Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Zhao Yingqi burst into laughter, thoroughly enjoying herself. She didn't know where she got the courage to reveal her somewhat "vulgar" and "rebellious" true self.

She was conflicted. She secretly hoped that Ronan would reject her, but when Ronan didn't care at all and even praised her, she was so happy, relaxed, and even felt an irrepressible happiness.

“Um, Mr. Ronan, no, Ronan, I…” Zhao Yingqi mustered his courage, but still fell short.

While she may be somewhat "vulgar" and "rebellious," she also has a "reserved" and even "cowardly" side.

“I understand, no need to say anything.” Ronan indicated that he understood her meaning. “We’ll be there soon.”

"Oh," Zhao Yingqi responded, inexplicably returning to his previous state.

A short while later, Ronan led Zhao Yingqi into a house and then up to a private, semi-enclosed booth on the second floor with a view of the stage.

After waiting for about half an hour, the show started, and the name of the show was "Animal Farm".

Ronan suddenly recalled some things.

Once, after Ronan and Isabel were intimate, Ronan told her a story, Animal Farm. Later, Isabel adapted the story to a real-life context, making some changes and turning it into a stage play. Then, Ambrina revised it again, feeling that Isabel's writing was too stiff, the dialogue too profound, and not as accessible or humorous. She felt it should be a satirical comedy, mocking those who become even more reckless and oppressive after seizing power. It needed to be funny and absurd, especially the main characters, so that the audience would enjoy it.

This was one of the rare times that Isabelle agreed with Ambrina.

Going back to reality.

Although the play satirizes the "rebels," it can only be performed in such private small theaters.

It's like that joke Ronan anonymously published in the newspaper, badmouthing his own people. The security bureau arrested him, and the arrested man said he wasn't satirizing the king, but the dictatorial emperor of the empire. The security bureau spat in his face, saying, "I've worked in the security bureau for ten years, and I don't know who you're satirizing?"

Chapter 590: Laughter, Awkward Moments, Best Friends Discuss the Future

Animal Farm is a very popular show, especially among the nobles of the capital. Even after watching it several times, they still laugh uproariously. The last line, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," is particularly hilarious.

The nobles wholeheartedly agreed that if those who advocated freedom and equality were to seize power, they would definitely show this kind of attitude.

A bunch of people, all they do is criticize these nobles, as if they're nothing except for having a good ancestor. Don't they see that bloodline is useless these days? Which upper-class noble is still doing well? They all paid a price. Do they really think exchanging land for shares is just giving them money for nothing? And even then, they might get severely punished by the king and the bureaucracy. Lower-class nobles have to go straight to the battlefield and risk their lives. Do they really think tobacco licenses are so easy to obtain?

Perhaps these people who advocate freedom and equality aren't unaware of the truth, but rather they are far more malicious and shameless than these nobles. They only want rights, not obligations. Isn't democracy under the guise of equality and freedom precisely about not needing a person in charge?

During the performance, Zhao Yingqi laughed several times, but she still couldn't understand why these people were laughing so happily, especially some of them who even knew their lines by heart.

All I can say is that she is, after all, a Seresian. Although she has lived here for almost ten years, there are still many things she cannot understand.

The Kingdom of Phos, like other countries in the Western Continent, is still influenced by the culture of the old empire, and has not yet shaken off the feudal system that has lasted for hundreds of years, but is still gradually centralizing power.

Only those who truly belong to this country can resonate with every hidden joke.

Ronan couldn't do that either, because he wasn't a pure Frenchman himself.

After the performance, Ronan didn't say anything, but directly took Zhao Yingqi away from the small theater and then took a carriage back to the Marquis's mansion.

Ronan's Marquisate was not large, even smaller than that of many wealthy barons. It wasn't that he was poor, but rather that he didn't want to spend money on a place he didn't live in often. Only Zhao Yingqi lived there regularly, along with five or six servants. For such a small place, which could only be considered a villa with a courtyard, five or six servants were enough to handle the daily work.

