In the afternoon, Wu Jin went alone to the Qiruifu Villa located in the south of the city, the villa is very close to the capital, only three miles apart, it is not on the side of the official road, but about a few hundred steps away from the official road, surrounded by a low hill, a small river crosses the villa, the woods are thick, the scenery is beautiful.

Here was originally the Zhengding County King's Villa, covering an area of nearly 400 acres, 30 years ago, the Zhengding County King was killed on suspicion of rebellion, the Farewell Village was confiscated by the government after the public auction, after getting the consent of the newly enthroned Huangfu Xuande, Qi Ruifu Commercial Bank bought this villa at a price of 30,000 taels of silver, renamed Qi Ruifu Villa.

In addition to the Qi family, every September, nearly 200 managers or men of Qi Ruifu Commercial Bank from all over the country come here to take a month off as a reward for their hard work.

Because of the large number of guests, and the Qi family in the city did not have enough to accommodate the guests, so the birthday banquet could only be held in the villa, and ten huge tents were set up on a wide grassland of about dozens of acres, which was a military tent, and each tent could accommodate hundreds of people to dine at the same time, which was also approved by the emperor.

This is the reason why the Qi family wants to restore the title as much as possible, because there is no title, and the use of many utensils is restricted, which is a unique system of the Daning Dynasty.

The simplest is the building, without a title, it is not allowed to build a large hall that can accommodate more than 300 people, there are restrictions on length, width and height, and there are carriages, only those with titles can ride more than three horse-drawn carriages, and ordinary people can only use two horses at most.

These many restrictions make the Qi family even richer than the country, but they are one step more regular, in special circumstances, if they want to become more regular, they must apply in advance and obtain the approval of the Ministry of Rites, such as their use of ten military tents, but also to obtain the emperor's special approval.

Although the Qi family does not have a title and its status is not high, because Qi Ruifu has been famous for a long time, there are many people who give them face, and the magnates in the capital basically come to attend the Qi family's birthday banquet, even if they can't come, they will send their children to attend on their behalf.

From noon, the carriages coming out of the capital drove to Qiruifu Villa in an endless stream, which is also the reason why the birthday banquet is scheduled for August 18, which happens to be the first day of the imperial court, except for some special departments, the rest of the ministers are resting at home.

Wujin's plum blossom guard belongs to a special department, they are internal guards, and the army implements a rotation system, basically ten days off, but the time is not regular.

"The emperor has no promotion!"

As soon as Wu Jin came out of the city gate, he heard someone calling him from behind, he glanced back, and saw Shao Jingwen galloping out of the city gate cave and waving to him.

He immediately stopped the war horse, he had a good impression of Shao Jingwen, although they used to be enemies, but if there was no conflict of interest, they had a sense of sympathy for each other, which was called rivalry and friends.

Shao Jingwen rushed to the scene and said with a smile: "You are going to Qijia Villa!" ”

Wu Jin also arched his hand at him and smiled: "Isn't General Shao the same?" ”

Shao Jingwen was strongly recommended by Uncle Shen Guo the year before last and also obtained the title, but he was the lowest first-class knight, the county baron, and there was no county name in front of the title, only the marquis and above had specific county names and county names.

Shao Jingwen smiled and pointed to the carriage lane on the road: "Look at these carriages, they basically go to Qijia Villa to celebrate their birthdays, and small people like me just go to drink a glass of water and wine, and there is no need to talk about birthdays." ”

He was a little envious of Wujin and said: "Like Brother Wujin, it's not something I can compare, when I first met Brother Wujin in Yanshi County twenty days ago, you were still a little-known businessman, but now, you have transformed into a hot magnate, and you really have a feeling of changing overnight." ”

"General Shao has won the award, I am just stained with the halo of the royal family, and I am a descendant of King Liang, if there are no these two, what am I, in terms of qualifications and ability, how can I compare with General Shao."

Wu Jin said very sincerely, and it was also the truth, which made Shao Jingwen feel very comfortable listening in his heart, and he also smiled slightly: "Your qualifications are a little worse, but your ability is not bad, aren't you doing a beautiful job in Longmen Town?" ”

"How can General Shao be so sure?"

"Of course I know, in fact, Uncle Shen Guo also knows, but there are some things he doesn't care about."

"Indeed, it turned out that I was very disgusted with Uncle Shen Guo in Donghai County, thinking that he was just relying on nepotism to rise to power, this time I entered Beijing, and after a few dealings, I gradually began to admire him, very means, very powerful."

"Of course, the power of the court is so cruel, if he was a mediocre person, he would have gone down a long time ago, and it is useless to have ten Empress Shen, although he has vicious methods, he never attacks his own people, unlike the prince, who treats you well on the surface, but stabs you behind his back, and is unkind."

While talking, the two walked side by side, and soon came to Qiruifu Villa, only to see that the large open space in front of the villa was full of carriages, and the dense carriages could not be seen at a glance.

Shao Jingwen shook his head and said: "I'm afraid the Qi family has made a little mistake, it has made a big formation, I'm afraid that some people will be unhappy, but it will be unfavorable to it." ”

Wu Jin also has the same feeling, if it is held in the city, most of the carriages will go back first after sending the master, and even many people will come on horseback, there will not be too many carriages gathered in front of the house, but if the birthday banquet is held outside the city, it is inconvenient for the carriage to go back to the house, and it is generally parked directly outside the villa to wait, it can be imagined that three thousand guests, most of them are powerful people, even if only half of the carriage does not go back, it is also 1,500 carriages, 1,500 carriages lined up together, how spectacular it is, a merchant family will make such a big move, of course, it will be hated, the Qi family is indeed a bit of a mistake, too high-profile but without a corresponding protective cover, it is definitely not a wise move.

