The Empress Dowager's birthday is on October 27. According to the etiquette system, the birth of the three generations of the core figures of the royal old, middle and young people is called the festival, the Son of Heaven is called the Wanshou Festival, the prince's is called the Qianqiu Festival, and the Queen Mother's is called the Holy Birthday Festival.

The Holy Birthday Festival, especially the Holy Birthday Day of the Empress Dowager Bingzheng, is approaching, and other trivial matters in the imperial court are suspended, and the main work of the cabinet every day is to classify piles of Chinese and foreign greeting tables and send them to the Cisheng Palace in the western part of the Great Inner Palace.

The officials in the court who tried to pat the horse and invite the favor wrote to the queen mother, asking the queen mother to come to the emperor's palace to accept the congratulations on the Holy Birthday Festival, but this person ended up very miserably and was demoted out of Beijing. After that, the Queen Mother specially issued an order, everything was as usual and simple, and she was not worshiped by the ministers. Only the Son of Heaven is allowed to lead the relatives of the Jinzhi clan, as well as the wife of the fourth grade or above in Beijing to enter the Cisheng Palace to celebrate his birthday.

Although the Holy Birthday Festival is the biggest event in the current imperial court, Li You does not pay attention to it, and the Empress Dowager's death has nothing to do with the suspension of the Qipin Sheren.

The biggest thing for Master Lee is, of course, to get out of the siege of Danzhang and quickly reinstate. Officials all know that the longer anything drags on in officialdom, it is almost inevitable that there will be long nights and dreams, and all spirits will be unpleasant.

It can be imagined that there are not many people in the court who are staring at the errands in the book, just looking at the Guanglu Temple, Shangbao Division, and the two halls in the inner court, there are an unknown number of Xun relatives and shadow officials.

Li You was afraid that the Queen Mother's ears would be soft, and she would be confused by lobbying, so she gave the errand to others, and Xu Shangshu couldn't stop it, so she was in trouble. If he is only an empty shell of a scholar, then what does it mean?

In this regard, Master Li thought about it and broke his head, but found that he couldn't avoid returning to Chitose no matter what. His suspension is the will of the Queen Mother, and if he wants to revoke it, he must obtain the permission of the Queen Mother, and among the people he knows now, only the eldest princess can meet the Queen Mother to help intercede.

Besides, this situation was originally manipulated by His Royal Highness Chitose, who wanted to use it to completely subdue him. The bell must be tied to the bell, how to get around the eldest princess of De?

The situation is stronger than people, it is useless to be angry, it is useless to be angry, and insults and fears are never battles.

That night, Mr. Li pinched the quill pen and carefully wrote a very sincere birthday poem one stroke at a time. The next afternoon, he rolled up and put it in his arms and went straight to the Ten Kings' Mansion.

The eldest princess of Guide had already made an appointment with Li You to write a birthday poem on her behalf, and sent thousands of taels of silver before and after (worthy of a rich princess with four imperial estates as Lutian). But he has been procrastinating and not writing, and now there are still two or three days to go, and he just took this poem as a stepping stone to meet His Royal Highness Chitose.

On the way, Li You suddenly thought that Guide Chitose was in charge of palace affairs, and Bai Yue was generally in the palace. What's more, it was recently said that the Queen Mother had a birthday, and Guide Chitose was indispensable to be busy, and at this time she would definitely be in the palace and would not live in the princess's mansion.

But the problem is that after the suspension, Li You's tooth card was returned to Shang Baosi, so he can't enter the palace now, and he won't be able to see His Royal Highness Chitose.

How good is that? Li You hesitated for a moment on Jingshi Street. Looking for someone to bring yourself into the palace? That's not appropriate, seeing the eldest princess is not a long-faced thing, and it is not enough for outsiders.

Chang Sui Zhang San saw that his master was in trouble, and said without thinking: "This matter is easy to do!" ”

"What do you have in mind?" Master Li didn't care much.

