Noon.

Bogu County, Gao's Mansion.

Qiao Dingxing and Qiao Mingyan each rode on a tall horse. A big man with a beard and a dark complexion, and a man with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and a face full of heroism and vicissitudes. There was also a carriage between the two, and inside the carriage was Qiao Xuebin, who had resolutely decided to study poetry and books at home and never come to participate in such mundane things.

"Uncle, when I get to the Gao family in a while, I will go first to ask someone to report, and you will settle the second brother Xuebin. I have always heard that the high-ranking son of the Gao family is arrogant and rude, but after all, I have been in the army for many years, and I guess he will not make things difficult. But the second brother was defeated by Gao Li a few days ago, and I am worried that Gao Li will speak wildly and not give the second brother face. ”

"Haha! Brother Mingyan, don't think that if you stay in the army for a while, you can look down on your second brother! I'm not that fragile yet. Qiao Xuebin poked his head out of the carriage and laughed heartily. The entire team of gift-giving horses was amazed at how his hearing was so good, and even the whispers of the two of them could be heard so clearly.

Last night, after Qiao Xuebin saw the Egret Daozi, and the treasure Tianji Fish that the master gave him was taken away, he has been worried about the fairyland in the Dao and the master's situation, in order to be able to go with Qiao Liangyan to give a gift to Na Heyue in the afternoon, he took the initiative to participate in the task of giving gifts.

Qiao Mingyan was a little embarrassed when he heard this, and the arrogance he cultivated in the army made him refuse to give in: "Then please don't shrink back in the carriage from the second brother, there is no child of my Qiao family who can't ride a horse-drawn bow!"

"Go, go, your second brother, I am a scholar, ride your horse to ....... scholars are not with martial artists...... but the voice is getting smaller and smaller, Qiao Xuebin secretly laughed at this younger brother who has been in the army for a while and doesn't know the height of the sky, with his own deeds, ten Qiao Mingyan is not an opponent!

"To make it clear, the mansion in front of you is the mansion of the Gao family. Qiao Dingxing said in a deep voice.

It's not the first time I've been here, but it's been a long time since I've seen it. Qiao Mingyan immediately felt the world of difference between the real big family and the small family like the Qiao family - although the Gao family was only a little famous in Blackwater City. Looking at the vermilion lacquered gate, two guards with steel spears stood on either side with expressionless faces, as if they had not seen the group at all. The word "high" on the door plaque is also particularly full and powerful. A few old people in Gaofu don't like to be noisy, so although Gaofu is in the most prosperous Bogu County in Blackwater City, it is quiet all around, and there are no pedestrians on the wide road, let alone stall vendors. A few years ago, the Gao government paid a huge amount of money to the current Qian Zhizhou to buy the land in this area, and when Qian Zhizhou reported this matter to the capital, it even caused a lot of sensation. So it can be said that this radius of more than ten miles is owned by the Gao family. The courtyard walls on both sides of the gate stretched all the way down, and they were all painted dazzlingly white. It gives a deep sense of grandeur.

"The Gao family, is it already so rich?" Even though Qiao Mingyan, who had experienced a lot of ups and downs in the army, he couldn't get rid of the shock brought by this ruthless comparison at this time. This Gao family's mansion is countless times more luxurious than when I came to see it a few years ago. At that time, he was a civilian, and he was already very envious in his heart. And now, from the perspective of the family, he still can't get rid of this envy.

"yes...... The patriarch of the Gao family was in charge shortly after you and Zhenglang left, and he had a close personal relationship with Qian Hangfu. The benefits have been reaped by his Gao family, and even the Wang family is not in his eyes!" Qiao Dingxing sighed, Qiao Mingyan had already dismounted, walked quickly to the two expressionless guards, saluted, smiled, and paid money. It's all already in my mind. Qiao Xuebin, who was closing his eyes in the carriage, sensed this scene, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion - the once naïve little brother has grown so big!

The two guards quickly disappeared into the vermilion gate, and quickly came out, with a hypocritical smile on their faces, opened the door, and invited Qiao Mingyan and the others to enter the mansion. Qiao Mingyan stuffed another piece of broken silver into the hands of the two of them before turning around and stepping onto the horse.

In the Gao Mansion, the guests of the Qiao family understood what it meant to have a different world.

