Chapter 16: Exclusively published by Jin-Jiang Literature City
Although Uncle Jing Yuan and Mother Li have not yet officially appeared, someone has already reported what happened to Li Jingyuan and Si Yuan.
Mother Li was very dissatisfied. Today was her fiftieth birthday. Li Jingyuan, a concubine, came to wish her a birthday. However, at her birthday party, he tried to gain fame by stepping on her biological son. This also put her, the biological mother, in the spotlight. In?
Now that Li Jingyuan was not around, Mother Li took her anger out on Old Uncle Jingyuan. She sneered and said, "Look at the Jinshi son you have high hopes for. He hasn't even made a great success yet. Why don't you treat me, your aunt, and his eldest son?" Brother, I take it seriously. When he becomes famous, he will probably not be able to recognize you as his father. You feel that you can’t write two words in one stroke, but they may want to take advantage of you and then kick you. Kick it away."
Old Uncle Jingyuan also looked a little ugly. After all, Li Jingyuan's behavior was indeed a slap in the face of his direct brother, but he was only angry that Li Jingyuan acted inappropriately. He had no overall perspective at all. Even if he was at odds with his direct brother, he didn't want to think that he was still in trouble now. He needs the help of his aunt and eldest brother, and it is really embarrassing for him to do things based on his own preferences.
The most important thing is that you cannot write two characters "Li" in one stroke. Any conflicts between your brothers should be resolved privately. Even if your arms are broken, you should hide them in your sleeves, instead of talking to your brothers in front of so many outsiders. make life difficult for.
Old Jingyuan Bo felt that Li Jingyuan's son might be pedantic in his studies and did not understand the world at all. He originally thought that he was the only son of the Li family who had passed the imperial examination and became an official, so he placed the Li family's hopes on him. Now, It seems that Li Jingyuan, who is so incompetent, may not be able to rise in the officialdom in the future.
After all, when you are an official, you are not an official, but a human being.
If Li Jingyuan is pushed to a high position using the connections and resources of Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion, and he turns around and causes trouble for the Li family, it would be better to just keep the status quo.
Old Uncle Jingyuan couldn't help but start thinking again about whether to continue investing in Li Jingyuan, a bastard.
As for what Mother Li said about Li Jingyuan becoming famous and not recognizing his brother and father in the future, old Uncle Jingyuan didn't take it to heart. Even if Li Jingyuan didn't recognize it, he couldn't really declare to the outside world that he would sever ties with Uncle Jingyuan's mansion. If you come to him in the future, he won't be willing to help.
Even so, the Li family has a high-ranking official. Even if this high-ranking official is not willing to talk to the brothers, the brothers can still use the tiger's skin as a banner. After all, they cannot write two characters "Li" in one stroke.
Old Uncle Jingyuan ignored his wife's cynicism and did not express his own considerations. In his opinion, women should just support their husbands and raise children. There is no need to talk to them about these things outside. Anyway, they only see the immediate benefits. He is short-sighted and does not know how to put family interests first. The Li family still has full power to make the final decision, and even if the wife complains, it won't hinder her.
When Li Chengyuan came over to invite Old Uncle Jingyuan and Mother Li out, Old Uncle Jingyuan asked him: "I heard that your third brother is friends with the third young master of Duke Wei's mansion?"
Li Chengyuan was slightly startled and replied: "That should be the case. After the conflict between the fourth brother and the third brother, it was Mr. Zhao who stood up for the third brother."
In fact, if there is a conflict between the third brother and the fourth brother, Li Chengyuan will choose to side with Li Jingyuan after careful consideration. After all, he has invested so much in Li Jingyuan as his father said. If Li Jingyuan is offended by a playboy brother, his investment will be Isn't it a waste of money?
But in the conflict between Li Jingyuan and Si Yuan, Si Yuan didn't say much during the whole process. Zhao Lin stood up for him. So it was not easy for Li Chengyuan to choose between the unreasonable Li Jingyuan and the reasonable Zhao Lin. Can a choice be made?
