——On February 19, the first year of Jingzhi of the Great Zhou Dynasty, at noon, Shaoqing Xie Mansion of the Great Prison Temple——

In Da Zhou, the dinner party is considered a formal banquet, but all the famous families, the wedding banquet is generally set to two meals, one is that some guests arrive early, you don't prepare wine for others, eat is not like words, and second, take Xie An's marriage today, just the formal banquet in the evening, Xie An obviously can't toast all the guests present one by one, although the wine in Da Zhou is generally not high, but the key is that there are a large number of guests this time, toast one by one, even if it is Xie An, I am afraid it will not be bearable.

You must know that according to the preliminary estimate of Gou Gong and Qian Xi of the temporary guest reception and Mr. Bookkeeper, the number of guests present today is as many as four or five hundred, if Xie An is really asked to toast one by one at a time, I am afraid that Xie An will not be able to insist on worshipping heaven and earth with the four girls later, let alone the follow-up cave room.

Therefore, Xie An and Li Shou summed it up, planning to toast some of the guests in the noon banquet first, and then, let the groom official Xie An take time to rest and recover the amount of wine, during which Li Shou will take over, if Li Shou is unfortunately [killed], then call Xun Zheng, Wang Dan, Zhou Yi, Gou Gong and others to take over, take turns to work, in short, if Xie An is asked to drink all the wine toasted by the guests present, then Xie An must vomit blood today.

When it comes to the first stop of the toast, Xie An's first thought is the table of Liang Qiu Gong, Yin Gong, Kong, Nanguo Gong Lu Song, Changsun Jing, Ruan Shaozhou and others.

Sitting at this table can be described as Xie An's elders, Liang Qiu Gong and Yin Gong, the two old ladies naturally don't need to say much, Old Man Kong is also an old man respected by Xie An, plus Xie An's father-in-law Sun Jing, teacher Ruan Shaozhou, and Xie An met the big man when he first arrived in Jijing a year ago, Nanguo Gong Lu Song.

"Your Majesty toasts. The old minister was terrified...... "Maybe it was because he saw that Li Shou, the new emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, accompanied his grandson-in-law Xie An to toast in person, Liang Qiugong quickly stood up and said with some embarrassment, "It should be the old minister who respects His Majesty first......"

Seeing this, Li Shou smiled and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no difference between a monarch and a minister in this banquet. I am not the son of Da Zhou, but just a friend of Xie An's kid...... Xie An, what are you waiting for? As he spoke, he filled a cup for Yingong.

At present, the division of labor between Li Shou and Xie An is that Li Shouguan, who serves as the master of ceremonies, pours wine. As the groom's official, Xie An managed to toast, and waited for Xie An to be drunk and unconscious, and then Li Shou would drink on his behalf, after all, if it could be done, Xie An still planned to have him and Li Shou finish all the guests present, after all, these many guests came to congratulate him on his new marriage, if Xie An asked Gou Gong and others to do it for him. It is inevitable that there is some loss of etiquette, but if it is toasted by the Great Zhou Emperor Li Shou, those guests will never complain.

"In this way, the old minister is better to be respectful than obey his orders......"

Liang Qiugong and Yingong smiled when they heard this. Then he looked at Li Shou and Xie An, and while he smiled with relief, he couldn't help but show a little loneliness in his eyes.

Once upon a time, the old people of their generation were not so close to Li Ji, the son of the previous day. It's a pity that things are different at the moment, and the monarch Li Ji, who is loyal to the old man of their generation, has slept in the imperial tomb forever. It is no longer possible to drink and have fun with them.

After drinking a glass of wine that I didn't know whether it was sweet or bitter, Liang Qiugong waved his hand, smiled at Xie An and Li Shou and said, "Xiao An, you and Your Majesty go and greet the rest of the guests, just let the old man and the others enjoy themselves......

Next to Liang Qiugong, Yin Gong also smiled and nodded.

Obviously, Xie An and Li Shou also understood the feelings in the hearts of these two old men, and nodded, Xie An chuckled and said, "After this toast, the two of us will slip away, the old lady thinks the kid likes to stay here?" - All the children here are elders, and you have to weigh the weight of a joke, it's so boring! ”

Except for Xie An's father-in-law, Sun Jing, who rolled his eyes when he heard this, everyone at the rest of the table laughed, and Xie An's teacher, Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Etiquette, even joked, "Then get your wish, get out of here after the toast, there is a teacher here to watch for you!" ”

"Hey!" Xie An smiled, toasted with a wine glass, and went all the way to Nanguo Gong Lu Song.