Zhang San didn't want to be underestimated by the master, so he hurriedly said: "Isn't there a relationship between the master and the master of the horse, you can go to find Lin and the horse to forward." ”

Hearing this, Li You was in a trance, did he really want to face Lin Yuma? The idea is really nonsense.

But on closer inspection, it's not impossible. Guide Chitose called the horse to come over to deliver the message and play hints, why can't he let Lin the horse be a microphone again... Lin Yuma was forced to make a mistake because of the power of a thousand years old?

learned the situation from Zhu Bulang, Lin Juma is now like a bird out of the cage, and he is very cheerful, so he should not be hindered from it. Besides, he was a victim last time, so there's no reason to blame him... At the same time, it is also necessary to avoid too much public contact with His Royal Highness Chitose and being gossiped. Thinking of this, Li You turned to continue eastward and went straight to the mansion of the Returned Horse.

When he arrived at the gatehouse of the Horse Mansion, the official Fei also reported inward, which surprised Li You, who was used to seeing the face of the official. What he didn't know was that Guide Chitose had a strict order to the gatekeeper of the Horse Mansion, and all Li She people visited the Horse Mansion, and they would all pass it on and not shirk.

Then Li You was led through the door and entered the main hall behind the second gate. I saw that there were three people in the house, and Lin Yuma did not live in the main seat, but sat opposite a middle-aged man in the guest seat. Another middle-aged man sat at the bottom of the head, but it was Li You who knew, and it was Qian Huangshang of Suzhou Mansion.

How did he end up here? But after a little thought, Li You understood. The Empress Dowager Cisheng's birthday is coming, Qian Huangshang is a close relative of the Empress Dowager, and I heard that he is still a cousin, so it is normal to come to Beijing to join in the fun. Lin Juma is the son-in-law of the Queen Mother, and Qian Huangshang is the cousin of the Queen Mother, so it is not surprising that they meet each other.

The identity of the horse is high, and Li You stepped forward to bow. But Lin Yuma's face was expressionless, he sat still, did not answer, only bowed his head and drank tea, which was very rude.

Qian Huangshang, who was diagonally opposite, had a trace of doubt flashing through his heart, stood up and arched his hand and smiled at Li You: "I haven't seen you for a long time, Lord Li's demeanor is the same as before, how are you doing lately?" ”

Qian Huangshang was considered to have broken the siege, so Li You turned around and saluted back: "I don't want to see my fellow villagers today, I'm really happy." ”

The middle-aged man opposite Lin Juma also stood up, and Qian Huangshang introduced: "This one is the father of Lin Juma, Master Lin. ”

Li You suddenly realized, no wonder he compared the dignity of the prince with the horse, and he also had to get off the main seat to sit with the east and west, and dare to love this father who is a horse. Not to mention that as soon as the royal family is involved, the etiquette will become more and more troublesome. In an ordinary home, the son must be under the father, how can there be a reason for something to sit on the opposite side. But this is also a compromise method, otherwise according to the courtesy of the son-in-law and the prince of the heavenly family, Lord Lin will have to sit under Lin Yuma, which is even more inappropriate.

In other words, this old man Lin was originally a wealthy family in the capital, and he was rich back then, but he had nothing to do with noble words.

Fortunately, there was an outstanding one of the sons in the group, and he was selected to marry into the heavenly family, and since then the Lin family has suddenly become rich. Even he, who was a father, was discredited, and was given the false title of commander of soldiers and horses by the imperial court.

Now Master Lin feels that he is different from the past, and the people who come and go are all upper-class people, so he attaches great importance to etiquette and decency in his heart, for fear of being ridiculed as an upstart who does not know how to be polite.

After he politely greeted Li You, a seven-rank official, he looked back at his son again, but he was very unpleasant, and couldn't help shouting: "What is it?" Don't you understand the truth of Corporal Lixian! ”

Under... Corporal? Li You was speechless, can this word say that he is a corporal in front of others?

Full of grievances, no one can complain, but who to talk to about the pain... Lin Yuma was helpless to be reprimanded by his father, so he raised his hand and arched at Li You at will, and said coldly: "What are you doing?" ”

At this time, even Qian Huangshang couldn't stand it, so he gave Lin Juma a few cousins, frowned, and said, "This is not a hospitality gift, right?" ”

Old Man Lin was about to get angry when he stared.

