The little official kindly came to inform him, but he had to bear his sudden anger, and he only felt full of grievances.

"So my lord, let's hurry up and take a look, otherwise the things that will be followed will not be easy to converge." The little official sighed in his heart, cleaned up the desk for Li Shangshu, and pretended to take a few files sent by the people below.

Li Shangshu pursed his lips, checked that there was nothing wrong with him, and reluctantly asked her to go out to greet her.

Walking to the lobby, sure enough, as the little official said, Xiao Huaian asked someone to help him merge a few cases together for easy review, and most of the official documents piled up on the coffee table during this period of time have been disposed of by him.

was so comfortable that Xiao Huai'an almost sat in his seat and gave orders.

Seeing this, Li Shangshu only felt that his face was hot and cold, and he barely settled down, and arched his hand to greet him very affectionately.

"Oh, Lord Xiao is really hardworking, I've been waiting here for a long time, and the next official is also entangled in a lot of affairs behind, and I can't get out, Lord Xiao won't mind."

As he spoke, Li Shangshu stretched out his hand and let the little official behind him move the file he was holding aside and put it down.

Xiao Huai'an got up, quietly glanced at the little official who was pretending to be hard, his face was not shocked, and said lightly, "Naturally not." ”

At first, he had already turned the entire Ministry of Rites, and he didn't see any trace of Li Shangshu, but now he suddenly came out and said that he was busy, who could believe it.

But now is not the time to break these personal grievances with Li Shangshu, Xiao Huaian spread his hand to the right, Liang Xin took away all the official documents he had read and had not read, and the people from the Ministry of Rites also helped restore the case to its original position.

"Then since Li Shangshu has appeared, the matter at hand can be regarded as completed, let's discuss it carefully, and the matter of the Japanese coming to Beijing."

As he spoke, Xiao Huai'an made a gesture of invitation and asked Li Shangshu to sit down opposite him. Li Shangshu held back all the unhappiness in his heart, and said casually pretending not to care.

"His Wa Kingdom is just a dozen or so small countries that are dependent on our dynasty, they want to come to Beijing to meet Your Majesty, why bother to use such a solemn matter, and at other times it is enough to make a simple arrangement, Lord Xiao can rest assured, this matter can still be handled by the official."

When the words landed, Li Shangshu lifted the new tea that came up from the little official next to him, and hid all his unhappy expressions by the cover of the cup.

Xiao Huai'an squinted his eyes quietly, Li Shangshu was so prevaricating, but he was relying on the fact that he had not yet set foot in the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, so he wanted to be deceived with this kind of lie.

If something really happened later, causing the envoys of the Japanese state to be displeased and the emperor to be angry, Li Shangshu could just blame himself for the crime.

But this kind of trick is too dangerous, and it is very likely to lose his wife and soldiers, so does Li Shangshu really think so?

Thinking about it, Xiao Huai'an also raised the teacup and gently blew the tea foam on the water, "The envoy of the Japanese country represents the respect of other small countries for our country, if I treat me coldly, how dare they rest assured that they will be obedient, Li Shangshu said that he was negligent in his consideration." ”

"Having said that, it's just that the Ministry of Rites has not received foreign guests for a long time, and the Dianke Residence dedicated to the residence of foreign guests and missions has been in disrepair for a long time, and they have come so quickly, relying on the people of the Ministry of Rites alone, I am afraid that it will not be too late to repair it."

Saying that, Li Shangshu put down his hand and looked embarrassed, "What's more, I just dealt with the wedding of the third prince not long ago, and now the manpower can't be deployed, and the official is really powerless, so I want to keep everything simple,"

"But when Lord Xiao says this, it's really not good for people to think that I treat people slowly, so I don't know what Lord Xiao thinks?"

This is kicking the blame back.

Xiao Huai'an lowered his eyes lightly, intending to plan it slowly, but he didn't attack, "Renovating the guest house is the top priority, the Ministry of Rites is not manpowered, you can notify the people from the Ministry of Industry to come, has Li Shangshu even forgotten about this matter?" ”

"This, I'm ashamed," Li Shangshu smiled embarrassedly, crossed his hands together, and rubbed his thumbs quietly.

"In order to compete for the decision to repair the palace at the beginning, the official and Gu Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry have formed a bond, and the guest house is under the control of the Ministry of Rites, but I am afraid that the Ministry of Industry Shangshu will shirk a lot, and the official will beg him not to come."

"The Ministry of Industry is in charge of repairs everywhere in the world, if Li Shangshu truthfully reports the situation of the guest house, Gu Shangshu will not shirk?" Xiao Huai'an withdrew his gaze to look at Li Shangshu, and secretly guessed what Li Shangshu wanted to do.

"Gu Shangshu Gu Ting, it was with good skills that he sat in the position of Shangshu, he is a servant and proud, and he can complete the repair in a short time, but it is us who are worried in vain."

Li Shangshu sighed helplessly, and one hand followed on the armrest. "This official is really powerless, and he doesn't want to work Lord Xiao, so he has to try his best to let his subordinates do it, I just hope that it will be in time."