Moreover, with such a large mountain villa three miles away from the capital, it can be seen almost from the city wall, which is by no means what a powerless family should do.

He smiled, "Maybe the Qi family has its backstage, let's worry about it too much." ”

"Backstage?" Shao Jingwen sneered and said, "They don't even want Uncle Shen's backstage, what else do they want?" ”

"Forget it, let's have a drink."

The two urged their horses and headed towards the gate of Qijia Villa.

At the gate of the villa, hundreds of Zhuang Ding of King Qi are maintaining the order of vehicles and people, the eldest son Qi Mao and the fourth Qi ring greet guests at the door, although Qi Mao is relatively thin and weak, he is relatively silent among several brothers, but that is just that he does not interfere much in the shopping mall, he has an amazing memory and superb ability to receive people and things, every guest who comes to celebrate his birthday, he can basically know the official position or title of the other party, if they come together, he can also distinguish the status of each person, and deal with them one by one, and the score is exactly the same.

It is precisely because of his treatment of people that the Qi family, which has a lower status, does not mess up in the flock of the powerful, and the brother Qi Huan mainly receives greeting customers in the shopping mall.

As soon as Wu Jin and Shao Jingwen arrived at the gate of the villa, two Zhuang Ding immediately came up and said respectfully: "Please hand over the horses to us two adults, and we will take good care of them." ”

The two gave the horses to each other and received a small bronze medal with a number on it, while the other bronze medal was tied to the reins of the horse so that nothing would go wrong, which was not bad and very thoughtful.

The two walked towards the gate of the villa, where hundreds of guests had gathered, and Qi Mao didn't have time to greet them one by one, most of the guests just showed their invitations and went in directly.

But some important people who hold real power, Qi Mao is not so easy to let him in at will.

"It turned out to be Gao Shilang, the big car is here, the glory of the Qi family is double, there are many guests today, if there is any neglect, please bear with Gao Shilang."

Hearing Qi Mao's greetings, Wu Jin unconsciously flashed to the side, and he saw Gao Heng again, compared to the last time in Donghai County, he looked a little fatter, but it made his small nose and small eyes more prominent.

"Wu Jin!"

Someone next to him was calling him, Wu Jin turned his head, only to see Qi Huan walking towards him with a smile, seeing the people of Weiyang County in the capital, Wu Jin felt very kind, he hurriedly smiled and said: "It was the four proprietors, I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

Qi Huan also laughed and said: "Actually, it didn't take long, just over two months, but your changes are amazing!" ”

He patted Wu Jin on the shoulder, indicating that their relationship was extraordinary, he glanced at Shao Jingwen again, and asked with a smile: "This is ......"

Wu Jin hurriedly introduced him, "This is General Shao of the embroidered guard!" ”

Qi Huan was in awe, he knew who this was, the third person of the embroidered guard, Shao Jingwen, is also a well-known character in the capital, although Shao Jingwen's title is very low, but the power he has is extraordinary, an embroidered guard, a plum blossom guard have the right to arrest people in the store, if he offends this general, he can seize all the capital Qi Ruifu in one sentence.

He hurriedly saluted respectfully: "It turned out to be General Shao, I have heard the name for a long time, I am slacking!" ”

Shao Jingwen didn't say hello, he bowed back slightly, and said to Wu Jin: "Then I'll go in first!" ”

"Wait a minute, let's go in together."

Wu Jin smiled at Qi Huan again: "The four proprietors have many guests, so I won't bother." ”

He arched his hand, and went in with Shao Jingwen, Qi Huan immediately beckoned, called a family member up, and whispered to him: "You go and tell the second master, just say that Huangfu Wujin has arrived." ”

Qi Huan attaches great importance to Wu Jin, not because Wu Jin is the Duke of Qi Guo, but because Wu Jin is the key person in Qi Dafu's fake silver ticket, the second master, that is, Qi Wei, the second eldest of the Qi family who is in charge of Qi Dafu Qian Village.

There are not many buildings in Qiruifu Villa, facing several welcome houses, looking into the distance beyond the welcome rooms, you can see the endless mountains and forests, there are five mountains in the villa, like a blooming lotus, the five mountains are covered with dense and lush forests, and some corner cornices can be faintly seen in the woods.

The essence of the villa is in the middle of these five hills, which cannot be seen from here, but can only be seen over the hills, and a two-zhang wide mountain road leads directly to the depths of the villa.

Hundreds of carriages were parked in front of the welcome room, and there were constantly carriages to start, sending batches of guests into the villa, in fact, many people also came to the banquet for the villa, Qi Ruifu Villa is very famous in the capital.

Wu Jin and Shao Jingwen got into a carriage, and in the carriage there was already a richly dressed guest, about sixty years old, with an eagle hooked nose, thin lips, and very gloomy eyes.

Shao Jingwen just smiled faintly, and said hello, but he didn't seem to be interested in him.

"It turns out that General Shao, I haven't seen you for a long time."

This person also greeted Shao Jingwen coldly, his eyes fell on Wu Jin again, and a trace of fierce murder flashed in his gloomy gaze, "You are Huangfu Wu Jin!" ”

Shao Jingwen whispered to Wu Jin and said, "This person is Huangfu Yibiao." ”

(To be continued)