The Pingjun Wangfu got the letter that the Li family had entered Beijing, and sent several groups of people to come over, and those who asked for peace asked for peace, and those who took the Li family over and the Li family went over.

Although Li missed his beloved daughter, he was tired from the journey, and he came to the door in a hurry and did not agree with the etiquette, so he had to make an appointment to go over.

*

On April 19, the 48th year of Kangxi, Li came to Beijing and said.

Early in the morning, a carriage was sent from the Pingjun Wangfu to pick it up. Li changed into a royal blue flag costume, carried a pair of Wanfu Wanshou inlaid beads and jade flowers on his head, and got into the carriage surrounded by the maid and the woman.

Cao Hao watched his mother leave at the door, turned around and went back to the house, and went to the Banyan Courtyard to accompany his husband to talk for a while. Seeing that the time was about the same, he went back to the room to change into formal clothes, and then took Xiaoman and the two elders out of the house and went to Prince Yong's mansion.

Prince Yong's mansion is diagonally opposite the south gate of the Temple of Earth, and it is the residence of the fourth elder brother Yinzhen.

For his life-saving benefactor, Cao Hao has always been very conflicted in his heart and doesn't know how to deal with it. The grace of saving his life and the hatred of breaking his family many years later were entangled together, which made him a little afraid of this cold-faced prince.

Although there are many concerns, what needs to be done is still to be done. At first, it was inconvenient for Cao Hao to go to King Yong's Mansion to ask for peace, because the prince, the third elder brother, the ninth elder brother and others were watching closely, and they were afraid that they would arouse everyone's suspicions; Right now, under the pretext of Yongwang's Mansion to send some Tuyi from the south, I went to the future emperor's mansion to say goodbye. Don't expect to climb friendship, at present, the identity of the imperial guard, and the prince to climb friendship is to find death; But we must also properly respect this prince and eliminate the disaster after the Cao family.

The fourth elder brother Yinzhen, who was named Prince Yong when the prince was reinstated last month, five newly expanded vermilion gates, and several palace guards outside the gate were on duty.

Cao Hao dismounted, stepped forward with the name post, and said that it was Jiangning Weaving Cao Yin's son who came to greet Prince Yong.

The palace only has special rules for hospitality, and when it heard that it was the son of a five-grade official, he sent a steward to take the gift list and entertain Cao Hao to sit down in the small hall.

According to the law of the Qing Dynasty, the prince's palace has corresponding subordinate officials according to the title. Therefore, even if the other party only came forward as a steward, Cao Hao did not dare to slack off.

The prince was not there, so he accompanied Fujin to Tanzhe Temple to worship the Buddha. Cao Hao's face was full of regret, but his heart was calm, it was precisely because he inquired about the fourth elder brother going out of the city that he came to ask for peace. It's not that he is not kind, but he is a little afraid to face this cold-faced prince.

At the moment, the feeling of the fourth elder brother is still that of a prince of hard work,*. Although according to the fourth elder brother's low profile, he should not take the limelight to win over the Cao family, but he is not afraid of 10,000, just in case. If the fourth elder brother is tempted and asks the Cao family to take refuge secretly, how should he deal with it? Do you have the merit of supporting the emperor? Forget it, the two famous ministers of Yongzheng Dynasty, Nian Qianyao and Long Keduoke, who were burdened with the merits of supporting the establishment, did not end well.

For the famous minister Nian Qianyao in the early years of Yongzheng, Cao Hao also paid special attention to his news after entering Beijing. But unfortunately, before Cao Hao entered Beijing, he went to North Korea. Surprisingly, he turned out to be Nalan Rongruo's son-in-law. His original partner Nalan was the second daughter of Nalan Rongruo, who died of illness a few years ago, and Nian Qianyao married Jue Luo. Although Nalan died of illness for many years, Nian Qianyao and Nalan's family have always maintained contact. When Nalan Fusen mentioned this brother-in-law, he was also full of praise.

