More than half a month has passed, and it is still calm.

This day coincides with the first birthday of Xue Shao's eldest son, Xue Qiyu. Originally, Xue Shao thought that the current situation was delicate, so he didn't want to make a big deal, at most he just invited some relatives and friends to come and get together. Unexpectedly, Wu Zetian disagreed, she said that Xue Qiyu was her only little grandson and the eldest son of Xue Shao and Princess Taiping, and his first birthday must be held a grand ceremony.

So Wu Zetian personally handled the knife and organized the first birthday ceremony for Xue Qiyu. In the name of her grandmother, she sent an invitation to almost all the Beijing officials, the royal family, and the Xue family, inviting them to come to the banquet to celebrate. The venue of the banquet was chosen in the Yixin Hall of Furong Garden, which was the place where Xue Shao and Princess Taiping got engaged.

Hundreds of Beijing officials, including prime ministers and generals, royal families and strategists, all gathered at the Yixin Hall of Furong Garden on this day. The scene of the banquet was quite luxurious and lively, almost on par with the wedding day of Xue Shao and Princess Taiping.

Pei Yan, Liu Qixian and others also came, and Xue Shao greeted them with a smile in the spirit of "coming to the door as a guest". People who have reached the level of prime minister and general will not have any personal grievances in this kind of field, it is purely childish. Therefore, Pei Yan, Liu Qixian and others also expressed themselves very gently and politely, as if they were really Xue Shao's best friends.

The sons and nephews of the Wu family also came together, including Wu Yizong, who was bullied by Xue Shao in Suizhou, and Wu Chenghei, who had just been dismissed from his official position.

This time is different from the past, Xue Shao remembered that when he first met Wu Chenghei, it was Princess Taiping who asked him to "borrow a military book". At that time, his shelf was very big, and he didn't take Xue Shao in his eyes at all. But today, when a group of martial arts sons and nephews came, they all politely took the initiative to bow down to Xue Shao, all of them smiling and almost flattering.

Xue Shao was very generous and enthusiastic, invited them into the banquet hall, and invited Princess Taiping to greet her group of cousins in person.

The banquet began, and Wu Zetian was the first to appear on the stage, thanking all the guests for coming to the meeting and toasting everyone. Then Xue Shao thanked and toasted, and Princess Taiping, Chen Xian'er and others greeted the women and relatives brought by these guests in the side hall.

With the eighteen dancers trained by Princess Taiping taking the stage, the banquet officially began. The atmosphere is harmonious and lively, and at the same time polite and orderly. It is like the scene of the Tang Dynasty court entertaining important foreign guests in the Qide Palace.

Pei Yan and Liu Qixian sat together, toasting each other's wine from time to time and drinking lightly.

Liu Yizhi walked over with a glass of wine, bowed his hand and said, "I salute the two elders." ”

"Liu Ge, please!" Pei Yan and Liu Qixian returned the gift together, and the three of them drank a cup together. Then, Liu Yuanzhi sat beside the two of them tacitly.

Liu Yizhi looked at the singing and dancing in the field with a smile, and said quietly: "Empress Dowager Wu, this is a clear show to support Xue Shao!" ”

Pei Yan and Liu Qixian both just smiled slightly and then nodded plausibly, without talking.

Liu Yuanzhi felt a little embarrassed, so he stopped talking.

Although in the eyes of outsiders, Liu Yuanzhi is of course an important member of Pei Yan's group. But within their group, Pei Yan and Liu Qixian have never forgotten that Liu Yuanzhi was once a member of the "North Gate Bachelor" and used to be the confidant and think tank of the Empress Dowager Wu. Later, he became the teacher of the new monarch Li Dan (Li Dan was still the king of Xiang at that time).

The reason why Pei Yan invited Liu Yuanzhi to participate in the coup d'état of the deposed emperor was because he was the identity of Li Dan's teacher. Assist his students to be emperors, and he will do his best.

However, after the successful coup d'état, Liu Yuanzhi found that his position within this "group" had always been a little embarrassing. First, because of the origin of his background, Pei Yan and Liu Qixian will not trust him absolutely; Second, Liu Yuanzhi has the halo of "emperor" on his head and has the merit of standing up from the dragon, so he rose rapidly overnight, from a Sima of the Prime Minister's Mansion to the prime minister of Zhongshu Shilang and Tongzhongshu. Liu Yuanzhi's rise to the top is too fast, which will inevitably make Pei Yan wonder if Liu Yuanzhi's future will threaten the stability of his position?

For example, now Liu Yuanzhi clearly feels that Pei Yan and Liu Qixian's tone is very tight, and they are both a little wary of themselves.

The hot face touched a soft nail with a cold buttocks, and Liu Qixian felt a little angry in his heart. After sitting next to the second phase for a while and chatting some gossip, he walked away and sat alone and drank alcohol.

The banquet was very lively, and Wu Zetian and Xue Shao frequently toasted to the guests. But this small detail that happened between Liu Yizhi and Pei Yan did not escape the eyes of the two.

Wu Zetian gave Xue Shao a secret look, signaling him to "greet" Liu Yuanzhi. Xue Shao smiled slightly, just what I wanted!

Xue Shao walked to Liu Yuanzhi's table with the wine and bowed his hand, "Liu Xianggong, Xue gives you a glass and says thank you!" ”

Out of politeness, Liu Yuanzhi hurriedly got up and returned the salute, and the two drank a cup together.

Unexpectedly, Xue Shao asked the servant to take a seat, and sat down directly at the table next to Liu Yuanzhi.

Liu Yuanzhi was slightly stunned, why is this?

