The performance has ended, Lu Lan also completed her retirement declaration, retreated backstage amid the reluctant shouts from the audience, and then sat alone in the quiet room, looking at herself in the dressing mirror in a daze.

Since Jian'an was pushed onto the stage by Lu Ren in the twelfth year, it has been a full sixteen years since Jian'an was twenty-eight years now, and the naughty and cute little girl back then is now in her forties.

Sixteen years is enough to change too many things, Lu Lan is no longer the ignorant little girl she was at the beginning, she has a lot of her own ideas when she is mature, but she also understands more about Lu Ren's good intentions towards herself.

But because of this, Lu Lan's affection for Lu Ren is getting deeper and deeper, but she no longer wants to be by Lu Ren's side like she did when she was a little girl. At least the current Lu Lan has already understood that if she is blindly tired of being by Lu Ren's side, it is actually meaningless, not only will she not be able to help Lu Ren, but she will also add a lot of unnecessary trouble to Lu Ren.

In short, Lu Lan has grown a lot now. It is precisely because of this growth that she made the decision to retire bravely when she was brilliant. And after stepping off the stage, she will want to see the world after understanding a lot of things like what she said to Lu Ren at that time. As for Lu Ren, as a modern person, he also understands Lu Lan's thoughts, so he supports Lu Lan's decision very much.

However, after learning about Lu Lan's idea of wanting to see the world that day, Lu Ren also had some other ideas. Let's put it this way, Lu Ren has always hoped that the people of Huaxia can go out...... Well, to put it mildly, Lu Ren wants to make the hearts of the Chinese people have more ideas of foreign colonization, instead of being bound by traditional ideas in the circle of the Chinese mainland. Then at this time, there needs to be a leader to lead the people and tell them how big the outside world is. Then there is no doubt that Lu Lan's influence is very suitable.

Let's not talk about these first, just say that Lu Lan is still sitting in the quiet room in a daze at this moment.

Sixteen years of stage career has left too many unforgettable memories for Lu Lan. Now announcing her retirement and leaving the stage, although it was her own decision that she had made a long time ago, but at this time, Lu Lan's heart still had a faint sense of loss, and she felt that her heart was suddenly a little empty, as if something was missing...... Actually, it's nothing, it's just human nature. If it were someone else, how many people would not be in such a mood?

After sitting for a long time, Lu Lan suddenly smiled at herself in the mirror, and then stretched her waist: "That's fine!" At least I won't be so tired from tomorrow onwards. Tomorrow I'm going to sleep until the afternoon and don't get up. ”

With a smirk to himself, the door of the quiet room was gently knocked, and Lu Qin's voice followed: "Aunt Lan? ”

"It's Xiaoqin! Come on in. ”

The door opened, and Lu Qin came to Lu Lan's side. They first said hello to each other casually, and then Lu Qin looked at Lu Lan in the mirror and her eyes lit up: "Aunt Lan is Aunt Lan, how beautiful you really look." It's ridiculous that some people outside who are jealous of Aunt Lan also say that Aunt Lan's beauty is made up by dressing up, but they don't know that Aunt Lan who has washed the lead is the most beautiful. ”

Lu Lan smiled and reached out to pinch the tip of Lu Qin's nose: "Your girl's mouth is always so sweet." You are seventeen years old this year, and when your Aunt Lan was your age, in addition to following your stinky dad and causing trouble for your stinky dad, her mouth was not as sweet as yours. ”

Lu Qin glanced at Lu Lan a few more times, and suddenly asked with some uncertainty: "Aunt Lan, do you think I can be like you in the future?" Seriously, I couldn't help but cry several times when I watched your last paragraph today. ”

Lu Lan smiled indifferently, suddenly got up and pressed Lu Qin to her seat, and then gently stroked Lu Qin's face with both hands: "Xiaoqin, look at yourself in the mirror." ”

"Huh? What's wrong? ”

Lu Lan smiled again, and the fingertips on Lu Qin's face became more and more gentle: "When I first appeared on the stage, I also asked your stinky dad a similar question, do you know what your stinky dad said?" ”

"Huh? What did Daddy say? ”

Lu Lan still smiled: "Your stinky dad said that if even I can't do it, then he really can't think of anyone else who can do it, so the question is not whether he can do it, but whether he has the heart to do it." Because of this, it took me 16 years to get to where I am now. Xiaoqin, now I pass on this sentence to you...... Your appearance, your talent, and even your capital and your backstage are not below Aunt Lan at the beginning, so as long as you do it with your heart, then the achievements you can achieve in the future will definitely be above Aunt Lan. ”

"Aunt Lan......"

