After the Rebirth of the Red Chamber

The grandson is going to choose a concubine.

This news, like cold water dripping into a frying pan, quickly produced a series of chain reactions.

Whether it is a civil servant or a noble, they are all eagerly eyeing the position of the grandson concubine, hoping that their family will have a queen who is the mother of the world.

And those whose families are not enough, also want to be a grandson concubine, who will also be the lord of the first palace in the future.

But there are also people of insight who have seen something deeper from this incident.

——I heard that the southeast is not peaceful. The reason why the saint chose the concubine for the grandson at this time can only be one reason: the dragon body of the saint is indeed not safe.

As the source of news dissemination, the threshold of Shi Nai's family was almost not broken.Shi Nai had no choice but to thank the guests behind closed doors.

Fortunately, he had a high position and authority, and he thanked guests behind closed doors, and no one dared to have any objections.

On the day of the Great Court Meeting, the sage went up to the court with his body supported.All the ministers knew that the Holy Eucharist violated harmony, and those trivial matters were not mentioned in the court.

But the really important events are all written in the notebooks and never mentioned in court.

Therefore, today's court meeting only said one thing: the daughters of officials above the fourth rank, and the sons of good families in the Zhili area, all those between the ages of 13 and 17 who are not married can come to the household The ministry signed up to choose a concubine for the grandson.

In this matter, the saint upholds the consistent benevolence, and does not force women of the right age to participate in the election, but it is all voluntary.

Although Shi Nai felt that 13 years old was too young.But at this stage, it's not easy for him to mention this kind of thing, lest he be hated by those "aspiring" people.

Recording the roster must not be done by Shi Nai, the Minister of the Household Department, in person.He directly assigned this matter to Jin Langzhong, and ordered him to pick a few Yuanwailang or principals to be responsible for the inclusion of the roster of beautiful girls.

And he himself, with two ministers and other officials of the household department, is responsible for preparing the grain and grass for the war with Qianxiang country.

Although the most important thing for Daxia at present is the selection of concubines by the grandson.But Qianxiang Kingdom is ready to move, and a war is inevitable.

The so-called: before the soldiers and horses move, the food and grass go first.

Not only the Ministry of Households is busy preparing food and grass, but the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry are also busy repairing weapons, armor and the like.

The most important thing for the Ministry of Industry recently is to study how to adapt the artillery used by the Shenji Battalion on land to be suitable for warships.

Today's artillery is not very good against moisture.It's fine when used on land, as long as it doesn't rain, it's not a big problem.At most, it is necessary to replace the barrel after a period of time to prevent the chamber from exploding.

But the sea is different. The air on the sea itself is humid, and ships sailing on the sea are prone to encounter waves.

These are all difficulties that need to be overcome.

On this day, Shi Nai had just led the crowd to reconcile an account. When he was about to have lunch, he heard a small official come to report, saying that it was Qiao Shangshu from the Ministry of Industry who asked to see him.

Shi Nai was taken aback, and said, "Please come in quickly. No, I will meet you in person."

As he spoke, he put on the hat on the table, adjusted his robe a little, and went out to meet Qiao Shangshu.

To be honest, the relationship between Shi Nai and the six officials is not very good.That's all for the household department. Everyone feels that working with him is not angry and comfortable, and they still respect him.

But in the other five...hehehe, there are quite a few people who secretly scolded him.

And among them, the Ministry of Etiquette, who was deceived by him, was the most important.

In addition to the Ministry of Rites, the friction between the Ministry of Industry and their Ministry of Households is not small.

As for the reason, the budget reported by the Ministry of Industry every year is larger than that of the other departments, which is said to be needed for various researches.

Naturally, Shi Nai supported the study of various equipment, agricultural tools and even weapons.

However, this does not mean that the Ministry of Industry can play him as a fool.

Okay, you need funding for your research, right?

Before last year, the Ministry of Household Affairs was not under the control of the official, so the official did not pursue it.What is your Ministry of Industry planning to study this year?I can help you make a budget.

What?trouble?No trouble, I am not afraid of trouble at all.

As long as you come up with certain results at the end of the year, the funding for the coming year is easy to talk about.

But if you lie...

hehe.

The doctor from the Machinery Bureau sent by the Ministry of Industry retreated in defeat.

——I have never seen such a difficult one.

Later, the Ministry of Industry specially sent You Shilang here, probably thinking that You Shilang had a higher official position and the Ministry of Household Affairs would not be so disrespectful.

But it turns out that as long as money is involved, no one will lose face with Shi Nai.

——Don’t treat yourself as a gold ingot!

The beams of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households were thus formed.

On weekdays, when Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry met Shi Nai, he kept all his politeness, and he didn't even bother to say a word, let alone give a smile.

Naturally, the Secretary of the Ministry of Industry took the initiative to visit today, and Shi Nai couldn't help but think of a few fables he learned when he was young.

——Mr. Dong Guo and the wolf, the weasel and the chicken, the farmer and the snake...

All in all, one has to be cautious.

"Master Shi, Qiao is bothering you." Qiao Shangshu smiled softly, coupled with the three long beards he specially maintained, he had a somewhat fairy-like posture.