"Liu Xianggong is talented and romantic, and Xue has admired him for a long time." Xue Shao said with a smile, "The world calls Liu Xianggong and Meng Lizhen, Gao Zhizhou, Guo Zhengyi and other three as 'Liu Menggao Guo', Xue Mou secretly thinks that Liu Xianggong's talent is far better than the other three." I have read Liu Xianggong's "Ministers' Tracks" and "The New Commandments of the Hundred Bureaucrats". Although it is a political commentary, it is also as beautiful as flowing water, and reading it is like drinking sweet alcohol. ”

"Oh?" Liu Yuanzhi was slightly surprised and showed a hint of joy on his face, and said, "The horse still reads such a book? ”

"Anyone who is an official in the court, how can he not read these two books compiled by Liu Xianggong?" Xue Shao smiled, "I also know that Liu Xianggong once taught His Majesty the Emperor painting and calligraphy. I have seen the imperial pen and ink treasure of the emperor's majesty, and it is really a famous teacher and a high apprentice! ”

"Don't dare to be, don't dare to be!" Liu Yuanzhi waved his hand again and again, smiling.

As a literati, Liu Yuanzhi is most eager for others to recognize his talent and articles. As a teacher, you want your students to be praised by others. At the same time, as a politician, if you can be praised by your opponents in person, and not hypocritically and politely say empty words, but praise is reasonable, this feeling is absolutely extraordinarily comfortable.

In today's words, Liu Yuanzhi instantly felt that his "forced qualification" was supreme.

"Xue is not talented, and he likes to fiddle with some poetry articles when he has nothing to do on weekdays." Xue Shao said, "Helplessly, his qualifications are shallow and his learning skills are not proficient, and he often laughs and is generous." I don't know if Liu Xianggong can point to Xue when he has time? ”

"Huh?" Liu Yuanzhi was stunned, did I hear it wrong, Xue Shao actually asked me to point out his poetry articles?

"What's the matter, Liu Xianggong is inconvenient?" Xue Shao smiled, "If that's the case, Xue won't think about it." ”

"No, no, nothing inconvenient." There is a way to stretch out his hand and not hit the smiling person, Liu Yuanzhi couldn't help it, so he had to smile awkwardly, "Actually, Liu has long admired the talent of the horse." In the martial arts, the horse wins the thousand-mile tiger mighty; In the text, the poems made during the countermeasures in the palace of the horses made me like to admire them very much! ”

Xue Shao turned his eyes, what should he do in the palace? …… Oh yes, I remember that I plagiarized Wang Wei's poems at that time, and the palace was opened in nine days, and all countries were crowned with crowns - tsk, good poems, good poems!

In an instant, Xue Shao also felt that his compulsion was infinitely taller.

"Then let's learn more when we have time?" Xue Shao asked with a smile on his face.

"Liu is flattered, dare not accompany him?" Liu Yuanzhi also replied with a smile.

"That's it." Xue Shao said with a smile, "I'll come to the door another day to invite Liu Xianggong to come over for a small gathering, let's talk about some articles and talk about wine, don't ask anything else?" ”

"Okay, Liu will be in person!" Liu Yuanzhi agreed very happily.

Xue Shao stood up with a smile and bowed his hand, "Xue will retire first, Liu Xianggong might as well drink a few more cups."

Liu Yuanzhi hurriedly got up to send him off, "Xue Fuma doesn't have to be polite, go and entertain other guests!" ”

"Please!"

"Please!"

In anyone's opinion, these two people just talk happily with each other, like knowing each other. This scene naturally fell into the eyes of Pei Yan and Liu Qixian.

Xue Shao toasted among the guests and returned to his seat with a little drunkenness. Seeing that Xue Shao was drunk, Linlang hurriedly stepped forward to serve him and helped him to the side hall to rest for a while.

In fact, Xue Shao was not drunk at all, he just pretended. After sitting down for a while, Wu Zetian really came.

The others retreated, and Wu Zetian asked directly: "How?" ”

Of course, Xue Shao knew what she was asking, so he replied: "I feel that there seems to be a separation between Liu Yuanzhi and Pei Yan. I went to talk to him, and he was more enthusiastic, and even took some initiative. Therefore, I guess that Liu Yuanzhi seems to want to break away from Pei Yan and move closer to us. ”

"Good." Wu Zetian nodded with satisfaction, "Liu Yuanzhi used to be one of the bachelors of the North Gate, and I single-handedly promoted him and recommended him to the first emperor to be the teacher of the Xiangwang. Now that King Xiang is the emperor, his identity is also rising. But how can you forget your roots? If Liu Yuanzhi helps Pei Yan deal with me, I will not let him go. But if he is willing to take the initiative to surrender, it will be of great benefit to us! ”

Xue Shao nodded with a smile, the fortress is the easiest to be breached from the inside, which is really shallow and tight for Wu Zetian, who has done "revolutionary work" all his life.

"Be sure to pull Liu Yuanzhi over, and we will work together on this matter." Wu Zetian said, "I believe that Pei Yan will never really trust Liu Yuanzhi. This is very useful for us. ”

"Okay, I got it." Xue Shao nodded.

Wu Zetian didn't say anything more, and returned to the banquet hall to continue to preside over the banquet.

Xue Shao rested for a while and returned to the banquet hall to entertain the guests.

Just as the banquet was about to come to an end, Cen Changqian, the squire and prime minister of the military department who did not come to the banquet because he wanted to stay in the government hall, suddenly appeared, and ran directly to Pei Yan and said a word.

Xue Shao saw it with his own eyes, Pei Yan suddenly stood up, and his face changed greatly. Liu Qixian, who was beside him, exclaimed "ah", looking extremely frightened. Immediately, Cen Changqian ran to Wu Zetian and said a word to him, Wu Zetian's face suddenly sank, and his eyes were shining.

Xue Shao frowned, his heart tightened, what happened?!