The grass in the factory should be plucked

The New Year is coming soon, and the officials of the Great Chu are going to have their New Year holiday again. All the government offices are holding sealing ceremonies in a lively manner.

The newly established General Administration of Commerce finally has a director to preside over the sealing ceremony this year.

The General Administration of Commerce is also located in the "Qianchong Hall" of Qiancheng Gate, next to the six ministries.

Compared to the solemn ceremony of burning incense and kowtowing next door, Jiang Li's ceremony was much simpler and more crude.

This General Department of Commerce was the first of its kind in the Great Chu. No one knew which ancestor to burn incense to, so they simply pasted a red paper seal with the words "Seal for Good Luck" on the seal box of each person's official seal, and considered it complete.

Next, we all eat and drink together.

She asked Longmen Restaurant and Longmen Dim Sum to send over wine, food and cakes so that everyone could eat and drink to their heart's content.

Longmen Dim Sum’s pastries are popular with everyone, and their cassava series of pastries are really hard to buy!

This kind of pastry became all the rage as soon as it was launched, but cassava was disaster relief food and had to be supplied to the disaster areas first, so the imperial court prohibited other pastry shops from following suit.

Only Longmen Dim Sum, owned by Longmen, has the exclusive right to sell cassava pastries.

Even if you work at the General Administration of Commerce, you still have to queue up if you want to buy this kind of pastry.

Limited quantities are sold each day, and you may not be able to buy one even if you queue up, but now you can finally enjoy it!

Everyone looked at the crystal clear pastries, such as crystal glutinous rice balls, flower jelly, pearl meatballs, crystal dumplings, and thousand-layer cakes... Each one was so exquisite that people were reluctant to eat it.

What excited them most was that there was also the Hundred Flowers Crystal Basil, which was only available at palace banquets!

"Everyone, eat as much as you want. All you can eat!" Jiang Li said with a smile.

After you have eaten your fill, you will continue to be her slave next year!

Several female officials cheered and were the first to reach out their chopsticks to the flower jelly. They had been craving for this jelly for a long time!

The male officials were not to be outdone. After a round of attack with chopsticks, the Hundred Flowers Crystal Basil was divided up in an instant.

Li Jie, the newly appointed Deputy Director of the Supervision Department, held his chopsticks in astonishment. These subordinates who looked down on their superiors didn't even leave him half a piece of food!

"Hey, hey, don't go too far!"

"Sir, as the saying goes, there is no father and son in a casino, and no big or small at a wine table. If you don't act quickly, the crystal dumplings will be gone!"

Li Jie stopped pretending to be polite and just rolled up his sleeves and got on with it!

Seeing them making so much noise, Jiang Li couldn't help laughing.

At this time, the breeze spread the news: "The Duke is here!"

Jiang Li turned around and saw Xie Changan walking in with big strides, followed by Cui Jue.

"Why is Lord Cui here too? Aren't you guys at the Ministry of Revenue having a dinner party?"

Cui Jue said sadly: "I heard you guys were having a blast next door, but you guys are hiding away to eat delicious food!"

There are only two restaurants, Longmen Restaurant and Longmen Boat Banquet, in the capital. If you want to make a reservation at the end of the year, you have to fight for it. Their Ministry of Revenue is full of civil servants, so naturally they cannot compete with the military officers, so they can only book at other restaurants.

Cui Jue heard the commotion at the General Administration of Commerce next door, and when he saw Xie Changan coming over, he took the opportunity to follow in to take a look.

Li Jie rolled his eyes at him and said, "Lord Cui controls the purse strings of the Great Chu State. Do you want to eat anything?"

Cui Jue sighed: "I can't buy Longmen's snacks either, can you at least give me a few pieces?"

"Don't think about it!"

"Yes, yes, we don't have enough!"

Seeing them making a fuss, Jiang Li smiled and pulled Xie Changan's hand: "Brother Changan, are you here to pick me up?"

"Yes." Xie Changan looked at her lovingly, "Shall we go back home after we're done?"

"it is good."

Jiang Li took out a bunch of big red envelopes and threw them on the table. "One for each person. I'm leaving first."

"Master Cui, don't try to take advantage of the situation. You won't get any red envelope!"

She added one more sentence and left with Xie Changan.

Everyone cheered: "The Director is mighty!"

They rushed forward and started grabbing the red envelopes.

Cui Jue took advantage of the chaos to secretly eat a pearl meatball. It was so tender, smooth and sweet that he squinted his eyes.

Back at the mansion, Jiang Li said happily: "It's vacation time again, are you still going to the military camp?"

"We still have to go and take a look, so we can come back earlier." Xie Changan said.

At this time, the stewards of the two governments presented the lists of gifts sent from various places.

Jiang Li said, "Give the one from the Prince's Mansion to Aunt Lian, and give the one from the Duke's Mansion to Uncle Zhou. Let them take care of the return gifts."

The steward took the order and left.

Jiang Li didn't see Aunt Lian, so she asked Zhen'er and Zhu'er, who were serving the twins, "Where's Aunt Lian?"

Zhen'er said, "Aunt went to the palace and said she wanted to redecorate the palace before the New Year."

Jiang Li didn't like the kind of conventional and magnificent decoration, so Aunt Lian wanted to redecorate the house according to her preferences before the New Year. During the New Year, she had to go back to the palace to stay for a few days.

Jiang Li is looking forward to it, Aunt Lian’s taste is impeccable!

At this moment, Xie Changan's mind moved, and he said happily: "Chengfeng is back!"

Jiang Li was overjoyed: "Let's go out and take a look!"

They followed the winding corridor and came to the island in the middle of the lake.

Soon, the sky was dark and the little eagle led the bird team back!

Amid the chirping of various birds, there were also a few screams. Jiang Li couldn't help but laugh. Did Chengfeng kidnap someone?

She looked carefully and saw that, sure enough, the flock of birds was carrying three reluctant birds and flying towards the island in the middle of the lake.

The birds squawked and kept trying to escape. If they strayed from the team even a little, they would be pecked hard by the members of the bird team, leaving their feathers ruffled.

Jiang Li was amused and used the art of listening. She heard one of the birds yelling, "You bunch of robbers, hooligans, and scoundrels! Let me go!"

There was a magpie among the members of the bird team. He laughed and said, "You thief, how dare you call others robbers?"

Jiang Li couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Xie Changan smiled and said, "What are they talking about?"

He had not mastered the art of listening and could not understand what the animals said.

Jiang Li laughed and said, "The bird that was cursing was a skua. It called the Bird Team robbers. Hahahaha..."

Xie Changan asked curiously, "Why is it called 'Skua'?"

Jiang Li chuckled and said, "This kind of seabird is lazy and never builds its own nest. It always likes to steal other people's nests and food, so it is called a skua."

When Little Eagle and his crew saw the skua, they happened to see it snatching food from a pair of petrels. They caught it red-handed and immediately arrested it by Little Eagle's team of "officers and soldiers".

Xie Changan couldn't help but laugh.

The little eagle landed on the island in the middle of the lake in a proud manner, and the birds also flew down with the three "captives".

The little eagle said proudly: "Brother, sister, I have completed the task!"

He introduced the three "captives" to the two men, "This is just a skua, and these two are petrels."

The pair of petrels that were robbed by the skuas were also brought back by him.

Jiang Li was both amused and confused. Did the plaintiff and the defendant all come together, waiting to be questioned in court?

She used her listening skills to say to the three trembling seabirds, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. If you can work for me, you will have food and clothing. I can also find a safe nest for you so that you can breed in peace."

When the three seabirds heard that she could actually communicate with them, they all opened their round little eyes wide.