Although it was night, the Lei Guogong Mansion was still brightly lit.

Beginning at noon, officials of the DPRK and China who were above the third rank came one after another, carrying gift boxes with their families.

On the 63rd birthday of the old lady of the Lei family, since Lei Guogong is going to hold a banquet, officials above the third rank in the DPRK and China naturally want to take this opportunity to show their loyalty to Lei Guogong.

For the upcoming handover of power in a month's time, everyone's hearts are also in turmoil. The emperor is still ignoring political affairs in Wuchan Temple, and King Xian, Minister Quan, and Lei Guogong are still handling the government normally, on the surface, everything is no different from before, but the sensitive courtiers just feel a trace of tension in the undercurrent.

The pattern of the court, everyone in it, although they can't see the true face of Qingming Xi like Brother Lian, they must know the role of Lei Guogong in it better than Brother Lian.

Under the leadership of Lei Sheng, the third generation eldest grandson of the Lei family, the people in the Guogong Mansion received the guests in an orderly manner, and the family members entered the back court, and the officials of the former dynasty chatted with everyone in the front hall and the Lei Guogong residence.

Suddenly, someone came to report, "King Xian has arrived." Lei Guogong hurriedly greeted him in person, King Xian's banquet for the officials in the court has never been courteous, and today he came in person for the first time, Lei Guogong couldn't help but "chuckle" in his heart, this is not just to congratulate it.

Let King Xian sit down in the study, although he has been an official in the same dynasty for many years, King Xian of Lei Guogong's study has only been here three times. The rugged desks and bookshelves in the study always remind visitors that this is a military general's study, and a map of the border passes of the Great Calendar and Yi Shangguo on the wall depicts every detail in great detail, which is more detailed than the map left in the palace.

King Xian praised: "General Lei guards the border for the country and the people, and the prince of the country is also working hard at home, the so-called tiger father has no dog, and I have a family of the prince in the Great Calendar Dynasty, so you can sit back and relax." ”

Lei Guogong laughed, "King Xian has won the award, I think my Lei family is deeply blessed with the emperor's grace, and I should be loyal to the country in both public and private affairs, how dare I slack off." ”

After a polite exchange between King Xian and Lei Guogong, he finally went around to Miss Lei and Lu, he said: "This king's youngest son Ming Gui is 19 years old this year, and he has never been married, I don't know if I can wait for a good family." ”

King Xian took the initiative to talk about his son's family affairs, how did Lei Guogong not understand, but after the Central Plains, this deer still doesn't know who the flowers are. It is too early to take a stand.

Lei Guogong said with a smile: "The third prince is proficient in martial arts, a long talent, and the emperor's companion since childhood, the two have a deep relationship, and whoever is worthy of the official lady in the capital is a blessing for him." It's a pity that my family Ling's family affairs, his father has already said that he will decide it himself when he comes back, and the old man is also waiting for Lei Ting to come home and let him decide. ”

"Oh, the general is back in Beijing to report on his work, this is almost there, right?"

"I wrote a letter saying that I had already set off, and this time I brought 100,000 people back to change the guard, and the road was slow, and it would take 15 days to arrive in Beijing at the earliest. ”

His eldest son, General Thunder, guarded the border for fifteen years, and made great contributions to defending against foreign thieves.

King Xian said as if chatting: "The emperor is about to be twenty years old, and it is time to return the government to him, after working hard for many years, I am really tired enough. ”

Lei Guogong said: "The old man sees that the emperor has not been thinking about state affairs all these years, and he is playing some strange things all day long. ”

King Xian laughed, this old horseman really has a lot of appetite, but if he can exchange the conditions of a prince for his support, this business can only be done like this.

The next person came to report that the emperor's gift had arrived, and the two hurriedly walked out of the study and went to the vestibule to receive the gift.

The emperor could not come to congratulate the Buddha because of his sincere service in the temple, but early in the morning he sent someone to send a white jade Guanyin more than a foot high as a congratulatory gift, and gave a set of jade jewelry to Miss Lei's gift in advance. The Empress Dowager Lei Wenyi also personally selected gifts for her mother and niece and sent someone to send them.

Gifts from the royal family were placed in the most prominent position in the middle of the main hall, and the main hall was soon occupied by various gifts.

More than 40 people came to the family members in the backyard, and there were fourteen or fifteen-year-old girls at the banquet, Lei Ziling was the most eye-catching, tall, goose egg face, looking forward to Shenfei, wearing a golden butterfly wearing a peach red satin dress with a jade flower flower skirt, with a crisp voice and a calm smile.

The people who chatted with Mrs. Lei were all noblewomen from the top floor of the capital, and one of them said: "Ziling has really become more and more standard in the past two years, can the old lady tell her that she has no in-laws?"