As soon as they got off the carriage, Ronan and Zhao Yingqi, who had been chatting and laughing, suddenly felt awkward.

Because Ina and Astrid were standing in front of them.

"Old man, how could you do something like this?" Ina asked in an accusing tone.

Ronan didn't speak, but looked at Astrid. It could only be that she had played some tricks, which was why Ronan, who was only maintaining a natural, weak perception, was unable to sense Ina and her presence.

Astrid didn't say anything, but simply stood behind Ina, spreading her hands with an innocent expression, indicating that she had been forced into it.

Ronan gave Astrid a wink.

Astrid grabbed Ina and prepared to drag her away.

"Lily, let me go! I'm going to have to talk this out with the old man today."

"Will you let me go or not? If you don't, I'll hit you!"

Astrid simply hugged Ina with both arms. Astrid, who was almost as tall as Ronan, hugged Ina, who was about 165 cm tall, just like an old mother disciplining a little naughty child.

“A little commotion is enough, Ina,” Astrid said softly.

Ina, who was being held captive, kicked her legs wildly and struggled desperately, but she was completely unable to resist and was carried away by Astrid.

After the two left, Ronan and Zhao Yingqi remained silent for a long time before Ronan said, "Good night. Oh, and have the servants prepare two cups of milk tea." With that, Ronan left.

Zhao Yingqi walked back to his room alone, somewhat dazed.

She really didn't expect things to turn out this way so suddenly.

But what she didn't expect was that, a little while later, Ina and Astrid came back. Ina had completely changed her expression, returning to her usual cheerful and carefree demeanor.

At this moment, Zhao Yingqi suddenly remembered that before Ronan left, he had asked her to prepare two cups of milk tea. Milk tea was Ina's favorite, while Astrid was more casual. Ronan already knew that Ina and Astrid would come again.

Ina walked in and sat down casually. "Yingqi, you should thank me."

"Huh?" Zhao Yingqi was taken aback.

"What 'ah'? I was just doing that for your own good, to make the old man pay more attention to you. Don't you know he's a workaholic? Apart from Mom, it's hard for anyone else to get him to spare time. The Prime Minister gets some too, but that's not the same. Do you want to chat with him in bed every time and then be assigned to do things for him?"

"In short, you have to make the old man feel that his money is hard-earned before he will treat you well."

Ina explained in a very reasonable manner.

"Oh, and don't betray me," Ina added immediately.

Zhao Yingqi smiled and nodded, thinking to himself, "Why would I need to betray you? Your dad saw right through you."

Astrid dozed off, her chin resting on her hand. If it weren't for testing her perception-interference techniques, she wouldn't have bothered playing such a childish and boring game with Ina. She wasn't like Ina, a kid who was always looking for trouble.

"Ina, do you have someone you like?" Zhao Yingqi changed the subject.

“No,” Ina replied.

"Aren't you worried at all?" Zhao Yingqi asked with concern. As a princess, when she reaches a certain age, she will likely be betrothed. Back then, both Ambrina and Isabel were likely to ascend the throne, which is why they were able to keep delaying it.

“I don’t plan to be a princess anymore,” Ina said. “I don’t want to take over my aunt’s position either. My mother and Aunt Isa can maintain peace because of the old man. If Lucien comes to power in the future and I become the director, who knows, one day I might take down or kill someone for Lucien, and then I will be accused of acting on my own initiative and beheaded to appease others’ anger.”

"There's no such thing as family affection in the royal family. Besides, Lucien is just like my mother. He looks silly and doesn't have a temper, but when it comes to killing someone, he doesn't hesitate for a second."

"Ina said."

"So what do you plan to do?" Zhao Yingqi asked.

"Anyway, I don't want to be a princess anymore, and I'm not going to the Ministry of the Interior. Being a teacher at a school would be fine," Ina replied.

Astrid, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly laughed.

