The Spring Festival, commonly known as the "New Year's Festival", is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation.

Since the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the first day of the first month of the summer year (lunar calendar) is the "first year of the year" (i.e., "year"), and the date of the New Year's Festival has been fixed and continues to this day.

Three days passed in a flash, and the people of the whole country ushered in the night of Chinese New Year's Eve.

Hanging lanterns and pasting Spring Festival couplets, the rivers and mountains of the motherland are red, and there is a festive atmosphere everywhere.

At dusk, in an alley in Yanjing, several ancient courtyard houses left over from the Qing Dynasty were pasted with couplets, including the courtyard in the middle of the alley that had been vacant for 18 years.

In the courtyard, Pei Wufu and Pei Donglai, father and son, knelt in the northeast corner, drew two circles on the ground, and placed fruits, snacks, wine and meat, paper money and firecrackers in front of them.

"Finish kowtowing to your mom and your grandfather, and then let's set off the gun."

When the paper money was about to burn out, Pei Wufu motioned for Pei Dong to come and set off the cannon.

Pei Donglai nodded, kowtowed to the two circles successively, then closed his eyes, got up, picked up the firecracker, and lit it.

"Crackling ......"

The sound of firecrackers broke the silence of the courtyard, and Pei Donglai looked up at the sky, as if looking for his deceased mother in the sky.

"What are you looking at?"

Pei Wufu saw Pei Donglai looking at the northeast sky in a daze, and asked.

"My mother's grave should be with my grandfather's, right?"

Pei Dong came back and forth, remembered the dirt bag next to his grandfather's grave, and answered the question.

He would follow Pei Wufu to his grandfather's grave every Qingming Festival, but at that time he didn't know that his own grandfather was buried in that inconspicuous earthen bag - last May. Pei Donglai learned about the fact that Pei Wufu was his biological father.

"Hmm."

Pei Wufu nodded in acknowledgement.

Seeing Pei Wufu nodding, Pei Donglai thought of his mother being kicked out of the Ye family and not allowed to be buried in the Ye family's cemetery for no reason, so he secretly clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes.

"Let's go, the Qin family is waiting for us."

Pei Wufu seemed to have guessed Pei Donglai's mind and patted Pei Donglai on the shoulder.

Pei Donglai nodded silently. adjusted his expression and followed Pei Wufu out of the courtyard.

……

After leaving the alley where many dignitaries and nobles dreamed of staying in it, Pei Donglai drove Pei Wufu to another alley in Yanjing City that symbolized power and had a threshold no lower than the royal garden - that alley contained the mansions of the Qin family, the Ye family and several other wealthy families in Beijing.

When night is about to fall. Pei Donglai drove to the mouth of the alley and was strictly inspected by Zhongnanhai's bodyguards.

The inspection took two minutes, and two minutes later. The leading Zhongnanhai bodyguards saluted and let them go.

Compared with previous years, on Chinese New Year's Eve, this alley is more deserted, except that the Ye family did not choose to spend the New Year in the courtyard in this alley, some families close to the Ye family also chose to spend the New Year in other places.

At the gate of the Qin family's courtyard, Qin Dongxue, under the leadership of her father Qin Zheng and mother Xiao Ailing, waited for the arrival of the Pei family's father and son.

Soon, the car drove to the gate of the Qin family's compound, and Pei Donglai and Pei Wufu got out of the car one after another.

It can be clearly seen by the light at the entrance of the compound. On this special night, Pei Donglai was wearing a Mao suit that Liu Yue had asked someone to help him tailor, while Pei Wufu was wearing a black robe just like when he was in the Wing Chun Gate General Martial Arts Hall that day, which looked like it at first glance. It's like an ancient martial artist.

"Takeo."

"In-laws."

"Uncle Pei."

Seeing Pei Wufu get out of the car, Qin Zheng and Xiao Ailing hurriedly took Qin Dongxue forward to say hello.

Pei Wufu responded with a smile, and Pei Donglai also said hello, "Uncle Qin, Aunt Xiao." ”

"Takefu, the old man learned that you and Donglai are coming. I couldn't be so happy that I pushed down the arrangement to go out. ”

Qin Zheng said and led the way in front, and as he walked, he smiled at Pei Wufu and said, "Everyone is waiting for you and Donglai, let's go, let's go in first." ”

"Old Man Qin is too exciting." Pei Wufu responded with a smile.

Qin Zheng smiled: "Yes, it's rare for you to bring the East to celebrate the New Year." ”

Qin Zheng's words sounded in his ears, Pei Donglai remembered for no reason that after he entered the Yanjing Hotel alone in advance that day, including the old man of the Qin family, the faces of many Qin family members understood in their hearts that if he didn't have Pei Wufu's father, not to mention that Qin Hongshan, the head of the Qin family, would specially push down the work arrangement of going to various places to have fun with the people, and whether he could enter the Qin family's courtyard for the New Year was a problem.

As Qin Zheng said, in the lobby of the Qin family's courtyard, there were six tables, and many members of the Qin family, including Qin Hongshan, had been waiting for a long time.

"Huh!"

Seeing that Qin Zheng took Pei Donglai and Pei Wufu into the lobby, under the leadership of Qin Hongshan, all the Qin family members stood up and welcomed.

Among them, Qin Hongshan greeted Pei Wufu with a smile, and said as he walked: "Wufu, you are finally here with Donglai." ”

"I'm sorry, Uncle Qin, I wasted some time burning paper for Donglai's grandfather and his mother." Pei Wufu apologized.

