Fenghou

Chapter 92
After the martial arts competition for recruits, the martial arts school officially started. The management was very strict. The martial arts students were not allowed to leave the school. They studied the art of war and practiced riding and shooting from morning to night. The martial arts students only had a short break at night.

The hot summer has passed, and the weather is getting colder every day. In the blink of an eye, it is mid-September, and the martial arts school begins to have a ten-day autumn vacation for martial arts students to visit relatives and run errands.

This afternoon, Chen Qing received an invitation.

"Old Chen, who sent this invitation?" Hu Yantong stepped forward and asked curiously.

"Lu Xianggong sent someone to send it. The day after tomorrow is his sixtieth birthday."

"Lu Xianggong sent you an invitation?"

Hu Yantong's eyes widened. Chen Qing was just a general of the seventh rank. Will the majestic right minister invite a rank-[-] general for his birthday?
"I do not know either!"

Chen Qing casually threw the invitation into the drawer, "Give me a birthday gift! I don't think people need to go."

"Don't do that!"

Hu Yan quickly took out the invitation card, and said with a smile to Chen Qing: "This is a formal invitation card, not a verbal invitation. Every guest is decided by the host after careful consideration. If you don't go, you will offend others. He is a gentleman."

Chen Qing smiled wryly, "I actually have nothing to do with him."

"It is precisely because there is no intersection that it shows that he thinks highly of you. The entire martial arts may only be your invitation card. If you don't go, it will be disrespectful to others."

Chen Qing thought about it, and he really had to go. Lu Yihao helped him in the last military camp incident, and he had to repay the favor.

"Then what birthday gift do you think I should give?"

Hu Yantong laughed and said: "Gifts are very particular. You can give any kind of gift according to your relationship and status. For example, if you give five thousand coins, Lu Xianggong is very happy, but where do you let other people's face go? But give ten You can’t even afford a gift of a few pennies, I suggest buying ten bolts of the best palace satin and giving it to you first, as gifts are usually not accepted on birthdays.”

"Ten horses. The best palace satin."

Chen Qing thought for a while, "Alright, how much will it cost?"

"It's only about a hundred coins."

Chen Qing was a little worried. He had handed over all the money he had to Zheng Ping to take away. He just received his salary yesterday and repaid the money he borrowed from others. He only had sixty pennies left on him. He thought it was enough. No, I didn't expect Lu Yihao to celebrate his birthday.

"Huyan, lend me some more money!"

"You!"

Hu Yantong pointed at him and smiled wryly: "I gave tens of thousands of coins to the fallen soldiers, but I am so poor that I can't even get a hundred coins. How much do I want?"

"Fifty guan is enough!"

"Let me lend you a hundred guan! You still have to buy a suit."

"I have clothes!"

Hu Yantong sighed and said: "Your clothes are made of fine linen, even the servants of the Xiangguo Mansion wear silk, you will be laughed at, or I will lend you an outfit."

"Borrowing other people's clothes to make money, I don't do this kind of thing, and whoever wants to make a joke can do it."

"Hey! You have a stubborn temper, you are not afraid of losing face, I am afraid of it. If you can't, then you can wear official uniforms! Although it is also fine linen, it at least fits your identity."

The official uniform is the military uniform without the armor. The generals above the ninth rank of the Song Army have three sets of clothes, one is the imperial uniform, and the second is the official uniform. Chen Qing nodded, it's not bad to wear official clothes.

Chen Qing always thought that there were no horse-drawn carriages in Lin'an, and the transportation mainly depended on ox carts or boats, but today he realized that he was wrong. There were a lot of horse-drawn carriages in Lin'an, which was beyond his expectation.

There were a lot of black carriages parked in front of Lu Yihao's mansion, one after another, each more gorgeous than the last, and they stopped for a full two miles, there were at least three or four hundred carriages.

Chen Qing came late, only in the afternoon. He was here purely to deal with it. It would be best if he could report and leave. Anyway, Lu Yihao would not notice him as a small officer.

In front of the mansion, Lu Yihao's two sons were warmly welcoming the guests. There was a row of tables beside them, and several staff members sat at the tables to register the names of the guests.

The Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty treats guests, and the guests are almost all dignitaries, but there is an unspoken rule that the birthday of the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty itself is the best social place and a way to establish contacts. This point, I am afraid that all guests except Chen Qing We all know it well.

It was also for this reason that the guests were very active, and many of them came to the Prime Minister's Mansion in the morning.

