The Grand Banquet for the Promotion of Goods (I)

The Cheng Clan Courtyard.

The Chengs were discussing the gifts that the Cheng Clan would prepare for the Grand Banquet for the Promotion of Goods of the Qin Clan.

The list of gifts was first discussed and decided by the Cheng Clan leader and the clan elders, and then it was shown to Cheng Yiming.

It was not that Cheng Yiming's opinion was superior to that of the entire clan. It was just that he usually lived in the Qin Clan, and he knew the Qin Clan best. He was also a follower of the fifth lady of the Qin Clan, and he knew more clearly about the scale of gift giving.

After reading the gift list, Cheng Yiming actually said, "The gift is still a little light, it should be three points thicker."

After hearing this, the Cheng clan leader frowned, took the gift list and read it carefully, then said, "Hey, it's obviously several points thicker than the normal gift-giving standards for a silver banquet, why does my son still think it's light?"

Cheng Yiming didn't explain much, just mentioned vaguely, "I heard from the young lady that the Qin family may be preparing to publicly reward the two affiliated families at the promotion banquet. The Qin family is already a silver brand, and the public reward on such an occasion must be intended to show the family's strength. Then the weight of the reward..."

Cheng Yiming didn't say the rest of the words, but the Cheng clan leader immediately understood.

If they use the name of rewarding the affiliated family to show their strength, it is indeed a legitimate and effective method. If so, with so many families present at the banquet, the Qin family's rewards must be very generous.

In this way, this gift is indeed a bit light.

Patriarch Cheng quickly went through it in his mind and roughly had an idea of ​​what to add to the list. In recent years, the Qin family has become more and more powerful. As an affiliated family, their Cheng family has naturally risen with the tide and accumulated a lot of family assets.

"Fortunately, there is a voice in the Qin family, otherwise this time, I really look down on my Cheng family." Patriarch Cheng sighed in a complex way.

It was with his son's eyes that he saw that the young lady was a person favored by heaven, and would also make the Qin family soar.

Of course, the Cheng clan leader believed his son's words, but he had no intuitive concept of the meaning behind the words "a person favored by heaven".

Now, three years later, the Qin family has been promoted to silver rank. While the Cheng clan leader sighed and smacked his lips, he finally understood what kind of thigh the Cheng family was lucky to hold.

Cheng Yiming knew what his father was thinking by looking at his father's face. He smiled in his heart. He felt that the things his father sighed about were still a little superficial.

In his opinion, although the speed of the Qin family's promotion was surprising, it was within a reasonable range. After all, the ancestor of the Qin family had long been the number one in Nanling. After years of accumulation, it was expected that he would

form a pill. What should really surprise people is the cultivation of the young lady.

No one knew how shocked Cheng Yiming was when he saw Qin Ruqing after she came back. He knew very well what level of cultivation the young lady had before she left, and how much her cultivation had changed after her trip to Nanling.

Seeing that his father's focus had obviously shifted, Cheng Yiming couldn't help but ask, "Father, do you know the reason why the Qin family is holding this promotion banquet?"

Clan leader Cheng turned his head and said, "Isn't the promotion banquet to celebrate the Qin family's promotion to silver rank?"

"What else?"

Clan leader Cheng thought for a moment, "Then it should be to celebrate the ancestor Wenxuan's formation of the Dan."

"There's one more."

"There's one more?" Clan leader Cheng frowned. What else? Basically, when he heard about the promotion banquet, his focus automatically fell on the Qin family's promotion to silver rank and the ancestor's formation of the Dan. He really didn't pay attention to anything else.

Cheng Yiming shook his head, "There is one more point that father has overlooked. It is to congratulate the sixth elder of the Qin family for laying the foundation."

"The sixth elder has laid the foundation..." Clan leader Cheng repeated this sentence subconsciously, and even calculated in his mind who the sixth elder was. Then he widened his eyes, "The young lady has laid the foundation!"

Cheng Yiming nodded very carefully, "Although father has not seen the young lady in person many times, father should still remember what her cultivation level was when he saw her last time. Now, the young lady is already in the middle stage of foundation building, and is the most advanced person in the Qin family except for Ancestor Wenxuan."

"Oh my God!" Clan leader Cheng was so surprised that he couldn't speak, and could only utter a breath.

"I didn't know it before!"

