Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 113 Family Dinner
Fengwei Building.

There was a gentle breeze in the small pavilion, and Daxi Yingying asked: "Can I see your lord?"

Du Jin raised her gaze from the blueprint, looked at her plump and fair place, and said calmly, "He's busy, so it's the same to tell me what you have to do."

"After this incident, I'm afraid the Prime Minister will never believe me again."

"Then you can call it 'Ge Nu' from now on."

"Erniang means that the servants don't have to go to the Right Prime Minister's Mansion anymore?"

"That's right." Du Jin said, "Since you have obtained the body contract, you can work for us with peace of mind in the future."

"Right... brother slave is narrow-minded, if revenge occurs, how should he deal with it?"

"Because you?"

"My family is worried about Mr. Lang."

"It's not your turn to worry. With our current strength, how dare brother slave take revenge so easily?"

Daxi Yingying's eyes lit up and asked, "Our strength?"

"At least it is stronger than your longevity king."

"What Erniang said is true." Daxi Yingying couldn't help smiling, as if she was seducing Du Jin.

Du Jin frowned slightly, and said, "I won't be here for two or three days, so come and take care of Fengweilou...do you know what I'm referring to?"

Daxi Yingying thought about it, and asked softly: "But the dark pavilion? The second mother can leave it to the slave family at ease."

"Don't suspect people, don't doubt people." Du Jin said: "This place was originally your gambling house, you know what to do. Xue Lang is most concerned about the matter of Shibao City."

"Here."

Daxi Yingying Wanfu stepped back, walked out of the small pavilion, and looked up at the blue sky, feeling both free and unaccustomed.

She has been led around all her life, but now that she has changed masters, she feels uneasy without the shackles around her neck, as if something is missing and has not been fully filled.

But this feeling is actually not bad, she thought, Xue Bai must not fully trust herself, and is still investigating.

~~
After Du Jin arranged the trivial matters, she went to the accounting room, opened the door and entered.

"go?"

"En." Du Jin put away the ledger, got up, took Du Jin's hand, and walked to the stable together.

There is a family banquet today, Xue Bai will also come to Du's house, they plan to go back earlier.

"The skill of cooking has gradually spread, so I simply spread out all the branches. According to Xue Bai's intention, all the money in my hand can be invested, and the money will come back after it is gone."

"Okay, I've sorted it out, and it's fine to pay anytime."

"Grandpa has only held vacant positions for many years. Now that he is a practical officer, there will inevitably be mistakes. You and I should pay more attention."

When talking about these serious matters, Du Jin is more like a sister... It should be said that she is more like a superior, and the tone is always arranged by her.

Du Yu has a gentle temperament and doesn't care about these things. She always responds nicely every time and takes care of the things arranged by her sister.

When the two got into the carriage, Du Jin was silent for a while, and asked in a low voice, "Tonight?"

"Don't talk about it." Du Yan was slightly flustered, and said softly, "I made such a ridiculous thing when I was drunk. Since you covered it up for me, why bother to bring it up again?"

"Is that my fault?"

"I'm useless myself, how can I blame you."

Du Jin asked: "I can't remarry anyway, it's okay. Sis is covering up like this, but are you going to remarry?"

Du Yi was taken aback, and shook his head.

"I have already decided not to marry."

The carriage slowly drove into Du's house, but Du Wulang was already waiting at the side door.

Du Jin got out of the car slowly and boarded. Seeing his brother's stupid appearance, she randomly found a reason to teach him a lesson, pointed to the magpie droppings under the eaves, and said, "Why don't you make all these bird nests at home and still stand under them? stay?"

"Second Sister, can you not train me all day long? I have drank with Guozi Jijiu before."

"Even if you have worshiped the saint, you are also my younger brother."

Du Wulang couldn't bear to talk to them, waved them in, and volunteered to welcome guests at the side door.

Today was just a family banquet, even Du Fu was not invited, but Xue Bai's family was invited instead.

After a while, someone came on horseback. They were Du Xixi's two sons in Chang'an, Du Wei and Du You.

