Daddy's Gourmet Shop

Chapter 618 - 602: Attending the Lantern Festival

Every year on the Lantern Festival, a small lantern viewing event is held at the temple fair on West City Old Street, attracting many nearby residents and visitors from the city to come and admire.Last year’s lantern festival, Huang Tao didn’t go to watch for some reason.

But this year, he absolutely cannot miss it, because Xuanxuan has been talking about wanting to see the lantern festival for the past few days.

He naturally had to satisfy this small request!

And on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, those who left the West City Old Street of Wenling City before the New Year to return to their hometown also mostly returned to the Old Street. With their arrival, this age-old street becomes increasingly lively, and after everyone has had a good dinner at Huang Tao’s shop, they all want to join the excitement at the temple fair.

Thus...

The road to the temple fair became congested.

And so.

Even though Huang Tao and his family left early to reach the temple fair, it was already near 8 PM, and then took another 10 minutes just to find a parking spot.

Speaking of which, they were quite lucky!

Who knew there’d be so many people coming to the Old Street to play tonight!

The parking lot was a bit of a distance from the temple fair on the Old Street, Huang Tao held Xuanxuan’s little hand, led his parents, and followed the crowd heading there.

As for the group of employees...

They each paired up and went ahead.

"Papa!"

Suddenly, Xuanxuan’s eyes lit up as if she had discovered a new continent, and she excitedly pointed forward, shouting, "Look, look, dragon lanterns!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Tao and the others looked up and immediately saw the entrance to the temple fair, where on both sides, there was a giant colorful dragon lantern, about thirty centimeters tall, each standing.

These colorful dragon lanterns were surrounded by auspicious clouds with lotus flowers nearby, their glowing bodies illuminated the entrance area, impressive and extremely eye-catching.

People couldn’t help but stare!

"So beautiful!"

Xuanxuan’s beautiful big eyes widened involuntarily, her fair little face turning rosy with excitement.

"Come, sit on papa’s shoulders, this way you can see clearer and farther."

Huang Tao reached out and lifted Xuanxuan up, then raised her onto his shoulders.

There were indeed too many people up front, and Xuanxuan was small and short, walking like this could lead to various safety issues.

Now, it was very safe.

"Grandpa, grandma, look, Xuanxuan is so tall!"

Sitting on her dad’s shoulders, Xuanxuan had an expansive view from high up, everything was clear to her, and she couldn’t be happier.

She could see the beautiful dragon lanterns even more clearly now.

"Indeed, so tall, Xuanxuan is the tallest here!" Song Cailian and her husband laughed.

Xuanxuan giggled.

"Sit tight."

Huang Tao reminded her, holding onto her legs to let the precious daughter sit more comfortably and safely. Then he led his parents, squeezing into the crowded group, drifting along with the sea of people.

As they proceeded, the colorful lanterns on both sides of the temple fair competed in beauty, stunning and incomparable.

This year’s colorful lanterns were provided by the West City Old Street, but compared to previous years, the styles this year were diverse, and much more luxurious and grand.

After all, West City Old Street is considered a famous tourist spot and food street in Wenling City, so for such important events, the investment is significantly higher than in previous years.

With sufficient funds, everything was executed with grandeur.

Xuanxuan was definitely having her eyes opened wide this time.

She had never seen such many beautifully dazzling colorful lanterns before; her eyes couldn’t take them all in — everything was fresh, interesting, and incredibly beautiful.

"Wow, that’s the Bull Demon King!"

"Papa, grandpa, grandma, look, there’s the Phoenix, it’s so big and beautiful!"

"Zhu Bajie, The White Dragon Horse, and Tang Monk Sun Wukong, hey, where’s Sha Wujing? How come Sha Wujing isn’t here? Where is it?"

"Ah ah ah, ah!"

Xuanxuan was thrilled to spot her most familiar Peppa Pig.

It’s her favorite, Peppa Pig!

She never expected to see her beloved Peppa Pig here; how could she not be surprised, not be happy!

Huang Tao carrying Xuanxuan continued admiring grandly, proceeding towards where the lights were most mesmerizing in front.

At one part of the temple hall, there were rows of wooden railings, tied with ropes forming a dense net, under which beautiful red lanterns hung.

Colorful paper strips hang below the lanterns, with handwritten riddles on the paper.