"It's not that father didn't know, it's that the Qin family didn't publicize it, so father subconsciously ignored it. If father was sharp enough, he should have noticed it when the Qin family announced that the young lady would be promoted to the sixth elder last time."

Patriarch Cheng opened his mouth and squeezed out a complicated sentence after a long while, "...It turns out that this is what is called a true person favored by heaven."

"Yiming didn't mean to blame father, but because I saw that father's focus was completely skewed and he even ignored the person the Qin family needed to pay the most attention to, I couldn't help but remind him."

Patriarch Cheng was not annoyed, but was very happy. "My son was right to remind me. I did ignore the person the Qin family needed to care about the most."

Then he sighed, "The main reason is that the young lady's whereabouts are mysterious, and few people in the Qin family dare to talk about her. Even if I go to the Qin family, I can't easily see her, so I often ignore her unconsciously."

"Then I will go to Patriarch Qin more often in the future, and the young lady still has to look to Yiming."

Cheng Yiming nodded seriously.

The father and son of the Cheng family were seriously discussing the matter of sucking up to the thighs. The key point was that no one thought there was anything wrong with sucking up to the thighs.

Can sucking up to the thighs be called shameful? That must be pretty good!

How many people want to curry favor with someone but don't have the means to do so. Yiming from their family happens to be a follower of the young lady, what a legitimate reason.

The old man, Patriarch Cheng, has some things he hasn't dared to say. He thought that the young lady is a good match for his son's age, and his son is also good-looking. If he can charm the young lady, he can let his son become a son-in-law in the future, hehe...

But with the young lady's talent and character, marriage is not something that a subsidiary family like theirs can imagine.

Therefore, Patriarch Cheng is just thinking about this idea in his mind, but he doesn't dare to say it out loud.

*

Of course, it's not just the Cheng family that is paying attention to this matter. Basically, all the Nanling families have recently focused their attention on the upcoming banquet of the Qin family.

This is the first time that a family has been promoted in Nanling. This is not only a matter for the Qin family, but also a matter of honor for the entire Nanling.

At that time, all the noble families in the southern region who received the invitation will give face to participate in the banquet. This is a celebration of the noble family's promotion, a way to show friendship and expand the social circle, which has been a rule since ancient times.

Among the three major families in Nanling, the Han family cares the most about this matter. They are not thinking of any bad intentions. Since Qin Wenxuan formed the elixir and the Qin family was promoted, they already know that the Han family will not be able to surpass them in a short time.

Now the Qin family is the boss of Nanling.

So, what they want to do is to let the boss of Nanling know through this banquet that our Han family has no bad intentions, is very honest and very well-behaved.

Han Patriarch looked at the gift list, hesitated for a moment, and sighed: "Let's increase the gift by three points."

Han Jingkun, the patriarch of the Han family, raised his eyes, his eyes were clearly puzzled.

The gift list is already thick enough, and if it is thicker, it will inevitably make people think that the Han family is... surrendering.

Han Patriarch sighed, as if he knew what his son wanted to ask, "That's what I mean, we have to let the Qin family know that our Han family has no rebellious intentions. Be honest and well-behaved, and be willing to obey the Qin family in the future."

Han Jingkun immediately glared when he heard it.

Patriarch Han sneered, "You're still not convinced? Look at what happened to the Zhang family. If you continue to make trouble now, the Zhang family will be a lesson for my Han family!"

"That family has been torn apart by Hao Gou, and the entire clan is decided by one son-in-law." Patriarch Han's eyes were full of disdain.

He asserted: "It seems that Hao Gou has already been instigated by the Qin family. From another perspective, the Zhang family is already in the Qin family's pocket."

"So, what qualifications does your Han family have to be so stubborn? Yes, I am already in the middle stage of foundation building. If I have the opportunity to form a pill, I may be able to compete with the Qin family for the edge. Do you think I have this opportunity?"

Being able to get a Mirror-Breaking Pill to break through to the middle stage of foundation building has already wasted his energy. Maybe he can make another attempt in the later stage in the future. Forming a pill? He didn't even think about it.

Seeing Han Jingkun choking up, Han Laozu sighed: "So, collect your thoughts, surrender when it's time, it's not shameful! If you don't take this opportunity to express your position, you really have to wait until the Qin family uses you to establish its authority before you scare, then it will be too late!"

Hearing this, Han Jingkun finally calmed down. The Han family's current stable development is also related to his father's long-term decision.

Otherwise, when they went to the secret realm, the first one that the Qin family took action to deal with would probably be their Han family.