"Lily, what are you laughing at?" Ina asked, frowning.

Astrid stretched and said, "I'm laughing at someone who skipped school since childhood and always messed with teachers, yet wants to be a teacher. Isn't that funny? Hahahaha."

"And what about you? What are your plans?" Ina countered Astrid's question.

Although they are all in their teens, in this era, they are already at an age where they need to think about the future.

Astrid yawned again. "I don't care. I'm an illegitimate child, what can't I do? I'll just drift through life."

Ina's expression was complicated for a moment. "I'm actually a little envious of you."

Astrid raised her chin. "You should be jealous. After all, you can never have my unparalleled beauty and talent."

"Ugh~" Ina and Zhao Yingqi both exaggeratedly vomited.

Chapter 591 Change of Leadership, Same Route, Journey Begins

In November, the prime ministerial election began.

In December, Agriculture Minister Adrian, who is not yet 60 years old, won the election and will officially become the new prime minister in January next year.

January, 1604.

The then 48-year-old former Prime Minister Dinia left office to become a senior lecturer at the Paristo Magic Academy.

"I've done everything I could, everything I should, and everything I wanted to do," Dinya said.

The country has become stronger and people's lives have improved. Although this result is far from her original ideal, Dinya has realized that it was ultimately an ideal. She chose reality and chose Ronan.

Ronan also changed jobs, leaving the Prime Minister's Office Secretariat and taking Camille with him to the Inner Court Secretariat. He plans to carefully select and train his successor, and also train Camille so that she can take over the position of Inner Court Secretary from Mrs. Antari in the near future.

Of course, the more important task was to teach his son how to govern the country. Although in Ronan's vision, some of his and Ambrina's descendants would eventually be overthrown or even go to the guillotine, at least it couldn't be his own son.

Elena and Agustina resigned from all their positions. These two were lazybones to begin with, and after working so hard for so many years, it was time for them to rest.

Following this, the central government underwent another round of organizational and personnel changes.

The State-owned Assets Management Department was established to supervise and manage state-owned assets, with Ronan's old friend Abelard serving as its minister.

Ronan can't let go of state-owned enterprises for the time being.

Here's the key point: the Ministry of the Interior, which had enjoyed a glorious existence for over a decade, no longer exists, and its former Minister of the Interior, Cheney, has been reassigned as Minister of Industry. On the surface, he has lost his power, but for him, who had previously been somewhat of a puppet minister, this is true power.

The Security Bureau was spun off and became a department directly under the King. Isabel, Ashley, and Golan all left the Security Bureau, a smooth transition that made room for energetic young people. With room for advancement, even the most incompetent agents will work diligently; otherwise, they'll quickly become the type who catch a rabbit and call it a bear.

The Industry and Commerce Security Bureau was disbanded, and its personnel with intelligence ties were transferred to the State Security Bureau. Others responsible for market supervision and management were transferred to the Ministry of Commerce. With the continuous advancement of industrialization and urbanization, economic crimes are increasing, and this must be addressed.

The Bureau of Inspection also became independent and transformed into the Ministry of Inspection, still responsible for inspecting officials. After many years of hard work, Alice finally became the minister.

"You can't do politics without eliminating a few more insects." These were Alice's exact words, and she eventually became like Ronan.

Ronan's old subordinate, "Blind Man," left his homeland to serve as governor of a colony in the New World, to appease the natives who had just been suppressed.

What's that saying again? We will remain steadfast in our national policy of sustainable development and not abandoning the principle of "draining the pond to catch all the fish" for a hundred years.

Another former subordinate, nicknamed "Dumb," joined the central government, succeeding Adrian, who had become Prime Minister, as the new Minister of Agriculture.

After all, the majority of the people in this country are farmers, so rural issues will always be the key issues.

Having honed her skills in the colonies for many years and accumulated considerable experience in governance, Yvette, who was practically a half-governor and had distinguished herself in suppressing rebellions, returned to the capital to succeed Ronan as the head of the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Office, essentially the first secretary.

