Directly opposite Tuoba Shen was Xiao Ziqing's three daughters and Princess Yu, and Xiao Ziqing sat opposite Xiao Lingyuan. According to etiquette, the male host entertains foreign guests, and the hostess is not allowed to attend, let alone the younger sister of the main family. However, because Tuoba Shen is not very old, and he is a first-time guest, coupled with the atmosphere of "light soup and martial arts and thin Zhou Kong, and the more famous and natural teaching" in the Southern Dynasty for more than a hundred years, so Princess Yu and sister-in-law Xiao Lingyuan will attend today's night banquet.

"Can Jiro drink alcohol? There are many fine wines in my house, both near Jing Yi and far Persian wines. Xiao Ziqing asked, holding a wine jug

"Uncle can drink by himself, I don't drink much, and a few ice water is enough!" If you don't watch music and dance, of course you can't drink alcohol.

The three Tuoba of singing, dancing and wine are carefully prepared, and after the emperor is removed from service after the small auspicious day in September, it will be as usual. September is the first anniversary of the Empress Dowager, and when the emperor removes her service, the restrictions on daily life will not be so strict. The emperor is more comfortable, and the bottom is naturally more relaxed.

Princess Yu snatched the bamboo tube in the hands of the three stubborn daughters and handed it to the maidservant, appeased the daughters after a few words and got up and went downstairs, and when she came up again, she saw that she was followed by a few servants carrying a large copper plate, the copper plate was burned with a layer of charcoal, and when she walked into the building, she smelled a very strong sandalwood fragrance, and it turned out that the charcoal burned here was made of sandalwood. Sandalwood can both add fragrance and repel mosquitoes.

A few servants put down the copper plate and placed several long iron three-strand forks on it. Xiao Ziqing said: "Erlang is in Jiangbei, and he doesn't eat Jiangzuo Shui Tribe. The princess has prepared some lamb for you. These sheep are all suckling sheep under the age of three, and the meat is fresh and tender. Baked food with vinegar, sauce, honey tastes very good. Jiro can give it a try. ”

As he spoke, a few servants presented seven or eight kinds of condiments such as fresh mutton with minced ginger, minced garlic, honey, and vinegar. There is not much mutton, only two plates.

The mutton fat dripped into the charcoal, making an intermittent "sizzle" sound. Tuoba Shen stood up and held a wine cup full of ice water to salute Xiao Ziqing and Xiao Lingyuan respectively, and thanked the host for his kindness before returning to the seat.

After returning to the seat, after eating a few pieces of barbecue, Tuoba Shen took a fist-sized steamed bun from the peach wood plate and had a cross crack on it, broke half of it and ate it slowly with the vegetable soup.

Today's steamed bread is different from the later ones, because there is no fermentation method, so the steamed bread belongs to the kind that can be used to fight and shoot bricks. It's just that Tuoba Shen doesn't need to be used as a brick in his hands. Because these cracked steamed buns generally have small dried fruits such as dates and hawthorns, these dried fruits can achieve a fermented effect to a certain extent, and the taste is sweeter than ordinary steamed bread. In the north, this kind of jujube, hawthorn steamed bun is very popular, and it is a common delicacy of large households.

In addition to these staple foods in the north, Xiao Ziqing also prepared the Jiangnan water tribe for Tuoba Shen. Among them, there is a kind of dried fish fillet soaked in honey, which tastes very good.

In addition, there are three types of sashimi. Although the meat looks fresh and smooth, the cut is very thin, and it is transparent when you hold it with chopsticks. However, considering that the processing technology of sashimi is too backward now, and after noticing that these sashimi still have a slight fishy smell without mixing with condiments, Tuoba Shen did not touch it. Later, I found that it seemed that among the few people present, Xiao Ziqing and minced garlic and honey had tasted a few slices. As for Princess Yu and Xiao Lingyuan, they didn't let go of this kind of food before the case, so they probably couldn't stand the fishy smell! It looks like it should have been prepared for Tuobashen.

Xiao Ziqing poured himself a wine jug in his hand, sometimes saying a few words to Tuoba Shen, sometimes talking to his wife and sister, but his face was flushed for more than two moments, and his tongue was a little big when he spoke. Princess Yu saw that Xiao Ziqing was drunk when she entertained the guests, she smiled embarrassedly at Tuoba Shen, got up and walked to Xiao Ziqing's side, and whispered a few words of persuasion, Xiao Ziqing waved her hand, put down the wine jug in her hand, and said with a smile: "Today's family banquet, my heart is happy, so I drink more." Erlang is not surprised. ”

"Uncle is serious, since he is a family member, what do you think is strange. It's just that the niece heard his uncle say that His Majesty is going to talk about martial arts in the Shogunate Mountain, but I don't know what this matter is? ”

Xiao Ziqing suppressed the wine slightly, and after sorting out his thoughts, he nodded and said: "Speaking of this, it was originally the discussion of Cui Huijing, the former Sizhou assassin. ”

Cui Huijing! Could it be that it was also the Qingqi Boling and Qinghe Cui clan who lived in the Southern Dynasty back then?

