Chapter 42: Family Banquet
Erfanyuanji was also a middle-class noble in Daliang. He also had hundreds of elite soldiers in Mobei. He was the famous Geng family. Of course, more people were controlled by the Fang family. But when the Daliang emperor swept the top, the half-people and half-bandit families like the Fang family were suppressed to the end and then the day they made their debut.
Originally, the Fang family had already declined by Fang Zheng's generation, and the so-called heir was just a inferior playboy who only knew how to have fun. If this continued, the Fang family would be like many other small families and eventually disappear.
At this moment, the eldest daughter of the Fang family came out of the mountain after school and returned home and took over all the power. She even detained all the uncles who opposed him. Then she arrogantly asked the Fang family to leave the small town of Mobei that had been running for a hundred years and migrate to Yongzhou, which was far from as prosperous as it is now.
Daliang is no longer as good as other nomadic peoples, especially the martial Mobei, which has a strong rural concept and will not easily leave their hometown, let alone move the entire family thousands of miles away.
However, Fang Zheng was too strong and could not tolerate any disagreement. Hundreds of young and old finally began a long migration road driven by Fang Zheng's long sword.
The borders of the northern and western regions of the Mobei region are naturally bound to be bound by horse bandits who come and go like the wind. The Fang family, which is migrating in a vast way, is simply the meat on their mouths. Even if Fang Zheng carefully arranges the route, he is inevitably peeped. Before one-third of the migration road has reached, a horse bandit finally couldn't help but act first.
Although the Fang family had long been declining, it was once glorious after all. In any case, there was always some family fortune. Just when the bandits were smiling and preparing to rush into the crowd to kill and loot, they saw a girl in red standing on the horse.
Hundreds of horse bandits were not considered small forces, so they naturally did not take the young and old of the Fang family seriously. They only thought that Fang Zheng was a ignorant girl. When the horse bandit leader smiled lewdly and was about to capture Fang Zheng alive and humiliated in one fell swoop, he was cut off his head by his sharp knife. Then Fang Zheng led dozens of young and strong men to the horse bandits. The panic in panic could not resist for a moment. Later, he realized that the remaining bandits bypassed the fierce red Fang Zheng and went to the Fang family convoy to burn, kill and loot.
They were all outlaws who licked blood from the knife. The boss of the horse bandit was killed in one encounter, which aroused the blood courage of the remaining people. So a group of people were divided into groups to entangle Fang Zheng. The remaining people were grinning and preparing to use hundreds of women and children to sacrifice their swords. At this time, a pair of cavalry patrolling the border passed by, killed a group of horse bandits and rescued the Fang family.
At that time, the person who led the team to save people was Chu Kuang, who had already become famous. The rest of the matter was much easier. With the Chu family's connections in the army, they had military personnel all the way to take care of them openly and secretly, and finally the Fang family completed this great migration.
When the Fang family arrived in Yongzhou, it was almost the time when Emperor Liang decided to go northwest. With his close relationship with the Chu family, he easily obtained the new position of the court compared to other families in the northwest. Later, he was already the spokesperson of the court in the northwest business circle. Compared with his previous half-dead state, he was simply from heaven and earth. The far-sighted Miss Fang family's wisdom was not just that. In the second year after the Fang family moved to Yongzhou, the border town where the Fang family was originally located became the front battlefield between Daliang and the Hu people, and eventually turned into a sea of fire, and no ten people in the city remained.
However, Daliang is not as good as the Western Regions, and women are not allowed to go to the front. Fang Zheng handed over power after the Fang family was already on the road of rapid development. Later, the Fang family's rulers did not know what intentions were used to finally let Fang Zheng marry into the Chu family, which was completely tied to the Chu family of Daliang. As for whether Fang Zheng was willing, it was no longer important.
Chu Nan told the story of Chu Kuang's wife, the heroic young lady of the Fang family. When the family banquet was at night, Yang Mei sat up next to Fang Zheng. The look at Fang Zheng was invisible to the point where she looked at Fang Zheng.
For the ladies of a large family who have been strictly controlled since childhood, Fang Zheng's resentful and casual deeds should only appear in the legend. Now that I have seen it, I can naturally imagine the shock in my heart.
Fang Zheng’s deeds before marrying Chu Kuang were not considered a secret in the Chu family. After a moment of thinking, he thought about the reason for Yang Mei’s attitude. He reached out to pat Yang Mei’s hand and sighed slightly. From a chivalrous woman who was so roaming with the world and a gentle and virtuous wife of a wealthy family, the change in mood is really hard to tell others. Yang Mei envies herself, why don’t she envy Yang Mei?
The smile on Chu's face was a little reluctant. Although Fang Zheng had arranged to marry the Chu family by herself, she didn't seem to be close to her. She seemed to be close to Chu Yue and Yangmei, and there was an old lady in her family who seemed to be the mistress of the Chu family, which made her look so isolated.
