Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 199

But Austin was different. He was of noble birth and had four children. Just because of that, he had to plan for his future.

It was nighttime at the tavern, now run by the son of the original owner.

"So, we're on the third floor now, right?" Ronan asked jokingly.

“You could say that,” Austin replied, “or you could say that.”

At this moment, in Ronan's mind, Austin's first plan was to facilitate an alliance between William and Pierre, allowing Ronan to make a move and thus make William and Pierre allies. The second plan was for William and Pierre to form a mutual protection agreement, waiting for Ronan to take action to win over Pierre.

"Oh?" Ronan asked curiously.

Austin replied, “If you are willing to recommend me, a man nearing retirement, for a new job somewhere, then the previous two points can be considered my self-introduction. Next, I will give William some seemingly reasonable but somewhat radical advice, and his allies will attack me by saying that I have already failed twice. In the end, William can only consider the opinions of his allies and reject my advice. Naturally, I, as an outsider, will leave in a huff.”

“If you are unwilling to recommend me, then I will have no choice but to go down this path.”

After saying that, Austin looked at Ronan.

Ronan smiled and said, "Of course I'd recommend someone as talented as you. But I'm curious, how do you intend to stick to this path to the end?"

Austin said with a relaxed expression, "Well, you've always followed the principle of 'you fight your way, I fight mine.' Ever since you established the Ministry of the Interior, you've been fighting on new battlefields that you've opened up yourself. We can't do anything about you, so we've suffered repeated defeats, while you've always been victorious. But this time, you've made a mistake and fallen into the trap of trying to win over allies, repeatedly competing with William and Pierre to see who can win people over more."

“If I continue to stay with William, and you have to continue this tug-of-war with us, it is foreseeable that you will gradually realize that the efficiency of repeatedly entangled with us will become less and less. At that time, you will certainly get out of this mess immediately, but the time wasted can never be recovered.”

Ronan finally realized, "So that's how it is. Your strategy from the beginning was to drag me into a battlefield I'm not good at, and then waste my time."

“It’s not that you’re not good at it. To be honest, Ronan, you’re much better than Pierre and William. They can’t compare to you at all. It’s just that you and Ms. Dinia are too young. Young people have too few friends and too many enemies. And in the first round of the election, you can’t abstain from voting. No one can remain neutral. If the timeline were nine years from now, I would kneel down without hesitation and beg you to give me a job that I can retire in.”

Austin said very seriously.

Ronan poured wine for Austin. As always, no waiter would come in during the meal in this small private room.

"Actually, I still have a license."

Ronan put down the bottle and said something.

Austin certainly knew Ronan had a license, and he knew it from the beginning. Otherwise, why would he have gone to such lengths to create an "onboarding" program for retirement, wholeheartedly helping William and then naturally asking for a job?

He knew that Willian would be crushed by Ronan's team in the first round, so he became Willian's foreign aid.

Austin smiled slightly. "Actually, I can't guarantee that William will give up on me under pressure. If he adopts my radical suggestions, you'll have some minor troubles. So, I'll give you another card: go find Adrian. He's an ambitious man, but he's somewhat out of step with the old-fashioned."

This not only gave Ronan a card, but also saved him a card.

For the next two days, things unfolded exactly as Austen had written in her play.

William was getting anxious because he couldn't reach a mutual protection agreement with Pierre.

A group of people started discussing again, immediately attacking Austin, saying that his plan was completely ineffective. Austin then put forward a radical suggestion: to show the outside world that William firmly supports the continued deepening of reforms, in order to win over Pierre's votes. This immediately aroused opposition, as everyone felt that William had such a great advantage and should now play it safe.

Of course, the deeper purpose was that William's supporters were not very supportive of the reforms. They weren't completely against them, since the reforms had already begun and they were not without benefits, but they couldn't let it be too fast or too comprehensive, because that would marginalize them, the veterans.

William nodded in agreement. He himself supported the reforms, but he wasn't the only one who, to be precise, didn't support bringing too many young officials into the system who didn't share his views.

So Austin, whose suggestion was rejected, simply walked away.

During this process, Adrian's sense of loneliness intensified.

Ultimately, William's party adopted a defensive counter-attacking strategy.

Subsequently, Adrian secretly sided with Ronan, and then, as an intermediary, went to make empty promises to the territory minister, Gary.

This pie represents Ronan's promise to split the Postal Transport Bureau into a Postal Transport Department, and then appoint Gary as its minister.

This was much better than the promise of colonial governorship William made; not everyone wanted to go to a colony these days.

Chapter 455 The Children's Problem: They've all gotten too big for their britches, so just throw them out.

Over the weekend, Ronan did not attend the party held by Dinia for the election campaign, but instead stayed at the palace with his wife and children.

Both children are now five years old and have begun receiving formal education.

