One of the eunuchs in the house went out to give orders, and after a while, the eunuchs in the imperial dining room brought the imperial meal. The meal is not much, four cold and four hot, plus some pastry soup.

Guo Xun looked up, Zhu Houxi's imperial case was exactly the same as his own, and he secretly sighed in his heart that although the little emperor was young, he did not have the greed of other children. Just these four cold and four hot, not to mention that it is not as good as what he usually eats as a marquis, it is estimated that it is not as good as what ordinary county orders usually eat. A person is as expensive as an emperor, it is not that he wants anything, but he can restrain himself so much, and he is not greedy for food, and his intentions must be very big. From this point alone, it can be seen that Yang Tinghe chose the wrong opponent.

The food is shabby, the key depends on who eats with it. It is the emperor who only invites guests to dinner, even if he only eats steamed buns, it is enough to see that the emperor favors him, which is enough for him to blow for a lifetime.

Zhu Houxi pointed to the pot of wine on the case and asked Guo Xun, "Can you drink some?" ”

Guo Xun is afraid of drinking and making mistakes, if he does something he shouldn't do in front of the emperor and says something he shouldn't say, he will regret it, and excuse himself: "You can't drink!" ”

Zhu Houxi said: "You are a person who leads soldiers to fight, why can't you drink?" With the governor of Guo Wuding and Liangguang, and the suppression of bandits, only then can I have the long-term peace and stability of the Ming Dynasty. Come, I will give you a drink! With that, he leaned his neck and drank the glass of wine.

The eunuch standing behind Guo Xun had already picked up the wine jug on the desk and poured wine into the cup. Guo Xun hurriedly picked up the cup and said, "Thank you for the emperor's gift." He raised his neck and drank the glass of wine to the fullest.

He put the cup down, and Xu Guangzuo, who was sitting opposite, said: "Brother Xu, as soon as the emperor's golden mouth opens, I will toast you with a glass of wine." How can you only drink one glass, why do you have to accompany three glasses to talk about it! ”

Guo Xun nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, yes, I have to accompany three cups." He raised his glass and drank two more glasses, and Xu Guangzuo also accompanied him three times.

Zhu Houxi toasted Xu Guangzuo with another glass of wine, and Guo Xun also accompanied him with three glasses. Zhu Houxi picked up another glass of wine and said, "I'm too weak to drink, so I'll drink three glasses with the two of you." Both of you are military generals, you can drink as much as you can, you're welcome. ”

Guo Xunjiu drank nine glasses of wine, and he lost his previous restraints, sitting there while eating and drinking himself, occasionally touching a glass with Xu Guangzuo. After the meal is almost eaten, a pot of wine is drunk, and the mouth is idle, I feel a little uncomfortable, as if something is missing?

Inadvertently, his hand touched the box in his arms, where there were still three cigars. For no reason, I remembered Li Feibai's sentence again: "A cigarette after dinner is a race against a living immortal!" It didn't matter if I thought about it, the feeling of discomfort in my body was even stronger, and I couldn't help but want to take out the box and light a cigar and take a beautiful puff. But there is the emperor sitting above, how dare you make a mistake.

The eunuchs took the dishes, and Guo Xun's uncomfortableness was even more unbearable, which simply made him restless. I had to arch my hand and say: "Your Majesty, the minister has a reluctant request, I don't know whether to mention it or not." ”

Zhu Houxi has always had a feeling that he is in a large room where he can't see his fingers, and a group of people are hiding in the dark, staring at their bright and shining eyes, revealing a malicious light. It seemed to knock him to the ground, and step on ten thousand more feet, so that he could never turn over. He had only been in the capital for a few months, and he had been awakened countless times by this nightmare, waking up alone and curled up on the bed, feeling so small, so isolated.

In order not to have nightmares, he knew that he had to find some help, but sitting on the high dragon chair and looking at the black crows and crows below, he did not know which ones were helping hands and which were enemies. Even if some people showed good intentions, he didn't know if these people were sincere or wolves in human skin.

