This time, the governors of various states were not allowed to come to Liangzhou in person to pay their respects, and only the officials directly under Liangzhou went to the banquet.

Despite this, the large conference hall was almost filled with small cases.

It seems that there are not many military attachés, and there is not a single low-level military attaché, so Hu Xiao'er is not in the list.

Mu Changzhou was naturally still the first seat on the left, and the attendant bowed and invited him to take a seat.

Shun Yin followed Mu Changzhou into the seat, and still sat on his left, looking at the empty top, above which there was a rounded and upturned curly beard case, with a soft cushion behind the case, and two tables wrapped in white fox skin.

"Looks like the Steward has shown up." Mu Changzhou whispered in her right ear.

Shun Yin nodded slightly, and glanced at the hall, although the other officials were talking and laughing, there were also many who were secretly looking up, which showed that other people were also very concerned about the current situation of the manager.

The maids came in to deliver the first round of wine and food, and as soon as the small case in front of them was full, two laughs came from outside the hall door, and Liu walked in.

A large group of maids took the lead in opening the way, Liu was dressed in a red beard robe, embroidered with gold leaf patterns on the blue background of the collar, combed his hair in a bun, wore a gold crown, and a gold jewelry chain fell around his neck.

"Today is the birthday celebration of the chief manager in advance, everyone is here, you might as well raise a glass and drink first." She held up the wine cup, and fine smile lines appeared in the corners of her eyes.

But there were officials who didn't have long eyes who got up first and saluted: "Don't dare to drink first, I am willing to pay tribute to the governor first." ”

As soon as these words came out, the other officials immediately shouted: "I wish to pay homage to the governor first!" ”

Shun Yin looked to the side, Mu Changzhou sat silent, I don't know if it was his intentional arrangement, at least she couldn't see it.

Yu Guang caught a glimpse of Zhang Junfeng sitting behind a small case in the back, and he didn't know when he arrived. Looking at the opposite side, Lu Yu's father and daughter were sitting in the corner again, and they were almost close to the door. It's just that everyone's eyes are facing upwards at the moment.

Liu put down the wine cup and laughed again: "That's nature." The head disease of the manager has been an old problem for many years, and as you know, it has worsened in the recent winter, but fortunately, it has improved. Then he commanded to his side, "Go and invite the chief steward to him." ”

A group of maids brushed away, and several more maids walked in, adding five or six more lamps on both sides of the upper seat, and suddenly the whole hall was as bright as day.

There was silence in the hall for a moment, and soon the footsteps came, and two elite soldiers of the palace came one after the other with their shoulders open, walked into the hall, and did not stop until they reached the first seat.

The departing maids followed, supporting the people on their shoulders.

Shun Yin glanced at it, the figure on her side moved, and she got up, and she immediately stood up.

Everyone immediately stood up and saluted in unison.

On the shoulders sat the steward, dressed in a purple and gold robe, with a golden crown on his head, who was lifted up by the maids and sent to the upper seat.

It wasn't until he was helped to sit down, put his arm on the white fox skin, leaned on it steadily, and raised his right hand lightly, that everyone shouted in unison: "I wish the chief steward Qingsong is not old, and he will sow Hexi!" ”

Liu said with a smile: "Okay, sit down, all of you are Liangzhou officials, this birthday banquet is comparable to a family banquet, why should it be so regular, good things can be said slowly." ”

The manager also waved his hand slightly, and everyone suddenly sat down.

The hall seemed to be much more relaxed, and the attendants led a group of orchids to pour in, sit cross-legged in the corner of the hall, and began to play music.

Liu Shi turned sideways above to serve tea to the chief manager, smiling unabated, festive.

Shun Yin took the opportunity to quietly look at the manager, he hadn't seen her for a few months, and there seemed to be a lot of lines on her rough face, although she didn't wear a cloth towel on her forehead, her face seemed to be the same, but her cheeks were sunken, the corners of her mouth were heavy, and her fatigue was obvious.

She looked at the few more lights next to the first seat, but she was afraid that the lights were too bright, so she swept away the darkness on his face, and quickly glanced at Liu, maybe the situation is not so good, but the birthday banquet always has to let the chief manager show up, in order to calm people's hearts.

Liu Shi served the tea, turned his head and raised the wine cup himself: "The chief manager is still using medicine, it is not appropriate to drink, so everyone should not toast politely today." ”

A few of the older civil servants sat on the right, and in a respectful manner they exchanged their wine for tea, and each took the lead in saying a few words of congratulations.