"Might as well be it! It's all abrupt in the down, no wonder it's a donkey. The old man Hugh wants to hurt his body. Li You behaved very generously, and very gently stopped Master Lin from continuing to teach the horse.

Lin Yuma's chest was very uncomfortable, and he picked up the tea bowl and gulped down the tea.

Li You took out a thick stack of paper from his arms, handed the extremely ugly Lin Horse and said: "By the order of Chitose, I plan to congratulate Shoujin and present a poem, and now it has been completed, please take the horse axe and hand it over to Chitose." ”

Yu Wei's wife's matter, Lin Juma didn't dare to slack off, he took it with his hand, but he lost his mind when he flipped it, only to see the whole article with seven words and one sentence, densely written on more than a dozen pieces of paper, and said in surprise: "How many words is this?" ”

"After meditating for more than a month, this poem totals 1,608 crosses."

This guy can really write... For this, Lin Quan had to admire. But he suddenly realized that his attitude was incorrect, so he pretended to be dismissive and said: "Although the writing is long, the words are not mediocre." I'll hand it over to Chitose when I'm free. ”

Master Lin saw it in his eyes and sighed in his heart. This son is not open-minded, he is about to be self-reliant, but he can't see that others are high, so he has to admonish him when he looks back. How can a person like Master Li who has official character, talent, and youth slack off?

With others here, Li You is not easy to talk about his private affairs. Anyway, 16,700 words were copied to the painstaking extra-long poem, which is too sincere, and Guide Chitose must understand. So he had to take his leave.

Qian Huangshang also got up, "I'll walk with Master Li." ”

Master Lin said: "Why is Brother Qian in such a hurry, please ask Brother Qian to get drunk tonight." ”

"It's not going to be tonight, I'm going to enter the palace to have dinner with the Queen Mother." Qian Huangshang shook his head and said.

Master Lin continued to invite, "Then change it to tomorrow night?" The old man was in Shengcheng Building, and he also invited Master Li to appreciate the face. ”

But he said that Li You and Qian Huangshang came out of the lobby, and suddenly thought, this Master Qian is also a person who can meet the Queen Mother, why don't you ask him? If you can find another way, it is better than asking for a woman with no conscience with unpredictable consequences and endless consequences.

At the moment, taking advantage of the fact that there was no separation, he said: "I don't hear the news of Suzhou Mansion, and I don't know if the water conservancy repair of the palace is going well?" ”

Qian Huangshang also participated in the water conservancy of Suzhou Prefecture, and he made a fortune, and it was Li You's line. If a person suddenly and deliberately mentions kindness, it is obvious that he has something else to ask for.

Therefore, when Qian Huangshang heard Li You's words, he understood very well in his heart, and he made up his mind and said with a smile: "Lord Li has something to say, why do you and I have to hide it." ”

"Now that this official is in this situation, have you ever heard of Master Qian entering the Beijing Division?"

Qian Huangshang stretched out his thumb and shook his finger and said: "Like thunder, I heard that the story is humane, and there is a good man in the Jinluan Palace of my Ming Dynasty." Young and strong, he fought three hundred rounds with the elder in the palace, and the sky was dark and the moon was dark, and no one could stop him for a while, almost breaking the royal feng shui, and finally the Virgin used the supreme magic power to suppress it. ”

"Master Qian, don't laugh." Li You said his original intention, "I have asked Master Qian, and I will say a good word or two for this official in the Cisheng Palace, so as not to make the heart of this official to serve the court cold." ”

Qian Huangshang thought for a while and said, "It's a trivial matter, and it's on me." ”

Master Qian's words were too full, and Li You was not only not overjoyed, but hesitated.

In Lord Li's dealings, if anyone is asked, even if he agrees, few people will be very sure of what he says, and there must always be some leeway. Qian Huangshang's reply is very rare.

(To be continued)