LOT – Chapter 156 Chancellor, I Think You Should Go Learn a Thing or Two from Minister Lin

Early the next morning, the Grand Tutor went to the rear chambers to check things out. Seeing the mess scattered all over the place, he sighed helplessly.

He had served two dynasties as a minister, yet he truly didn’t understand why the current court officials had become like this—every single one of them shameless to the extreme.

Lin Mo and Bai Xiao had already started heating the cakes in the morning. Lin Mo muttered to herself while working: “There are mushrooms on this screen. Once they get cold, they become toxic, so we have to cook them through properly.”

Bai Xiao squatted beside her and nodded, but his eyes never left the pan.

Fortunately, the people who had eaten the cakes yesterday had eaten them while they were hot. Otherwise, there could really have been trouble.

Today, Lin Mo was unusually sharp—rarely did she manage a day without acting foolishly.

Even at the temporary palace, there were official duties to attend to, and Lin Mo enthusiastically made two cakes for her father and elder brother.

“Hurry and try my cooking! I promise this is going to be delicious!”

Lin Mo looked at her own chest with supreme confidence. This was one of the few things she’d made that was actually edible.

Seeing the second batch of cakes, blackened from frying, Lin Shangshu and Lin Qi inwardly resisted.

But looking at Lin Mo’s expectant gaze, no words of refusal could escape their mouths.

It was a rare gesture of her heart; eating it wouldn’t kill them, especially since others had eaten it yesterday.

Under Lin Mo’s expectant eyes, the two men ate the cakes with expressions like they were heading to their doom.

To their surprise, the flavor was actually quite good. It seemed the praise from yesterday was right—the girl’s cooking skills had indeed improved rapidly.

At court today, they were dealing with matters concerning Liangzhou, and Lin Mo and Bai Xiao were completely offline.

In their own words, they had already done the part they could handle. Now it was time for others to do their part.

Lin Mo stared at the back of the Chancellor’s head, dazed. The Chancellor suddenly felt a chill at the back of his head, and a bad premonition struck him.

Lin Mo: “Hey, Xiao Bai, look at Chen Xiang’s hair on the back of his head! There’s a bald patch! Could it be alopecia areata?”

The Chancellor’s hair was already thin—likely because of the constant mental strain from dealing with state affairs. Overthinking had caused his hair to thin further.

Before, even with thinning hair, it hadn’t exposed the back of his head. How had a bald patch suddenly appeared today?

The officials behind him peeked quietly—hey! There really was a bald patch.

Bai Xiao glanced at him and said, “That’s from him pulling it out himself. He has a habit of plucking his hair when thinking. Since his hair was already thin, it just kept getting thinner. He can’t pull too much from the front—it would ruin his image—so he started plucking the back of his head. He usually remembered to cover it with other hair, but I guess he forgot today.”

The Chancellor, suddenly exposed: “…Why is this about me again! Don’t you have anyone else to talk about?”

Emperor Xuande peeked slightly and thought, tsk, it’s true—the Chancellor’s hair is so thin. How had I not noticed before?

Lin Mo heard Bai Xiao’s words and felt a pang in the back of her head.

“The Chancellor is too harsh on himself. Pulling out the hair on the back of his head must hurt terribly. He should learn from me—when something bothers you, distract yourself. Why pull out your own hair?”

Bai Xiao: “Exactly! He was a handsome young man, and now he’s done this to himself. His wife is still beautiful, and he’s not afraid of losing her affection. There’s also a second concubine eyeing things in the rear palace.”

Bai Xiao’s words struck like a sword into the Chancellor’s heart, successfully igniting a sense of crisis.

The system had a point. His wife was still beautiful; he had let himself get into this state, and the second concubine was still in the rear palace, interacting with his wife every day!

The second concubine was also beautiful. In his current state, he definitely couldn’t compete. What if his wife truly fell for her?

A vision suddenly flashed through the Chancellor’s mind: his wife writing a divorce letter, leaving with the second concubine.

Bai Xiao’s words also spurred others to their own imaginations.

If the system hadn’t mentioned this, they might have forgotten about the Chancellor’s wife and the second concubine entirely.

Indeed, the Chancellor really should take better care of himself. He looked like he was a generation older than his wife.

Emperor Xuande looked at the Chancellor’s wrinkled, graying, thinning hair and felt a twinge of guilt.

Ah, the Chancellor has truly devoted himself wholeheartedly to Dayong over the years, wearing himself down to this state.

The previous emperor’s concubines had left many beauty remedies. Perhaps someone should send some to the Chancellor to help him maintain himself.

We certainly don’t want his wife running off with someone else; at his age, the shock would be unbearable.

Actually, the Chancellor wasn’t that old compared to Minister Lin—only about five years older. After all, the Chancellor’s wife and Lady Lin were once equally famous in the capital.

But now, the Chancellor looked like he could be Lin Shangshu’s father.

At the morning court, the Chancellor’s feelings were indescribable.

As for those two little rascals, after mentioning this, they immediately switched to talking about food, completely unaware of the blow they had dealt him.

After court, Lin Mo and Bai Xiao happily went to play with the ladies of the palace, especially the wives.

Lin Mo found that the ladies liked her very much and even gave her their own handmade snacks, which tasted great!

As for the Chancellor, Emperor Xuande kept him behind.

Looking at the worn-out Chancellor, Emperor Xuande sincerely said, “Chancellor, you’ve worked hard all these years. The palace holds many beauty remedies left by the late emperor’s concubines. They are still somewhat useful. Do you need these recipes?”

“Yes! Yes! The more the better!”

The Chancellor’s quick reply almost startled the emperor—it was too enthusiastic.

Emperor Xuande further emphasized, “I think you should go and learn a thing or two from Minister Lin. Look at Minister Lin—his demeanor is still splendid, his appearance just like in his twenties. Learning from him will surely not be wrong.”

Lin Shangshu, who had just returned to help his wife apply eyebrow makeup, suddenly felt his nose itch. His first thought was: Has my little rascal caused trouble outside again?