"Master Li, this scene is really grand." A harsh voice reached everyone's ears.
Wang Changlian and others stopped joking and couldn't help but look towards the gate.
Li An stood at the door of the restaurant. Three steps in front of him was Xu Kaiying, the commander of the Jinyi Guards. Standing next to him was Ma Yunshan, the commander's colleague.
Most of the people present today took off their official uniforms and put on civilian clothes to avoid suspicion.
But Xu Kaiying was not only not wearing casual clothes, but she was not even wearing a formal dress for going to court. Instead, she was wearing a tight-fitting outfit for going out on a mission, and unusually, there was an exquisite embroidered spring knife hanging on her waist.
The commander next to him, Ma Yunshan, who had just taken office a few days ago, was also dressed in smart attire. He looked as if he was out handling a case.
"Commander Xu, if you are here for the wedding banquet, please come in. If you are here to inquire about the situation, then I will report to you. This little girl is one month old, so we have booked this Zhongzhen Restaurant to cook her a full moon banquet." Li An
With a faint smile on his face, he said gently.
"It turned out to be my niece's full moon party, so I said that the Jinyiwei received a notification that a group of carriages were rushing on the street and were heading this way. They thought something big had happened. It's okay. But since it happened,
How could I not congratulate Mr. Li on his daughter's full moon?"
He turned to look at Ma Yunshan beside him: "Ma Tongzhi, do you have any money with you?"
"No. The imperial salary is only that much a year. The family eats and drinks, and there is not much left. I would like to take it with me, but there is none." Ma Yunshan spread his hands and said helplessly.
These words seemed to be a complaint, but anyone could hear the meaning.
A third-grade official has very little left over from his salary for a year. How can you, a second-grade official, get so much money to hire the No. 1 Zhongzhen Restaurant in the capital and prepare a full-moon banquet for your daughter?
Li An's expression suddenly dropped.
Today is my happy day, and all the guests come to congratulate me with smiles on their faces.
Jin Yiwei actually didn't give himself any face and came to make trouble at this juncture.
"I, Li An, have been the Minister of the Ministry of Justice for many years. Although the salary from the court is not much, my family is small and has almost no expenses. With the help of relatives and friends, I have just scraped together some money to hold a hundred-day celebration for my little girl here.
Banquet. If everyone hadn't given me face, the Shangshu Mansion couldn't seat so many people, and I wouldn't have traveled three miles to let everyone come here. I understand the principle of being low-key, and there is no need for Commander Xu to come to the door to give guidance." Li
An Yin's face was sullen, and his words were not polite at all.
Just as Xu Kaiying was about to speak, a distant shout came from the street: "His Royal Highness is here."
More than 20 fully armed East Palace guards surrounded a huge carriage with golden curtains and slowly came towards the Zhongzhen Inn.
Hearing this shout, Li An no longer cared about arguing with Xu Kaiying, and hurriedly walked down the steps, folded his arms, hunched over, and waited for the prince's carriage.
The officials inside the Zhongzheng Restaurant also stood up one by one and bowed slightly toward the door, looking serious.
The waiter inside the restaurant, together with the shopkeeper Wang Zhongzhen, stood respectfully and did not dare to move.
The carriage stopped at the door of the restaurant.
A guard jumped off his horse, walked quickly to the carriage, and slowly opened the golden curtain of the carriage: "Your Highness, we are here."
"Mr. Li, are you too excited to have a son at such an old age? You don't know how to send me a wedding invitation so that I can be happy with your daughter's fortune?" Zhu Gaochi joked, holding the handle of the carriage with his left hand and extending his right hand.
Legs, got off the carriage.
"Your Highness is joking. How dare I disturb you from handling state affairs?" Li An bowed even lower. If he hadn't been unable to kneel down like he did when meeting the emperor when he saw the prince, he would have really wanted to kneel on the ground and kowtow to Zhu Gaochi.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, and the future Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. With such a status, who wouldn’t be eager to have a glimpse of it? This person came uninvited, and Li An was so excited that he almost burst into tears.
Turning sideways, Zhu Gaochi clasped his hands behind his back, stretched his neck and looked into the hall a few times: "There are many familiar faces in the civil and military court. In the eyes of Mr. Li, I, the prince, am just an outsider.
Not qualified to attend your private banquet?"
