The boy, who was no taller than the table, put the tea on the table.
The prefect was frightened when he saw it, fearing that the hot tea would be spilled on the child, so he hurriedly stretched out his hand to take it: "I will do it myself."
After he took away the tea, the boy didn't know what he was doing and just stood there blankly.
The prefect glanced at him and pointed to the fruit plate on the table: "Eat it."
The boy thought for a moment, reached out and grabbed a handful, stood behind the table and started eating.
This was clearly an ignorant child, and the prefect shook his head helplessly.
The young lady's maid was sick. She originally only had this maid. In addition, Dou County was short of manpower, and Guangzhou Mansion could not allocate manpower, so she asked her own maid to go.
The prefect originally wanted to send his attendants, but Mrs. Wu would not allow it.
There is a shortage of people at this time, so don't let people waste it on small things like serving people. There is nothing to do in serving people. You have the hands and feet to do what you can. As for other small things, just let the children do it.
The young madam is here to relieve the worries of the state government and raise more orphans. Under the leadership of the young madam Wu, officials like them also sent their servants to work, and the female relatives also did their best to do what they could at home.
"Is the young lady angry inside?" The prefect drank tea and inquired about the child intentionally or unintentionally, while looking inside.
The news about Mrs. Wu's arrest of two letter-writing gentlemen on the street has spread widely, and of course the prefect also knows about it.
The young lady didn't send the person to the government office, did she want to deal with it herself? Are you angry?
The child's mouth was stuffed with dried fruits and he shook his head: "I don't know."
"Go and have a look inside." The prefect pointed to him, "If the young lady is angry, I will leave first and come back later."
The ignorant child did not obey his words: "Young lady, please wait."
"Let me wait, but I don't want you to wait." The prefect said displeased.
The child stuffed the dried fruit into his mouth and stood on tiptoe to look at the tea on the table: "You're not asking me to wait, you're asking me to look at the tea." He then went to pick up the teapot on the fire.
Seeing him swinging the teapot, the prefect hurriedly shouted: "No, no, no, no, no, no, no."
"Why don't you drink it? Is the medicinal smell a bit strong?" Li Minglou said, stepping in from outside, "This is a new tea, it can drive away the cold."
The prefect hurriedly stood up and called the young lady.
Li Minglou nodded in return and said to the child carrying the teapot: "You are done with your work, go play in the yard."
The child responded by putting the teapot back on the stove and ran out, not even thinking that there was one more person in the room and a cup of tea missing.
The prefect picked up the teapot and poured Li Minglou a cup of tea. Li Minglou thanked him.
"These children need to be taken care of by the young lady." The magistrate said. He looked outside the door and saw that the child was playing in the yard. He looked at Li Minglou again and saw a woman in a white dress sitting on a pile of clouds.
, "The young lady is actually not much older than them."
Li Minglou smiled: "So it's just right."
She has the final say on whether it is suitable or not. The magistrate is just expressing his concern and does not need to really worry about it. Why is it so difficult for Mrs. Wu to really want to be an attendant? Don't have your own reasons for not wanting to do so.
The magistrate returned to the subject: "Young madam, the matter we discussed last time about asking a wealthy family to borrow land didn't seem to go well."
Li Minglou's voice was very pleasant, innocent and clear: "They are unwilling?"
"It's not that they are unwilling." The prefect understood what these people were thinking and considered, "They are worried that there will be trouble if they take it back in the future."
Li Minglou smiled: "It's really interesting. They are not worried about whether they can survive now, but worried about the future."
The magistrate said sarcastically and had plastic surgery: "Yes, they are living a good and comfortable life and have forgotten their previous worries."
"Your Excellency, let them know the current situation." Li Minglou said, "Be it the land or the property, what's the use if the people are gone? Just tell them that if you borrow it, you can stay in Guangzhou Prefecture. If you don't borrow it, you can leave Guangzhou Prefecture.
"
This was so crisp and frightening that the prefect responded crisply.
...
...
"She! She said that?"
The men sitting in a circle in the restaurant waiting for the banquet shouted in disbelief.
The prefect looked calm: "Yes, I didn't lie to you."
"This is a threat! This is robbery!" An older man sat down with a bit of a sneer, "What's the difference between them and the rebels?"
The prefect did not argue angrily because of his accusation, but smiled: "To be honest, Mrs. Wu is such a person. People all know that Mrs. Wu is kind and kind-hearted, helping the world and saving people, but in this world, saving people depends on killing people.
.”
He pulled up his chair and sat down, took a sip of the wine poured on the table, and looked at the glass.
"If she wasn't cruel, how could she be able to defend the city and support the people today? Do you really think she is a little girl in a boudoir admiring the flowers and the moon and feeling sad for the spring and autumn?"
The men in the hall looked at each other. Of course they were not innocent young people. Even if this woman was, her man was not, and neither were the people around her.
A man sat next to the prefect, raised his glass, and said seriously: "Master Song, you can't do this like this."
The prefect clinked glasses to him: "Master Tianba, there is really no other way to do this. We are all grasshoppers on the same rope. We can only fight the difficulties together and survive first. Everything else is easy to say. We can still survive without anything."
If you want to come back, if the person is gone, can you keep the things?"
When Mr. Tian Ba wanted to say something, someone next to him spoke first: "Sir Song, it's not that we don't fight the hard times together, it's that we can't accept this method."
The prefect looked at him: "What method?"
The man was polite and elegant, and his voice was calm and calm: "Since we are fighting together, we can't just provide money and materials, we should also provide people."
The prefect held the wine glass and laughed: "Your people are not good at fighting, so there is no need for it."