He has a friend who has played with him since he was a child, and he is also a friend who talks about everything, and after knowing his troubles, he gave him an idea to invite someone to drink. The friend said that he vomited the truth after drinking. His friend, who was four years younger than him, was only eleven or twelve years old this year, so he thought the idea was a bad idea.

The reason why a bad idea is a bad idea is because the idea is too old to be seen through at a glance. But a bad idea is also an idea, and occasionally it can also get unexpected results, but you can't use it too much, just use it once. Therefore, he intends to use this idea on a key person, and this person is Guo Xun.

Guo Xun is a child of a family! Since the founding of Taizu, so many dukes and marquis have been ruined, but only the Guo family has survived. More with their Zhu family three generations of marriage, and the important ministers of the court also have many marriages, plus the successive generations of officials, Guo Xun is very capable, to achieve the high position of the governor of Liangguang, deep-rooted, to put it mildly, half of the officials of the Ming Dynasty, more or less can climb with the Guo family. If it is supported by Guo Xun, it is equivalent to the support of half of the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

This is an extremely critical person, even if he is only a marquis, he is ten times more critical than dukes like Xu Guangzuo. Although Xu Guangzuo is a duke, he has only been in Xu Guangzuo's generation for three generations, and he is not prosperous, and he does not have the strength of the Guo family, so he cannot be compared at all.

Zhu Houxi had already hinted to Xu Guangzuo that he would go to see Guo Xun this time, if Guo Xun's words were wrong, he would not have to invite him to meet in the palace. Since Xu Guangzuo invited Guo Xun to the palace to meet, it shows that Guo Xun is a trustworthy friend. But the position he wants to arrange for Guo Xun is a position among the most important, and if he is not careful, he will fall short and fall into the bottomless abyss. Therefore, he wanted to use his friend's idea and try it himself to see if Guo Xun was the candidate who lived up to his expectations.

Seeing that Guo Xun had almost drunk, it was time to ask. He was about to retreat, but he heard Guo Xun have something to plead, so he said, "Aiqing, but it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

Guo Xun said embarrassedly: "Back to the emperor, Weichen contracted a bad problem outside, and wanted to smoke a cigar after eating and drinking, so as to relax and refresh his mind. ”

Zhu Houxi had never heard of the name of cigar, and saw that it had many effects, so he also wanted to see it, and said: "But it doesn't hurt to smoke it." ”

Guo Xun took out the box, took out a stick, lit it, took a deep breath, and after a long time, Fang spit out a puff of smoke, with an intoxicated expression on his face.

Zhu Houxi smelled the fragrance of smoke wafting over, and looked at the intoxication on Guo Xun's face, when his eyes stayed on the cigar that Guo Xun held in his hand and brought it to his mouth, his heart couldn't help but move, and asked, "This is a cigar?" ”

Guo Xun said: "Back to the emperor, this is a cigar." ”

Zhu Houxi said: "Bring one and let me take a look." ”

Guo Xun only had two left, he was really reluctant, and secretly said in his heart: "You little child, what are you doing with this?" But he didn't dare to disobey, so he took out one and handed it over respectfully. When he turned around, he saw Xu Guangzuo looking at him with blank eyes, and sent the remaining one over with a ruthless heart.

Xu Guangzuo lit it with a fire, sucked hard like Guo Xun, and then coughed painfully, and said with a smile while coughing: "Why is it so hard to smoke, it just kills me." Brother Guo, why are you so intoxicated, is the one you gave me different from yours? ”

Guo Xun said: "Cigars are like this, you will feel uncomfortable at first smoke, but as long as you get used to it, you can't do without it for a day." With that, he took another sip.

Xu Guangzuo took another sip, but he was still choked uncomfortably, snuffed out the cigar in his hand, and put it on the desk.