delicious little cook

Chapter 657 Someone is Watching Behind You
But this relaxing thought lasted only a few hours.

In the afternoon of that day, when Bai Kou was still on her lunch break, Qing Lan hurriedly woke her up and told her to change her clothes quickly. The saint ordered her to serve tea, and the little eunuch who came to pick her up was already waiting outside.

Bai Kou was speechless for a while, dressed up, and entered the imperial camp in the carriage that came to pick her up. After washing her hands, she was led into the dragon tent.

The dragon tent was warm, the saint was already waiting, and there was still only Eunuch Xi serving him. Bai Kou stepped forward to salute, then went to the tea table to boil water, brewed a pot of Kung Fu tea for the saint, and brought it to serve in front of the emperor.

The sage picked up a small cup with two fingers and slowly sipped it, with a relaxed expression on his face. Bai Kou went back to the tea stove and waited for the second pot of water to boil. A row of teacups were filled one by one.

The sage who had drunk a cup of tea was not in a hurry to drink again, he let the tea sit, reached out to pick up the snacks that went with the tea, and tasted it slowly, and then drank another cup, and when he put down the tea cup, he lifted his eyelids and saw With Bai Kou standing below respectfully, he snorted.

"Little girl."

"The servant is here."

"How is Gu Yun busy recently? Let him be an imperial merchant, and I haven't seen any movement except seeing a letter of thanks from him. It seems that I have nothing to talk to, and I have to give it away. Give it to him, do you know how many people are jealous?"

"I dare not thank Your Majesty for your kindness on behalf of my son, why not invite my son to thank His Majesty in person."

"Hmph, it's not rare anymore."

The sage rolled his eyes, picked up the small teacup in front of him and drank it in one gulp.

"I heard that there are still five natural villages included in the land that the group of young people united? Is there no better land in the suburbs of Beijing?"

"Your Majesty, there is only one day's journey away from the capital by carriage. To be honest, there is really only that piece of land that looks good. If you go further, you will go farther than the Royal Enclosure at Balidu. Naturally, There will be better land, but if it is too far away, it will be inconvenient to communicate with the capital, so under compromise, there is only the best choice."

"What are you going to do with those five villages?"

"The current plan is to rent the land of the whole village and hire the villagers as farm laborers."

"Let the villagers earn two shares of money?"

"That's right, as long as you are willing to sign the contract, the water conservancy works under construction will be extended to the village for them to use for free, and the villagers don't have to leave their hometown for generations. The income does not affect them to get their wages on time every month."

The saint frowned when he heard it, and his eyes lit up, "Well, it's interesting, it should feel good, have you talked to the villagers?"

"Not yet. The water conservancy works are still under construction. The five villages are temporarily left aside. We will talk about them when they are near them. If they disagree, they will not be forced. Just walk around. Sooner or later they will be called. They took the initiative to come to ask for cooperation, and then the villagers will agree to any harsh conditions from our side.”

"It's not good to play with people's hearts, is it?"

"Your Majesty, this is not playing tricks on people's hearts, it is self-inflicted. Now we are asking the villagers to cooperate and let them open. We are even ready to turn wasteland into land overnight, but if they give up the only best opportunity After a year or two, I regretted it and begged us again, so the conditions should be allowed to open. After all, the basic civil works were completed and started to be officially used at that time, and the villagers came to ask for cooperation again. In order to extend the water conservancy works In the past, a large piece of land nearby was about to be turned into a construction site, which meant that there would be no income from that piece of land, which was a great loss for us, so we still hope that the negotiation can be done once and not repeatedly."

"Well, I understand what you mean. The method seems to be a good one. It should not become a matter of forced expropriation. Otherwise, the villagers are so close to the capital. If they go to the Yamen to file a complaint, I will not give them a good face. Look at those boys."

"Those sons and sisters are also worried that if one is not done well, it will become a scandal that will affect the family, so they came up with such a gentle idea, and only waited for the time to chat with the villagers."

"Alright, since you have an idea, go ahead and do it. Anyway, good and bad things will happen, and I will watch from behind. If you get into trouble, just be careful."

"Your servant must tell my family's heir."

"Okay, step back, come back tomorrow, and you will serve the tea for these few days."

"Yes, the slaves obey the order."

Bai Kou saluted and left. There was a carriage outside to take her back to the small camp, and she was put down outside the gate of the camp. Bai Kou entered the camp on foot. When he passed the small square in the center of the camp, he was called in by Gu Yun. He was the only one in the tent. There was no tea-serving girl, so Bai Kou called out to the prince, walked to the brazier and rubbed her hands.

"You're away from home, do you like being alone so much?"

"I'm waiting for you on purpose, otherwise I would have played with them long ago."

"Oh, you will continue to catch foxes this year, don't you forget."

"Excuse me, right?"

"Don't dare."

"Tsk tsk, there are things in this world that you dare not do?" Gu Yun hooked his fingers at Bai Kou, but Bai Kou pretended not to notice, and stood firmly in front of the brazier without moving.

Gu Yun got up helplessly, walked over to talk, Bai Kou insisted on keeping a brazier away from him, causing Gu Yun to fold his arms and stare at her, but after a while, he laughed by himself again.

"Okay, okay, let's stop making trouble, chatting again in the saint's tent?"

"We talked, we had a good chat."

"What did the saint say?"

"He said that you can do whatever you want. Anyway, he will watch the good and the bad. If you get into trouble, don't blame him for not being nice to you."

"Exact words?"

"pretty close."

Gu Yun rubbed his face vigorously, "This is telling us not to mess around."

"The sage said that the idea of ​​renting land and hiring farmers is a good idea, you can try it."

"I knew it might be related to this matter."

"The sage also said, let you be an imperial merchant, and there is no news other than receiving a thank you book at the beginning. I don't know if you have nothing to talk to him. If we are short of talents, he will have to talk to the old man." Send someone over, he is a little dissatisfied with you."

"Ah?! The craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry took the initiative to come to the door. Is it really the court's intention? We have been deceiving ourselves and others for so long."

"The sage has actually shown you a lot of favor. Do it well and don't disappoint him. The fact that the craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry took the initiative to come to your door has already made many people jealous. Be careful."

"That's why it's not easy for Huangshang to do business. You don't know when you offended anyone."

"Be more careful. Now the saint is watching every move of the farm. If the five villages are captured safely and smoothly, your status in the saint's heart will be different. If you pass the Jinshi again in the future, you will be nine years later. There must be a seat for you in Qing."

"Just your sweet mouth."

"To flatter your master is a must-have skill."

"This level of flattery just wants to coax me? Am I that easy to coax?"

Gu Yun grinned suddenly, leaped over the brazier, went straight to Bai Kou, hugged her tightly, and led her to the side of the tent to avoid the cold wind at the door, and then, of course, took the sweetness he liked. .

(End of this chapter)