A banquet was set up in the palace, and all the officials and wives of Kyoto were invited to the palace for a gathering.

At the banquet, Queen Tang Lan just mentioned that she wanted the officials and wives present to donate some silver taels for disaster relief and contribute some strength to the country, but she didn't expect these officials and wives to cry out one by one about poverty, saying that the little money that their lord received could only barely support their families, and they couldn't donate any surplus money at all.

When Queen Tang Lan heard this, her face suddenly became not very good-looking.

In normal times, when the country was stable, these court ministers who were officials in Kyoto secretly reaped some benefits, and the Chu Emperor also turned a blind eye and did not investigate their crimes.

Now that the state of Chu has encountered such a big disaster, if it wants them to spit out some silver money to come out for disaster relief, it is as if they are taking it from the people and giving it to the people.

But these people became misers one by one, and Queen Tang Lan was so angry that she secretly gritted her teeth.

At this moment, Xue Xue hurriedly ran in with two mud balls in her arms. Then after saluting the queen, he put the two mud balls on the table in front of her, saying that they were sent by Chu Mo to her.

This snowfall is really lacking in tendons, she only said that Chu Mo asked her to send it, and let the queen eat it while it was hot. But he didn't just say that the bread in this mud was lotus leaf chicken.

These officials and wives present, where have they seen lotus leaf chicken, when they heard that the prince sent two lumps of mud to the queen, and asked the queen to eat it while it was hot, they thought that this stupid prince was playing at home, and there was an uproar.

"Although the prince's heart has always been like a child, he still misses the queen very much, and he knows how to send some food to the queen. ”

"The prince is really a filial son!"

These official wives were praising Chu Mo on their lips, but they didn't know what kind of smile they had become in their hearts. Just wait for the time to go back, and use this incident as a laughing stock and tell others everywhere.

They were duplicitous, and Queen Tang Lan could naturally see it, but with these two mud balls in front of her, even if she wanted to help Chu Mo find a reason, she didn't know what to say for him for a while.

"Snowfall, can you eat this thing?" the queen was a little puzzled.

Xue Xue said with a serious face: "Of course you can eat it! I also ate one during the day, but it's delicious, do you want to taste it, queen?"

"But it's mud!" the queen wondered, pointing to the two mud balls in front of her.

Xue Xue laughed loudly, and then split the two mud balls with one palm, carefully uncovered the lotus leaf wrapped in the chicken, and suddenly a burst of aroma immediately emanated, and those official women who laughed at Chu Mo in their hearts all pricked up their noses to smell this aroma.

"It smells so good!"

"What the hell is this? How can it smell so good?"

"It turns out that there is a chicken wrapped in that inconspicuous mud, and it is so fragrant, the prince really has a heart!"

This time, they praised Chu Mo from the bottom of their hearts.

After all, they haven't even heard of this lotus leaf chicken. Chu Mo deliberately made such a whimsical and smelling very delicious thing to present to the queen, and this filial piety is naturally commendable.

The queen looked at the greedy eyes of those official ladies, so she ordered two lotus leaf chickens to be cut into small pieces and distributed to the dozen or so official wives present to taste together.

The lotus leaf chicken is indeed fragrant, and although those official wives only got a small piece, they couldn't eat it at all. But that smell lingers in the mouth, and it is even better than the dishes made by the imperial chef on the table.

Looking at those official ladies, they were full of praise for this lotus leaf chicken, and Queen Tang Lan took the opportunity to say to them: "Ladies, everyone is in Kyoto, living in a big house, and eating delicious food. But the people of Qingzhou and Lingzhou, because of the drought, can only survive by eating bark and grass roots. ”

"If the imperial court doesn't raise disaster relief funds and go to disaster relief, then the people of Qingling and Lingzhou will probably not be able to eat even the bark and grass roots in a short time, and they will only starve to death. Therefore, the palace has set up a banquet today, and summoned all the ladies to the palace to gather together, hoping that everyone can contribute some strength to the country and donate some life-saving silver money for the people of Qingling and Qingling Prefectures who are suffering. ”

Now, the lotus leaf chicken that the prince specially sent to present to the queen was eaten by them.

As the saying goes, eating people with soft mouths and short hands, the prince is filial to the queen's good things, and the queen is willing to take them out and share them with them, plus what she said just now, these official wives are not good to continue to pretend to be poor.

After looking at each other, someone finally stood up and said that he would donate 10,000 taels to the people of Qingling and Qingling Prefectures, and then others also expressed their attitudes. Some donated 15,000 taels, and some officials who were relatively large donated 20,000 taels.

There are also the wives of the left and right phases, as well as the wives of several generals, who all donated 30,000 taels.

After careful calculation, this banquet, Queen Tang Lan raised a full 300,000 taels. Although it is far from enough to control the disaster in the two states of Qingling, with this amount of money, at least it can solve the urgent need.

Among them, the biggest credit is naturally the two lotus leaf chickens sent by Chu Mo called the snowfall.

I'm afraid that even Chu Mo didn't expect that the two lotus leaf chickens he fiddled with casually would be sold for a sky-high price of 300,000 taels.

Xue Xue came back from the palace and told Chu Mo what happened to the queen. At the same time, he also brought him a message from the queen, asking him to take the time to go to the palace to find the queen.

Chu Mo didn't expect that he made a few lotus leaf chickens at random, but he didn't expect it to be so popular. At the moment, after rewarding the remaining lotus leaf chicken to Snowfall, he immediately called Li Jin over.

"Father-in-law Li, tell Gu honestly, how much money do we have left in our house?" Chu Mo sat on the chair and asked Li Jin with a serious face.

Li Jin saluted and said, "Your Highness, there are really only more than two hundred taels left in our house." Didn't Your Highness read the ledger before?"

"It's Lonely's mistake. Chu Mo shook his head and said, secretly scolding himself in his heart for being anxious and confused for a while, and then asked: "Gonggong Li, what do you mean by Gu, are there any other valuable things in our mansion besides cash?"

"Yes, yes, but these are all His Majesty's rewards, and I can't move them!" Li Jin was a little embarrassed.

As soon as Chu Mo asked this, he already understood what Chu Mo wanted to do, in fact, when the stupid prince had no money, he also had this kind of thought, but Li Jin refused to let the stupid prince sell the treasured jade in the mansion, so the stupid prince had no choice but to give up.

Now that Chu Mo mentioned this matter again, Li Jin naturally had a firm attitude, and would never let him take the things in the mansion and sell them outside.

This is a gift from His Majesty, and it is a great insult to His Majesty to take it and sell it casually. If this is known to the Emperor of Chu and the civil and military officials, then he may not be able to keep his position as the crown prince.

Chu Mo saw that Li Jin's face changed, so he had to ask him again: "Father-in-law Li, Gu is really short of money to do business and make a lot of money now. Those things can be sold without being sold, but just taken out and mortgaged for a few months, and when the money is earned, Lone will let people redeem it, do you think this method is feasible?"