When Chen Qing arrived, there were not many guests, and the gate seemed deserted.

"Excuse me, do I need to register?" Chen Qing stepped forward and asked.

Lu Yihao's two sons had already entered the mansion to chat with the guests. There were only the housekeeper and two staff members in charge of registration at the door. The two staff members were checking the guest list without looking up, and pointed to the housekeeper with their pens.

The steward had noticed Chen Qing a long time ago. When he saw him coming in an ox cart and wearing a military uniform, he felt a little contemptuous in his heart. You must know that even a general would have his own soldiers to follow him. The housekeeper, who was accustomed to judging people by their appearance, really didn't take it seriously.

"Is there something wrong with this official?" The butler still approached him politely and asked.

Chen Qing took out the invitation and handed it to the butler. Seeing that it was a white invitation, the butler immediately put on a smiley face, "So it's General Chen, sorry! Sorry!"

There are two kinds of invitations for this birthday, one is white invitations, which are mainly for relatives of senior officials, or guests who are valued by Lu Yihao, and the other is green invitations, which are mainly for the gentry and celebrities in Lin'an, mainly big businessmen.

Chen Qing was one of Lu Yihao's most valued guests, so he gave the white invitation, but the butler misunderstood, he thought that Chen Qing was in the yamen of some high-ranking official, and his father could not come, so he came to attend on his behalf.

"I already gave the congratulatory gift yesterday, can I just sign it?"

The butler was stunned for a moment. It turned out that he was the one who invited him. Who is this young man?

He smiled all over his face and said, "Yes, General Chen just needs to sign his name."

Chen Qing signed his name with a pen, and the butler smiled and led him into the gate of the mansion. An aide looked at Chen Qing's name, and elbowed his companion, "Look!"

The companion came forward and saw Chen Qing's name in the list. There were a total of [-] guests, and Chen Qing's name was actually ranked [-]th. The staff was stunned. Who is this young man? ?To make Lu Xianggong attach so much importance to him.

Lu Yihao sent out more than [-] invitations, but there were thousands of guests, most of whom came with their family members. Not only did they need to socialize, but they also had to take the route of wives and children. A means of networking.

Fortunately, Lu Yihao's Xiangguo Mansion is the largest official residence in Lin'an, covering an area of ​​[-] mu, which can basically support the activities of thousands of people.

However, guests will not stay in the kitchen, stables, and servants' quarters in the outer house, and guests cannot go to the private places such as the study and bedroom in the inner house. In fact, there are not many places for guests to stay, mainly in the atrium and the courtyard. There are two side yards, so each gazebo and each guest room are basically full of guests.

Chen Qing found his seat first. In the third shed in the left courtyard, although Chen Qing was at the top of the guest list, it just showed that Lu Yihao attached great importance to him and considered him first when considering the guests. It did not mean that he could sit Dining in the atrium is very particular about the rank and status of the imperial court. Chen Qing is only a seventh-rank military official, so of course he can only sit in the side courtyard. Those who can sit in the atrium are all officials of the fifth rank or above.

The Song Dynasty emphasized culture and suppressed martial arts. Except for the Taiwei, the generals of the Song Army were generally lower in rank than civil officials, but their salaries were twice that of civil officials as compensation.

In addition, many generals also have the title of military official, but military officer is only an honorary official position, which does not care about salary or social status, so it is not as attractive as a military position.

Chen Qing sat in his seat for a while, besides him, there were more than a dozen guests around, both male and female, opposite him was a lady in her forties, her hair was full of emerald jewels, and the flesh on her face was a little slack , but still painted snow-white with powder, wearing a beanie made of extremely elegant materials, the clothes are very tight when sitting down, and there are three golden thick gold bracelets on the thick, white and fat wrists.

Sitting next to the noble lady was a young man, about the same age as Chen Qing, who seemed to be the noble lady's son, who was reprimanded by his mother with his head down.

"Who asked you to compare wealth with Wang Yanei and the others? Those people are even thicker than our waists. I asked you to make friends with him to flatter him and lower your figure. It's better for you to run and sit on an equal footing with them. Aren't you making fun of yourself?"

"Mother, Wang Bo is rich, but the people around him are similar to ours. The Qi Yamen boasted that his family bought ten acres of land by the West Lake. Guan, what do you think I can show off?"

When Chen Qing heard Wang Bo's name, his eyelids twitched, and this bastard actually came too.

(End of this chapter)