"Shopkeeper Wang is here in person, please come quickly."
"Why don't you come here to congratulate Mr. Li on his birthday? Hahaha, congratulations!"
"Hey, you're welcome, please come~"
"Mr. Liu, you are here too, please come to the house."
"Congratulations! Hahaha!"
"Dear guests, please come in!"
…
There was a huge flow of people in front of a tall mansion in the west alley of the city. Cars and sedans were parked in front of the mansion one after another. People were walking around laughing and chatting. The accompanying servants were carrying boxes of gifts into the mansion, and there were also people registering them. .
The people passing by looked sideways with envy in their eyes. In Fengchuan County, which is not considered prosperous, this should be the most lively scene.
There are six steps at the entrance of the house, each step higher than the last, leading directly to four large doors, which are larger than Chen Hongxin's house, implying that the owner of this mansion has an extraordinary status.
As the county magistrate, Chen Hongxin was naturally invited, and he was accompanied by his youngest son and Gu Sinian.
Theoretically speaking, there was no need for Gu Sinian to appear in such a scene, but Chen Hongxin was always worried about my son, so he specially brought Gu Sinian with him.
When Chen Hongxin appeared, he was naturally the center of attention. The old man greeting the guests at the door quickly left the other guests behind and walked over quickly:
"Oh, isn't this Mr. Chen?
I didn't send someone to say hello in advance when I arrived, so I could go out to greet you. When the time came, people would say that my Li family was not polite enough and was neglecting the adults. "
"hehe."
Chen Hongxin smiled and cupped his hands:
"What did Mr. Li say? Today is your birthday, and you are the protagonist. I am here to support you, and the congratulatory gifts have already been sent in."
"Ahem, it's my Li family's honor to have Mr. Chen come. What kind of gift are you bringing? You're welcome!"
The two of them smiled and greeted each other. Just listening to the conversation, they seemed to be old friends. In fact, the two of them were still secretly competing with each other.
Gu Sinian, who was standing behind him, secretly looked at the old man in front of him. This man should be the person celebrating his birthday today:
The head of the Li family, Li Zhi.
He was exactly sixty-five years old, one step older than Chen Hongxin, and he was the last county magistrate, so Chen Hongxin was still a junior in front of him in terms of qualifications, so Chen Hongxin had no airs like a county magistrate.
On the way here, Chen Hongxin also talked about some family affairs of the Li family.
Li Zhi's son was also considered smart in his early years, and was originally Li Zhi's hope for the Li family.
It's a pity that he later contracted a serious illness, and his father died not long after his grandson Li Qingchuan was born. To this day, the large Li family still relies on him to take care of things.
Call him a prosperous person in his life. He was also a big shot as a county magistrate. Call him miserable. A man with white hair would give a man with black hair. No one could bear the change. Gu Sinian felt a sigh of relief after hearing this.
The only son was gone, so the old man naturally tried his best to train his grandson. Fortunately, this grandson was not a bad boy and always brought glory to his face, which was much better than the naughty Chen Shulin.
This is also the reason why Chen Hongxin doesn't want to come. It's embarrassing every time he comes.
"My son is here too. His head is getting taller and taller, and he looks handsome. Mr. Chen is so lucky~"
After the greetings, Li Zhi looked at the child standing behind him. As for Gu Sinian, he just glanced at him casually, he was just an ordinary follower.
Chen Hongxin smiled and said:
"A dog is not as talented as the young master of the Li family."
"Ouch, Mr. Chen has ruined my Li family."
Li Zhi quickly cupped his hands and said:
"Let's go into the mansion, the banquet will start soon!
Master Chen, please! "
"Mr. Li please!"
The group of people stepped in and walked into the door of Li's house.
As soon as you enter the mansion, you will find a spacious courtyard with many Eight Immortals tables set up. Servants are preparing meals. Guests are coming and going. Red lanterns and longevity characters are hung around. The pomp is in place.
Gu Sinian scanned the courtyard and asked in a low voice:
"Sir, Wang Zitong was not invited to this kind of scene?"
According to what Chen Hongxin said, Wang Zitong should also be the number one figure in the city. Why didn't he come?
Chen Hongxin whispered:
"After all, Wang Zitong is a rough martial artist, and the Li family is from a scholarly family. They are not from the same family. Wang Zitong is too lazy to come to this kind of situation. He just needs to be polite~"
Gu Sinian understood that the two co-authorship families were not monolithic. If Wang Zitong didn't come, he would worry less about causing any trouble.
At noon, the guests were basically seated, and the four main tables were placed in the main hall of the mansion, clearly distinguishable from the guests outside the courtyard.
Everyone who can sit in the main hall is a prominent person in the county. Fengchuan County is so big that almost all the prominent people are here. This shows that the Li family has a wide network and everyone has to give some respect.
These people basically brought their own children, ranging from seven to eight years old to teenagers.
There was also a child sitting next to Li Zhi. He was similar in age to Chen Shulin, but he was not as noisy as him. He was polite and polite. At first glance, he looked like a child from a scholarly family.
Li Zhi took the lead in raising his glass and stood up, and the old voice slowly echoed in the room:
"Today is my birthday. Thank you all for your support. We are all acquaintances. Let's not be polite. When you come to Li's Mansion, you will never come back drunk!
If there is a place where the reception is not good, please bear with me, haha! "
Everyone in the room stood up and said in unison:
"Congratulations to Mr. Li on his longevity!"
"please!"
"please!"
