Ding Yi didn't notice anything strange, so he nodded and followed the woman. The woman was wearing a red shirt, and her manners were elegant and generous. On the contrary, Ding Yi was a little restrained, because as the woman walked along, the decoration of the restaurant was very luxurious.
Ding Yi was dressed very plainly and was a bit out of tune with the surrounding scenery.
Along the way, the woman greeted some guests very politely, and those people looked at Ding Yi curiously.
But Ding Yi didn't care about these. In fact, he came here tonight mainly to deal with it. He didn't plan to stay long, but he was anxious to go back to see his sister-in-law.
Finally, the woman stopped at the door of a room, knocked lightly, and heard a voice from inside: "Come in."
The woman opened the door, bowed slightly to Ding Yi, extended her hand and said, "Master, please."
Ding Yi nodded and walked in. When he entered, he found that the room was full of people. Everyone was wearing official robes. They were obviously officials from Xilan District. One of them was wearing an official uniform with a white crane pattern.
But the middle-aged man is Dai Qing.
Dai Qing stood up first, looked at Ding Yi in surprise, and said with a smile: "Haha, the number one scholar is here, please invite me soon."
As soon as Dai Qing opened his mouth, everyone else stood up very politely and greeted Ding Yi warmly.
Seeing how enthusiastic all these officials, big and small, were, Ding Yi obviously couldn't stand it. You know, the lowest one here seems to be a sixth-grade official!
I'm afraid you can't even see a sixth-grade official in the Western Continent, right? As for the highest official in the Western Continent, he is just a ninth-grade official, incomparable to any official here.
But when these officials saw Ding Yi, they were as enthusiastic as subordinates meeting their superiors. I think if Dai Qing had not been present, they would have come up to greet Ding Yi even more enthusiastically.
Dai Qing was a little better, after all, he came from Zuo Wuyuan, but the other officials were only from provincial schools. When they saw Ding Yi, a martial arts champion, they naturally felt like they were standing on a high mountain.
No matter how Ding Yi won, whether it was luck or anything else, in short, he won the first place. This is a manifestation of his strength, and it is worthy of the hard work of these low-ranking officials!
Dai Qing pulled Ding Yi over and introduced him enthusiastically.
Ding Yi couldn't refuse, so he smiled and greeted these officials one by one. Of course, Dai Qing also singled out one person in particular. This person was the top chief executive in charge of more than ten towns near Xilu, Le Jin, who was about a year old.
An official in his thirties, Mr. Le is the county magistrate of Luhang County, and happens to be in charge of Xilu.
Naturally, Ding Yi did not dare to neglect this gentleman. After all, he was from Xilu, so he had to pay more attention to the local officials.
Ding Yizheng was about to say a few polite words, but Mr. Le immediately overrode the guest and said: "Oh, No. 1 Scholar, you don't have to be polite to me. From now on, your affairs will be Le's business. Hahaha, I can help you.
That's Le Mou's honor, I just hope you will take care of me in the future!"
Le Jin felt happy for a long time. Ding Yi was born in the Western Continent, and now he is the number one scholar. As a local official, he has gained a lot of glory because of this!
Don't say that his words were not flattering at all. Even if Dai Qing said this, no one thought anything of it. Dai Qing was only a fourth-grade man who came from Zuo Wuyuan. Look at Ding Yi and Da Wu.
Regardless of Yuan Wuzi's identity, he is still the top scholar in martial arts.
Which of the military champions over the years has not been reused by the imperial court? Which one will not be the main member of the future cabinet?
After entering the cabinet, it is appropriate to have a first-rank official position. A first-rank official is still a powerful first-rank official in the cabinet, the highest bureaucracy in the imperial capital. If they don't fawn over Ding Yi now when he is still young and has no airs, he will be a first-rank official in the future.
There is no chance to curry favor.
So tonight, when Dai Qing said that Ding Yi had agreed to come to the banquet, they were all overjoyed. They rushed over one by one. Now that they have met Ding Yi, how can they not be enthusiastic?
Not only must you be enthusiastic, but you must also use various means to build a good relationship with this newly promoted martial arts champion.
After some pleasantries, it finally passed, and Ding Yi breathed a sigh of relief. He now had a taste of officialdom. This was a different matter from practicing martial arts. It was even more tiring than practicing martial arts.
But now that they are here, there is no reason to leave early, especially seeing how enthusiastic they all are. Ding Yi is embarrassed to leave in such a hurry, so he also sat down.
The food and drinks were served quickly. Everyone kept toasting Ding Yi. Ding Yi only drank a little symbolically. No one dared to complain about this. After all, Ding Yi drank to give them face.
Yes, who dares to force him to drink so much?
"Young Master Ding, you see, this is my family's heirloom. This time, Young Master Ding won the first place in the national competition and brought a sigh of relief to us in Xilan. Lin is not talented, but he just prepared a small gift to celebrate."
After three rounds, an official took the lead.
Ding Yizheng was about to refuse. How could he have the nerve to accept a gift? But another official couldn't wait to intervene: "Mr. Ding, I have some yellow and white vulgar things here. If you don't dislike it, you can accept it and treat me as Mr. Zhang."
I’ve arranged for Young Master Ding to go all the way to Dawuyuan, the imperial capital.”
"Master Ding, I take it you are still young and unmarried, right? Look, this is the recent rune picture of my third daughter. Take a look, do you still like it?..."
"Master Ding, this is a double-edged spear that I accidentally found a few years ago... I heard that Mr. Ding's marksmanship is as good as a god, so I will use this weapon as a gift to the hero..."
"Master Ding..."
"Master Ding..."
"Master Ding..."
…
A group of people were rushing to give away this and that, and even planned to betroth their daughter to Ding Yi, which made Ding Yi dumbfounded and a little caught off guard.
Dai Qing smiled lightly and said: "Master Ding, just accept it. If you don't accept it, they won't be able to sleep at night."
"Oh? Why is this?" Ding Yi was a little confused. From the moment he entered this room, they had been entertaining him warmly, and now they were trying their best to please him. Even a fool could see that they were trying to curry favor with him.
.
But Ding Yi doesn't quite understand. Is this necessary?
"Master Ding, do you know that your status is different now?" Dai Qing felt that it was necessary to have a good talk with Ding Yi, because he felt that Ding Yi was a good character, victorious but not arrogant, and not at all like the playboys of those young masters.
With a bad nature and a simple and upright personality, such a person will definitely be a pillar of the empire in the future. Therefore, Dai Qing feels that he should teach Ding Yi a good lesson now, so that they can understand some of the worldly ways of officialdom, which will be very useful to him in the future.