Chapter 53
Imperial study.
Chu Qin finally reported all the matters concerning this trip to Jiangnan.
In fact, he had already written down the relevant matters in a memorial and had it sent to Beijing in advance. Now he just needed to make a final report to see if the emperor had anything else to ask.
If not, his mission is accomplished.
Chu Qin had prepared some questions that the emperor might ask in advance, but no matter how prepared he was, he never expected the emperor's reaction to be like this.
The emperor smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work, my dear minister."
Chu Qin hurriedly said, "Working for the emperor and the court is not hard."
The emperor's face was filled with relief: "If the court had more people like you, I could rest easy."
Chu Qin:?
Is that a bit too much praise?
He had just entered the officialdom and had little experience. He thought that anyone who went out for a few months on business would receive praise from the emperor, and thought that this should be normal.
It's just a little trap.
If he said that all the gentlemen were very capable, he would be going against the emperor. If he continued to say this, it would seem like he was implying that others were not working hard. It seemed that something was not right either way.
After much deliberation, he bowed his head and expressed his loyalty: "I will do my best!"
Just talk about yourself, don't offend other colleagues, and don't offend the emperor.
He put into practice the workplace talk his sister taught him, perfect!
emperor:"……"
For some reason, even though he was facing Chu Qin at this moment, he had a strong sense of déjà vu as if he was seeing Chu Huan.
Never mind.
"You, my dear, have handled the Jiangnan matter very well. I am very pleased. I will leave this matter to you." The emperor gave Chen Jiu a look, and Chen Jiu took out the imperial edict that he had prepared long ago.
Not long after, Chu Qin walked out of the imperial study in a daze, carrying the imperial edict.
Shouldn't an official like him, who has been away on business for three months and has just returned to the capital, take some time off?
Why did the emperor immediately assign him another official mission? Moreover, it seemed that this mission would take at least half a year to complete.
Was it because he completed the thorough investigation of the Jiangnan disaster relief corruption case so quickly that the emperor saw his outstanding case-handling ability? Isn't this the case of talented people being rewarded for their hard work?
That should be the case, right?
Liu Ziang, the top scorer in the same imperial examination as him, was still drafting imperial edicts and compiling history books in the Hanlin Academy. However, he, as the third place scorer, had already accomplished a great thing and was reused by the emperor.
The emperor must trust him!
Chu Qin was so excited by his own guess that he rushed home exhausted and went to the main courtyard to report his safety to his mother.
At this time, Chu Ping should have been on duty at the Ministry of Justice, but he was sitting in the yard in his official uniform drinking tea, as if waiting for someone.
"father?"
When Chu Ping saw him, he quickly called him into the house, "Come in quickly."
Chu Qin:?
What's wrong? Is there something serious happening at home?
Chu Qin's heart couldn't help but rise, and then he heard something that shocked him greatly.
It turned out that after he left the capital in disguise, his sister went to court on his behalf and was bound to an inexplicably appearing melon-eating system.
In the past three months, those who fell at the hands of my sister included the former third prince, the former Minister of Punishment, the former Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, the former Censor, the Min family, a family that had been a family for three dynasties, the Lu family, a family that had been a family for a hundred years, the Ye family, a family of great philanthropy, and so on.
His younger sister went to the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works under his identity, and achieved great results. She was sought after by the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Dali Temple, and the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture, and was also sought after by the old Grand Tutor and the old Grand Preceptor to accept her as a student.
During this period, she also met the queen, the second prince's wife and other female relatives, greatly expanding her circle of friends.
Even the unjust case of Li Chen's father, whom he met on his way to the south of the Yangtze River, was easily resolved by his sister. Both father and son are doing well, working together to manage rivers and build dams for Dasheng. It seems that he will be promoted soon.
He can't do the same thing. His sister is really better than him!
Chu Qin sighed, "I only knew my sister was powerful, but I didn't know she was this powerful. It's a pity she's a girl. If she were a man, she would definitely turn the capital upside down."
Wen was silent for two seconds, then asked a soul-searching question: "Hasn't it been turned over yet?"
Chu Ping said honestly: "It was turned over." But not all of it was turned over.
Chu Qin nodded numbly, then suddenly realized: "So the emperor asked me to go out..."
Wen Shi said without hesitation: "It is to allow Huan'er to continue attending court."
Chu Ping nodded heavily: "That's right, I don't think highly of you, don't be so self-indulgent."
Chu Qin covered his face in shame. These were truly his real parents.
