After Situ Xichen and Ming Xi'er returned to the Ming Mansion, it was almost evening, and when they came to the gate of the Ming Mansion, Zhang Yiming was already waiting there, and he didn't know how long he had been waiting.

"Miss, you're back."

Zhang Yiming walked quickly in front of Ming Xi'er, bowed slightly, and said:

"The welcome dinner for Mr. Situ has been prepared, and the master asked me to wait here, saying that I would go directly when you come back."

"Got it."

Ming Xi'er put down the things in her hand, and then motioned to Situ Xichen to put down the things in her hand as well, there were already guards waiting on the side, and hurriedly came over to take all the things away, she smiled and took Situ Xichen's hand, and said:

"Let's go over, we can't keep Dad waiting."

"Hmm."

Situ Xichen nodded, and then followed behind Zhang Yiming, but he felt that this kind of scene was a little strange, he didn't look like the identity of Ming Xi'er's teacher, but like a son-in-law who took his wife back to his parents' house......

The place where Ming Gu prepared a dinner for Situ Xichen was the auditorium of the Ming Mansion, and I heard Ming Xi'er say that this place is generally not open to the public, and only distinguished guests from the house will use the auditorium for high-level reception, and he is very fortunate to be treated like this.

Situ Xichen thought that the "auditorium" should be very large, but he didn't expect that it was that small and delicate feeling, the whole auditorium was about sixty or seventy square meters large, and the decoration in the room was also very simple and simple, with a half-person-high incense burner placed around it, and some smoke was wafting out from it, which not only did not make the lungs feel uncomfortable, but gave people a feeling of being able to calm down.

In the middle is a square table, Ming Gu is sitting in the master's seat, and some maids around are busy setting up the table.

"You're back?"

When Ming Gu saw Ming Xi'er and Situ Xichen coming to the auditorium, he suddenly looked very happy, and casually pointed to the first position of the hanging hand next to Situ Xichen, and said:

"Sit down."

He turned back to one of the attendants beside him and said, "Let's serve the food." ”

The maids began to leave the stage one by one, and then one after another, the dishes that were impeccable in terms of style and workmanship began to be placed on the table like water, and Ming Gu said kindly:

"Try to see if it suits your taste."

"Uncle Ming's kindness really flattered the younger generation."

Situ Xichen arched his hand to Ming Gu, and a maid beside him came behind him very obediently and added a glass of wine to the cup in front of him.

But Situ Xichen gently pushed away the wine glass, but instead took the teacup that he used as a decoration and put it in front of him, and said apologetically:

"Uncle, the younger generation doesn't know how to drink, and if the uncle doesn't mind, the younger generation will replace the wine with tea, what do you think?"

"It doesn't matter."

Minggu smiled, asked his subordinates to take down the wine glass, and said:

"Since you come to my house, you can treat this place as your own home, there is no need to be restrained at all, drinking is a matter of utilitarian field, naturally you don't have to show it on your own table, just like you."

Situ Xichen thought that there would not be many people eating together, except for Ming Gu, him, and Ming Xi'er, there would only be the hostess of this family, but he didn't expect that there were actually three or four people sitting at this table in addition to them, and there was not a single woman except Ming Xi'er, and among the extra people, he only knew Zhang Yiming.

The reason that the elders can't start first if they don't move the chopsticks is the same no matter where they go, and it seems that Minggu has no intention of starting, so Situ Xichen can only wait first, and when the dishes are almost ready, Minggu suddenly said:

"Situ, since you want to stay in my house for a while, then naturally you have to get to know the 'family', you know Yiming, I won't introduce you to you, this is ......"

Ming Gu introduced these people to Situ Xichen one by one, and Situ Xichen seemed to know that it would be like this, and he had already prepared a speech, and when he saw that he was much older than himself, he called "senior", and when he was not much older or not far away, he called "brother" and so on, after this scene, Situ Xichen knew what Ming Gu meant by deliberately "catching the wind and washing the dust" for himself, in addition to letting him know the people who knew the Ming Mansion, more importantly, he hoped that these people could know him, After all, he is Ming Xi'er's nominal teacher, so he naturally has to walk around the Ming Mansion a lot, and it would not be good if he didn't know him and caused any unnecessary contradictions after he bumped into him.

"There doesn't seem to be a hostess in this house......"

After Ming Gu introduced everyone present, Situ Xichen fell into deep thought, since it was a family dinner, it didn't seem reasonable for the hostess not to come forward, since there was no so-called "hostess", it meant that there might not be one in this family, that is to say, Ming Xi'er did not have a mother.

"Situ, you seem to have seen it, that's right, there is no mistress in this house."

