Chapter 456: The Pei Family’s Birthday (Part 2)

After several days of intense preparations by the Pei family, the time gradually reached Pei Kuan's 75th birthday. At the fifth o'clock in the morning, Li Qing'an came to Pei's mansion. At this time, hundreds of Pei's children came from all over the Tang Dynasty to celebrate their birthdays. Among them, there were more than 200 children from the Pei family who came from the Hedong ancestral land, and the Pei's mansion was extremely lively.

But they were the masters, and the high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty and famous families who came to celebrate their birthdays in various yards in Chang'an were the guests, so the children of the Pei family were organized to welcome the guests, arrange carriages, clean up garbage, and carry heavy objects. In short, everyone has their own tasks.

Before dawn, everyone got up and started to work hard.

Pei Kuan's birthday ceremony was held in the Pei Mansion lobby. It was a lobby that could accommodate thousands of people. It was grand. At this time, the sky was not completely bright. Half of the lanterns in the lobby were extinguished and the light seemed a little dim. One hundred Pei's children were busy decorating the venue. Thousands of low tables had been arranged, and two people could sit on each low table. Flowers and fruits and vegetables were placed on the table, and the morning dew was still stained with dew. This time, the Pei family's dishes will be provided by the ten most famous restaurants in Chang'an. The dishes will be delivered one after another at noon. At this time, the Pei family will first arrange the venue.

Li Qing'an passed through the busy lobby, and posted a huge "利" character made of gold foil on the wall of the front desk of the lobby. Below were filled with various longevity peaches, longevity noodles and a hundred-child birthday screen carved from white jade. A wide ring chair was placed in front of the screen. This would be Pei Kuan's seat. Although the Tang people's habit was to kneel on the ground, the chairs had been introduced from the Western Regions during the Tang Dynasty. The palace and many wealthy families used ring chairs. Pei Kuan was weak and it was difficult to kneel down. Therefore, the wide ring chair was just right for him. There were also seven ring chairs on both sides of Pei Kuan's main seat, which was for the seven birthday preparations to sit.

In fact, it is just the seven core figures of the Pei family. At this time, a young woman was laying Pei Kuan's seat. Pei Zunqing's granddaughter Pei Wan'er. She was so focused that Li Qing'an got closer and did not notice that the cushion was three high-quality lambskins. In order to make Pei Kuan sit as soft and comfortable as possible, a soft white white fox fur was laid on the lambskin. This precious fox fur was a gift given to him by Pei Kuan when he was the governor of Fan Yang. It has been decades since the white fox fur is still as bright as new, but a black panther skin is laid on the back of the chair. It was this black panther skin that attracted Li Qing'an's attention.

Pei Wan'er was bent down and carefully tidying up the black panther skin. She suddenly felt something. When she turned around, she saw a man standing behind her. She was so scared that she was so scared that she was "Ah!" and hurried away. She saw clearly that the person was Li Qing'an. She was stunned for a moment, and at the same time, a blush flew across her face. Her big eyes blinked a few times, and took a deep breath. She seemed to have calmed down and smiled at Li Qing'an shyly.

"General Li, are you in trouble?"

Li Qingan pointed to the black panther skin and smiled apologetically: "I want to see this black panther skin, which scared the girl."

"It doesn't matter!"

Pei Wan'er took a step back to the side and gave up her seat to Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an walked forward slowly and gently stroked the shiny black leopard skin. The soft leather made him feel as if he had returned to the Lilou Fengshou Castle many years ago, the frozen Lingshan, a newcomer who had just arrived in the Tang Dynasty. Time seemed to flow backwards at this moment, immersing Li Qing'an in his memories of the past.

Pei Wan'er on the side did not disturb Li Qing'an's contemplation. She was holding a golden satin cloth in her hand. After decorating the chair, she needed to cover the chair with satin cloth. She stood aside and looked at Li Qing'an in contemplation curiously. She heard from her grandfather that this man was the strongest man in the Tang Dynasty, and even the emperor was afraid of him.

