Chapter 207 Double Happiness at the General’s Mansion, Xiahou Taichu Meets Three Sages Again
This autumn was originally very cold. But because of this special day, the entire city of Luoyang and Tongtuo Street became extremely prosperous almost overnight.
Today is a good day. In addition to being the full moon day of General Cao Shuang's little daughter, it is also the third birthday of Mingyue, the eldest son of Changling Hou Mansion, Xia Houxuan and Hui Gu. In order to make the excitement more exciting, General Cao Shuang simply
Xia Houxuan was asked to bring his son's family members to the general's residence, intending to celebrate together and have a banquet for the guests.
The General Wu'anhou's Mansion, which is usually full of guests, is now home to a double happiness. In front of the door, guests are like flowing water, and carriages and horses are like dragons. This lively scene, even when Xiahou's family was Xiahou Hui.
On the banks of the Luoshui River, the grand ceremony of wedding invitations held by civil and military officials at the Xuanwu Field was even more difficult to compare with.
Because it was too lively today, Xia Houxuan was worried that something might happen, so he specifically asked Gu Ting, the housekeeper, to mobilize most of the two hundred Xuanjia guards and three hundred soldiers in the mansion and place them near the General's Mansion and in Xuanyang, south of the General's Mansion.
Gate Tongtuomo, Jinyangmen Street, as well as Ximingmen Street, Guangyangmen Street and Sitiao Avenue to the west of the General's Mansion, to prevent any riots and unnecessary trouble.
The number of guests today was so large that even the General's Mansion, the most spacious and open place on Tongtuomo in the entire Luoyang City, was almost overwhelmed. The banquets for guests in the mansion were arranged continuously from the main hall to the side rooms, and even reached the back garden.
.
The chefs and servants of the Xiahou Mansion and the General Mansion were so busy that they had no chance to rest for a moment.
Throughout the front hall of the mansion, the housekeepers and receptionists of the two mansions were running around, welcoming waves of guests, counting all kinds of gift lists and gifts, and they were very busy.
Brothers Cao Shuang, Xia Houxuan, Cao Xi, Xia Houfeng, Cao Xun, Cao Yan, and Cao Ze were waiting in the front hall to welcome the guests.
After a busy morning, the guests who were supposed to come finally arrived, and everyone took their seats one after another. Different from previous years, this year only the second son, Sima Zhao, came to Taifu Sima's house.
This was also expected by Xia Houxuan. After all, the hasty moment outside the Man Chong Mansion, the late captain, had indeed made Master Sima very embarrassed.
"Congratulations to the General on his new daughter! Congratulations to Prince Changling on his birthday!" All the guests in the main hall raised bottles to celebrate.
"Thank you all for your love. I would like to express my gratitude here. I would like to toast you all with a glass of wine first!" Cao Shuang laughed boldly, raised the large copper jute beside him, and drank the wine in one gulp.
Xia Houxuan and Huigu also toasted to the guests one by one to thank them.
Although the banquet has not officially started, Xia Houxuan is obviously in a good mood today. He does not usually drink much, but today he drank twelve drinks in a row.
"Mingyue." Xia Houxuan touched his three-year-old son's hair, which was tied into a bun: "Can you go and offer a round of wine to all the uncles at the table?"
"The moon is still young, so you shouldn't drink too much alcohol. But today is Mingyue's birthday, so I should give you a toast." Hui Gu smiled and said to the servants waiting on the side: "Please bring me a pot of light rice wine."
When the servant heard this, he immediately brought a pot of light rice wine.
"I know, father, mother." Mingyue was obedient, came out of her mother's arms, raised the wine bottle on the table, and after Huigu filled a glass of wine for him, she staggered to the center of the main hall.
"Uncles and brothers, thank you all for celebrating my birthday today. With this glass of wine and the bright moon, I wish you long-term blessings!"
After Mingyue finished speaking, she drank all the Juezhong rice wine in one gulp. Although Mingyue was a child with a milky voice, she still had a bit of his father's calm and unhurried demeanor when dealing with the guests.
Added a bit more love.
The maid of the General's Mansion, who was responsible for arranging food and drinks for Xiahou Xuan's family, took the wine bottle from Hui Gu, kept adding wine to the wine bottle in Xiao Mingyue's hand, who continued to toast, and drank on behalf of the children.
Seeing the cute appearance of the three-year-old child toasting, everyone left the table one after another. They all ran over and gently pinched the child's jade-like face and touched the child's jet-black hair.