Mrs. Lei said with a loving face: "No, his grandfather feels sorry for this child the most, and his father is also spoiled by her, so leave her family affairs to the old men to worry about." This made people think about it very much, according to the customs of the Great Calendar Kingdom, it is necessary to make a family affair before the ceremony.

But Mrs. Lei is not in a hurry, which is really incomprehensible.

Several teenage girls sat in one place joking, Lei Ziling sat dignifiedly, and Guo Ting'er, the second lady of the Ministry of Rites and Rites' family, was one year younger than her.

There are no young princesses in the royal family now, Mingxi has two sisters, both of whom are more than ten or twenty years older than him, one married to Le Zhiguo, and the other married to Yishangguo, both of which were political marriages to stabilize the political situation at that time. King Xian's daughter has long been married into the Quan Xiang family and is the young lady of the Quan Xiang family.

Today's Lei Ziling is a princess-like noble existence in Beijing, but she is still so competitive, she is as beautiful as a fairy, and she is all good at piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and she has naturally become the object of emulation by all women in the celebrity circle in Beijing.

She greeted the little sister generously and decently, neither letting anyone feel left out, but also not letting people feel that she could be approached casually.

He Caiqing, who has more contact with her on weekdays, is the sister of He Wenli, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the two once studied the piano with the same teacher in one place.

He Caiqing's poetry and painting talent is quite high, and the piano is also more talented than Lei Ziling, but because her appearance is not as gorgeous as her, she feels that she is excluded everywhere. Now sitting next to her, seeing that the little girls are all flattering and flattering her, my heart is even more pantothenic. She turned her head to Qin Lele, the granddaughter of Taichang Siqing, and said, "Sister Le, among the people who came today, I don't know which talented person can be worthy of Sister Ling." ”

Qin Lele nodded and said, "Yes, yes, Sister Ling, you are so beautiful today, there are many people in the front hall, but I want my sister to help you take a sneak look." ”

Lei Ziling's smile did not change, but her eyes became cold, and she said lightly to He Caiqing: "Sister Le is younger than us, how can you mislead her like this, what is worthy or not, is this what the girl's family should say? After saying that, he ignored the two of them and got up and went to his grandmother's side.

Qin Lele smiled awkwardly, but He Caiqing pouted, and pulled Qin Lele to eat candy indifferently.

After the dinner, the guests and hosts were happy, and the guests said goodbye one after another.

The minister of power left the palace of the king, but drove the carriage to another road, and the carriage of King Xian quickly caught up, and Minister Quan quietly got out of the carriage and got into the carriage of King Xian.

After getting in the car, he didn't say a word of nonsense, and said directly to King Xian: "The copper coin hero is here to destroy the prince's big event." ”

King Xian nodded lightly, without too much surprise, obviously already knew, he said: "His next target is likely to be Fan Tonghai, this king has sent a master to lurk beside him, I want to see if these self-righteous heroes still have the courage to kill people blatantly." ”

"Does the prince know why that man used five knives and four knives to kill people?"

"I heard that Zhang Mao and a few of them worshiped their brothers in private, five people, Zhang Mao is the fifth, Jiang Zhi is the fourth, and Fan Tonghai is the third. ”

"Since the prince knows that the purpose of that person is to kill all the five contacts who are doing things for the prince, why not act in advance, why do you have to wait until the emperor's 20th birthday, there is still more than a month to go, and there are too many variables. ”

"Since this king is a virtuous king, he must be worthy of this virtuous word, and on that day, I will let Mingxi take the initiative to meditate. Only in this way can the king ascend to the throne in name only, and can he justifiably explain to the emperor and the people. Zuo Xiang doesn't need to persuade again, Fan Tonghai is there, this king will definitely catch the murderer, and even the people behind him don't want to escape. ”

The minister looked at King Xian worriedly, and wanted to persuade again, but was stopped by King Xian raising his hand, and couldn't help sighing, got up and got out of the carriage.

*

Walking through the garden in the mansion, Lei Ziling returned to the boudoir, took off the ornaments on her body, and asked the maid Dongling: "Where is the set of jade ornaments sent by the emperor?"

Dong Ling said: "The master has ordered someone to send it." ”

"Bring it to me. ”

Dong Ling went to the cabinet next to the bed and took out a big box and put it on the dressing table, Lei Ziling said, "You all go out to prepare hot water, and I will take a bath later." ”

The people in the room retreated in turn, and Lei Ziling reached out to open the box. Under the candlelight, the jade shimmers with a warm shimmer, which is the highest jadeite, and you can know that it comes from the royal workshop by looking at the handiwork. Among them, the hairpin is a gold wire inlaid jade peony hairpin, gold as the bottom support, lined with two leaves, holding a peony flower carved from jade.

She had never seen such a luxurious and exquisite hairpin, she raised her hand to pull her hair back up, and the jade peony hairpin firmly fixed a green hairpin.