However, the more he was like this, the louder the alarm in Shi Nai's mind became.

As the saying goes: abnormal things are demons.

As the saying goes: If you have nothing to show gallantry, you are either rape or steal.

Qiao Shangshu, who usually looked at him with raised eyebrows, suddenly had a pleasant expression on him, and when he looked closely, he was a little flattering.This is problematic no matter how you think about it.

As a result, Shi Nai's spirit was highly tense, and a kind smile appeared on his face, and he bowed his hands in return, "You and I are colleagues, why bother?"

The enemy does not move, I do not move.

Seeing that his attitude was okay, Qiao Shangshu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, smiled slightly, and waited for him to invite him in.

However, after he waited for twenty breaths, Shi Nai still had a kind smile on his face, but there was nothing to say.

The smile on Qiao Shangshu's embarrassed face almost froze.

However, he came today to ask for something from others, so naturally he had to let go of his figure.

—You won't pass me the steps?It's okay, I'll jump off by myself.

"Master Shi, don't you want Qiao to come in and sit down?"

Shi Nai raised his eyebrows unobtrusively, showing a dazed and annoyed look, "Oh, oh, Mr. Qiao, please, Mr. Shi has a lot of things to do here, and he lost his head at the moment. I hope Mr. Qiao will not blame you."

"There, it's the wrong time for Qiao to come."

The two entered Shi Nai's class one after the other, and Shi Nai told the servant: "Go, make tea for Mr. Qiao."

Then, he said to Qiao Shangshu with an apologetic face: "Master Qiao, forgive me, Shi Mou doesn't have any good tea here, I just drink whatever is available in the Ministry."

The little official understood what Shi Nai meant when he heard it.

——This is a bad guest. I don’t need to take out the Faith Maojian I brought myself, but just use the rough tea provided by the Ministry.

However, before the little official could go out, he was stopped by Qiao Shangshu.

"Wait a moment."

The little official turned around suspiciously, and saluted: "What do you want Master Qiao to do?"

I saw Qiao Shangshu took out a tissue bag from his sleeve pocket, and handed it to the little official, "I got two or two taels of good tea by chance a few days ago, and I have never been willing to drink it. I will drink this today."

"This……"

The little official didn't dare to take it, and looked at Shi Nai in embarrassment.

Shi Nai thought to himself: This is clearly prepared.

However, his face was full of displeasure, "Master Qiao, what does this mean?"

No one inside or outside the capital knew that Shi Nai never accepted gifts.Bribing him with tea leaves openly, what is he trying to do?

"Oh, Mr. Shi misunderstood." Qiao Shangshu was unexpectedly easy-going today, even if Shi Nai shook his face, he was still very good-natured, without the slightest intention of getting angry, "Qiao just wanted to invite Mr. Shi to drink tea together. "

Shi Nai stared at him for a while, but didn't see any flaws, and then said to the little official, "Since it's good tea, you can't waste it casually. Go to Master Liao and borrow a tea set."

"Yes." The little official took the order and left.

Shi Nai laughed and said, "Since Mr. Qiao brought tea, let Shi make a fool of himself and make tea for Mr. Qiao."

"Oh? Then Qiaomou is really lucky today." Qiao Shangshu showed a look of joy, but he was grinding his teeth in his heart: this second child Shi is really difficult to deal with.If you drink a little tea from me, you have to make the tea yourself and return it.

But he changed his mind and thought again: Although I have something to ask for today, it is not for personal matters.Although Shi Lao Er was acting on a daily basis, although he was not humane, his public loyalty to the country was undeniable.Come to think of it, as long as I tell him well, he probably won't refuse.Big deal, let him stab me a few more words, that's all.

Not long after, the little official came back.He not only brought back a whole set of tea sets, but also a bottle of snow water.

The little official said: "Master Liao heard that the lord was going to make tea for Master Qiao, so he specially asked the younger one to bring this bottle of water back. Master Liao said that this was the first snowfall last year, and he collected it from the plum blossom."

"The first snow on the plum blossom?" Qiao Shangshu became interested, "Snow on this plum blossom is already rare, and the first snow is even more rare. Today, Qiao is really lucky."

Shi Nai laughed and said, "Master Liao would not be willing to take out this good thing on weekdays. Today, it was Shi who got the favor of Master Qiao."

Qiao Shangshu laughed and said, "Master Shi, please."

Shi Nai cleaned his hands and sat upright. The process of making tea was like flowing water, which he had been fascinated by since he was a child.

Qiao Shangshu watched with bated breath, and couldn't help secretly praising: It really is a noble son raised by the Hou family. Although he has never had an imperial examination, he is by no means a vulgar martial artist.

For a while, Qiao Shangshu's perception of Shi Nai improved a lot.Thinking about Shi Nai's harshness towards the Ministry of Industry's money, I don't think he was making things difficult on purpose.

After all, even the saints have the same attitude.This is how a real gentleman behaves. He neither flatters his superiors nor bullies his inferiors, and is frank and frank.

If Shi Nai knew that by making tea face to face, he could get Qiao Shangshu's favorability to a passing grade, would he have already looked for opportunities to do it a few more times?