All the members are good people, only the host is a pervert

After Princess Taiping Lin Ruan came out of mourning, she decided to hold a grand banquet, which included almost all eligible men and women from the families of officials of the fourth rank and above in the capital.

The Right Counselor of the Ministry of Civil Affairs also received an invitation. His wife's face darkened upon seeing it. She looked at the two invitations in her hands, one clearly inscribed with "Special Invitation to Li Changchun, the Eldest Son of the Li Family." Anger welled up within her. She had always considered Li Changchun a thorn in her side, his very presence a source of immense disgust. She couldn't bear the thought of her son being outshone, only being referred to as the Second Young Master.

If Lord Li had not cared about his reputation as an official, if she had not had to care about the reputation of her mother's family, if this boy had not been so well-behaved as to live in his own little courtyard for so many years without ever bothering her, she would not have allowed him to live until now!

"How dare this bastard steal my son's limelight!" The councillor's wife angrily threw the post to the ground and glared at her personal nanny. "Why does he deserve this treatment?"

Nanny Zhou watched the Madam vent her anger quietly. She knew that no matter what she said, she couldn't calm her anger. So she could only gently persuade her, "Madam, calm down. Princess Taiping doesn't understand how incompetent that young master is. There's no need to get angry. Why not wait until the master returns home and discuss this with him? I'm sure the master wouldn't want the eldest young master to lose face."

This barely calmed the raging anger of the councillor's wife.

However, when Li Canzheng learned the news, he was extremely happy - he felt that Princess Taiping actually sent invitations to the two young masters in her mansion, which undoubtedly meant that she valued and respected him!

Li Canzheng said happily, "Since Princess Taiping thinks so highly of our family and has personally sent an invitation, wouldn't it be disrespectful to Princess Taiping if we don't attend? Besides, this is Princess Taiping's first banquet, and many dignitaries and celebrities are sure to be in attendance. How can we miss such an opportunity?"

The Minister's wife refused to listen and said coldly, "Li Guangren, you know very well what your eldest son has been up to these past few years. It would be a real disrespect to send such an illiterate and uneducated person to the Princess's residence!"

Li Canzheng was furious and said quickly: "If you have the guts, don't let him go. Let the whole capital know that you are unkind. I wonder if your Sun family will still have any reputation!"

The Councillor's wife frowned, her eyes revealing hesitation. She softened her voice and said, "That bastard hasn't left the mansion in the past year, always claiming to be frail and ill. Shouldn't we just report the truth to the Princess?"

Minister Li's eyes widened with anger, and he roared in a low voice: "Are you tired of being an official's wife? How dare you try to deceive the eldest princess! If you really have such courage, I will never risk my own future to accompany you in your nonsense!" Before he finished speaking, he stood up abruptly, turned his sleeves and left, went straight to the concubine's room, and stayed there overnight.

When the wife of the councilor learned of this, her anger was reignited, and she trembled with rage. She gritted her teeth and cursed, thinking that Li Guangren was becoming more and more outrageous, and how dare he disrespect her in front of her.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She wanted to rush over to her concubine and start a scene. However, her reason eventually overcame her impulse. She knew that doing so would only make things worse. Helplessly, she could only swallow her anger and secretly sigh at her miserable fate.

The next afternoon, the wife of the councilor, dressed in a gorgeous brocade dress and with pearl hairpins on her head, walked towards Li Changchun's yard with a serious expression.

When she stepped into Li Changchun's courtyard, the sight before her made her frown relax—the entire courtyard seemed unusually desolate, with only three small rooms nestled close together, as if tucked away in a corner forgotten by time. The few servants lazily sat on the steps, chatting away, completely unaware of the mistress's arrival.

It was not until they saw the lady appear before them that the servants hurriedly stood up as if awakened from a dream and hurriedly saluted. Their frightened eyes and nervous expressions clearly showed that they were very surprised by the lady's sudden visit.

However, the wife of the councilor did not pay much attention to these servants. Her eyes passed straight through them and fell on the dilapidated house and deserted courtyard.

Seeing all this, she finally felt a bit relieved. Her original dissatisfaction with Li Changchun seemed to have found an outlet.

"Where's Li Changchun?"

Hearing the question from the councillor's wife, the servants looked at each other, but no one dared to step forward and answer.

Seeing that the wife of the councillor had turned grim again, Nanny Zhou beside her quickly scolded her: "The lady is asking questions, and you are all mute?"

One of them stepped forward quickly, bowed, and said with a smile: "The young master was called to the front yard by the master early this morning, and he hasn't come back yet."

The Minister's wife was furious. She returned to her room and, ignoring the servants who had not yet left, she angrily shouted, "That bastard was actually called to the front yard so early in the morning! Mammy, the master is on guard against me!"

Nanny Zhou quickly tried to console her, "Madam, the master knows you don't want to see him, but he can't refuse the princess' invitation, so he called him to the front yard to save you from worrying. Madam, the master is worried about you."

"Well, that's better," said the councillor's wife.

She didn't think what Madam Zhou said was right. But since things had come to this, she had no choice but to take Madam Zhou's words as a step and walk down.

Li Changchun was kneeling in the front hall, listening to his father's teachings. Li Canzheng looked at his frail son and couldn't help but feel a surge of guilt. He knew he'd owed the child all these years, but the Sun family was overbearing and jealous. He had ignored Li Changchun for several years to preserve his own bloodline from falling at the hands of the Sun family.

Li Canzheng looked at Li Changchun, who was only wearing a patched shirt with uneven stitches, and his hair was hastily tied into a crown with cloth strips and branches. There was a somewhat unnatural expression on his face.

He tried hard to ignore the strange feeling in his heart and said to Li Changchun earnestly, "Tomorrow at the Princess's banquet, you must be careful with your words and actions and don't lose your manners."

Li Changchun's eyelids twitched, but he tried hard to suppress it and replied in a low voice, "Yes."

Li Canzheng said, "You can stay in the study in the front yard for now. You don't have to go to pay your respects to your mother tomorrow. Just wait for your brother in the carriage."

Li Changchun responded in a low voice again.

. . . . . .

Li Canzheng found that he could not say a few words to his son whom he had not seen for many years, so he asked him to leave.

Then, Councillor Li summoned the housekeeper and said, "Go out and buy some clothes that suit the eldest young master's measurements. Also, pick out one set of white jade and one set of green jade from the hair crowns I have in my study for him to wear. Try to choose clothes with fresh and elegant colors. After all, the child has been frail since childhood, and wearing something too bright and colorful would be a bit out of place."

In fact, the truth is, there is no such thing as "unable to suppress"! It is obvious that if Li Changchun wears those brightly colored clothes, his thinness will be more obvious, and anyone with an eye will immediately realize that he, Li Guangren, has always treated his son, born to his first wife, badly.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to let Li Changchun wear some plain and elegant clothes, which would make him look more elegant.

Li Shangzheng just remembered that his eldest son was already twenty-three years old and should have gotten married long ago.

If he could find a good marriage at the eldest princess's banquet, it would be worth raising him for so many years.

The butler hesitated: "Master, are you talking about Young Master Changchun?"

Li Canzheng glared and said, "How many young masters are there in the mansion?"

The butler bowed repeatedly and retreated.