Newborn Louis was still nursing.

Lucien and Ina are both the kind of students who give teachers a headache. Apart from the magic teacher, only the language teacher and math teacher are slightly better, as the two are more interested in language and math.

Lucien has a knack for mathematical genius; at the age of five, he's already at a middle school level—the same level as Ronan in his original timeline.

Ina's math skills are average, but she's quite good at languages.

The theology teacher was the first to be affected; both children loved to ask "why," and there was no such thing as "why" in theology.

The etiquette teacher and history teacher of Xiao Lü Xi'an are having a headache. The etiquette teacher can also use the idea that the child is young and that it is not a bad thing for a boy to be disobedient to hypnotize himself.

A history teacher won't do. Calling it history is just telling the little prince historical anecdotes to help him understand what a wise king is and what a tyrant is.

But little Lucien had no interest in this. He played with his toys during class, and when the history teacher tried to confiscate them, he used magic to snatch them back. He said the history teacher was talking nonsense, that a king must have guns and money, and that his mother, old Ambrina, had guns and money. She didn't care about politics and just played all day, yet the country was still fine and no one could shake her position.

As for him, Lucien II, although he doesn't know how to make money yet, he already has a bit of an idea about how to make guns, so history teacher, please be quiet and don't delay his research on how to make guns.

The history teacher immediately wanted to resign.

Meanwhile, Ina was also driving the teachers to exhaustion.

Especially the etiquette teacher, who is the princess's etiquette teacher and bears the important responsibility of cultivating the princess into a lady.

However, Ina would skip etiquette class. Although Ronan had reprimanded her, she dared not disrespect the teacher or rebel. But she dared to pretend to be sick, and not just any sickness, but a magical illness that was hard to control. She would turn into a hedgehog covered in swords, thus making it impossible for her to perform any etiquette gestures.

The art teacher wasn't much better. If she assigned a little more homework, Ina would retort, "Do you want me to learn from my mother?"

The art teacher dared not say that you cannot learn from your mother, nor did he dare say that you should learn from your mother.

They froze completely.

Little Lucien likes to go to the technical department and ask researchers from home and abroad all sorts of questions. Ina likes to go to the Security Bureau to see her aunt Isabel and practice her magic with the people from the Security Bureau.

At this very moment, during lunchtime, the family had just sat down.

"Father, I was wrong," Ina admitted as if answering a question prematurely.

"Uh, me too." Little Lü Xixian, a beat behind, also admitted his mistake.

Ronan was completely baffled by these two roughnecks. He sighed, smiled, and asked, "Where did you go wrong?"

Ina raised her chubby little hand and answered, "Too many, I can't remember them all, anyway, I was wrong." She chuckled after answering.

After that, the first soup was served.

Rehydrated dried chanterelles are placed in an earthenware pot filled with beef bone broth and steamed for a while, making a very simple soup.

"You can't remember either?" Ronan asked his son Lucien.

Lucien lowered his head and then nodded.

Goodness, they really are twins.

The appetizer arrived: sliced ​​beef, cooked briefly with slightly sweet, not-too-spicy white onion slices until half-cooked, and then drizzled with a little soy sauce.

Ronan was also at a loss, unsure how to educate his two children.

His two children aren't simply being willful or acting like princes and princesses. If that were the case, it would be much simpler; a good beating would solve half the problem.

These two little ones, not even six years old yet, completely disagree with their teacher. Is this an early onset of adolescence? Yes, but not entirely. Ultimately, it's because the two children's perceptions have become skewed.

It can only be said that he and Ambrina, as parents, did not set a good example for their child.

Lucien felt that his mother was just a big kid older than him, and much more playful than him, playing things that were not good for the country. Did she affect the country?

Ina greatly admired her father, Ronan. Did Ronan's lack of formality hinder his career, his marriage to his mother, or his ability to earn the respect of nobles, officials, and clergy? None of the above.

The main courses, stuffed crispy roast chicken and roast lamb chops, were served, and a maid came over to cut them up.

Ronan put aside the matter of educating his two children for the time being. Many years ago, his parents never disciplined him during meals, and now that he was a parent himself, he followed the same principle.

After finishing the last two desserts, Ronan glanced at Ambrina.

"It's your decision." This time, Ambrina wasn't trying to shift the blame, but rather she was simply at a loss as to how to manage her two children.

“I won’t make any decisions, but I have one suggestion: you should go to school, what do you say?” Ronan said.

“No way, kids are all stupid.” Ina immediately objected. Her aunt, Isabel, had taken her to three different girls’ schools, all of which were primary schools: one was a noble primary school, one was a commoner’s school (in her princess’s eyes, of course, a commoner’s school), and the other was a church boarding school, her mother’s alma mater.

In Ina's opinion, these children were all too stupid to communicate with.