"Thank you, Your Majesty......" Seeing that His Majesty Li Shou, the new emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, personally poured wine for himself, Duke Lu seemed a little flattered and at a loss, but then again, Duke Lu was also an important minister in the court after all, and after a few breaths, he calmed his mind, held a wine glass, looked at Li Shou and said bitterly, "This glass ......of wine not only wishes Xiao An a happy marriage, but also has the right to apologize to the former emperor and His Majesty," he said, he let out a long sigh and raised his head to drink the wine.

"Gongbo ......" Liang Qiugong's face showed a somewhat complicated look.

As a courtier of the Great Zhou Dynasty of the same generation, Liang Qiu Gong naturally knew why Lu Gong showed such a lonely look, after all, he and Yin Gong had to be instructed by Li Ji, the son of the previous day, to be on his deathbed, and to accompany them to serve the king for more than 30 years until he took his last breath, but what about Lu Gong? He didn't even have time to see the last time he saw Li Ji, the son of the previous day.

Some people may think that Lu Gong left Beijing without permission regardless of the emperor's order, and went to Daliang to revive the morale of the southern army, which has violated military regulations and violated the emperor's order.

But is that really the case?

You must know that Duke Lu is also a courtier of the same generation as Duke Liangqiu and Duke Yin, and he is also a courtier trusted by Li Ji, the son of heaven, even though Duke Lu violated the emperor's order before, will Li Ji really be punished? At most, it's just a few reprimands.

In contrast, it was obvious that he still did not see the last face of the king to whom he was loyal, which made Lu Gong feel saddened the most.

Although this statement is a little inappropriate, it is undeniable that the death of Li Ji, the son of the day before yesterday, inevitably aroused Lu Gong's thoughts about his old son Lu Fan, after all, Lu Gong never saw the last face of his son, all he waited for was the cold corpse of his son.

And Liang Qiu Gong obviously also noticed the sadness in Lu Gong's heart, so he apologized for evoking Lu Gong's expression, after all, in the final analysis, it was Chen Bei, a clansman of the Liang Qiu family, who killed Lu Gong's only son Lu Fan, and even broke Lu Gong's hands and tendons, how can this be a mortal enemy that can be easily resolved?

Thanks to Lu Gongzhi's general knowledge, under Xie An's explanation and request, he forcibly endured the pain of losing his beloved son, and gave up the idea of asking the Liang Qiu family for his guilt, otherwise. The Liang Qiu family is to blame.

"It's okay, it's okay......" Lu Gong waved his hand to his friend Liang Qiugong, who had known him for more than 20 years, and said meaningfully, "That incident, Xiao An has explained to the old man, it is not Bo Xuan's fault, nor is it the child...... If you want to complain, you will complain that God is playing tricks on the world, alas......"

"Gongbo ......" Seeing that Lu Gong didn't have the slightest intention of blaming himself, Liang Qiu Gong felt even more guilty in his heart.

Although earlier in order to get closer to Chen Bei. has never mentioned the matter of the Lu family, but in his heart, Liang Qiugong has always been obsessed, but on the other hand, this matter is indeed no wonder Chen Bei. After all, Chen Bei, who has lost his childhood memories, how did he know that the Zhou army coach Lu Fan he killed under the Hanhan Valley Pass was exactly the same Fa Xiao who he played with when he was young? Otherwise, with Chen Bei's love and righteousness, although he will not sacrifice Hanhan Guguan because of this, he will never behead Lu Fan under the horse, just looking at Chen Bei's attitude towards Liang Qiuwu, Xie An and others can prove it.

Maybe it's because the atmosphere at the table is a little dignified and awkward. Xie An played a round and changed the topic and said, "By the way, when will Lu Gong return to Jijing?" ”

Lu Gong smiled slightly when he heard this. Temporarily put aside the nostalgia for his old son Lu Fan, and said softly, "When I returned to Jijing early this morning, I had to inform Jijing that all the changes had happened in these days. I also knew that Xiao An was getting married today, so I hurried to congratulate you...... Congratulations. Xiao An! ”

Xie An smiled rather awkwardly, his eyes looked around involuntarily, of course he knew who Xiao Wan was referring to in Lu Gong's mouth.

Perhaps noticing Xie An's strange eyes, Lu Gong smiled slightly, and said with a bit of teasing, "Don't worry, she's not here......"

As soon as the words fell, Li Shou said to Xie An, "The female dependents are all in the side hall of the inner house, and your sister-in-law Wang will entertain you on your behalf......

"Oh oh......" Xie An suddenly realized when he heard this, and he was really relieved.

