After another ten days, Zhao Tianer, Su Meiniang and Li Wenxuan were dressed up and went out together to congratulate the mother of Liu Wenjing, the local parent official, on her 50th birthday. For today's birthday banquet, Su Meiniang and Zhao Tianer went to the tailor's shop to choose the best embroidered brocade and made a decent new clothes, after all, you can't be shabby and embarrassed your own man when you attend this kind of occasion.

Zhao Tianer, who was reluctant to wear the butterfly golden hairpin that Li Wenxuan gave him on weekdays, also wore it on her head before going out, and also wore a pure gold orchid-style earring. She has long been used to frugality, but she will not spend silver to buy the chic gold earrings, but Su Meiniang specially gave them to the little girl, which can be regarded as a return gift for the sisterhood cold incense pill she gave herself.

Although Zhao Tianer at that time sincerely said no, she couldn't resist Su Meiniang's good eloquence and was convinced. Dressed in a pink dress and a pair of pink and red silk shoes, she can instantly give people a delicate and festive feeling. Zhao Tianer, who was willing to use the good rouge gouache for the first time, immediately added a lot of color. She is at the age of flowers and moons, and she can be described as a veritable beautiful girl.

Su Meiniang, who is considered a, is no longer a youthful girl. She would not choose to wear pink clothes, after all, it is not suitable for her age and identity. Su Meiniang, who also wore a pure blonde hairpin and a willow leaf style gold earring, was wearing a lake blue dress and a pair of royal blue satin embroidered shoes. In this outfit, she has applied rouge gouache, and she immediately gives people a very mature royal sister style.

Li Wenxuan, who did not wear casually, in order to respect the elderly, wore a white scarf on his head, an evergreen shirt, and a pair of gray and white boots on both feet. He can give people a sense of stability, but also lose his youthful demeanor. With the brocade box in his right hand, he naturally walked in front, while Zhao Tianer and Su Meiniang followed closely behind him at a distance of three steps left and right.

At the main gate of the county government, the red colored satin was hung up by the servants of the Liu family for a long time, and the housekeeper of the Liu family led the two clever little servants of the family to stand on the right side, greeting the distinguished guests who came to the banquet with a smile on their faces. Whenever someone approached with a gift, he would take the initiative to greet them, and while welcoming them through the door, he shouted inward with someone's surname and identity.

Li Wenxuan, who led Zhao Tianer and Su Meiniang to the bottom of the steps, saw Steward Liu take two steps and three steps to greet him. Standing on the left side of the three of them, while his smile did not change, he immediately made a gesture of quick invitation in his hand. The most important skill as a housekeeper is not to be able to speak, but to have a good eye for people.

Steward Liu politely led Li Wenxuan and the others, and greeted warmly as he walked forward: "You are here." The old lady really wants to see you. Li Wenxuan, who clearly remembered that Liu Wenjing's mother was a devout person, was not flattered when he heard his words, let alone felt any strangeness, after all, his reputation as a Taoist priest had already spread.

Li Wenxuan, who followed his words, said politely and at the same time said the congratulatory gift he brought: "It's a great honor for Mrs. Liu to miss the trail like this. Poor Dao brought five carefully refined pills to congratulate her old man on his birthday. ”

I have long heard that Steward Liu, who has passed on his elixir to the gods, will not think that his congratulatory gift is light. In order to show his merit in front of his old lady, he did not send Li Wenxuan and others into the gate and turned around, but led them all the way to the hall in the back hall to meet the birthday star Mrs. Liu.

Mrs. Liu, who was sitting at the top of the hall, had a lot of wrinkles on her face, and she was very rich and wearing a Su embroidered red robe, and she was accompanied by a fifteen or sixteen-year-old maid on each side. Her son Liu Wenjing and his three wives and concubines accompanied her.

Walking into the hall, Li Wenxuan, who was standing in the middle, stopped, and saw at a glance that she was the protagonist of today, so he led Zhao Tianer and Su Meiniang behind him to salute her and said, "Congratulations to the old lady, Fushou Kangning." ”

At this time, Steward Liu walked a few steps to his old lady and whispered Li Wenxuan to her. Although she had heard of a Taoist priest in the city, she had never seen it. If it weren't for Steward Liu's reminder on the side, she would not have regarded Li Wenxuan in front of her as a Taoist priest anyway, but would have identified him as a Xiucai.

Old Madam Liu, who was showing joy, said with a formal look at the young man: "It turns out that you are the famous Daochang Li!" I thought you would be a Taoist who was about the same age as the old man, but I didn't expect you to be so young. ”

As soon as her words fell, a little maid came in with a plate of longevity peaches, I don't know if she was in a hurry, or what, she suddenly knocked over the longevity peach on the plate to the ground.

