On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, on the 70th birthday of the Duke of Ding Pei Qiu, the sky is beautiful, the sun shines, and the dark clouds are all gone, sweeping away the haze for many days.

The sun shines on Luodu City after heavy snow, and it is shining with golden light, so dazzling, as if God is also congratulating his husband's birthday.

Before dawn, Jingzhao Mansion drove the soldiers and civilians to the streets of Luodu City to sweep the snow. When the people from all walks of life celebrated their birthdays went out, they saw that the road had been cleaned up. If it weren't for the snow on the side of the road, they would have thought that the heavy snow had never fallen.

At the time of Mao, when the gate of Peifang opened, the crowds of people coming to celebrate the birthday and give gifts rushed in. Although the Pei family only sent out 5,000 invitations, the officials, juniors, subordinates, and vassals who were not qualified to receive invitations not only would not fail, but would also have to come early, and try to show their faces to Pei family before the big guys showed up and say a few words of congratulations.

Fortunately, Pei Jiao had expected this situation long ago. Today, everyone was refused. He asked his clan members to invite these uninvited guests to the houses in the yard to cook fire and have tea according to the thickness, grade, and relationship. When the banquet started, their hearty banquet would naturally be indispensable.

It was almost time for Chen, and the guests who were holding the invitation began to come one after another. Even if these people couldn't enter the Yangshou Garden, they would set up seats in the courtyards in front and behind the Tiexue Hall. In fact, the treatment of Pei's thousands of guests was not as good as those who had not invited them. It was not that Pei's affairs were inconsistent, regardless of the importance of the matter, but that although the Tiexue Hall was large, there were only ancestral halls and side halls and other buildings, and most of them were not convenient to receive guests.

But what the guests value is that the closer they are to Yangshou Garden, the more they are, the more they are paid attention to, so no one has chosen this. Fortunately, Pei Val spent a lot of money this time and had already built large reed sheds in the front yard, back yard, side yard, and cross yard. The outside of the reed shed was covered with thick blankets, and there were braziers on each table inside. The braziers were burning and the inside was warm as spring. The guests sat in the shed to eat tea and chat, but their interest was not affected.

The sound of people in Peifang was buzzing and rushing in the sky. Thousands of servants carried hot pots and fruit trays, shuttled through the guest rooms, serving tea and water. It was rare for the guests to get together. Friends and relatives sat together and asked questions, shouted and shouted, and the "smart ghosts" who took the opportunity to get involved in the seats, and they were clamoring for horses. The morning blinked and noon was coming.

But Pei still had no intention of opening the seat, because the real guest and guest had not arrived yet.

It’s okay for the guests who came to the door to the door to hold the post. The uninvited guests have been waiting for at least two or three hours. They just drink tea and are not full. They are all like thunder, and they are so hungry that they are dizzy, but they can only stagger and suffer.

.

At the end of the Si hour, the valve owners finally left.

Cui Yan also slowly walked out of Minglun Hall with the help of Cui Pingzhi. Standing in front of the carriage, Lao Lingjun tightened the fox fur cloak on his body, as if he was casually scanning the surroundings, and his face slightly darkened.

"Where is your second brother?"

While helping Cui Yan get into the car, Cui Pingzhi replied softly: "My second brother and sister-in-law have already gone there first. After all, he is Pei's son-in-law, so he has to help with the arrangement."

"It's just an excuse." Cui Yan snorted coldly, "Ding Xingwang from the Pei family, how can he get involved?"

Cui Pingzhi smiled bitterly, since you hope your second brother is by your side, do you just tell him? You ignore him all day long, but you are provoking him again. But he dared not be mean to be a slut in front of his old father. When his father sat in the carriage, Cui Pingzhi quickly ordered to set off and then changed the topic.

"Father, I'm afraid there is no good banquet today." Cui Pingzhi whispered: "With the old teacher's temper, I'm probably going to take the opportunity to give you ugly things."

"Haha..." Cui Yan also smiled bitterly and nodded, "I'm so embarrassed by Lu Xin's son. I really have to be careful this time."

"Yes, I see that Lu Xin took the initiative to help deliver the food, so he was not kind." Cui Pingzhishen agreed and said: "It must have been connected with the guard valves for a long time and wanted to pull us into the water, causing the illusion of the three valves advancing and retreating together."

Originally, Lu Xin patted his chest and promised that the matter would be absolutely confidential. No one knew that Cui Val's 500,000 stones of grain were given by himself. But a few days after Cui Valve handed over the grain, it spread in the capital, saying that the land valve helped Cui Valve and the guard valve to release the grain. The three families must have been mixed together, otherwise why would the land valve be the sucker?

However, Cui Yan received the benefits of others and could not pick up the bowl to eat. He put down his chopsticks to curse his mother. He could only let the rumors spread throughout the city, but he could not defend himself. As a result, the old teacher did not give Cui Yan a good face, and he rejected the decision of the Shangshu Province several times, which severely slapped Lao Lingjun's face.

"From Lu Xin's standpoint, it's understandable that this is not wrong." Cui Yan said openly, "And you should have understood at the beginning that he was dedicated to nothing, so he would be either a traitor or a thief." After a pause, Lao Lingjun changed the subject and said, "However, I lost some face in exchange for 500,000 stones of food. Who dares to say that my face, Cui Yan, is worthless? Then I would like to give me 500,000 stones of water to give me 500,000 stones."

"Haha..." Cui Pingzhi was amused by his father's funny words. Only then did he believe that Cui Yan really didn't take this matter to heart. "This is called "no desire to be strong."

"Yes, our Cui family does not have the ambition to be king and dominate. On the contrary, if anyone wants to be king and dominate, they cannot do without our Cui family." Cui Yan was very satisfied with his son's understanding and nodded slightly, "As long as we figured out this, we don't need to be too wronged. Could it be that I will give up the Secretariat to me as a slave to Xiahou Ba, and would he give up the Secretariat to me?"

"Father wants Xiahou Ba to see clearly that I, Cui family, can only be an ally, not a slave?" Cui Pingzhi's heart became more and more enlightened.

"It's not all." Cui Yan shook his head slowly and said Youyou: "I'm not in harmony with the Grand Master these days, but I actually intend to distance myself from the Xiahou family."

"Oh?" Cui Pingzhi looked at Cui Yan in horror. He had only thought that his father would cry and had milk for the child. He deliberately used this method to make the Xiahou Valve pay more attention to Cui Valve. However, he did not expect that the old master of the Valve had such thoughts.

"Don't my father be optimistic about the Xiahou clan?"

"Of course not." Cui Yan shook his head and said, "It's just that the son of a thousand gold cannot sit in the hall. Seeing that His Majesty and the old teacher are in power, the scene eleven years ago will have to be repeated in the future. I have been thinking about it for a long time. This time, it's better for our Cui family to watch it on the wall."

"The boy doesn't understand very much." Cui Pingzhi frowned and said, "Why did my father form an alliance with Xiahou Ba last time, but this time..."
Chapter completed!