The magnificent pavilions and pavilions, in the garden that outlines beautiful lines, there are many strange flowers and plants, not only Qiao Mingyan has never seen them, but even Qiao Xuebin does not know. I have seen it, and that kind of shock also set off a monstrous wave in Qiao Mingyan's heart-how rich does this Gao family have to be to introduce a dragon's eye grass from the Western Regions? There are also many strange trees that have been seen during the march, and they have been seen here one by one!

And that's just a view of the front garden of the Ko Mansion!

The servants who led the way looked at the envy on the faces of the group of people, and they were quite disdainful in their hearts - just these hillbillies are also worthy of the word family? With a few broken Ganoderma lucidum in their hands, they dare to come to the Gao family!

And the only one who was not moved by the view in front of him was sitting in the carriage. Qiao Xuebin's expression was quite leisurely and closed his eyes to recuperate, but his mind was a little more vigilant. After Egret Daozi took away the Tianji Fish last night, Qiao Xuebin obviously felt that the spiritual power in his body was much weaker. According to the division of the realm of the Heavenly Machine Palace in the legends of mortals, his cultivation was reduced from the third layer of foundation building to the strength that could only be displayed in the early stage of foundation building. Before going to the palace in the morning, Qiao Xuebin put on a diagram of the weakest Void Armor Taihe Hexagram in the Heavenly Opportunity Dao Method to divinate today's fortune. As expected, it was not enough to go to the Netherlands at night. But to his surprise, Gao and Wang Erfu themselves couldn't even count any valuable information, which had something to do with his cultivation reduction. But Tsuki's Taoism made him instinctively feel that there was someone in the Gao Mansion, or someone with extraordinary popularity, maybe it was Gao Li who always had a playful smile. Qiao Xuebin thought.

The front garden is directly connected to the main hall of the hospitality. But there is still a room in front of the main hall of this hospitality, which Qiao Dingxing and Qiao Mingyan have never seen. Seeing that the people in front of them stopped, the two of them were embarrassed to ask what this "Jingshu Pavilion" was for. Qiao Xuebin didn't look outside the car, pinched his fingers, and then got out of the carriage neatly, and laughed at a few servants whose faces were already full of contempt: "Haha! The Gao Mansion is worthy of being the first-class family in Blackwater City, and even this Jingshu Pavilion has been built, and it really has the style of a big family, which is not comparable to our small families! It's just that a few of us may be mistaken, right? On behalf of the Jianzhu Qiao family, we came to your mansion to send congratulatory gifts to celebrate the good results of the two sons of Gao Li and Gao Xingshen. If your mansion just wants to show off to us, then there is no need to be like this, the front garden of your house is richer than the entire mansion of Qiao's mansion, and we vulgar people can only envy it!"

"Brother Qiao's anger! Brother Qiao's anger!" A young voice came out from the Jingshu Pavilion, and then a handsome young man with bright clothes and a smile on his lips hurriedly ran out and apologized to Qiao Xuebin again and again.

As soon as Qiao Xuebin saw the visitor, his expression immediately relaxed a lot, and when he stepped forward, the handsome man had already stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. "Brother Gao Li, don't come unharmed! Brother Foolish first wish you good luck in your official life! I will meet you as a colleague in the coming day, and I will continue to be called a brother!" Qiao Xuebin asked in the surprised eyes of his uncle and younger brother who couldn't believe such a close relationship between the two, "I just don't know that they brought us to this Honor and Forgiveness Pavilion, but what does Ling Zun mean?"

Gao Li laughed loudly, and said with a hearty expression: "Brother Qiao said this, he really looked down on my Gao family! It's just that a few subordinates are ignorant and accidentally lead the wrong way." Alas, let me tell you, recently a group of new people have been recruited in the house, and the work is not very reliable, Gao has apologized to Brother Qiao and everyone. But you must know that since the Qiao family was rebuilt, my Gao family has never despised you, but my father always said that Qiao Lao is the wisest person in the city now. So you don't have to be too restrained when you come here......"

