The next day, Guo Kang and Theodora went to Cao's house in a carriage.
Guo Kang was leaning on the car with his eyes closed, while Theodora simply leaned against him, holding the invitation letter from the Cao family in her hand, pondering the meaning of the words.
The letter was sent in the name of Cao Xun, the old head of the Cao family. He said that Queen Elizabeth came to him and wanted to talk about recent events. Therefore, he, his wife Cao Lian, and his grandson Cao Jian invited Guo Kang and Princess Guo to visit.
"This letter was written two days ago. How did grandma know that we must have been together these days?" She murmured: "Looking at it, it seems that she has also told them..."
"After all, I have taken care of so many juniors, so I guess I have experience by now." Guo Kang is not an exception. After all, not participating in political affairs does not mean that Queen Elizabeth does not understand human nature. Even though she was known for her upright temperament back then, she already had a wealth of experience over the years.
"It seems so. She is probably helping you with these tasks these days." Theodora thought for a while and said, "Mrs. Cao also likes to practice martial arts. She is very close to grandma and often sees them together. If If grandma pulls the strings and asks her to come forward, the effect will indeed be much better."
The Mrs. Cao she was talking about was Cao Xun's wife Cao Lian, and Rose's name was Irina—the one who rushed into the palace with an ax decades ago to challenge Queen Mother Helena. It was precisely because of her sudden actions that disrupted the Queen Mother's plan, caused a backlash from the ministers, and failed to pursue accountability.
Therefore, not only does she have a reputation in the Cao family, but the Li family and other wealthy families who were attacked by Queen Mother Helena are also very grateful to her for this.
More importantly, before the fall of Queen Mother Helena, the story of Lady Irene was widely circulated because it was so dramatic. The Greeks regarded this incident as one of the common topics in dramas, and the Queen Mother herself could not control it, making her a star-like figure among the people.
Later, in order to prevent Queen Mother Helena from happening again, the Zizhang officials were always willing to regard her as a model, which made her reputation even more famous.
"In Rome today, General Cao is the most senior minister." Theodora added: "He is older than my grandfather. In the past few years, Mr. Guo Xian and General Mametinicus passed away successively. . He is the only one left among the noble people of Nan Ya and Bei Ya."
"Although he no longer holds an official position in the court and has left various affairs to his nephews and nephews, we in Rome have always paid attention to military merit and resume. Old General Cao still has a high say in the legion."
Guo Kang nodded.
As Theodora said, the Queen Mother found his home probably because of the influence of their older generation. If Guo Kang can convince them, then the possibility of success will be higher when formal discussions are held later.
"The biggest problem with your plan may be that the idea is too...unbridled." Theodora put away the letter, sat up straight, and said to Guo Kang: "Old General Cao is a very open-minded person, and he doesn't care much about religion. Question. But Grandma Irina has a good relationship with the Church of Kyiv.”
"In normal times, this would be a great help to you and Patriarch Wang, but I don't know if this plan will make her feel conflicted." She raised possible questions.
"Then I can only do my best." Guo Kang was actually a little unsure.
Unlike Li Xuanying's family, Guo Kang's family is not so close to the Cao family. At that time, Guo Gai turned a blind eye to the Queen Mother's persecution of Cao Xun. Although he said that he gave priority to the country, it was impossible for Cao to not have a grudge in his heart.
At that time, Guo Gai's eldest son Guo Shuai and Li Yinglin were sworn friends. He should have helped a lot when Li Yinglin fled. Later, when the Queen Mother's power was unstable, it was he who took the lead in secretly sending people to help Li Yinglin return and plotting big things.
But Cao Xun's situation was much worse. He had been hiding in the Rus Principality in the Don River Basin, and finally settled down with the protection of Grand Duke Ryazan. After Queen Mother Helena completely fell, brothers Guo Shuai and Guo Di, who were temporarily in power, took him back.
Cao Xun himself did not publicly blame them, but there was not much contact between the two parties. After his eldest son died in the war, the second son Cao Zhonglin is now in charge of the Cao family. Apart from his experience in participating in the war in his early years, he spent most of his time in charge of diplomatic affairs, and he was even less familiar with the Guo family.
Cao Zhonglin and his wife had only one child, who died early. Now there is only one adopted son, Cao Jian, and several illegitimate children. But Cao Jian has a withdrawn personality. Even if Cao Xun intended for him to go to school with others, he was not particularly familiar with Li Xuanying, Guo Kang and others.
