Sun's banquet to welcome the royal family was held in the back garden to the north of the villa.

The shape of the banquet is just like the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner in the palace. When viewed from the air, it is a "mouth" shape with an unsealed bottom.

There are three huanghuali wood tables placed in the north, which are the seats for the emperor, the empress dowager and the imperial concubine.

Five long tables are arranged in sequence from north to south in the due east, which are the seats of Si Beile, Ninth Age, Tenth Age, Thirteenth Age and Xen Beile respectively.

There are several rows of seats in the west direction. The three seats at the front are for Sun, Cao Yin and Cao Quan. The tables behind the mother and son are for Li, Wang's two daughters-in-law, and their sons.

At the end of Youshi, the sky was completely dark, and the night sky was filled with stars.

The royal family freshened up in the wing room, put on comfortable clothes, and then, led by Sun, Cao Yin, Cao Quan and others, followed the winding corridor in the courtyard to the back garden.

As soon as everyone walked into the moon gate in the back garden, they saw from a distance several low mountains about seven or eight meters high. The low mountains were dotted with dots of firelight. Between the low mountains were small waterfalls made of running water.

, the water of the waterfall flowed down from the top of the mountain, and fell into a pool shaped like a lotus. The bottom of the pool was paved with a whole piece of blue-white jade. There were many koi carps in the pool, and the koi fish flicked their tails.

He looked very comfortable while swimming.

The moonlight shines on the surface of the pool water, emitting sparkling waves.

Kangxi put his hands behind his back, walked to the edge of the pool with his family, casually glanced into the pool, and laughed out loud when he saw the koi inside:

"The fish here are well raised, and they look a lot more energetic than the fish in my Changchun Garden."

Qingyan, who was standing next to him, couldn't help turning her head and glanced at Kangxi when she heard this, but Kangxi seemed to just say this out of emotion. The smile on her face was indeed joyful, and she looked away again.

Sun, who was following on the other side and holding a cane with a dragon head in her hand, heard this and her eyes flashed. She took two steps forward, leaned over to Kangxi and explained with a smile:

"Master Banzai is really ridiculous. The fish here are just ordinary koi. Naturally, they cannot be compared with the precious fry raised by Master Banzai. These fry are raised by the people below. They are not so particular on weekdays. What?

I eat them all, so I look casual and smart. Apart from this good idea, there is nothing else I can do well."

"Hahahaha, what you say sounds interesting. You can eat everything and you will grow fast."

Kangxi seemed to be amused by what Sun said. He turned the imperial green jade ring with his right hand, pointed to the short mountain in front of him with his left hand and continued to praise:

"The firelight on the low mountain looks quite beautiful. It is scattered in an orderly manner, and it looks as random as the fish in the pond."

Wang, who was following Mrs. Sun, heard this, as if she had been holding back all day and finally found a chance to speak. She took two steps forward and imitated her mother-in-law, and interjected in a flattering manner:

"Long live my Lord, the craftsmen just set up some gilded copper lamp stands on the low mountain for lighting. There is nothing worth seeing."

"Oh, that's it."

Kangxi didn't even look at Wang, he nodded and laughed a few times, as if he had lost interest in the short mountain and fish pond, and led his family directly to the banquet table in the center of the garden.

While Wang was happy that she had spoken in front of Long Live Lord, her mother-in-law, Sun, turned around and glared at Wang with anger in her eyes.

Wang's neck couldn't help but shrink when she saw this.

Her husband Cao Quan was also dissatisfied and scolded her in a low voice: "You have no place to interrupt here! Why do you love to show off so much!"

Cao Yin did not approve of his sister-in-law answering the question here, which seemed a bit unruly. However, he saw the emperor and the others walking forward. It was not the time to argue now, so he hurriedly lowered his voice and said to Mrs. Sun:

"Forget it, mother, let's let people serve the food first. We can't let the emperor sit at the table and wait, right?"

After hearing what her stepson said, Ms. Sun nodded and walked to the banquet with a cane in her right hand and her left arm supported by her eldest daughter-in-law, Ms. Li.

To be honest, Mrs. Sun naturally doesn't want her stepson to do better than her own son, but her stepson is indeed more capable than her own son, and she has a close relationship with Lord Long Live. She was naturally aware of current affairs when she was Kangxi's wet nurse when she was young.

He did not treat his stepson Cao Yin harshly. Cao Yin's biological mother died young. Over the years, Cao Yin also regarded Sun as his own mother.

The relationship between mother and son is going well.

Cao Quan knew that his ability was not as good as that of his elder brother, so he was happy to be a noble son with money in hand and a leisurely life.

It can be said that the mother and son did not care too much about Sun's achievements that year. Which one, Cao Yin or Cao Quan, enjoyed more blessings.

But this incident was an obstacle that Wang couldn't get over.

The relationship between sisters-in-law has been very delicate since ancient times. Every time Wang saw Mrs. Li, she couldn't help but feel sour in her heart. She felt that if the person who served as a playmate for Long Live Lord was her husband Cao Quan, then her life would be worse than that of Mrs. Li now.

My sister-in-law, Ms. Li, is getting pregnant.

Now looking at the mother-in-law, sister-in-law, eldest brother-in-law and husband in front of her, they all followed the footsteps of Long Live Lord and left. Wang, who was left alone behind, glared at the back of her husband Cao Quan with anger and grievance, feeling in her heart

He cursed angrily:

"If you hadn't failed to live up to your expectations and let the emperor see you, why would I, a woman, risk my face to earn face for our second wife!".

After she finished cursing these words, she turned her head and glanced into the pavilion to the west. Under the light of the candle, she could vaguely see the graceful figure of a woman standing in the pavilion.