She finally became the number one secretary, but the prime minister was no longer Dinia.

In other departments, it was mostly internal promotions and people replaced by the new Prime Minister Adrian.

As the new prime minister, he naturally needs his own people, especially the National Guard, which can directly manage police forces across the country and collect information from various regions. He also has the Ministry of Transport, which has law enforcement powers over postal police, and the Ministry of Finance, which he must control no matter what.

Violence, information, and financial power must all be seized, otherwise this prime minister is a fake.

The reason why the new Prime Minister Adrian was able to control these departments is because Ronan and Dinah wanted to set an example for their successors. If they did not hand over core power and instead sidelined the new prime minister, it would be inevitable that successors would follow suit.

Of course, Ronan will not relinquish all power for the time being; he has retained some to prevent the new prime minister from altering the industrial and agricultural systems that he and Dinia have built up over more than a decade.

A new prime minister can take power, but changing course is absolutely unacceptable.

In March, everything stabilized, and Ronan took a week off to take Zhao Yingqi away from the capital for a trip to the western coast.

Zhao Yingqi has been in the Kingdom of Fas for almost ten years, but she has lived in the capital all these years and has never been outside the capital. The last time she left the capital, she went north to the Rhine.

Although the road conditions are much better now, it still takes a whole week. If you travel by horse-drawn carriage, you would have to return immediately after arriving at the coastal port within two days. Therefore, Ronan chose to fly.

"How are you feeling?" Ronan asked.

At this moment, he and Zhao Yingqi were flying in the air together on a floating shield, standing very close to each other, but Ronan only put his hands on her shoulders and did not have any further contact.

Zhao Yingqi kept her eyes fixed ahead, not daring to look down, and answered in a slightly trembling voice, "It's okay." Actually, she was a little scared.

Ronan pressed himself against Zhao Yingqi from behind, holding her hands in his own. "Will this feel better?"

"Mm," Zhao Yingqi replied softly.

"Look down." Ronan whispered in Zhao Yingqi's ear. The weather was still a bit cold in March, and his breath hit Zhao Yingqi's ear as he spoke, making her even more nervous.

Zhao Yingqi subconsciously looked down and saw a vast expanse of wheat fields.

The Kingdom of Phos is located at a similar latitude to the northeast of Seris. Its main food crops are winter wheat and soybeans, which are rotated. Wheat is sown in September and October and harvested in April and May. Then soybeans are planted and harvested in September and October, followed by wheat.

It was March, and the wheat had grown strong; a gentle breeze created waves of wheat.

Beyond the vast wheat fields, the view extends to the rural dwellings of the Xiaohe branch, rows of wooden houses.

Soon, they quickly passed the village again, and the scenery before them had transformed into a vibrant mountain forest, with trees sprouting new buds, green grass bursting forth, and wildflowers in full bloom.

"It's alright," Ronan asked.

“It’s beautiful,” Zhao Yingqi replied.

In terms of scenery, no country can compare to Seris. It's just a pity that Zhao Yingqi was just old enough to remember things when she went abroad with her father and lived in Bengal in eastern India. When she was a little older, due to unforeseen circumstances, she came to the Kingdom of Fas with Ronan. In fact, she had never seen any of the customs and culture of Seris.

What she saw was the royal capital of Paristo, where splendor and filth, refinement and chaos coexisted.

For Zhao Yingqi, this was the first time she had ever seen such a landscape, and from the air, with a panoramic view like that of a drone. The beauty was simply breathtaking.

"Prepare to land. There's no need to fly for too long on the first flight," Ronan said.

Zhao Yingqi is currently at the second level, and his body is still a bit too much for this kind of flight. He needs to stop and rest after flying for a while, and also eat and drink something.

Soon after, the two landed, and Ronan built a makeshift stove with stones and started a fire to prepare for a picnic.