Du Wei is in his early 20s, handsome, gentle and easy to get along with; Du You is only 12 years old this year, smart and smart.

"Uncle." Du Wulang first saluted Du, and then to the younger Du You, and said, "Fifth Uncle."

"Good boy, Goro."

Du You smiled, stood on tiptoe, and raised his hand to touch Du Wulang's head.

Du Wulang giggled, turned his head and said, "Uncle, when will we get married?"

"Soon." Du Wei couldn't help but smile when he mentioned Li Shiniang, "When you come to watch the ceremony, don't forget to bring your friend Xue Lang with you."

"Xue Bai and you are two kinds of people." Du Wulang muttered.

Not long after, Xue's family also came. Xue Bai and his brothers rode in front of the horse. Du Wulang went out to meet him without looking at them, and went straight to the side of the carriage to meet Liu Xiangjun.

"My aunt is here, and Auntie is always talking about you. Among the famous families in Hedong, you are the best friend she has in Chang'an..."

~~
Although no one introduced him, Xue Bai quickly greeted Du Wei.

"But Xue Lang, who has become famous recently?"

"I don't dare to take it, it must be Brother Du?"

"I'm a generation taller than Du Quan." Du Wei said with a smile, very kindly.

Xue Bai also laughed, and said, "I am talking about friendship with Zimei."

"Then let's talk about it separately." Du Wei said, "I've heard about it, maybe you and I can be brothers-in-law."

Xue Bai waved his hand.

If he doesn't go back, he has reached the point where he is now, and it is unlikely that he will marry Li Linfu's daughter again.

The reason why he is still in contact with Li Tengkong is that she is Zong Xiaoxian and maintains that friendship. If there is a disaster in the Li family in the future, he will always have to return her a lot of favors.Instead, he married her, fearing that he would be buried with the Li family.

This idea definitely doesn't make sense with Du Wei.

They quickly changed the subject, first talking about mutual friends.

After the banquet, after a few drinks, we talked about Du Wei's friends who are famous all over the world.

"Liu Changqing, Brother Wenfang was whom I met when I was traveling in Luoyang. At that time he uttered wild words at the literary conference, calling himself the 'Great Wall of Five Characters'. No one convinced him. I fought fifteen poems with him, and I was convinced. It was also he who said that his house in Luoyang was empty and that he would let me travel with my wife;"

"Cui Hao, Brother Cui is a student of my father, and I am also a teacher and a friend. He was similar to Xue Lang when he was young. He was a handsome young man with a good demeanor. He was a Jinshi at the age of 19, and even Li Bai said, "There is no way to see the scenery in front of you. Cui Hao’s poems are on the top’, which shows his talent;”

"Cen Shen, brother Cen and I have known each other for three years in Tianbao. At that time, he went to Chang'an to take the imperial examination, and passed the Jinshi. He stayed in the election for three years. This spring, he finally got the official status..."

Xue Bai couldn't help asking: "Brother Cen is still in Chang'an?"

"Yes." Du Wei said: "He will come when I get married. Can Xue Lang come?"

"Go to the meeting yourself."

"I have a good friend who also came to Chang'an recently. Although he is not well-known in poetry, he has a similar temperament to Xue Lang. You will definitely be able to chat. He once had a long discussion with me about the method of salting, and he was full of praise for it."

"I don't know who?"

"Yuan Zai Yuan Gongfu, he was born in a poor family. In his early years, he and the daughter of the famous general Wang Zhongsi admired each other. Miss Wang resolutely eloped with him regardless of her family's opposition, and followed him to Chang'an for the imperial examination. Negative beauty. Now that the term of office has expired, I will return to Chang'an to stand for the election."

~~
I don't usually feel how important family status is, but it can be seen by comparing Du Wei and Xue Bai at this time.

Du Wei was able to defend the border with his father when he was young, and gained experience in the Chinese army.It should be noted that if 99 out of [-] soldiers die in battle, the remaining one will not get such an opportunity.

