It was Li Yi, the distant uncle of He Mu Dan. Unlike the He family who had been merchants for generations, the Li family were representatives of those who had become rich through business and then successfully transitioned into the official circle. However, Li Yi was a representative of the sons of officials who openly loved to do business, have fun and enjoy life.

  After Peony arrived here, she had never seen Li Wei, but when she was seriously ill, she received many gifts sent by him, including exquisite small toys and delicious food. In her memory, this man, apart from the He family, was kind to her with all his heart.

  As for this matter, since it cant be done through the He family, shes in a difficult situation and has to rely on him. Earlier, she was worried because he didnt show up, but now that shes finally seen him, she cant help but feel happy.

  "Since its to admire the peony, how could I not come?" Li Yis face was smiling, but his eyes were completely devoid of smile. He didnt ask why Peony was sitting alone here, and instead pointed at the whirling dervish in the arena, saying: "Look down on merchants? Ha! If it werent for merchants transporting goods, what would they eat, use, or wear? This whirling dervish is worth only a hundred taels of silver, but the one Brother brought today is worth thousands to tens of thousands. Just wait and see."

  "Peony smiled and said: I was just thinking about this, I would rather be that rich and carefree merchant than a poor and starving official."

  Li Yi clapped his hands: "Well said!" He immediately beckoned to a young servant in green clothes who was following him, and whispered a few words. The servant nodded and left. Li Yi himself lifted his robe and sat down beside the peony case, softly asking Peony about her health.

  But Qinghua Junzhus gaze had never left Peony from the start, and seeing Peony pointing and discussing with Li Wei about Hu Xuaner, she covered her mouth with a fan and leaned towards Liu Chen, saying softly: "Did you see? She likes Hu Xuaner, Ill give Hu Xuaner to her, so she wont bother you again, what do you think?"

  Liu Chongs eyebrows suddenly stood up, and he heavily tapped the chopsticks in his hand, coldly laughing: "So Im just like that despicable Hu Xuaner in your eyes?"

  Tsinghua county master suddenly felt that she had misspoken, but didnt mind much either. She giggled and used her fan to gently blow on Liu Chengs ear, then whispered: "Youre thinking too much, Im not overly fond of you, so why would I blurt it out? What position do you hold in my heart, shouldnt you be the most clear about that?"

  Liu Changs face looked a bit better, and when he raised his eyes to see Peony and Li Wei chatting and laughing, he couldnt help but hum again. The Qinghua County Master saw this, "slapped" the fan on the table, and also hummed heavily with a sinking face.

  At this time, the drumstrings stopped, and the Hu Xuaner finished her dance, proudly bowing to the four sides to ask for rewards. The people at the banquet should have given gifts, but the host did not reward her, and others dared not to move. Liu Chongs face was expressionless, without any indication.

  Never thought Liu Chong would be so unyielding, the Qinghua County Master was furious, turning her head to stare at Liu Chong, who silently drank his wine, not even glancing at Hu Xuaner, who stood in the middle, bewildered and tearful.

  Pan Xiang saw that things were not going well, and hastily raised his voice to laugh: "Dancing is great! Reward with a red silk, one million dollars." His status was high, and he had a good relationship with Liu Chong, but he could act without looking at Liu Chongs expression.

  Liu Chang said lazily at this time: "Reward with a piece of white silk."

  Everyone was praising and rewarding her, Hu Xuaner hastily knelt down on the ground to thank them.

  After Hu Xuaner stepped down, the sound of silk and bamboo temporarily stopped. Liu Cheng asked Li Hang: "Xingzhi, why did you come late? Not only were you late, but also hiding there, is it because you are afraid of being fined for wine? You say, what should we do now?"

  Li You stood up and smiled, "I had something to attend to, so I arrived a step late. Ill first drink three cups of wine as a penalty, then apologize to everyone." After finishing speaking, he poured the wine from the peony seat into the crystal cup held by the maid, and drank three cups in one go.

  Pan Xiang smiled and said: "Not seeing you for a while, youre still as straightforward as ever! You want to make amends, how do you plan on doing it?"

  Li Wei smiled slightly: "I have a treasure that I guarantee none of you have ever seen! Today, Ill let everyone take a look, as an apology."

  "Whats so rare that youve never seen it before?" The young mistress of Qinghua Manor said with a hint of disdain, "What thing is so rare?" Her face showed disdain, but in fact, she was also extremely curious.

  "Stop teasing and hurry up, I cant wait any longer!" Pan Rong exclaimed with a big laugh.

  Li Wei smiled and said: "Its almost time." He then walked up to the front of the crowd of musicians and whispered a few words in their ears.

  Suddenly, a burst of horseshoes sounded, and everyone was surprised to look up, only to see a pair of twins, dressed in colorful clothes, about 12 or 13 years old, with skin as white as jade, looking exactly alike, smiling and leading two horses, one black and one white, similar in height and build. The horses were robust and spirited, and their grooming was exceptionally fine, with the mane on the back of their necks neatly arranged with gold and jade ornaments, wearing five-colored silk ribbons, standing in the green grass, without lowering their heads to eat or showing any signs of fear.