“Is that so? Then I won’t go either.” Lucien had never seen what a school looked like. He was five years old and had only been to the palace, the technical department, and the church.

Ronan rubbed his temples. The children's affairs were giving him a bigger headache than the prime minister election. "Your teachers teach you, but you go against them. They want you to go to school, but you don't want to. Fine, tell me yourselves, what do you want to do?"

Ina pouted, "I need to work. Some people in the Ministry of the Interior are less capable than me. I'm not illiterate. I can go work for my aunt. It won't be difficult at all."

"Is this your own idea?" Ronan asked.

Ina, with a bewildered and innocent expression, retorted, "Yes, could it be anyone else?"

Ronan breathed a slight sigh of relief. If someone had instigated her, then he would have needed to carry out a major purge.

Ronan turned his gaze to Lucien, "And you?"

"I, I don't want etiquette class or history class, they're completely useless," Lucien said. "By the way, could we find a great math teacher, at least someone like the researcher in the technical department?"

After asking his question, Ronan looked at Ambrina.

Ambrina glared at her son and daughter. "You two are very good, really very good." Ambrina was genuinely angry this time, and also deeply remorseful. She had thought that her son and daughter were just a little proud and mischievous because they were princes and princesses, but she hadn't expected that the two children had a problem with their cognition and had become arrogant.

Is it okay to keep going like this?

Ambrina's magic instantly activated, imprisoning the two children's magical powers. Then, a lullaby began to play, and the two children instantly fainted.

"Someone, forget it. Ronan, you go yourself, strip those two naked, and throw them in the southeast district," Ambrina ordered.

The Southeast District is the poorest and most chaotic part of the capital.

Ronan grabbed one in each hand and flew away to prevent Ambrina from changing her mind again.

Chapter 456 The arrangements were made, everyone was stunned, Sarilang

After a long time, when Ronan flew back to the palace, he saw that Ambrina's eyes were red.

Upon seeing Ronan, Ambrina threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.

When was the last time Ambrina cried?

If I remember correctly, it was when the late king passed away.

Ronan patted Ambrina's back gently. "It's alright, it's alright. Everything's been arranged. Let those two roughnecks experience the simple and honest folk customs of the capital."

At the same time, southeast of the capital, beside a ditch, Lucien and Ina woke up.

Both of them were stripped of their expensive clothes and shoes and put in the clothes of poor people.

Lucien wore an ill-fitting linen shirt, a rough wool sweater with tattered patches, a pair of cotton trousers that were too short, and pigskin shoes with patched socks.

Ina was similar, wearing a gray cotton dress and a wool vest, except her shoes were slightly better, and her socks were still intact and knitted.

The two children had no time to care about their clothes; faced with this sudden situation and unfamiliar environment, they were completely at a loss.

After all, he was just a child under six years old, and he couldn't help but start thinking wildly that his parents didn't love him anymore and didn't want him anymore.

As she thought about it, she started to sob.

Hearing Ina's cries, Lucien, who had been stunned, finally came to his senses. "Don't cry."

"I didn't cry, you're the one who cried!" Ina shouted urgently to clarify.

From the moment she could walk and talk, she always felt that she was better than Lucien.

Lucien was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He was completely flustered at this moment. He paced back and forth, and suddenly heard a clattering sound in his pocket. He noticed something in his right pocket. He reached in and pulled out a gold coin, two silver coins, and a note from his left pocket. On his right pocket, he found a magic revolver.

He opened the note: "My son, here's the gun and the money. Can you return to the palace?"

Ina quickly felt the large pocket in the front of her dress. There was no money, no gun, only a note. "My little civil servant, there shouldn't be any situation in this city that you can't handle, right?"

"Damn old man!" Ina cursed, crumpling the note into a ball and stomping on it twice.

This anger dispelled the panic in my heart.

Ina instantly reverted to her true nature. "Come on, Lucien, come with me. I'll take you to your aunt's place, then we'll hide and see what they do."

"Hmm," Xiao Lüxian responded, then realized something was wrong, "But we don't even know where we are right now."

Ina laughed, "Why don't we just ask someone?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Ina suddenly realized that she and Lucien were surrounded by a group of children. The children did not get too close, but they blocked the two of them from the front and back.

The children were dressed in rags and were very dirty. They were of different ages, the oldest being only seven or eight years old. He was tall but thin, like a skeleton covered with a layer of white skin. Ina could knock him down with one punch, but she and Lucien stood there uneasily. The children's eyes were numb, indifferent, and even revealed a hint of ferocity, like wild dogs.

After a brief standoff, a big boy bent down and whispered something to the little girl beside him, then slapped her hand, pushing her as she stumbled to Ina and Lucien's side.

"Can you lend us some money? We haven't eaten for two days," the little girl said pitifully.