Not only did she not comfort him, but she also gave him a heavy blow, which completely woke him up.
This is better than him not knowing the truth and always having inexplicable confidence that "the emperor trusts me" and "I am very talented".
Being too proud but not having the corresponding strength makes it very easy for one to fail and bring trouble to one's family.
"I am currently benefiting from Huan'er's help, but I will definitely do my job well and make the emperor look at me with admiration." Chu Qin made up his mind.
Wen gave her son an encouraging look: "You can do it."
Chu Ping said, "There's no rush."
Chu Qin: ???
Wen: ???
Is this something a father could say?!
Facing the mother and daughter's questioning, Chu Ping rubbed his face helplessly: "When they learned that you were coming back today, several ministers came to talk to me. The Minister of Justice asked me to put aside my official duties and go home to talk to you first. It would be best if you leave today."
Chu Qin, who had just entered the door: "..."
He had reason to suspect that the Minister of Justice wanted him to understand the situation as soon as possible so that he could pack his luggage and leave before the city gates closed today.
In this way, Chu Huan will be able to go to court again tomorrow and have a day off without delaying anything.
I have to say: Cruel! Too cruel! He is worthy of being the one in charge of the Ministry of Justice!
"Can't I just stay home and rest... for a day?"
Chu Qin had been wandering around for a long time and missed home very much. If he had wanted to leave on his own initiative, it was because he was a good man working hard for his career, but he felt that it was not right when he was secretly forced to leave.
Wen also wanted to talk more with her son whom she hadn't seen for three months, to hear how he was doing outside and whether he had encountered any danger.
Seeing her son's pitiful words, Wen's heart softened: "It wouldn't hurt to take a day off."
"No." Chu Ping hurriedly shook his head. "Miaoshou Kongkong will arrive tomorrow. We don't know when he will make a move. Huan'er has to go to the treasury to guard it."
This was the first time Wen had heard of this: "Huan'er doesn't know martial arts, nor does she understand mechanisms. What is she doing guarding the national treasury?"
Chu Ping: "I don't know what they did specifically. Huan'er secretly told the emperor that. The Minister of Works and the Minister of Revenue only knew that they would open the treasury and let Huan'er in on the day Miaoshou Kongkong arrived."
The family of three thought for a long time, but still had no idea how Chu Huan would stop Miao Shou Kong Kong.
Honey trap? Too young.
Suppress with force? She wouldn't do that at all.
Lip service? Will it work?
Chu Qin wanted to find Chu Huan and ask, "Is Huan'er home?"
Wen Shi: "Huan'er doesn't have to go to court today. I sent invitations to the Second Prince's wife and the others yesterday, inviting them to our house for afternoon tea. They should be busy now."
Then Chu Qin would not be able to go over now. "What afternoon tea?"
Chu Huan had never done this before, and Wen and Chu Ping didn't know either, so they sent a maid to Qianhuaju to check, but the maid came back with a large food box.
The top layer of the big food box was filled with golden things that looked like snacks.
The thing was about half the size of a palm, round, fat in the middle, and pointed at both ends, and it exuded a faint aroma of milk and wheat.
"What is this?" Chu Ping pinched one and said, "Hey, it's a little hot."
The maid said, "These are the breads that the young lady just made. The previous batch failed, but this one is pretty good."
Bread? Never heard of it.
Wen and Chu Qin each took one to try.
It looked like something hard, but when I took a bite, it was soft and sweet. I finished the whole small bread in just two bites.
The maid brought out three small bowls from the lower level. "This is freshly brewed milk tea. Hongmei said it was a trial run and wanted everyone to try it and see which one is the best."
The three of them each took a small bowl to taste.
Wen: "I added red beans to this bowl, it's quite sweet."
Chu Ping: "I added honey to this bowl."
Chu Qin: "I added something soft to this bowl."
As he spoke, Chu Qin took out a yellow irregular object from the small bowl. It was soft and moved when the spoon moved. It looked very cute.
The maid took a quick look and said, "It's pudding."
Today, there were several strange and bizarre things, and the curiosity of the three people was aroused and it was difficult to calm down.
Fortunately, Chu Huan did not forget her family while researching desserts, and would send a portion over when she succeeded.
They were quite happy at first, but later they ate too much and lost their appetite for lunch. It was truly a sweet trouble.
The emperor in the palace was also troubled.