But how could he be strong? Pei Wan'er could not feel Li Qing'an's strength at all. His behavior was so polite, his smile was gentle, and his voice was low and soft. He was simply a scholar who read the scriptures well.

Pei Wan'er has been listening to adults mentioning this person since she was ten years old. For six years, his heroic deeds and his anecdotes have always been circulated among her clan sisters. He led his army to defeat the cannibals, and he drove the Uighurs back to the grassland. Later, he got married. The wedding was grand. Various rumors made Li Qing'an an out of reach in her heart. He seemed to be a god on the clouds, full of mystery and awe in her heart.

But at this moment, Li Qing'an was right in front of her. This legendary figure in the Tang Dynasty was standing in front of her. She even saw the long scar on his forehead. Her two cousins ​​once bet that the scar on his forehead was crescent or Beidou. Now she saw that it was neither crescent nor Beidou, but a thin scar.

At this time, Pei Wan'er felt Li Qing'an's bright eyes looking at her. She lowered her head guiltily, and her heart was pounding, as if she had done something bad and was caught on the spot. After a while, she secretly looked at Li Qing'an again, and then she realized that he was not looking at her. He was looking at the white jade screen beside her. Pei Wan'er's nervous heart fell slightly, but she felt a little frustrated.

"Girl, do you know where this black panther skin came from?"

When Li Qing'an asked her, Pei Wan'er's heart couldn't help but feel nervous again. She shook her head in panic and said, "This is my favorite thing. If the general likes it, you can ask the eldest grandfather. He highly respects the general, maybe he will give it to you."

"Where did the girl think of it? How could I want the thing Pei Ge Lao loved?"

Li Qingan smiled and said, "I don't want this black panther skin, but this black panther skin was what I was hunting back then. It reminded me of some things that happened back then."

Pei Wan'er was stunned, and she immediately covered her mouth and smiled: "It turns out that it was obtained by General Li's hunting."

Seeing that she was smiling strangely, Li Qingan asked in confusion: "Why, don't you believe it was my prey?"

"No! No!"

Pei Wan'er waved her hand in a hurry and said, "I don't mean that, it's this morning..."

Pei Wan'er felt embarrassed to speak afterwards

"What's wrong this morning?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

"Then I said, General Li, don't be angry."

Li Qingan waved his hand and said, "You said that, how could I be angry with the girl?"

Pei Wan'er restrained the smile on her face and said, "This morning, my grandfather gave me this leopard skin. He said that hunting this leopard is the most misleading hunter in the world. Such a precious black leopard skin was shot into a big hole. It was a waste of treasure. If he found this hunter, he had to teach him a lesson."

Li Qingan laughed silently and said, "This is also something I regret. Originally, this leopard was pinched to death by me, and then stabbed it in the heart with a knife..."

"Ah!" Pei Wan'er let out a low voice, covering her heart with her hands, and a look of fear appeared in her eyes, "General Li, this is too cruel."

"But if I don't kill him, I will be bitten to death by it. What I got was a complete black panther skin, but unfortunately I was shot through with an arrow in the restaurant."

Li Qing comforted the small arrow hole. Although it had been repaired, there were still obvious flaws. He couldn't help but think of the unruly little girl in Bahuancheng back then. I don't know what she is doing now?

Li Qingan sighed secretly, then smiled at Pei Wan'er and said, "I will surrender to the old man. Girl, please keep busy! I won't bother you anymore."

After saying that, Li Qing'an walked towards the inner courtyard and took a few steps. He stopped and turned around and asked, "Your name is Pei Wan'er, right?"

"Yes!" Pei Wan'er nodded with a blushing face.

“The name sounds nice.”

Li Qingan smiled and said to himself: "When did Li Linfu reconcile with his old rival?"

Then he turned around and left. Pei Wan'er looked at his back and couldn't understand what he said for a long time.

