……

Zhou Wuji stood at the mouth of the courtyard, with a warm smile on his upright facial features, he raised his hand and said in a serious voice:

"You don't have to be polite, you come here today as if you are coming back to your own home."

Zhou Wuji smiled and walked down the steps, without even looking at Zhou Yuan, who was saluting on the side.

He strode across the red carpet, and the officials stood on either side, all with respectful eyes.

Zhou Wuji was in a happy mood, and he didn't know what his father's attitude was towards him, but the ministers who attended his banquet here were very respectful to him right now.

Zhou Yuan couldn't raise his head at all in front of him, which made him very happy!

In the corner of the courtyard, a family member who was responsible for cleaning up the garbage saw this, and said with a bright look in his eyes:

"Your Highness has been stationed at the border for six years, and this mansion has not been so lively for a long time."

The other gentleman nodded and said thoughtfully:

"But isn't it, before His Royal Highness came back, even if it was Niangniang's birthday, I didn't see so many people to celebrate, everyone went to the third prince and the fourth prince, how can anyone think of us, or His Royal Highness is wise and martial!"

Zhou Wuji walked to the main seat on the high platform, listening to the discussion of his own subordinates below, and the pride in his heart was overflowing.

"The feast begins!"

On the high platform, the sturdy soldiers dressed as butlers beat gongs and drums, and then between the doorways on all sides of the courtyard, there were countless hand-held dishes like flowing water, and the graceful light gauze woman put the dishes on the table in the courtyard in turn, in an orderly manner.

Zhou Wuji sat on the main seat and said to everyone with a smile: "Time is in a hurry, there is no time to prepare, I hope you can eat happily today." ”

Li Zao walked to the back of the courtyard and found a random place to sit down, of course she would not choose the most central seat, because there were a number of seats there.

Under the two rows of long tables, at best, forty people can be seated, and those who can sit must be those ministers with extremely high official positions, or nobles with great status, and the places where each of them sits must be arranged in advance.

The rest of the seats are not so exquisite, there is no distinction between priority and priority, and they are all in the corner of the courtyard, so that they can come to celebrate on behalf of a certain adult, or some small officials who are not so high in official positions to sit down, regardless of high or low.

Zhou Yuan stood alone at the entrance of the courtyard, looking at the top of the red carpet, which was very close to the main seat, hesitated for a moment, and then walked over with a smile.

"Brother."

Zhou Yuan bowed his hand and sat down peacefully.

Zhou Wuji set up the dishes and didn't pay attention to Zhou Yuan, and Zhou Yuan also started to eat the vegetables as if he didn't notice it, and began to eat the dishes with chopsticks, delicacies from the mountains and seas, chicken, duck, fish, meat, cabbage, and tofu, he tasted everything again, which can be described as a storm.

The other ministers looked at Zhou Yuan, who kept holding chopsticks and ate a big bowl of rice in a short time, and their eyes secretly met, and they were all a little stunned.

"Do you really think this is your own home?" Zhou Wuji's eyes were gloomy, and he was a little dissatisfied in his heart, but he still smiled on his face, "It seems that Brother Xian is really in retreat these days, and he doesn't have time to eat." ”

This is mocking Zhou Yuan for not eating.

Zhou Yuan put down his chopsticks, elegantly picked up a piece of tender and fatty fish meat the size of a palm, and then put it in his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Delicious!"

"It is worthy of the ingredients selected by the Prince's Mansion, which is even more authentic than the sea bass I ate in the Huai River area!"

Zhou Yuan said with a smile as he chewed, directly ignoring Zhou Wuji's question.

The successive attacks were all resolved, and Zhou Wuji didn't want to say anything more, after all, the target was not too obvious, so he also learned from Zhou Yuan to pick up a piece of perch and put it in his mouth.

"Brother Xian's taste is indeed good."

"Elder brother praise."

Zhou Yuan replied lightly, and then continued to eat.

In fact, at today's banquet, he can find a reason to prevaricate like the four princes or other princes, and then ask for guilt in the future.

But the fourth prince can do this, but he Zhou Yuan cannot.

Zhou Yuan's eyes calmly swept over the ministers below who came to attend the banquet, many of them were regular guests who handed excerpts to His Majesty in the court meeting, and to some extent, they could be regarded as ministers of the humerus.

The fourth prince did not come because he had already relied on his mother's family to cultivate his own wave of power in the court, as long as he managed his own well, he didn't have to care about others.