"It's okay, it's okay." Qin Hongshan waved his hand, "Come, take Donglai and come and sit." ”

When Pei Wufu heard this, he was not polite, and directly took Pei Donglai to the main table.

In addition to Qin Hongshan at the main table, there are three generations of core members of the Qin family like Qin Zheng and Qin Feng, like Qin Dongxue's sister-in-law Qin Yan is not qualified to sit at the main table at all, and even the wives of Qin Feng and others are not qualified to sit at the main table, only Xiao Ailing.

But......

This year was an exception, Qin Dongxue, who had previously sat at the outermost table with the other fourth-generation members of the Qin family, also had a seat at the main table.

All this is just because she became Pei Donglai's fiancée, to be precise, the daughter-in-law of the Pei family.

Subsequently, in the envious expressions of those members of the third and fourth generations of the Qin family, the father and son of the Pei family followed Qin Hongshan to take a seat, among which Pei Wufu sat next to Qin Hongshan, and Pei Donglai sat with Qin Dongxue in the direction closest to the door, and the seats were clear.

Once seated. Pei Donglai didn't care about the envious and jealous eyes of those members of the Qin family, nor did he care about the false smiles of the members of the Qin family, but smiled at Qin Yan who was sitting at table No. 2 and said hello.

The reason why this was so was because he knew that before Pei Wufu appeared, Qin Yan was the only person in the entire Qin family who really supported him and Qin Dongxue to be together.

And others, including Qin Hongshan, turned the wind and steered because of the word 'interests'.

As the crowd took their seats. The dishes prepared by the imperial chefs were served to the table one after another.

"The Spring Festival is coming, and it is the time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. Let's raise a glass together. ”

When the dishes were served, Qin Dongxue empathetically did not let Pei Dong pour the wine, but personally poured the wine for everyone at the main table. Qin Hongshan proposed to raise a glass, "First glass of wine, welcome Wufu and Donglai to celebrate the New Year with all of us!" ”

Hearing Qin Hongshan's words, those fourth-generation members of the Qin family were slightly stunned, as if they were ...... They didn't expect that Qin Hongshan's first glass of wine would be toasted on the grounds of welcoming the Pei family's father and son - this treatment was too heavy!

Compared with the fourth-generation members of the Qin family, the third-generation members of the Qin family know more about the inside story because they have experienced more things, and they are deeper in the city and can see farther. I didn't think it was strange.

"Second cup, congratulations to Donglai and Dongxue again, I wish you an early wedding!"

After a glass of wine, Qin Hongshan proposed a second glass.

This time, it was not only the fourth generation of the Qin family. Even many of the members of the three generations were a little surprised, and while they were surprised, they also had to admit a fact - the young man of the Pei family, who was regarded by everyone in the Qin family as a grassroots climber of the Qin family, has changed into an existence that wants to make Qin Dongxue and even the Qin family climb high!

It's ironic, but it's a fact that can't be changed!

"Thank you, Grandpa Qin."

Pei Donglai and Qin Dongxue thanked each other. In his heart, he secretly sighed that Qin Hongshan could become one of the bigwigs at the top of the power pyramid, in addition to the foundation laid by the first generation of the Qin family, he completely gave full play to the thick black science.

"Third glass, I wish all of you good health and success in the new year." Qin Hongshan proposed three glasses in a row before taking a seat.

After three glasses of wine, everyone first ate some dishes, and then began to enter the process of toasting and blessing, first the core members of the Qin family at the main table and Pei Wufu and Pei Donglai, father and son, toasted Qin Hongshan, and then other members of the Qin family toasted Qin Hongshan.

Maybe it was because there were too many people toasting, or maybe it was because of other reasons, Qin Hongshan only drank it all when Pei Wufu and Pei Donglai toasted, and the others toasted only a small sip.

After everyone toasted Qin Hongshan, they toasted Pei Wufu one after another, and Pei Wufu did not refuse to come, and every time he was dry.

Rao is like this, more than an hour later, when the reunion dinner is about to end, Pei Wufu's face does not change, and he is not drunk at all.

Not only Pei Wufu, but even Pei Donglai, who had drunk hundreds of glasses of wine, was also very sober.

After Qin Hongshan announced that the reunion dinner was over, without waiting for everyone to get up and leave, a Zhongnanhai bodyguard who had been waiting outside the door for a long time entered the lobby, walked straight to Qin Hongshan's side, leaned over, and whispered to Qin Hongshan: "Chief, Major General Ye Gucheng has been waiting outside the courtyard with a foreigner for half an hour, saying that he wants to see Pei Wufu. ”

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Qin Hongshan frowned slightly, groaned for a while, and said to Pei Wufu, who had not yet gotten up, "Wufu, Ye Gucheng brought a foreigner to see you, will you see you?" ”

Ye Gucheng?

Foreigner?!

Hearing Qin Hongshan's words, Pei Donglai, who planned to leave with Qin Dongxue, moved in his heart and looked at Pei Wufu.

"I'll go out and have a look."

Pei Wufu's eyes flashed, and he wanted to get up.

"Wufu, you don't need to go out, let them in." Qin Hongshan said thoughtfully.

"Okay."

Pei Wufu pondered for a while, and then agreed to Qin Hongshan's proposal.

Half a minute later.

While Pei Donglai, Pei Wufu, and all the members of the Qin family were waiting, Ye Gucheng entered the lobby with a middle-aged foreign man in a black robe.

Dracula, Prince of the Divine Net?!

Seeing that it was Dracula, one of the four princes of the Divine Net, who followed Ye Gucheng into the door, Pei Donglai was stunned at first, and then realized something, and his face couldn't help but change...... (To be continued)