Today, the family banquet was held by the old lady. Apart from the five brothers such as Chu Kuang Chu Nan, Chu Yue, and the female family members who were both scattered. According to the old man, the family banquet was considered a strange rule. What kind of family banquet is that? This made the Chu family, who has always emphasized that there must be big rules in the big family, feel more depressed.
The old lady came in with Chu Yue's support, reached out to signal everyone to sit down. After looking at it, she did not sit in the upper position that Chu had specially prepared, but sat in the position where Fang Zheng got on. Chu was restless and hesitated for a while and finally did not dare to persuade him. She stood up and gave Chu Yue a seat. Everyone knew that even when Chu Yue entered the palace, she would sit next to the old lady.
Although it was a family dinner and even though the women were on the table, men and women still stood at separate tables.
Because the female family members had an absolutely authoritative old lady at the table, Fang Zheng and Yang Mei were not keen on family fights, and they were not bad at treating people and things. They were also full of lively and close for a while, so they would not be in a mess.
But the table where Chu Yuan is located is different.
Although Chu Yuan can be called a word in the Chu family, Chu Qing and Chu Ping are very awe of Chu Yuan, and this time they are inevitably a little nervous. They have to think about it carefully several times when they say it, for fear of saying it wrong. Chu An seemed to have something to worry about, and sat there and spoke in a muffled manner. Chu Nan and Chu Kuang sat opposite Chu Yuan, whispering something with a serious face.
Chu Yuan looked at the table with different expressions and felt a sense of frustration. He sighed in his heart and said in a deep voice: "Tonight is a family dinner, so don't worry about too many rules, have a meal."
Even so, the few people waited for Chu Yuan to eat before starting to move their chopsticks. Chu Qingping naturally couldn't find a topic to discuss with Chu Yuan for a while, so he just kept huddled his head to eat. Chu An looked at Chu Nan and Chu Kuang from time to time. He wanted to say something but shook his head and said nothing. Chu Nan picked up a few chopstick dishes and ate a few symbolic bites.
Chu Yuan saw the atmosphere a little silent, knocked on the table and frowned, "Chu Qing, Chu Ping, you will leave Beijing after the New Year. Remember, you two must not do anything wrong based on your family background. You should respect Shangguan, make friends with your colleagues more, and do not disappoint your father."
Chu Ping was pure and whispered, but Chu Qing hesitated for a while and said with a smile: "What my father said is that I will take my second brother out to make friends with scholars from all over the world. It is not a solution to stay at home all the time."
Chu Yuan frowned and looked at Chu Ping and taught: "Since you have passed the imperial examination, you can put your books first. The most important thing now is knowledge outside of books, otherwise you will only be panicked and at a loss when you arrive at a place! Those saints are teaching you how to be a human being, and only knowledge outside of books can teach you how to do things and how to eat. Those who stick to those saints will only starve to death." After teaching Chu Ping, Chu Yuan looked at Chu Qing again. In recent days, the prince has been very active, and Chu Qing has also made many famous friends with the prince.
Although these things are normal, Chu Yuan still criticized: "I asked you to make friends with wise men, either to let you unite the party, do you know that the existence of the princeling party has been rumored recently in the capital, and the fourth young master of the Chu family is an important figure!? When you go to the place, you should make some achievements honestly, don't always think about pursuing the camp, and don't expect to get promoted by external forces. I wanted to say a few words about the position of the prince and the party. I still kept silent. He might not understand these things, just wasting words.
Chu Qing was resentful. The prince was elegant and generous. Recently, he appeared from time to time. Although he had a few conversations, he easily impressed many scholars. Although the prince’s reputation among the scholars is not as good as that of the seventh prince Li Yi, it is also very important. He has made great efforts in this. Otherwise, how could the prince suggest that he would definitely help him in the future? He looked at Chu Nan and said in his heart that I am not favored by the Chu family, so no one will pave the way for me. What if I find some ways for myself?
Chu Yuan looked at Chu Nan, shook his head and didn't say anything. Since he was a child, Chu Nan had never done his own words, especially after the incident in Jiangnan, the momentum became more and more obvious. That day, he even crippled Guo Zhong in front of him and showed his unruly nature. As for Chu Kuang, it was beyond his expectations, but he had gained great power in just a few years. Now he can only give a few words from the side and can no longer scold him at any time.
Fang Zheng and Yang Mei also carefully spoke to make the old lady happy. They laughed and joking with Chu Yue from time to time, but they seemed much more harmonious and warm, and the old lady rarely smiled.
No matter what everyone thinks, this is a rare scene in the Chu family recently. At least people gathered together, and at least on the surface, it was a row of peaceful scenes, and there was no contradiction at all.
When the time is almost done, the old lady was the first to stand up, and walked out with Chu Yue's hand. She said to herself as she walked: "There are not many children in the family to put on her feet, and this banquet can't taste like this.
The people in the room had different expressions. Chu's mind moved slightly and decided to tell Chu An about marriage. Chu Nan Chu Kuang shook his head relative to him. Fang Zheng was knocked and closed with a faint expression, but Yang Mei could not hide her fear and lowered her head in depressed manner and thought about something.
Chapter completed!