But Lu Jin's situation that made him feel a little puzzled was presented in front of him, everyone present, except for himself, everyone was not surprised by Hua Qianfeng's arrival, it was Hua Zhifu himself, who did not react at all when he looked at the four empty seats on the head, but just smiled and nodded to everyone, or exchanged greetings, as if this was a matter of course.

This reaction made Lu Zhen even more amused, and he wanted to know the identities of the last three people.

In addition to the difference between the upper and lower seats, the arrival of the banquet also reflects the identity of a guest, and the later the person comes, the higher the status, which has long become the unspoken rule of the banquet.

And now, when it is expected that a higher-level provincial official will not attend, who can have such a big shelf and dare to let the prefect of the dignified government come and wait for them first? And judging from Hua Qianfeng's reaction, it seems that this has long become a customary habit.

Just as Lu Zhen was speculating, the Hua Governor had already come to him, and said with a smile: "Lu Tong sentenced you early. I'm going to let my car take you along. ”

This sentence can be regarded as extreme care for Lu Jin, a subordinate, and he hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you for the love of Lord Futai, because the lower official first arrived in Hangzhou and wanted to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the West Lake, so he took a step early and rushed over, but the adult pounced on the air." ”

"It's okay, the young man is just good at bones, and the old man feels a little weak even if he wants to walk around now." Hua Qianfeng laughed, and then pointed to Lu Zhen in front of him and said to everyone: "Today's banquet is set up for the new government official Lu Tongju. You don't have to look at him as young, but he is already well-known in the court, and he has been appreciated by the officials Hu Butang, and even His Majesty has praised him today. ”

Whether these people have already figured out the bottom of Lu Jin, after hearing this, they all came over to greet him, and kept saying compliments such as being young and promising and promising and promising, and Lu Jin had no choice but to smile and be modest, so that this kind of scene could be regarded as perfunctory.

Then, as Hua Qianfeng took his seat, everyone returned to their respective seats. The position where the Hua Governor's Mansion was sitting, as Lu Zhen had judged before, did not sit at the top, but only sat a little higher than Lu Jin, and there were three other high positions.

This made Lu Zhen more and more curious, and couldn't help but turn around, and asked Tongzhi Xuanzheng on the side about the identities of the three guests who had not yet arrived. Xuan Cheng just smiled indifferently: "These three identities are not ordinary, they are all big people who can stomp their feet and make Hangzhou, and even the whole of Zhejiang shake, and they can come to this banquet today, which can be regarded as giving you enough face for Lu Tong." ”

"Oh? So who are they? Seeing that the other party was only going around in circles, Lu Zhen couldn't help but ask again.

Just when Xuan Zheng wanted to say something more, another protracted announcement came from outside: "Third Master Xie, Fifth Master Chang has arrived." ”

When he heard that the report was not the official name, Lu Zhen was even more stunned, and then he found that Hua Qianfeng, who was still smiling and groaning, was also stiff. However, the old man's true reaction was only a matter of a moment, and then he turned into a smile and stood up.

As for the other guests, they hugged Hua Qianfeng just now, and the few businessmen sitting at the back were even more smiling, even more stammering than when they greeted Hua Qianfeng. All this fell into the eyes of Lu Jin, who followed the past, but only fell behind everyone.

Coming in were two middle-aged men in silk robes with shrewd and capable faces. As soon as they saw everyone coming out, they each hugged their fists and said a few words, and then they turned their eyes behind them and looked at Hua Qianfeng, who was just standing in front of the seat. After being stunned for a moment, they separated from everyone and greeted them: "I have seen the prefect." We are too late because of our family affairs, and I hope to forgive our sins. ”

"It doesn't matter." Hua Qianfeng smiled a little reluctantly: "Aren't the two members empty today?" ”

"Originally, my brother and Xie Yuanwai planned to come over, but just now there was a sudden visit from the capital, so they couldn't leave for a while, so they had to let the two of us come over to make amends to the prefect." Chang Wuye explained with a smile, and Xie San on the side also nodded in agreement.

Since the other party said so, Hua Qianfeng had no choice but to accept it and smiled: "That's because the official and Lu Tuiguan set the wrong time, which made the two outsiders embarrassed." But the two of you can come is enough to give the old man face, please sit down. As he spoke, he pointed to the two positions at the top of the head.

The two glanced at each other, then shook their heads and said, "Don't dare, the little one is just an ordinary businessman, but I don't dare to sit on top of the Lord of the Mansion, it is better for the adult to take a seat." ”

Hua Qianfeng didn't insist, nodded, and walked to the position that was two places higher than just now, and the two hesitated a little before they reluctantly sat down.

Seeing this, Lu Jin, who was on the side, knew that it was only the elder brother of these two people who let Hua Qianfeng arrive early and give up his seat, which is the so-called Xie Chang. Now that the two main masters are gone, they only sent their younger brother to come, which obviously made the face of the Hua Governor's Mansion a little unbearable.

