of them walked to the stone arch bridge near the gate, they saw Roman Li squatting on the embankment beside the bridge, using her hand to reach for the lotus flower lanterns floating on the lake surface, playing happily. When Lin Fanghua called out to her, she lifted her head, waved her hand, and smiled sweetly. The brilliant lights around illuminated her face, making it exceptionally radiant and translucent, with a flowing glow.

  Dai Ping said in a low voice: "I now understand the meaning of Xin Qiji's lyrics."

  Lin Fanghua hugged her arms and made a trembling motion: "Alright, stop being sour. That person is still there in the dim light, I'm getting goosebumps all over the floor."

  Liang Jiahui couldn't help but curl up the corner of his mouth. Dai Ping's infatuation with Lu Manli was an open secret among the three of them, so he had long been used to Lin Fanghua teasing him and had become numb to it.

  Lin Fanghua took a look at Lu Manli who was walking over, and suddenly had an epiphany, saying: "I thought of the idiom that Huang was made of - unblemished white jade."

  I think all of you readers have also guessed the answer that Liang Jiahui was guessing, welcome to leave a message and grab the answer! I'll reveal the answer another day, whether it's right or wrong, just see the post and send points! Of course, those who answer correctly will get more points!