"If we can't fight, we can make decisions." The man said, "Sir, now Guangzhou Prefecture controls half of Huainan Road. It's too hard for you and Mrs. Wu alone."
The prefect understood: "Do you want to replace the government?"
"What do you mean by substitution?" the man corrected, "it means sharing the burden. We help the government do things."
Others also spoke one after another.
"Yes, since we are fighting together, treat us as individuals, not just as cattle and sheep."
"We have so much to do, which family doesn't have young talents?"
"Without using a sword or a gun, there is no problem with holding a pen."
"We don't want to steal Mrs. Wu's limelight. If we don't stand out outside, we can do things in obscurity inside, right?"
There was noise in his ears, and the magistrate hurriedly raised his hand to stop it: "Okay, okay, I understand what you mean."
Everyone stopped and looked at him.
The prefect put down his wine glass and said solemnly: "No."
Everyone was startled and then began to make noises and accusations, and tried to persuade them in confusion, but no matter what they said, the prefect just shook his head.
"If there is something that needs manpower, we will select and assign it from among you, but if you want to divide the power of the government, it is impossible." He said, he stood up, "There is no need to talk about this matter, you should go back and hurry up
Convince the family to tidy up the fields, otherwise pack up and prepare to leave."
People in the hall were in confusion, watching the prefect throw away and hurrying outside.
"Song Jiacheng! Are you unwilling to speak for us at all?" Someone shouted loudly, "You are from our Guangzhou Prefecture, and Mrs. Wu is an outsider."
It had been a long time since the magistrate had been named and called by someone's surname, so he paused slightly.
"Brother Jiacheng, do you just want to be driven by the Wu family?" The man said carefully, "The Wu family is just a general. They are not the foundation of this world."
The prefect turned around and said, "I am a disciple of the emperor and an official of the people of Guangzhou Prefecture. Only the emperor and the people can control me."
After saying that, he hurried away without stopping. The door was opened and closed to block out the shouting and cursing inside.
It was already dark outside, and fine snow particles fell down. The attendant opened his umbrella to cover the prefect.
"Sir." As a personal attendant, although he did not enter the hall, he could hear almost as much as he stood by the door. He couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Why don't you help them persuade Mrs. Wu?"
From the beginning to the end, the magistrate obeyed Mrs. Wu and refused to say anything good for these aristocratic families. He did not even suggest to discuss with Mrs. Wu.
As those people said, these aristocratic families are actually the foundation of Guangzhou Prefecture, and Mrs. Wu is an outsider after all.
"I still remember that when you first came to Gwangju Prefecture to take up a post, you spent a year visiting and making friends with these aristocratic families. At that time, I felt aggrieved for the master. The master said that if you want to stabilize Guangzhou Prefecture, you must stabilize these people. Why?
Now...."
"Only after experiencing life and death have I realized that what I thought before was too simple." The magistrate wrapped his cloak and smiled: "Aristocratic families are very important and powerful, but at that time Guangzhou Prefecture was besieged, and I asked them for help.
None of them came forward and either stayed behind closed doors or fled with their families."
Although they are his followers, the followers still want to defend those people: "My lord, this is a difficult situation. They have no soldiers and horses, and there is no way to help them."
The prefect looked at him and smiled: "Yes, so why should I stabilize them? Of course I followed the one who could receive the call for help and was not afraid of being attacked by thieves and soldiers from both sides, and was not afraid of hitting a stone with an egg. I personally led a group of people to come to the rescue.
Please save my Madam Wu."
This explanation was also nonsense, and the attendant had no choice but to laugh.
There were not many pedestrians on the street anymore. There was the sound of patrolling horse hooves in the distance, and the prefect headed towards the government office under the protection of soldiers and horses.
When he woke up the next day, the entire Gwangju Prefecture was covered with snow. Li Minglou stood on the porch and watched seven or eight boys and girls clearing the snow.
They say they are sweeping the snow, but they are actually playing with it, laughing and joking, and Li Minglou also has a smile on his face from time to time.
The best waiter is the one who can make the lady happy. Yuan Ji was very satisfied watching from outside the door. Fang Er came over with a letter in his hand: "There is someone outside who wants to see the lady."
Yuanji took the thin letter: "Businessman?"
Businessmen were at the back door, and if they belonged to an official or aristocratic family, they would enter and exit from the front of the government office.
Fang Er nodded: "You are the rare treasure that Miss wants most."
This is also a common thing. Yuanji checked that it was not poisonous and walked over to Li Minglou.
Li Minglou took it and opened it, showing a strange smile: "Why does everyone know that I am in danger now?"
Yuanji looked over and saw a line of writing on the opened letter. It was very familiar. He had just seen it a few days ago.
Mrs. Wu is in danger.
"Xiang Nan has left." Yuan Ji confirmed, frowning and looking at Fang Er, "Who is outside?"
Fang Erdao: "It's a man, about twenty years old, wearing a cloak and a hat. I don't know what he looks like. His accent is not from Guangzhou Prefecture."
Did you cover your head and face on purpose? Is it because you're afraid of being recognized or something? The accent doesn't matter, most people here will change their accent.
Li Minglou said: "Please come in."
There is no need to guess who the other party is, you will know it when you see it.
Fang Er responded and turned around to go out, and soon walked in with someone else.
Wearing a white cloak, he seemed to blend into the snow as he walked in the snow. When he crossed the threshold, children were throwing snowballs around, creating layers of snow mist.
A snowball happened to hit him, he stopped and raised his head, and the wind blew his hat, revealing his face.
The sounds in the yard disappeared at this moment, and all eyes were focused on him.