Ten days later.

The birthday of the empress has arrived, and the whole country is celebrating.

The entire capital was decorated with lanterns and streamers. Regardless of whether it was true or not, the people in the city were celebrating the empress' birthday, and the streets and alleys were very lively.

Li Wuji was ingenious and specially sent an order to Zibo Ju to hold a banquet on the street in front of the restaurant, with tables and chairs almost filling the entire street.

They even hired dancers to perform dances, literati wrote poems, musicians played music, and people from Deyunxuan also came to the scene. They sang praises to the empress in public, and the words of praise were endless.

People from the entire capital gathered in this street like a flood. Although some people obviously couldn't squeeze in, they still came after hearing the news. As time went by, the nearby streets were almost filled with water, and there was a lot of people.

The Empress has celebrated many birthdays, but this one is the most lively in the entire capital.

On the other side, under the joint escort of the Yanyu Guards, Duying Guards, and the Five Elements Division, the empress also left the palace, leading all the civil and military officials from the court all the way out of the capital and toward Qinghu Mountain in the west.

Every year on her birthday, the empress would go to Qinghu Mountain instead of celebrating her birthday in the palace. This seems to have become a tradition.

Qinghu Mountain is a royal garden. There is also a hunting palace in the garden. There is a special imperial guard stationed all year round. On every birthday, the empress will come here with all the civil and military officials to celebrate, hunt, and celebrate with her ministers.

The reason why it is called Qinghu Mountain is because there were legends in this mountain many years ago that there are green foxes in the mountain, but no one has ever seen it.

Whenever there is a birthday hunting, the civil and military officials hope to be lucky enough to see the legendary green fox, and even think about hunting the green fox and dedicating it to the empress.

Over time, this gradually became a ritual.

Outside the west gate of the capital, a group of people marched towards Qinghu Mountain in a mighty manner. Everyone's face seemed to be filled with festive joy, comparable to the New Year's Eve.

Li Wuji's carriage was also in the queue, and only Lu Yuan was with him.

Since he was going to celebrate the birthday of the empress, no one in the entourage except the three major yamen and the Red Fish Guards were allowed to carry weapons, so Lu Yuan did not bring his sword with him this time.

However, Li Wuji brought his sword box with him and placed it at Li Wuji's feet.

In the carriage, Li Wuji was leaning against the carriage, closing his eyes and concentrating.

In fact, what he dislikes the most is such an occasion, where a group of people gather together for the sake of face and say flattering words to each other. They are not as cheerful as they appear on the surface, and they are very tired.

"Sir, there are a few Yan Yuwei people who have been watching us secretly."

At this time, Lu Yuan, who was driving the car, paid careful attention to his surroundings and whispered a reminder.

After hearing Lu Yuan's words, Li Wuji said nothing, his eyes still closed, and a faint sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He knew that those people must be people sent by Lan Zhan.

It seems that Lan Zhan has been looking for an opportunity to avenge Cheng Zifeng. If it weren't for the fact that Cheng Zifeng had been charged with treason by the empress for assassinating the current Taiqing, Lan Zhan would have led his men to the Li'an Marquis Mansion, and would have killed him. Don't be so deliberate and cautious here.

Li Wuji understood that there would be a conflict sooner or later between him and Lan Zhan, but he never took it to heart, because someone of Lan Zhan's level was not qualified to be his opponent, even though Lan Zhan was the current Yan Yuwei The great commander controls the soldiers around the empress.

An hour later, the team finally arrived at Qinghu Mountain, and with the support of the Royal Forest Army, they settled into the hunting palace.

Although Li Wuji has no official position, he is still a marquis and is considered a prominent figure in the capital, so his camp is still arranged closer to the center, even closer to the center than Leng Yue and Luo Ping's camps.

"Sir, we're here."

After a while, the carriage stopped and Lu Yuan said softly.

Li Wuji opened his eyes, stretched, and slowly walked out of the car.

Looking around, the entire Qinghu Mountain is covered with a dense forest, emerald green, and the air is extremely fresh. It can indeed be regarded as a holiday resort.

"Sir, the people from the Ministry of Rites have said that this is your tent."

Lu Yuan pointed to the tent in front of him and said slowly.