Mrs. Wang bit her lip with her teeth, frowned and muttered in a low voice, "I hope you are a person of integrity," and then quickly raised her legs and walked forward quickly.

After the royal family and everyone in the Cao family were all seated, the dinner officially began. Beautiful fireworks bloomed on the low hill, and the sound of piano, flute, and flute also sounded.

The lithe dancers lined up and walked to the open space surrounded by the banquet tables. Along with the music, their eyes moved and they danced gracefully.

A large group of beautiful maids from the Cao family dressed in uniforms carried exquisitely crafted gold-painted mahogany trays and served food on each banquet table.

Qingyan saw that within a short time, many dishes with scarce ingredients were placed on her table.

She couldn't help but blink her eyes, racking her brains to recall what kind of delicacies appeared in "A Dream of Red Mansions", and whether the food on the table was from "A Dream of Red Mansions".

Liang Jiugong, who was standing behind Kangxi, saw the humps, bear paws, leopard fetuses... fish lips, shark fins, sea cucumbers... quails, swans, partridges placed on the emperor's table, and his eyelids jumped heavily.

This is the eight delicacies from the mountains, the eight treasures from the sea, and the eight delicacies from the birds all gathered together!

He couldn't help but glance at the Cao family at the banquet table to the west. He saw that the top seven and eight little carrot heads, from the top to the Sun family, Cao Yin, Cao Quan, and the bottom, all had smiles on their faces, without any care for the ingredients on the table.

The look on his face means that either the Cao family eats like this on weekdays, or the food the Cao family usually eats is better than this banquet!

hiss!

Liang Jiugong was shocked and did not dare to think any more.

Just when he was about to take his eyes back from the Cao family's seat, he saw Cao Yin leaning on the back of the chair, with his right hand on the armrest of the armchair, sitting in an extremely comfortable posture, enjoying the song and dance performance, and his eyes couldn't help but flash.

Flashed.

Liang Jiugong has been serving his master Jin Gui since he was a child. He is best at observing various small details.

He still remembers the time when young Cao Yin and the great talent Nalan Rongruo worked together with the emperor as imperial guards. At that time, guard Cao was such a cautious person.

Although their identities are different, they have all been with the emperor since childhood and grew up together.

Occasionally in the imperial study, Nalan Rongruo, as the emperor's cousin, would sometimes joke with the emperor.

Cao Yinze showed great respect for the emperor in everything. He was even given a seat by the emperor in the royal study. He often saw Cao Yin sitting on an armchair with only half his buttocks.

Now, twenty years later, Liang Jiugong couldn't help but feel a touch of melancholy and sadness in his heart, feeling that "money", "power" and "time" are really killing people.

The current high-ranking Lord Cao Yin and Cao Cao no longer have a shadow of the handsome and stable Guard Cao...

Kangxi's confidant eunuch sighed silently.

The five emperor elder brothers sitting at the banquet table in the east also felt quite unhappy.

Yiner glanced at the orangutan on the plate in front of him, then picked up his chopsticks and ate it in big bites.

Xiao Shi sighed in his heart while eating, it would be great if sister Shadali was here, she really likes eating orangutan lips.

Yinzhen glanced at his tenth brother who was just immersed in eating, and then turned to look at his fourth brother beside him.

Seeing that his fourth brother had turned into a face that no strangers should approach, Yinzhen couldn't help but look at the Cao family opposite with sympathy. You are really seeking death! You know how ruthless our fourth brother is.

But even Khan Amma and Huang’s mother can’t control it!

The fourth child has just started to go to court this year to handle affairs in the Ministry of Household Affairs. How dare you, the Cao family, openly eat so extravagantly. It seems that once Mr. Cao Xi dies, the Cao family will go downhill. No one is smart anymore...

The twins also looked at each other. When Yinxiang saw his fourteenth brother's wide eyes, he knew what the fourteenth brother wanted to express.

[Fourteen: Brother Thirteen, when I was in the palace, I didn’t even have a good meal in the Cao family’s courtyard! The life of the Cao family is too luxurious! They actually live better than me! I can’t stand it! I

I’m going to use a sledgehammer to smash their homes to pieces!]

Thirteen coughed twice and blinked at Yinzhen:

[Thirteenth: Fourteenth brother, listen to my words and quickly put away the silly and surprised expression on your face. Don’t let the servants of the Cao family see the joke. ]

[Fourteen raised his eyebrows: I am Brother Huang! Who among them dares to laugh at me!]

[Thirteen: Old Fourteen, brother, I am good at observing. When we were walking around in the garden during the day, I saw that the servants of the Cao family all have a pair of snobbish eyes.

Don't tell me, Old Fourteen, that you are the emperor's elder brother. If you really dare to show your stupidity, people will still dare to laugh at you in their hearts!

Didn’t you see that the maids serving the dishes looked at our five brothers shyly?]

[Fourteen: Ah! Brother Thirteen, is it true? These shameless maids are actually coveting me? I haven’t married Fujin yet! 】

Yinzhen turned his head, unilaterally cut off the telepathic communication channel of the twins, picked up the tea cup in his hand, and looked around like a thief, as if to confirm which bold maid Yinxiang was talking about.

In "coveting" him.

[Thirteen:...My silly brother, apart from being good at fighting, is really as stupid as a blank sheet of paper.]

The twins exchanged glances, and others had no idea what the two brothers were doing.

Halfway through the banquet, the fireworks on the low mountain suddenly stopped.

As soon as Kangxi and others turned away from the night sky, a graceful young girl wearing a white dress walked up not far away.

The young girl wore silver bells on both wrists, and the lower half of her face was covered with a layer of white gauze. As she walked, a series of crisp bells emitted.
To be continued...