Chapter 1160: Requesting

The moment Little Bear entered with his father, Mu Yangling showered concern upon him. Ignoring her husband, Mu Yangling grabbed Little Bear. “Where did you get this cigar?”

“A Westerner gave it to me.” Seeing that his mother didn’t look pleased, Little Bear immediately said, “I didn’t want to accept it at first since I don’t smoke. But because he insisted, I had no choice but to take it.”

Only then did Mu Yangling’s expression look better. She put away the cigar and said, “This isn’t anything good. You must remember not to use this.”

Little Bear scratched his head. “Isn’t it just tobacco?”

Frowning, Qi Haoran took the cigar and sniffed it. There were also officials in the Imperial Court who were experienced smokers, so he had some understanding of the smell of cigarettes. The smell of this cigar was quite fragrant. Just as he was about to smell it further, Mu Yangling snatched it away and said, “Although tobacco can be refreshing, it’s also harmful. In addition, it’s easy to get addicted. Therefore, the Imperial Court has always banned smoking. Let me tell you the truth. Aside from being harmful to the smoker, it’s also harmful to the people around them. Therefore, should any of you smoke one day, I’ll chase you out. If you have to smoke, only come back when the smell dissipates.”

Qi Haoran and Little Bear did not expect the punishment to be so severe. They immediately swore that they would never smoke.

Satisfied, Mu Yangling confiscated the box of cigars.

Seeing that their mother didn’t seem to be in a good mood, Little Bear immediately brought his younger siblings out to hide.

Mu Yangling was in a bad mood because of some other thoughts and her anger was not targeted at her family. Hence, she still smiled at Qi Haoran.

Qi Haoran reached out and squeezed her face together. “Don’t force a smile if you don’t feel like it.”

Mu Yangling immediately pulled a long face and stopped pretending.

Qi Haoran asked curiously, “What’s wrong with cigars?”

“I just think that Westerners have evil intentions. It’s easy to get addicted to selling tobacco. After smoking it a few times, one will be tempted to smoke whenever they feel vexed. Over time, should this thing gain popularity, planting tobacco will use up vast areas of arable lands.”

Qi Haoran felt that his wife was not telling the truth and said, “Isn’t this thing just like wine? Just like wine, it’s easy to get addicted to it. Wine is brewed with grains, which will also use up arable land. Moreover, drinking alcohol is also harmful to one’s health.”

Mu Yangling said directly, “Then I’ll enter the palace tomorrow and ask His Majesty to ban the wine?”

Qi Haoran immediately jumped up and said with a grin, “I was just saying. How can cigarettes be compared to alcohol? There are very few people in the world who don’t drink, but very few people who smoke. It’s good to ban smoking. It’s good to ban smoking. This way, we can save a lot of arable land.”

Mu Yangling snorted.

She had already dismantled a cigar in the afternoon, but she did not find any drugs in it.

She was once a special forces soldier and had undergone training in this area. She believed that she would not make any mistakes, but even if this was ordinary tobacco, Mu Yangling would not allow it to flow into Great Qi.

As long as the smoking ban was around, there would be an additional barrier for drugs to enter Great Qi. As for what happened after that, it had yet to happen, so it was obviously inappropriate for Mu Yangling to do anything.

Besides, there was still a long time before drugs entered Great Qi in her previous life. Perhaps she was just being sensitive this time.

Mu Yangling gradually let go of this matter, but Qi Haoran and Little Bear paid attention.

They were all the people closest to her. Although she did not say much yesterday, just by looking at her expression, they knew that this matter was not simple. Therefore, they sent people to monitor the English envoy.

Soon, the father and son realized that the English envoy had spread the net widely and sent cigars to many people in the capital. They were all high-ranking officials, two of whom had a history of smoking.

Qi Haoran immediately turned to look at his sons and said, “Now it’s your turn to act. Don’t let the envoy notice anything while you take back this thing called cigars.”

The children moved out in full force, and even the boy-girl twins contributed. They followed behind Little Fu and went to his maternal grandfather’s house to collect the cigars.

That’s right. Lord Xia, who had just been promoted to the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, had also received three boxes of cigars. In fact, he had received one more box than others because he was Fan Zijin’s father-in-law.

The foreigners had long known that Fan Zijin had a lot of say in the affairs of the Western countries. One sentence from him was worth a hundred sentences from others. Therefore, they were very polite to his father-in-law and gave him 20% more gifts as compared to the others.

And the three boxes of cigars were lying in the middle of those gifts. The servant who sent the gifts even mentioned that it was something favored by the nobles of England and was comparable to fine wine.

It seemed that the English envoy had quite a good grasp of the hobbies of the people of Great Qi. Be it scholars or warriors, all the men of Great Qi liked to drink.

Even women liked to drink a glass or two in their spare time.

Hence, when he heard that this thing was comparable to good wine, Lord Xia took out one and smelled it. Seeing that it was tobacco, he immediately lost interest since he was not a smoker. There were a few old smokers in the court, and the odor from their bodies was quite off-putting. He did not want to become such a person.

He put down the cigar and put it away with the intention to give it away in the future.

Just like how a fine sword should be given to a hero, tobacco should naturally be gifted to those who enjoyed cigarettes.

There were many people who had the same thoughts as Lord Xia, so they did not use this thing and put it away with the other gifts.

Just as Lord Xia got someone to put away the things, the doorkeeper came to report that Young Master Zijin and the Young Master and Princess of King Rong’s residence had come!

Lord Xia was overjoyed. Compared to the overly smart Little An, he liked Little Fu more. Hence, he waved his hand and asked the servants to serve the three children well. He even asked someone to instruct his wife and daughter-in-law to take good care of the three children and not let them be bullied by the brats at home.

However, the three children rushed straight to the study. Just as he finished instructing them, Little Fu ran in with the two children.

“Grandfather, Grandfather, did the envoy from England send you something called a cigar?”

Stunned, Lord Xia’s brows furrowed. “How did you know?”

It hadn’t been long since the item landed in his hands. Was he being monitored?

Neglecting to see Lord Xia’s solemn expression, Little Fu patted his chest in relief and said, “That’s great. Have you tried it?”

Lord Xia shook his head. Just as he was about to lure him to tell him who had told him this news, the child’s next sentence stunned him.

“That’s great. Otherwise, where would I find a father for my mother if my grandfather was poisoned?”

“Brother Little Fu, quickly ask for the cigars. We have to hurry, lest Brother and the others beat us to it.”

Little Fu also became anxious when he heard this. He immediately tugged at Lord Xia’s sleeve and said, “Grandfather, quickly give me the cigars. We still have to go to the next house.”

Lord Xia’s body swayed. He held the handle of the chair and asked in a daze, “The cigar is poisonous? Then…” Then, had he already been poisoned when he put it under his nose to smell it just now?

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