  "What is this?" The young mistress of Qinghua County covered her mouth with a fan and giggled: "You, are you planning to sell horses or people? I see that these two horses look good for sale, but what our household lacks the least is horses. Why not sell me this pair of children instead? I can give you a good price!"

  Li Wei smiled faintly and snapped his fingers at the crowd of musicians, who immediately began to play a lively tune. The two horses suddenly became spirited, moving in time with the music - sometimes prancing, sometimes swishing their tails, sometimes rearing up, sometimes walking sideways, sometimes turning slowly, and sometimes kicking and jumping in place. Their movements were varied, but what was most impressive was that they moved in perfect synchrony, without a single misstep.

  It was different from dancing with Hu Xuaner, the crowd in the pavilion was silent and still, staring at the two horses with their eyes wide open, full of surprise. Lin Mama, Yuer, Yu He and others were even more mesmerized.

  The peony also thought it was beautiful, but because she had seen too many horse shows in her previous life, she wasnt as surprised as they were, so she pretended to be extremely surprised. Suddenly, someone whispered in her ear, "I didnt expect horses could dance to music."

  Peony turned around and saw Madame Bai, Pan Rongs wife, standing beside her with a faint smile: "The scenery here is very good, can I sit with you?"

  This was the first noble lady at the banquet who took the initiative to show kindness to herself, Peony was stunned for a moment, and smiled calmly, yielding half of her seat: "Thank you for not despising me, please sit down."

  Madam Bai sat down elegantly beside Peony, gesturing to the maid to bring over her tea cups and saucers. Then she too said nothing, quietly watching the horses performance.

  As soon as the music stopped, the horse immediately stopped in its tracks.

  In an instant, cheers burst forth like a tidal wave, with Pan Rongs voice being the loudest: "Good, good, heavy reward! Reward with embroidered silk on both ends, 1 million dollars!"

  Those two children smiled and led the horse forward to receive their reward, and every time someone presented them with money or goods, they would lightly tap the horses hindquarters with a whip, causing it to bend its legs and bow in gratitude, which amazed everyone.

  The Qinghua County Master and Liu Chong both looked unhappy despite the generous rewards. The Qinghua County Master was regretful for not having a discerning eye earlier and felt embarrassed for speaking nonsense. Liu Chong, on the other hand, seemed to be lost in thought, glancing at Li Xun and then at Mudan. Seeing that Mudans expression was still calm, unlike her excitement when she saw Hu Xuaner earlier, he lowered his head and thought for a moment before pointing to the male guest seat: "Xing, your seat is over there."

  Li Wei casually sat down and looked at Liu Cheng with a smile: "Im really sorry, Ive ruined your good lawn."

  Liu Chang just smiled and didnt say anything.

  "Where did you get this treasure from?" Pan Xiang asked.

  Li Yidao said, "I went to Qinghai this time and saw something rare on the way. I spent a lot of money to buy it from a Muslim merchant. Its called a dancing horse, doesnt it feel good?"

  Pan Xiangs eyes rolled around: "Ill give you three times the price, will you let me have them?" Such precious things, if presented to the palace, wouldnt that be a great achievement?

  As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Chong and Qinghua Junzhu both guessed what he was thinking of. Almost at the same time, Liu Chong said: "Let me have it, Ill give you five times the price!"

  "Give it to me! Ill give you six times its worth!"

  Everyone present was amazed, but the three people at the banquet were all making their own calculations, having bought them at a high price and presenting them to the palace, gaining far more than they had paid.

  Li Wei burst out laughing: "Does everyone still think this dancing horse is worth watching?"

  Everyone nodded, and Li Wei said: "Then I can rest assured." Everyones heart sank, and they heard him say slowly: "Such a precious thing, how dare I monopolize it or sell it for my own enjoyment? Without deceiving you all, I am going to respectfully offer it to the palace."

  Pan Xiangs expression suddenly became extremely colorful, and the Qinghua County Masters mouth was even crooked. Peony saw it from across the way and couldnt help but secretly laugh, this was clearly just teasing. Li Yi, however, had no idea about the unpleasant expressions of these three people, raised his empty wine cup in front of him and said: "Why dont you toast with me?"

  Madam Bai said calmly, "The world is full of people coming and going for the sake of profit. Look at this world, everyone is more or less the same. The only difference is whether they know how to pretend or not."

  If she had taken the initiative to sit down next to him earlier as a gesture of goodwill, then saying this now was clearly just comforting himself. A warm current flowed through Peonys heart as he sincerely smiled at Madame Bai.

  But then Pan Rong suddenly stood up and went out. After a while, he welcomed a tall and large man with wheat-colored skin and deep facial features in a green robe to come in, personally leading the man to sit down in the first seat of the male guest seat, and Fang smiled and said to Liu Cheng and Qinghua Junzhu: "This is the friend I told you about, Jiang Changyang, Jiang Chengfeng. The flying knife and fish slices later will be done by us two!"

  The crowd didnt seem surprised at all. Immediately, maids brought up several wooden boards and knives, ceramic plates, etc., as well as freshly caught crucian carp that had already been cleaned.

  Marquiss son personally cuts raw fish slices by hand? Indeed, rare things are many, and Peony smiled again.

  ——*——*——*——

  Recommendation needed, collection needed, ah ah ah......