On October 8, in Pingxi City, the "scandal" about the governor and the princess of the Shatu people was fermenting, and became a topic of conversation for many people in the city after dinner. It was also on this day that Mr. Lu celebrated his 75th birthday. Yan Liqiang, Qian Su, and Lu Wenbin, who received the invitation from the Lu family, took time out of their busy schedules to come to Lujiazhuang again to attend the Lu family's family dinner.
The Lu family's family dinner was very low-key, without any grand ceremony. Apart from family members and a few relatives and friends, no one else was invited. At the end of the meal, it was held in the Lu family's living room, and there were only five tables in total!
Yan Liqiang, Qian Su, Lu Wenbin and Old Man Lu sat at the main table, while other female members of the Lu family, who were younger generations, sat at other tables.
Originally, Lu Wenbin was not qualified to sit at the main table in the Lu family, but now Lu Wenbin is lucky and is valued by Yan Liqiang. He becomes the director of the Workshop Office under the Inspectorate. His status in the Lu family is now different from before. Even the former housekeeper Lu was very polite when he saw him.
As for Yan Liqiang, needless to say, he was already the son-in-law of the Lu family. From top to bottom, from Mr. Lu to the servants and maids, everyone in the Lu family was very friendly when they saw Yan Liqiang.
The dinner was lively and festive. No one talked about business at the table, but rather about interesting things and family matters around them. After three rounds of drinks, the younger generations of the Lu family took turns to toast the old man and say speeches. Those who had established a family business also gave him a gift to express their gratitude.
When it was Lu Beixin's turn, she came up and presented the old man with a picture of a thousand years of longevity embroidered with needle and thread. When the picture was unfolded, it was almost three meters long. Inside was all kinds of longevity characters in a flourishing pattern, which looked joyous and attracted everyone in the hall to stretch their heads to look at it, and they all praised it.
"Beixin, did you do this?" Mr. Lu asked in surprise.
"Of course, it took me half a year to tattoo this, and I also learned the craft from several sisters-in-law. Dad, if you don't believe me, you can ask a few sisters-in-law!" Lu Beixin said in a tender voice.
"This was indeed made by Bei Xin. This girl has been managing so many people at the woolen mill during the day, and she keeps them all under control. She comes back at night to learn needlework from us. This longevity painting was really made by Bei Xin!" One of Lu Bei Xin's sisters-in-law took over the conversation cleverly, smiling and glancing at Yan Liqiang who was sitting next to the old man, "Whoever marries Bei Xin in the future will be very lucky!"
Yan Liqiang glanced at Lu Beixin with a smile, but Lu Beixin turned her eyes away, as if she didn't see Yan Liqiang and completely ignored him. After talking to Mr. Lu, she went straight back to her seat.
As soon as the Mind Snake moved, Yan Liqiang knew what Lu Beixin was thinking. Miss Lu had already heard about the rumors about him...
The other people in the Lu family seemed to be used to it.
After the younger generation of the Lu family had finished speaking and all the gifts had been delivered, Yan Liqiang clapped his hands, and several servants of the Lu family carried up the things he had delivered.
“Hahaha, Li Qiang, you are too polite to me. You came over for a meal and brought a few boxes of gifts…” Looking at the three boxes that Yan Liqiang had people bring up, Mr. Lu burst into laughter. However, he was also a little curious. He knew that Yan Liqiang was not a boastful person. Giving three large boxes of gifts at once was a bit too exaggerated. The things inside must be somewhat strange.
"Hahaha, this is a little gift from Uncle Qian, Wenbin, and I to the old man..."
"Oh, Li Qiang, you are getting smarter and smarter. Every gift you give will be counted as three!" Lu Peien joked, and everyone around laughed.
"Brother Lu, you don't know that Uncle Qian and Wenbin are now my two stewards. One manages my money, and the other manages my construction. Without their help, even if I had great abilities, I wouldn't be able to get the things in this box out so quickly. So these three boxes are our gifts to the old man today as we celebrate his birthday!"
"Oh, what's inside?" Lu Pein suddenly became curious.
"You'll know once you open it..." Yan Liqiang smiled and gestured. Several servants of the Lu family opened the box. In the brightly lit lobby, the flashing silver light from the three boxes dazzled everyone's eyes at once, and exclamations immediately rang out in the hall.
