Li Mubai celebrated his birthday, and even the imperial court specially sent a lieutenant official to Chang'an with a gift from the emperor to congratulate him.

Many court officials in Beijing have also sent their sons and nephews to Chang'an Li Mansion with generous gifts, as for the wealthy families and official eunuchs in Chang'an, it is needless to say.

Today's day is undoubtedly a grand occasion for the children of the wealthy family to socialize, and it is also a rare opportunity to get to know them for people whose status is much lower than them. So as long as everyone who can come comes, if you can come, it is worth it, and you have to be happy to give gifts from all over the country, and such a strange scene is only available at this time and in this way.

As the officialdom in southern Xinjiang is about to usher in a major purge, there will be a large number of vacant official positions, but anyone who wants to find an official position for his son, nephew and relatives will flock to Chang'an like a shark smelling blood. Among this group of big sharks, the most powerful is the major families, and Li Mubai's birthday banquet has become a meeting for these bigwigs to "share the spoils".

You must know that these big names are all important heroes, if it weren't for such a good opportunity, they would have to hold a large-scale assembly secretly, otherwise once the emperor found out, the emperor would not be able to sleep well.

But with their identities and pomp, even if they travel in micro-clothes, they are hugging each other and hugging each other, and there are countless light and dark guards, and it is just one or two people who meet each other, so many big people have to be gathered together, and the blind can't see it. With such a good opportunity, they can meet in a grand manner, and no one can question it.

At the door of Li's house, the old housekeeper took a few little stewards dressed in fresh green shirts, greeting the guests with a smile. If an important person comes, the chief housekeeper will roll call it, and the sons and grandsons of Mrs. Li are waiting inside, and after listening to it, they will come out to greet them according to the corresponding identity and generation.

Gongsun Bufan and Yang Fan took two ox carts. "Squeak and squeak" to the door of the Li Mansion.

The ox cart is a slower means of transportation. So it's not just people who travel long distances who don't use this kind of slow ox cart, even in the city there are very few people who ride it now. But this is only limited to officials and ordinary people, and this is not the case for wealthy families.

The ox cart was the favorite means of transportation of the nobles of the Han and Jin dynasties, because the ox cart was spacious and the road was stable, and the ox cart could show the grace of the officials and gentlemen. Therefore, although there are few people in Luoyang today, in Chang'an, the ancient capital of thousands of years, it is still common to ride ox carts.

Of course. As long as you see people traveling in ox carts, everyone understands that it must be a certain family with a long family history and heritage. When the chief steward saw two ox carts coming, he knew that they must be from the family, so he immediately greeted them with a smile, and at the same time signaled the second steward to prepare for the roll call.

Gongsun Bufan got out of the car, and the steward who accompanied him immediately handed over the sticker on his behalf. A few servants in Tsing Yi carried a lot of congratulatory gifts tied with red silk and the word "longevity" from the back of the car. The old housekeeper of the Li Mansion took the post and looked at it, and immediately said with a smile: "Mr. Gongsun Family is here to ......."

Mrs. Li's eldest grandson heard from the door, and hurriedly walked out to greet him, and when he saw Gongsun Bufan, he gave his hand again and again, laughed and whispered, and then went inside to give way.

The big housekeeper's eyes were sharp, and he saw that Mr. Gongsun was sitting in the previous car, and the gift was also placed in the previous car. The car that followed it was not moving. He smiled and said, "Is the guest in the car behind also from Mr. Gongsun's house?" ”

Gongsun Bufan glanced back. Hurriedly pretending not to know, shook his head, turned to the eldest grandson of Mrs. Li, and said with a smile: "Gongsun is here to congratulate the old lady on her eighth birthday, and ask the world brother to lead the way, and the grandson wants to bow to the old lady in person and celebrate her birthday!" ”

"Haha, Brother Gongsun, please."

"Brother Li, please!"

Gongsun Bufan was more anxious than the master's family, and he hurriedly entered the gate of the Li family. At this time, Yang Fan had just gotten out of the car, and he didn't have any servants to help, so he didn't need anyone to help with that little gift, so he carried it himself, walked over leisurely, and nodded to the white-haired old butler with a smile.

When the old butler saw this, he didn't dare to slack off at all. Who is this old butler? Longxi Li's ah!

He is the steward of the Li lord's side, and he has been waiting for the old lady since he was a child, and he has never seen any characters or scenes. As soon as I saw that this son was dressed plainly, his demeanor was calm, and he had a kind of grace and generosity in his bones, he didn't dare to ignore it.

Look at this boy again, he has no long things, and he is carrying a one-foot square bag in his hand, which is light and fluttering, and his face is more affectionate, and his face is full of autumn chrysanthemums.

With his old man's experience, the smaller the gift, the more valuable it is, and his old lady likes to collect rare things the most, in case the birthday gift sent by this young man is a rare antique, a unique book and other things, the old lady must be happy.

