Chapter 1208: Envy and Jealousy

Qi Haoran had no opinion on the four children’s articles. With a chuckle, he said, “I’m not too familiar with reviewing articles. Zijin, you can make the decision.”

“Make what decision? Did I come here to ask if these essays are well-written? I’m here to talk to you about the kids’ ideological education. Tiger Head and Little Lion had clearly decided upon the essay topic yesterday, but they changed their minds so easily. These two are still alright. Although their essays are not satisfactory, it’s passable. As for Wensu, how did the teachers at the Royal School teach him? He actually kept asking questions in his essay and didn’t even propose any solutions. How can such an article be published?”

Fan Zijin’s hair almost turned white from worry. He said in pain, “The most worrisome one is Little An. To think this kid wants to rebel against the entire Great Qi Imperial Court, and even against you and me.”

Qi Haoran widened his eyes. “Little An wants to be the Emperor?”

Fan Zijin hit him and glared at him. “What nonsense are you spouting? Did you read their articles seriously?”

Feeling a little guilty, Qi Haoran whispered, “Why don’t I read them again?”

Fan Zijin was so angry that he kicked him. Grinning, Qi Haoran dodged and snatched Little An’s article to read. After reading it, he only said, “Little An is really bold. He’s like me in this aspect.”

Fan Zijin gritted his teeth and said, “He’s my son!”

Seeing that Qi Haoran did not continue, he immediately snapped, “What else?”

Qi Haoran looked at him in confusion and asked, “What else?”

Seeing that Fan Zijin was about to flare up again, he hurriedly said, “Zijin, these are just random thoughts that came to the children’s minds. Don’t take it too seriously. If we take everything they say and write seriously, we probably won’t have many years to live. A few years ago, they were making a fuss about wanting to fly into the sky, remember? Do you think they’re still interested in carpentry now? But it did help improve their qinggong, though. Even Little An’s qinggong has improved a lot.”

Zijin quietened down and pondered. “But this is different from the past. These articles have to be handed over to their teachers and published in the children’s newspaper. There’s no need to wait for the children’s newspaper to be published. As soon as they hand in their articles tomorrow, I’m afraid the news will spread before the court assembly ends…”

“Then just don’t let them submit the articles. Little An is smart and won’t have a problem coming up with another article. It’s not like he’s insensible. Just speak to him about the implications of the matter. Even if we don’t mention it, he won’t be stupid enough to submit this article at this time.”

“…”

As his words made sense, Fan Zijin could not object at all.

He silently stuffed the four children’s articles into his arms and turned to leave.

Qi Haoran’s mouth was agape. He did not know why Zijin suddenly turned hostile.

“It’s almost noon. Aren’t you going to eat with me?” Qi Haoran chased after him and shouted, “Ah Ling sent someone to bring me delicious food.”

Fan Zijin stopped in his tracks and sat down beside Qi Haoran. He pointed at the tea on the table and said, “It’s cold.”

Sensing that Zijin was not in a good mood, Qi Haoran immediately went to brew hot tea.

In the Ministry of War, everyone from the minister to the court officials felt like gritting their teeth.

‘I know that Queen Consort Rong sends you delicious food every day, but you don’t have to shout so loudly for everyone to know, right?’

‘You just want to show off that your chef has superb culinary skills and your queen consort is virtuous, right?’

It was unknown which dynasty it started from, but the Imperial Court had always provided food and accommodation for most of the officials. It was precisely because of the excellent benefits that everyone fought tooth and nail to enter the Imperial Court.

Not to mention the local regions, the county magistrate, county lieutenant, and county deputy all lived behind the county office. In the capital, officials above the third-grade had official residences. Those below the third-grade who did not have property could also make an application to the Imperial Court, and accommodation would be allocated to them rent-free.

Mu Yangling had once gone to look at those houses out of curiosity. While officials in this area might disdain such houses, it was good enough to make civil servants in the modern world die of envy.

However, because of the high income earned by an official, no one had applied for such a housing subsidy until now.

The highest-ranking officials in the dynasty could easily buy or build a house under the three-layer guarantee of salary, grain stipend, and stipend land. That was, unless they were simply terrible at managing a household or had hobbies that incurred high expenses, such as gambling or staging a rebellion.

Apart from accommodation, the Imperial Court also provided food!

On a workday, lunch consisted of four dishes (three vegetarian dishes and one meat-based dish) and one soup per table. With regards to the soup, there was a fixed menu which they rotated through. As there were six people at each table, not to mention the military officials, even the civil servants felt like they were fighting a war every time they ate lunch.

However, the Imperial Court let them eat as much rice as they wanted.

Qi Haoran had eaten at the Ministry of War a few times. Every time the officials of the Ministry of War saw him, they were unwilling to sit at the same table as him.

Even if he was King Rong, even if everyone wanted to curry favor with him, they were unwilling to sit at the same table as him. He was too inconsiderate of his colleagues, alright? As if it was not enough that he had an enormous appetite, but he also ate at a shocking speed. Just as they finished scooping a bowl of rice and sat down, King Rong had already eaten a bowl. Even if more food was given to their table, it was still not enough!

Moreover, their combat strength was too weak and they were truly no match for King Rong.

But who knew about Qi Haoran’s suffering?

One had to know that he had specially saved a lot of food for them and he was still hungry. Hence, he was a little displeased when he returned home and ate two extra bowls of rice during dinner.

The next day, Mu Yangling resumed the good practice of sending lunch to Qi Haoran at work.

Lunch would always arrive before lunch every day. There were two large food boxes, one for him and one for Fan Zijin. Therefore, the officials of the Ministry of War now hoped for King Rong and Prince An to be summoned to the palace every day. That way, the duo would have lunch in the palace and the two food boxes would enter their stomachs.

Although the meat went to the Ministers and Assistant Ministers, the rest were also happy to drink soup. The chefs in the King’s Residence were indeed fantastic. It was said that the Emperor had specially sent an imperial chef to King Rong. Thus, the food was not inferior to the food in the Fortune Restaurant at all.

The food in Fortune Restaurant was really too expensive. Even if their salaries were high, they did not dare to eat there frequently and it was enviable enough to go there once a month. However, there was someone who ate better food than the ones served in the Fortune Restaurant in front of them every day.

Xiao Lou quickly came over with two large food boxes. After putting them down for the two of them, he said, “Your Highness, Shunzi, who just came to deliver food, said that the young masters are waiting for you at the King’s Residence for lunch.”

Fan Zijin paused. Yes, he had promised the children that he would go back in the afternoon. Gosh, he had been angered by them to the point of confusion.

Qi Haoran waved his hand and said, “Go back and tell them that we have something important to discuss. Tell the kids to do whatever they need to do.”

Xiao Lou took a look at Prince An. Seeing that he had no objections, he immediately responded loudly and left. When he came out, he saw that the officials of the Ministry of War were sniffing in pain again. Two of them even deliberately floated past King Rong’s door to inhale the fragrance of the food inside. Immediately, he felt that the officials were quite pitiful.

Qi Haoran was advising Fan Zijin. “Don’t be too angry. Children like to let their imaginations run wild. After a while, they’ll forget about the matter, like they always do.”

Fan Zijin snorted coldly and said, “Who taught them to be that way? Isn’t it all thanks to your wife? All that talk about wanting to nurture the children’s imagination. Now, their imagination is indeed quite rich, but they’ve also become a little lawless. If they’re already thinking of removing the special privileges now, won’t they overthrow the royal family in the future?

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