The moon was as cool as water, and the light it cast made the outdoors extremely bright, with every detail clearly visible.
On the grass slope of the earthen fort, several sturdy men were roasting a kind of bird eggs on a red charcoal stove. The locals called them firebird eggs. They were slightly smaller than chicken eggs and very delicious.
A few steps away, at a small round table, Lu Ming was holding a deck of playing cards and performing magic tricks for Nicole, which made her exclaim from time to time.
Long Xiang and Eagle Eye Luo declined the dinner invitations and returned to the earthen fort provided by the Long Xiang family.
Beside them, Luo Yi and Luo Er were holding paper fans and using them to drive away mosquitoes.
Lu Ming suddenly turned around and asked Luo Yi, "Can you find your relatives' scroll here? Do you have a name? Oh, no one here has a surname, so do you have a name? Any directions?"
Luo Yi's body suddenly froze, as if she had been electrocuted. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but seemed to have suddenly forgotten how to speak Zhongzhou. She uttered a few words, which should be her native language, and then her pretty face turned pale, and her mumbling words stopped abruptly.
The truth was that the master had never chatted with her. Even when he spoke to her, he was just telling her to do things, and she would usually know what the master wanted her to do with just a few simple words.
But it was the first time that the master said so much to her and asked about her private affairs.
My mind was buzzing for a moment and I completely forgot how to speak Central Plains.
Lu Ming was helpless and said to Nicole: "You can talk to her about this later. You came all the way here. If you want to see her, please help her."
At this time, a sturdy man in his thirties ran up from the grass slope. He was wearing dark camouflage and had a square face and looked very honest. It was Lao Catfish.
Although Lao Catfish is taciturn and not very smart, he learned to fly a helicopter very quickly. Now, he is the captain of the Joint Matrix's air crew. Of course, he does not usually fly helicopters. Moreover, his so-called not very smart only refers to his daily handling of matters. In the military field, he is a genius. However, the so-called air crew now is just these three helicopters and dozens of aviation armed personnel.
"My lord, the sentry reports that Hawkeye Luo and Popolo are three miles outside the manor." Old Catfish came closer and bowed slightly.
Defenses are deployed three miles away on all sides, and the sentries communicate with this place using walkie-talkies.
As for the title "Lord", it is the original Chinese pronunciation. It is a word created for them by Lu Ming. When written in Central Plains, it generally means something like "respected leader".
Big Head, Stone, Lao Catfish and other senior executives of United Matrix use this word to refer to Lu Ming.
After the establishment of United Matrix Company, it was Datou who first started to call Lu Ming "Young Master". He felt that "Boss" or "Boss" were too distant and could not express the respect in his heart. It was better for him to call him "Young Master" as Fu Mosi did.
Lu Ming created the title "Lord" for them.
Hearing Lao Catfish's words, Lu Ming smiled and said, "These two, their schedules coincide with each other? Well, let's wait for them to come."
…
Ten minutes later, two gangs appeared at the foot of the grass slope. Popolo and Hawkeye Luo were wearing eye-catching white robes.
Popolo and Hawkeye Luo are about the same age, but Popolo is quite fat, and his small eyes can't be seen when he smiles.
Most of the followers stayed down there. Popolo and his son Long Xiang, and Eagle Eye Luo were accompanied by a beautiful woman. They only brought a few trusted followers to meet Lu Ming on the grass slope.
"Brother, what you guys are talking about is boring. I'm going upstairs to play for a while. If you want to come to my room, I'll leave the door open for you!" Nicole whispered into Lu Ming's ear with her red lips.
Lu Ming glared at her, Nicole and Luo Er gave a few instructions, chuckled, got up and left, leaving Long Xiang staring at her footprints in a daze.
Hawkeye Luo first introduced the gorgeous woman next to him.
According to Luo Yi's translation, the woman's name means red peach blossom, which Luo Yi translated as red peach, pronounced as Papa Ya. She is one of the three wives of Hawkeye Luo.
According to the customs of Batcheng, a noble man can marry three wives, and there is no distinction between high and low, and their status is exactly the same.
This Papa Ya looks to be around twenty years old. Eagle Eye Luo makes no secret of his fondness for her. He says that he had set his eyes on her a long time ago and had been waiting for her until his wife passed away. He then married her immediately. They have been married for three years now, and Papa Ya is in charge of all his family affairs. She is very capable, more capable than all the men in Bat City.
Papaya smiled at Lu Ming reservedly. She was wearing the traditional costume of a local noblewoman, a gorgeous rose-red gold-thread gauze dress that wrapped her whole body tightly from head to toe. However, the gauze fabric vaguely revealed her graceful figure.
Her long black hair was covered by a golden headscarf, and her face was covered with a black veil, revealing her pretty, snow-white face, deep and charming brown eyes, a small golden nose stud on her high nose bridge, and a beautiful cross-shaped ornament hanging from her forehead, full of exotic charm.
However, because Nicole had just left, her beauty seemed to still be there. Even though Papa Ya was so beautiful, she seemed to be overshadowed and dimmed, giving people the feeling of an ordinary beauty.
