In the capital of Liangguo, the Ye family mansion that covers an extremely wide area, and the meeting room of the Ye Zhihuai family, the official book, when Gu Li, the newly canonized Qi king of the imperial court, and Xu Huaiying, the only son of Xu Jintang, the generalissimo of Youzhou soldiers and horses, were chatting, Ye Zhihuai wore a neat official uniform and walked into the living room with a calm face.

The New Year is approaching, the court is very busy, not to mention the officials in charge of the assessment and evaluation of the officials, and to check the files, and to submit the evaluation to the above, but also to file, Ye Zhihuai is an official is to do it himself, cautious, do not like entertainment and enjoyment, only love to concentrate on doing things, at this time, there is naturally more busy time.

The officials of the Liangguo Imperial Court, in addition to the regular large-scale festivals such as the Spring Festival, the Shangyuan Festival, etc., can take turns to take one day off every five days, of course, in fact, like the night Zhihuai, as a top magnate of Shangshu, there are not many things to do every day to go to the yamen, many times it is to sit in the yamen, just monitor the people under them to do things, and even stay at home every day, and then rush to the yamen when there is something, anyway, there are no people in Dongcheng District, the road is smooth, it doesn't take much time to rush over, and there are really not many serious and attentive officials like Yezhihuai。

In fact, today should have been the day when Ye Zhihuai took turns off, which is why Gu Li deliberately chose to visit today, but after learning that it was the third prince who visited in person, Ye Zhihuai still came out to greet him in an official uniform in the yamen on weekdays, which looked very formal and a little more alienated.

As soon as Gu Li met, he noticed the other party's neatly dressed official uniform, but the smile on his face did not change in the slightest, and he quickly urged Xu Huaiying to get up and greet him.

"Lord Night!"

"King Qi suddenly visited, and the officials were sincerely afraid!"

Ye Zhihuai took a step forward, bowed his hand, bent deeply, and moved meticulously, even the most demanding officials of the Ministry of Rites could not find any fault when they came.

Gu Li's face stiffened slightly, and he quickly reached out to support Ye Zhihuai's fallen arm, and said with a smile.

"Lord Ye, I am visiting today as a private person, you can call me Gu Li directly, you don't need to make such a big courtesy, you are a dignified minister, I am just an idle prince, I can't let you treat me with such a big courtesy. ”

Ye Zhihuai straightened up, but he said with a straight face: "The ancestral rules, etiquette cannot be abolished, you are the king of Qi personally sealed by His Majesty, and your status should be above the lower officials." ”

Gu Li didn't want to dwell too much on such a boring issue, so he directly stretched out his hand and said, "Lord Night, let's sit down and talk first." ”

Ye Zhihuai stretched out his hand again, lowered his eyebrows and lowered his eyes, and said respectfully: "King Qi is coming to our mansion and should sit on the main seat." ”

"How can this be, I'm just an ordinary guest who came to visit Lord Ye, how can I sit on the throne? Isn't this noisy?" Gu Li repeatedly excused himself, "This is absolutely impossible, Lord Ye is the pillar of the country, working hard for state affairs, how can I dare to live in the main position? Not to mention that you have said that the courtesy cannot be abolished, Gu Li has done this, wouldn't he become a villain with no respect." ”

The two of them excused themselves for a long time, and finally became two people sitting opposite each other, but under Ye Zhihuai's insistent request, they still lowered their bodies by half a body, and placed the position of the chair under the seat directly opposite the middle of Gu Li and Xu Huaiying.

Gu Li didn't know if this person was really rigid, or if he deliberately alienated himself like this.

Ye Zhihuai said with a look of shame on his face: "Some simple tea food, I hope that King Qi and Master Xu will not dislike it." ”

Gu Li on the other side hurriedly smiled and said: "Where is it, how many people outside can't ask for the tea food of Lord Ye's house, we can eat it, it is our blessing." ”

When the king of Chaoqi lowered his posture like this, the ordinary officials were afraid that they would already be grateful, but Ye Zhihuai just sat in his place silently and did not say anything.

Gu Li saw that the atmosphere was a little embarrassed, and hurriedly said: "The New Year is approaching, I heard that Lord Ye still has two sons outside, won't you come back for the New Year?"

Lala family, talk about solicitation at the beginning, let the other party do things for themselves, it is inevitable that it is too eager for quick success, it is difficult to harvest the effect, and the other party has been mixed in the officialdom of Liangguo for many years, and he is not a fool who does not do more, on scheming, ten of them are not as good as others, it is impossible to come once and be willing to be born and die for themselves, this is a long-term water mill work, to know the feelings, move to benefit, really can't be in a hurry, today is just to explore the wind.