Hearing this, Xiao Huai'an raised his head.

Although Gu Ting, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, was born at the end of the micro, but he was very yearning for talent since he was a child, Li Shangshu happened to be the most talented one among the six books, the two hit it off at first sight, and Li Shangshu often gave precious classics to the Ministry of Industry.

To say that they have a bad relationship, this excuse is too fake.

"Then how can it be done, Li Shangshu will first arrange the main manpower to plan the schedule of the envoys and the palace banquet, and the official will personally go to the Ministry of Industry to make a trip, so that Li Shangshu may feel at ease."

Since Li Shangshu has tried so hard to make a stumbling block for himself, it is better to take the initiative to get into it himself, and save time by wasting time.

It's just a little trick, that is, only people like Li Shangshu like it.

"Really, that's really good, Lord Xiao is righteous, and the officials admire it." When Li Shangshu heard this, he immediately showed a look of surprise.

"Li Shangshu is polite." Xiao Huai'an returned the salute, and at the same time thought in his heart.

Gu Shangshu has not yet made it clear whose camp he is on, but he thinks he will also help Li Shangshu act together.

Subsequently, Xiao Huai'an and Li Shangshu wanted to say a few polite words to each other, and went out to the Ministry of Industry early in the morning.

Gu Shangshu was a lot more polite to Xiao Huai'an, and personally accompanied him to the Dianke Residence to observe the situation, but after walking around, Gu Shangshu's face was not very good.

"Although it has fallen into disrepair and is not patronized, this place will not be so devastated and embarrassed."

Xiao Huai'an and Gu Ting entered through the gate of the guest house together, the front hall and the wall were fine, but the load-bearing beams of the lobby in the center actually fell, and the broken straw of the roof was scattered all over the ground, looking like ruins.

Gu Ting also pinched his chin in confusion, his brows furrowed deeply, and squatted down to observe the tiles and wall ash.

The people from the Ministry of Engineering helped sort out the beams in the lobby, and Xiao Huai'an could clearly see that the center of the beams was actually bitten by termites to create a huge gap.

"I see." Gu Ting looked at the gap that the termites had bitten, and suddenly hammered his palm.

Xiao Huai'an turned around and asked, "Master Gu, do you see what's going on?" ”

"Yes, the beams of this house are generally made of nanmu as in the palace, and the texture is the best, like this place to receive foreign guests, the soup is also made of nanmu, and the rest of the place is fir wood."

Gu Ting nodded, and explained it seriously, but Xiao Huai'an didn't have so much effort to listen to him, "Master Gu only chooses the places you think are important to say." ”

"Well, yes, this place was originally built by the previous Ministry of Works, in order to save money, he actually chose the wood of ponderosa pine, and for a long time did not apply tung oil to the beams, although the construction has sprinkled a lot of anti-termite medicine, but after a long time, after all, it can't hold on."

Hearing this, Gu Ting thought for a moment, "It's just that the previous Shangshu was executed by His Majesty for corruption and bribery, and there is no way to ask him for drawings at the moment, not to mention that the Nanmu used as a beam is not so easy to find, and it is usually paid tribute by officials below." ”

"This official knows," Xiao Huai'an got up and patted the dust on the hem of his clothes, regardless of whether this Gu Shangshu intended it or not, this was no different from the excuse Li Shangshu had just made.

"The official will find Nanmu back for Gu Shangshu, Gu Shangshu should be able to draw the pattern of the lobby during this time."

When the words landed, Gu Ting nodded very affirmatively, "That's natural, although the official is not talented, but it took two days of hard work to let them clean up this place and draw a pattern, and it can still be done." ”

"Okay, let people clean up here today, Gu Shangshu can go back and prepare, in less than three days." This official will find Nanmu for you. Xiao Huai'an saw that what he agreed to was quite simple, and he was a little relieved in his heart, thinking that it should be a long time before the Wa Kingdom came over, and he would repair this place, not to mention how good it was, and he should be able to get by on face.

Soon it was time for the sun to fall, Xiao Huai'an sat here with the Ministry of Industry for an afternoon, and Liang Xin was sent by him to search for building materials markets where he could buy Nanmu.

But it's still spring, everything has just recovered, everything is not complete, the people below are waiting for the nanmu to sprout, and it will grow for another year, who is willing to cut it at this critical time to sell, even the nanmu left in previous years is not so easy to find.

When night was about to fall, Xiao Huai'an returned home, and when he saw Liang Xin shaking his head gently, he knew the result, and then he realized that this matter was not so simple, and it made him feel a little headache.

And although Su Jiao stayed at home, she was not so idle, when she contacted summer in spring, it was the season when the ladies of the court and China took turns to gather, so she was busy dealing with people everywhere, and when she laughed one day, she only felt that her face was going to stiffen with laughter.

Xiao Mansion was ready, the meal was set on the table, Xiao Huai'an could still calm down and eat, but Su Jiao was so tired that she didn't want to see any more food.

Su Jiao sat weakly in front of the table, holding her chin in her hand, and after a while, she was hard at work.