The Prime Minister's Darling

Chapter 364: Brother 193 Pit Slag

Gu Jinyu watched as his elder brother actually sent a gift to Gu Jiao, feeling increasingly uncomfortable at heart.

She had given her elder brother so many gifts, only to receive a mere “thank you” in return, and little did he think she didn’t know that the gifts for her birthday each year were prepared by Aunt Ling. Her brother didn’t even know what he himself had “sent.”

Although she could not see the contents from her angle, could the item personally chosen by her elder brother be of poor quality?

It was not the object inside the box that Gu Jinyu coveted, but the thoughtfulness of her elder brother.

What did he see in a girl who grew up in the countryside, who had neither beauty nor knowledge, and who resorted to hitting people from time to time?

Gu Jinyu didn’t meet with the Yao Family, feeling gloomy as she returned alone to the Marquis Residence.

Elsewhere, the dispute between the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War finally came to an end today with the Ministry of War emerging victorious, leaving the Minister of Works reprimanded harshly by His Majesty.

Fuming, the Minister of Works called Lord Gu to the Yamen after returning and questioned how he had managed his tasks before, “The Ministry of War said they come to you many times, and you dismissed them each time under the pretext of disbelief?”

Lord Gu retorted, “Not many times, initially he did not clarify but only asked me to rush into producing a large batch of weapons within a month. It was almost the New Year, and the Ministry of Works had plenty on its plate; we truly couldn’t rush it!”

Previously, the production of weapons was not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works, but responsibilities among the ministries had been reallocated when Zhan Country was founded, with the Ministry of Works seeing the biggest changes.

The Ministry of Works suddenly had many more trivial matters to deal with, yet there was no increase in salary or in status, making it the hardworking ox of the Six Ministries.

Of course, Minister Zhao understood that Lord Gu hadn’t lied. The Ministry of Works managed the entire nation’s agriculture, water conservation, civil engineering, transportation, and state-run industry, including but not limited to weapons production…

By the New Year, it really was as busy as splitting one person into three or four.

But what made him angry?

It was because Lord Gu didn’t even bother to check before asserting that there couldn’t possibly be a better bellows technology outside the royal court, only for it to be proven otherwise as the Ministry of War brought it back!

Now their entire Ministry of Works had to go to the Ministry of War to learn the bellows technology!

How could this be acceptable?

Where could he even place his old face?

On the way back from the royal court, his colleagues almost laughed him to death.

“I don’t know whether to call you foolish or just blindly arrogant!”

Minister Zhao was fuming!

Lord Gu gave a side glance and said, “What if you were there, sir, would you have believed it?”

Minister Zhao was at a loss for words.

Lord Gu, with a ‘I knew it’ look, said, “See, who would dare believe it?”

“But I… why wouldn’t I believe it?” Being wise after the event, everybody can do that. Minister Zhao earnestly said, “You didn’t tell me back then, if you had, I would have sent someone to the county town to invite her over immediately!”

Lord Gu looked skyward: Keep making that up, keep going.

Minister Zhao: “…”

Lord Gu’s father was a warrior his whole life; how did he end up with such a slow-witted son?

But speaking of which, he truly didn’t dare believe it.

When the Minister of War first mentioned the civilian technology for bellows, Minister Zhao scoffed at it. That old man in the Ministry of War was so sly, knowing full well that the piston bellows were already on their way, yet he didn’t say a word.

This led him to mistakenly think that the device was invented by the Ministry of War, engaging in a war of words, uttering many harsh phrases, all of which now backfired on him.

Minister Zhao asked, “I heard it was invented by a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl. Weren’t you in the county town then? Have you ever heard of such a girl?”

Girls from the county town were common, and he himself had one at home! Unfortunately, she was born to spite him!

“What’s wrong? You know her?” Minister Zhao asked, observing Lord Gu’s suddenly solemn expression.

Lord Gu waved his hand, “There are many fourteen-year-old girls; surely not just any one of them could be that girl.”

Minister Zhao nodded, “True, but I heard from the Iron Shop people that she is a little peasant girl. Our Ministry of Works has suffered a great loss this time; if we could find her, we could certainly redeem our face before His Majesty.”

A little peasant girl from the county?

Could it really be that girl?

Lord Gu quickly shook his head decisively.

That girl was illiterate, claiming she knew how to feed pigs and farm was more believable, let alone inventing a piston bellows that could crush Liang Country’s water drainage system? Impossible.

Lord Gu said, “Sir, in my opinion, that girl must certainly be a disciple or relative of some reclus