Li Chengyuan and Uncle Jingyuan are both the same people. They have affection for their relatives, but they cannot compare with their interests.
Li Chengyuan said to Old Uncle Jing Yuan: "Mr. Zhao looks like he is not very familiar with his third brother, but he speaks for him very much." So he was not sure what the relationship between Si Yuan and Zhao Lin was like.
Old Uncle Jingyuan said nothing more: "Let's go."
After Mrs. Li, the birthday girl, came out, what attracted more attention was Old Uncle Jingyuan, the real person in power of Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion.
Although the current Uncle Jingyuan of Jingyuan's Mansion is Li Chengyuan, the Li family's network resources and favors depend on Old Uncle Jingyuan. Most of the people who came to attend Li's mother's birthday banquet did so because of Old Uncle Jingyuan's face. Come up.
The guests greeted Old Uncle Jingyuan one after another and wished Mother Li a happy birthday.
Old Uncle Jingyuan was socializing with a smile on his face, but he soon noticed something was wrong, because many people who did not have a close relationship with Uncle Jingyuan's house actually came to give gifts, and the gifts they gave were quite expensive.
This can't help but make Old Jingyuan Bo feel strange. After all, there is a set of unwritten rules for giving gifts among high-ranking people in the upper class. People who are close to each other give heavy gifts, and people who are not close to each other but want to ask for help also give heavy gifts. , the gifts given by people who are not close to each other and are just a formality are acceptable, just to give each other face...
Therefore, these families who are not close to Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion, and even have a higher family status than Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion, actually send people to Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion to give such heavy gifts. It really makes old Uncle Jingyuan confused. Could it be that they Is there any other place that I would like to ask for in Uncle Jingyuan’s Mansion? Their Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion has gone downhill. How can it be worthy of the heavy gifts and requests from people with higher family status than them?
With doubts in his heart, old Uncle Jingyuan paid special attention to these guests who were not close to Uncle Jingyuan's house but yet gave them heavy gifts. Then he was surprised to find that after giving gifts and celebrating their birthdays, these guests He actually went to his dandy son Li Siyuan to propose a toast, and his attitude was extremely polite.
How is this going?
Old Uncle Jingyuan couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought about it, his third son had a reputation as a playboy. Even though in recent years he had been raising babies at home for a long time after the birth of his child and rarely went out, he still didn't have the capital to let these high-ranking sons do it. The young man from a well-off family took the initiative to come forward and offer a toast?
After realizing that these wealthy families who were not close to Uncle Jingyuan's mansion came to attend Li's mother's birthday banquet because of Si Yuancai and gave them heavy gifts, Old Uncle Jingyuan's thoughts immediately started to change.
Although I don't know how his third son got involved with these people, it is obviously a good thing for the Li family.
After the birthday banquet, old Uncle Jingyuan asked Li Chengyuan to keep Si Yuan. He wanted to find out the reason and be confident before he could use Si Yuan's connections to seek greater benefits for Uncle Jingyuan's mansion.
But what Old Uncle Jingyuan didn't expect was that Si Yuan couldn't wait to go home right after the birthday banquet, and Li Chengyuan didn't even have time to inform him to stay.
Old Uncle Jing Yuan glared at Li Chengyuan angrily: "You can't even handle such a small thing."
Li Chengyuan also felt that he was wronged. The third brother was always surrounded by people, either the young master from the Duke's mansion or the young master from the Hou's mansion. He did not dare to step forward casually and interrupt their communication.
He originally thought that after the third brother had finished communicating with the distinguished guests, he would go forward and keep the third brother for a few days, but he did not expect that as soon as he turned around, the third brother would leave with his wife and children. , didn’t even say hello to him.
