"Who is this? Why does Fourth Master Gao call him Big Brother?" The guests were whispering to each other. These guys were enjoying the fun and were even secretly hoping that Gao Huzi would make a fool of himself.

"Grandpa Gao, Gao Jie Gao Cun'an, the former Imperial Censor Cao Jiang, a famous hero who fought against the Japanese invaders!" Someone recognized the old man wielding a broadsword and praised him highly, saying, "Grand Chancellor Gao was famous for his integrity and uprightness. He refused to be recruited by Yan Shifan, and was ostracized by Yan's party and retired sadly. If he had been a little more flexible, Hu Meilin would not have been able to survive."

This is an exaggeration, because Gao Jie and Hu Zongxian were not on the same battlefield and had no competitive relationship. But these dirty-hearted guys insisted on saying this in order to raise Gao Jie's image as much as possible and portray him as great and glorious.

Because as long as Gao Jie is great, glorious and righteous, then what Gao Jie opposes is naturally evil and wrong.

And the most disgusting thing is that Gao Ge Lao can't get angry. This is praising his elder brother, is there anything wrong with that?

Lord Gao didn't know that he was so unpopular. When he heard that his elder brother was calling him outside, he wanted to go out to meet him.

"You can't show up, Mr. Yuan. The master has a brain disease, and who knows what he might do!" But he was stopped by Tanyu, Han Ji and others, who said, "When he gets crazy, he won't care whether you are the prime minister or not..."

"For the sake of the dignity of the court, you cannot show up!" The ministers also hurriedly followed suit to persuade.

"Then I can't not show up!" Gao Gong said angrily, "Won't others scold me for being guilty?!"

"How could that be? Everyone knows what kind of person Yuan Weng is. But the most important thing now is to control the situation and not give people something to talk about." Tanyu and others persuaded Gao Gong to stop. "We will do it, and we will do it quickly."

Over there, Cheng Wen, Song Zhihan and others also came out to drive away the guests.

"It's all right, it's all right. The master has a brain disease, and it attacks when the weather gets cold. I thought it was the Jiajing period now."

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you all. Please go back and have some food and drinks." The disciples spoke politely, but they put more strength into their hands, pushing the crowd out of the front yard.

Seeing that there were still some people who wanted to watch the fun and were unwilling to leave, Cheng Wen said sinisterly: "For those who still refuse to leave, bring a chair over and ask them to sit down and watch slowly."

Knowing that the Paw Patrol was going to settle a score with them, everyone dispersed.

In the front yard, Gao Cai also quickly ordered the Jinyiwei guarding the gate to invite Gao Jie to the back.

The Jinyiwei who guarded Gao Ge Lao were naturally all carefully selected experts. It should be no problem for them to capture an old man who was committing a crime with weapons.

Therefore, Gao Gong's students' crisis management was inappropriate. However, they forgot one question, which was how Gao Jie rushed into the prime minister's residence with a knife.

Although he wielded the big Guandao with great force, which made the Jinyiwei guarding the gate very difficult to deal with, the real problem was his identity. He was the elder brother of Gao Ge Lao and a retired second-rank official. He couldn't just be shot to death, right?

I dare not even hurt him.

But Gao Cai shouted from the side to make things worse: "Be careful, don't hurt my brother!"

How did Zhu Yunwen lose his kingdom? It was because of this sentence... Of course, what he said was 'Don't hurt my fourth uncle'.

Gao Jie thus achieved the invincibility of Zhu Laosi in the Jingnan Campaign. He charged forward with his sword in a swagger, and no one dared to approach him. A group of Jinyiwei watched him break through the front yard, rush into the main yard, and smash the word "Shou" made of countless pots of yellow and purple tea into pieces.

But he was old after all, and it was inevitable that he would lose strength after using his big moves continuously. He accidentally stepped on a broken flower pot, and his feet went weak, and he fell flat on his face.

The Jinyiwei immediately pounced on him, kicked the big Guandao away first, and then pinned him down with all their might.

Gao Jie couldn't struggle and started cursing, "Gao Laosan, you are ashamed of your ancestors!" "Why learn from Yan Song when there are so many people to learn from!" The guards had no choice but to cover his mouth, then wrapped Gao Jie in a quilt and carried him out of the yard like a pig.

But with his intervention, the yard was in a mess and the atmosphere was weird. How could there be any birthday atmosphere at all?

Gao Ge Lao's face turned purple from holding back his anger. He glared at the spittoon fiercely, "Pah! A bunch of useless people who are unable to accomplish anything and are always causing trouble!"

Han Ji quickly shouted to the band, "Alright, alright, it's alright. Keep playing the music and keep dancing!"

But even if you find someone to perform a trick on him now, it won't relieve Lord Gao's depression.

He sat patiently for a cup of tea, sorted out his confused mood, and then stood up with the wine cup in hand.

Seeing that Lord Gao had something to say, everyone inside and outside suddenly became quiet.

"I'm sorry everyone, my elder brother is ill over there and is in no mood for a banquet." Then Lord Gao said slowly.

"Yes, yes, Prime Minister, please don't force it. We have already enjoyed it very much." The guests were understanding, but they knew clearly in their hearts that this was Lord Gao's way of clarifying today's events.

"But no matter what, I have to listen to my elder brother's teachings, and I must seriously reflect on myself—" Gao Gong said with emphasis: "My original intention was just to invite a few old friends, or at most a few younger generations, to accompany me and celebrate this birthday in a low-key manner. How could it turn out like this? Who is behind my back? Is there someone trying to make money by using my name?"

