Chapter 510 - 268 Siblings_1
The eunuch finished reading the imperial edict, and Pan Yang quietly slipped him a purse.
Qian Manjiang invited the eunuch and the officials to have lunch in the front yard, and had Li Jinhu arrange for the Imperial Army soldiers and the attendants of these officials to set up tables and eat on the wasteland.
Li Shuanzi also came back with them, riding his horse at the very end of the large group. He saw a familiar little girl peeking out of a crack in the gate on the west side of the village; who else could it be but his daughter, Li Ah Cao?
Delighted, he shouted, "Ah Cao," then dismounted and headed to his new home.
After the meal, the eunuch and the officials from the provincial and county towns all left.
More than a hundred Imperial Army soldiers and guards still remained. These men were sent by the Empress Dowager and Prince Consort Pan. The commanders were arranged to stay in the front yard, while the soldiers and guards were partly housed in the rooms behind Guiyuan and partly in the homes of villagers with better conditions.
Wang Lizheng came to Guiyuan again to find Qian Sangui.
He was also happy despite regretting that he hadn’t ingratiated himself well with the Imperial Grandson previously and hadn’t gotten his wife and daughter-in-law to court favor with the Commandery Princess. But the honor had fallen on Huaxi Village because of the Qian family. In the whole of Xishan County, which other village had taken in two members of the Royal Family at the same time? Which village had a Lord Xiangen or a fourth rank officer, and so many Wives of the Imperial decree? None.
He wanted the village to chip in and hold a three-day banquet with an endless stream of dishes, so all the villagers could join in the fun and make people from other villages envious. Especially Green Willow Village—when they had a Graduate emerge, they held a three-day banquet claiming their village had good Feng Shui, hence the emergence of a Star of Literature.
Now let them see, Huaxi Village had even better Feng Shui. Ideally, the village could even be renamed to something like Qilong Village or Qifeng Village.
Upon hearing Wang Lizheng’s idea for hosting the banquet, Qian Sangui laughed and said, "I had the same thought. However, the funds will come from me; I’ll trouble Wang Lizheng to help with organizing it. Please invite all the villagers to the feast, but make sure they don’t bring any gifts."