After knowing that his playboy third son had such huge interests, Old Uncle Jingyuan naturally didn't care about Si Yuan's behavior of leaving without saying goodbye after the birthday banquet. Instead, he found reasons to excuse him: "Maybe it's Some of his friends invited him, and he couldn't shirk it, so he left without saying goodbye."
Li Chengyuan: "..." It's too realistic, father. "Father is right."
Li Chengyuan added: "The third brother invited the fourth brother to visit his house before. Why don't I take Chang Ji to visit the third brother as well."
Li Changji is Li Chengyuan's eldest son and is eight years old this year.
Old Uncle Jingyuan nodded and said, "Well, then you can go with your fourth brother."
Li Chengyuan said, "The third brother and the fourth brother just had a conflict. It's not appropriate for me and the fourth brother to come together. I'd better take Changji alone to visit the third brother." What if Si Yuan gets angry with Li Jingyuan? what to do?
Old Uncle Jingyuan thought about it and thought it was right, so he nodded in agreement: "You can figure it out yourself."
Si Yuan took his wife and children home in a carriage. Yu Yan asked with some confusion: "Husband, didn't you say that you want Chang Qing to stay in Uncle Jingyuan's residence to study? Why didn't you talk to your father, mother, and eldest brother? Sister-in-law, they just said hello and came back directly? This is too rude."
Si Yuan smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. Chang Qing's schooling will definitely be fine."
Originally, he planned to talk to Mother Li about this matter and let his direct grandson take advantage of the educational resources of Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion. It was not a big deal, and Li Chengyuan would also give face to his direct brother.
But this is how Si Yuan went to Uncle Jingyuan's house for Xiao Changqing's sake.
Originally, it was okay to go to Uncle Jingyuan's house for Zaizai. Si Yuan was capable of bending and bending, so he didn't care about it. However, when he saw that many of the guests at the birthday banquet came for him, and this was also revealed by Lao Jing. Uncle Yuan paid attention.
Si Yuan knew that with Old Uncle Jingyuan's temperament, he would definitely not miss such a good opportunity, and would definitely send someone to find him.
So he took his wife and children home first. Instead of asking him to go to Uncle Jingyuan's house, he should have Uncle Jingyuan's house come to him and beg him to let his son go to school in Uncle Jingyuan's house.
If you have the opportunity to exercise your authority, why not? Li Siyuan, Lao Jingyuanbo and Li Chengyuan were not close friends as father and son, or brothers. They were all separated. Of course, matters related to interests must be settled clearly.
Si Yuan shows no mercy when it comes to the benefits that should be reaped and the airs that should be taken.
Sure enough, just after Si Yuan returned home with Yu Yan and Xiao Changqing, the next day he received a message from the original owner's good brother that Li Chengyuan was going to visit their family with his eldest son Li Changji.
Si Yuan took the post sent from Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion and said to Yu Yan with a smile: "Isn't this the opportunity for Xiao Changqing to go to Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion to study?"
Yu Yan was confused: "Why did eldest brother take the initiative to visit our house?"
Not long after Yu Yan married into the Li family, the family separated. She really didn't know much about Li Chengyuan, the eldest brother, but she also knew that both Li Chengyuan and his wife were the kind of people who were too proud of their own status to start early. After her son was born, at the three-month banquet and the full-moon and first-year-old banquet, at Uncle Jingyuan's residence, either the elder sister-in-law was the only one who came to attend, or a butler was sent to give gifts. Anyway, this uncle Li Chengyuan never showed up. , as if they disdain to set foot in their humble house.
Now Li Chengyuan is going to take his eldest son to the bottom of the earth?
Of course, Yu Yan didn't really think that her home was a cheap place, but the description was like that, and she felt that this was probably what Li Chengyuan thought in his heart.
Si Yuan said: "Eldest brother has a bit of brotherly love for me, but not much. This time he is willing to take the initiative to visit our house, but there is no benefit and he can't afford to be early."
Yu Yan asked: "What benefits does our family have that are worth his plans?"
