Chapter 24：

Two days later, the Cheng family entertained guests, and the house was decorated with lights and festoons.

Mr Cheng finally looked forward to the day she was in the limelight, she woke up early in the morning, and ate three bowls of wheat rice before she put down her teeth and sat high at the head of the Cixin Hall Waiting for the guests to greet them. Cheng Shi led his brothers and sons to the main entrance to welcome guests, while Mrs. Xiao and Mrs. Sang were busy in the inner house.

Shao Shang dressed up like Cheng Cha did today, with a three-wrap brocade with red woven ganoderma pattern and a curved collar, with a snow-colored lining, it was very bright - Mrs. Xiao's aesthetic There is absolutely no problem, the problem is her current mood.

Cheng Cha has big eyes, round face and healthy complexion. She is considered to be dignified and beautiful, but it is a pity that she is dressed in the same way. Although Shao Shang has not grown up yet, her complexion is fair and young, and her bright eyes are good-looking. A village girl.

Sang shi smiled with the spring breeze, and deliberately went to glance at Mrs. Xiao, Mrs. Xiao glared at her, thinking about it and thinking it was funny.

Mother Cheng was wearing something like a big red lantern today. She was covered in gold and silver, glittering, and the thick red-gold fire stick really reappeared in the rivers and lakes. After Shao Shang looked at Cheng Mu's brain, he found that it seemed to be thick again. She leaned into Cheng Cha's ear and said softly, "Did the eldest mother hit that golden shawl hard?"

Cheng Cha smiled bitterly: "You see it? The eldest mother has added two taels of red gold."

Shao Shang deliberately teased her: "You are the good granddaughter of the eldest mother, so you didn't persuade her? Wouldn't that make you laugh."

Cheng Cha was terrified: "How dare I!"

"You can ask my mother to persuade my eldest mother." Shao Shang smiled wickedly.

Cheng Cha was speechless, she just didn't respond well and wasn't stupid.

The two sisters are biting their ears, and guests have come one after another. The first to come is naturally General Wan and his wife.

General Wan's name is Wan Songbai. He is five or six years older than Cheng Shi, and he is five or six inches shorter. Shao Shangguan wears a golden purple crown on his head and a red gold belt on his waist. He has a general belly.

In contrast, Mrs. Wan doesn't have such a strong sense of presence. She looks a little older than her husband. After greeting Mother Cheng, she sat quietly and smiled.

After the greetings, Mrs. Cheng greeted Mrs. General Wan diligently. General Wan replied, "A while ago, my mother had a cold, and Qiqi also contracted it. The doctor said that it will be fine after two days. My family will hold a banquet in a few days, and I would like to invite your boss to come."

Mother Cheng nodded in agreement with a dignified and reserved face.

According to the popular science of eldest brother Cheng Yong, the Wan clan in Sui County is also a legendary family, that is, the family of the family will always be passed down from the N generation, no matter how many concubines and gods are worshipped, if one accidentally Easy to die. The most amazing thing is that even the once prosperous side branch once succeeded the main branch, the branches and leaves will wither within two generations, and in the end, they can only suffer and raise their only son.

Father Cheng once gave Brother Jieyi a bad idea, saying that the feng shui of Wan's ancestral tomb was not right, so General Wan rebuilt the ancestral tomb a few years ago, but it has not had any effect so far. For two years, one daughter has been cut off; Brother Wan, who hates it, smashed Brother Cheng severely.

But apart from the child interest problem, the rest of the Wan family is very safe. Although it is only a prominent local family, Caibo Manor has grown from generation to generation, and its reputation has never fallen. When it came to Wan Songbai's father's generation, he actually moved from literature to martial arts in a timely manner, raising a group of capable ministries. This is not only absent. Perishing in troubled times, he also jumped out of the local pattern and fought to the emperor.

General Wan's current situation is that the rank of Fenghou (Marquis of Lie), the rank of 2,000 stone, and the official residence of Xu County Commander (soon to take office), it is the rich, powerful, virtuous wife and beautiful concubine. There is also an experienced and wise old mother, but only one son is missing.

…or several.

Shao Shang said: I am Foz sad.

