At Zhou's house, Zhulan had already prepared a medicinal bath. When Zhou Shuren came back, he went into the bathroom and took a comfortable bath. When he came out, his wife gave him a massage and he felt no pain in his body.
Zhulan asked, "Is there a morning court tomorrow?"
"Well, tomorrow's morning court will be normal, and the emperor will talk about frugality."
Zhulan motioned Shuren to raise his arm, and then used some strength to ask, "What do you think is the standard for our meals?"
"Children's nutrition needs to be adequate. In addition to breakfast, two dishes and one soup are enough. What do you think?"
"good."
Zhou Shuren, "I dreamed of our son last night. He cried and told me that he missed me. Hey, he wrote to me during the Chinese New Year and asked me to save a red envelope for him. I have kept it."
"It's time to set off now. You will be able to see your precious son in a few days."
"He's been gone for more than a year. I regret letting him go."
"The child will grow up sooner or later. You see, without us around to spoil him, the child has matured. If anything happens to him, we can rest assured."
Zhou Shuren said in a muffled voice: "I really don't want to leave. I feel like there are many things I haven't done."
"You are destined to be a hard worker."
"You are also worried about the whole family."
Zhulan: "We are both the same."
At the next morning court session, the emperor indeed mentioned frugality and reduced expenses in the palace. The emperor took the initiative to be frugal, and the ministers had to follow suit even though they cursed him in their hearts.
A few days later, Zhou Shuren finished discussing things with the emperor. The emperor handed him a memorial impeaching him and said, "Take a look."
After Zhou Shuren looked through it, he said, "The beef from my family was sent by the King of Qin. The King of Qin exchanged it for grain. Your Majesty knows this."
The emperor naturally knew that he also ate less, "Is this the point? This memorial accuses you of not being frugal."
Zhou Shuren was angry, "It's not good for this person to be too famous. Everyone wants to use me as a reference."
After a pause, he continued, "I remember that Lord Xu is not young anymore. He eats coarse grains and wild vegetables every day, and doesn't eat any oil or water. His body won't be able to bear it after a while. I'm really afraid that the Xu family will need a doctor in the near future."
The emperor didn't care about the memorial, otherwise he wouldn't have shown it to Zhou Shuren. "I have already approved it."
Zhou Shuren then looked through the final reply and was delighted. It said, "I am very pleased that you are frugal. I have calculated an account for you. If you are so frugal, you will definitely be able to donate 100 dan of grain in autumn."
Lord Xu's family was not a wealthy one. They worked in a government office and their family in the capital had fallen on hard times. They lived an ordinary life, and a hundred dan of grain was a huge sum for the Xu family.
Zhou Shuren put the memorial down and said, "Your Majesty is wise."
The emperor said: "My dear, don't be too hard on yourself for the sake of your health."
"yes."
Seeing that the emperor was in a good mood, Zhou Shuren asked, "I think I saw my grandson Jiang An in the capital. Your Majesty, are they back?"
The emperor pointed at the desk and said, "You are mistaken."
Zhou Shuren understood immediately, so it was really Jiang An. As for Jiang Ping, he must be in the dark. These two children, one bright and one dark, a good grandson became a knife of the royal family. Alas.
As soon as he left the government hall, he met the crown prince, "Greetings, Your Highness."
The prince's eyes lit up, "Master Zhou, the emperor mentioned you just now."
"Is the emperor feeling better?"
The prince's expression did not change, but he was worried. The emperor's health had deteriorated over the past year or two and he was prone to illness. "It's getting better now."
"When the Emperor is well again, I will go to visit him."
"Grandpa Emperor will be happy."
Zhou Shuren stepped back and left, thinking about the emperor emeritus. He was old and his body was not good, so he wondered how many years the emperor emeritus could live. He couldn't help but look back at the crown prince who walked into the hall. The crown prince should be the one who least wanted the emperor emeritus to die.
At noon at the Ministry of Rites, Lord Liu stared in disbelief as he held a wild vegetable dumpling, "Do we need to be so frugal with our meals?"
Chang Yi was speechless. The main dishes in front of him were also vegetable dumplings, a plate of wild vegetables, and a plate of fish. "It's really hard to dig up so many wild vegetables."
Lord Liu couldn't eat any more. "There was rice yesterday, but it dropped too fast today."
"Maybe they are secretly competing to see who is more frugal?"
Lord Liu chuckled twice and lowered his voice, "Our newly appointed Minister of Rites is a man of many thoughts. He is the only one who can come up with this trick. Anyway, I don't believe that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War will have such food!"
Chang Yi took a bite of the wild vegetable dumpling and said, "I haven't eaten this in many years."
Master Liu pushed the whole plate of wild vegetable dumplings over to him, "Then you can eat them. We should save money and not waste them. I'll give them all to you."
He didn't want to eat a single bite and decided to go home with an empty stomach.
Chang Yi rubbed his forehead. He choked while eating. "Half each."
Lord Liu, "... ... I am rarely generous."
"I don't need your generosity."
Lord Liu was full as soon as he saw the vegetable dumplings, "You think the Shangshu also eats this?"
"In order to highlight himself, this person is also cruel to himself."
Lord Liu wailed, "I have a day off tomorrow. When will this day end?"
Chang Yi patted his future in-laws, "You have to think about it. Not only do you not want to eat, but the entire Ministry of Rites does not want to eat too much."
Lord Liu did not feel any balance. He still felt that his life was miserable and he could not eat a single bite.
Zhou's family, Zhulan listened to the report and stood up hurriedly, "Why do the children have diarrhea? Has the doctor examined them?"
Butler Wang remembered sweating profusely, "I checked it out, and they said he ate something wrong."
Zhu Lan pursed her lips. She had to deal with it. How many people were staring at the Zhou family? "Go get whatever herbs you need now."
"Someone has been sent."
Zhulan had to go and take a look, so she asked someone to prepare the car. "I'll go back with you. I'll go and invite Doctor Wu to get more herbs."
Then he said to Qingxue, "Bring some millet and jujubes. The child needs to replenish his body now."
Qingxue hurried to make arrangements, and Zhulan also went back to change her clothes, then wrote a note and left it. Because there were so many children, she was afraid that one of them would have a headache or fever, so she specially asked a doctor to go to the orphanage. Unexpectedly, something happened.
There are indeed too many children and not enough doctors. We need to invite one or two more back. It would be better if they could teach a few children. Alas, the orphanage is too short of staff.
By the time Zhulan arrived, the children's condition had improved and they had stopped vomiting.
The room was specially tidied up, with boys and girls separated. The smell in the room was not very good. The children were lying weakly on the kang. There were actually twenty children.
Zhulan asked the doctor, "Can you find out what the child ate wrong?"