Although they had left Hongguang Street, the streets on both sides were still bustling with activity; it could be said that this area was the golden district of the capital city. The master and two servants found a pawnshop without any effort. Once they entered, the appraiser and the shop assistant were stunned by the three massive packages they were carrying on their backs.
Although the packages were large, most of the contents were items like bedding. In the end, Xia Qingyu even pawned the silk sheets she had used for wrapping, and along with various odds and ends like jewelry, she pawned them for a total of eight hundred taels of silver. For convenience, she exchanged them for some small silver ingots and a few banknotes to carry on her person, which made her load much lighter.
After leaving the pawnshop, they walked for over an hour before they finally saw the East City Gate. Xia Qingyu stood at the gate, looking around with Bai Kou and Bai Wei, and sighed, "Take a good look. You both grew up here. Once we leave, who knows if there will ever be a chance to return in this lifetime? Every glance is one less."
"What is the young madam saying?" Bai Kou gave a wry smile, thinking to herself that saying "every glance is one less" was far too ominous.
Bai Wei also chimed in from the side, "Exactly, how can you know we won't be able to return? Perhaps in the future, the young madam's medical skill will shock the world, and we can return to the capital city to open a large medical clinic? That would be returning home in splendor, wouldn't that be good?"
"Hmm, I doubt it. The Shouning Marquis Manor isn't going to move out of the capital city, right? As long as they are in the capital city, I likely won't return. Otherwise, even if I don't look for trouble with them, I fear those people in their manor might not be willing to let us go."
Xia Qingyu rubbed her chin and looked up at the sun; it was already noon. Looking outside the city gate, she saw several stalls selling steamed buns, mantou, and mutton soup. She rubbed her stomach and laughed, "I only ate two pastries this morning, and now I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. Let's go, let's buy some steamed buns to eat."
The city gate was bustling with people coming and going, and since it was lunchtime, the stalls were packed with customers. Xia Qingyu, Bai Kou, and Bai Wei were in a hurry, so they didn't wait for an empty table. They bought twenty-one steaming hot meat buns at the stall, packed them into three paper bags, and each held one, cooling them as they walked. They soon left the city gate behind.
"Young lady, we aren't... going to sit here and eat, are we?"
Sitting on a stone by the side of the road, Bai Kou and Bai Wei looked at the busy official road in front of them, their faces full of embarrassment. The education they had received in the past strictly forbade eating in public on the street, but now, it was clear their master intended to do just that.
"Hmm? Is there a problem? If we don't eat these buns now, they'll get cold." Xia Qingyu took a bite of the bun; the soft, thick dough was filled with fresh meat and soup, and as soon as she chewed, the savory flavor exploded in her mouth. It was so delicious she felt like swallowing her own tongue. She secretly thought that the master who made these buns had incredible skill; no wonder that huge pot of buns was snatched up so quickly. Furthermore, in these ancient times, these were purely natural, pollution-free ingredients. Tsk tsk tsk, so pork could be this fresh and fragrant. Back in modern times, even the county hospital didn't have much pollution, and the pigs they raised didn't eat swill, but the taste still couldn't compare to this.
"Young madam, this is an official road. We... the three of us young ladies, just... eating buns here with big bites, this... wouldn't it look too unreasonable to others?" Bai Kou's words pulled Xia Qingyu's mind back from the delight of the food. She looked around and, sure enough, saw a group of people passing by on the official road looking at them with curiosity mixed with a hint of disdain.
Sighing, Xia Qingyu realized once again that she was in ancient times, not in that open, free modern era where independent women were everywhere. Such behavior in ancient times was a sign of having no upbringing.
Looking at the difficult expressions on the faces of the two maids, Xia Qingyu thought for a moment, and then she turned her body around.
Bai Kou and Bai Wei: ...
Xia Qingyu: "Come over, turn your bodies around." After the two maids complied, she set an example by taking a bite of the large bun, once again taking a deep, satisfied breath at the taste of the savory soup, meat filling, and soft dough. After swallowing, she said to the two maids, "Now we can't see those people, and they can't see us. Come, face the farmland and eat to your heart's content."
Bai Kou and Bai Wei: ...
"What? Still not eating? You can't be serious? Even the 'covering one's ears to steal a bell' method doesn't work?" Xia Qingyu looked at Bai Kou and Bai Wei and said earnestly, "You are no longer maids in the Marquis's Estate in the capital city, and I am no longer the young madam of the Marquis's Estate. From now on, the three of us are free people wandering the world. Who knows who on this official road? After we pass each other, we may never meet again. What are you afraid of? Eat quickly. There will be plenty of days of sleeping in the open ahead. If you can't even overcome this small psychological barrier, you might as well go back to the Marquis's Estate now."
Perhaps it was the last sentence that touched the two maids, or perhaps it was seeing their master finish half of her bun in two bites. Bai Kou and Bai Wei finally gathered their courage and took a small bite of their buns.
They say the first step is always the hardest. After that first bite, the second bite went down much more smoothly, followed by the third and the fourth... The master and two servants sat by the side of the road, backs to the official road, facing the vast, boundless farmland, and each neatly finished three meat buns.
