It was the birthday of his birthday in the blink of an eye. In the afternoon, Li Yanqing did not ride a horse, but hired a ox cart to attend the alum building banquet. Today, he wore a scholar towel and a light blue brocade straightener. He cleaned it up very simply and refreshingly, and he looked very talented.

"It's not easy for a little official to hire alum building! He can actually get invitations from the alum building. Today, the people who go to the alum building for banquets are either rich or noble, and they all have their own wide cars. I'm afraid there are very few people who hire a ox cart like a little official!"

The driver's face was full of envy, and continued with interest: "The whole of Bianjing has been talking about the Zheng family treating guests in the past two days. What is the origin of the Zheng family? The royal relatives of Bianjing actually give face?"

"I don't know much!"

"It is said that it is related to the prince, and rumors outside say so."

Li Yanqing smiled and said nothing. He was probably the only one who knew the real reason for the Zheng family's treat. If it weren't for Zhao Kai's trip to Jiangnan, the prince would probably continue to keep a low profile. Zhao Kai's trip to Jiangnan was commended by the emperor, and the prince finally couldn't sit still.

This grand banquet of the alum building was just the Zheng family paid for it and the prince treated her to her. Zhao Huan was not afraid of attracting the emperor's displeasure?

Li Yanqing felt that the planner had not seen through the situation. At this time, it was a struggle. The prince was so eager to show a sense of insecurity that it would only make the emperor feel that the move of letting King Jia go to Jiangnan was right.

The ox cart approached the alum building and was stopped by several servants. The coachman said, "Little official, I'm afraid I can't get in this car, so let's get here! I'll walk a few steps."

Li Yanqing grabbed a handful of money for him, and the coachman left with great gratitude.

Li Yanqing held a folding fan borrowed from Tang Huai, which was also a popular jewelry for scholars of the Song Dynasty. It was no longer imported from Japan. The Song Dynasty also made a large amount of money, so the price was reduced a lot. You can buy the best silk folding fan for a lifetime.

The scholars with a little more abundant family background almost all had one hand. Li Yanqing didn't like folding fans very much, but he followed the customs of the countryside. Today he was a scholar, so he had to dress as a scholar.

The corner lamps are carried at the four corners of the Alum Tower, and the eaves are hung high around the building. Palace lanterns are hung everywhere. The front of the gate steps is full of guests. Most of the male guests dress up relatively simply.

But the women were dressed up in a bunch of flowers, floating green and flowing red, and graceful. For them, tonight’s banquet was not only as simple as a banquet, but also a beauty contest.

There were crowds of people at the gate, laughter was loud, and there were constant carriages coming.

Today, I spent a lot of effort on the reception of Zheng’s house. The door gods were replaced, couplets, and signs were listed. The new peach talisman was renovated.

From the main gate, yi gate, hall, warm pavilion, three inner doors, Bingyi gate and inner door, to the main hall, the main gate is wide open. There is a large vermilion red candle under the steps on both sides. Once it is lit, it is like two golden dragons.

There are invited officials on both sides of the street outside the Alum Tower to maintain order. Only by invitations can you get close to the Alum Tower. There are already many cars and sedans parked on both sides of the gate. Some low-ranking grooms and sedans gather together to chat with each other. Some people in the Alum Tower will send them snacks and suppers later.

Li Yanqing walked to the front door and saw several Zheng family children standing in front of the door to greet guests under the leadership of Zheng Rongtai's father Zheng Sheng. Zheng Rongtai was among them. They were all fat and looked quite interesting. However, the weather was hot. After standing for a short while, everyone was sweating profusely.

At this time, Zheng Rongtai saw Li Yanqing and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, "Old Li, why are you here now?"

“I want to see if the rouge box is popular?”

"Of course it's popular. Do you believe it or not? If I tell others that you are the owner of Baoyanzhai, you will be sure that a large group of women will surround you and ask you what Yuzhi is?" Zheng Rongtai smiled with an ambiguous face, not knowing where he was thinking.

Li Yanqing reached out and knocked on his head, "You dare to talk nonsense, I promise you will grow fatter than a pig in two days!"

"Don't dare! Don't dare!"

At this time, a servant came over with a gift bag wrapped in satin. Zheng Rongtai handed it to Li Yanqing and smiled and said, "This is a gift to guests. If you are a male guest, you don't have rouge boxes and agarwood. You only have a set of four treasures in the study. Don't underestimate it. This set is worth thirty silos, and the pen holder inside is the best mutton fat jade."

"I can't get it, why don't you give it to me another day!"

"It's okay, I'll ask the servants to send it to your store."

Zheng Rongtai ordered the servants, and the servants hurriedly ran to greet the ox cart. At this time, Li Yanqing took out a greeting and handed it to Zheng Rongtai and smiled: "This is my little intention, please accept it!"

"This...what is this?"

Zheng Rongtai quickly pulled Li Yanqing aside, "Didn't I tell you? My guests don't need to give gifts. This is not a polite word. No one else gave gifts. You are the only one who gave gifts. What should they do if they save face?"

"How can I make a birthday celebration empty-handed? It's just that the little thought I gave Ling Zu has nothing to do with the others."

