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A moment later, footsteps sounded again in the courtyard. As soon as the door moved, it was the servant who came out, who saluted first, and then took out a square towel to wipe his sweat, and said breathlessly: "I, my lord went to the barracks on business, and he has not returned at the moment." The eldest prince, please, invite the two distinguished guests to the front door, he is there to greet the old friend! ”

Liu Hongji thanked him, threw the reins of the horse to the servant, and pulled him away from Li Xu to walk towards the front door. The servant looked at each other until the two men had gone far away, and then led the two horses into the courtyard one by one.

The Great Sui Dynasty inherited the Han system, and the official yamen all sat in the north and faced south. If the position is high enough to bring family members to the office, the officials' wives and children are usually placed in the back house of the yamen. Ordinary official exchanges, guests go through the front door, only close friends or their juniors enter through the back door. Hundreds of years later, the wind of greed prevailed, and the term "going through the back door" also came from this, which is a later story, let's not mention it for the time being.

And the guests who alarmed the host's family to greet them at the front door were the VIPs of the family. Therefore, although Liu Hongji asked to see him as a junior, he was arranged by the master to meet him at the front door.

Li Xu has no experience in officialdom and doesn't know these rules at all. was pulled by Liu Hongji and slowly walked to the front office. The main entrance of the front office is also wide open, but it is a place to deal with state affairs, not a place for the host's family to welcome guests. The two of them passed by the main entrance, took a few more steps forward, and stopped at the side door in front of them.

The front side door for VIPs had long since been opened by the servants, and several well-dressed male housekeepers held long brooms and symbolically "swept" a path in front of the door. The host greeted him with a smile, walked to Liu Hongji and stood still, with his hands attached to his heart, his chest hugged, bowed down and said: "I have seen Brother Hongji, but I don't know that the eldest brother is far away, and I can't come out to greet him, don't blame the eldest brother!" ”

Over there, Liu Hongji had already bowed down, and said excitedly: "Come here without telling me, how presumptuous, don't laugh at me for being abrupt!" ”

The two of them shook each other, and they shook each other's hands, and said with a laugh: "You and my brother haven't seen each other for more than three years, but I didn't expect to meet here today!" ”

After laughing enough, Liu Hongji pulled Li Xu forward and introduced the two: "This is another good brother of mine, Shanggu Li Xu, the word Zhongjian." This is my good friend since childhood, the eldest son of Tang Gong, built, the word is solid! (Note 4)

When Li Xu heard this, he hurriedly took half a step forward, clasped his fists to his chest, and bowed. Jiancheng has an official position, so he shook his hands and returned the salute with the scholars seeing the people.

After greeting each other, Liu and Li entered the door at the invitation of the host. As he walked, he asked as soon as he built: "Brother Zhong Jian came out of the Li family in the upper valley, I don't know if it has anything to do with General Gu Zhifei!" ”

"Li is not talented, and he is ashamed of his ancestors!" Li Xu bowed his hand again and replied with a straight face.

The Li family in Shanggu has always called themselves the relics of the flying general Li Guang. Although Li Xu was born in the last branch, this bloodline inheritance can be regarded as genuine, so he replied with confidence, and the respectful feeling on his face when he mentioned his ancestors was not half pretentious. Hearing this, the eldest son of Duke Tang was overjoyed, took Li Xu's hand and laughed: "In this way, we are the same clan, and the ancestor King Wuzhao is also the queen of General Fei." ”

"I haven't seen Brother Shi yet!" Liu Hongji smiled and pushed Li Xu's shoulder and said.

"Zhong Jian, please meet Brother Shi!" Li Xu blushed and gave a salute. The highest official he had ever seen since he was a child was a foot lieutenant, so since he heard the word Tang Gong in Liu Hongji's mouth, he added twelve points of caution. lest I answer the wrong word and hear the wrong word without paying attention. Now that Liu Hongji said that the two were brothers, he could no longer bow to each other as a stranger when they met for the first time as he did just now, stood up straight, and made a respectful bow. Although it is just a fist, a heart, and a bow, three movements, but I am also so tired that I sweat on my forehead.

"I've seen Brother Zhongjian!" Li Jiancheng smiled and returned the favor.

Taking advantage of people's inattention, Li Xu secretly wiped his forehead, regretting that he accompanied Liu Hongji to suffer this crime. He had heard the name of Li Hui, the king of Liangwu Zhao, and in order to elevate his own identity, the Li family in Shanggu deliberately cultivated this family that could not be beaten by eight poles into the family tree. According to the generation, Li Xu can be regarded as the ninth grandson of this person, the twenty-fifth descendant of the Han general Li Guang. Li Jiancheng also said that after Li Guang, if the two are a few generations apart, can he still come forward and call his grandfather?

was thinking wildly, and heard Li Jiancheng say: "My father went to the barracks to handle official business, so he couldn't come to greet him." You two can go to the guest room to sit down, I have sent someone to inform you, and my father will rush back when he gets the letter! ”

"Can I go and see my aunt first?" Liu Hongji asked with a smile.

"Mother-sama is glad that Brother Hongji has arrived!" Li Jiancheng replied with a smile. The three of them took a few more steps forward, bypassed a corridor, and were led by a servant, placing Li Xu in the guest room to drink tea. Subsequently, Liu Hongji took Jiancheng to visit Tang Gong's wife, Dou.

When everyone's footsteps were far away, Li Xu took a breath. Along the way, it was level, and it was arched, and he was very tired of chewing words, and he didn't bother to see what the mansion of the Guogong family looked like. At this moment, I sat down in the guest room, only to find that the furnishings of the so-called noble house are also very simple, the whole room is just a table, two chairs, two high-waisted vases, and a set of four treasures of the study. It's not as luxurious as some of the big families I've seen, but the rooms are cleaner, and the windows are not covered with paper, but a few pieces of white silk like snow.

Under the south window, there is also a piano. It is antique, the string surface is dusty, and it is obviously wiped every day. Li Xu put down the tea bowl, strolled forward, and brushed his hand, the sound of the piano was like a mountain falling into water, and it was wrong.

Even though his piano skills are mediocre, he knows that this is a good piano. Looking carefully at the surface of the piano, I saw that the mottled pattern was full of antiquity, and the crack at the tail of the piano was slight, and there were some traces of burnt.

"Scorched Tail!" Li Xu was startled and hurriedly dodged away from the piano. This is a treasure worth tens of millions, which was made by Cai Yong in the Han Dynasty. Today's emperor is talented, and in order to get his appreciation, students from all over the world must be familiar with "Cai's Five Alleys". Thinking of the preparations he had made to gain fame back then, his heart suddenly and violently jumped. (Note 5)

In order to meet Tang Gong, Liu Hongji deliberately pulled him to buy a few sets of clothes when he passed by Lulong County. If Wu Heimin and the others saw Li Xu's current Confucian crown brocade robe, with the strange appearance of not using a long sword hanging from his waist, they would definitely laugh and fall. But this kind of gentle behavior was once Li Xu's dream. Before leaving Yixian's hometown, he looked forward countless times that he would grow up to be a well-mannered scholar.

Thinking of his ambition back then, the wanted notice he saw when he passed through Liucheng came to the bottom of his heart again. The so-called Li Fuli and Xu Dayan must be himself and Xu Dayan. Why did the government make such a stupid mistake, not only did they get the names wrong, but they also looked so different?

In any case, he is now a wanted criminal. Is Tang Gong really willing to take responsibility and help two people who don't know each other get away with their crimes? Li Xu didn't dare to be sure, nor did he dare to ask for extravagance, his heart was "plopping" and "plopping", and his scalp was faintly wooden.