Lu Lan waved her hand, signaling Lu Qin not to say more, and then changed her tone and asked, "By the way, did you come to me for something?" ”

Lu Qin also came back to her senses at this time, and hurriedly said: "Mother, Aunt Zhen (referring to Zhen Mi), and Mr. Xun, let me come to Aunt Lan and you go to have a meal together." ”

Lu Lan's relationship with Cai Yan and Zhen Mi has nothing to say, and it is common for them to be called to eat together. But after all, Lu Lan has been so many years, and some things are very clear, so when she heard "Mr. Xun", she was slightly stunned, knowing that this dinner was probably not just as simple as having a meal together. Originally, I wanted to ask Lu Qin what was going on, but after thinking about it, I didn't ask Lu Qin. Speaking of which, Lu Qin is still just a seventeen-year-old girl after all, and she doesn't know much about some things.

In response to Lu Qin's call, Lu Lan went to change into civilian clothes, and then quietly slipped out with Lu Qin. If you don't slip away quietly, the star chasers and paparazzi that emerged in that era are also very powerful.

There is little gossip, just that Lu Lan and Lu Qin quietly came to the dining place, and a small dinner party is being held here, that is, a buffet banquet prepared by Lu Ren, and some officials and leaders in Yizhou are already chatting and dining at will.

These are nothing, after Lu Lan came, he was invited into the middle hall, and Cai Yan, Xun Yu and others were waiting for Lu Lan. However, to Lu Lan's surprise, there were still a few foreigners with different skin colors, hair colors, and eye colors in the seats in the middle hall.

With Lu Lan's entry into the hall, Cai Yan and Xun Yu didn't react much, but as soon as these foreigners saw Lu Lan, they hurriedly left the table to greet them, greeted Lu Lan in a not very fluent Chinese, and even brought out a few foreign words in excitement. An interpreter hurriedly followed, but Lu Lan smiled and waved her hand, and then greeted the foreigners in the same foreign language.

Xun Yu was slightly surprised when he saw this, and hurriedly asked Shirley beside him, but Shirley just responded with a smile: "It's Latin." But I don't know when Xiaolan learned it. ”

After greeting each other, Lu Lan swept her eyes and sat down between Xun Yu and Shirley, and then asked Xun Yu quietly: "Xun Gong, what is the matter with these Romans?" Also, it shouldn't be that simple for you to call me for dinner, right? ”

Xun Yu nodded approvingly to Lu Lan, but there was also a little apology in the apapproval. Speaking of which, Xun Yu and Lu Lan are also old acquaintances, after all, Lu Ren took in Lu Lan not long after he was under Lao Cao, and then many times Lu Lan was helping Lu Ren run errands or something, and Xun Yu didn't go there less. And at that time, Xun Yu liked it very much, and admired this lively, cute, smart and clever Lan girl. It can even be said that if Xun Yu at that time had not had concerns about many things, he would have wanted to ask Lu Lan for marriage on behalf of his eldest son Xun Yun.

Later, Xun Yu came to Yizhou in the seventeenth year of Jian'an, and Lu Lan had been on the stage for five years at that time. At the beginning, Xun Yu didn't quite understand why Lu Ren pushed Lu Lan onto the stage, after all, in the minds of traditional people, the social status of the excellent people was not very good. But when he saw that many of Lu Ren's things were easily completed with Lu Lan's help, some of Xun Yu's thoughts changed, and at the same time, his evaluation of Lu Lan was much higher. In the following time, Xun Yu actually asked Lu Lan to help with some publicity and other things...... Otherwise, how could Lu Lan frown as soon as she heard "Mr. Xun is invited"?

These don't talk too much, anyway, Xun Yu smiled apologetically at Lu Lan and then said in a low voice: "These foreigners are indeed from Rome, and there are also envoys from the Roman emperor." ”

Lu Lan frowned slightly: "Why did you get me involved again?" What do you want me to help this time? ”

Xun Yu's tone was still apologetic: "Originally, you have already announced your retirement, so I shouldn't trouble you anymore." But Xiaolan, this time the matter is really big, and I need you to do a very, very big favor. ”

"What the hell is going on?"

