Chapter 171 1/2

“Qingyun Building.”

Shen Zhilan and Mrs. Shen were placed in elegant rooms.

There were some calligraphy and paintings hanging here, decorated very delicately, and the dishes were served by two exquisitely made-up young women.

Normally, waiters in taverns were men, and in reputable establishments, women wouldn’t serve dishes.

But these two women were dressed very decently, and there was no hint of impropriety in their demeanor, so it didn’t raise any suspicions.

They quickly brought two plates and placed them in front of Shen Zhilan and Mrs. Shen, introducing with a smile, “Shopkeeper Shen, Mrs. Shen, this is today’s first dish, called ‘boiled white cabbage…'”

Shen Zhilan was initially a bit puzzled when she saw this dish because a cabbage in clear broth seemed too ordinary!

But after hearing the introduction… boiled white cabbage turned out to be so exquisite?

Shen Zhilan and Mrs. Shen tasted the white cabbage…

The taste of this boiled white cabbage was truly delicious!

The people in Jiang’an Province didn’t grow cabbage, but both Shen Zhilan and Mrs. Shen had eaten cabbage before, and today, this cabbage was definitely the best they had ever tasted!

The second dish served was Wensi tofu.

Tender tofu was cut into thin strips, floating in well-prepared broth… Clearly, the chef’s knife skills were extraordinary.

Next, there were braised lion’s head meatballs, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, fried shrimp, and so on, all served one by one.

The portions of each dish were not large, but with ten dishes in total, it was definitely enough to fill one up.

The second to last dish was boiled sliced beef: “Shopkeeper Shen, Mrs. Shen, this is boiled sliced beef, made with yellow cattle purchased from the northern grasslands…”

Mrs. Shen picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth, immediately experiencing the amazing spicy and numbing flavor bursting on her tongue.

It was really delicious!

She had never eaten such delicious meat before!

Even the bean sprouts under the meat were eaten up by her.

Finally, a plate of seafood fried rice was served.

Mrs. Shen couldn’t eat anymore, but Shen Zhilan, who had just enjoyed the spicy dishes, ate a lot.

After eating, whether it was Mrs. Shen or Shen Zhilan, they both felt like they had broadened their horizons.

They usually ate delicate food, but today was definitely more complex than usual.

At this time, Chang Duan, who had changed his clothes, came to the elegant room and smiled as he spoke to them.

Chang Duan’s invitation to dinner for Shen Zhilan and his wife was out of gratitude, so they only exchanged some pleasantries and didn’t bring up anything inappropriate.

Shen Zhilan and his wife didn’t feel anything amiss; they thought that Duan Jin invited them to dinner on the orders of Minister Lu.

As they left the restaurant, it was already late.

Shen Zhilan said to his wife, “Madam, the good days for our Shen family are still ahead!”

Mrs. Shen asked, “Aren’t you afraid of offending King Jin?”

“Our Shen family has long been on his blacklist, and besides…” Shen Zhilan smirked, “After tomorrow, King Jin is nothing to fear!”

Though he was a businessman, he paid close attention to the affairs of the court.

Previously, King Jin indeed held great power.

But this year, King Jin had encountered quite a few problems.

Sometimes, once a person starts downhill, it’s hard to stop the decline, and King Jin was on that downhill path.

Another point was, he was a businessman, well-informed… Not to mention Minister Lu, that King of Yan was also not simple…

Mrs. Shen saw the expression on her husband’s face and suddenly felt that her husband was somewhat inscrutable.

At that moment, Shen Zhilan grabbed his wife’s hand and grinned, “Madam, let’s go buy some books together tomorrow! I’m strong enough to help you carry them.”

Mrs. Shen: “…” She had overthought it; her husband seemed just like before.

The next day was the twentieth of November.

The grand court assembly of Daqi was held once every five days. The current emperor, due to poor health, usually only attended court on the first and fifteenth of each month, but sometimes he would appear at the grand court assembly.

On this day, he appeared in the court hall.

The emperor, struggling to attend court, looked weary, as if he could collapse at any moment.

Speaking was quite laborious for him, but his voice remained steady, “Gentlemen, I have read Dusan’s ‘Escape from the Famine.’ Today, let us discuss the flood in Yuxi Prefecture six years ago.”

King Jin’s face changed drastically, glancing at the emperor on the throne with a hint of resentment.

The emperor didn’t look at him but at the courtiers below.

“Your Majesty, I have a report!” Immediately, someone stepped forward to assist King Jin.

Of course, there were also people from King Jin’s faction either speaking up for him or stirring up trouble for others.

The whole court was in chaos, with the emperor leaning back on the throne, observing the courtiers for a long time before decisively offering a solution he had long thought out.

King Jin was once again confined, and the emperor also took this opportunity to reprimand several individuals related to the inadequate disaster relief six years ago.

These individuals were all part of King Jin’s faction.

At the same time, the emperor also dispatched envoys to investigate the events of six years ago.

After dealing with this matter, the emperor left court and returned to his bedchamber to rest.

His head was throbbing faintly, and he felt extremely exhausted.

These past few days, he had had all of ‘Escape from the Famine’ read to him, and after listening, he found it difficult to fall asleep.

Lu Qingxi looked at the emperor with concern.

“Your Majesty, don’t be angry; it’s all in the past…”

The emperor let out a long sigh.

Lu Qingxi knew the emperor’s health was not good, and part of the reason was his excessive worry over matters.

Before, the emperor insisted on handling memorials himself, nearly costing him his life!

In recent years, Lu Qingxi took care of these memorials, and the emperor’s health had improved a lot, but whenever he had something on his mind, his health would deteriorate again.

Lu Qingxi shifted the conversation to something else, diverting the emperor’s attention, “Your Majesty, under my management, there’s a restaurant called Qingyun Building, and the food there is excellent…”

Listening to Lu Qingxi’s description, the emperor became interested, “I must go taste it one day.”

“When Your Majesty is feeling better, I’ll take you there,” Lu Qingxi said.

At the same time, Shen Zhilan and his wife entered a bookstore in the capital.

Some bookstores only sold new books, but there were also those that collected old books to resell.

Mrs. Shen was browsing through the stores that sold old books; she would first look at the rare books collected by the shop owner and choose the ones she wanted to buy, then she would browse through the ordinary old books.

Sometimes, treasures could

 also be found among these ordinary old books.

The owner of this bookstore thought that Mrs. Shen might be interested in valuable books; he had already investigated her and knew she wanted to purchase paintings and calligraphy by Zhou Dao: “I have a painting here, reportedly painted by Zhou Dao of the previous dynasty.”