The courtesy of the lord of Huaizhu is just the beginning of the social interaction of the upper class, and King Chong is busy seeing dignitaries from all walks of life, so he has no leisure to come over to see Ji Ning and Tang Jie, these little-known junior scholars.

Song Rui said: "Sooner or later, one day, I want King Chong to come to see me, instead of being treated coldly like today, what do you think?" ”

"Yuan Zhong, you don't take this too seriously, in fact, we are already good, you look at so many guests here tonight, how many of them are our classmates? Those who can come here are almost all dignitaries, and attending this kind of occasion and being talked about by others is also conducive to improving our reputation. Han Yu said, raised his glass and said, "King Chong didn't come to have a banquet with us, we just drank and feasted by ourselves." ”

Several people sat at a table, it was simply a banquet in Chongwang's Mansion, and the wine and food were all free, and they didn't eat for nothing.

Just when the banquet was still in progress, suddenly a waiter from King Chong's Mansion hurriedly came in, and said a word in King Chong's ear, King Chong's face was very solemn, and he greeted the people around him, asking Zhao Yuanqi to continue to entertain guests, and he returned to the main hall with Princess Chong.

"What's going on over there?" Tang Xie stood up with the people present, and asked while looking.

"There must be some guests coming!" Ji Ning spoke his own judgment.

What can make King Chong so cautious should be that something has happened, and Ji Ning looked at the situation just now, as if there was some guest outside.

However, the visitor did not go through the main gate, but entered through the side door of the courtyard, which shows that the identity of the visitor is not very high, and there are many discussions in the main courtyard at this time. Han Yu said: "It seems that Yongning's analysis is good, there are guests coming, otherwise King Chong would not suddenly say goodbye to the banquet and return to the inner hall, but this guest did not go to the main door, saying that he wanted to avoid suspicion, and he should not come at the time of King Chong's banquet, which is really strange." ”

Even Tang Xie said: "The guest who can make King Chong so cautious should not be small, and it is really unreasonable not to go through the main gate." Yongning knows what happened? ”

Ji Ning was holding a teacup in his hand, he was not interested in the wine in Chongwang's Mansion, because he was afraid that he would not be able to go back at night if he was drunk, but the tea here was the best Tieguanyin, he naturally thought of the "Su Pujia" who had discussed tea with him before, and saw that several people were looking at him, Ji Ning said: "If someone comes, is it a deacon in the palace?" ”

The four of them were obviously stunned, and after carefully thinking about Ji Ning's words, they instantly felt that what Ji Ning said was very reasonable.

"Yongning means the eunuchs in the palace?" Tang explained, "That's really possible, there are people in the world who can make King Chong jealous and cautious, but the status is not high, except for the eunuchs in the palace, there seems to be no one else." But there are people in the palace, could it be that something big happened in the capital, and the Son of Heaven sent someone to spread the word? ”

Several people looked at Ji Ning again, and Ji Ning smiled slightly bitterly: "You look at what you are doing below, you are not an immortal below, and you don't know the art of being able to make a public opinion, how can you deduce what major events have happened in the court?" ”

The guests in the main courtyard of King Chong's Mansion were still talking, and they couldn't directly deduce the identity of the person from such a small detail as Ji Ning not going through the main gate.

After a long time, King Chong came out of the inner hall, this time Princess Chong was no longer with him, some people with status and status went up to inquire about the situation, and even the staff of King Chong's Mansion went to obey King Chong's orders.

"Looks like it's not easy." Ji Ning said a word, put down the teacup and stood up and gathered in the main hall, because at this time, King Chong summoned everyone, and it seemed that he had something to say.

……

……

The courtyard fell silent, and everyone looked at King Chong, who was standing in front of the main hall, wondering what was going on.

But King Chong did not announce the matter, but just waved his hand, and said in a normal tone: "Everyone, the little girl's Huaizhu is now ready, please move to the West Cross Courtyard to watch the little girl and the ceremony!" ”

Although everyone did not solve the doubts in their hearts, they still went in the direction of the west across the courtyard in a congratulatory and joyful manner, and Ji Ning and a few others were about to follow the flow of people, when they saw Zhao Yuanqi, the son of King Chong, walking quickly.

"Yongning, wait a minute." Zhao Yuanqi came over and said.

Seeing the prince coming in person, the people around him saluted, Zhao Yuanqi waved his hand, indicating that the matter had nothing to do with them, and everyone else continued to go west across the courtyard, Zhao Yuanqi walked to Ji Ning and Tang Xie and said: "Just now my father went to the inner hall and saw a distinguished guest from the capital, mentioning that the envoy of the West came to the capital, in front of the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, there was a problem, and said that all the smart people of our Dayong Dynasty have a year, so that we can guess the final answer, and sent a rare treasure from their country to our Great Eternal Dynasty. ”

Tang Xie hurriedly asked, "What topic?" ”

"I don't know." Zhao Yuanqi shook his head slightly and said, "This matter has been spread from the capital to the south of the Yangtze River, and this time the envoy is also discussing this matter with his father, and he will make this topic public in Jinling City when he returns, and if someone can solve it, the court will definitely reward him." Yongning, I'll tell you first, I'll get the topic when I get back, and I'll discuss it with you as soon as possible...... I think you have a good chance. ”

Ji Ning shook his head and said: "The son of the world is raised below, and he is just a mediocre scholar below, how can he have the ability to outperform all the scholars in the world?" ”

Zhao Yuanqi smiled as deeply as he could, but accompanied by the attendants, he walked quickly in the direction of the banquet hall across the west courtyard, and Ji Ning and Tang Xie also caught up with the flow of people and walked there together.

"Yongning, it seems that the prince of the world has great hopes for you, that Xifan people are just a group of people who drink blood, but they dare to be smarter than the people of the Great Yong Dynasty, it is simply a grasshopper shaking the tree beyond his own strength!" Xie Tai said hatefully.

Ji Ning really wanted to say, you didn't hear the point of the problem, now the problem is that the people of Xifan don't want to hand over the domestic treasures to the Dayong Dynasty under the pretext of not wanting to hand over the domestic treasures, just like the story of returning to Zhaoli, people want to treasure the national treasures, and there is no problem in itself.

It's not a question of whether the topic can be solved, it's a political game.

……

……

While speaking, everyone arrived outside the banquet hall of the West Cross Courtyard, the area here was not as large as the main courtyard, only a few people could enter the main hall, and most of the people had to gather at the door to watch the ceremony.

But seeing the brilliant lamp walls in the hall of the west cross courtyard surrounded by gauze tents, more than a dozen pretty maids knelt in each corner, and sandalwood curled up.

A woman who was not very tall, but was dressed in brocade clothes, with a light veil on her face, walked out with lotus steps, and shouted: "The lord of Huaizhu is here." ”

Just one sentence made the atmosphere among the guests present eager.