Guo Silang nodded, feeling as if he had found a backer again, so when he looked at Dingping Hou and others who were still talking happily on the other side, his eyes naturally showed disdain.

Lord Li was also a shrewd man, so how could he not see the conflict between the two factions? Although his family was related to the Duke's Mansion by marriage, after all, if you counted the families in Sui'an City, they were all related to each other in some way, so naturally, they would not have a falling out with the Dingping Marquis' Mansion.

"My Lord, please give me some face. It's a good day. Please be polite."

"Lord Li, I will give you face, otherwise I would not have come to congratulate you so early in the morning. However, my giving you face does not necessarily mean that others will give you face as well. For example, even if Prime Minister Guo did not come, he should have sent the eldest son of the Guo family. Instead, he sent the fourth son. It really does not give you any face at all."

"Their eldest son has something urgent to do, so he has to go and do it. The fourth son who came is also a very favored grandson of Prime Minister Guo. Same, same!"

Lord Li naturally laughed it off, and seeing this, Lord Dingping was too lazy to say anything more.

After taking a look at Guo Silang, he looked away and started chatting with the people in front of him about other things.

A major war was suppressed, so the Li family naturally needed to take a breather, so they put all their efforts into the birthday banquet, which lasted from morning to night.

Before lunch, the emperor asked Eunuch Liu to convey the imperial edict from the palace and send some gifts, which was considered to give enough face to the Li family. At the same time, he also brought a picture of a hundred children celebrating the birthday hand-painted by Concubine Li, which pushed the atmosphere to a climax.

After thanking the emperor for his grace, the Li family prepared to send Eunuch Liu out. However, before leaving, Eunuch Liu went to Gu Shaoyu and said a few words. Others did not hear clearly, but Lord Li understood it very well.

"His Majesty said that the general should go to the palace to have breakfast with him tomorrow morning."

Such a great favor, in the eyes of outsiders, Gu Shaoyu's favor is still the same as before, but he also knows that this meal will not be a simple breakfast.

"I obey your order."

With the departure of Eunuch Liu, the court officials who had just been considering whether or not to create trouble again in front of Gu Shaoyu, were now very quiet.

Only Lord Dingping was left standing there, and he and Gu Shaoyu seemed to be at odds with each other.

The adults didn't seem happy, but the children had played for the entire day and were so tired that they were about to fall asleep on the way home.

The three brothers shouted that they wanted their eldest cousin to go back and sleep with them, and Du Jingyi naturally agreed happily.

He Qianyun wanted to do it, but she still had to get her mother's consent, so the look on her face when she looked at Du Jingxiang was a little pitiful. Du Jingxiang was a little disapproving at first, but judging from the children's expressions, she really didn't want to affect their good mood today, so she could only agree.

The children were so excited that they got in the same carriage and rushed back to play.

The couple came to pick someone up, and when they left they naturally had to send the Du family back first. When they returned, it was already getting dark.

While riding in the carriage, the couple chatted about today's events.

"Tomorrow, General, will be entering the palace for the first time after the mourning period ends. What should you prepare?"

"No need, I'll be back soon. But this time, I don't think I'll be staying in Sui'an City for much longer."

"What's the meaning?"

"For three years, Your Majesty has always wanted to place people in the Tiger Guards, but unfortunately he couldn't find a suitable opportunity. Now that he has chosen me to come back and have dinner with him, I'm afraid he wants me to go to other places to expand the army."

"General, are you saying that His Majesty might let you return to Cezhou?"

"If he really returns to Cezhou, I will be satisfied, but I am not sure. Going to Qizhou and Wangzhou is the most likely."

The armies in these two places are absolute royal forces, so if he wants to make changes in the Tiger Guards, how can he do that without arranging some of his own people?

When Du Jingyi heard this, he couldn't help but sigh.

"After three years of silence, the wind will eventually blow."

Gu Shaoyu didn't say much, just gave instructions.

"Grandfather Guo is ill again. We should go and see him when we have time. He has been through life and death with our grandparents, so if he is around, Daxing Dynasty will be more stable."

"I understand. I'll prepare some good medicinal herbs when I get back. I can go to the Guo family anytime."

The couple was mentally prepared for the crisis they might face, so they were not caught off guard.

The next day, when Gu Shaoyu came out of the palace, it turned out to be almost as he had guessed.

Gu Shaoyu was ordered to transfer troops to Wangzhou for half a year to reorganize the army.

It sounded nice that he would be gone for half a year, but in fact there was no accurate transfer order for the time of returning to Beijing, so it was not clear how long he would be gone. So in the past two days, he visited various mansions under the pretext of visiting relatives.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

I went to the Du family and the Duke's Mansion frequently, but neither of them attracted much attention.

However, on the day when the couple went to the Prime Minister's Mansion, Gu Shaoyu had just entered the Prime Minister's Mansion when he encountered the emperor himself, who came to visit Prime Minister Guo in disguise.

That's just right.

When Du Jingyi saw the emperor again after three years, he originally thought it might be at the palace banquet at the end of the year.

Who would have thought that when she was still playing with the children in Xue Niang's yard, she saw the servants of the Guo family coming hurriedly to report that a distinguished guest had come and asked everyone in the Guo family to wait in the front hall.

Given the status of the Guo family, the person who would ask them to wait on him would not be a simple character.

At first, Xue Niang and the others thought it was the Queen Mother who came, but who knew that it would be the Emperor who came in. As a result, everyone lowered their heads even more obviously.

"Grandfather has been ill for quite a while and has not been attending court. I was very worried, so I specially left the palace today to visit him. I didn't expect that Shao Yu and I had the same idea."

Guo Xiang was coughing, and he no longer looked as shrewd as before. He looked more like an old man recuperating at home, who was now forced to open the door to welcome guests.

"Your Majesty, you are of high status now. How can you just go out whenever you want? If something happens to you, won't this old minister die of guilt?"

"What's the matter with death? Grandfather is talking nonsense again. You should live longer and watch me govern Daxing better."

When they heard these words in the past, most of the Guo family members were excited. But now, they have realized the covert and overt suppression over the past three years. The Guo family is doomed to fail, so they no longer hold out any hope.

Gu Shaoyu was standing next to Prime Minister Guo. Before he sat down and said a few words, the emperor arrived, so naturally he brought the topic back to him.