Old Madam Liu's face suddenly turned sunny to cloudy, and the nameless fire in her heart suddenly appeared, and she scolded angrily: "Are you a damn lowly bone deliberately adding bad luck to my fiftieth birthday today?" ”

In an instant, the little maid who made the mistake was pale, her whole body trembled slightly, and she quickly knelt on her knees in fright, and kowtowed again and again to justify: "Old lady, the slave didn't mean it. ”

"According to you, you didn't mean it, so I did?" Old Madam Liu glared angrily.

Liu Wenjing, who was standing on the side, hurriedly came to his mother and persuaded: "Mother, you don't need to be angry. Steward Liu, who is quite discerning, has not waited for the master to tell him how to do it, he has already walked in front of the errant maid, and the left and right hands of the "pop" started to slap her.

Mrs. Liu, who came over, also said with a very unhappy face: "This bad thing will be pulled out for me and beaten hard." ”

Steward Liu, who had received the order, suddenly changed from a kind smile to a fierce and vicious look. With his right hand, he grabbed the erring little maid's hair, and dragged her out like a beast.

Five finger prints were clearly visible on her cheeks, and the swollen little girl who made a mistake was also bleeding red blood from the corners of her mouth. Zhilu said that she was going to be pulled out of the road to beat her, and begged bitterly: "The old lady is gracious, the slave knows that she is wrong." ”

Old Madam Liu, who didn't show any pity, urged impatiently: "Pull me out." ”

At this time, the two little maids standing behind her were also frightened, after all, the two of them knew that the little sister who was pulled out by Steward Liu would definitely die for life. Even if he doesn't die, he is likely to be crippled for life. There is a choice between death and cripplement, and death is a good relief.

They knew very well that in the past few days, three maids in the house had already suffered bad luck. Although the two of them are not unlucky, they have already trembled, and they are careful and careful. They have long known that their lives are cheap, and killing them is like killing a dog, there is no difference.

Even if the dead and injured slaves and maids of the Liu family have family members, they will not take the initiative to stand up and ask for an explanation for this matter. They all knew that this was a big bad luck that would affect the whole family and even the whole family. The common way to deal with this kind of thing is to give a little more money from the Liu family.

As a bystander, Li Wenxuan can see that although the matter will not be directly related to Liu Wenjing, if there is trouble, he will definitely not sit idly by, after all, that person is his biological mother. If it really becomes a big incident for the people to sue the officials, the unlucky person is still the bold and reckless "Diao Min". The law of the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulates that if a high-ranking official of the people, whether it is justified or not, he will fight first and then talk about it.

Although Li Wenxuan was very sympathetic to the unlucky little maid, he could not do anything but stand by, after all, this was the Liu family's family matter, and it was completely inconvenient for him to speak as an outsider. It was only when the little maid was pulled that the voice could no longer be heard, that the whole hall recovered.

Li Wenxuan, who opened the brocade box in his right hand without hurry, noticed that Mrs. Liu's son and daughter-in-law were very nervous and persuaded her. He couldn't miss this opportunity to show off the magical effect of his elixir, and said calmly: "Don't be busy, everyone, listen to the poor word." The old lady only needs to take one of the pills here in the lower path, and her mind can be as peaceful as ever. ”

Old Mrs. Liu, who was as uncomfortable as fire in her heart, heard what he said, and couldn't wait to order: "Come on, hurry up and hand me the brocade box in Daochang Li's hand." Mrs. Liu, who turned back to Li Wenxuan, took the hand in person first, and then came to her mother-in-law to hand it over.

In order to further please her mother-in-law, Mrs. Liu said: "I don't know if this elixir is really as effective as Li Daochang said." What if it's ...... It's better to find a little maid to give it a try. If the little girl is fine, then the mother can take it with confidence. ”

Li Wenxuan, who was very confident and sure of his own things, took the initiative to take two steps forward, but he didn't want to invisibly damage his good reputation as an elixir, so he said in an unquestionable tone: "Although the elixir refined by Xiaodao is not the elixir of this world, it is also an elixir. It's not something that anyone can just use. If the old lady eats Xiaodao's elixir, there is a case in Mrs. Liu's mouth, Xiaodao is willing to make up for it with the lives of the whole family. ”

Mrs. Liu, who had already smelled the faint fragrance of the elixir contained in the brocade box in her left hand, was very superstitious and pious. She didn't listen to her daughter-in-law's blasphemous words, so she gently took out a pill with her right hand and put it directly into her mouth.