Zheng Rongtai repeatedly refused, but Li Yanqing refused. Zheng Rongtai had to accept it and handed it to the recorder next to him, "Birthday gift of 100,000 yuan!"

Of course, guests will not carry money to celebrate their birthdays. They usually give gifts. Someone will deliver gifts afterwards. Li Yanqing gave birthday gifts not much, only 100 cents. Of course, this is also related to the friendship between everyone and the Zheng family and the intention of giving gifts.

If it is just a simple birthday gift, then one hundred coins are not more or less, and it is just right to take advantage of it.

The banquet was held in three halls: spring and white peaches, summer fuchsia and autumn red leaves. There were 1,200 small tables arranged in three large semicircles.

There are a few on each small table, and there are three things on it. The best lily fragrance is burned. This fragrance is made of more than a dozen kinds of good fragrances such as ambergris, dragon scent, cloves, osmanthus, erine, **, musk, rosin, etc., and finally forms a strange fragrance.

There are also small bonsais about eight inches long and three inches high on the table, and are decorated with rocks, all of which are fresh flowers.

There are also small tea cups of assorted official kilns placed in the Fusang paint tea tray, and there are several small bottles of various colors of official kilns next to them, all of which are filled with seasonal flowers. There are glazed lanterns of colorful spikes hanging on both sides of the beams, and a hanging lotus leaf hangs in front of each table. The eaves of the corridor are hung with various colors of sheep horns, glass, and silk lanterns, either embroidered, painted, silk or paper.

Some people who arrived early took their seats and sat down according to the rules of men and women, or enjoyed the table's hentai soup, auspicious fruits, and ruyi cakes, or gathered together to make fun of themselves. A few men didn't know what they said, suddenly burst into laughter and glanced at the dozens of female prostitutes in the garden with ambiguous eyes.

The female guests also gathered together, laughing and talking about the banquet tonight, looking at each other's dresses, sniffing each other's fragrance, calculating each other's shapes, and competing everything.

The wife of the General Gaoshen of the Left Guard was the first to arrive. Her surname was Pan, and her mother's family was a descendant of the founding father Pan Mei.

Mrs. Pan is worthy of being the leader of the door. She has a tall and plump figure and a full moon-like face covered with powder. She especially likes rose water and uses a bottle every time. The strong fragrance not only successfully conceals her body odor, but also attracts a group of men dozens of steps away. The men look around and find the source of this strong fragrance.

Mrs. Pan loves to attend various banquets by nature. Perhaps the second-class imperial edict is here to make her feel more confident. She was born to like to listen to compliments. Whenever someone compliments her young and beautiful, she is always overjoyed and completely forgets that she already has a three-year-old grandson.

At this time, she was crowded among a group of women and talking about the hottest topics today. Generally speaking, women talk about young talents, who has not yet married, who has successfully had a blind date, etc.

Mrs. Pan also has her ideas. Her youngest daughter is fifteen years old this year. Although she is still young, she should pay a little attention to the unmarried young talent.

The age of marriage for the Song Dynasty was generally much later than that of the Tang Dynasty. On the one hand, the Sui and Tang dynasties were greatly influenced by nomadic peoples such as the Xianbei. The Xianbei people had a short lifespan. Generally, women got married at the age of twelve. Affected by this, Tang women generally got married at the age of 14 or 15.

But the Song Dynasty is different. The status of the Song women is generally higher and is very little influenced by nomadic peoples. They pay more attention to women's physiological endurance. Women usually get married between the ages of sixteen and twenty. It is the most common among the people. Moreover, the higher the status, the later the marriage is.

Another more important reason is that the imperial examination system has a great impact on marriage. Not only are scholars generally married late, but women are also affected.

In the Song Dynasty, if you want to become an official, you must pass the Jinshi. The powerful and noble families want to marry their daughter to Jinshi, but there are only so many Jinshi, and it is easy to get married there. Therefore, every time you go to the imperial examination, catching a son-in-law on Jinchi Road became a grand scene in Bianjing.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, when the Hanlin scholar Xu Yan first met Ouyang Xiu, he "was strange at first sight" and believed that "the son should be famous all over the world." When Ouyang Xiu became the first, Xu Yan immediately gave him a daughter's wife.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, Cai Bian became a lieutenant, and Prime Minister Wang Anshi immediately recruited him as his son-in-law.

Like the black hat market, the Jinshi son-in-law market is also in short supply, and the supply of goods is very short, so there are very few people who can grab a good son-in-law. The ones you grab will naturally be happy. What should you do if you can't grab it?

There is only one way: wait.

In order to let your daughter live a good life with a husband and wife, she doesn't care about waiting for two more years. She waited last year and this year, and waited every year, and her youth was gone. Therefore, there were many leftover women in the Song Dynasty, and there were many unmarried daughters in her twenties. In the end, she had to pay a huge dowry and barely find someone of a good family to marry her daughter.

The worry of the Song girl's marriage has become a major social problem. The allusion of "the emperor's daughter has no worries about marrying" comes from this. The emperor can of course choose the best Jinshi for his daughter first, and the ministers can only wait.

Of course, there are other reasons that caused the Song Dynasty's daughter to marry late, such as the Song Dynasty's dowry requirements were too high, which led to a long time for ordinary people to raise funds, etc.
Chapter completed!