Just as Li Qing'an and Pei Wan'er were talking, Pei Zunqing stood behind another screen not far away and stared at them. His eyes were full of pride. He saw that Li Qing'an had a little meaning to his granddaughter Wan'er, and this was exactly what he wanted.

Pei Zunqing is a very pragmatic person. He is not as passionate about Buddhism as Pei Kuan, nor is he focused on government affairs like Pei Min. He attaches more importance to the development of his family. Now the status of the Pei family in the court has risen to a very high level. He is the minister of the disciple, while Pei Min is the right prime minister of the Secretariat. This kind of family occupies a high position in the Secretariat and controls the power of the Secretariat. It is extremely rare. It can be said that the Pei family has reached a peak, but Pei Zunqing is still not satisfied, because the current court is the weakest moment since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The places that can be controlled are just Guanzhong, Guannei Road, Hedong Road and Henan Road.

In the court, there are states and strong vassals. The power of the Pei family must be greatly reduced. What Pei Zunqing thought of was that in the future, when the Tang Dynasty was reunified and the national strength was restored to its highest prosperity, what was the status of the Pei family? Can it surpass the Cui family in all respects?

Being beyond the Cui family has always been Pei Zunqing's most concerned thing. For this reason, he had to find a big tree for the Pei family so that the Pei family could get the support of this big tree and get the shade of this big tree. When Li Qing'an entered the city on the first day, he killed Meng Yun like a chicken in front of the civil and military officials, he recognized Li Qing'an's style of killing chickens to warn monkeys. Li Qing'an is undoubtedly the most suitable tree for this big tree.

He also saw Li Qing'an's eagerness to win over the aristocratic family. He understood Li Qing'an's ambitions. Pei Zunqing couldn't help but think of the words in "The Strategies of the Warring States":

When Lu Buwei, a native of Puyang, saw Qin's son Yiren in Handan, he returned and said to his father, "How many times the profit is to cultivate the fields?"

He said: "Ten times."

"How many times the winning numbers of pearls and jade?"

He said: "Hundred times."

"How many times will the Lord of the Country win?"

He said: "Countless."

He said: "I am now working hard in the fields and I cannot warm up the clothes and eat more. Now I am building a country and establishing a king, and I can leave the world alone. I hope that the past will happen."

When Li Qing'an was eager to get support from the aristocratic family, why didn't he work as a double-off for Lu Buwei?

Pei Zunqing walked back to his granddaughter Pei Wan'er. When Pei Wan'er saw her grandfather coming, Yingying saluted: "Wan'er greets her grandfather!"

Pei Zunqing waved his hand and smiled slightly, "Does Wan'er not understand what Li Qing'an's last sentence mean?"

Pei Wan'er nodded, "The granddaughter really doesn't understand."

"Not only do you not understand, I'm afraid that most officials in the court will be confused after hearing this sentence. Do you know why?"

Pei Wan'er looked at her grandfather blankly, but she didn't understand at all. Pei Zunqing gently stroked the black panther skin and sighed, "Because this black panther skin was once Li Linfu's beloved thing, he died before his death and asked me to give it to your grandfather. He was about to die and said kindly. Li Linfu has a few big opponents in his life, and your grandfather is one of them. Before Li Linfu died, he asked me to give this leopard skin to your grandfather, just to reconcile with the Pei family, but I never told you that grandfather that this leopard skin was given by Li Linfu, and Li Qing'an's last words meant this."

Pei Wan'er then realized that she sighed in a low voice: "It turns out that he just said something casually, so meaningful."

Pei Zunqing squinted his eyes and smiled. His granddaughter seemed to have some meaning to Li Qingan. It was not the time yet. He didn't say it out loud, so he ordered: "Black panther skin and white fox skin are not spread for the time being. You can put it away first and then spread it on after the first group of guests arrive."

"Yes, my granddaughter understands."

Pei Zunqing looked outside the lobby and it was already dawn, so some impatient guests should have arrived first.