The three boxes contained the first batch of silver coins newly minted by the Mint of the Manufacturing Bureau. Each box contained 10,000 silver coins worth 1,000 taels. Three boxes contained 3,000 taels, a total of 30,000 standard one-cent silver coins...
This was the first time that the standard silver coins minted by the mint were displayed to outsiders, and there were so many of them. The people of the Lu family had never seen such exquisite silver coins before, and they were all stunned. Lu Payne's eyes flashed, and before the servants below brought the silver coins over, he rushed to the front, grabbed a handful of silver coins, and brought them back to Mr. Lu on the table for appreciation...
Mr. Lu took the exquisite silver coin and stroked the delicate patterns on it which looked like they were carved by an artist. Even though Mr. Lu boasted that he was knowledgeable throughout his life, at this moment he widened his eyes and looked at the silver coin in his hand with disbelief!
"This... What is this thing? How can it be so exquisite and delicate?" Mr. Lu asked, touching the teeth on the edge of the silver coin.
"This is a silver coin, newly minted by the manufacturing bureau, and it has weight on it!" Yan Liqiang smiled, "I know that the old man is having a birthday today, so I brought some here as a reward for the old man, so that everyone can have fun..." Yan Liqiang said, and took a silver coin, pinched the middle of the silver coin with two fingers, blew it hard against his lips, and then put it next to Mr. Lu's ear. Mr. Lu immediately heard a pleasant buzzing sound from the silver coin next to his ear...
Not only Mr. Lu, but everyone around heard it...
"Ah, it can make a sound..." Mr. Lu looked at Yan Liqiang in surprise and found it very interesting.
"The one with high silver content will sound clear and long. The one with high copper content will sound sharp. The one with high lead content will sound deep. Once you are familiar with it, you can blow and listen to it when you hold it in your hand to know whether the silver coin is pure or not, and whether it has been mixed with other things..."
After hearing what Yan Liqiang said, not only Mr. Lu, but everyone else at the table curiously took a silver coin, blew it hard against their mouths, and then listened to the sound.
Mr. Lu tried it and found that it was true. He was very happy. Seeing that the other people in the hall were also looking at the three boxes of silver coins with burning eyes and full of curiosity, Mr. Lu directly called Butler Lu over and asked him to distribute the silver coins as birthday money for his birthday today. Everyone in the Lu family had a share. Even ordinary servants and cooks could get four or five coins. The other younger generations of the Lu family got more, at least a hundred each...
After receiving the exquisite silver dollars, everyone in the Lu family was smiling and the atmosphere was full of joy.
Suddenly, the hall of the Lu family was filled with the sounds of breathing and blowing. Grandpa Lu’s grandchildren shouted happily in the hall, “I heard it, I heard it…”, which made Grandpa Lu laugh out loud…
When Mr. Lu wanted to give Lu Beixin some birthday money, he found that Lu Beixin had left the hall without knowing when...
"This girl..." Mr. Lu shook his head helplessly.
"Ahem... Ahem... I'll go out and see where Bei Xin has gone..." Yan Liqiang took the opportunity to say.
"Okay, okay, Li Qiang, you go ahead. It's almost done here, so you don't have to worry about it. You and Bei Xin haven't seen each other for a long time. Have a good chat. A few days ago, that girl said she wanted to ask you something about the woolen mill..."
Since the old man said so, what else could Yan Liqiang say? He then left the hall and walked towards the backyard of the Lu family. Along the way, when the servants of the Lu family saw him, none of them stopped him. They all stood by respectfully and greeted him with a smile.
However, when Yang Liqiang came to the backyard, he did not go to the courtyard where Lu Beixin lived, but went directly to the garden in the backyard. There was a large pond in the garden, which was full of lotus flowers and was directly connected to the Lianhua Lake outside Lujiazhuang.
When Yan Liqiang arrived, Lu Beixin was sitting alone in a pavilion by the pond, playing a zither placed on a table in the pavilion. The leisurely sound of the zither floated in the night, and the moonlight from the sky sprinkled down, creating a unique artistic conception...
Lu Beixin knew Yan Liqiang was coming, she just rolled her eyes at him, and said nothing, concentrating on playing the piano. There was some resentment in the sound of the piano...
Yan Liqiang did not say anything, just quietly listening. He had known for a long time that Lu Beixin liked this tune, but he did not expect that this girl could play the qin so skillfully. Although she was not a master of qin, she was already good enough to be accepted by the public...
(End of this chapter)