On the contrary, Guo Kang got along well with Cao Zhonglin's several illegitimate children because he was easy-going and didn't care much about other people's bloodlines. Those people called him Brother Guo every day, thinking that he was the most honest and fair person among the upper-class descendants of the Khan's generation.
But that might not be a good thing. As an adopted son, Cao Jian has always had a vague sense of comparison with Guo Kang. Seeing that he gets along well with everyone, it is inevitable that he will have other thoughts.
Over the years, Guo Kang has known something about the situation, and Theodora is more sensitive than him in this regard, so she must also know about it.
"I will deal with Cao Jian when we get there. If I speak, the atmosphere of the conversation should be better." Theodora said to Guo Kang: "What you have to do is to think carefully about how to speak clearly."
"Okay." Guo Kang nodded.
"Don't be too nervous. If we really can't talk, they won't invite us. If it's a particularly important decision, we should talk to Uncle Guo first." Theodora analyzed.
"I estimate that they will offer some bargaining chips to exchange with you. This exchange should not touch on too sensitive aspects. It is just to test your attitude as the proposer of the plan and judge whether they can offer a higher price. So, we should just show the prospects of the plan well and that’s it.”
"Just leave it all to me." After hearing what she said, Guo Kang took the initiative to express his position: "This is my plan, and I will definitely be responsible for it."
"Now this is 'our' plan." Theodora poked him: "I will also be responsible for it, and you will be responsible for me. Do you understand?"
"good……"
The Cao family's residence is also in the aristocratic area, so it's not too far away. The two chatted briefly for a while and then arrived at the place.
When the carriage stopped, Guo Kang opened the door and jumped out without waiting for the servant to come up to serve him. The servants following the carriage were also used to it, and they just bowed according to custom.
He looked up and saw Cao Jian with a serious face and meticulously dressed in formal clothes, standing in front of the gate like a straight tree, waiting for him. His appearance was so serious that Guo Kang, who was used to being casual, couldn't help but stand up and look up, becoming serious.
Under the eaves of the gate, the Queen Mother and another old lady were laughing and chatting. The old woman was taller than her. Although she had white hair, her figure was still upright, which made Guo Kang wonder if Cao Jian had learned from her every day. This is Mrs. Elena.
Inside the gate, there were several other people vaguely chatting with each other.
Guo Kang just glanced twice and was about to observe. In the carriage behind him, Theodora knocked on the wooden board: "Hey!"
Only then did Guo Kang remember, turned around, and helped her get out of the carriage.
Theodora wore a very gorgeous satin dress, the material of which she had just bought from Sun Shiwan. She was usually reluctant to wear it herself, but this time it was specially brought from the palace.
This dress is indeed not convenient for movement, but since she has also practiced kung fu, Guo Kang suspected that she did it deliberately and wanted to take advantage of him...
"Hey, I told you, just wear something simple." He reached out to help Theodora get out of the car and murmured, "This dress looks like it is for sweeping the floor in front of someone's house."
"How can you make others look up to you if you don't dress up?" Theodora had another idea.
"Ah?" Guo Kang didn't react for a moment.
However, Theodora did not continue to explain - when they saw her getting out of the car, the two old ladies ignored the etiquette and waved at her and Guo Kang, and strode over.
"Oh, I haven't seen you for half a month. Little Theodora is even more beautiful." Mrs. Elena smiled and praised her loudly: "Look at your look, are you satisfied with this boy?"
Theodora, who had been thinking about how to talk after meeting, was really shy this time. She stammered for a long time and didn't say why. The two old ladies didn't ask any further questions, they just laughed.
Guo Kang didn't know how to help her smooth things over. After all, it didn't seem right to answer "yes" or "no" to this question... He looked at Cao Jian, who was a few steps away and was about to greet him strictly according to etiquette, and found that he A look of self-destruction.
It seems that this is not the first time that the old lady has done this.
"Come on, come on. My husband and the others are still waiting inside." Mrs. Elena greeted them: "I told them, there is no need to put on such a big show, they have to do this - Jian'er, you can come too , don’t just stand there stupidly.”
Guo Kang and Theodora followed her towards the door, and Cao Jian followed them while greeting them.
Inside the gate, Mr. Cao Xun and Cao Zhonglin looked over and saw them coming and greeted them. Logically speaking, they could just wait in the living room for Cao Jian to bring someone. However, the Queen Mother and the old lady ran out on their own, not caring about the Purple Horde Khanate's already rough etiquette. They probably didn't know what to do.