He forgot that his mother-in-law, the Chang family, and the daughter-in-law of the Lu family, Su Wan, etc., seem to be all in the banquet in the inner house right now, and are entertained by Li Shou's wife and the current queen Wang, come on, these things should be received by the female relatives of Xie An's family, but Liang Qiuwu, the eldest grandson Xiangyu, Jin Ling'er and Yiyi are inconvenient to show up at the moment, so Xie An can only ask his timid and shy sister-in-law Wang, after all, only this sister-in-law has the highest status here.

Seeing Xie An showing a relieved look, Lu Gong shook his head with a wry smile, and then looked at Xie An and opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he gave up, waved his hand and said, "Okay, Xiao An, you go and greet the rest of the guests, the old man and Bo Xuan, Xuan, and Qingzhi can entertain themselves!" The people in his mouth are Liang Qiu Gong, Yin Gong and Kong.

Seeing this, Xie An arched his hand and said respectfully, "Thank you Lu Gong for your compassion, in this way, the kid is better to be respectful than to obey his fate......" As he spoke, he glanced at his teacher Ruan Shaozhou.

Ruan Shaozhou understood, nodded and said with a smile, "Go ahead, there is a teacher here to watch for you!" ”

"Thanks!" After all, Ruan Shaozhou is only in his thirties now, and he is one of the very few elders in Xie An who is not far from Xie An's age, so although the relationship between the two is that of teacher and student, the friendship is also quite deep, which is obviously much deeper than the old men of Liang Qiugong, Yingong, and Kong.

Of course, not all the people of Xie An's generation, Xie An can mix, at least on the side of his father-in-law, Sun Jing, Xie An does not dare to repay any extravagant hopes, after all, in his opinion, this father-in-law is even inferior to Yin Gong at some times.

After bidding farewell to Liang Qiugong and others, Xie An and Li Shou came to the table where the princes were sitting according to their identities and status.

As soon as he walked to this place, as a guest at this table, Weiwei Siqing Xun Zheng glanced at Xie An vigorously, which meant that he was overwhelmed.

Good guys, this tense confrontation atmosphere is a miracle if you don't fight on the spot......

Glancing at the table of the princes, Xie An understood why Xun Zheng had that expression.

I saw that at the table that was large enough to accommodate eight people, the third son of the emperor [King of Qin] Li Shen, the sixth son of the emperor [King of Han] Li Xiao, and the seventh son of the emperor Li Yan of Chu were sitting on one side without saying a word, while on the other side, sitting the eighth son of the emperor [King of the Eight Sages] Li Xian, and his confidant Ji Hong.

The two people looked at each other silently, neither of them spoke, and from time to time, when Li Shen's gaze made contact with Li Xian, Xie An seemed to be able to vaguely see the sparks triggered by the strong collision of the two of them's eyes, which was nothing more than a thrilling one!

And between the two groups of princes. Guanglu Temple Qingqin took his servant and nephew Qiu Zi to pour himself a drink, turning a blind eye to the secret rivalry between the two princes, which can be said to be a withdrawal from the matter and enjoying himself.

It's no wonder, after all, the one Qin swore allegiance to the death was the former crown prince [King Zhou Ai] Li Wei, even if it was the current son of heaven Li Shou, Qin was not completely convinced, how could he favor the rest of the princes?

It's not hard to guess. Since the death of the former crown prince [King of Zhou Ai] Li Wei, the enthusiasm in Qin's heart has disappeared like the fifth son of the emperor, Li Cheng, except for his nephew Qiu, I am afraid that there is nothing important in Qin's heart.

To be honest, for Chin. Xie An still values it quite a lot, after all, this person is not only one of the four towns, with 20,000 northern troops in his hands, but he is also a talent with both martial arts, but the problem is that Qin is now disheartened when he sees the death of the lord Li Wei who is loyal to him. It's not that Xie An can be moved by a few words.

Xie An knew very well that he knew that there were some people in the world who he Xie An was destined to be unable to impress, just like this Qin in front of him. Because this person's status is too high, he is one of the four towns, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid, he is even an emperor of the past dynasties. Nor can it be done to the four towns.

This is also the reason why the eldest grandson Xiangyu asked Xie An to thank her, because if it weren't for her. It is impossible for Xie An to have any intersection with Liangqiu Dance, one of the four towns, in his life, the latter's status is too high, and the name of the Liangqiu family in the Donggong Mansion alone is enough to surpass some princes in the Great Zhou royal family.

Of course, it doesn't mean that the royal family doesn't have the strength to deal with one of the four towns, it's just that doing so involves too much, and it will make the countless families in the world who are interested in the Great Zhou Li family feel uneasy.

Come to think of it, if the heirs of the founding families of the Great Thursday were all cut off from their official positions, what would others think?

Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why Li Ji, the son of the previous day, did not dispose of Qin.

