"Kaiyang, do you want to go to Qishan Academy or Yunggu Academy?" Hong Xiaoduo asked softly. Lord Wei had rejected Qishan Academy without asking Kaiyang, but she still wanted to hear the child's own thoughts.
Without a second thought, Kaiyang looked up and met her gaze, saying, "I want to follow you."
These were his true feelings. If he could really make his own decision, he wouldn't want to go to any academy; he just wanted to follow her.
She knows a lot, such as foreign languages, which her father said no one at Qishan Academy knows.
Hearing the child say this, Hong Xiaoduo couldn't bear to look at his pitiful eyes. She reached out and patted his little shoulder, saying, "I also want to take you with me. I know quite a lot, but actually, my best language is foreign languages. I'm only half-baked in the rest."
If you want to study properly, you must enter a proper academy and be taught by a truly learned teacher.
Hong Xiaoduo stopped there, not saying too many profound principles; even if you asked her to, she wouldn't be able to.
Kaiyang wanted to say that he didn't want to study academically, but he was afraid that saying it would disappoint her: "Yes, Kaiyang understands."
As they spoke, they arrived in front of the Golden Palace. Upon seeing the two of them, those who had only felt puzzled and curious when they saw her and Kaiyang the day before actually came over and greeted them with smiles on their faces.
From Eunuch Fu's introduction, Hong Xiaoduo learned that the officials present today were from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites, two of the Six Ministries.
The Ministry of Revenue was responsible for managing the country's fiscal revenue and expenditure, including taxes, budgets, and expenditures. Hong Xiaoduo had confirmed this on her computer in her spatial dimension. The modern equivalents of this Ministry of Revenue were roughly the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Central Bank, and the State Administration of Taxation, covering social welfare, fiscal, and agricultural policies.
Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue was naturally present when negotiating business and trade matters with the delegation.
The last person I'll introduce is someone Hong Xiaoduo noticed earlier. Judging from Kaiyang's expression, she could tell he was Tan Jijiu from Qishan Academy.
The other party was also sizing up Hong Xiaoduo, and then paying attention to Xiao Kaiyang.
Before long, the delegation arrived. Not all of them were present; there were nine of them, including the interpreter.
In this situation, Hong Xiaoduo and Tan Jijiu simply nodded politely in greeting.
The meeting took place in a hall on the other side of the Golden Palace.
The seats were arranged on both sides, and there were also tables and chairs directly in front. The chairs had bright yellow upholstery, which was clearly the emperor's seat.
The two sides had just entered the hall and taken their seats when the emperor arrived. So everyone got up to greet the emperor, and after the emperor sat down and said that they should rise and take their seats, they all sat down again.
"Today, the two countries are negotiating. You will be the leaders, and I will merely listen in," the emperor declared, making his stance clear.
In any case, he had discussed this trade matter with the Ministry of Revenue some time ago, and had already made a general upper and lower limit standard for the price and various additional conditions.
The specifics will depend on the abilities of both sides going forward.
The emperor could have easily skipped the event, but he wanted to see if the presence of the two special interpreters, Hong Xiaoduo and Kaiyang, would lead to a better outcome than before.
The negotiations officially began. Today's content was different from yesterday's welcome banquet, involving prices, negotiating terms, and so on. It required the interpreter's quick thinking and comprehension skills, so Hong Xiaoduo stepped in herself.
Tell Kaiyang not to just listen and watch, so I prepared paper and pen for him to write down the parts he didn't understand and explain them to him later.
Hong Xiaoduo herself doesn't have much business sense and doesn't understand trade matters, so she just needs to do her job as a translator.
Because of her quick reaction, fast translation, accurate understanding, and swift response, the members of the Panda delegation felt that it would be quite difficult for them to gain a significant advantage this time.
Meanwhile, officials from both the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue in Fengliang Kingdom clearly felt that the trade negotiations went much more smoothly with Hong Xiaoduo acting as the interpreter.
The emperor, sitting at the head of the table, seemed to understand for the first time what it meant to be a clear-headed observer.
Although he didn't interrupt, he could tell the outcome of the trade deal from the frequent expressions of displeasure on the faces of the foreign delegation members and the smiles on the faces of his own ministers.
The Emperor also noticed the reaction of Chancellor Tan, who was sitting at the very edge. He sneered inwardly, thinking that Tan hadn't heard Xiao Kaiyang speak, so he probably thought that what he had heard about Kaiyang's excellent translation yesterday was an exaggeration.
The reason the Emperor agreed to let Chancellor Tan attend this occasion was not because of the prestige of Qishan Academy, but because he knew Chancellor Tan's true purpose. Therefore, the Emperor immediately agreed.
Some people won't believe something unless they see it with their own eyes and hear it with their own ears.
The trade negotiations were quickly coming to an end, and just when the Emperor, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Rites were all secretly pleased, an unexpected problem arose.
Hong Xiaoduo had remained relaxed and calm throughout the translation process, without ever faltering. However, when she heard the name of a medicine (opium) mentioned by the head of the Opium Kingdom's trade, she immediately frowned.
Ask the people on your side what kind of illness this opium is used to treat.
"Young Lady Hong, opium is a precious medicine with analgesic and antidiarrheal effects. Our Fengliang Kingdom doesn't have it; only they do. However, they only supply a very small amount each year, and the price increases year by year."
"Fortunately, with Miss Hong's help this time, we're sure to be able to bring the price down, benefiting the people of Fengliang Kingdom." Minister of Revenue Cao Cheng replied with a smile.
Hong Xiaoduo felt that the name of this medicine sounded like something else: "Is this opium called anything else in our Fengliang Kingdom?"
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