So, everyone walked into the living room noisily while greeting each other.
Cao Jian walked through the hall, acting as the master of ceremonies and guiding everyone to sit down.
It can be seen that he has worked hard on this aspect.
He first invited the Queen Mother and Cao Xun and his wife to sit at the head of the host and guests. As for the others, since the banquet hadn't started yet, they were all walking around and talking on their own. However, the seats in the room have been arranged, and it seems to be quite formal.
If the Queen Mother didn’t run out without authorization just now, it would be more formal...
Theodora and her grandmother were chatting and seemed to be exchanging something important, but Guo Kang ignored them. He walked towards Cao Jian, ready to take the opportunity to get close to him.
"Thank you, Brother Cao, we arranged it." He cupped his hands and said.
Cao Jian waved his hand and said it didn't matter: "Brother Guo, thank you. This is what our family does. It is reasonable to prepare carefully."
Guo Kang nodded.
"Unfortunately, the Queen Mother said that the relationship between Brother Guo and the princess is... unusual. But the etiquette does not explain this. I have little knowledge and don't know how to arrange the positions of the princess and Brother Guo..." Cao Jian looked quite confident. Responsibility, I really feel like I didn’t do a good job.
Guo Kang could also see that Cao Jian had tried hard to arrange seats for everyone, but unfortunately, the etiquette and rules of the Purple Horde Khanate might not support such a delicate operation.
"It's generally in line with etiquette, and it's enough to satisfy the Queen Mother and the host." Guo Kang said that it was understandable.
He and Theodora are not married now, so there should be no need to be too particular. But Cao Jian is right. If Theodora really gets what he wants, then there will be a question of which one of them has the higher rank.
"Hey, I don't know if the two of you are already engaged, so I made the arrangements hastily." Cao Jian was still shaking his head: "Our Roman Khanate has learned a lot from the Ceres system, especially the vacancies and imperfections in ancient Roman etiquette. But everyone really can’t tell whether it is the princess’s status or the husband’s status that is more important.”
"This..." Guo Kang felt that he was taking it too seriously.
""Bai Hu Tong" says that monarch and ministers, father and son, and husband and wife are called the 'three cardinal principles'." Cao Jian discussed it to himself: "The king's family should be higher than the ministers' family. Although the husband is also higher than the wife, but The relationship between monarch and subject comes before the relationship between husband and wife, so the former should be given priority and the princess should be placed above her husband."
"But the Book of Rites says that couples are the beginning of human relations, and weddings are the foundation of etiquette. The Book of Changes also says that after a couple, there are fathers and sons, and after fathers and sons, there are monarchs and ministers. From this point of view, the relationship between husband and wife should be the most important thing. Let the princess be subordinate to her husband."
"We have few books and imperfect etiquette here, so I can only do my best. Mr. Guo is well-informed, so please don't laugh at me." He also bowed his hand and apologized to Guo Kang.
Guo Kang wondered if he was worried that he knew more, so he took the opportunity to accuse him of being unprofessional, so he went out of his way to say so much. But Guo Kang really doesn't know this - Cao Jiancai knows much better than him.
"Then there's no need to think about it in such detail. The princess is also a learned and polite person. Let her see for herself." Guo Kang said.
"Just what I wanted." Cao Jian breathed a sigh of relief as he was pardoned, and then left quickly.
Not long after, Guo Kang saw him saying a few words to his father Cao Zhonglin, then going to Cao Xun and others to say something, and then nodded.
"Everyone." He straightened up and greeted everyone: "Please take a seat."
Cao Xun and Lady Elena also stood up, exchanged greetings with the Queen Mother and Theodora, and asked them to sit down. Guo Kang and Cao Jian looked at each other and pointed at Theodora.
Theodora didn't seem to think too much, and walked straight over. As expected, she didn't leave the higher seat to Guo Kang.
Guo Kang shrugged at him, and Cao Jian seemed to accept it. He sighed and nodded.
He asked Guo Kang to sit next to Theodora, and then arranged for several other family members to sit down. Finally, he came to the last seat and sat down at attention.
As soon as his butt landed on the chair, the Queen Mother, who was arguing with Lady Elena from a distance, suddenly stood up, moved the chair directly, placed it next to her, then sat down and began to continue talking to her.
"..."
Guo Kang glanced at Cao Jian sympathetically.
There is no way, the requirements for these things seem to be too high...
(End of chapter)