No longer caring about etiquette, Li An knelt down and said, "Your Highness has misunderstood. No matter how stupid I am, how could I refuse your visit? Originally, I just prepared a few banquets at home.
He planned to just entertain relatives. But everyone got the news from nowhere and came to congratulate him. In desperation, the official had to take out his savings over the years and borrow a lot of money from his father-in-law's family.
It’s such a big place to entertain everyone. I definitely didn’t invite everyone or His Highness.”
"Get up, my daughter is full of money. It's unlucky for you to kneel on the ground." Zhu Gaochi muttered, took two steps forward, held Li An's shoulders, and pulled him up.
"Since they're all here uninvited, it's not an exaggeration to have one more person, right?" Looking at Li An, Zhu Gaochi said with a smile.
"I am flattered that Your Highness can come." Li An bowed again.
"In that case, I won't be polite. However, I can't eat the full moon banquet in vain." Zhu Gaochi nodded towards the guard beside him.
The guard understood, walked to the back of the carriage, called for help, and lifted a huge nanmu box from the carriage.
He carried it to Li An and slowly opened the box.
In the box, several rolls of fine silk were neatly placed. Next to it, there was a dense pile of twelve-weight large ingots.
"Master Li is always going strong. He has added a new member to our Ming Dynasty, and has invisibly made contributions to the court. These five hundred pieces of silk and one thousand taels of silver are given to you by me on behalf of my father."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness, and thank you, Your Highness, the Crown Prince." Li An knelt on the ground again.
"Okay, everyone has almost arrived, is it time to start the banquet?" Zhu Gaochi said with a smile and stepped into the door.
Seeing that the prince came with congratulatory gifts and even mentioned the emperor's name, Xu Kaiying and Ma Yunshan next to them felt disappointed.
If I want to take this opportunity to embarrass Li An, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it.
But now that we are here, there is no reason to leave again.
"Master Li, you are in a hurry today. I will make up for the congratulatory gifts for you later." Without waiting for the other party to reply, the two of them followed Zhu Gaochi into the hall.
Seeing the prince entering the door, all the officials nodded and bowed.
Zhu Gaochi didn't put on any airs. He waved to everyone while looking for something in the hall.
Seeing Xiao Chen's table in the corner, he walked forward with everyone's expectant eyes on it.
"There are a few seats left, are they reserved for me?" When he came to the table, Zhu Gaochi smiled and sat down.
Wang Changlian, Chen E, Jiang Qianxiao and others were preparing to pay homage to the prince, but they did not expect that the other party would just sit down and could only stand there with an embarrassed look on their faces.
"Sit down, everyone. This is Mr. Li's family banquet. Don't be polite. If you are so serious, you are forcing me not to sit here." Zhu Gaochi chuckled, raised his hands, and faced everyone.
Waved.
Hearing what the prince said, everyone, although still cautious, sat down one after another.
Xu Kaiying, who was following Zhu Gaochi, pulled back the chair next to the table and planned to take a seat.
"Master Xu, wait a minute." Xiao Chen, who was beside Zhu Gaochi, stood up with an apologetic look on his face: "This is the seat of Master Hong, Minister of the Ministry of War. He has a stomachache and has gone to the latrine."
Xu Kaiying was embarrassed for a moment and pushed her chair forward: "It turns out there is someone there. Then I'll go find a seat at another table."
After saying that, Ma Yunshan, who was equally embarrassed, sat down at the table next to him.
Watching the Jin Yiwei people leave, everyone let out a long breath.
Sitting with these wrong people makes me not in a good mood even when eating.
Regardless of this, Zhu Gaochi directly started a family affair with Xiao Chen: "You are not an honest person. You didn't know to notify me of such a big banquet."
"Your Highness." Xiao Chen grinned, "Your current body is not suitable for attending the banquet."
"Not suitable? Why not suitable? Can't I eat less?" Zhu Gaochi stared.
In front of so many people, he exposed his shortcomings, obviously not wanting to put himself in a good mood.
"No." Xiao Chen looked serious and shook his head slowly, "Your Highness, since you are here, I can't advise you to go back. Otherwise, just sit here and chat with everyone. Just treat it as a compassionate subordinate."
"Chat? Just sit and watch you eat, and then chat with you?" Zhu Gaochi's eyes widened.
"Obesity is an easy thing to rebound if you don't exercise restraint." Xiao Chen lowered his voice, as if he was talking with his belly.
But even so, everyone at the table heard it clearly.
