kingnovel Chapter 440: Distant Light
Chapter 440: Distant Light
Lin Jiaojiao lay in the inn for a whole day until Lan came and knocked on the door to tell her that the officials were waiting downstairs. Then she got up, quickly dressed, and went out.
When they arrived downstairs, a group of officials were waiting. Except for four people with good family backgrounds, the rest were guards and minor officials of the 98th rank.
"Sorry for the long wait. Let's go to Longzhou now."
The group arrived at Longzhou Restaurant, where Magistrate Wang and his men were already waiting in front of the door.
Lin Jiaojiao didn't expect Magistrate Wang to come so early. She smiled and walked forward and bowed.
"Good afternoon, Lord Wang."
Prefect Wang gave him a false helping hand and said, "Master Lin, there is no need to be polite. Please come in."
Lin Jiaojiao followed her into the restaurant and found it eerily quiet inside. It seemed that the whole place was reserved by them.
When they got to the third floor, they found that there were already three or four tables of people sitting there. They stood up immediately when they saw them coming.
Prefect Wang brought Lin Jiaojiao to them and introduced them to each other. Lin Jiaojiao then realized that these people were officials from the diplomatic department, as well as the captain and crew members.
"Zhao the translator, come over here."
As Magistrate Wang shouted, a woman in her thirties came over.
"Master Lin, this is Zhao Ruiyi, the translator. She is proficient in the languages of sixteen countries. She will be your right-hand man on this voyage."
Zhao Ruiyi grinned and bowed to Lin Jiaojiao to greet her.
"Hello, Lord Lin."
Lin Jiaojiao smiled warmly: "Hello, Lord Zhao, please take care of me during this voyage."
"Eh? Lord Lin, you are too polite. This is what a subordinate should do."
Afterwards, Lin Jiaojiao got to know the captain, the deputy captain and others, and Fu's mother and Fu Ling came here under the leadership of Lan Yi.
Lin Jiaojiao smiled and stepped forward to greet them, "Mom, Sister Ling, isn't Dad here?"
Fu's mother nodded and replied, "No, your father was uncomfortable after sitting in the car for a long time, so we didn't let him come."
"Have you finished the potion?"
The one who suffered the most during this journey was Fu's father. He was fine in the first three days, but after this high-intensity journey, he gradually couldn't hold on any longer and his back and waist ached badly.
So she dropped a drop of concentrated repair liquid into the kettle and found an excuse to give it to him to drink. The symptoms were relieved after he drank it.
"No, there's another pot. Your father saved it for drinking on the way back to Qingzhou. Let's not talk about this anymore. Why don't you introduce them to me?"
Lin Jiaojiao also knew that it was not appropriate to chat about family matters now, and she also understood that it was indeed not appropriate for Fu's father to come to this occasion, and she was inconsiderate.
Then he turned to introduce them to Magistrate Wang and the others, "Master Wang, these are my mother-in-law and my husband's sister."
Magistrate Wang was not surprised at all. Instead, he waved towards Fu Ling.
"Xiao Ling, it turns out that you and Lord Lin have this kind of relationship. You are a little too low-key."
Fu Ling hurriedly pulled her mother to Magistrate Wang and introduced her enthusiastically.
"Aunt Wang, this is my mother, and this is the prefect of Zhouzhou."
Then he leaned over to Fu's mother's ear and whispered, "She is also Gu Lang's aunt."
When Fu's mother heard this, she immediately became excited. She didn't expect that her future son-in-law had such a relationship. They were definitely a perfect match.
Lin Jiaojiao stood by and listened to the gossip. After everyone took their seats, delicacies from land and sea were served one after another.
This time she didn't have to secretly loosen her belt, she just wore a pair of elastic pants. Unfortunately everyone was eating very politely, so she couldn't eat as freely as she wanted.
But she was only about 70% full, and the freshness and sweetness of the shrimps and crabs made her very satisfied.
When the show was over, Zhao Ruiyi looked at the pile of shell bones in front of Lin Jiaojiao and secretly took note of her preferences.
Early the next morning, Zhouzhou Wharf was under tight security, and the usually bustling wharf became much quieter.
Lin Jiaojiao stood on the deck of the boat with the others, looking at the crowd standing on the shore. The boat started to move slowly, and she raised her hand and waved towards Fu Mu and the others on the shore.
The officials on the shore thought that Lin Jiaojiao was saying goodbye to them, so they immediately raised their hands in response.
Lin Jiaojiao withdrew her gaze until she could no longer see the people on the shore. The boat they were on was the Yaoguang.
As soon as she heard the name, she knew that this was Qi Yao's property. Sure enough, when she asked Lan Yi, she found out that except for the officials and guards from Kyoto, the rest of the people on the ship were Qi Yao's people.