The white jade-like fingers caressed the jade earrings and bracelets in the box, and the touch seemed to touch the warm skin of the person, and his heart was full of happiness. Looking at the stunning face in the bronze mirror against the hairpin, she smiled with satisfaction. Holding up the hairpin given by the Venerable Master is the true meaning of the curtain.

Who said that everyone would not think about whether they were worthy of their husbands or not, and went to the palace to ask their aunt for peace a year, just that glance, that fairy-like man, was already deeply rooted in her heart. From that day on, she only wanted to be his wife and become the queen of the dynasty.

It's just her mind, how can she say it to her grandfather?

*

Before dawn on the second day, Brother Lian turned over and jumped up, put on the practice clothes of the Weifeng Martial Arts Gym, packed a few changes of clothes and some necessities, and wrapped a burden on his back. As she was about to leave the door, she caught a glimpse of a dark green sachet peeking out from under the wardrobe, and she walked over to pick it up, patted the dust on it and put it in her arms.

It was Ye Yanshan's sachet, and last time she lost her temper and threw it under the cabinet.

It was dawn when I went out, and there were people who got up early in the house and started to work. She ran all the way to the backyard and jumped out over the wall.

Walk slowly all the way to an intersection, find a shop early and go in to sit and drink porridge, and after a while, I saw Ye Yanshan walking from the street with his bags on his back.

"Brother Ye!" she beckoned to Ye Yanshan.

Ye Yanshan was stunned for a moment when he saw her, then came over and sat down, stared at her face carefully, and saw that her thin figure was on top of a pair of rough big eyebrows, and couldn't help but hide her face and laugh.

didn't even raise his brother's eyes, stretched out his left arm, and stuffed the steamed bun in his hand into his mouth, "Eat quickly, if you don't have to rush, you still have to change your clothes." ”

Ye Yanshan chewed the steamed buns, but he still couldn't hide his smile. After eating breakfast, the two walked out, and he couldn't help but stretch out his thumb and wipe it on Brother Lian's face, "What kind of paint do you use, can't you wash it off?"

Brother Lian glared at him, "Touch it again, believe it or not, I chopped off your hand." ”

Ye Yanshan immediately hid his hand behind him, "Don't touch it, Brother Lian, your disguise technique is very exquisite, if you don't call me, I really don't dare to admit it." ”

"This is just a small skill of carving insects, I heard that there is a kind of disguise technique called subtlety, with a human skin mask attached to the face, immediately changed a person, because the mask is very thin, so it does not prevent the disguiser from making any expressions at all, and even the disguiser can see it blushing. ”

Ye Yanshan was slightly half a step behind, not parallel to Brother Lian, "Is there really such a delicate mask?"

"Well, I've also heard that when I was a child, there was such a man in my grandfather's bandit den, who was unmatched in his disguise technique, and he could peel off the faces of dead people and make masks. ”

"Where did that man go?"

"Dead, my grandfather went into the bandits' den when he was young, and the man was very old, and he died of illness within a few years, and the craft was lost. ”

Ye Yanshan sighed regretfully: "That's a pity. ”

Brother Lian said: "You don't know many people in the capital, you don't need to do too much disguise, you can take this practice uniform and put it on, wait and see my eyes, don't talk much." ”

Ye Yanshan nodded, took his clothes and found a secluded place to change into.

When I arrived at the back door of the Weifeng Martial Arts Hall, I saw a big man dangling at the door, and when I saw the two of them coming, I asked, "But Man San introduced you?"

Brother Lian hurriedly smiled and nodded yes, Ba Ye squinted at Brother Lian's thin arms and legs, with a disgusted expression on his face, Ye Yanshan, who was wearing a practice uniform, was tall and strong when he looked at it, and he raised his chin to Brother Lian, "Are you okay? ”

Brother Lian nodded and said, "Master, what do you think is qualified?"

Ba Ye said arrogantly: "Those who can pass twenty moves under me are considered qualified." ”

Brother Lian's face was embarrassed, "Twenty moves, can it be less?"

Ba Ye looked even more disgusted, "How can this still be a bargain? Do you know which hard stubble you will encounter when you become a bodyguard this time?"

Brother Lian shook his head ignorantly.

Ba Ye looked left and right and whispered: "It's a murderer who doesn't blink, then Master Fan has encountered a disaster." ”

Brother Lian said: "Oh, don't worry, it's okay for me to protect myself." ”

Ba Ye snorted, stepped on the ground, pulled his hands apart, and said to Brother Lian: "It's useless to just play tricks. ”

Brother Lian threw the burden on Ye Yanshan and said, "Okay." ”

As soon as the words fell, she had already made a lightning move, and Ye Yanshan took three steps back with her burden and moved them around. As soon as he stood still in three steps, he saw Ba Ye's huge body gnawing on, and he pounced heavily at his feet, raising a cloud of dust. Ye Yanshan blinked, not knowing whether he should take two more steps back, he heard Brother Lian's humble voice say, "Lord, look, are the three moves good?"