The old housekeeper stepped forward, didn't let the left and right stewards do anything, personally took the gift from Yang Fan's hand, looked down, and his smile suddenly froze. A pair of birthday candles are impressive, although there is a paper bag below, but since it is a pair of birthday candles on the top, where can the birthday gift at the bottom be valuable?

The old butler still couldn't believe it, and quietly pinched the paper bag...... Shattered!

The feeling that comes from the hand is clearly a bag of dim sum inside! The old butler's old face twitched sharply twice, raised his head, and looked at Yang Fan in disbelief. Yang Fan was about to say auspicious words, but suddenly found that the old man's face was a little wrong, and he couldn't help but wonder: "Old man, what's wrong with you?" ”

The old housekeeper seemed to have just run around Chang'an City three times before coming back, and after a few big gasps, he swallowed back the evil words that rushed to his mouth, and forced out a smile and said, "Does the son have an invitation?" ”

There are only two kinds of guests who come today, those with invitations and those without invitations. Basically, there are only a handful of people who have invitations, and only the heads of the major families have invitations, most of these people are gray-haired old men, and the others are all uninvited. Even Liu Yitian, the commander of Chang'an Mansion, came to the door to congratulate him on his birthday with a sticker.

The old housekeeper was already sure in his heart that this kid would never have an invitation no matter what, but the old housekeeper had been waiting by Mrs. Li's side all his life and had developed a cautious habit, so he still asked, once this young man didn't have an invitation, he would have to drive people away without saying a word!

How can this be reasonable, take a pair of birthday candles and a pack of birthday cakes to Li's house to congratulate the birthday, is this a door-to-door birthday celebration or a door-to-door insult? Isn't this a trick only done by those scoundrels in Chang'an City who play the autumn wind and drink alcohol? Someone actually had eyes and no beads, and the autumn wind hit the Li family. Hey! The old man doesn't beat you, and the peach blossoms are blooming. You didn't know that the flowers weishenme were so red!

The old housekeeper was ruthless in his heart, and secretly lucked his dantian qi, just waiting for Yang Fan to say "no invitation", and then shouted: "Come on!" Beat me up with this bastard! ”

As a result, the young man, who had two beautiful dimples on his cheeks when he laughed, let out an "ah" softly, as if he had just remembered something, and quickly took out an invitation card from his bosom and handed it to him very politely.

The old butler took the invitation. glanced at Yang Fan, opened the invitation card and looked at it, snorted like a toothache, glanced at Yang Fan again, opened a pair of presbyopia eyes, and looked at the invitation over and over again. I read it several times: "That's right, it's indeed an invitation sent by our Li family!" ”

"Uh......, please come in!"

The old housekeeper was cautious after all, and said without smiling, watching Yang Fan walk towards the mansion in a big way, he immediately beckoned the two little stewards and commanded in a low voice: "You go and keep an eye on him!" ”

He said to another little steward: "Go and ask Lin Zixiong if this person is a guest of our family." Hey! If our Li family is run to the door to swagger, cheat, eat and drink. It's a shame to spread this face! ”

"Yes!" The two little stewards hurried away.

The old butler looked at the bag of snacks and candles he was carrying, and pursed his lips. He threw it into a basket that was temporarily used to hold garbage next to the door of the house, turned around and stood at the door again, with a modest smile of frugality and humility......

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A quiet room, the original wooden floor is shining with clear oil, the whole room is spotless, it doesn't look like there are any golden and luxurious furnishings, but the screens, desks, utensils, everything has a quaint atmosphere.

Everything in this room is very old, and the oldest of them is a bronze from the Yin Shang era. The treasures of the example generation gathered in a room, and those who did not know the goods entered this room, perhaps feeling that although the furnishings in this room were simple and atmospheric, they could not match the identity of the lord of the Li family in Longxi.

And those who know the goods enter this room, they will find that the incense burner that is burning incense is from the Qin Dynasty, the case in front of him is from the Han Dynasty, the futon under the buttocks and the big jar that serves as a painting urn next to the case are from the Jin Dynasty, maybe this futon is where Ji Kang sits, and the jar used to be Liu Ling's wine vessel.

No matter how big or small the things in the room are, each one is a unique and priceless treasure......

On the small table of the curly ear green jade desktop of the Han Dynasty, there is a guqin horizontally, the piano is one meter two feet three inches long, the "hidden room" is one meter one foot two inches, the piano surface is slightly peeled, it can be seen that the lacquer is divided into three layers, the bottom layer is thin antler gray tire, the middle layer is hard black lacquer, the surface layer is thin chestnut shell color paint, the small "snake belly is broken", the purple jade emblem, the forehead inlaid with Jun porcelain, the rectangular dragon pond and the phoenix marsh. The back of the piano is engraved with the seal book "Luqi", and the four-character square seal of "Sima Changqing" is engraved under the pool.