In terms of literature, even Cui Hao was a disciple of Du Hope, and Wang Wei also treated Du Hope with respect as a teacher. Du had studied literature with these people since childhood.But Du Xiong hopes to live in the third rank of the official, and he has made great military achievements, so he can shade the second son of the official.

Du Wei has acquainted with the world's outstanding personal connections, Xue Bai is far from it now.

The two drank another glass of wine.

Xue Bai asked: "How is the relationship between Brother Du and the right minister?"

Du Wei shook his head and said, "It has nothing to do with her grandfather that I marry Fourteenth Niang."

When Xue Bai looked down, he happened to see 12-year-old Du You drinking the sweet-scented osmanthus dew, shaking his head and curling his lips, as if to say, "Brother is really ignorant".

After that, the little guy and Xue Bai looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

……

This family banquet is to celebrate Du Youlin's return to office.Before the evening drum sounded, Du Wei congratulated Du Youlin with a drink, presented a little poem, and took Du You to leave home.

This is to enhance the relationship between relatives.

However, relationships and positions influence each other.After Du Wei left, Du Youlin talked to Xue Bai about serious matters.

"Now that I have sued, Mr. Pei is planning for me to be a member of the household department, Wailang. He wants to check the accounts of the past years. He thinks that Wang Yu must have embezzled taxes."

"There must be embezzlement, but if the amount is not large, it is meaningless." Xue Bai said: "The sage should allow them to have greed within a certain range."

Du Youlin said: "Do you know which censor the uncle asked to do this with me?"

"Yang Zhao?"

"That's right." Du Youlin frowned, "This spit pot sticks to Uncle Guo like a dog's skin plaster."

"Just gained real power, and there is no one available under him, so it is normal to appoint relatives."

Xue Bai knew that with Du Youlin's temperament, he might suffer some disadvantages if he worked with Yang Zhao on business together.But it's okay, it's better to learn a lesson now than to fall into a big somersault later.

There is no need to express dissatisfaction with his cousin in front of Yang Zhen.

"Yang Zhao has only a little use. He is familiar with Ge Nu and Wang Hao." Du Youlin said, "He said that the cost of Wang Hao's new house is unimaginable, but it actually cost more than tens of thousands."

"The annual rent of Datang is only about two million guan, right?"

"Yeah, let's not talk about anything else, just talk about the Ziyu Pavilion in the royal residence. Yang Zhao saw it with his own eyes and said that it was made by skilled craftsmen in the Western Regions. It cannot be imitated by others, and the cost is higher than the Qingliang Palace of the saint."

Speaking of this, Du Youlin leaned over, and said again: "You must know that when the sage built the Qingliang Palace, Chen Suiyi even tried to dissuade the people and waste money. You said, from this matter, investigate the king's iron?"

Xue Bai shook his head.

Du Youlin was taken aback, and asked, "Why?"

"Uncle just got the official status, and he didn't even know all the people in the household department. Yang Zhao gave such news. When did he try his best to do things?"

"This……"

"To defeat political opponents, the most important thing is the timing. If a sage wants to change people and someone can replace Wang Yu and Ge Nu, one sentence is enough. Now that Yang and Pei are not stable, why should they take the place? Uncle came to the Ministry of Households Also, standing firm is the key.”

Du Youlin nodded endlessly, and said, "Sure enough, I was almost killed by that idiot, Spit Pot."

Xue Bai wrote down the incident from Yuting, secretly thinking that Brother Nu and Wang Hao had controlled the government for many years, and the skilled craftsmen in Chang'an must also be under their control.

~~
It's mid-April, and the moon is getting fatter.

A civet cat Hua jumped out from among the trees, rolled over in front of Du Wulang, and started licking its paws, attracting several children of Xue's family to look at it.

Lu Fengniang and Liu Xiangjun huddled together and gossiped.

Du Jin supported her head, and sat on the sidelines listening to her grandpa and Xue Bai talking, and only she dared to listen. Du Jin was quiet all night, drinking a few glasses of wine by herself, her face flushed slightly.

A family feast was coming to an end, and Qing Lan was going to the carriage to move the bedding, planning to spread it on the common room next to Xue Bai's room.