*

When the Dayong Wangfu came back from giving gifts, Cao Hao went to the Pingjun Palace.

Today, King Pingjun set up a banquet in the mansion and called a drama to catch the wind for his mother-in-law. Cao Hao, as an escort, how could he not go?

When I arrived at the Pingjun Palace, I saw a group of people coming out of the side door of the palace, got into the carriage, and went in another direction.

When he arrived at the gate of the palace, Cao Hao dismounted. He came several times, and he was injured in the palace for more than ten days, and the guards were all familiar, and they all stepped forward diligently: "Lord Hao is here, the prince asked just now, and he was about to start the banquet, just waiting for you, Master Hao!" ”

Cao Hao smiled and asked, "Are there any foreign guests?" ”

One of the guards replied: "On the Fujin side, I invited two ladies of the Tong family to accompany me; On the prince's side, he invited a few guards, and one of them was from Nalan Mansion. Some time ago, Master Hao came to the door when he was recuperating here. There was a black-faced man who had been with Lord Nalan. The other is the one who is born with eyes. ”

Later generations thought that Mrs. was the general term of Mrs. Guan, but it was actually a misunderstanding. The Manchu Qing Dynasty followed the Ming Dynasty's edict system: the first and second products are the lady, the third product is the lady, the fourth product is the Gong people, the fifth product is the pleasant person, the sixth product is the Anren, and the seventh product is the widow.

The guests invited by the Pingjun Mansion were two ladies, who must be the wives of first- and second-class officials. This brother-in-law is really careful, and Cao Hao was slightly moved in his heart. Reasoning, like this kind of kinship relationship, the accompanying guest should be accompanied by the female relatives of the king of Pingjun. The king of Keping County is a clan, and so are the clansmen; And no matter how much the Cao family is relied on by the royal family, it is just from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they have to be in front of these clans

The gift of master and slave. If you are accompanied by another lady, you don't have to follow these rules.

When Cao Hao entered the palace, two little guys came up with a smile and said, "Master Hao has arrived, and the drama over there in Ruixi Building has been open for a while!" ”

Ruixi Building, Cao Hao hasn't been there yet, and followed the two little guys around several times before they arrived. Ruixi Building, two storeys high, the lobby on the first floor goes directly to the roof of the second floor. On the second floor, along the staircase, there are several semi-open private rooms with spaced out. This structure makes it easy for everyone to sit in a private room and watch the play, sitting there, right in front of the stage on the first floor.

At this time, Peking Opera, which was praised as the "national essence" by later generations, had not yet been formed, and the elites in the capital listened to Kunqu Opera. The dubbing of Kunqu Opera is dominated by Di Xiao, and the melody is melodious, and it doesn't sound as noisy as Peking Opera.

On the stage, a young actor dressed as a student was babbling and singing.

Cao Hao went up to the second floor and was ushered to the men's room. The three guests, in addition to Naranfusen and Detehei, also had a white-faced beard, in his thirties, but he didn't recognize him.

Seeing that Cao Hao had arrived, Pingjun Wang Nersu smiled and said to the white-faced man: "Lao Shu, this is Cao Hao, this king's brother-in-law, he is still young, and he will entrust you to take care of it in the future!" ”

The man known as "Lao Shu" hurriedly handed over his hand: "The prince is so polite!" ”

King Pingjun said to Cao Hao again: "This is the first-class guard of the imperial front to explain the master, I won't introduce the other two!" ”

Statement? Cao Hao is about to go to the head of the imperial guard. No wonder Nersu sent someone to Cao's Mansion yesterday afternoon to ask him about the arrangements for his duty.