Li Mubai, an old birthday star who celebrated his eighty-eighth birthday today, held his hands behind his back, pretending to pace around the room, and from time to time peeked at Ning Ke, who was sitting cross-legged in front of several cases, and forced himself to be proud. Ning Ke was dressed in white like snow, as clear and beautiful as clouds covering the bright moon, and like a clear lotus coming out of the water.

Her eyes are focused on the piano, from the back of the piano dragon pond, Fengnuma to see the inner belly of the piano wood, the wood has been aged, golden yellow and a little soft, there are some nail marks of people of different eras on the Nayin, there are obvious concaves at the end of the phoenix swamp, the fetal quality is delicate, the paint color is pure, and the fire is fading.

Rays of sunlight shone on the surface of the piano, and you could see the shimmering antler cream and gold, silver, and copper powders in the lacquered tires. Ning Ke closed his eyes slightly, and his fingers gently plucked the strings, and the sound of the piano was peaceful, gentle and gentle. Ning Ke let out a long breath, opened his eyes, and said happily: "It is indeed Sima Xiang's Luqi." ”

"Hey, hey!"

Li Mubai smiled proudly, immediately restrained his smile again, and pretended to say deeply: "If it's a fake, how can you hide it from the old man's eyes." Hehe, the old man has collected it all his life, but this piano and Qin Xiang Han Fei's purple bamboo flute are the most favorites. ”

Ning Ke Yanran said: "The piano and the flute, among the musical instruments, are all independent Yishi gentlemen, other musical instruments are to appreciate their sounds, but the flute and the qin listen to the rhyme." Nostalgic contemplation, the best thing to sustenance! ”

"Confidant, confidant!"

Li Mubai was excited: "This is the old man's confidant, not like the old man's stupid children and grandchildren, who will slap their heads one by one, how can anyone tell the true meaning of the piano!" ”

Ning Ke grimaced at him and said mischievously: "Since you are a confidant, why don't you borrow this piano to play with Ke'er for a few days?" ”

"No way, no way!" Li Mubai's face changed, and he hurriedly waved his hand and said: "If this qin is borrowed from you, it is Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou, and it will be difficult for the old man to see it again!" Hehe, the old man said that he would enjoy the game for a year, and he will give it to you as a birthday gift next year, you little girl, you can't wait for this time. ”

As soon as the words fell, Lin Zixiong called outside the door: "Old lady." ”

Li Mubai said: "Come in!" ”

When Lin Zixiong opened the shoji door and came in, Li Mubai said, "What, has the time come?" ”

Lin Zixiong said: "The hour has not yet come. It's just that...... The old housekeeper sent someone to ask about the little one, but he invited Yang Langzhong of the Criminal Department as a guest for the old lady. ”

Li Mubai said: "This old guy is really confused, the old man's guests all have invitations in hand, if there is an invitation, it is invited by the old man, do you still need to ask someone to ask this." ”

Ning Ke was lowering his head and fiddling with "Lu Qi", looking like he couldn't put it down, when he suddenly heard Yang Fan's name, he couldn't help but raise his head.

Lin Zixiong had a strange look on his face and said, "Yes!" Just because ...... The birthday gift held by Yang Lang was too shabby, so the old housekeeper suspected that he had inadvertently picked up the invitation card and cheated to eat and drink. ”

Li Mubai was stunned and said strangely: "What birthday gift did Yang Fan give to the old man?" ”

Lin Zixiong laughed dryly twice and said, "A pair of birthday candles, a box of birthday cakes." ”

Li Mubai was stunned at first, and then looked up to the sky: "Haha! This life is really interesting, the old man has passed eighty-eight birthdays since he was one year old, and this is the first time that he has recovered such a birthday gift as a birthday candle cake, hahaha......"

Lin Zixiong smiled dryly: "The old housekeeper suspects that he is a liar, and has already sent someone to keep an eye on him." ”

Li Mubai's childlike heart rose, and he said to Ning Ke: "Girl, do you want to go and see the splash who came to the old man's mansion to cheat on food and drink?" ”

Ning Ke covered his mouth and smiled: "The old lady is a birthday star today, and when she goes out, she doesn't even wear a longevity robe, and she doesn't frighten the whole house." ”

Li Mubai waved his hand and said, "Oh! Yang Fan is a junior, so he naturally stays in the middle hall or the front hall, those old guys are in the back house, how many guests outside know the old man? Tell Zixiong to lead the way in front of his head, so as not to shout and shout blindly in the house. ”

As soon as Mrs. Li said this, Ning Ke was also interested, and said with great interest: "Okay! Then Ke'er accompanied the old lady to take a look at the little pimp who cheated on eating and drinking! ”

P: We sincerely ask for monthly passes and recommended tickets!

~(To be continued.) )