Then, this cheerful handsome man talked a lot about his admiration for the Qiao family and his encouragement to Qiao Xuebin, and his admiration for Qiao Xuebin's poetry and praise for Qiao Mingyan went all the way to his admiration for Qiao Zhenglang. Although everyone knows that it is polite, it is very comfortable to listen to. He also mentioned this Jingshu Pavilion in passing, purely for other people who didn't understand what this thing was for. It turns out that the real wealthy families often have to negotiate matters with foreigners, foreigners, and even political enemies in their own mansions. Although the two countries are at war, it is the consensus and bottom line not to start at the banquet, but it is still necessary to make second-hand preparations, and the existence of this Jingshu Pavilion is to ensure that visitors do not carry murder weapons, and there are special samurai searches inside. This is actually disrespectful to the visitor, so it is called such an elegant and polite name. But like Gao and Qiao, the two families are in the same city, and there has been no conflict, if you bring guests to Jingshu Pavilion, it is definitely an insult. Gao Li happened to pass by Jingshu Pavilion just now, and found that the servants were taking the wrong way, which relieved the Qiao family.

In the end, Gao Li approached Qiao Xuebin and said mysteriously: "Brother Qiao, what good things did you bring to celebrate the little brother?

Qiao Xuebin smiled and said, "If the gift you prepare is as thick as mine, brother, I will cut off this head and give you a ball to kick!"

"It's really so good!" Gao Li was overjoyed, pushed away a few small people who led the way, pulled Qiao Xuebin with one hand, and held Qiao Dingxing's horse rope with the other hand without pretentiousness, chatting with Qiao Xuebin non-stop, while bringing several members of the Qiao family to the entrance of another hospitality hall, Gao Yasheng, the head of the Gao family, and a group of family members were already sitting inside.

When Gao Li walked into the hospitality hall with three Qiao family disciples holding gift boxes, to the surprise of the three of them, Gao Yasheng, who was in his prime, stood up from the main seat, his face was ruddy, and his expression was extremely excited and applauded, as if the two families had been close friends for many years. Infected by the patriarch, all the Gao family members in the hall stood up and saluted.

Even though Qiao Xuebin and the three of them knew that what was sold in Gao Ya's holy gourd was definitely not a good medicine, their hearts couldn't help but feel hot at this time. When they went to the palace in the morning to congratulate them, the people of the royal family almost never looked at them squarely. In comparison, the Gao family's treatment of them is already too high.

Before Qiao Xuebin could speak, a lean old man sitting next to Gao Yasheng spoke first: "Dingxing Xian, since the farewell of Manshan Maosi, we haven't seen each other for at least ten years, right?

This person is Gao Yasheng's second brother, Gao Zhongzhen, who once served as a seven-rank official in the imperial capital, and later resigned and returned to his hometown. Ten years ago, the barbarians in the north bought silk on a large scale, and he represented the Gao family to sell silk, and met Qiao Dingxing and others who were still civilians in Manshan. It's just that after returning to China, there has been no contact with the Qiao family, a new family, for several years, and the relationship between the Gao and Qiao families has always been very loose.

"Lord Gao's love! All the people are concerned, and everything is fine with me!" Qiao Dingxing replied loudly.

The smile on Gao Zhongzhen's face became even stronger, and seeing that he was about to pull his old friend who went out of the jam together ten years ago to catch up, Qiao Xuebin stood up in time and pulled the topic back: "Lord Zhongzhen, the patriarch, and the masters of your mansion." As he spoke, he took his hand, which waved excitedly. "Today is the day of the trial unveiling of the list, although my Qiao family is located in a remote area and is lonely, the reputation of the talented people in the Gao Mansion is known. On the day of the examination, the contemptible people and Gao Li Gongzi fought with poetry, and I was defeated, but I was convinced! Gao Li Gongzi scored well in the official preparation examination and was famous on the list. The son of Gao Province is even more uprooted in the position of exploring flowers, and his talent is peerless. My Qiao family specially prepared a thin gift, but the family is weak and weak, and the thin gift is difficult to become a respect, and it is not strange to ask the patriarch!"

Everyone in the Gao family on the seat turned their attention to the gilded gift box carried by the three of them and the servants who came in one after another with gifts. Some people scoffed, some looked curious, and some lowered their heads in contemplation, with solemn expressions. Gao Yasheng waved his hand from the main seat and motioned for Gao Li to sit beside him.

