On the first day of the first month of the eighth year of the calendar, except for Xu Shao'an, Lin Xiaoyu, Cheng Fei and others in the "Kaifeng Detention Office", all the other crossing team members gathered in the back mountain of Yuxu Palace, and held a worship ceremony here in accordance with the annual practice to recall their relatives and friends in another time and space. However, unlike previous years, this worship was not held in the open air, but in a newly completed ancestral shrine.

Since the most important worship of the year is in the first month of the year, which is the coldest time in the north, Rao is travelers are in good health, and it is somewhat unbearable to stay on the wind-swept slopes for nearly an hour in such cold weather. What's more, as more and more people marry wives and have children through the crowd, and this kind of ancestor worship activity is a must for wives and sons-in-law. Let his wife and children suffer from the cold with him, and the married traversers are really reluctant. Like Han Qingwen, her health has never been very good, and she will be frostbitten almost every year when she worships her ancestors. Wang Kunjun tried to persuade her not to come and suffer with her, but Han Qingwen's attitude was very resolute, saying that this was not only the obligation of his wife, but also the treatment that his wife should enjoy, even if she would be frostbitten, she must come to participate.

Although Wang Kunjun felt very sorry for his wife and was unwilling to let her suffer this crime, in the face of Han Qingwen's insistence, he had no choice but to make concessions. After all, Zhang Xiaofei participates in the ancestor worship activity on the first day of the first lunar month every year, how could Han Qingwen, who has been trying to maintain the image of her wife, not come because she is afraid of the cold?

In Han Qingwen's view, although she and Zhang Xiaofei are both the wives of Wang Kunjun and the media, Wang Kunjun has repeatedly emphasized that the two of them are in no particular order, regardless of size, but after all, Zhang Xiaofei has been a husband and wife with Wang Kunjun overseas for more than ten years, no matter from which point of view, her position as a wife is a little unstable - if Han Qingwen may still rely on the strength of her mother's family to occupy a little advantageous position in the first two years, then with the increasing social status and strength of Wang Kunjun and others, Han Qingwen's original reliance no longer exists. Therefore, on a formal occasion like ancestor worship, Han Qingwen has to come no matter what.

And it is precisely because Han Qingwen is always entangled in her status as a wife, so in order to reduce unnecessary troubles in the future, Wang Kunjun thought about it again and again, and finally rejected the proposal of other committee members, through the joint action of Zhong Youpeng and Han Deyi, and the two-pronged proposal to contact local Shili and Han officials, and decided to "do not seek two masters", even if the progress may be slower, only Zhong Youpeng's line will be taken.

There are many reasons why Wang Kunjun made such a decision. One of the reasons is to protect Zhang Xiaofei, who has no relatives to rely on except herself in this era, so that she will not be defeated due to lack of foreign aid in this very secret "wife battle" with Han Qingwen.

Although Han Qingwen is younger, more beautiful, gentler, and more virtuous, all this cannot shake the status of Zhang Xiaofei, who has met, loved, and accompanied Wang Kunjun for 16 years before the crossing, in Wang Kunjun's heart. And Wang Kunjun's attitude towards Zhang Xiaofei also determined the attitude of the other brothers in the team towards the two fifth sisters-in-law (younger siblings), and the brothers respected Zhang Xiaofei far more than Han Qingwen - this was even more obvious after Zhang Xiaofei became the head of the intelligence department. Once the people of the Han family have this credit, Han Qingwen's status in the eyes of the brothers in the crossing team will definitely rise significantly, and Zhang Xiaofei's status without the help of the "mother's family" is bound to decline, but this is the result that Wang Kunjun does not want to see.

Of course, the reason for "protecting Zhang Xiaofei's status" is only superficial, or very secondary. Wang Kunjun didn't want to see Han Qingwen's status in the hearts of his brothers surpass Zhang Xiaofei, although there were also some eccentric elements, but the fundamental reason was to safeguard the interests of the team. Judging from the current situation, the development of the crossing team is very smooth, and the future future is by no means "ambitious". And Wang Kunjun is now not only an important decision-maker of the team, but also has a faint status as a team leader with the efforts of many parties. As a result, he and his supporters had to think about how to arrange Han Qingwen's "mother's family" after the team was big enough - although other brothers who married local women as their wives also had this problem, their wives' families did not have as much influence on the team as Wang Kunjun's family. ,

If Han Deyi is involved in this "liaison work", then the status of the Han family in the minds of the traversing people will inevitably improve, and I am afraid that even Zhong Youpeng, who has the grace to save most of the team, will be surpassed by him. Moreover, Han Deyi is Wang Kunjun's father-in-law, and such an identity and such a credit are likely to make him have a certain say in the internal affairs of the team in the future. Not to mention whether Han Qingwen will use this advantage to reverse her disadvantage in the "battle for a wife", at this stage, just "letting outsiders have the ability to influence the internal affairs of the team" is definitely not acceptable to the brothers of the committee.