As a result, the Han family completely reached a unity and sent a heavy gift to the Qin family to show their submission.

*

The banquet will officially start in seven days. Qin Ruqing asked Cheng Yiming to tell his fortune and looked into his eyes to pick out an auspicious day.

Not only is it suitable for having children, bathing and resting, but it is also suitable for, hey, holding a banquet!

The Qin family has been busy with this for half a month.

First, the process of the banquet must be determined, how to make it unique and face-saving; the second is to write the invitation. There are many tricks to this invitation. The invitations sent to different objects have different grades and styles and are written by different people.

If the invitation is sent to a silver family of the same level, in order to show enthusiasm and sincerity, it is written by the ancestor himself, dipped in a special potion that does not dissolve in water, and written with spiritual energy.

Because it carries a trace of the ancestor's mental pressure, the other party can easily see that this is written by our ancestor himself, and at the same time, it can also let the other party see how powerful our ancestor is.

This is both a display of strength and a show of goodwill.

If it is a slightly lower level than the Qin family, such as the entry-level family, it is written by Qin Ruqing, Qin Deming, and Qin Dexin, the three foundation-building families.

Below that, the Qin family will not send out invitations, but will bring gifts and come to the door to eat on their own. Anyone who comes to celebrate will be absolutely welcomed by the Qin family, treated politely, and no one will be refused.

And ordinary people in Nanling can have a continuous banquet for 18 days in a place specially set up by the Qin family. Rare spiritual food that is rare for ordinary people will be prepared at the banquet. Eating it can strengthen the body and prolong life.

Just this invitation took several days to write.

In addition, the guest's residence must be prepared. After all, some guests live nearby and can come and go on the same day, while some distinguished guests live far away, or in other words, they just plan to rest at the Qin family. The Qin family must of course treat them well.

After everything is ready, all they have to do is wait for the guests to arrive.

Before dawn that day, the entire Qin family's territory had already started to move. Although the doors have been scrubbed several times, they still need to be wiped with dust again before welcoming the guests.

When the sky was completely bright, there were already guests at the door. This time, not only the direct descendants, but also the elders and ancestors came out to greet them in person.

When the guests pass through the first main gate, they will hand over invitations and gifts. After knowing their background, there will be special Qin family servants to lead the guests.

At the second main gate, there stood a row of Qin family's young people, headed by Qin Ruyu, and they were received by Qin Dehao.

Qin Ruyu and his friends were all dressed in formal attire, full of energy, standing neatly and cutely, which made people know at a glance that the Qin family had a good tradition, and the young people were all talented and well-educated.

Generally, after passing the second gate, guests began to be divided. Those from noble families

of rank and above continued to move forward. At the third main gate, there stood a group of elders headed by Qin Deming. It should be mentioned that Qin Ruqing was not here.

Those who could move forward here were all noble families with ranks.

After that, oh, there was no door. There were only three main gates in the Qin family. Anyone who can pass through the three main gates of the Qin family will be led by one of the elders through the corridor to the banquet venue specially prepared by the Qin family to rest for a while.

Here, there are only two people to welcome, the ancestor and Qin Ruqing.

It is not surprising that the ancestor personally welcomes, because there may be people of the ancestor level among the guests, and Qin Ruqing, as the sixth elder, follows behind the ancestor. The Qin family has its own intentions.

On the one hand, this banquet was originally intended to celebrate the foundation of the six elders of the Qin family. They are combined together. Qin Ruqing, as the object of celebration, is naturally a little different.

Secondly, the Qin family deliberately wants the guests to see the difference of Qin Ruqing.

At this time, the one who was personally led by the elder through the three gates was the Beiling silver product family Zuoqiu.

The Zuoqiu clan has been involved in silver for more than 20 years, and has a deep foundation. It is also considered powerful among the silver families. Now that they are invited by the Qin family to attend the banquet, they are also giving the Qin family face and expressing their congratulations and friendship.

At this time, the Zuoqiu clan leader clearly sensed the difference in Qin Ruqing's status in the Qin family.

This girl, who looks very smart and pretty, is obviously a young member of the Qin family, but she can stand next to their ancestor and personally receive silver.

But their ancestor introduced that this is the sixth elder of their Qin family.

My God, the sixth elder, how old is this little girl!