Liu Shi held the wine cup and looked to the left: "The military secretary sits in the first seat, why didn't he say a word at this time?" ”

Shunyin immediately glanced to the side.

Mu Changzhou raised his hand, facing upward, unhurriedly: "The head manager's head is getting better, so he will hold a banquet to entertain the officials, he is tired, and he feels ashamed, if the chief manager is not well, it is better to stop the banquet in advance and rest." ”

Shun Yin lowered her head and frowned beside her, and she didn't even touch a sip of wine until now, as if she was outside the banquet, but she heard it clearly, Mu Changzhou's fluttering sentence seemed to be concerned, but in fact, he was advancing by retreating.

I don't know what the arrangements are for this birthday banquet, so it's better to let it stop in advance.

Liu Shi also seemed to pause, and then said: "What the military secretary said is that the chief manager needs to rest well, but the banquet must always have a beginning and an end, at least it should be drunk for three rounds, and besides, everyone has given a generous birthday salute, and you should also accept the return gift." With that, she said two words behind her.

As if it had been prepared in the morning, the attendants walked in, and several people held scrolls one by one, which were taken by the attendants in front of them, and handed them to the guests present.

Liu said above: "This is a return gift prepared by the military secretary's wife, you can collect it well." ”

Shun Yin heard that something was wrong, she had no choice at all in the governor's mansion, but she was said as if she was very autonomous.

Just as the scroll had been sent to the front of the case, Mu Changzhou took it and glanced at her.

She recognized it with just one glance at the scroll, and almost imperceptibly moved her lower lip: Portrait.

Mu Changzhou suddenly looked at him.

Shun Yin grabbed the hem of his clothes with one hand, those portraits were not suitable for use as a return gift, and the governor's office never said that he would use it as a return gift, only that he would choose a good painting to keep it.

In the court, there was an old practice of giving the imperial statue to the collection of heroes during the banquet. This portrait can be given to officials at any time, but it cannot be given during the banquet, otherwise no matter how you look at it, you are deliberately imitating the royal family, and you have a heart to transgress.

I never thought that the Governor's Office would dare to do such a thing, but it became her responsibility.

In just a moment, Mu Changzhou eased his face, held the scroll in one hand, pressed it to his side, and didn't say anything.

How can everyone open the ceremony in public, and when they saw the military secretary pressing, they also pressed it one after another, but they didn't open it, and they didn't know the details of the inside, maybe they thought it was some kind of celebrity calligraphy and painting, and thanked the top one after another.

Shun Yin pursed her lips tightly, glanced at the top quickly, her mind quickly turned, it was not difficult to suppress this matter among the officials, but the difficult thing was to figure out her plot to make this move.

Liu didn't even urge everyone to take a look, suddenly laughed twice, and turned his head to the general pipe: "I almost forgot about a major event, the family members of the officials also prepared a birthday gift for the chief, if it is a good gift, the chief should be a generous reward." ”

The manager has not touched the tea or water until now, and he has sat on a few seats, like a sitting statue, and seems to have worked hard before nodding, and squeezed out a word in his mouth: "Good ......"

Liu slapped his hands abruptly.

Outside the door of the hall, two maids walked in, holding a thick silk roll one by one, and bowed upwards to salute.

Liu smiled and looked down: "See for yourself, this is the birthday gift you have been embroidering for several days?" ”

Sihu's wife who joined the army replied with a smile: "Exactly, I wish the chief manager a long life!" ”

The other ladies also chimed in and bowed to the top in unison.

Liu said: "I have been busy taking care of the chief manager during that time, and I have no time to stare at it, and I don't know what is inside, so quickly unfold it and let the chief manager see what is embroidered." ”

Shun Yin suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart, and stared at that place tightly.

The fine silk was immediately unfolded, and the maid's movements were even soft, and one of them held one end on the left, and the other walked out slowly, pulling the other end to unfold, and gradually pulling out a wide and long piece of complete silk cloth.

There was a sudden silence in the hall, and everyone's faces changed suddenly.

Shun Yin stared at the silk cloth, the fingers holding the hem of the clothes were already stiff, and the back was cold.

It was embroidered with a thin neck and round belly, and the whole body was pale with a beast pattern, but it was not a beast if you looked closely, but a simple dragon pattern - the head was like a horse, the dragon's horns were like a mane, scaleless and short, like a beast, with sharp claws and a forked tail.

