Chapter 125 Fate (Part 2)
Li Rusong was dazed for a moment, then he came back to normal. He didn't care about the lamp in his hand and said as he walked: "Don't you hate the sea? You don't even eat fish, and you feel like vomiting when you smell the sea."
Qin Huai smiled, "Hating it doesn't mean I can't accept it. Life is helpless. Besides, there are some things that you can't turn back from once you get involved. It doesn't matter whether you like it or not."
Li Rusong stared at Qin Huai for a long while, "You seem to be very profound today."
Qin Huai curled the corners of his lips, and a moment of fatigue flashed across his face. "If I hide something from you, would you mind?"
Li Rusong scratched his ears with a lack of interest. "You're not really secretly in love with me, are you? I don't like this stuff."
Qin Huai smiled helplessly, "You must not like it."
"Of course! I only like women! Hurry up and go. If you are late, all the beauties will be picked up by others." Li Rusong quickened his pace and walked in front of Qin Huai. The smile on his face gradually faded. Although he was moving forward, his mind had already flown away.
Qin Huai caught up with him, his face already regaining its usual warm smile, "I know you don't want to hurt Su Jiang, and don't want to use her as a substitute, but that doesn't mean you can't accept another relationship. Promise me, if you meet someone you're destined to be with today, don't think too much, history will definitely..."
"You can change it!" Li Rusong waved his hands impatiently. " Okay , okay, you keep nagging me."
Qin Huai smiled happily, "That's right. Things in this world are unpredictable. No one is completely trustworthy. I feel relieved to have someone by your side."
Li Rusong's eyes flickered. "Can't I even trust you completely?"
Qin Huai did not answer. There was a hint of loneliness in the smile on his face. He patted Li Rusong on the shoulder and said, "Let's go and see the beauty."
The venue of "A Thousand Miles of Marriage Leads a Magpie" is set in an open space not far from the Guanyin Temple. It is surrounded by red silk and has entrances and exits on both sides. Entering the venue is by lanterns. In the center of the venue is a huge magpie lantern. The limit is the light of the lantern. If you find your partner before the fire goes out, you will receive a special Qixi prize.
After Su Luo met up with Wu Yong and others, she entered the venue with her magpie lantern. Due to the odd shape of Su Luo's magpie lantern, people spent a long time examining everything from the materials used to the calligraphy before they were willing to let her in, which made Su Luo very embarrassed.
As soon as the host announced the rules of participation, everyone in the venue began to hold lanterns and shyly look for their other half, but... the chances were too low.
"What a swindler! They actually sold so many lanterns." Su Luo muttered as he looked at the sea of people in front of him. There were at least 800 men here, if not 1,000. And look at the time-keeping magpie lantern. The candlelight can only burn for two hours at most. Two hours, let alone guessing, even if you look at the time one by one, it may not be enough. The organizer clearly doesn't want to help with any marriage, just to sell lanterns! If they really wanted to, why not just sell ten? Guaranteed matchmaking success, so people's hearts have become very bad these days.
When Su Luo was mumbling to herself, Wu Yong came over and said, "Why are you daydreaming? Everyone else has left, let's go too."
Su Luo looked down at Wu Yong's lamp and patted his chest, "Fortunately, it's not Qingsong."
Wu Yong covered his mouth and smiled, "Don't worry, it won't be the same as yours. I also bought it from Nv Que Deng."
"No way?" Su Luo looked at , and sympathized with the person who bought the male magpie lantern with the same words, "Will it make the other party very embarrassed?"
"I'm just trying my luck. There's no need to go up and recognize him if I see him." Wu Yong waved his hand with a orchid finger.
Su Luo smiled helplessly . Wu Yong looked down at the words on Su Luo's lamp, frowned and said, "Why did you choose a monk lamp? Such a name..."
Su Luo looked depressed. "It's good to have a lamp. Isn't it cool? Qingsong Lantern, also known as Qingdeng for short."
"Puh, puh, puh!" Wu Yong spat three times in a row. "Good luck, green lantern, you will definitely find a good marriage partner."
Su Luo smiled secretly, "As long as it's not you, I'll be happy."
"No way? Are you chanting the Buddha's name now?" Wu Yong took two steps back, "No, I can't go with you..."
Su Luo certainly wouldn't let him go, and pulled him into the crowd. Perhaps this was fate, despite the large crowd, some people actually bumped into each other, but because of the activity method the organizer had come up with, all the participants half-bent over to look for lanterns that matched their own, and didn't even have time to see the other person's appearance, and only raised their heads after exclaiming, causing many more surprised screams, of course, this effect would be achieved by both extremely beautiful and extremely ugly people.
Su Luo has always been very careful. Whenever he sees someone with the word "qing" in their name, he will hide first and observe carefully before taking any action.
Green pine...green pine...green pine!
