Chapter 61: Changdian Temple Fair
Li Shengli went out to find some quiet time. Yan Jiecheng took his younger brothers and sisters and the young people in the front yard out to wish the people in the yard a happy new year. After leaving the courtyard, everyone dispersed. Everyone went to different places. Some went to their leaders' homes and some went to their classmates' homes.

For example, Yan Jiecheng just joined a machinery factory this year, while Yan Jiefang, Yan Jiekuang and Yan Jieti each went to their classmates' homes. It's not too much to visit them to wish them a happy new year and eat some melon seeds and peanuts.

Xu Damao also rode his bicycle to visit several leaders' homes to wish them a happy new year, while Lou Xiao'e received those who came to wish them a happy new year at home.

Li Shengli took a walk outside and returned to the courtyard around noon. When he entered the courtyard, he greeted everyone he met by saying Happy New Year. Li Shengli did not go to other people's homes to wish a happy new year. If he did not say Happy New Year to someone when he met them, it would be too impolite.

At noon, Li Shengli returned to the courtyard and had a simple lunch. He rested for the whole afternoon, reading some books. In the evening, Li Shengli cooked the dumplings he had made last night. After dinner, Li Shengli prepared to go out for a walk again.

When I went out, I met the four children from the family of Yan Bugui, the third uncle across the street.

"Jie Cheng, are you guys going out too?" Li Shengli was a little curious. Did he listen to what he said yesterday?
"Well, isn't this what you said yesterday? People with money have different ways of going out, and people without money have different ways of going out. We plan to watch a show, not buy anything." Yan Jiecheng was somewhat grateful to Li Shengli. He had not thought so much about it before.

"Are Jiefang and the others going too?" Li Shengli looked at Yan Jiecheng with a questioning look. Li Shengli didn't expect that all four children would go. Could it be that Yan Jiecheng paid for them?

"There's no way. They saw me when I went out, and my dad asked me to take them with me." Yan Jiecheng explained with a headache. It's very troublesome to take care of children.

"Uncle San gave you money?" Li Shengli was shocked. How could Uncle San, who was so stingy, give money to a child? It was good enough that he didn't take money from a child.

"No, they are all their own New Year's money." Yan Jiecheng looked like you were overthinking it.

Li Shengli nodded. That was right. With the family tradition of the Third Uncle, how could they give money to the children that was not used for play? It was reasonable to give it as New Year's money.

"But where are you going? It's in the nearby Ditan Park." Li Shengli is not planning to go to Ditan Park today. He has already seen it yesterday, and today's performance should be similar. Ditan Park is based on the style of an ancient altar, focusing on ethnic, folk and folk characteristics, and fully exploring the cultural connotations of traditional temple fairs. Li Shengli plans to ride his bike to the more distant Changdian Temple Fair today.

"Let's just stroll around the Ditan Temple Fair nearby. There are so many of us and we don't have any bicycles." Yan Jiecheng looked at Li Shengli's bicycle with envy.

"Okay, then you guys go have fun, I'm leaving too." Li Shengli said hello to the four people and rode out on his bike.

Li Shengli rode his bike to Haiwang Village Park near Liulichang in Xicheng District. After paying the parking fee and parking his bike, Li Shengli walked into the temple fair. The crowds of people there looked even more lively than at Ditan Temple.

Changdian was originally an open space in front of the colored glaze kilns of the Ming and Qing dynasties, called Changdian. In the sixth year of the Republic of China, Haiwangcun Park was built on the site. In the past, stalls were set up nearby on the first day of the first lunar month every year to sell goods, and tourists gathered, which was the so-called "visiting Changdian". The Changdian Temple Fair starts from Hepingmen in the north, reaches Liangjiayuan in the south, extends to Nanbeiliuxiang in the west, and reaches Yanshousi Street in the east. The core of the entire temple fair is Haiwangcun Park on Xinhua Street. Because it is close to the Liulichang where bookstores are densely populated, the Changdian Temple Fair has a very strong cultural atmosphere. There are many vendors selling books, antiques, calligraphy and stationery, which is also a unique feature of the Changdian Temple Fair.

As soon as you exit Heping Gate, the first thing that catches your eye are the two rows of greenhouses on the side of the road. It is very quiet and elegant inside, with Chinese paintings, calligraphy, mountain paintings, horizontal scrolls and albums on display. There is also a mahogany high table in the corner of the greenhouse, and peach, wintersweet, winter jasmine and daffodils are quietly emitting fragrance.

Going forward along Nan Xinhua Street, there are stalls selling food and toys on both sides of the road. As for food, there are bean hawthorn cakes as big as copper coins, to five-foot-long candied haws; from glutinous rice cakes with rouge dots on top, to crispy meat and vegetable fried breads made with sesame oil and flour; as well as sausages, bean juice, rice porridge, eight-treasure rice, fried spring rolls, deep-fried shredded meat, and large mountain reds strung together like Buddhist beads.

Li Shengli was almost drooling. It would be unreasonable to visit the temple fair without buying some food. Li Shengli bought some bean curd cakes and ate them while walking.

As for the toys, there were single and double diabolos with red sticks with gold characters that made a buzzing sound when shaken, and various windmills with small pins nailed to wooden frames driven by colorful paper wind wheels. It was already dazzling enough. Li Shengli had seen these at the temple fair in Ditan Park and did not linger for long.

There was also a vendor selling kites, including "Sand Martels" of different sizes, "Dragon Eyes" with colorful silk tails, and "Centipedes" with movable eyeballs and joints. In addition to these kites, there were also dough figurines. The lifelike "little birds" and "Monkey King" attracted the attention of many children.

Turn right from the intersection and enter West Liulichang. The watermarked paper of Rongbaozhai and the rubbings of inscriptions on bronze and stone carvings of Deguzhai attract scholars and literati. Turn left and enter East Liulichang. The sour plum cakes of Xinyuanzhai and the wolf-hair brushes of Dai Yuexuan have long been famous. The Fire God Temple on the north side of the road is a jewelry and antique market.

These are probably more attractive to Yan Bugui. As for the antique market, it is a blind spot for Lee Seung-ri. No matter in which lifetime, Lee Seung-ri has never come into contact with antiques, and these things require the most vision and experience.

The purpose of Li Shengli's visit this time was to see if he could find some good books. Some books were out of print or collector's editions and could not be bought in bookstores, especially some collected secret recipes and the like, which could only be found in antique markets.

"Comrade, do you have any books here? Can I take a look?" Li Shengli asked as he approached the stall.

He asked and read along the way, and finally Li Shengli had four books in his hands, namely Li Shizhen's "Dietary Classics", Yang Shousu's "Recipes", Feng Wan's "Food Essence", and an anonymous "Complete Collection of Household Necessities".

Some skills need to be learned by yourself. Being a chef is a very profound profession. There are so many cuisines and so many recipes that you can’t learn them all just by relying on a teacher. With these books, you can learn from other people’s skills. It’s a pity that I didn’t see any private recipes.

After wrapping the book with horse manure paper and tying it together with straw rope, Li Shengli achieved his goal and began to enjoy the performances at the temple fair.

For example, Li Shengli saw someone performing acrobatics by balancing a bowl on his head. He gently threw the bowl upwards with just enough force to balance it on his head. There was also someone performing a vat-kicking performance, where a vat was turned over and over on the performer's feet, and the people around cheered loudly. There were also people singing Peking opera and telling stories. You really can't do this without some money.

(End of this chapter)