C36

In recent days, Lord Assistant Minister Nangong Yi was no longer as happy as he was a few days ago when he was promoted.

Not to mention that the emperor had announced in the Grand Hall that the imperial court would carry out the policy of encouraging the civil and military officials in the imperial court, but they would not be able to raise their salaries even if they were promoted within a year. Although his position had been promoted and his workload had increased, his salary had not increased, so when he thought about the praise he had proudly made to his daughter and his wife, he really did not know how to explain it. Furthermore, after he inexplicably made up for the lack of Assistant Minister, there were more people fawning on him, and all sorts of happy events were sent to Assistant Minister’s Residence. Lord Assistant Minister was an honest man, he would not reject it, so he politely accepted the invitation and brought his wedding gift to the meeting.

A few days ago, after going back home and calculating, Madam Yang was already very unhappy on the surface, but this month's expenditure was actually double that of last month!

Outside, they were only envious of the former Zhongshu Officer who had broken the rules and promoted Assistant Minister. He was famous, but he did not know that the Lord Assistant Minister, who came from a poor family, plus the Assistant Minister Mistress, who did not have any financial support, was unable to even maintain the most normal relations between the imperial courts.

With this, Madam Yang and Lord Assistant Minister stayed in their rooms and studied for an entire afternoon. In the future, they would push away all the parties they could, so it would save them a lot of time and expenses just a little.

The two of them were in the middle of a heated discussion when the mansion's butler reported in a hurry, "Master, the Prince Zhan is here. He's waiting in the front hall."

Lord Assistant Minister and Madam Yang looked at each other. At this time, they did not know what had happened.

Lord Assistant Minister changed his clothes and hurried to the hall. On the other hand, Prince Zhan Lord casually sat at the table and drank some tea while his butler waited on the side for him. It seemed like he came alone. Lord Assistant Minister respectfully stood over. After a long time, he did not say a single word. He just casually sat at the table and drank his tea.

Lord Assistant Minister was puzzled and could not help but speak first, "Why has Prince Zhan come to your house today?", Lord Assistant Minister's attitude was very respectful.

Prince Zhan was very casual as he glanced at Lord Assistant Minister, as if he was thinking about something. Lord Assistant Minister silently thought about whether there had been any loopholes in his official affairs in the past few days, or whether there were any major problems that the Ministry of Government needed to resolve urgently in the recent few days. While Prince Zhan still had not opened his mouth, Lord Assistant Minister quickly thought about it and did not manage to get any clues.

"Lord Assistant Minister has been in office for a while. How did you get used to it?" Lord Assistant Minister took a sip of tea and did not look at Lord Assistant Minister, but instead lowered his head to look at the rim of the cup, his expression indifferent. Lord Assistant Minister sneaked a glance at Prince Zhan, trying to discern the meaning of Prince Zhan's words using Prince Zhan's expression, but Lord Assistant Minister did not manage to read any useful information.

"Thank you for your understanding, this official has nothing to get used to."

Prince Zhan replied with a faint "En" sound as he lowered his head and continued to drink his tea.

Prince Zhan's butler had already changed two pots of tea for Prince Zhan. Prince Zhan drank it slowly without any intention to stand up, he realized that his legs were stiff, although he did not stand in front of Prince Zhan for very long, after all, in front of Prince Zhan, he still …

At this time, Assistant Minister’s Residence's kitchen had already started cooking, and the faint fragrance of the food wafted to the front hall. Lord Assistant Minister slightly moved his leg that was still numb from standing, and finally couldn't help but speak, "It's getting late, if Prince Zhan doesn't mind, then let's eat at home." Although Lord Assistant Minister greeted him on the surface, he actually wanted to remind Prince Zhan that it was getting late.

However, he didn't expect that …

It was as if Prince Zhan was waiting for him to say this in the first place. Just as he finished speaking, Prince Zhan immediately followed up, "Okay."

Lord Assistant Minister was immediately stunned on the spot.

When Prince Zhan followed Lord Assistant Minister into the dining room, Nangong Waner was drooping his head and pursing his lips, as though he was dissatisfied with something.

Lord Assistant Minister looked at the table full of Stir-Fried Vegetables and Stewed Radish, his face blushing involuntarily. Lord Assistant Minister looked at Madam Yang awkwardly, her eyes filled with an inquiring tone.