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The sun had already revealed its face from the magnificent east wall of Chang'an, and shot out golden lights, as if laughing loudly, looking at the vulnerable layer of mist. There was no cloud in the blue sky, which showed its depth and boundlessness.

Jingshanfang was already lively. More than a dozen Pei family members drove ox carts and gave bags of birthday gifts wrapped in red cloth to every family in the shop. Each red bag contained two longevity peaches, a bottle of longevity wine, and three hundred cents. This was not only a wish for the villagers, but also a kind of apology. Today, the road in front of the Pei family will be temporarily closed for one day to park the guest carts. The Pei family's kindness and knowledge attracted praise from the people in the shop.

The firecrackers also started to ignite, and the sound of "bang bang!" was deafening. A large group of children covered their ears and jumped in front of the fire. The first guest's carriage was slowly driving into Jingshanfang. This was the first guest of the Pei family.

A Pei family member who set off firecrackers immediately rushed into the mansion to report. After a moment, Pei Zunqing and Pei Xi went out to greet each other. The carriage stopped in front of the Pei Mansion. The first guest to arrive was Wei Tao.

The Wei family was second only to the Pei family among the major families in Chang'an, ranking third, but several heavy blows caused the Wei family to gradually decline. Once, it was the Wei Jian case during the Tianbao period. Most of the Wei family's children who were officials in various places were cleaned up. The second was the case of Li Heng's East Palace removal case, and Wei Tao and Wei Huan were both removed from office. Although Wei Jiansu later served as prime minister, in the power to remove Yang Guozhong, Wei Jiansu was also removed. Later, he was appointed as the left minister of the Ministry of War. After Li Heng came to power, he did not miss the old love at all, nor did he consider the sacrifices made by the Wei family for him. Even Concubine Wei, who was forced to become a monk, did not take a look at it, which made the Wei family very disappointed.

Although Wei Tao did not have a position, he still had the title of a single official, the third-rank Jinzi Guanglu Dafu, and was once the young master of the prince, with a noble status. In addition, he was the patriarch of the Wei family, so his arrival was treated by the Pei family.

"I didn't expect that the first guest to arrive was Brother Wei!"

Pei Zunqing came up with a laugh and hugged Wei Tao intimately. Wei Tao also said, "With the friendship between Pei and Wei families, Pei Ge Lao celebrates his birthday, how dare I not be the first to come?"

The Wei family and the Pei family have a very good relationship and are very deeply in marriage. Pei Zunqing's wife is the daughter of the Wei family. Of course, Wei Tao came so early, not because of the Wei family and the Pei family. He had another purpose. He glanced at him and saw Li Qing'an's carriage parked aside, and he was secretly happy.

He came early to come to talk to Li Qing'an. A few days ago, Li Qing'an personally sent him an invitation, but unexpectedly he was not at home, and his younger brother Wei Jiang received the invitation for him. This incident made Wei Tao regret it all the time. If he knew that Li Qing'an had come, he would never leave the house.

Wei Tao had dealt with Li Qing'an in Yangzhou and had a grudge. When Li Qing'an was assassinated when he arrived in Yangzhou, it was Wei Tao's planner. He was instructed by his son-in-law, King Li Yan. Although he had always been upset about this matter, Li Qing'an had a good relationship with him later. He even cut a table with alcohol in his house. The matter in Yangzhou seemed to have faded.

At this time, Li Qing'an also walked out quickly, and bowed and smiled from a distance, "It turns out it is Mr. Wei. I went to the mansion a few days ago to send invitations, and you are not here."

"We were uneasy when you let Your Highness go for nothing. We came early today, and we also wanted to apologize to the general and to reminisce about the past."

Li Qingan naturally understood the implication of Wei Tao's old words, so he smiled and said, "It just so happened that I had nothing to do. Let's talk together and talk about Yangzhou."

He smiled at Pei Zunqing again and said, "Mr. Pei, I will receive this first guest."

"Haha! General, just be at will!"

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To be continued...