After Wan Songbai and Cheng mother chattered, they turned to look at the youngest daughter who had been boasted about 108 times by his brother-in-law. Because Shao Shang always sat down with his head bowed, in fact he generously took off a dazzling dagger hanging from his waist without even seeing his face and handed it over.

Shao Shang raised his hands over his shoulders and respectfully took the gift. At a glance, he immediately said 'My darling'!

Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya! It is almost impossible for a young merchant to hold the hilt of the dagger, especially the finger-sized rubies and emeralds. There are several embedded in the middle of the two sides of the scabbard! Obviously, although General Wan is a son of a serious family, he is very aesthetically explosive. However, she loves it so much!

Shaoshang smiled so hard This dagger was quite worth it, and when he saw Madam Xiao's sinking face again, he suddenly felt that this dagger was too worth it!

Wan Cheng and his family have been friends for decades, and General Wan and Mrs. Xiao actually admit each other's bright spots, but they don't agree with each other, and they don't like each other. Mrs. Xiao disliked Wan Songbai's extravagance, greed for wine and lust, and Wan Songbai was dissatisfied with Mrs. Xiao's behavior of being bigger than her husband. For decades, he was not allowed to take Cheng Shi to 'play'. never admit it)!

Mrs. Xiao was able to restrain herself at last, but General Wan had the opportunity to add blockage to Mrs. Xiao and had to do it even after getting up at night. If there was no chance to create opportunities for Mrs. Xiao to block her, he had to add more! In a word, seeing you unhappy makes me happy.

Wan Songbai and Cheng Shihao wish they could wear a pair of trousers. He already knew about the family affairs of the Cheng family.

"Curly, my two families are the best of the family, and your father and I are close friends. If you are wronged in the future, come to me! Uncle will definitely call the shots for you. !"

General Wan's eyes are full of stars, every little star is a bad eye, and the meaning of the words can't be more explicit.

In the end, Father Cheng knew that this sworn brother and Mrs. Xiao had nothing to do with each other, so he quickly called Cheng Yong over and dragged the person away, under the pretext of helping to greet the guests. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Mrs. Wan hurriedly went to joke with Xiao Sang and his wife.

The following steps are basically the same for the guests who came after. The female guest stayed to chat, the male guest ran to the outer hall, and if there was an old woman, she would sit beside Cheng's mother. Cheng Cha and Shaoshang sat on their knees, always acting as mascots, laughing at everyone, bowing down, and accepting comments from their elders with a shy expression. Living.

Guests came like clouds, most of them were confused by their faces and names, but only one of them, Mrs. Yin, left a deep impression on her.

She was accompanied by many servants and maids, dressed in gorgeous clothes, and the gifts were especially precious. After a brief discussion, Shaoshang understood that this was a guest invited by Mrs. Wan, and the Cheng Yin family had no friendship before.

It turns out that although Mrs. Yin and Mrs. Wan seem to be many years apart, they are little sisters who have been friends since childhood. Mrs. Xiao has long sleeves and is good at dancing. Mrs. Sang's words are interesting.

After an hour, Shaoshang and Cheng Cha were almost unable to straighten their waists. Finally, seeing that there were more and more little girls coming to be guests, Mrs. Sang kindly asked them to lead them to the side hall for desserts with buttermilk. The remaining old, middle-aged and young women can also talk about adult topics.

When they arrived at the side hall, Shao Shang honestly and unceremoniously handed over the responsibility of the master to Cheng Cha, and asked her to entertain guests and talk politely, and also revealed the results of Mrs. Xiao's training for many days. She herself dragged a lacquered wooden stile and moved it to the corner to sit. The lotus room smartly served food and drink, and then led the other two maids to kneel and sit beside her, half blocking her. Shao Shang smiled and nodded, indicating his compliment.

In fact, if there is a theme for this Cheng family banquet, it must be 'farewell to yesterday and welcome the future'. Because today, except for the exception of the Wan Yin family, most of the guests... how should I put it, the family, the official position, and the level are not very high.