But she was pulled by Caiyun, and the two girls whispered a few words.

"Really? Then Xue Langjun and you..."

"No, but we are progressing very fast."

"How fast."

"I won't tell you."

After listening to Du Jin's arrangement, she casually said: "In order not to lay out the mattress, Qinglan and Caiyun will be in the same room tonight."

"Okay." Caiyun was very happy, pulled Qing Lan and said: "We just have a chat."

"Oh."

Tomorrow, we will go out for an outing in the city. After the banquet, everyone will go back to their houses.

When walking around from the back garden to the west veranda, while no one was paying attention, Du Jin pulled Xue Bai past him, and the two shrank into the shadows at the corner and kissed deeply.

"I'll come over at night."

"Okay, I'll send Goro to the West Wing."

"Ah."

Back in the house, Qing Lan didn't forget to change Xue Bai's clothes first, which made him feel a little funny.

"I'll still change my clothes myself."

"Then I have to do my duty too. I'll leave after my husband lies down."

"By the way, I've started to take care of the matter of exempting you from naturalization and becoming a good citizen. Is your ancestral home in Longyou Anding?"

Qing Lan nodded, looked at Xue Bai, her mind was full of concubines.

"Then think about it carefully and write to me any relatives you might find."

"There are no relatives."

"It's okay, I will check, and you can think about it slowly."

"Your Majesty treats me very well."

"go to sleep."

Seeing Qing Lan go away, Xue Bai suddenly felt that this situation was somewhat familiar, it happened the night before moving out of Du's house.

……

After sleeping until late at night, Xue Bai woke up suddenly.

Before Du Jin came over, he turned over in a daze, and smelled a faint fragrance from the tip of his nose.

"Why don't you come in?"

He grumbled, stretched out his hand outside the curtain, and a catkin held his hand.

Gently pulling, she came in obediently, with the fragrance after bathing on her body.

Xue Bai then hugged her into his arms, it was soft and soft, considerate and comfortable.

The weather tonight is just right, neither hot nor cold, the skin touches each other, dry and delicate.

Under her cloak is a long spring dress...

~~
In mid-April, the peach blossoms are almost gone, like late spring shed its bright long skirt.

Begonias are in full bloom.

The most plump crabapple in Du's family is Four Seasons crabapple, which is redder than apricot flower and pinker than peach pollen, which is pleasing to the eye.

At night in late spring and early summer, the budding petals finally opened, swaying with the breeze, and a faint fragrance drifted through.

After the wind blows, the flower branches are high again, more scorching and brighter.

~~
In this season of budding affection, the cat meowed.

The moon seemed to hear it, and buried itself shyly in the clouds.

The night grew darker.

There was a creaking sound in the room, as if the windows were shaking.

Someone couldn't hold it back, gritted his silver teeth and let out a long sigh from his nasal cavity.

Suddenly, Xue Bai whispered in her ear: "Niang Niang?"

"Wow!"

"..."

The moon came out from the clouds again, and the faint light illuminated the silhouettes of the people in the house on the wall.

The beautiful shadow who was sitting suddenly fell down, trembling uncontrollably.

Xue Bai felt the subtle difference, and called out again.

"Niang Niang."

"..."

The clouds turned and rolled, and one cloud overwhelmed another, wrapping the moon again.

~~
There is no one in the deep courtyard, and the spring night is long, and the bees and swallows are busy.Begonia is very delicate and shy, relying on the east wind to remind her to make up.

~~
The next day, dawn.

Xue Bai opened his eyes, he was the only one in the room with a faint fragrance.

The Du's courtyard is busy, and everyone is still preparing to go for an outing.

He stood on the porch, dazed for a while, and saw the Du sisters walking out of the backyard arm in arm.

Du Jin yawned, and after that, Du Jin yawned too.

This scene is very similar to a certain day some time ago, but now the relationship between the three seems to be more different.

……

Under the corridor of the main house, Du Youlin and Lu Fengniang came out, saw Xue Bai, and sighed with some regret.

"Such a good man, my natal family still doesn't like him?"

"Pity."

(End of this chapter)