After three rounds of drinking, all the guests at the banquet were in high spirits.
At this moment, a man from the palace outside the hall walked into the banquet.
"Reporting to the general, three guests without invitations came to the house. I planned to send them away, but they said nothing and insisted on coming in for the banquet. They also said that they were here to keep an appointment. I was afraid of neglecting the distinguished guests, so I
Come and ask for instructions from the general."
"Go to the appointment?" Cao Shuang looked puzzled: "When will I make an appointment with you today?"
When Xia Houxuan heard the word "keep an appointment", he suddenly remembered the agreement that several friends made with him more than a year ago. These friends were Shan Tao, Ruan Ji, and Ji Kang who he met in the bamboo forest in Hanoi. However, he could not confirm it.
Are the three people outside the house the same as these three friends?
"To the general, since some people have come here because of their reputation, and say they are here to keep an appointment, the general might as well invite them here, give them a banquet, and ask them carefully, so that it will neither delay the matter nor lose the joy." After thinking about it for a while, he said
Xia Houxuan finally decided to meet these people, so he finally spoke.
Cao Shuang hesitated for a while, then nodded: "What Taichu said makes sense. Come, add a table, and invite the three guests to the main hall to talk!"
"Wei." The palace official bowed and saluted, then turned around and went to attend the announcement.
Everyone at the banquet was also very curious about who the visitor was. They stopped their cups and chopsticks and waited quietly for these three uninvited guests.
Not long after, I saw three people floating outside the hall.
One of them, in his thirties, was wearing a crane cloak and looked handsome and handsome, not like an ordinary person.
Another middle-aged scribe in his forties was neatly dressed, with a crown and robe, and looked like a bachelor.
There is also a young man who is sixteen or seventeen years old, with a beautiful face, but a slightly messy mustache and a bit unkempt. He is seen carrying a lyre on his back. He does not wear a crown on his head, but only uses a wooden hairpin to tie his hair. It looks like
He is as airy as an immortal.
Xia Houxuan was very happy when he saw the three people, because the visitors were none other than Ruan Ji, Shan Tao, and Ji Kang, three friends who had been separated for many years.
"Your residence is really lively today. Could you please, my master, give me and my three brothers a jar of fine wine to share in the fun?" The man in his thirties, wearing a crane cloak, was none other than Ruan Ji and Ruan Sizong. I saw that Ruan Ji showed no courtesy.
, did not bow to him. Before Cao Shuang and other guests could ask, he directly asked for a banquet.
The expressions of all the guests changed drastically. They thought that it was enough for these three people to come without invitations. However, when they saw the general and the important ministers at the table, they were still not polite. It was simply unreasonable!
When Cao Shuang saw that the three people in the hall were very rude, he was furious and was about to explode when he saw Xia Houxuan hurriedly got up and left the table and came forward. Xia Houxuan whispered a few words to Cao Shuang, and Cao Shuang's frown instantly relaxed.
Come on.
"I'm here to introduce you."
Cao Lin, the tenth son of Emperor Wu Cao Cao, the grandson-in-law of the posthumous name Mu, the son-in-law of King Cao Wei of Pei, and the brother of Uncle Ji and Ye Ji."
After listening to Xia Houxuan's introduction, the guests' attitudes softened a lot.
That Shantaoshan Juyuan, his aunt Shan, was the mother of Zhang Chunhua, wife of Taifu Sima Yi, so she was also a relative of the Sima family.
Ruan Ji was named Ruan Sizong. It is said that this person became talented through diligent study and had extraordinary talents. He could write articles at the age of eight and play the piano all day long. He was studious and tireless in his youth and loved to study Confucian poems and books.
Everyone also heard that this man was not only outstanding in literary talent, but also superb in swordsmanship. He once claimed in his "Ode to Poems" that his "skills surpass those of Qucheng" and believed that even the master of swordsmanship in the Han Dynasty, Qucheng Hou, could not compare with him.
As for Ji Kang, he was a native of Jishan, Qiao County. It is said that he had studied diligently since childhood and was proficient in literature. Not only that, he also played the piano well and was famous far and wide.
It is said that in the second year of Emperor Jingchu's reign, Emperor Ming once wrote an article called "Nine Odes of a Mountain Tour". After reading it, Emperor Ming admired it very much and couldn't help but sigh: "Where is this man? I want to promote him." Therefore, he
He was appointed Chief of Xunyang by Emperor Ming, and later married Princess Cao Yuan of Changleting, the granddaughter of Emperor Wen's half-brother Pei Wang Cao Lin.