The Jinyiwei wanted to record every word and action of Chu Huan and the system. Although they felt that today's one-on-one conversation was very common and there was no need to report it, they still handed it all in out of a rigorous attitude.
And because there were too many trial works, Jia Yi and Cai Gang were all asked to try them and expressed their corresponding thoughts. They also conveniently included their thoughts after eating them.
As a result, the emperor saw a thick collection of delicacies.
System: [Sister Huan, you actually invented a bread oven and bread in ancient times. Amazing!]
Chu Hua: [It's not too late to praise me after I finish making the cake.]
System: [Hmm... the oven is still a bit difficult.] Mainly because it's not Chu Huan's area of expertise, and no matter how hard she tries, she won't be able to figure it out.
Chu Hua: [It's not an electric oven. You should have seen the ovens that foreigners use to bake pizzas.]
System: [Oh, this one, we can try it. It's a pity I can't eat it.]
Chu Hua: [It's okay, let them eat. They'll tell you how they feel after they finish eating.]
What is bread?
The emperor was surprised to find that Dasheng still had food he had never eaten before. Curious, he quickly looked down.
Qingzhu commented: "It's soft, slightly sweet, and mainly fragrant. It's easy to eat and quite filling. It's suitable for people with weak teeth."
The emperor has good teeth and is not very interested in bread, so he quickly moves on to the next one.
System: [Milk tea! No one can do without it!]
Chu Hua: [Yes, I also made some red beans, small dumplings, grass jelly, pudding, and other small ingredients. Unfortunately, I don't have tapioca, so I can't make pearls.]
System: [Pearls? Let me take a look. Hey, Dasheng has cassava, brought here by foreigners, from the coastal areas. But it makes you itch when you touch it, and not many people know about it, so no one brings it to the capital.]
Milk tea? Another thing I haven’t heard of?
What about cassava and pearls? Aren't pearls ground into powder and eaten?
The emperor was very curious. When he saw that the Chu family, Jia Yi, and Cai Gang had all eaten several cups of milk tea, he felt very uncomfortable.
Later, there was some caramel pudding made by Chu Huan. After the iron spoon was heated red, it was spread on the pudding sprinkled with sugar grains. The layer of crispy caramel and hot pudding made Jia Yi exclaim in praise after eating it.
emperor:"……"
This batch of Jinyiwei is really the worst one he has ever seen!
What he wanted was the conversation between Chu Huan and the system. Why record other people's comments?
The emperor closed the record book and said to Chen Jiu unhappily, "Pass it on and show it to them."
We share the same difficulties!
Anyway, I can’t be the only one who can see it but not eat it!
The officials who received the records: "..."
*
Chu Huan chose today to hold the afternoon tea party, one because she was finally free, and the other because she wanted to fulfill her promise to the Jiang family.
Jiang's stage task was completed a few days ago, but because she was busy, the reward was delayed.
Then she thought: Inviting one person is an invitation, isn’t inviting a group of people also an invitation?
The Second Prince's wife and her friends had invited her to dinner at Tianxiang Tower. It was quite expensive to rent a small courtyard there, so it would be pointless for her to invite Tianxiang Tower again. She might as well cook more together.
Of course, she would not miss the sisters’ favorite part of eating melons.
The invited guests arrived before the time came.
Jiang arrived first, and as soon as she arrived, she happily circled around Chu Huan. "Sister Huan'er, this is the first time I see you wearing women's clothes. You really are a beautiful girl."
Chu Huan smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment, sister. Please take a seat."
Jiang brought some sugar-roasted chestnuts from her favorite place, "Sister Huan'er, eat them while they're hot."
Qingzhu took the sugar-roasted chestnuts and sat aside to peel them silently.
Chu Huan ate a few and then stopped. "I usually like it, but unfortunately I ate too much this morning because I was cooking."
"Don't force yourself." Jiang said hurriedly, "It's not good to eat too much."
Chu Huan smiled and said, "I invited you to have afternoon tea today to fulfill my promise to you. I'll give you the reward when the Second Prince's wife and the others arrive."
Jiang smiled knowingly, and the two of them chatted about the fabrics, patterns, and jewelry that were popular in the capital recently. These were all must-have topics for gatherings of women in the capital, and it was not easy to make mistakes.
After chatting for a while, the second prince's wife came with a large group of female relatives and cakes, many of which were snacks that could only be made by the imperial chefs in the imperial kitchen.
What a treat!
Chu Huan hadn't expected to gain anything like this. She laughed, "It seems I gained the most from this afternoon tea."
