In the main hall of the cabinet.

After arranging for Ma Ziqiang, Zhang Juzheng turned to Zhao Shouzheng and said, "Daqi, you should make use of your expertise and take charge of finance."

"Yes, Prime Minister." Zhao Shouzheng nodded in agreement. He thought to himself that it was true that I was good at spending money, but if I had to manage the little money in the Ministry of Revenue, I would not be able to make ends meet in a month.

Finally, Zhang Xianggong looked at Shen Shixing and said, "Rumo, try to take charge of military affairs. Although you don't have much experience, there are many famous generals in the north and south, and the governors are even more capable. You should listen to their opinions and ask Bugu if you are undecided."

"As you command, Prime Minister." The most important affairs of the country are sacrifice and military affairs. Shen Shixing felt that the responsibility was heavy and frowned.

However, the most fundamental problem of the Ming Dynasty is not military, but finance. So in comparison, Brother Gongming has a greater responsibility...

Lord Shen thought to himself that Yuan Fu really thought that Brother Gongming was a great talent, otherwise he would not have given him the heaviest burden.

Seeing Mr. Zhao's calm face, he couldn't help but feel ashamed. This was the man who could accomplish great things. He was still far from that...

~~

After simply assigning the tasks, Zhang Juzheng asked them to return before the palace gates were locked.

He himself stayed in the palace, seizing the opportunity to work overtime...

Zhao Shouzheng was sitting in the sedan chair, hesitating whether to go to Ning An at night. But he thought that he was now a senior official, and if he continued to have too much fun, would it damage the dignity of the country?

"It's really outrageous that the Grand Princess and the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet are together." Prime Minister Zhao was secretly criticizing himself when suddenly there was a loud noise outside, which scared him.

"What's going on?" he asked hurriedly. Is the punishment coming so quickly?

"Master, my family is setting off fireworks to celebrate." The long-time attendant said happily.

"You scared me." Zhao Shouzheng cursed with a smile. He was about to draw open the curtain to see the color of the fireworks, but suddenly he remembered his current identity and held back.

By the time the sedan was lowered, fireworks and firecrackers had already exploded. The attendant opened the door for him, and Zhao Shouzheng saw his father, elder brother, son, nephew, grandchildren, all waiting at the door to greet him.

There were also the nobles and high-ranking officials of the Xishan Group, his friends from the Hanlin Academy, as well as his peers and subordinates from the Ministry of Rites. They crowded the alley until no one could get through. They were all there to congratulate him on his appointment as prime minister.

Zhao Shouzheng was deeply moved, and his eyes immediately turned red. He quickly wiped the corners of his eyes, took a deep breath, reminded himself to behave like a prime minister, and then stood up and stepped out of the sedan chair.

"Congratulations, Lord Xiuning!"

"Congratulations, Mr. Zhao!"

"Congratulations, Lord Zhao!" The alley was immediately filled with a chorus of congratulations.

"You all are trying to kill me." Zhao Shouzheng quickly bowed to return the greeting, without any sign of satisfaction on his face.

Then Zhao Shouzheng walked towards the door of his house, and everyone made way for him to come to his father.

"Father." Zhao Shouzheng bowed deeply.

"Good, not bad." Zhao Liben helped him up and said lovingly, "You are now a university scholar, and you have brought honor to our Zhao family."

"Father, you are too kind. I am still confused." Zhao Shouzheng said hurriedly, "I never expected that my colleagues would show such favor to me, and that the Emperor and Prime Minister Zhang would trust me so much."

"We must not let down the expectations!" Zhao Liben pretended that he was retiring as an assistant minister, so he spoke politely one after another.

"Grandpa, father, it's freezing outside. Please come into the house." It was Zhao Hao who interrupted the show of fatherly love and filial piety, although he was mainly worried about his own children.

The little kids have been waiting in the cold wind for half an hour...

"Okay, please invite them in quickly." Zhao Liben and Zhao Shouzheng hurriedly invited Duke Yingguo, Duke Chengguo and a group of guests to come in.

The Zhao residence was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and a grand banquet was held. In the flower halls of each courtyard, ten tables with eight people each were set up in a row. A total of fifty tables were filled to the brim.

The table was filled with fruits, fine wines, and a dazzling array of dishes. But the star of the show was not these delicious dishes, but the famous Huizhou dish, Yipin Pot.

Yipin pot is similar to hot pot, and is the favorite food of the wealthy people in the Huizhou mountainous area in winter. And the key is good luck! It is the most appropriate on such a day.

Although Mr. Zhao is only a third-rank official now, the promotion of a university scholar is very fast. It won't be long before he can be promoted to the first-rank official.

Moreover, this hotpot is much more presentable than hotpot.

The neatly dressed servants first put an iron rack on the table, and then worked together in pairs to bring a large copper pot with two handles to each table, which sat firmly on the iron rack.

Each copper pot is about two feet in diameter and is served hot on the table. In the fragrant boiling soup in the pot, various ingredients are spread out in several layers. The bottom layer is shredded radish, dried carob, bamboo shoots, winter melon, winter bamboo shoots, etc. This is called "pot pad".

On top of the pot, there is a layer of chicken, a layer of duck, a layer of meat, a layer of fried tofu, a layer of meatballs, a layer of preserved egg dumplings... Each dish is a layer. Because there are nine ranks of officials, only when nine layers can it be truly called a "first-class pot"!

