"Wherever the red lantern shines, evil spirits stay away and all illness vanishes. Wherever the red lantern shines, people grow strong and horses thrive, bringing wealth and treasure..."
"Once you join our Red Lantern Society, whether you're a clerk or a shopkeeper, you'll be a disciple under the Red Lantern Goddess. Bow before the red lantern and keep our Red Lantern Goddess in your heart. Offer blood and meat, and evil spirits won't come near; walk at night, and you won't fear running into ghosts; drink your fill, and you won't have to worry about a headache..."
"..."
The boys took turns offering incense and memorized their respective numbers. Then the Incense Master gave them a lecture, speaking in a manner that was neither fully classical nor fully vernacular, but simple and easy to understand.
Hu Ma listened closely. He felt that worshiping the Red Lantern Goddess was rather similar to the Old Fire Pit.
He didn't understand the more specific details, though, and the boys around him were even more befuddled. They only perked up once the lecture was over and the food was served.
To their surprise, it wasn't really the case that only those at the front got meat and wine, those in the middle got steamed buns, and those at the back got coarse buns.
Those things were indeed there. For instance, only the red-clothed tables at the front had a bottle of wine on each one—the same kind Second Master had brought over to drink earlier. The blue-clothed tables did have a basket of white-flour steamed buns, while the white-clothed tables had only a bowl of coarse buns made with mixed-grain flour.
But besides those, every table had meat dishes too: a plump chicken, a bowl of Tai Sui Meat, and several plates of vegetables.