"Yes." Jiang watched eagerly, "I am the worst off. I can only watch but not eat."
"Who told you to lose weight? Haha..." Everyone laughed.
As soon as everyone arrived, Qingzhu and Hongmei quickly brought out the bread, milk tea, pudding, etc. that they had prepared in advance.
These were things that had never appeared in Dasheng. The Second Prince's wife and others had tried them for novelty, but unexpectedly they were captivated by the taste of the milk tea and pudding.
"I have a sweet tooth, and this milk tea is perfect for me!"
"I like pudding, it's soft and bouncy."
"This pudding is best eaten with caramel."
"Sister Huan'er, is your shop open?"
Everyone present knew that it would take a lot of time to research these new products. No one asked Chu Huan for the recipe, and they all planned to wait until she opened a shop before going to support her.
Chu Huan thought for a moment and said, "I'm not short of money for now, so forget it."
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. They were not short of money, but they would not hold such a good thing in their hands and not make money.
Jiang: "Is Sister Huan'er free recently?"
"Yeah." Chu Huan didn't complain about how tiring it was to go to court at 3:00 AM every day. She was wearing women's clothes now, so it was not convenient for her to say such things.
Jiang and Chu Huan had some acquaintance, but not much, so it was not easy to say, "Leave it to me, I'll help you," so she suppressed the idea.
Chu Hua: "If you sisters like it, I'll ask Qingzhu to copy a few recipes for you to take back."
"How can that be possible?"
“This is a good business that makes money.”
"I can't take yours for free."
"I really want to eat. Can't we just get together in a few days?"
The second prince's wife said the last words. As soon as she said them, everyone nodded quickly.
Are you kidding? Since they are not short of money, why would they take Chu Huan’s things for free?
More importantly, they liked milk tea pudding, but they didn’t like it so much that they had to eat it. What they liked more was the melon they could eat every time they got together with Chu Huan.
Melon is something you must eat!
As soon as Chu Huan saw their sparkling eyes, she knew what these people loved most.
We are all melon-badgeons, who doesn’t know who?
Chu Huan took the initiative to bring it up: "Sisters, you are quite well-informed. Have you heard anything unusual recently?"
【Tong'er, let's get started.】
System: [Here we come!]
Here it comes! The sisters suppressed the crazy upward curl of their mouths.
If the melon-babies were still divided into levels, Concubine Wu would definitely be the highest. She was bored staying in the backyard, and often sent her maids and servants out to inquire about strange people and unusual things. She had the widest source of information among these people.
Concubine Wu: "Sister Huan'er, have you ever heard of Tazhou?"
Chu Huan shook her head: "No."
Concubine Wu: "Tazhou is famous for its towers. There is an 18-story tower, also known as the Champion Tower. It is said that anyone who can reach the top will pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar."
Chu Huan smiled. "The imperial examination takes place every three years, and every three years a top scholar emerges. This top scholar tower is just a gimmick."
System: [Exactly! Whose tower requires you to spend one or two taels of silver to climb up? Every time you climb a level, you have to compose a poem and match it with a couplet. If you don't get it right, you'll be kicked down. You have to pay again to climb again. To reach the top floor, you have to spend another twenty taels.]
Isn't this a clear attempt to rip you off? What fool would go there? Oh, there are actually fools out there. They're just stupid people with tons of money. Wouldn't it be better to use that money to help the poor?
Tazhou is very far away from the capital, and some of the female relatives have never heard of it. When they heard that it was a tower that extorted money, they immediately lost interest.
Concubine Wu was not interested either, but the topic had already been started and it was not convenient to end it there.
At this moment, the system hissed.
Chu Hua: [What's wrong?]
System: [There's something wrong with this tower.]
Chu Hua: [Will it collapse?]
System: [Hmm, how should I put it? When the Champion Tower was first built, it was all about making money, so the floors were very high. But back then, it collapsed every time it was built, and all that money was wasted.]
The local county magistrate was eager to see the top scholar tower gain political achievements and make money. He was desperate and searched everywhere for talented people. He encountered many scammers, but one of them, a man named Zhu, gave the magistrate an idea.
[The tower cannot be built because the local energy is insufficient. Nine pairs of young boys and girls can be taken as pillars and sacrificed. Combined with the appropriate formation, the tower can be built.]
Chu Huan's expression suddenly turned cold: [That idiotic county magistrate wouldn't actually believe it, would he?]
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