Before Su Luo's eyes turned into corns, the two words "Qingsong" finally jumped into his sight. It stopped in the corner and didn't move, unlike other lanterns swaying all over the street, which seemed to be a wait-and-see attitude. Su Luo had to give it extra points for this.
After confirming the words on the lantern, Su Luo immediately looked up to take a closer look. Because it was convenient to observe the magpie lantern, there were no other lighting facilities on the street. Su Luo moved closer and saw that the other party actually staggered and hid behind Wu Yong in panic. She stuck her head out again and saw that the other party's eyes passed over her and moved elsewhere, as if he did not notice her. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pulled Wu Yong away.
Li Rusong was holding the lamp in his hand in boredom until Qin Huai came back from saying hello to a few women not far away. Without saying a word, he handed the lamp to him and said, "Change it!"
Qin Huai asked inexplicably: "What's wrong?"
"I hate the sight of it."
Qin Huai didn't understand what was going on. He handed over his Sea Breeze Lamp and teased, "What? Did you see the Green Pine Lamp? Not to your liking?"
Li Rusong fiddled with the sea breeze lamp he had exchanged for, "Qingsong, Qingsong, I can't find a partner just by hearing your name. You don't want me to end up alone, do you?"
Qin Huai just smiled and said nothing, carrying the Qingsong Lantern and continued to move forward, "Don't worry, Qing'er is holding neither the sea breeze nor the Qingsong."
Li Rusong was surprised: "I am not surprised that she came, but what is strange is that Ji Mei is here too. Can a widow participate in such an event? When did the customs of the Ming Dynasty become so open?"
"Don't talk nonsense. She came to hold lanterns for Qing'er. Qing'er bought five."
Li Rusong looked at his lamp again, "Is there really no sea breeze in her hand? Don't hurt me."
"I hope so too. It would be great if you could become my brother-in-law."
Li Rusong was really nervous for a moment, "I will destroy the lamp and eliminate all traces now."
Qin Huai quickly stopped him and pointed at the magpie lantern in the center of the venue and said, "It won't be long. Let's go over there and maybe we'll run into him."
By the time they arrived in front of the high platform in the center, the time was almost up. There were more than ten pairs of men and women standing on the stage. They were all destined couples who had found each other, waiting for the prizes to be awarded.
The prize for the conference was a pair of red ropes, tied around the wrists of the man and woman respectively. The two red ropes intersected and bound the wrists of the two people together like simple handcuffs. The men and women tied up by the red lines were all very shy. Of course, there were also some who wanted to cry but had no tears, and wished they could cut off their arms.
Su Luo and Wu Yong crowded in the audience to watch the fun. After the "Fate is Destined" segment ended, the emcee announced that a speed-matching event would be held next, in which several female Magpie Lanterns would be randomly selected and then male Magpie Lanterns would be searched for on the spot.
"This girl... yes, that's you. Please go backstage and get ready."
Su Luo pointed at his nose, "Me?"
Wu Yong stamped his feet repeatedly in frustration, "Why didn't you choose me!"
"I hope you are chosen, then there will be something fun to watch." Su Luo ignored him and went backstage, where five or six women were already standing. It seemed that they had all been chosen.
After a while, a few more people came, and ten people were gathered together. Someone came forward and registered the lanterns of the ten people. Then they were invited to go on stage, but they stood behind a curtain and listened to the emcee read out the names of the ten lanterns one by one. If their significant other was present, they could go on stage and be matched on the spot.
"Clear water..."
"Ruizhu..."
"Bai Lan..."
Every time the MC called out a name, the crowd below the stage cheered, and then someone came up to the stage and stood outside the curtain. When Su Luo's lantern was called, Su Luo's heart skipped a beat. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, no one stood in front of her. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but also a little disappointed. No one came up for such an open pairing, how embarrassing!
Just as the emcee announced with regret that the other male magpie was not present, there was a sudden commotion in the crowd, accompanied by a woman's scream, and someone else came on stage and stood in front of Su Luo.
Su Luo was really a little nervous, and kept thinking about what to say after the curtain was lifted.
"Ten pairs become eight pairs. Please applaud for the eight pairs of destined people!" After the applause died down, the MC said, "Ladies behind the curtain, please stretch out your hands."
The curtain was slowly rolled up halfway and stopped at the waist. Su Luo stretched out her hand from under the curtain. After a while, she felt someone tied her hand together with the other hand. It seemed that they were also using the red handcuffs.
"Let's count down together, five, four, three..."
Su Luo rolled her eyes. It was a speed dating party, why were they making it like Chinese New Year? Should we cheer for the new century?
"Two, one! Remove the curtain!"
Su Luo heard the curtain "whoosh" and then the view in front of her suddenly became clear. The person standing in front of her... had a straight nose and mouth, handsome eyebrows and eyes, and an expression as surprised as hers...
Both parties said in unison: "It's you!"