"I don't know who Cui Huijing is?"

"Speaking of which, this person is still an old man from my mother's family. Cui Huijing's ancestor is also the old Murong family, and moved to Qilu with my mother's family. In the first year of the Tai Dynasty, many people in the Cui clan crossed to the south, and Cui Huijing was one of them. This person returned to Beijing from Sizhou in March, and His Majesty intended to confer on him the post of Crown Prince Zuo Wei Rate, which can be said to be deeply trusted. ”

"Now all the old ministers of Qilu are the most important. There are more than ten officials in his clan. Compared with our maternal clans, the Zhang family, the Fang family, and the Liu family, how can they be in the Tao. Speaking of this, Xiao Ziqing also sighed with emotion.

"Don't know when to go?"

"Before tomorrow, Erlang can take the military subordinate officers to Guangmo Gate together. The military attache of this dynasty in Beijing will go to the north gate and go to Xuanwu Field together. Don't be late. ”

Tuoba Shen nodded and answered.

。。。。。。

After knowing the time and place of the martial arts, Tuoba Shen returned his thoughts to Cui Huijing, whom Xiao Ziqing had just said.

This Cui Huijing is sacred, Tuoba Shen doesn't know, but it can be seen from his proposal that Xiao Zhen talk about martial arts, this person is likely to be the main battle faction of the Southern Dynasty, he was born in Qingqi, and he was the party who received Qingqi in this dynasty back then, the first generation of Cui's Nandu, and his feelings for his hometown are definitely not comparable to his descendants.

The fox died in Shouqiu, no one really wants to go away from home, and even the ancestral grave is not allowed to be swept away, and it is understandable to be a main battle faction. And if you think about it, Cui Huijing must be the only one who is the main battle faction.

Tuoba Shen had the heart to learn more about the situation of Cui Huijing, the main battle faction in the Southern Dynasty, but thinking that Xiao Ziqing could tell him that Cui Huijing's proposal to talk about martial arts was already an exception, maybe it was because he didn't have a clear mind now. It would be out of line to ask any more, and it would cause him a lot of trouble if it was passed on. It's better to wait until you go back and discuss with Li Biao and them.

。。。。。。

At this time, the banquet was nearing the end, the food on the table was already cold, even the ice water in the wine buds was not much cold, and Xiao Ziqing's three daughters also yawned noisily. Seeing this, Tuoba was about to propose to withdraw from the table, but suddenly heard a burst of singing outside, still sung by many people. Tuoba listened to it and found that it was Wu singing, but he couldn't understand it.

How could anyone sing at this time, and it was still a rare male chorus, could it be a fun game at a party? That's immoral, isn't it? In the middle of the night, they are not afraid to disturb people's purity.

Xiao Ziqing listened to two sentences in a daze, suddenly felt refreshed, picked up the wine pot and wine cup and walked out of the eaves, Tuoba Shen and Xiao Lingyuan looked at each other when they saw this, and immediately followed out.

When I got out of the building, I felt that the singing was louder, and it was coming from the direction where the moon was. Following Xiao Ziqing to the railing, he saw six or seven fires flashing in a courtyard about sixty or seventy steps away, and many of them were singing around the fire, and their voices were uniform. Outside these people stood a number of people, all dressed in white clothes, with crowns and scarves on their heads, in the light of the fire.

"Humph! The old thief and slave finally died, and he only hated that this old puppet died early, and he couldn't do it. Xiao Ziqing looked at the firelight, holding the wine pot in his left hand and the wine cup in his right hand, and said hatefully while drinking, and laughed at the end.

"This is ......" Tuoba Shen looked at Xiao Lingyuan and wondered.

Xiao Lingyuan shook her head and said, "Brother, I don't come here much, I don't know whose door it is." ”

"This is the mansion of Danyang Yin Xiaoshun. Xiao Shunzhi has been sick for many months, but he didn't expect to die tonight. Princess Yu, who was standing in the back, said.

Tuoba Shen didn't expect Xiao Ziqing to be so close to Xiao Yan's family. When I looked closely, I saw that it seemed to be the one I passed by in the evening.

When I looked up at the opposite side carefully, I found that there were a few people on the watchtower of the opposite house who were also vaguely looking at it. The moonlight was very good tonight, and even the reflection of the weapons over there was very conspicuous.

Thinking about it, let's hurry up and pull Xiao Ziqing away, someone else's family is dead, you are drinking here and listening to other people's elegiac songs, and you won't be criticized for death when you say it. If Brother Xiao Yan sues Xiao Zhen, he will scold him severely.

Just as he was about to speak, he saw that Princess Yu had already beckoned two maids to come over and forcibly carry Xiao Ziqing into the building. Xiao Ziqing was reluctant at first, but after Tuoba Shen and Xiao Lingyuan persuaded Princess Yu for a few words, they turned around and entered the building unhappy.

Tuoba Shen looked at Xiao Ziqing and Princess Yu who were walking in front, smiled at Xiao Lingyuan, and followed. But he didn't notice that among the few men standing by the railing on the opposite side, Xiao Yan was among them.