"I have admired these three great names for a long time and have known each other for a long time. When we meet today, it is indeed better to see them than to hear them a hundred times. Please come to our table quickly!" The three celebrities came uninvited. Cao Shuang also felt that he was very dignified in front of the officials.
Naturally, I am in a good mood at this moment.
The three-year-old Mingyue was carrying a wine bottle and toasting everywhere. When she saw three interesting uncles, she immediately staggered over and ran over.
"Big brother... drink..." The child ran up to the seventeen-year-old Ji Kang and persuaded him to drink with unclear words, showing a warm smile.
Ji Kang gently touched the child's head, smiled, took the wine bottle and drank it in one gulp, praising: "Good wine!"
Ji Kang felt that except for Xia Houxuan, only this three-year-old child seemed to be able to talk to him in the full house. He couldn't help but ask: "Little brother, I wonder whose child you are?"
"My dad is over there." The child said, then stretched out his chubby little hand and pointed towards Xia Houxuan's seat.
"So you are Taichu's child..." Ji Kang smiled and nodded: "Then what is your name?"
"Xiahou Mingyue."
"Mingyue, what a good name." Ji Kang smiled and took the child's little hand: "Come, let's go over there and have a drink with your father, okay?"
"Yeah." The child nodded.
Shan Tao and Ruan Ji were not polite, returned the courtesy and thanked them, and then went to the table.
Ruan Ji was a heavy drinker on weekdays. He had already started to drink wine when he smelled the aroma of wine when he sat down at the table. Now that he saw the table full of good wine, he couldn't wait to drink from the bottle.
After Shantao took his seat, he exchanged greetings with the important ministers around him. He turned around and saw the cute baby girl in the arms of Cao Xi and Wei Yuan at the table, and he couldn't help but ask:
"Presumably this is the general's daughter."
Cao Shuang laughed and said: "Sir, you are indeed very discerning. Yes, it is your little girl. I have heard for a long time that Mr. Juyuan is very knowledgeable. It just so happens that my little girl has not yet been given a name. If your husband doesn't give up, you might as well give her a name. Third brother,
Brothers and sisters, bring the child over and let Mr. Juyuan take a look."
"Yes, brother." Cao Xi said, took the child and walked to Shan Tao.
Shantao pondered for a while and then said: "Wangshu is the god of the moon, so let's name this girl 'Shu', and call her baby name Liangchen."
"Cao Shu..." Cao Shuang thought for a moment, raised his hands and said with a smile: "What a good name. According to the teacher's words, I named this girl 'Shu'. Third brother, it happens that you and your sister-in-law don't have any children yet, so I will give her the name 'Shu'."
Shu'er was adopted by you, and she will be your daughter from now on."
"Thank you, brother!" Cao Xi and Wei Yuan, the couple, liked their little niece very much. Now that the little niece has become their daughter, they are extremely happy.
"Good times..." The three-year-old Mingyue looked at the infant girl and couldn't help but murmured.
——————
This banquet with a large number of guests lasted until midnight, and then it ended. When General Niu Jin left the General's Mansion, he was already very drunk. The servant of the General's Mansion who was responsible for escorting him back carefully supported Niu Jin.
But Niu Jin, who was already drunk, was shaking and pushing everyone while muttering:
"Go away, I will follow... follow Chen Hou Cao Da Sima [Cao Ren] to march south... Jingxiang, follow Wuyang Hou to pacify Liaodong, how... how majestic...
Why do you have to wait for a villain to come... to help you!"
While all the servants were complaining, a wave of servants from other mansions came in front of them. Everyone in the general's mansion looked up and found that it was the servants from Sima Yi's mansion.
The servant of the Sima Mansion said: "The general will not bother you to escort me. Mr. Sima, please summon the general and come to the house to explain."
"But we are ordered by the general to deliver the cattle safely to the general..."
Before the servant of the Cao Mansion could finish speaking, another servant of the Cao Mansion muttered:
"General Niu is Taifu's confidant. Since Sima Gong has summoned him, just let General Niu go."
Several servants of the Cao Mansion actually didn't want to endure Niu Jin's drunkenness, so they immediately nodded, and the group of servants of the Sima Mansion took Niu Jin away smoothly.