novelraw Chapter 193
Chapter 193
Chapter 193 Birthday Banquet
During the remaining days, Wei Yu stayed in the manor without returning.
Because he was always staying put, Sun Zhao and the others came over from the capital every day, occasionally bothering Wei Yu about the breeding business.
Wei Yu truly found it annoying.
These children was too enthusiastic, which wasn’t necessarily good!
Always eager to show off, wanting to ask about everything, report on everything; asking so diligently was really a hardship for him.
But diligence also had its benefits—at least Wei Yu learned that among the playboys there was one called Qi Feng who wasn’t suitable for animal husbandry, because that person often went to see Zhu Sansheng for guidance on farming.
That showed a genuine interest!
It was a pity not to pull him into agriculture.
Wei Yu originally wanted to find some literate, educated people to systematically learn agricultural knowledge, but Old Master Zhu was too old; having the old man learn to read from scratch would waste too much time. It was better to cultivate newcomers and then have the newcomers practice together with Old Master Zhu. Wei Yu originally had his eyes on Old Master Zhu’s grandson, Zhu Liang, but that child was illiterate and had to start learning from scratch. Meanwhile, Qi Feng had already come knocking on the door himself. Did Wei Yu still want to refuse?
There were plenty of people in animal husbandry; one more or less didn’t matter. Redirecting the kid to agriculture was more promising and prestigious, even historically renowned!
After all, there were not many engaged in agriculture nowadays.
Qi Feng himself was stable in temperament and showed interest in farming. After a little persuasion from Wei Yu, this “Wise King” fan immediately decided to change careers without hesitation.
The geese were too fierce; one bite could leave bruises.
Compared to raising geese with others and sharing the credit, Qi Feng thought it was better to follow His Highness’s advice and farm.
Mouthwatering yields of a thousand jin per mu, every ear full and plump, resistant to wind and rain… mastering agriculture would alleviate the people's worries about harvest in the future. He could become the “Father of XX”…
The image was so beautiful that Qi Feng already felt he was born for agriculture!
–
After the holiday ended, Wei Yu returned to the capital.
As soon as he came back, the servants handed over a pile of invitation letters.
The pile was truly mountainous. Wei Yu suspected almost every influential official in the capital had sent him invitations!
But what were they up to, sending invitations for no reason?
Wei Yu couldn’t understand, so he casually flipped through a few invitations. They were all for poetry gatherings, flower viewing banquets, autumn crab feasts… there were too many, with different titles.
He even saw one inviting him to a painted boat!
“What the heck?”
Wei Yu frowned and, upon seeing the inviter was from the Earl of Zhongqin’s mansion, immediately threw the invitation away disdainfully.
Inviting an underage prince to a decorated boat was obviously unreliable; better to stay away.
Wei Yu was about to lie down and play on his tablet when he thought better of it and called one of his guards to ask the reason.
“Did anything happen in the capital while I was away?”
Wei Yu loved to play but disliked being disturbed. During his vacation, unless it was an urgent matter, he generally didn’t allow his guards to bother him.
The guards knew His Highness’s laziness, so during that month, no matter how snowballing the invitations came, they didn’t disturb His Highness with letters.
Honestly, His Highness only paid attention if it was personally invited by His Majesty; otherwise, he didn’t care—never going anywhere.
So whether to mention it or not didn’t really matter.
However, now that His Highness asked, the guard told him about His Majesty’s punishment of the Salt Affairs Department and the subsequent chain reaction that had erupted in the capital.
Wei Yu was shocked after hearing it all.
So this matter wasn’t only related to him but also concerning the old man causing trouble in the capital again.
“Hmm, this is quite a mess.”
Wei Yu’s head ached.
He actually knew the real reason people sent those invitations was just to probe him for information. It was entirely his own fault for rarely going out and being too mysterious — people just got curious about the mysterious.
Glancing sideways at the “little mountain,” Wei Yu was about to flip through and pick two suitable invitations to attend, but stopped halfway.
“Oh! I forgot my birthday is coming up!”
Counting the days, it was about ten days away.
In ten days, he could just hold his own birthday banquet, so he wouldn’t have to awkwardly attend others’!
Feeling delighted, Wei Yu quickly called out to Yi Shisan outside, “Shisan, go tell Xiao Anzi right away and say that in about ten days I’m going to hold a birthday banquet—”
Having just returned, the manor’s affairs were still unsettled, yet here he was talking about holding a banquet.
Xiao Anzi, who had grown up with Wei Yu, cared the most for His Highness.
His Highness had never had a proper birthday banquet before; now that he was out of the palace and had his own manor, with a better life and money, naturally it was time to hold the best and biggest birthday banquet for His Highness!
Xiao Anzi enthusiastically got to work.
His Highness’s one word sent the servants scrambling.
Already the focal point in the capital, once Wei Yu announced his birthday banquet, within two days all the noble families of the capital knew about it.
This great chance to meet the Wise King invigorated all the nobles.
Those of high status discreetly waited for the Wise King’s invitation, and those of lower status plotted how to sneak into the Wise King’s manor or bring good birthday gifts to curry favor.
But the issuing of invitations wasn’t handled by Wei Yu.
He wasn’t familiar with all the nobles in the capital; some he didn’t even recognize. At best, he only knew some officials in the court and his brothers; inviting anyone was the same to him.
Because of the Wise King’s birthday banquet, the entire capital was filled with a strange atmosphere.
A small commotion even.
Even Emperor Wei felt it.
In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the father and son were bent over the desk, each reviewing memorials—the father sitting upright, the son crooked.
After finishing the last character, Emperor Wei put down his brush and glanced at Wei Yu leisurely nibbling on a pastry beside him and coldly snorted: “Your birthday banquet is quite an event. I see the whole capital is busy with your affair.”
“Why, Dad, are you jealous?”
Wei Yu just finished writing “read” and looked up at his father, pouting, “After all, it’s still your fault.”
Hey, such an unfilial son!
Emperor Wei’s eyes widened; he raised his brush to throw it.
Wei Yu quickly said, “I’m not wrong—if every time you reform the court you hid me away so the ministers wouldn’t notice me, they wouldn’t always come testing me!”
The brush was still thrown.
Wei Yu quickly grabbed a memorial; the brush hit the memorial, fell to the ground, and a few drops of ink splattered on his clothes.
New clothes, brocade, barely worn twice.
Wei Yu looked disapprovingly at Emperor Wei: “Look what you did, now you have to pay for my new clothes.”
Emperor Wei: …
Ungrateful son!