The prince in the royal family can not continue to live in the palace after reaching the age, generally at the age of fifteen or sixteen, he will leave the palace to open the palace, if it is not a particularly low background of the maternal family, he will generally be crowned a prince directly.

The seventh prince, Ji Wen, was named the king of Wei.

Although they will all go out of the palace to open a palace, the level among the princes is different, some princes will be divided into local feudal domains, and some will stay in the capital and serve in front of the emperor.

Leaving the capital means losing the qualification to compete for the throne.

Today, the son of Chengde is prosperous, there are a total of eleven sons, of which the youngest two princes are not yet sixteen, never out of the palace, the remaining nine princes died a second, four princes out of Beijing to become a vassal, only the eldest left, the third, the fourth and the seven four princes left in the capital.

Cui Jiuniang told Li Xin that the power of the Seven Princes can be ranked in the top three among the princes, which is a true truth, because there are only four princes in the entire capital.

However, His Royal Highness the King of Wei still has a lot of power in the capital, which can be seen from the fact that he can control the Tianmu Prison in the palace.

The fact that the seventh prince was able to stay in the capital after being crowned king means that he is one of the candidates for the throne in the heart of Emperor Chengde, so he is naturally surrounded by many supporters, take this banquet in the Wei Palace, a total of about ten invitations were sent, all of them were young people who were invited to the banquet, and the owners of each invitation were all figures with heads and faces in the young generation in the capital.

Usually on this day of the new year, it is necessary to sacrifice the god of the stove at home, so the banquet of the Wei Wangfu is set at noon, so as not to delay these people to go home at night to worship the god.

At midnight in the morning, Li Xin slowly walked into the Yongle Fang, which was the largest and most noble in the capital, located near the Imperial City, and was only separated by a moat between the Imperial City.

In the entire capital, at least eighty percent of the power is concentrated in this Yongle Fang.

The Pingnanhou Mansion is also in this Yongle Fang.

Not as lively as other neighborhoods, Yongle Fang is quite quiet, the storefronts are also antique jade, or bookstore porcelain and other storefronts, only some small maids and maids on the street go back and forth, occasionally there are some sedan chairs and tall horses walking.

Li Xin walked on the street of Yongle Fang, and glanced towards the southwest of Yongle Fang.

That is the location of the Pingnan Hou Mansion, when another Li Xin and his uncle came to confess their relatives, they were driven out by the family of the Hou Mansion, and those family members not only drove the two of them out of the Pingnan Hou Mansion, but also drove them all the way out of Yongle Fang.

This memory is the most profound memory of "Li Xin", and until now, when Li Xin was at midnight, the memory of this unlucky child will still be "played" in his mind over and over again.

Li Xin took a long breath, put his hands behind his back, and walked towards the southeast direction of Yongle Fang.

Because it was not close to noon, Li Xin was not in a hurry, about the beginning of noon, he came to the door of the Wei Wangfu in Yongle Fang, the door of the Wei Wangfu, is the prince of the Zheng'er Bajing, two huge stone lions sit on the left and right, and a vermilion lacquer gate looks extremely heavy.

On the plaque, there are three gold lacquer characters of the Wei Wangfu given by the Emperor of Chengde.

Li Xin was dressed in ordinary cotton clothes, with his hands in his sleeves, and walked towards the gate of the palace.

The two generals of the Wei Wangfu guarding the door stretched out their hands to stop Li Xin, Li Xin took out the purple wooden invitation card from his sleeve, and said softly: "Li Xin was invited by His Royal Highness the King of Wei to come to the banquet. ”

The two generals had obviously been notified in advance, and after seeing this invitation, their demeanor immediately became a lot more respectful, and one of the two of them took Li Xin to the side door of the palace, opened the side door and brought Li Xin in.

The door of a house, that is, the middle door, will not be easily opened when it is idle, under normal circumstances, only the side door will be opened to welcome guests, with the status of King Ji Wen of Wei, unless it is the Chengde Emperor or the elders of the imperial family, he does not need to open the middle door to welcome people, even if the Pingnan Marquis Li Shen returns to Beijing, the middle door of the Wei Wangfu will not necessarily open.

Li Xin still understands these. He folded his hands on his sleeves and followed behind the general of this Wei Wangfu, who took him in this mansion I don't know how many turns, how many doors he passed, and finally stopped at the gate of a courtyard, and the general bent over Li Xin and said: "Li Gongzi, this is the warm pavilion where the prince of my family entertains guests, today's banquet is set up here, most of the others have arrived, you can go in quickly." ”

This banquet, although it is written that the luncheon, but His Royal Highness the King of Wei personally posted, which of these invitees is not sincerely afraid, some people are waiting in this warm pavilion just after the morning, even if there are some self-assured identity, they are all here before, so Li Xin, who is not in a hurry, is the last to arrive.

Li Xin nodded at this general, and said softly, "Thank you." ”

The general didn't dare to do anything, and bent down and retreated.

Li Xin still put his hands in his sleeves, paced into this courtyard, after walking through the main hall, inside is a two-story building, under the guidance of the maid of the Wei Palace, Li Xin walked up the wooden stairs to the second floor, and walked into the warm pavilion on the second floor.

The maid led him in, and then closed the door.

Li Xin glanced around the room and found that there were more than a dozen low tables in the warm pavilion, and there were eight or nine young people each kneeling in front of a low table, and some delicate snacks and pastries were placed on the low table.

At this time, the luncheon had not officially begun, and His Royal Highness King Wei, who was the main host, was not present, and these young people who were invited to come gathered together in twos and threes to talk to each other.

They are all noble sons in the capital, most of them know each other, occasionally they don't know each other, the people next to them introduce their respective elders, everyone talks and laughs, and they all know each other, but Li Xin, who neither recognizes others, nor does others recognize him, so naturally he will be happy, Li Xin is also happy, he simply found a most inconspicuous position, and sat down by himself.

As soon as Li Xin sat down, the eyes of several people fell on him, and these eyes looked at Li Xin unscrupulously, all thinking about the origin of this young man who was wearing cotton clothes and looked ordinary.

After pinching a few pastries on the table, a handsome maid walked out and smiled at the young people in the warm pavilion: "Ladies and gentlemen, my prince recently got a unique barbecue method, the grilled meat is tender and refreshing, and I specially invite you sons to come and taste it today." ”

After that, the maid clapped her hands gently, and one by one the maids walked in from the door of the warm pavilion, and these maids were holding a carbon basin in their hands, and the basin was burned red bamboo charcoal.

More than a dozen carbon basins, placed on a dozen low tables.

After the carbon basin was put down, a dozen or so maids came in and put a plate of meat skewers in front of everyone.

The maid who played the role of "host" smiled and said: "This is the method that my prince has recently obtained, this mutton is skewered into a skewer, and after it is cooked on bamboo charcoal, it has a different taste, you sons may wish to give it a try." ”

Li Xin was a little speechless.

This Seventh Prince really has some ideas, and he actually asked them to form a group to grill skewers.

He shook his head, and was just about to bake two skewers for himself to taste, and then turned around to find that the maid who brought him meat skewers did not leave, but sat directly beside him, smiling sweetly at himself.

"Li Gongzi, let's meet again."