Chapter 82: Delivering Meals
Only after Jiang Ran fell asleep did Lu Weiqing go to the study to deal with paperwork.
Late at night, he was still writing furiously by lamplight, thinking that if nothing serious happened, he would take another day off tomorrow to spend more time with Ah Ran.
But he suddenly received news from southern Xinjiang, which made him change his mind.
The next day, Jiang Ran woke up slowly, and the man beside him had already gone to court to report.
Taoli was anxious about the task assigned to her by her son-in-law. Seeing that the lady had woken up, she ran over excitedly, "Madam, good news, very good news."
Seeing her exaggerated expression, Jiang Ran knew she was trying to make her happy, so he said, "What good news? It's too hard to guess, isn't it?"
"Is it the fruit that's been reduced in price, or the cakes and pastries that are on sale?"
This is really underestimating her! Tao Li didn't keep the secret any longer and told the whole story in one go.
It turned out that the Southern Chu Kingdom had sent an envoy to Chang'an to negotiate peace, and the eldest son Jiang Yi was responsible for escorting the envoy.
"Really?!" Jiang Ran's eyes lit up and he jumped up.
This news is really unexpected.
Southern Chu and Great Zhou had been at odds for over a decade. Although there had been no major conflicts, they would occasionally send small armies to harass the borders around Great Zhou and plunder property.
This time, Nanchu took the initiative to seek peace. If a peace agreement can be successfully signed, perhaps my father and brother will not have to guard the border for a long time.
"Of course it's true. My son-in-law specifically told me to remember to tell my wife the news before he left."
"He also said that in order to welcome the delegation, the six ministries will be meeting today, so he will be back later and there is no need to wait for him."
Jiang Ran hadn't seen his elder brother for six or seven years. He was so excited that he didn't know what to do. He even drank an extra bowl of sweet soup for breakfast.
Although he could not visit southern Xinjiang in person, Jiang Ran was always thinking about his father and brothers. Thinking about the bitter cold at the border, he always asked people to send them a lot of new clothes, shoes, socks and wear-resistant boots.
She didn't like needlework, but every year she would patiently make a set of winter clothes for her father, eldest brother and second brother.
I haven't done needlework for a long time because I've been worried about Lu Weiqing recently.
While she was in high spirits, she took out the half-finished winter clothes and started sewing.
It happened that Lu Zhaoyang came to play with her, and when he saw Jiang Ran sewing clothes, he was so shocked that his jaw dropped.
"Oh my god, it's summer time, and you're already sewing winter clothes for my big brother?!"
Jiang Ran was embarrassed and too embarrassed to say that this was not for Lu Weiqing, so he just gave a vague answer.
"A woman falling in love is truly horrible."
Lu Zhaoyang sighed, stopped bothering her, and went out to play.
After being reminded by Zhao Yang, Jiang Ran realized that she really didn't prepare any personal belongings for Lu Weiqing. She thought about asking him later whether to give him a sachet or a necklace.
Lu Weiqing has always been picky about the things he uses. She doesn't have the ability to make clothes for him, so she can only hide her incompetence and give him some small items.
Tao Li guessed her thoughts and said with a smile, "If Madam wants to thank her son-in-law, there is a way to do it."
Jiang Ran came to the government office gate with the lunch box, feeling a little timid.
It was Taoli who instigated it, saying that the son-in-law had been resting at home for a while, and he would definitely not be used to the food in the public kitchen on his first day on duty. If the lady personally delivered home-cooked meals to him, he would definitely be very touched.
Although Jiang Ran heard this, she did not dare to be arrogant. She asked Nanny Yue to make most of the dishes, and she only made a steamed egg custard.
In order to avoid the embarrassment of an accident, Jiang Ran went to Li Ji on the way here and bought a ten-piece drawer box containing ten kinds of cakes, including lotus seed cake, dragon beard cake, almond tofu, etc.
Even though she had made preparations, Jiang Ran was inexplicably nervous because it was her first time delivering food to her husband.