Then he took a quick look at her cultivation, and his heart began to churn. She is really a real elder, and this obvious foundation-building aura can't fool people. Moreover, he doesn't look like a newcomer to the foundation-building practice. His aura is solid and rich, rather like that of a veteran who has been immersed in the foundation-building practice for many years.

Before the banquet started, Qin Ruqing personally served the guests a cup of the Qin family's special Lingru medicinal tea after leading the distinguished guests into the house to rest. No need to introduce it in detail, the guests only need to take a sip to know how much "real ingredients" are put into it.

After Qin Ruqing left, the Zuoqiu family looked at her back for a long time and couldn't come back to their senses.

It happened that the temperature of the spiritual tea in his hand was just right, and the Zuoqiu clan leader subconsciously took a sip to suppress his surprise. As a result, when the tea entered his mouth, he was not shocked, but even more shocked.

"This is spiritual milk tea. No, the medicinal fragrance is stronger. This is spiritual milk mixed with soul-soothing nectar and some other medicinal ingredients that I can't smell?"

An elder sighed: "Soul-soothing nectar can calm the mind and long-term consumption can prevent inner demons. Spiritual milk is a rare and precious thing for nourishing the soul. The Qin family is willing to use it to brew medicinal tea to entertain guests. It's really luxurious."

"And that sixth elder..." The Zuoqiu people were very impressed by the sixth elder of the Qin family.

It was still the Zuoqiu Patriarch who was silent for a long time and only said one sentence: "She should be the Jindan seed of the Qin family, even better than the Yuanying seed. With such extraordinary talent, if she is lucky, she can have a bright future... The Qin family is building momentum for her to participate in the Hundred Clans Conference!"

After this banquet, the Qin family does not need to promote this young sixth elder of the Qin family. The name of the genius will spread throughout the southern region.

When the banquet finally started, the Zuoqiu people were led to the banquet venue by the attendants, and their eyes lit up instantly.

The Qin family was ingenious and chose the Lingxing Forest, which was full of spiritual energy and elegant fragrance of flowers, as the banquet venue.

A low table was set up in the apricot forest, and people sat around it. There was no food on the table, only wine. The real spiritual fruits and spiritual food were placed in jade bowls and plates and placed in the trickling stream surrounding the apricot forest.

The stream flowed slowly, obviously it was spring water introduced later, but it was sweet and refreshing. Countless rare spiritual foods floated from the upper reaches of the stream, slowly flowing down. Sometimes the jade plates collided, making a ding-dong sound. The breeze blew, and apricot flowers fell. It was really a rare and elegant scene.

The Zuoqiu people widened their eyes and exclaimed: "This, this banquet is really novel!"

They participated in countless banquets of all sizes, but they had never seen any one doing it this way. It was really fresh and unconventional, and it was interesting.

After sitting down, they looked around and found that the Qin family's banquet was indeed grand. In addition to the Zuoqiu family from Beiling, they also saw the Tang family from Xiling.

As for why the Tang family came, they were not surprised. They had heard rumors before that the Qin family seemed to have a very good relationship with Xiling before it was upgraded. It was said that it was also an official cooperative family of the Xiling Xianpin Bureau. Now that the Qin family has been upgraded, it is not surprising that they invited the big families of Xiling.

Not to mention Xiling, what people are particularly concerned about is the cold young man sitting in the center, wearing a blue robe of the Xianpin Bureau. Looking at the auspicious cloud pattern embroidered on the robe, some guests were surprised that it was the recorder of the Nanling Xianpin Bureau.

The Nanling Xianpin Bureau actually gave the Qin family so much face? It even sent a recorder to put pressure on them!

After looking around, they found that the Qin family's ancestor Wenxuan had not announced the start of the banquet. Could it be that some guests had not arrived?

The Zuoqiu family counted and found that someone was indeed missing. If they had invited their own family, they would not have missed the other family.

Yes, the missing family was the Ren family of Beiling, who was also an old acquaintance of the Zuoqiu family.

Qin Wenxuan and Qin Ruqing looked at each other. Seeing that the auspicious time had arrived, they did not intend to wait any longer, so they ordered the servants to pour wine for the guests and announced the start of the banquet.

As a result, a loud voice suddenly came from outside the apricot forest, "The Ren family is late, has the banquet started?"

Everyone turned their heads and saw the Qin family's servants leading a group of people around the back of the apricot forest. The servant was obviously anxious and sweating, but the guests behind him kept walking slowly, so he could not speed up, so he could only move forward slowly.