Cao Hao bowed his head and said: "I've seen Lord Shu, I've seen Lord De, and I've seen Brother Fusen." ”

A few people on the opposite side returned the salute one after another. Detehei is a reckless man, and he is most tired of such rules, so he patted Cao Hao's shoulder after returning the salute: "Xiao Cao, last time the arrow was not as happy, in a few days, we will follow the Hu patrol outside the fortress, and then we will have to see the real chapter!" ”

Cao Hao nodded and replied: "Humble and respectful, the Lord commands!" ”

Detehei listened and pointed to the wine on the table: "Xiao Cao punishes wine, where are there any adults who are not adults, do you look down on Lao Decheng?" Your name is Brother Nalan, why are you so unfamiliar with Lao De. Right now, we are not superiors and subordinates, my old man is like a brother to you, if you don't call me big brother, you will look down on me! ”

Nersu was beckoning everyone to sit down, and when he heard this, he smiled and said: "The first time I heard that there are people who are rushing to be big brothers, Lao De, the older you get, the more scoundrels you are!" As he spoke, his face was full of pain.

Ying He said next to the statement: "The prince is right, this old guy is going back more and more, he is not too young, and he is thinking about being competitive all the time, if he is strong, no one can persuade him, he is really a stubborn donkey." ”

Naranfusen listened to the laughter of Det Black, but did not laugh. Detehei's voice was louder: "Lord, you are blind when you hear it." It's just that he is used to being a defeated soldier of Lao De, and he deliberately buries Lao De. ”

The statement seemed to be trampled on a sore foot: "Deheiko, do you want to make it clear?" I've only lost to you twice, and I've won once, so there's something you're used to! ”

In this way, in the midst of the argument between the two big men, the banquet began. Cao Hao punished himself with three cups because he was late, and then saluted everyone at the table in turn.

Although the statement looks a little Sven, his bold temper is no less than that of Dete Hei, and after three or five glasses of good wine, the words gradually increase.

Cao Hao is the youngest, and in addition to drinking, he can't talk to everyone. Detehei changed his name to "Brother De", and Detehei drank several glasses in a row. Nersu and Naranfusen drank slowly, talking about what they would do in a few days.

Say a few words to this, have a drink with that, and finally pull Detehei into a fist.

"Hello brothers!"

"Four happy fortunes!"

"Five Leaders!"

"Liuliushun, drink!"

As the two of them raised their voices, the Kunqu opera on the stage downstairs gradually came to an end.

A small guy came in at the door, and went to Cao Hao's side and whispered: "Master Hao, Gege is invited!" ”

*

Cao Hao walked out of the room, and Bao Ya stood at the top of the stairs and beckoned to him.

"Gege, what are you looking for me?" Cao Hao saw that Baoya was mysterious and didn't bring a maid, which was a little strange.

Bao Ya glanced at the stage downstairs, took out a white plain cloth from her sleeve, and handed it to Cao Hao: "Cao Hao, please do something, help me go and ask Boss Liu for a few words in a while!" ”

"Boss Liu?" Cao Hao was puzzled.

Bao Ya pointed to the play on the stage downstairs: "That's the boss of Liu Zidanliu of the Sanxi class, I love to listen to his play the most!" ”

Cao Hao was amused in his heart, it turned out that there was a star-chasing clan at this time, took Su Pazi, and asked, "What words does Gege want?" ”

Bao Ya frowned and thought hard when she heard this, it seemed that she was on a whim and had not thought about this issue carefully.

The music on the stage downstairs gradually stopped, and the play was about to be taken off.

When Bao Ya saw it, she was very anxious, and said to Cao Hao: "Any word is fine, if you can have the name of Boss Liu, it is the best!" By the end, the little girl was already shy.

Cao Hao is not a stunned boy who is puzzled, seeing Baoya's eyes looking at Liu Zidan, his scalp is a little numb. The dignified Dorogge, favored with a famous singer, this will never be a comedy. Cao Hao was ruthless and handed the handkerchief back: "Gege, the play is over, what are you still doing in the play!" ”

Bao Ya was stunned, looked at the handkerchief in Cao Hao's hand, looked at the background of turning away from the stage downstairs, her eyes were red, she took the handkerchief and turned around and ran.