October 24th is Lord Xu’s 66th birthday.

The sky was blue and clear without a single cloud in sight. The people of the city said that this was God's birthday greeting for Lord Xu.

Normally, people hold grand celebrations on birthdays, but 66 is an exception. As the saying goes, "after 66, the King of Hell wants to eat meat." For the elderly, this age is a hurdle.

Therefore, the daughter should cut a piece of meat weighing six ounces and six cents for the old man, and pray for him to ward off bad luck. Birthdays should also be celebrated as grandly as possible, inviting relatives and friends to join in the fun and drive away bad luck.

Moreover, this is Lord Xu's first birthday after returning to his hometown. The filial sons and grandsons, family members and servants of the Xu family must do their best to organize the celebration in order to demonstrate the glory and dignity of the largest family in Jiangnan.

Two days ago, the city was decorated with lanterns and colorful lights, with yellow earth paving the road and colorful pavilions on the avenue. Every household set up incense tables along the street and hung strings of red lanterns, making the city of Huating more prosperous than the Spring Festival.

The Xu family changed their usual stinginess and made every effort to host an event that would attract attention from all over Jiangnan.

They sent out thousands of invitations alone. They also used thousands of pots of yellow and white flowers to spell out a large word "夀" at the entrance of Tuisi Garden, surrounded by purple, yellow, green and other colorful flowers, which was very eye-catching.

Before the hour of noon, guests came to congratulate them.

There were so many people coming that Tuisi Garden simply didn't have enough rooms to accommodate them all.

Fortunately, the Xu family had invested heavily this time, and built large reed sheds in various lawns and open spaces in the courtyard, with blazing charcoal basins in the sheds. In late October in the south of the Yangtze River, it was warm enough for the guests to sit around the table and drink tea in the sheds without feeling the cold at all.

This was simply a grand gathering of the gentry, merchants and landlords of Songjiang Prefecture. All the slightly prominent people came. They sat together and talked about all sorts of things, and it was really lively.

Before they knew it, the Tuisi Garden was becoming increasingly bustling with people. After a whole morning of chatting, the guests began to feel hungry, but the host still showed no intention of starting the feast.

Because there aren't many people that Lord Xu really wants to invite yet.

~~

Xu Fan stood under the big red lanterns at the gate of the mansion, looking at the street in the distance, his face pale.

I don’t know if it was because of the cold or some other stimulation.

Xu Da, the chief steward of the Xu Mansion, saw that he was about to become a stone waiting for his husband, so he couldn't help but whispered: "Master, if they don't come now, I'm afraid they will never come."

Xu Fan turned a deaf ear and remained gazing without moving.

"Uncle, shall we go in? It's time to start the meal." Xu Da looked at the shadow on the ground and urged anxiously again.

"What's the point of having a banquet if those who are supposed to come don't come?" Xu Fan said dejectedly, but still went in as he was told.

~~

Xu Fan was in a daze all the way. When he arrived at the Nuanxiang Pavilion behind Wanhe Songfeng Hall, he patted his cheeks hard to make his face look a little more red, and then walked up the stairs.

The servant at the door hurriedly opened the door for him. He saw Xu Ge Lao, Hu Zhi, Zhong Zhifu, Zheng Zhixian, and a group of old officials and scholars from other places sitting in the pavilion chatting and laughing.

Xu Fan forced a smile and bowed to the distinguished guests, saying, "It's almost time to start the meal. Everyone, please move over."

"Come on, let's go and talk while we eat." Hu Zhi also stood up and greeted the guests to take their seats in the hall.

"Please come in, old man!" Prefect Zhong and others smiled and asked Lord Xu to go first.

"Let's go together." Xu Jie, dressed in a cheerful birthday outfit, smiled and stood up with the help of Xu Fan. He walked out of Nuanxiang Pavilion with a cane and was surrounded by people.

On the way to Wanhe Songfeng Hall, he whispered to Xu Fan, "Have all the guests arrived?"

Xu Fan almost failed and lowered his head and shook it.

He clearly felt his father's body sway, and hurriedly increased his strength to hold him.

Fortunately, Lord Xu was used to big storms and he regained his composure in a blink of an eye. He whispered, "Fill the empty seat. If you don't come, we won't wait."

"Xu Da has already made arrangements." Xu Fan replied softly.

Xu Jie nodded and continued forward as usual.

Xu Fan couldn't help but feel ashamed. He thought his father had great composure and didn't seem panicked at all.

Who would have thought that when entering Wanhe Songfeng Hall, Lord Xu couldn't even step over the threshold...

The distinguished guests all saw that the old minister's legs seemed to be out of control and no matter how hard he tried, he could not lift them even a foot high.

In this era, the higher the social status, the higher the threshold of the house. As the prime minister of two dynasties and a first-rank official, the threshold of Xu Ge Lao was naturally more than one foot.

I saw him leaning on a crutch with one hand and holding his son with the other, trying his best to reduce the pressure on his legs, but he just took a step forward.

"Hey, I have to admit that I'm old." Elder Xu said to the guests with a self-deprecating smile: "The threshold of my Xu family must be lowered."

The guests hurriedly said something like "You have worked too hard and are in poor health" or "It is too cold and your joints are too stiff. It is hard for you to walk." They tried to smooth things over for him.

Everyone rushed forward and helped carry Xu Jie into the hall, then changed the subject.

For a sixty-six-year-old, this was nothing to be surprised about.

But Xu Fan knew that his father was able to cross the threshold this morning without his help...

~~

After a short interlude, the guests of honor took their seats.

Elder Xu sat at the head of the table, his eyes sweeping over everyone in the hall with a warm look.

There are a total of six tables in Wanhe Songfeng Hall.

Although the place was full at the moment, except for the ones who had just talked to him, most of them were local gentry who were just making up the numbers.

The people who were supposed to be sitting there were Hua Cha, Wang Mengxiang, Pan Jixun, Qian Ruoshui and other top gentry in Jiangnan...

Almost all of them were absent.

Thinking of this, Xu Jie felt his heart broken. He sincerely invited them to have a drink, but they all showed up without even saying hello.

This is too extreme!

But he still had to put on a smile, pick up the wine glass, and make some opening remarks to whitewash the situation.

Fortunately, most of the guests did not notice anything unusual and the banquet started smoothly.

The banquet lasted from noon until almost 3 p.m., and the Retreat and Reflection Garden was still bustling with people. The guests drank to their heart's content and gradually became unrestrained, playing guessing games, shouting and yelling, making a great noise.

If it were in the past, Lord Xu would have left the table to rest. But today he seemed to be trying to drown his sorrows in wine, so he accepted all the toasts from the guests, drinking one cup after another.

Seeing his father's flushed face and drunken appearance, Xu Fan prepared to get up and persuade him to go back and rest.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, someone at the door came in and reported that Niu Chenshi from the Governor's Office and Lin Pingzhi, the Suzhou and Songjiang Circuit Inspector, had come to celebrate the old man's birthday.

Xu Fan felt a little comforted after hearing this. Naturally, the mansion had sent invitations to Niu Chenshi and Lin Xun, but he didn't expect that the two of them would not come earlier. Now that the banquet was about to end, they came.

Maybe he was delayed on the road...Xu Fan thought.

p.s. Second update, I will make up for it tomorrow. I put on eye drops and went to sleep.