A lantern puzzle event was being held here.

All nearby residents and visitors coming here can guess the riddles.

Once they solve it, they can take down the paper strip and verify it with the staff; if the answer is correct, there is a small prize to be won.

Although the small prizes are quite cheap, just some toothbrushes, towels, and such.

But the enthusiasm was unstoppable!

So much so, each lantern had quite a few spectators surrounding it.

They were all racking their brains, pondering the answers to the riddles.

Of course.

There were also some "clever folks".

They secretly pulled out their phones, consulting ’Aunt Baidu’.

Hoping that the all-knowing ’Aunt Baidu’ could help them solve the lantern riddles.

But ultimately.

The all-powerful Baidu let down the expectations of the crafty bunch.

Because the organizers of the lantern riddles were highly experienced.

To prevent such occurrences.

The riddles they brought out were created by their internal team, not the ones repeatedly used by others.

So!

Even if these people asked Baidu, they couldn’t find the answers there.

Otherwise, these lantern riddles would have been snatched away by the crafty bunch.

And that would defeat the purpose of solving lantern riddles.

Huang Tao smiled and asked, "Xuanxuan, do you want to solve lantern riddles?"

"I want to..."

Xuanxuan nodded fervently.

Solving riddles is so fun, she had done it with Teacher Ye and her classmates when she was in kindergarten!

"Alright, then let’s go together."

Huang Tao called his parents, carried her, and carefully squeezed to the front of the wooden railing.

Xuanxuan stared at the nearest lantern riddle, her eyes wide open.

Unfortunately, she only recognized the "日" character on it; the rest of the characters, she didn’t know.

Huang Tao laughed and read aloud, "Spring light without the sun, anxiously thinking of husband..."

But this riddle was indeed quite challenging for little Xuanxuan!

She furrowed her brows, trying hard to think.

She puzzled over it for almost a minute.

But still couldn’t figure it out,

she gave up dejectedly, shaking her head saying, "Daddy, it’s too hard! I can’t guess it."

Huang Tao laughed and encouraged, "Try again, what character is spring light without the sun, anxiously thinking of husband?"

Xuanxuan continued to think hard for another half a minute, but still couldn’t guess it.

She helplessly shook her head again and said, "No, I still can’t figure it out!"

The strong sense of defeat made her little mouth pout, almost to tears.

Huang Tao chuckled and grabbed her little hand, writing a character in her palm, "Understand now?"

"Huh?"

At first, Xuanxuan was a bit confused, then quickly turned to joy, "Ah! I got it!"

She sincerely praised, "Daddy, you’re so smart!"

"Of course I am!"

Huang Tao said boastfully, "Daddy is a riddle-solving king!"

"Hee-hee~"

Xuanxuan smiled with her eyes, dimples showing.

She had no disagreement with her dad’s words.

"Let’s go claim our prize from the staff!"

Xuanxuan took down the riddle paper from the lantern.

And then the father and daughter marched proudly to the prize claim area.

Xuanxuan handed the riddle paper to the staff in charge of prize distribution.

The staff asked with a smile, "Little one, did you guess what character it is?"

"Uh-huh~"

Xuanxuan nodded emphatically, and said confidently, "One character, one two three four one!"

The staff looked at the answer for the number on the riddle paper.

Oh my!

Correct!

He smiled and gave a thumbs up saying, "Not bad! Congratulations on getting it right, little one!"

"Thank you, Uncle, but I didn’t guess it."

Xuanxuan said honestly, "My daddy did."

The staff turned his gaze to Huang Tao, recognized him under the light, and greeted Huang Tao with some surprise.

Huang Tao smiled and responded, then let Xuanxuan choose the prize.

Xuanxuan, among the various small prizes, picked a toothbrush with Peppa Pig cartoon printed on it, satisfied, she returned home triumphantly with Huang Tao and her grandparents.

She wasn’t greedy.

She was very content with one prize she liked.

As for the others, she left them for others!

But on the way home, her initially high spirits unknowingly turned a bit somber.

Huang Tao asked, puzzled and uneasy, "What’s wrong, sweetheart, did you not have fun tonight?"

"I did have fun..."

"Then why the long face?"

"Because tomorrow I have to go to school..."

Even though she’ll see many classmates there, she won’t be able to cling to her daddy every day, nor have his delicious meals at noon...