Just thinking about it, he reported again: "Gonggong Wu has arrived!" ”

This sentence made everyone present feel refreshed and got up again. This time, even the prefect of Hua didn't care about his identity, so he hurriedly grabbed it, and he couldn't see the slightest bit of the old state he had just revealed. Seeing this, Lu Zhen also hurriedly followed, and at the same time knew that the mystery had finally been revealed, and the highest lord was actually given to this eunuch with an extremely special status in Hangzhou!

The so-called town guard eunuch is a system that was implemented in the local area after the establishment of the celebrant in the early Ming Dynasty. In some important state capitals in the world, the Son of Heaven will send the powerful eunuchs in the palace to sit in the town. Some of them are guarding the border and playing the role of a supervising army, while others are staying in the important financial and tax areas, helping the palace to supervise, and collecting money by the way.

Hangzhou is one of the most important financial and tax places in the world, and the Son of Heaven will send the most trustworthy eunuchs in the palace to come to the town. In addition to this responsibility, he was also responsible for the relevant matters of the Hangzhou Weaving Bureau, and his authority in a province was comparable to that of the three local departments - the Political Envoy Division, the Inspectorate Envoy Division and the Command Envoy Division.

Unexpectedly, today's reception banquet was so high, and he actually invited the town guard eunuch, which made Lu Jin feel a little surprised. Then, thinking of the two local officials who had not been there, he had another thought, maybe setting up a banquet for himself was just a reason, and what Hua Qianfeng really wanted to invite was these three main guests.

Just thinking about it, there was a little white fat in front of him, looking at the smiling and smiling like Maitreya Buddha, Gonggong Wu had already greeted Hua Qianfeng and walked towards the seat in front of him. It's just that when his gaze fell on Xie Chang and the others, a trace of gloom flashed in his eyes.

It seems that due to this change, the atmosphere of the next banquet is not as good as imagined.

Although the wine and dishes at today's banquet are all of the highest quality, not only several of the most famous and expensive dishes in Hangzhou, but even the wine is eighteen years of pure daughter red, when poured out are amber, the aroma of wine spreads and can even be smelled on the stairs, and there are several handmaidens who are pretty like butterflies wearing flowers and butterflies to deliver food, plus more than a dozen beauties who play melodious tunes with silk and bamboo, but because the looks of the first two people are a little unhappy, so everyone does not dare to laugh wantonly, and the banquet is quite depressing.

Although some people still remember that Lu Zhen was the protagonist of today's banquet, the toast was just a formality, and the compliments and wishes to him were not even as warm as when they first met just now. In this way, Lu Zhen is even more convinced that there is something different in today's banquet.

However, he has only been in office for a few days, and he still can't figure out what the identities of these people are, so he can't guess what mysteries are hidden in this.

Since you can't figure it out, you don't want to. Lu Zhen felt that it was none of his business, and the table of wine and food in front of him looked obviously dozens of taels, which was worth a year's worth of his own money, so he ate and drank honestly and unceremoniously. In this way, on top of the whole banquet, Lu Zhen is really enjoying this kind of carefully cooked delicacy, and everyone else has something on their minds, even chewing wax on such a delicacy.

With such a depressing scene, it is naturally impossible for the banquet to last long. Only more than half an hour later, the last to arrive Wu Gonggong left under the pretext of being unwell.

Then there was the prefect, who also said that he needed to go to bed early in his old age and left early. When it was time to enter the shift, everyone got up one after another to say goodbye, and looked at the wine and food on their table, but most of them had not been touched.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen drank the last bit of wine, and then got up and walked down. When he came outside the building and greeted Lin Lie, who was eating below, and wanted to walk back like this to sober up, a voice sounded behind him: "Lu Tong sentence and go slowly." ”

"Huh?" Lu Zhen turned his head when he heard the sound, and saw a somewhat fat man hurriedly chasing after him, this person still had some memories, but it was a businessman sitting in the middle of the banquet: "What do you have to do?" ”

"There was a lot of inconvenience at the table just now, so I forgot to greet you." The merchant bowed his hand as if flattering: "Little Wu Luoxuan is a small merchant in the city, it is really a great honor to see such a talented adult today." As he spoke, he seemed to feel that giving up his hand or something was not enough to express his excitement, and even stepped forward to hold Lu Jin's hands a little rudely.

Lu Jin didn't expect the other party to come like this, but he couldn't dodge it, so he let a pair of slippery fat hands pull him. Just when he wanted to break free, he found that there was an extra thing in his hand.

Lu Zhen was stunned for a moment, Wu Luoxuan had already let go, and he smiled and bowed his hand to Lu Jin, and then said goodbye.

After he left, Lu Zhen unfolded the thing in his hand, which was a small stack of paper, and when he looked at it by the moonlight, it was a silver ticket, a silver ticket worth a thousand taels!

Before, Lu Zhen also felt that it was not easy to be an official in Hangzhou. But now, as soon as people make a move, they will have the benefit of a thousand taels of silver, which is more than what the Wei Mansion gives. In this way, it seems that it is much easier to be an official here than imagined......