Gao Yasheng stood up from the main seat, and his magnetic voice sounded unhurriedly: "Several of them are distinguished guests of my Gao Mansion. To tell the truth, there are a lot of rising stars in Blackwater City this year, and your Qiao family can definitely take the lead in it! As soon as the list was unveiled today, the distinguished guests of the Qiao family brought gifts to congratulate, so enthusiastic and courteous, I dare to say that it will be absolutely no problem to become a middle-class family in a few years!"

The faces of the three members of the Qiao family were a little happy, and Gao Yasheng continued: "When the mansion received a congratulatory message from your mansion a few days ago, many people in the mansion felt that the Qiao family's actions were inevitably too fast, and it was inevitable that they would be suspected of buying people's hearts. Speaking of this, he looked at the people of the Gao family around him with a sharp gaze, and continued: "When did my huge Gao Mansion no longer accommodate the congratulatory gifts of distinguished guests? When did my Gao family begin to fear being friends with the world's talents? When did my Gao family begin to look ahead and backward, afraid of gossip, even to the point of chilling our distinguished guests?"

"Besides, as far as the old man knows, the Qiao Mansion has sent gifts to the talents who participated in the examination in the entire Blackwater City this time. It's just that we have a long history with the Wang family, so let's just give it to us first, so let's talk about buying people's hearts! However, three distinguished guests, look at what kind of arrogant posture the palace is! The return gift they gave to Xuebin was just a purple cloud clay pot, so I won't talk about it. But I've heard that Qiao Mingyan said that the team under the command of General Pei was humiliated by a few subordinates in front of the palace for giving less money to lead the way! Everyone, what do they mean by this! What do they want to do? Do you think that you have money and power, and you don't take other families in your eyes, Lao Tzu is the first in the world? This group of rabbit cubs, don't forget that Wang Shuo is a child of a great family, and his ranking in the official examination is actually outside the two hundred! Such a family, is it worthy of being called a family? Let's talk about the Qiao family, although the family history is very short and the strength is still weak, they are humble and And respect, everyone is looking at it. It is really rare for the old man to see such a warm and courteous young man and a young family. The future is reserved for young people, the old man is here, I wish Gao Li, Provincial Body, and Xuebin to achieve a good ranking in the triumvirate, replace wine with tea, and wish Gao and Qiao two families good friends forever!"

Gao Yasheng took a big sip of the tea in the cup, and all the children of the Gao family on the seat were submissive, and echoed and said yes, and the scene was very lively for a while. But most of the children of the Gao family here are actually suspicious in their hearts, and only a few of them understand the patriarch's behavior in their hearts, and their faces are calm, as if everything is under control.

Thinking of the rudeness of the Wang family in the morning, although the three members of the Qiao family all knew that Gao Yasheng must have also made a lot of calculations, their good impression of the Gao family could not resist rising to the peak. Similarly, regardless of whether the Gao family has set a trap in front of them, the opportunity to befriend such a big family is also something that everyone in the Qiao family has been looking forward to for a long time, no matter what, this is indeed an opportunity to climb up. Even Qiao Xuebin was really excited about the friendship between the two Gao Qiao families at this time.

Qiao Xuebin took the lead in making a humble ceremony, Qiao Mingyan hurriedly followed, and Qiao Dingxing made a filial piety ceremony. After a few polite remarks, after the beautiful words were finished, Qiao Xuebin made a filial piety salute to the surrounding circle of Gao family children, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Qiao family, Qiao hereby extends his most sincere friendship and respect to the patriarch and the Gao family, and at the same time extends his most sincere congratulations and admiration to the two talented people of your mansion. Your mansion is so enthusiastic, Qiao is grateful, and can only pray that these few small gifts can talk about our Qiao Mansion's heart. ”

With that, everyone's eyes gathered. Sure enough, the weight of this gift can determine the weight of a family, as well as the quality of Gaofu's future allies.

When the three members of the Qiao family opened several bronzing gift boxes one by one, both the elders and the young people in the Gao Mansion gathered their eyes in the golden box in the center, and the expressions on their faces were surprisingly unified.

That's the Spirit Mountain Breeze Wood. In the imperial garden in the imperial city, only thirty plants are produced in a year! And what is displayed in front of you is actually the root of the Qingfeng Wood of the Spirit Mountain! In front of it, all the gold and silver treasures around it have lost their luster.