It was precisely because they did not want outsiders to have the ability to influence the team that the other members of the committee preferred to slow down the speed of contacting local Shili and Han officials, and also accepted Wang Kunjun's suggestion that "even if it is slow, only one person except Zhong Yuan will be invited to come out".

Unlike Han Dedu, although Zhong Youpeng has the grace to relieve the danger and save the difficulties for most of the members of the crossing team, if he does a good job of contacting the local Shili and the Han official envoys this time, his kindness and contribution to the crossing team will also reach its peak. However, in the eyes of other committee members, no matter how great Zhong Youpeng's contribution to the team is, his influence on the team cannot be as great as Han Deyi, who has made great contributions to the team. After all, whether it is Zhong Youpeng or Han Deyi, if they want to exert influence on the team, they need to use their son-in-law, or their son-in-law as a cover. And in terms of the status of the crossing team alone, Wang Feng obviously cannot be compared with Wang Kunjun - although Wang Feng is the director of the first security section of the security department, his status in the team is not low, but his biggest reliance is still his cousin Wang Kunjun, and it is obviously impossible to surpass his cousin in this regard. Therefore, considering all aspects, the committee's final choice was to ask Zhong Youpeng to come forward instead of Han Deyi.

If it is said that the ancestor worship in the open air on the back mountain of the Yuxu Palace on the first day of the first month of the previous year is a kind of torture for the ladies who pass through, then the venue for the ancestor worship ceremony on the first day of the new year this year is much more comfortable. Because in the middle of the seventh year of the calendar, taking advantage of the opportunity of the team to build a new base for the "Flying Dragon Army", after obtaining the consent of the fourth brother (elder brother) Yuxuzi, the builders of the crossing crowd built an ancestral hall building on the back hill of the Yuxu Palace, which was used by the crossing people to worship their ancestors.

After the ancestor worship ceremony, the traversers and their wives and children came to the Yuxu Palace to rest for a while, and after lunch, they said goodbye to Yuxuzi and returned to their respective residences.

Among all the brothers who participated in the ancestor worship, only Wang Feng and his wife and children did not go directly to their residence, but followed Huang Hai -- considering that it was already approaching the New Year, under the care of the committee, Huang Hai did not return to the beach immediately after solving the problems related to the "rebellion against Botong", but stayed and left after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month -- and went to the "Jingyuan" with Yang Xin, so that when he went to Zhong's house to pay New Year's greetings the next day, he could walk less and save some time.

Early in the morning of the second day of the first month of the eighth year of the year, Wang Feng said goodbye to Huang and Yang, and left the "Jingyuan" with his wife and children, as well as a rich gift, to pay New Year's greetings to his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

The distance between the "Jingyuan" and the Fanyang county seat where the Zhong family is located - it was a cold winter, and the Zhong family did not live in the summer courtyard of Huangshandian Village - was about 80 miles apart, so although Wang Feng's family of three, as well as his servants and subordinates, set off from the "Jingyuan" early in the morning and took the team's unique four-wheeled two-horse carriage, they still arrived at the Zhong house in Fanyang County when it was almost dark.

Hearing that it was the daughter and son-in-law who came to pay New Year's greetings, the Zhong family was naturally very happy. Zhong Ziqi's brother Zhong Shiwen personally greeted him at the gate and let Wang Feng's family into the house.

Entering the middle hall of Zhong Mansion, Zhong Youpeng and his wife were already waiting there. Wang Feng's family of three hurriedly stepped forward to salute Zhong Yuanwai and Mrs. Zhong and greet the New Year, and then sat on the chair.

After a few words of greeting with Wang Feng, Zhong Youpeng ordered someone to set up a banquet in the middle hall, and the family had a reunion dinner.

During the banquet, Xiao Wang Ke, who appeared in the Zhong family for the first time, became the favorite of everyone in the Zhong family as soon as he appeared, and even the son of Zhong Shiwen, who had always been the most favored in the family, had to take a back seat. Mrs. Zhong liked it even more, and kept holding this lovely granddaughter in her arms during dinner. After dinner, accompanied by his daughter, he went back to the back hall to continue teasing his little granddaughter.

Since Mrs. Zhong left the table, Zhong Shiwen's wife Xia naturally found it inconvenient to continue to stay in the hall, and she also found an excuse to take her son back to her courtyard. In the middle hall, only the Zhong family's father and son and Wang Feng remained.

After chatting casually with the Zhong family's father and son, Wang Feng felt that the time had come and it was time to turn to the purpose of this trip. So, he organized the language a little, took advantage of the gap between the three of them talking, turned the conversation, and said to Zhong Youpeng: "In addition to greeting the second elder, the son-in-law has an important matter to discuss with his father-in-law. ”