"Go in and have a look."

Li Wuji smiled, jumped off the carriage, and walked straight to the camp.

"Master Hou!"

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from behind.

Li Wuji frowned, slowly stopped, turned his head and looked behind him, and found that Lan Zhan had arrived nearby at some point.

"Commander Lan?"

"As His Majesty's personal soldier, if you don't protect His Majesty's safety, why are you here with me?"

Li Wuji smiled, looked at the expressionless Lan Zhan, and asked lightly.

"On this trip to the hunting palace, the security of the surroundings will be taken care of by the imperial guards stationed at the hunting palace. The general's responsibility is not only to protect His Majesty, but also to ensure the safety of all the accompanying officials."

"Although the Marquis has no official position, I still have to come and tell the Marquis that this place is remote and there are many rare and exotic animals in the mountains. I hope that the Marquis will not wander around at will."

"Otherwise, if we encounter any ferocious beasts, our lives may be in danger."

Lan Zhan looked at Li Wuji and said in a cold voice, with the words "I want revenge" written on his face.

He said it was a kind reminder for Li Wuji's safety, but it sounded more like a threat.

"Thank you, Commander Lan, for reminding me. I'm a timid person and won't run around when nothing happens."

Li Wuji curled his lips, said a cold word, then ignored Lan Zhan, turned around and walked straight into the camp.

Lan Zhan glanced at the camp coldly, gritted his teeth, and left with his two men.

Not far away, Leng Yue, the governor of the Five Elements Division, was standing near his tent. He had witnessed the scene just now and frowned slightly, as if he was thinking about something in his mind.

...

In the evening.

The birthday banquet prepared for the Empress' birthday finally kicked off, and all the civil and military officials went to the Empress' palace one after another.

In the entire hunting palace, everyone lived in tents, and only the empress lived in a palace. The area was not large, but it was comparable to the size of Li'an Hou's Mansion.

Under the sunset, the entire hunting palace was brightly lit, with torches shining everywhere, as if it were daytime.

The officials went there one after another, with smiles always on their faces, as if their mouths were not tired.

Li Wuji took Lu Yuanyuan and walked among the crowd, frequently dealing with various ministers who came up to salute and say hello, feeling unspeakably miserable in his heart.

This is what he hates.

He already regretted coming.

"Master Hou? Master Hou?!"

As a voice came, Luo Ping walked through the crowd and quickly came to Li Wuji. He smiled and bowed respectfully.

"In this public presence, isn't Mr. Luo afraid that these people will think that our relationship is too close and arouse suspicion?"

Li Wuji nodded and asked slowly while continuing to walk.

"Don't be afraid. At times like today, don't we always greet everyone with a smile and say hello once we meet?"

"What's more, is there anyone who doesn't want to get close to the Marquis now? It's just that I'm lucky to be a low-ranking official. Only if I can be appreciated by the Marquis will I have the opportunity to work with him."

Luo Ping put on a smile and kept flattering him.

Li Wuji smiled and shook his head, speechless.

Compared to others, he didn't dislike Luo Ping that much, because at least this person knew the current affairs and was obedient.

Soon, everyone entered the Empress's chamber. After saluting the Empress, they found their seats and sat down.

Then the dancers performed the dance, the musicians played music, and the wine and food were served on the table one by one. The whole palace was filled with singing and dancing, which was very lively.

After the ministers toasted to the empress, they began to exchange glasses with their acquaintances and start blowing the cowhide.

Li Wuji's position is in the middle, neither forward nor backward, which is exactly what he wants. This way, he won't be too cautious and worry about revealing any flaws.

But the empress sitting not far away had been quietly looking at Li Wuji, who was drinking alone and not interacting with the ministers next to him, with a faint smile on his face.

Beside her, besides Ye Han, the commander of the Red Fish Guards, there was another person sitting next to her respectfully, Chun Sheng.

At this time, Chun Sheng was like a well-behaved pet, serving the empress diligently, picking up food and pouring wine, with meticulous attention to detail.

In addition, there was another person who was also peeking in Li Wuji's direction, and that was Tai Qing, Li Jingyao, who was sitting next to the empress.
Chapter completed!