What's going on? That's a long story.

Isn't Lu Ren out of the country now? And Lu Ren's main enemies are the two great empires of Anxi and Kushan in Central Asia, neither of which is easy to mess with.

Two great empires in Central Asia! Lu Ren's current strength is very good, but Lu Ren is not arrogant enough to dare to start a war with these two great empires at the same time. In fact, even in the current battle against Guishan, Lu Ren fought cautiously, and would rather slow down his pace than be steady.

On the other hand, however, it is impossible not to ignore the fact that the Rest and Kushan are both from Persia and have always had very good diplomatic relations with each other. In the original history, after the royal family of Sabbath was replaced by the Sassanid royal family, the Kushan side accepted many people from the original royal family of Sabbat, and there were constant wars with the Sasanians, which also reflected the relationship between the Kushan and the Sabbatical family. (This is a bit of, it's just a matter of plot needs, don't take it seriously.) ）

Again, Lu Ren knew that after Wan'er appeared in Anshan, she played a hand of "mind control" on the middle and upper-class nobles of Guishan, which also made the relationship between Anxi and Guishan more and more extraordinary. And the end result is likely to be that you just hit this one, and the other one will immediately send troops to help. In fact, during the Battle of Rangoon, didn't the rest of the rest send some warships to help Guishan?

Therefore, what Lu Ren was most worried about actually happened, but while Lu Ren was careful to take precautions, there was no follow-up on the rest side, at least so far, except for the fact that Anxi sent some warships to help during the Battle of Yangon, Anxi has never sent other military forces to help Anxi. Lu Renhe was surprised and cautious, and immediately sent more intelligence forces on the rest of the country, and the final news came that Rome and the rest of the liver were again.

The Roman side and Sabbath were already bitter rivals, especially in the Armenian region between the two countries, which had been in dispute for many years. And at the point in time that Lu Ren was in, another large-scale battle between Rome and Anxie broke out not too long ago, and the final result was that the Roman side was defeated and a large amount of property was compensated, which was definitely a shame for the Roman side.

Originally, the rest of the society was weakened by infighting and war, and was replaced by the Sassanid Empire, but because of the appearance of Wan'er and the help of Cass Eli, the rest had a tendency to flourish, but this had little to do with the Roman side. After some years of recuperation, the Romans had the idea of revenge for rest, and some skirmishes were fought again in Armenia.

In other words, Lu Ren's most fearful rest, his military strength was restrained by the Roman side at this time. And then on the other side of Rome, in fact, he also had similar worries as Lu Ren. Lu Ren will be worried about the intervention of the Guishan, and Rome will be worried about the intervention of the Guishan, so the two sides actually have common interests.

If it was according to the original process, there would have been no connection between the Roman side and the Han side during this period, but now due to Lu Ren's intervention, there is a connection between Rome and Lu Ren. In the early years, Lu Ren wanted to sell the goods to Rome, and some time ago, the eastern provinces of Rome also intended to buy weapons that could be used against firearms for Lu Ren. All in all, the two sides are "colluding" in this way.

Of course, for Rome, it was not enough for Lu Ren to just sell them firearms, what they needed was a military ally who could help them contain Kushan's allies while they were resting. Therefore, after the current Roman emperor heard about the purchase of firearms from Lu Ren in the eastern provinces of Rome, he actively instructed the eastern provinces that had the ability to get in touch with Lu Ren to have a dialogue with Lu Ren, so the envoys from Rome were sent out.

It should also be a coincidence, Anxi originally had a good sea route blockade of the eastern provinces of Rome, but not long ago, didn't Lu Ren send Huang Zhong, Zhou Yu, and Sun Shangxiang to deal with Ceylon? This provided some convenience for the Roman fleet to break through the resting naval blockade. After arriving in Ceylon and completing its supplies and rest, the Roman fleet headed straight for Rangoon. And after meeting with Lu Ren, he went to Yizhou again.

It's not that Lu Ren can't be the master, but that the Roman envoy has the instructions of the Roman emperor to test Lu Ren's strength, so he asked Lu Ren to go to Yizhou to have a look, and Lu Ren has no objection to this. Politics and diplomacy are like this, if you want to get the cooperation of the other side, you have to show the other side what you should show the other side. If you can't get the capital to cooperate, why should others cooperate with you? And this is the reason why these foreigners will appear in Yizhou......