Ye Zhihuai heard this, sat upright, and said slowly: "Since the two sons of Xiaguan are trusted by the imperial court, and even entrusted with important tasks, they should focus on state affairs and family affairs. ”

Gu Li nodded, and said along with the words: "It's good, it's good, if the political achievements are made, the road will be wider and wider in the future, and there will definitely be a time for reunion in the future. ”

Ye Zhihuai waved his hand and said: "Lord Qi Wang, don't ridicule Xiaguan, the ability of Xiaguan's two sons, I, the father, know best, being able to be a magistrate is already the trust of the imperial court, if you are a bigger official, it will be a mistake for the country, just like that, Xiaguan thinks it is already very good." ”

He deliberately sent his two sons out because he didn't want to involve them, and even strictly ordered them to return to Beijing without permission.

However, as soon as he said this, Xu Huaiying here was a little dissatisfied, and said in his heart What does it mean to know Huai this night, from the moment he came in, every sentence was completely 'backtalking' to Brother Li, telling you that you don't need to be polite, you have to tell us that the courtesy cannot be abolished, lift you up, praise your night family, you have to say that your son is not good, how can we show goodwill, you will slap back, right?

Gu Li felt the strange movement around him, glanced to the side, and then quickly changed the topic again: "I heard that Lord Ye was originally from Youzhou? ”

Ye Zhihuai glanced at Xu Huaiying, and said lightly: "General Xu's only son, Xiaguan has naturally heard of it, but since Xiaguan's father's generation, he has moved his family to the capital, and after so many years, he has already regarded the capital as his hometown." ”

Anyway, what do you say about how I block it, Ye Zhihuai is a person with a clear mind, where can I not know the purpose of the two of them coming here, it's a pity that the Holy Clan has already selected the five princes, you two and I are here to talk about it until the New Year, and it is useless to even kneel down and beg me directly, if you Gu Li is on the throne, I Ye Zhihuai can't sit on a bigger official, what's the difference, not to mention that instead of looking for an opportunity to give you another mess, it is better to directly support the five princes.

The Holy Family's idea, how could a mere servant who was enslaved by him have the courage to change it?

What's more, he knows a little bit of the inside story, and Gu Xuan is not really pushed out of the chess game by someone as outsiders think, so since Gu Li, the king of Qi, came in, he has always been indifferent, and he only hopes that the other party will retreat from the difficulty, and don't waste time with him.

Although Xu Huaiying was very dissatisfied with Ye Zhihuai's attitude, he was still sensible and did not have a direct attack, and Gu Liyi felt that the only thing that was good to win over and worth winning over now was the high-ranking and powerful official in front of him, and secondly, in his opinion, Ye Zhihuai was originally this kind of temper, and he was so impersonal in life and work, so the other party had been ignorant, and he was blocking him inside and outside the words, so he put up with it for the time being.

Those who have become big things, regardless of informality, can't stand this grievance, how can they fight with Gu Cang?

"Speaking of which, the Night Lord family has been doing things for the court for four generations, so I want to take the liberty of asking the Night Lord, I don't know what the Night Lord thinks about the situation in the Imperial Court?"

After going around for so long, Gu Li didn't want to go around the bend anymore, with an old fritter in officialdom like Ye Zhihuai, he knew that he was by no means an opponent, and no matter whether the other party really didn't hear what he meant before or pretended to be, in short, he went straight to the point.

When Ye Zhihuai heard this, he didn't think much about it at all, and said very directly: "The lower officials are dull, I don't have any special opinions, your majesty is holy today, the people live in peace, as long as the people under you do things well, my Liang country will be prosperous for a long time." ”

"Ugh. Gu Li's whole body was choked by this sentence, and he didn't know how to answer.

People are saying that the emperor is still there, why are you in a hurry?

At the moment, I finally learned the power of this night's Zhihuai, it's just that the oil and salt don't enter, I know that even if I talk about it today, there is no result, this kind of person can talk to you all night, but the next day, you will find that in fact, what he said is nonsense, and there is not a word useful.

Gu Li thought about it, and had no choice but to speak: "Lord Ye is right, my father's martial arts are destined to leave a name in history, and those of us who are courtiers just need to take care of our own affairs." ”

Saying that, he stood up again and said: "It's not too early, I brought Huaiying here today, just thinking that Lord Ye has worked hard for the court for so many years, I, as a prince, should also thank Lord Ye for my father, it is considered an early year, the official affairs of the Ministry are busy, I think it is inseparable from Lord Ye, and it is inconvenient for us idle people to disturb more." ”

Ye Zhihuai hurriedly stood up and bowed his hand and said: "The arrival of King Qi today, the lower officials are very moved, they can be appreciated by the emperor, and it is the honor of the lower officials to do things in the imperial court, and it is also the blessing of the Ye family, and the lower officials will be smeared with their hearts and brains to repay the favor of the imperial court!"

Gu Li had a calm face, he didn't know what to say at this time, he could only reluctantly lift his spirit and say with relief: "For the New Year, don't say anything unlucky, Lord Ye works hard for the court, and the court will not treat Lord Ye badly, it's cold outside, Lord Night take care of your body, don't send it." ”

Ye Zhihuai simply arched his hand and said: "In this way, then the lower official will send King Qi here!"