But he couldn't. His mother's family couldn't give him any help, and he was obscure in his early years, except for the national teacher Yuan Pu, no one knew his talent, so even though he had made many contributions over the years and was quite favored, his power foundation was still weak.

For example, some ministers sitting below, he has more or less thrown out some olive branches, but few people have answered, probably because they don't want to enter this game so early, they are all weighing, and they all want to wait.

Therefore, he must seize every opportunity to show himself, so that these ministers can make up their minds as soon as possible.

In terms of foundation, the eldest prince is also somewhat similar to him, the latter has been away from the capital for six years, although the scenery is infinite at this time, but everyone knows that these ministers have only given him superficial respect, and it is still far from being able to gather them all into confidants.

So Zhou Yuan couldn't let go of this opportunity.

Outside the main courtyard, Xu Mu sat quietly in the warehouse, meditating silently, he also heard that the prince only came to Zhou Yuan today, and the reason for not coming was very simple, but why did Zhou Yuan come, after a little thought, he could think of it.

This mansion is the territory of the eldest prince, and the other princes dare not come, but he dares to come, which has already impressed the ministers in the field.

And Zhou Yuan, if he can resolve all kinds of difficulties of the eldest prince, and even make the eldest prince make a fool of himself, then today's royal birthday banquet will become the best time for him to show his wisdom and means to attract his ministers.

Zhou Wuji also thought of this, but he was extremely confident, because in his impression, Zhou Yuan was still the stupid brother who had not dried up and would only desert in class all day long. "This three-flavor blue crab in His Royal Highness's house is really exquisite, and it is exactly the same as the taste you can eat in the restaurant in the official's hometown." On both sides of the red carpet, a civil official with a high official position in the DPRK and Central China opened his mouth with a smile.

Then he stood up, took out a scroll from his sleeve, and said to the great prince on the high platform:

"This is a painting of the tiger in ink and wash collected by the official many years ago, and it is the authentic work of the talented man of the Tang Dynasty."

"The style of this painting is bold, the ink is chic, it is the so-called, carving the bow and shooting the tiger, the coconut grove slaying the dragon, such a mighty and domineering painting, the lower officials think that it is the most suitable for your Royal Highness who has returned triumphantly from the border pass."

A steward borrowed the painting from the official's hand, and then trotted all the way to present it to Zhou Wuji on the high platform.

"Hahaha, I will definitely treasure this painting given by Master Li!"

Zhou Wuji smiled from ear to ear, and even his cheeks were a little blushing, he opened the ink painting of the tiger, looked at it repeatedly, and then laughed a few times before putting the painting away.

Seeing this, the other officials glanced at each other, knowing that it was time, and they also began to offer gifts.

"This is the official from the order of the people from the far north of the region, a domain master stage of the Arctic snow bear of the inner dan, placed by the side has the effect of calming the nerves and dispelling the ferocity, hereby dedicated to His Highness."

"Okay, well, this prince has been marching for many years, and he will see the dead soldiers in his sleep for a long time, and it has become a difficult thing to fall asleep.

"Your Highness, this spirit stone is an ancient fossil excavated in Hainan, and it is at least three and two hundred thousand years old since the scholars of the court inferred."

"Okay, good, this thing is good, I like to collect some rare and ancient objects on weekdays, Lord Lin bothered."

"Your Highness, this spiritual artifact is called Thousand Faces, after you wear it, this object can automatically show the expression you want to make according to the fluctuations on your divine soul, which is very convenient."

"Okay, good, this thing is good."

"Your Highness......"

"Good good ......"

“……”

A long gift-giving session began, with more than 100 visitors, each of whom prepared a birthday gift with heart, covering all aspects of life, from ancient paintings and texts to rare stone weapons and seals.

And in this process, Zhou Yuan has been silently watching, he is watching the ministers who give gifts below, which ones are polite, and which ones are sincere.

After a long time, the dishes on the table were cold, and the last one was finished.

"Okay, this thing is good, I like this the most." Zhou Wuji said in a hoarse voice, with a stiff smile on his face, but in fact, he didn't even look at the thing and directly put it into the space law bag.

Li Zao, who was sitting in the audience, watched all this, and felt funny for the first time, all the people present were characters with heads and faces, and everyone presented gifts one by one, and Zhou Wuji naturally couldn't bear it.

"Your Royal Highness, the third prince hasn't sent it yet."

……