Madam Yang's expression was even more innocent as he said with his eyes, "I didn't know that Prince Zhan was going to eat here."

The entire time he ate, Lord Assistant Minister's face was flushed red. He lowered his head, not daring to look at Prince Zhan directly. Madam Yang quietly went up to the Lord Assistant Minister and explained, "Didn't we just finish discussing it? Our family will open more sources of income in a few days and we will be able to bear with it for a few months." Lord Assistant Minister did not reply Madam Yang as he continued to eat with his head down and a red face.

Nangong Waner, who was originally forbidden from entering the palace, had always felt that he owed himself a great debt. When he came to the restaurant to eat today, he was even more dumbfounded, "Looks like what Prince Zhan said is all true!" He couldn't help but wonder why his salary didn't increase, and why did the standard of food in the mansion drop?

Nangong Waner immediately lost all appetite, and looked listless, even when Prince Zhan sat beside her, he did not even bother to greet her, and kept poking at the rice grains in the bowl with his head down.

Just as she was wishing for nothing more than to put a grain of rice into her mouth, Prince Zhan walked over slightly and grabbed her bowl with a handful of radishes. When Nangong Waner saw that piece of radish, his face turned green, and he immediately shoved it back into Prince Zhan's bowl.

Prince Zhan looked at her in amusement, and said in a low voice, "Eat well." The Prince Zhan moved closer to him.

Nangong Waner seemed to have smelled a fragrance, other than the unique fragrance on Prince Zhan's body, there was also the sweet smell of pastries. Nangong Waner took a deep breath and looked at the Assistant Minister couple and Nangong Ruyu who were focused on eating, following the etiquette of the table, and quietly went over to Prince Zhan's side. His eyebrows curved into a smile, and his eyes curved into a beautiful smile.

"Heh heh." Nangong Waner did not say much and only took out all of his skills to laugh at Prince Zhan. Prince Zhan's expression was still calm, but deep in his heart, he had long been blinded by Nangong Waner's laughter.

Nangong Waner did not waste his breath with Prince Zhan, he secretly extended his hand under the table and touched Prince Zhan's sleeves. Nangong Waner touched it, and Prince Zhan intentionally dodged, in just two or three rounds, Nangong Waner had already become displeased, and with his mouth pouted out and face lowered, he retracted his hand.

Prince Zhan noticed that Nangong Waner seemed to be angry, and had already turned his face away from looking at him. He thought to himself that it was really funny, but his lips only curled up, and without batting an eyelid, he took out a pastry paper bag from his sleeve and slowly stuffed it into Nangong Waner's hands.

Nangong Waner rolled his eyes lightly at Prince Zhan, pouted his lips, puffed up his face, and slightly tilted his head, as he used his chopsticks to poke at the rice grains in the bowl. Seeing that she was really angry, Prince Zhan also panicked a little, and quickly took a piece of pastry from the paper packet and placed it in Nangong Waner's mouth when no one was looking.

Nangong Waner was furious at first, but suddenly she fed a mouthful of pastry. She wanted to be angry, but she couldn't help but chew. She smiled lightly at Prince Zhan.

Taking the chance that no one was paying attention, Nangong Waner sneakily lowered his head and walked in front of Prince Zhan, who was holding onto a pastry in one hand. Nangong Waner reached out to break Prince Zhan's hand, revealing the pastry inside, then Nangong Waner gently opened it.

Prince Zhan still sat upright and with one hand below the table. No one noticed anything amiss. Prince Zhan endured his laughter and allowed Nangong Waner to break his hand with all his might. He opened the paper package and looked down at the lotus-like pastries carefully.

"I knew it would be great, even better than the one I bought at the Pint." Nangong Waner quietly went over, and said with an extremely low voice to Prince Zhan, her small hand secretly extended over, and secretly placed the lotus flower shaped thing into her mouth, immediately lowering her head and smiling.

Prince Zhan unintentionally laughed, it was a very beautiful laugh, but when he saw Lord Assistant Minister raise his head and saw it, he was startled, and thought to himself: "Prince Zhan likes the atmosphere at their place to eat?" Seeing that Prince Zhan was not infuriated by the lack of hospitality, Lord Assistant Minister's hanging heart was finally at ease.