After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 1127: Wedding Banquet at Bo's Mansion
After learning what his wife Zhuang Minyi was worried about, Haijiao comforted her with a few words. Seeing that she was still a little worried, he secretly made up his mind.

He took the initiative to find his fellow apprentice Wu Ke, to help Wu Ke with the guest list and seating arrangements for the wedding banquet.

Wu Ke only has one cousin, Wu Qiong, who has been living in the Cining Palace. Although she can help arrange the wedding banquet, she can only do so in a limited way. Most of the work for Wu Ke's wedding banquet still has to be planned by the elders of the Zhou family in the Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion. Of course, Wu Ke himself also has to be more attentive. After all, he is the host and the protagonist of the wedding banquet, and it is impossible for him to entrust everything to his relatives. It's just that Wu Ke doesn't have much experience in this area, and when there are too many things to do, he will inevitably get overwhelmed. At this time, Haijiao can take the initiative to help him, even if it is just to help with ideas on the arrangement of guests, it can also relieve him of a lot of burdens. Wu Ke is grateful in his heart, and feels more and more that Haijiao is his lifelong friend and someone he can trust.

Not to mention how their friendship became deeper and deeper, with Haijiao's involvement, when the Wu family of Cheng'enbo Mansion held a wedding banquet, Zhuang Minyi, who was invited to attend the banquet, found that the guests sitting at the same table with her and around her were basically people she knew, most of them were relatives of Wu's family, and the few unfamiliar ones were also people she had met at the Zhou family's wedding banquet, and they were gentle and could talk to her. When she saw this situation, she immediately relaxed and no longer worried about making a fool of herself in front of others.

Ma was also in a good mood. She met many old acquaintances at the wedding banquet, and unexpectedly saw Liu Keren, an old acquaintance from Suzhou who she had not seen for many years, and his wife and daughter.

Liu Keren had just reported to the capital and had received a new appointment. He would go to Datong soon. He had been suppressed by the Sun family for many years and had not been able to get promoted or leave the border town. He was looking forward to the day when he could return to the capital. Although he was not able to officially take up a post in the capital, he had at least returned to his hometown after many years with his family. This was considered as what he had wished for. Besides, the position in Datong had great development potential. As long as he performed his duties faithfully and accumulated more merits, he would be transferred back to the capital sooner or later. After returning to the capital, he had been living in the post house and had never returned to the Liu family's house. He only went to sweep the graves of his deceased relatives and pay homage to his innocent and tragically dead sister, Concubine Liu Shufei, and his nephew, the fifth prince. As for those clansmen who turned their backs on him, he was too lazy to pay attention to them. When he was suffering, they only knew to stay in the capital and survive; then when he turned over a new leaf, they had no reason to follow him. Let them continue to stay in the old house and be turtles. It has nothing to do with him anyway!

Liu Keren knew that he could not rely on his relatives, but even though the Sun family had fallen and no one was suppressing him anymore, he was transferred back to the Central Plains. However, if he wanted to make further progress in his career, he could not do it alone. He needed new backers and connections to ensure that if he made achievements in the future, others would not take away his chance of promotion.

He set his sights on the old students of Wumen. Although he was not a student of Wumen who was exiled to the northwestern border city, he had served as an official in Suzhou for many years and had dealt with the exiled old students of Wumen for many years. When he was first exiled to Suzhou, because he was young and unaccustomed to everything, he had to be taught by several old students of Wumen, and learned from them how to deal with people and write documents in the border city. Those old students of Wumen had long left the border city and returned to the capital, and he had not seen them for many years. But now, he took the initiative to visit them and picked up this network again.

Through these Wu family members, he successfully obtained an invitation to the wedding banquet of Wu Ke, the Marquis of Cheng'en, and became a guest of honor in the Marquis's mansion. Even though his adopted sister, Concubine Liu Shufei, had an ordinary relationship with Empress Wu, there was no conflict between them, and it was a normal relationship between empresses and concubines. Concubine Liu Shufei was a polite person and would never offend the empress by relying on her favor - of course, she didn't have the capital. With this indifferent relationship, he put forward the banner of "being a victim of the Sun family" and easily got in touch with Wu Ke, the Marquis of Cheng'en.

Liu Keren didn't know how far this shallow new network could support him, but now he was no longer the poor guy trapped in the border town. The throne changed, the Sun family fell, the Zhou family revived... There was a bright future waiting for him!

Ma met old friends again at the banquet, and asked Liu Keren's wife about the recent situation of many old acquaintances. She was even happier to learn that her former maid Jin Guo had married and lived a happy life, had just given birth to her third child last year, and her eldest son had already started learning horse riding and archery. She made an appointment with Mrs. Liu to meet again another day, and also asked her to talk to other wives and daughters of Wumen's old students. She also knew that the Liu family wanted to make more connections in Beijing, so she wanted to help them.

Even if the Liu family's intentions were a little utilitarian, so what? They were all victims who had suffered for many years in the border town, and they shared the same suffering. The Liu family was not a bad person, so why not help if she could?
Ma was talking to her old friends, and Zhuang Minyi was left alone for a while. But Zhou Wenjun came over to greet her soon, and the people sitting around her were all old acquaintances. She quickly calmed down and chatted with them politely. Slowly, she got used to this kind of social interaction.

She thought to herself, if she attended another banquet next time and saw many familiar faces, she wouldn't feel so nervous anymore, right?
Zhuang Minyi subconsciously looked in the direction of the young girls' seats, trying to find the figure of her younger sister Haitang. She saw her talking and laughing with others from afar, and couldn't help but smile.

Haitang didn't know that her sister-in-law was looking for her. She was arranged to sit at the table with Zhou Xuejun and Wu Qiong. Those sitting in this area were all young unmarried girls who had met at the Hai family's wedding banquet, as well as a few daughters of Prince An and the eldest princess who she had rarely interacted with.

Haijiao's previous estimate was a little late. Today, not only Prince Kang and Prince An, but also several princesses and princesses came to attend the wedding banquet at the Bo Mansion. Although the Wu family has fallen into decline, it is still the natal family of Queen Wu. The royal family members who had a relationship with Queen Wu all sent generous gifts. Those who could attend the wedding banquet showed up at the wedding banquet. If they were too old or in poor health, they would send their daughters-in-law, daughters or granddaughters to appear on their behalf. Moreover, the bride is a daughter of the Zhang family. Even if she is no longer valued by the direct line of the Zhang family, she is still a member of the Zhang family. The royal family members who are related to the three generations of the Zhang family's concubines would not turn a blind eye to this wedding banquet, and naturally they would also come to express their congratulations.

Haitang originally thought that everyone she met at the banquet today was familiar, and that everyone could chat and laugh without worry. Unexpectedly, with the addition of several noble ladies, the daughters and granddaughters of the old students of the Wu family became restrained, and she was also reluctant to say too much. During the banquet, only the host Wu Qiong was heard greeting the noble ladies, and Zhou Xuejun was there to help. The two of them cooperated well, and had been taught by the Empress Dowager, so they mastered many social skills. They were able to maintain the scene with ease, and it didn't seem cold or awkward, but rather lively and festive!