If you use numbers to indicate: Cheng's family was born in Weihan, and he was born later in the dragon, he originally belonged to the fourth-class family in this capital, but after ten years of hard work by Cheng Shi and his wife, they have now risen to the third-class on the bright side. Clan, wait for Cheng Shi to complete the task soon, and come back to be granted a new official rank and position, which should rise to 2.5. As for whether it can climb to the second-class family or fall in the future, it is unknown.

Moreover, these visitors are still the same as the previous Cheng family, or even worse.

If they were friends with Cheng Shi and his wife before, maybe they can still have an old friendship now, but unfortunately they have been in daily contact with Mother Cheng and Ge Shi in the past ten years. Therefore, Cheng Shi and Mrs. Xiao's attitude towards hospitality today are obviously not intimate enough, warm and appropriate, and they also have a kind of kindness from top to bottom.

For example, the dozen or so little girls in red and green in front of them, although they tried their best to put on smiles, were obviously resentful towards Cheng Shaoshang. They saw that Shao Shang was dressed in elegant and noble clothes today, surrounded by servants, and his expression was calm and generous, which was completely different from the shrinking or arrogant appearance in front of Ge Shi in the past, and they were all dissatisfied. But they remembered the family's instructions, and they had to hold back no matter what, and could not make rude words to Shaoshang.

—Shao ​​Shang is very happy. I just like the way you look at me but do nothing to me.

However, it was a teenage girl. After a warm reception from Cheng Cha, everyone laughed and laughed for a while, and finally someone couldn't help it. One of the girls with a diamond-shaped face deliberately said: "...I don't even dare to recognize Shaoshang today. Is it different?"

Shao Shang didn't even move his eyebrows: "That's natural. I'm four inches taller these days."

The other girl in green bit her lip: "It's not that! It's that you talk and act differently!"

Shao Shang said lightly: "I used to behave badly, and I have been reprimanded by my father and mother. Now it has naturally changed."

—Afterwards, several people tried to pick a word, and they all told Shao Shang to make a fortune.

The girls became more and more unhappy, and finally the girl with the diamond-shaped face at the beginning took courage and said loudly: "Cheng Shaoshang, stop pretending, we don't know who you are. I asked us to befriend you before, I don't know how much. Respectful, I'll be putting on airs now! You still remember that not long ago, when you said bad words in Merlin's mouth, you even beat..."

Her voice was getting lower and lower, and she dared not speak anymore, because Shao Shang was looking at her coldly.

Shao Shang straightened his back and said indifferently: "Cousin, you have to testify to me. I didn't have any rudeness today, I didn't say a word of inappropriate words, I came back sincerely and sincerely. Yes, but some people hold on to the past and refuse to let it go." Time has changed, today's Cheng Shaoshang is no longer the original Cheng Shaoshang, and these brainless girls still don't understand the situation.

Cheng Cha was also very angry, and said coldly: "You sisters love to talk about the past so much, why don't you talk about my mother, my sister used to be raised by my mother."

The mother's debt is repaid by the daughter, the fault that Ge Shi made, even if she wants to do it, she should do it, not the innocent cousin. After the book case scandal, she knew that she could no longer hide under her aunt's sleeves and be a child. It was time to stand up and take responsibility.

As soon as this statement came out, the girls were silent, and the girl who was thorny was even paler. Shao Shang looked at Cheng Cha with admiration.

Everyone was embarrassed, and the room was silent for a while.

Suddenly, there was a burst of exclamations and noises from women in the main hall next door, a little girl sitting near the curtain seemed to hear something, and said in surprise: "...Ah, it seems, it seems that the good-looking son is here. It's gone!"

The girls were all happy, and they took the opportunity to break the awkward atmosphere at this time, and they all rushed to the curtain to peek.

Shao Shang was impatient, smiled reluctantly at Cheng Cha and a few girls who hadn't squeezed in to see, and said lightly: "I feel a little uncomfortable, I'll retire first, everyone please A sister forgives her sins. Cousin, how tired you are."

After she finished speaking, she saluted in groups, then turned to leave, and the lotus house hurriedly followed.

—Cheng Chasu is kind and gentle, and she has no old grudges with everyone. After she leaves, everyone will take a step back and they will be able to live in harmony again.

As long as she's gone.