The Zhao family's Yipin pot is naturally filled with nine kinds of ingredients. The most experienced Anhui cuisine chef will lay out the nine kinds of ingredients in order, first boil them over high heat, then simmer over low heat for three or four hours. From time to time, a large spoon will be used to pour the original soup from top to bottom to make the flavor penetrate.

So even though it is just a pot of food, it has been cooked for a whole afternoon. Only in this way can we serve the guests a pot of food that is not greasy, soft but not melted, hot but not scalding, cold but not cold, and perfect in color, aroma and taste!

The guests feasted on the wine and praised it, saying, "The banquet at Mr. Zhao's house never disappoints..."

The old man and Zhao Hao felt happy but also a little jealous when they heard this.

They both thought at the same time:

"Originally, they were talking about Chairman Zhao's family..."

"Originally, they were talking about Mr. Zhao's family..."

Now the father and son are busy all the time, and finally they have become "Zhao Ge Lao's father" and "Zhao Ge Laozi"...

Although I may be pretentious, I am naturally happy most of the time.

Zhao Liben couldn't help but feel emotional as he watched his son being urged to drink one after another.

He was even somewhat thankful that he was dismissed from office. If it weren't for the misfortune that happened to his family, forcing his son to work hard, how could the family be so glorious today?

"What are you thinking about?" Zhang Han, now a retired old man, asked with a smile.

"It's not true that you can tell a person's future from the age of three." Zhao Liben shook his head and said with relief in his heart.

"I think the key lies in the name you gave Mr. Zhao." Zhang Han picked up a dumpling with chopsticks, blew the hot air, and joked:

"It takes time for great things to come."

"Haha, that makes sense." Zhao Liben laughed, but he was secretly disdainful in his heart, "What do you know? I just described my son because he has extraordinary talent."

"Come on, have a drink!" The two old men raised their cups.

Zhao Hao couldn't help sniffling, thinking about how he had worked so hard to make money, how he had trained his father step by step, and how he had taken great pains to help him improve. Now he had finally achieved his goal. Damn, it had been so hard along the way...

"Why, are you crying?" Wang Xijue, who was sitting next to him, asked with a smile.

"Don't talk nonsense, it was pepper that got into my nose." Zhao Hao took a deep breath and refused to admit it.

"What's wrong with crying? You're just happy." Wang Xijue said with a smile, "Now that you've finally become a legitimate junior minister, why shouldn't you shed a few tears?"

"Just say less. No one thinks you're dumb." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes at him when he heard that, and completely lost the feeling of reminiscing about the past.

"Hehe, I'm happy too." Wang Xijue smiled and put his arm around his shoulders, saying, "I'm planning to resign and go home."

"Oh?" Zhao Hao was stunned, then nodded and said, "It's time to go."

Chef Wang was the culprit who caused his father-in-law to kneel down, put a knife on his neck and tried to kill himself, and finally suffered heavy bleeding. With his father-in-law's vengeful character, he would definitely not forgive him. It would be better for him to be sensible and go home and hide early.

"Yeah, you should be more self-aware." Wang Xijue leaned close to Zhao Hao's ear and said, "I heard that there will be a leap year in a few days. You have to help me. Don't let me run away before that."

"Don't worry." Zhao Hao sighed and said, "For the sake of your father, your brother, your son, and your daughter, how can I ignore you?"

"Hehe, I feel relieved when you say that..." Wang Xijue happily served Zhao Hao a glass of wine and said, "Come on, young elder, please have a drink."

Zhao Hao took it and was about to drink it.

"Wait..." Chef Wang suddenly seemed to remember something and said in surprise, "What did you say just now? For my daughter's sake? What, your five wives are not enough, which of my daughters do you like?"

When these words were spoken, everyone at the table was shocked, and even the people at the neighboring table looked sideways.

"Ahem..." Zhao Hao nearly choked to death. He glared at Wang Xijue and said, "Don't you know? Your Wang Gui is now a famous female fairy in Jiangnan. Even Wang Yanzhou has become her disciple!"

"What?" Wang Xijue was stunned and asked, "Is this true?"

Wang Gui, with the courtesy name Taozhen, is his second daughter, who is only 21 years old this year. She has been weak and sickly since childhood, and as the saying goes, long illness makes a doctor, so she was fascinated by the art of Qi Huang, and later developed to study the mysterious art, sitting there in meditation all day, in a mysterious way.

He had also heard about this, but he had been traveling abroad for many years and had no idea what level the girl was at.

Two years ago, her daughter was finally getting married. But before she got married, her husband fell ill and died. Wang Gui claimed that this was God's will, because she was a fairy and could not be married to a mortal, so she became a Taoist priest.

Wang Xijue did not object too much, because many widows used this method to replace chastity. So Wang Gui called himself "Tan Yangzi" and became a monk to practice.

Old Wang never thought that in less than two years, his daughter would become so famous...

Wang Xijue couldn't help laughing when he thought that even Wang Shizhen, the leader of the literary world, had become her apprentice.

To be honest, in the relationship between the two Wang families in Taicang, the Langya Wang family was the one that was in a superior position. Although they never showed it, people could always feel the inequality between the two sides, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Even when the Wang family of Langya was at its lowest point, they still maintained this sense of superiority. Now, let's see how you, Alliance Leader Wang, can still show off your superiority to me, Chef Wang?