"I can't do it anymore, this servant really can't eat any more, I'll throw up if I eat more." The two maids, who had been pressured by their master to "eat more, or you won't have the strength to travel," waved their hands repeatedly. Their lack of stamina made Xia Qingyu shake her head. However, she didn't say anything else, took a white cloth from her bosom to wipe her hands, stood up, and said, "Alright, now that we're full, let's continue our journey. Towards Jiangnan, let's go."
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"All ministers have heard the report. Currently, this is only affecting Zhoushan, Haining, and other places. As time passes, if the heavy rain in Jiangnan does not stop, more and more areas will be affected. Disaster relief is now a top priority. The Ministry of Revenue must mobilize silver and grain as soon as possible for disaster relief..."
The young Emperor on the throne was making various arrangements regarding this somewhat strange early spring flood disaster in Jiangnan. Finally, his gaze swept over the dozen ministers standing in the study room, and he said in a deep voice, "Regarding the candidate for the Imperial Envoy for disaster relief, do you ministers have any good suggestions?"
The dozen ministers looked at each other, all deliberating on who would be the most suitable candidate to be the disaster relief Imperial Envoy. Jiangnan was different from other places; the candidate had to be chosen with extreme caution.
Before they could even figure it out, they heard the Emperor speak again, "Since you ministers have no suitable candidates to recommend, then Yun Xiao, I think you should make this trip."
Yun Xiao—in such a formal occasion, just from the way the Emperor addressed him, one could tell his status and weight in the Emperor's heart. For a moment, a chorus of complaints rose in the hearts of the dozen ministers: Your Majesty, it's not that we don't have candidates; you only gave us a split second, our brains aren't that fast. You actually already had a conclusion in your heart, didn't you? In the future, you don't need to play with us just to show you are open to suggestions; you can just say it directly. We are all old, and keeping up with the imperial will is getting difficult.
At the same time, a dozen gazes were focused on Lu Yunxiao: Heir of the Shouning Marquis Manor, biological younger brother of the Imperial Noble Consort, known for being steady, wise, and cruel and ruthless. This in itself was nothing; among those who could reach such high official positions, how many weren't steady, wise, and cruel and ruthless? But the problem was: this young Marquis, only twenty years old, was also skilled in both civil and military affairs. Most infuriatingly, he didn't know the meaning of humility. After placing third in the civil imperial examination, he went to join the martial imperial examination and ended up taking the top spot as Zhuangyuan. You say he doesn't leave a path for others to live, where can one go to reason with that?
Precisely because of such proud "achievements," the Emperor didn't hesitate to wave his hand and arrange for this brother-in-law he admired to take the position of Hanlin Academy Attendant Scholar, and then gave him the title of Second-class General. Now, three years later, the Imperial Noble Consort had two sons and held great power in the inner palace, enjoying immense splendor. After all, the Emperor had seven princesses but only two sons, both born to her; how could she not be in splendor? The reason she hadn't become Empress yet was only because the Empress was frail and had a gentle and kind personality, did not manage affairs in the inner palace, and posed no threat to the Imperial Noble Consort's position. Furthermore, it was said that in her early years, the Imperial Noble Consort had been a female official in the Empress's palace, so the relationship between the two was quite harmonious; otherwise, the Imperial Noble Consort would likely have already replaced the Empress.
As the Imperial Noble Consort's status rose, Lu Yunxiao's political achievements were in no way inferior to his sister's. Originally, he was just a small fifth-rank Hanlin Academy Attendant Scholar holding a concurrent idle position as a second-rank Second-class General. However, the Emperor had gone on many inspection tours in the past two years and brought him along every time, giving him plenty of things to do as a Hanlin Academy Attendant Scholar and Second-class General. Lu Yunxiao gained many "training" opportunities from this, and his official career soared like a roc; in less than three years, he had become the third-rank Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. The officials in the court were strange: how did all these good things fall to the Lu Family?
So this time, when the Emperor directly named Lu Yunxiao to go to Jiangnan for disaster relief, the ministers understood: well, after he returns, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices probably won't be able to contain this person. Hmm, what lucrative positions are there in the Six Ministries? The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is nearly seventy; it's about time for him to retire, right? Even if Minister Shang is indeed still vigorous, he has always been sensible; if the Emperor wants him to vacate his seat, he wouldn't dare not to. The Minister of Works is also not young, but surely they couldn't make such a young kid a Minister of a Ministry? That would be too outrageous.
The ministers were calculating in their hearts, while Lu Yunxiao was also taken aback. He had originally been wondering, thinking that although the Jiangnan flood was urgent, it didn't seem to have much to do with him, a Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Why did the Emperor summon him so urgently? Hearing this now, it turned out the Emperor had set his sights on him to be the disaster relief Imperial Envoy.
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I'm going to be on the category recommendation list today. I don't know if the results will be any better. In any case, I'm rolling around begging for Recommendation Tickets and Collection, awoo! （ Hey! You're not a donkey; is it really okay to roll around begging for tickets like this? ）
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