Of course, from Li Ji's point of view, he admires loyal people like Qin and Xie An, Xie An doesn't say, at least Qin has the courage to rebel with the loyal lord Li Wei, and now Li Wei has indeed left a notoriety of rebellion in the history of Qing, and even took Qin to be charged with traitor, but if Li Wei succeeds, isn't Qin a real loyal minister and good general under Li Wei?

In the final analysis, it is still the same sentence, win the king and defeat the villain!

Because he knew that he couldn't say that he could move Qin, Xie An could only let Li Shou do this matter himself, but at the moment, Li Shou obviously did not have the royal temperament that could convince Qin and swear allegiance, unless Li Shou's future imperial charm could surpass that of the former crown prince [Zhou Aiwang] Li Wei, otherwise, it would be difficult to really subdue Qin, a fierce general, well, almost impossible.

"Brother, look at what kind of drudgery you are looking for for my brother...... Since they took their seats, these people have never said a word, brother, I have no tricks, brother, come by yourself......" When Xie An looked at the table, Weiwei Temple Qing Xun Zheng took the opportunity to get up and congratulate Xie An, and poured bitter water in Xie An's ears.

Glancing at Xun Zheng with a bitter gourd face, Xie An patted him on the shoulder, walked to the table with a wine glass, raised his glass and said with a smile, "Your Highnesses, why do you all have a straight face, it is because the lower officials are not well entertained, so the lower officials are here to accuse you......

"Xie Shaoqing's words are serious," with Li Shen's city mansion, how could he not see that Xie An was playing a round and giving them the steps, and said with a smile when he heard the words, "I don't know how others Xiao Wang knows, but Xiao Wang is quite intoxicated with the fine wine in Xie Shaoqing's mansion, and he can't extricate himself...... Brother Eight Wang, how are you doing? ”

is worthy of being known for his forbearance and sleekness, the third son of the emperor is really good at talking, and he covered up the competition between Fang Cai and Li Xian in three or two sentences, and praised the wine in his house by the way......

Glancing at Li Shen with a smile, Xie An turned his head to look at Li Xian.

I saw Li Shen looking at Li Shen deeply, and suddenly a little smile appeared on his face, nodded and said, "Brother Sanwang's words have won the heart of Xiao Wang, and Xiao Wang has also tasted this wine, just as Brother Sanwang said......" As he said, he raised the wine glass in his hand to Xie An.

Huh, it's okay, it seems that these two princes have finally given themselves face......

Xie An secretly breathed a sigh of relief, after all, if Li Shen and Li Xian really quarreled at this time, it would be troublesome.

Although Li Shen would never take the initiative to provoke trouble at the moment, Li Xian didn't think so.

Fortunately, Li Xian still gave Xie An face, or rather, it was for Xie An's second wife, the eldest grandson Xiangyu, to save face, and he didn't plan to tear his face with Li Shen at the wedding.

After saluting several princes and Xun Zheng and Qin one by one, Xie An and Li Shou continued to move towards the next table, and when they reached the fourteenth table, Xie An was really a little overwhelmed.

Seeing this, Li Shou patted him on the shoulder and said, "You go and rest first, and leave it to me here!" ”

"Okay then," Xie An nodded, glanced around, and shouted, "Gou Gong and Qian Xi, you two accompany Your Majesty!" ”

"Yes!" Gou Gong and Qian Xi hurriedly ran over.

It may be that seeing Xie An walking staggeringly, it seems that Su Xin, Fei Guo, Li Jing and other generals hurriedly came over to help.

"It's okay, it's okay, you wait to greet the guests...... Fei Guo, you help me to the backyard study for a while! ”

Where did Fei Guo know Xie An's plans, he nodded when he heard this, and helped Xie An straight to the small study in the north wing.

Before entering the door, because he knew that Xie An's four wives were in the house, Fei Guo planned to leave, but saw Xie An beckoning and said, "Fei Guo, sit down first, the government has something to talk to you privately......

Helping Xie An to sit down at the round table in the room, Fei Guo asked suspiciously, "I don't know what the adults want to talk about?" ”

Xie An raised his head when he heard this, and a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes that were still full of drunkenness.

"Hmm, let's talk about the Taiping Army, how about it?"

"......" Fei Guo's face changed greatly when he heard this, and he subconsciously touched the saber at his waist, and suddenly felt two gusts of wind blowing in front of him, and then, his two arms had been countered behind his back.

One left and one right, Liang Qiuwu and Jin Ling'er, who were wearing red makeup, clasped his wrists, making it difficult for Fei Guo to move.

[Yan Hu Ji] Liang Qiu Dance, plus [Ghost Ji] Jin Ling'er......

Such a powerful combination made Fei Guo completely shatter his extravagant hope of escaping.