Little did she know that while she was still preparing at home, Eleven had already told Lu Weiqing the news.
Because they had to receive the Southern Chu delegation, the supervisor of the Honglu Temple was reporting to Prime Minister Lu.
"The Southern Chu delegation will be staying at Duting Inn. We need to add two supervisors, three translators, and three chefs. We also need to purchase furniture and daily necessities. We are requesting a grant of 100,000 taels of silver."
After not hearing Prime Minister Lu's reply for a long time, the supervisor raised his head tremblingly, and saw the serious Prime Minister Lu, with a subtle smile on his face.
The supervisor was horrified. Could it be that the Prime Minister discovered that he had made false reports?
He immediately broke out in a sweat and trembled as he said, "The lower officials have just done a careful calculation and have decided to allocate 80,000 taels of silver."
After waiting for a while, Prime Minister Lu still did not agree and his expression became serious.
The supervisor was terrified and raised his voice, gritting his teeth: "Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, seventy thousand taels of silver cannot be any less!"
"Agreed." Lu Weiqing looked through the details he presented and agreed.
The supervisor felt relieved, wiped the sweat off his face with his hand, and left trembling.
When he left, he secretly made up his mind that the Prime Minister's eyes were too sharp and he would never dare to make false reports next time.
The supervisor never expected that Lu Weiqing smiled because he thought his wife was coming to bring him food, and his serious expression was because he was wondering why his wife had not arrived yet. Could she have tripped on the way?
He pondered for a moment and signaled Eleven to investigate again.
Eleven took the order and left. As soon as he went out, he saw Lu Yu stopping his wife at the door, muttering something.
Jiang Ran was already very impatient. He looked up and saw Eleven from afar and waved at him quickly.
Lu Yu wanted to continue to fight, but Eleven pushed his sword against his chest, forcing him to be quiet.
Jiang Ran nodded and thanked Eleven, then walked into the government office with the food box in his hand.
Fortunately, the road here was not complicated. She walked along the straight road for a while and saw Lu Weiqing sitting alone in a pavilion by the lake.
"Brother Weiqing—" She lifted the hem of her skirt and trotted towards him.
When Lu Weiqing saw her, he smiled with his eyes curved, quickly stood up, hugged her, and took the food box.
Jiang Ran couldn't wait to open the food box and put out the dishes one by one, muttering to himself as he introduced them to him attentively.
"This is first-class tofu, stuffed with sea cucumber and steamed. It's very nourishing."
"Longjing Shrimp, made with West Lake Longjing tea and fresh river shrimp, has a refreshing aroma."
"Roasted lamb, cooked to perfection, sprinkled with plenty of cumin."
When it came to steamed eggs, Jiang Ran looked at the bowl of ordinary steamed eggs with many air holes and was at a loss for words to praise them.
"Steamed egg."
Jiang Ran grinned to hide her embarrassment. Lu Weiqing probably couldn't tell that this was the only dish she made.
Before Lu Weiqing picked up his chopsticks, a shout came from afar.
"Your Excellency the Prime Minister is truly blessed with a delicious meal!"
Jiang Ran looked back and found that there were five or six officials in the corridor across the lake, all holding food trays and eating.
The man who made the teasing remark looked quite old, probably familiar with Lu Weiqing.
The other less experienced ones, although they didn't dare to say much, were all laughing on the side.
Jiang Ran's ears suddenly felt hot from their laughter. He punched him lightly and said angrily, "If you knew they were there, why didn't you warn me?"
Lu Weiqing knew that she was shy, so he stood up to block their view.
Although he was hit by a hammer, he was still secretly happy.
His wife finally came to deliver the meal, so what's wrong with satisfying his vanity?
Lu Weiqing turned around proudly and said loudly: "My wife is at a lively age. I'm sorry to have made you laugh——"
Those people had never seen Prime Minister Lu being so gentle and considerate, and they were all surprised. They made a fuss for a while before leaving one after another.
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