This trip was just a formality, and Qi Yao wanted her to have fun.
She spoke a few words to the officers on deck and then returned to her luxurious cabin.
At noon, she sat by the window, admiring the beautiful view outside and eating peeled shrimp and crab meat. It was so delicious.
But after eating shrimps and crabs for five consecutive days, she no longer felt beautiful. The light diet every day left her mouth with a dull taste, so she had to make a pack of instant noodles in the middle of the night to satisfy her cravings.
"Has Lan Yi not finished eating all the shrimps and crabs he kept in the cabin?"
She felt that if she continued eating like this, she would get gout sooner or later.
Lan Yi was clearing the dishes, "It's almost done. I should be able to cook two more meals."
She had to eat them because the shrimps and crabs were only for her and no one else could eat them. It was also not easy to share them with others. It might be too much for her to eat alone, but if everyone on the boat shared it, it would not be enough to fill their stomachs.
"Let's cook seafood hot pot in the chess and card room tonight. Invite Kong Xuan and the others, as well as Zhao Ruiyi. I won't go play mahjong this afternoon."
These days, she and Kong Xuan have been spending time playing mahjong in a chess and card cabin. Occasionally, Zhao Ruiyi would come and play with them, and naturally they became familiar with each other.
Lan nodded, cleaned up the dishes and left.
Lin Jiaojiao first took a nap, and when she woke up she took out the comic book and started translating it. She didn't stop until Lan knocked on the door to call her for dinner. Only then did she stop writing and put everything into her backpack.
She came to the chess and card room, the cabin door was wide open and the strong smell of braised beef instant noodles came out from inside.
If you don’t know, you might think that people are gathering inside to eat instant noodles.
In fact, it was almost the same. Because there was no hot pot base, Lan Yi asked the people in the kitchen to use the seasoning from five packets of instant noodles to cook a pot of soup base.
Lin Jiaojiao walked into the room and saw that the dishes were quite rich.
There were two plates each of crab, shrimp and fish slices, as well as bean curd, dried moss, dried cauliflower, kelp, potato chips and five instant noodle cakes.
Kong Xuan and the others looked at the raw food beside the pot curiously, and Xu Youning asked directly.
"Master Lin, what kind of luxurious way of eating instant noodles is this?"
Lin Jiaojiao smiled and sat down to explain.
"The ingredients are limited, this way of eating is called hot pot, you can just blanch whatever you want to eat, but it's a pity that there is no sesame oil and minced garlic. If you want something spicier, you can dip it in this dry sauce. When you all come to Qingzhou Nanshan later, I will definitely take you to eat authentic hot pot."
As she introduced, Lan Yi poured the crabs and shrimps into the pot.
"I've heard a lot about the delicious food in Nanshan, Qingzhou. This time when I go back, I'm going to have a good trip to Qingzhou. I'll nag Lord Lin about it then."
"Ah, I want to go too. Sister Kong, please take me with you when you go."
Zhang Xianxue held the teacup and smiled faintly, while Zheng Hexiu next to her was very envious when she heard their words, but she was just a concubine's daughter in the family, how could she be as free and easy as these legitimate daughters.
Zhao Ruiyi observed everyone calmly, especially Lin Jiaojiao.
She only knew that this was the person who was under special protection by her superiors, but when she saw Lan Yi following her side, she knew that she must have a close relationship with her master.
They followed Lin Jiaojiao's example and took the shrimps out of the pot, dipping them in the dry sauce in the plate in front of them. The shrimps had already been shelled, so they put them directly into their mouths to taste them.
"so spicy!"
Maybe Xu Youning dipped too much, or maybe it was his first time eating such a spicy condiment, it was so spicy that tears were about to come out of his mouth.
Although the other three also felt it was spicy, they were able to keep calm and silently picked up their teacups to drink.
Zhao Ruiyi fell in love with it the moment she ate it. She liked spicy and pungent foods like wasabi, so this level of spiciness was nothing to her.
"Master Lin, what is this made of? It tastes so delicious."
Lin Jiaojiao took out half a crab from the pot, raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"This is my family's unique secret recipe. I can only tell you that the main seasoning is chili pepper, which is also a spice I brought back from the Fanwai. Maybe in two or three years, this thing will be grown in large quantities in Chaoqi."
After all, pepper seeds are easy to obtain and easy to grow. Currently, every household in Linjia Village grows them, and even many people in Nanshan are growing them. It is only a matter of time before they spread to other places.
"I didn't expect there would be something so delicious in the extra edition. Why didn't I find it before?"
Lin Jiaojiao laughed awkwardly twice, "It's okay, this time I will take you to explore these mysterious countries."
She was not afraid of returning empty-handed. She found lemons last time, so she would definitely get something else this time.