When Gao Gong said this, he looked at Gao Cai, Han Ji and others with a stern look. Liu Ziqiang was calm. After all, even if they were his own people, no one would want to play with a spittoon. It was so dirty...

"In any case, I will investigate today's incident thoroughly and give an explanation to His Majesty, the gentlemen, and the people of the world. I will never disgrace the Gao family's tradition of integrity for generations!"

Finally, he ordered Gao Chao: "Return all the gifts from the guests according to the gift list... No, you are also a suspect. Is Gao Fu back?"

"Master, I'm here." Gao Fu, the butler who accompanied Gao Jie to treat the illness, quickly stepped out from the crowd.

"It's good that you're back. Just like I said, all the gifts must be returned. You must also compensate for the ones that Big Brother smashed. If you really can't afford it, write an IOU first, and I'll pay you back slowly in the future!"

"Oh, yes." Gao Fu quickly agreed.

"Yuan Weng, there's no need to do this." Yang Bo and others hurriedly advised: "Yuan Weng has worked hard and made great contributions. This is just a token of our gratitude. It would be inappropriate to return it, right?"

"I'm sorry, everyone. My father has long made a rule for me that an official should neither give nor accept gifts!" Gao Gong said decisively, "I was careless this time. Please give me a chance to make up for my mistake. I beg you!"

After saying this, he bowed deeply, and everyone quickly returned the greeting, saying hurriedly, "We will obey your orders."

Gao Gong bowed to the guests again and turned to go in.

The banquet for the sixtieth birthday of Mr. Gao ended in such a hasty manner. Gao Fu led a group of servants to return the gifts to the guests at the door.

The guests all looked very solemn when they left. Even if they were very happy, they had to pretend to be sad.

For example, Mr. Zhang was like this. He returned to the sedan chair with a stern face. After the curtain of the sedan chair fell, he couldn't help but smile.

I don’t have to write a birthday preface anymore. I’m so happy.

~~

When Mr. Zhang returned to Dashamao Hutong, the family was enjoying the performance of "The Peony Pavilion" on the stage in the back garden.

"It turns out that all the beautiful flowers are left to the broken wells and dilapidated walls. What can we do about the beautiful scenery and good times? Who can enjoy the pleasure in the yard..." The actress who played Du Liniang had beautiful eyes, and she was graceful and elegant, with lotus steps and orchid fingers. Her singing was high and low, intermittent, lingering and soft, which made Zhang Xianggong's heart warmed slightly.

"The master is back." When Gu saw him, she stood up to greet him with her children and son-in-law.

Zhang Juzheng put down his hand, sat down next to his wife, and asked in a low voice: "What song is this? I have never heard it before."

"How is it?" Gu asked with a smile while clapping her hands.

"This poem is extraordinary. Who wrote it?" Zhang Juzheng asked casually while picking up the teacup.

"This is a play my husband composed in Jinling last year, and then presented to a scholar named Tang Xianzu. I heard that Mr. Tang did not participate in this year's spring examination in order to compose this play. But it was worth it. As soon as the first part of the play came out, it became a huge hit in Jiangnan. Now everyone is waiting for him to continue composing it..." Zhang Xiaojing, who was already dressed as a woman, said with a smile.

"It's worth it." The cultivators nodded one after another, looking fascinated.

"Playthings ruin your ambition!" Zhang Juzheng felt a pain in his heart when he saw his daughter's young lady's makeup. He snorted with a dark face and said, "Have you read the book today?"

"We'll go right away..." Zhang Jingxiu had no choice but to leave with his brother in disgrace.

In fact, Tang Xianzu had only written the beginning, but it was performed in advance because of the high attention. Therefore, the performance of "Peony Pavilion" was finished in a short time.

Seeing Du Liniang leave, Zhang Juzheng lost interest, glanced at Zhao Hao, stood up and walked towards the study.

Zhao Hao hurried to catch up.

~~

In the warm study, Zhang Juzheng changed into a light brocade robe, put his legs on the cushion, and took the most comfortable position. Then he took the teacup from Zhao Hao and asked calmly, "You also arranged the play in Gaoge's old home, right?"

Zhao Hao quickly called out to Zhuang Tian Qu, "How could it be my son-in-law? I just heard about it from someone."

"It's really not you?" Zhang Juzheng gently slid the teacup with the lid, and steam slowly rose.

"The High Chancellor was brought back by Lord Gao himself." Zhao Hao said innocently.

"But we are on a Royal Shipping ship, so you can control the time." Zhang Juzheng sneered.

"Lord Gao's birthday is today, and it wasn't arranged by your son-in-law." Zhao Hao said in a low voice.

"But such a large-scale gift-giving, I'm afraid it was you who instigated it? I heard from Yao Kuang that those petty officials who have nothing to do with the capital, and even businessmen and eunuchs, came to give gifts. Didn't you deliberately make it a big deal to ruin the reputation of Lord Gao?" Zhang Juzheng was not someone who could be fooled. After all his painstaking efforts over the years, he had a clear understanding of what was happening in the capital.

"Then was the reaction of the High Chancellor something I could have anticipated?" Zhao Hao refused to admit it.

"That's right..." Zhang Juzheng nodded and stopped asking: "If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself. Anyway, don't do any tricks."

"Yes, I will ask my father-in-law for permission before doing anything." Master Zhao corrected his attitude.

"That's more like it." Zhang Juzheng snorted with a bit of satisfaction.

P.S. My shoulder is much better now, but it hurts when I cough. Fortunately, it doesn't affect my writing anymore. I'll write another one.