Ming Gu saw that Situ Xichen seemed to be thinking about things, and he could probably guess some clues, so he took the wine glass in front of him and drank it all, and said:

"The Ming family was not as powerful as it is now, and it has provoked enemies in the past, and Xi'er's mother was killed at that time."

"No, no, no, the younger generation doesn't mean that."

Situ Xichen waved his hand again and again when he heard this, and said in a panic:

"The younger generation didn't think to inquire about my uncle's family affairs, I ......"

"It's okay, it's okay."

Ming Gu interrupted him, sighed, glanced at Ming Xi'er, who looked a little gloomy beside him, and said with a wry smile:

"I don't want to hear it, it's just that I don't want to say it, but I'm really sorry for letting you listen to me complain."

Situ Xichen didn't speak, and he didn't know what kind of expression he should put on, so he could only bury his head in silence and eat his own food, but at the moment when he raised his head to pick up the food, he suddenly found that an old man diagonally opposite him seemed to be staring at him, and the next moment after the two sides looked at each other, the latter immediately turned his head to focus on his own food.

"Steward Liu seems to be very interested in the juniors, I don't know if you have any advice?"

Situ Xichen smiled and spoke, as he got up and picked up the man's wine jug and poured him a glass of wine.

This person's name is Liu Ziyi, his age is not good, but at least he is much older than the Ming Gudu, it is the housekeeper of the Ming family, who looks honest, but his eyes show some wise light from time to time, and sure enough, the person who can get a position in such a big family will definitely not be a stupid person.

When Liu Ziyi saw Situ Xichen pouring him wine, he immediately picked up his wine glass and stepped forward to greet him, and then sat down with Situ Xichen and said with a smile:

"It's just that I'm surprised by Situ Xiaoyou's youth, although the old slave knows that the old man wants to find a teacher for the young lady, and he thinks that he is just selected at home, but he never thought that he was hired from outside, and I don't know where Xiaoyou is high?"

"This old fritter is on my bottom."

Situ Xichen saw Liu Ziyi's true intentions at a glance, he was a student of the seminary, and the only people who knew about it were Minggu and Zhang Yiming, and even Ming Xi'er didn't know, and Minggu didn't seem to mean to say this, just said that he was "the junior of an old friend", but this Liu Ziyi didn't seem to believe in this statement very much, and he didn't know what kind of reason he was in to ask about it, if it was really out of distrust of outsiders, Situ Xichen still felt that he underestimated the loyalty of this old guy, But if there is something else, then his mind is deep......

"How can we talk about 'high on', but it's just an idle cloud and wild crane, I am fortunate to have Uncle Mingu's appreciation to settle in your mansion for a while, and now I am only living here temporarily, maybe I will have to travel to the mountains and rivers when I will be."

Liu Ziyi doesn't look like an honest person, but Situ Xichen is even more slippery, if it is really a seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man sitting here now, maybe he will really tell everything, but unfortunately, this person is Situ Xichen, he is already in his twenties, and he knows very well what he can say and what he cannot.

The whole meal was a little serious because of the presence of Situ Xichen, an outsider, but he ate with relish, although the cooking skills of the Ming family were not as good as gluttony (the cooking skills mentioned here are honest cooking instead of engaging in those moths), but compared to the so-called "star chefs" on the earth, it is not inferior, and there are many materials in this world that he has never even seen, plus this freshness, he eats much more than usual.

During the dinner, everyone was silent about state affairs and family work as if they had been discussed in advance, after all, what kind of topics can be put on what kind of table, and it is still inappropriate for this bureau to say this.

After the "tea" was full, the maids immediately removed all the things on the table, but it was still early, Situ Xichen talked with Ming Gu and the others for a while, and what they said was nothing more than those trivial things, but Ming Xi'er felt that the content they talked about was very boring, so she went back to rest early, chatting and chatting, and slowly saw that it was getting late, Ming Gu said:

"It's not too early, I still have some business to deal with, as soon as you Ming, you can take Xichen to his residence."

"Yes, sir."

Zhang Yiming got up first, came to the door, made a "let" action, and said to Situ Xichen:

"Please come with me."

"Then the junior will take his leave first."

Situ Xichen bowed to Ming Gu and the elders of the Ming family one by one, and then left with Zhang Yiming.

And just after Situ Xichen walked away, the expression on Ming Gu's face was abnormal, he looked very serious, and sent his subordinates away, and then said to a few henchmen beside him:

"Go to the underground vault."

The faces of several people who still had some good status in the Ming family couldn't help but change, as if the word "secret room" had some special meaning to them, and they all followed Ming Gu without speaking.