Gu Sinian, who was raising his glass and serving the wine, kept muttering in his heart:
If you didn't know this style, you would have thought that Li Zhi was the county magistrate.
The banquet officially started, with people drinking and laughing, and as Chen Hongxin was the county magistrate, there was naturally an endless stream of people coming to propose a toast, but it was obvious that everyone still respected Li Zhi, who was always in the limelight.
After the wine was half drunk, Li Zhi started chatting again:
"Just drinking wine doesn't seem to be very interesting. Although today is my birthday, Fengchuan County will still be for young people in the future. How about we invite children from each family to help the banquet?"
"Okay, that's what Mr. Li said!"
Obviously everyone knows that the Li family likes to write and write, and they are no strangers to it. Someone immediately said:
"How about asking the children of each family to write a birthday message to add to the joy!"
"Okay, great idea!"
"Then just follow what Shopkeeper Liu says!"
Li Zhi readily agreed and even cast an approving look at the person who made the suggestion:
"Come here, write some pen and ink!"
Gu Sinian noticed that Chen Hongxin's face stiffened. The moment this adult feared the most had arrived.
The servants of the Li Mansion were also efficient in their work, and soon every child in the family had a set of the Four Treasures of the Study, and even the ink was prepared.
This was not a spur of the moment, it was clearly prepared.
"please!"
Li Zhi waved her hand: "We are all children, we can do whatever we want!"
"Since it's Mr. Li who has the longest life, let's invite Mr. Li to come first!"
"Yes!"
The young master of the Li family, Li Qingchuan, did not refuse. First he bowed respectfully to the guests in the room, then walked to the table and put pen to paper. A birthday message quickly appeared on the paper:
"I wish grandpa a long life and good health."
"Okay, good words!"
"After all, it's the child who was taught by Mr. Li. Even adults can't keep up with this handwriting."
"Hahaha!"
The praise from everyone made Li Zhi smile.
At this age, I naturally prefer to hear others praise the younger members of the family. The success of the younger generation is the face of the family.
Gu Sinian took a quick look at the words on the paper. He saw that the words were a little green and lacking in sharpness. From his point of view, they were definitely not good calligraphy, but compared to his peers, they were excellent and deserved a few words of praise.
"Come all! Please!"
Naturally, the next step was for the children from each family to take action one after another, with birthday wishes constantly emerging, and of course, there were bursts of cheers.
Li Qingchuan's handwriting can still be read, but some of the writing is crooked, like a turtle crawling, which is simply unsightly.
However, this kind of scene was just about complimenting each other. Gu Sinian felt that it was too hypocritical and he didn't like it.
The only person in the crowd who didn't move was Chen Shulin. This child was holding a chicken leg and was gnawing on it. Chen Hongxin's expression was very unnatural.
All the old foxes present were looking at Chen Shulin intentionally or unintentionally. Although no one pointed it out, Chen Hongxin could feel a few mocking glances coming towards her.
Everyone has heard of Chen Shulin's naughty reputation, and the anecdote about how she pissed off several private school teachers has always been a joke.
Li Zhi also noticed this scene and said nothing, but the smile on his face became stronger.
Although he had no enmity with Chen Hongxin, he was undoubtedly very happy to be able to outshine the county magistrate in this situation.
People are so irritating~
The key is the competition between children. Even if Chen Hongxin is unhappy, he can't say anything.
"Your calligraphy is great! Not bad!"
"Hey, your family is better, you are lucky!"
Among the crowd of compliments, a milky voice sounded:
"What the hell are you writing about!"
A simple sentence caused a moment of silence in the hall. Everyone looked embarrassed and looked at the place where the sound came from.
The person who spoke was none other than Chen Shulin, who was full of food.
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
Chen Hongxin glared at his son, cupped his hands and said:
"I'm sorry, my child is too naughty."
Chen Hongxin was almost furious. Even if you don't write, no one would dare to find fault with you if you just eat honestly. But in turn, you still make fun of others.
Don’t you think being a father is embarrassing enough?
An upright old man was a little unhappy and said:
"Master Chen, why don't you write? Is it because you don't want to wish Mr. Li a birthday, or because you can't write a single word?"
Everyone suppressed their sarcastic laughter and were all watching the joke. Who didn't know that the eldest young master of the Chen family was illiterate?
Chen Hongxin's face turned dark. Well, the embarrassing thing had indeed happened.
"Bah! Just write!"
Chen Shulin had a temper that no one could bully. She wiped her mouth full of oil and strode to the bookshelf with her left hand behind her back and her right hand holding a pen and splashing ink. She looked like a child in the presence of the old god.
Shoubinan Mountain~
The simple four words were written in one go. Chen Shulin felt that it was not enough, so she also wrote her name in the lower right corner.
These words were not only elegant, delicate, fresh and elegant, but also had a hint of vigor, which made everyone's eyes widen.
As long as you are not blind, you will know that Chen Shulin's handwriting is much better than other children.
All the guests were stunned, and the children who were writing were also very embarrassed. Isn’t this young master of the Chen family illiterate? How is it possible to write with such good handwriting?
Chen Hongxin opened his mouth wide and looked at his son and those big characters in disbelief.
Does his son still have this skill?
Although Chen Shulin's proud expression was worthy of a beating, Mr. Chen just wanted to rush up and kiss his son.
Li Zhi's hand that had just picked up the tea cup was hanging in the air, and his face was a little stiff. He intended to watch the joke, but he didn't expect that his grandson's limelight would be suddenly blocked.
There was dead silence in the hall.