But there is a difference, there is a string of characters around that place, which is Hu, which seems to have Turkic, Tubo, and Uighur scripts, and even other unrecognizable characters of the Hu people in the surrounding area, but there is no Chinese script.

Not only that, but the dragon also had a round sun on its back, and a crescent moon on the other side.

In the country, only the Son of Heaven can use the dragon pattern, even if it is just an uncommon and simple dragon pattern, it is also a dragon, and it represents the Son of Heaven.

What's more, the sun and the moon are also added, which has the meaning of riding the sun and rising the dragon and looking up to the mountains and rivers.

This is a dragon flag, a dragon flag with Hu Wen added.

As long as the hall saw its meaning, their faces were panicked, and they didn't dare to say anything if they didn't see it, and it was so quiet that they could hear the sound of falling dust.

The chief manager above suddenly gasped, stretched out his hand to point at the dragon flag, and turned his head at Liu, as if he didn't expect to say something, but he didn't say it, and the sound in his throat was like crushing through the coarse sand.

Liu Shi looked straight down, and suddenly shouted: "What a big gut!" ”

The orchids who played the music hurriedly retreated.

The ladies and dependents came out of the line and fell to their knees.

"Madame Steward, this ...... It's none of our business! ”

"I'm just doing what the governor's office tells us to do......" someone even cried.

When they embroidered, they had no head or claws, and they didn't know what it was before they were connected, they just obeyed orders, not to mention who would have thought that He Shou's embroidery would make them embroider this, wouldn't it be self-defeating?

Liu Shi said angrily: "Fang Cai has been identified by your own eyes, this is what you embroidered with your own hands!" I'm not always around, can I still teach you to embroider? ”

The ladies were suddenly silent and did not dare to say more.

The audience was even more shocked, and even the officials couldn't sit still.

Shun Yin felt more and more that something was wrong, and her eyes turned to the side.

Mu Changzhou didn't move beside her, but he seemed to have a feeling for her, and he glanced at her, and the hand on his knee was clenched into a fist.

"Humph!" Liu snorted heavily, suddenly sat up straight again, and restrained his anger, "That's it, you are all here to help, now that this has happened, if you shake it out, no one can get rid of it, and the people of us here are already both prosperous and loss-oriented." She waved her hand twice, "I just put it away as if I didn't see it." ”

The maid hurriedly collected the fine silk scroll.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but they trembled even more, but became more silent.

Liu Shi suddenly looked at the first seat on the left: "When I ask you to help, I am not here, and the military secretary is the leader." You came from Chang'an, and you have recorded what you have seen and heard, and you have a wide range of knowledge, you can't know the meaning of this dragon pattern, how can you let them embroider so indiscriminately? She shook her head and sighed, "Now that everyone has violated the ban, the officials are the only ones who are the first to look at the army, and the women are the only ones who are the first to look at the horses, and I can only pretend that I didn't see it, and I have revealed it." ”

The words can be described as reasonable, well-founded and considerate.

Shunyin instantly understood everything.

No wonder they didn't make any moves, it was really just like asking them to help, it turned out to be for this moment, in order to drag everyone into the water.

Now everyone present has been made a forbidden person, but the Liu family has put the blame on her, and naturally Mu Changzhou is also involved.

There was a "bang", and I don't know whose wine cup was overturned, and it was very clear.

Shun Yin raised her eyes and saw that it was Lu Zhengnian sitting in the corner, she looked at herself with a white face, and Lu Zhen also looked over on the side, already stunned.

"Someone." Mu Changzhou suddenly spoke.

He hadn't spoken until now, and as soon as he opened his mouth, everyone immediately looked at him, and the Liu family above also turned his gaze, his eyes sharp.

Mu Changzhou said: "Burn that dragon flag." ”

Liu frowned: "What does the military secretary mean?" ”

Mu Changzhou sat upright and didn't move: "Since the wife of the chief manager said that if she didn't see it, she should naturally burn it, otherwise he will shake it out every day, won't it really become a glory and a loss?" After speaking, he looked at the manager, "The manager is shou, no one should want to break the ban." ”

The manager kept a straight face, raised his hand, and gasped, not knowing whether he was angry or shocked, but he didn't speak.

The officials whispered: "Yes, yes, please ask the lady of the chief steward to burn this thing......"

Liu suddenly said: "Yes, the military secretary must protect your wife's reputation." ”

Shun Yin moved, and the hand on his side was held down by Mu Changzhou.

He got up and said again: "It's burned." ”