In front of all the guests, the ancestor of the Ren family bowed to Qin Wenxuan and said, "The journey is long and I was delayed for a while, so I am late. I hope you will not mind."

Qin Wenxuan smiled as if she didn't mind at all. She even stood up to greet him, "The fact that the Ren family from Beiling can come here has given my Qin family a lot of face. How can I be surprised? Come on, take your seats!"

The team of Ren family ignored the surprised gazes of the crowd and really took their seats.

The people of the Zuoqiu family were surprised and didn't understand why the Ren family was so crazy today and didn't give them face.

In addition to a few silver-brand families, there were also a few old acquaintances of the Qin family at the banquet. It goes without saying that the two local families of Nanling, Zhang and Han, as well as the Lin family of Xiling and the Jin family of Beiling, were also invited here today.

After the interlude of the Ren family's late arrival, the banquet finally began. The sound of dance music sounded, and the sound of flowing wine and water was like the sound of immortals.

The banquet was peaceful and joyful until the Xiling Xianpin Bureau team descended from the sky and pushed the atmosphere to a climax.

The Xiling Xianpin Bureau actually sent people to congratulate the Nanling Qin family on their promotion!

At that time, the banquet was enjoying the meal, but suddenly a clear cry was heard. Looking up, a team of black eagles flew in the sky.

Peng eagles are high-level monsters that only appear in Xiling. They are blood relatives of the great monster Qingpeng eagle. Although this monster flies very fast, it is the overlord of the sky in Xiling and is extremely fierce. Therefore, although the Xiling family has the habit of taming flying mounts, they can only tame the more docile sand eagles, and dare not think about taming Peng eagles.

When such a group of Peng eagles flew over, the guests at the banquet were startled, thinking that a beast tide was coming. As a result, the sixth elder of the Qin family calmed everyone down in an instant with a word.

The Sixth Elder said, "Don't worry, everyone. The flying team in the sky is also the Qin family's guests."

Also guests? Who is this family that is so generous?

Sure enough, twenty-four eagles lined up in two teams circled over the Qin family's territory, but did not cause any chaos. After circling for a while, a person flew down from the sky.

Although they didn't look familiar with this person, they knew the clothes he was wearing! It was also the robe of the Xianpin Bureau, but it was embroidered with smoke patterns.

It turned out to be the recorder of Xiling!

It turned out that the Xiling Xianpin Bureau came to send a gift of upgrading to their "official cooperative family".

The recorder exchanged glances with Qin Ruqing, unfolded the gift list scroll, and began to recite.

The guests at the banquet listened to the flowing water of rare treasures, and their initial shock turned into numbness.

Of course, they were not so numb... but the shock made them raise their evaluation of the Qin family to a higher level.

How come the Xianpin Bureau, which was so arrogant before, is now so polite to the Qin family? This is too much of a face!

Qin Ruqing listened to the Xiling recorder calling out the names, and the corners of her mouth twitched. She thought of the message she received from a bitch last night.

Saobao told her that he had prepared a big surprise for her and asked her to be prepared. Oh, and before hanging up the phone, he reminded her that since he had given her so much face, she must not forget her promise.

Qin Ruqing snorted at the time. This man was trying every way to get her to work. She just needed the face of the Xiling Xianpin Bureau.

Well, but don't say... this is quite a big deal. Compared with the reservedness of our Nanling Director, Saobao's personal style is really too strong.

At the table, Nanling recorder took a sip of wine very calmly. He mentioned it before today's banquet. If it is really not possible, the Director can come in person. Even if he does not participate in the banquet, sitting down and having a few sips of wine is also giving face to the Qin family.

But Diwu Ziyan just couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't that he didn't want to give the Qin family face, but mainly because he was afraid that as the director of Nanling, being so close to a local family would lead to gossip or even being reported.

So he used a tactful compromise and asked the recorder to come.

Diwu Ziyan said that his identity was very suitable, which not only expressed the importance of the Nanling Xianpin Bureau, but also was not excessive.

Now, the cold recorder thought silently, if the Xiling side didn't come, you would be quite suitable.

But now they have made such a big show, with twenty-four eagles lined up, and the gift list alone took less than a quarter of an hour to recite. If you let me sit here, the effect will be half as bad.

We are both from the Diwu family, and the digging on the west side has directly hit people's faces. I wonder what the director would think when he saw this scene.