"Mayor Lu, after we separated, I went to the Dongmen Police Station and called Jingji Luo because Papaya said that this matter should be of greatest concern to you."
As Hawkeye Luo was speaking, Papaya also smiled politely at Lu Ming.
Lu Ming glanced at Papaya and thought that this woman was quite thoughtful.
"But, Mayor Lu, you may also know that the victims were employees of the oil company, so..."
Lu Ming nodded and smiled, "Yes, I have asked them to hold a trial as soon as possible, otherwise they should release the person. There is no reason to detain the citizens of Beiguan for a long time."
Hawkeye Luo sighed, "I am ashamed that I cannot help Mayor Lu, but I have already told Economic Luo that Mr. Liu is my lifelong friend. We cannot control the oil company, but if you, the Economic Luo family, dare to harm him, you will be my mortal enemy!"
"Thank you!" Lu Ming bowed slightly.
Luo Yi translated quickly on the side.
Popolo sat at the side and did not say anything. He smiled and said, "Eagle, are you done? It seems that you have done your best."
Implicitly, you only help Mayor Lu with this little thing? It hasn't been done yet.
Hawkeye Luo did not take it as an offense and smiled slightly: "Then you speak first! I'll let you, after all, the mayor is your guest."
Popolo looked at Lu Ming, "Mayor Lu, my aunt, who is also the ancestor of my Popolo family and the most honorable woman in my family, is willing to accompany you when you stay here..." The voice at the beginning was very small, fast, and reserved.
After all, the pronunciation of the Bat dialect and Luo Yi's native language is very different, so Luo Yi didn't hear it clearly at first.
"This is her dowry. The most noble person in our clan is getting married. Unfortunately, our family is weak, so the dowry will make you embarrassed." The voice was loud.
Luo Yi had no choice but to start translating from here.
Popolo clapped his hands, and the servant behind him handed over a big red gift list and a thick stack of contracts.
Bobo Luo pointed to the earthen fort and drew a circle. "Near Wolong Fort, there are 3,000 mu of good farmland, and more than 2,000 mu of medium farmland. To the south, there are another 5,000 mu of medium and low farmland. The total land is 11,463 mu. There are 112 households in Wolong Fort and 736 people. Together with the villages and communities on the other lands, there are 154 households and 1,023 people. They are all my family's dowry. Here is the gift list and the land deed, field deed and tenure deed. Please check them, Mr. Mayor."
From what Lu Ming heard, it seemed that the Popolo family wanted to marry someone to him, and the dowry would include more than 10,000 acres of land and more than a thousand serfs.
He was curious again and asked Luo Yi, "Is this earthen fort called Wolong Fort?"
Luo Yi whispered, "According to the Ba Te custom, a divine creature resides here, so I translated it into Wolongbao."
Lu Ming's heart moved, this is a good sign, "Well, the name is good, and your translation is also good."
Hawkeye Luo and Mrs. Papaya were already dumbfounded. Hawkeye Luo couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "Fei Bo, are you sure? Your old aunt is almost fifty, right? She wants to marry Mayor Lu. Are you crazy?"
Long Xiang's expression suddenly changed, he stood up suddenly and said angrily: "How dare you insult my ancestor? My ancestor made a great vow in front of the Three Dragon Gods to make my family prosperous and never married. She is a bodhisattva that my family admires. How dare you say that?!"
All the servants of Popolo's family glared at Hawkeye Luo, rubbing their hands together, as if they were ready for a fight.
Even Popolo, who had been smiling all the time, had fire in his eyes and stared at Hawkeye Luo.
Hawkeye Luo also knew that he had said the wrong thing in a hurry, which could easily lead to an endless fight between the two tribes. He stood up and stroked his chest slightly, "I said the wrong thing. I apologize to the Popolo family and to Aunt Dragon Girl!"
On the other side, Lu Ming was already dumbfounded as he listened to Luo Yi's translation.
Wanting a nearly fifty-year-old aunt to marry him? What was he thinking
She has never been married in her life, so how weird must her temper be
Moreover, he could understand that Popolo's aunt was younger than Popolo, but she was definitely not much younger. Popolo was probably over 60 years old, and his aunt, even if she was under 50 as she said, must be around 48 or 49.
What's more, people who never go out to see others are usually considered younger.
In my previous life, I went back to my hometown, but because I never went back, many people in my hometown thought I was their cousin and they always thought I was still very young.
From this perspective, it is not impossible that the old ancestor is over fifty years old.
To be honest, in this world, any woman in her early fifties may have a grandson as old as herself. Yes, a grandson, not a son.
Popolo heard Hawkeye Luo apologize, snorted and ignored him, and said to Lu Ming with a smile: "Mayor, my aunt is actually forty-five years old, but, although I shouldn't comment, my grandmother is like a fairy, fasting all day, so she is very simple and doesn't look that old..." He coughed, "My ancestor never married in her life, and now she is willing to break the vow for the mayor, which is also a blessing for my whole family..."
As he was talking on and on, Luo Yi was translating.
The implicit meaning was nothing more than how noble his ancestor was and how sincere and respectful they were to marry an ancestor with a higher status than him to himself.
Lu Ming rubbed his nose. Wolong Bay was a good omen. Ten thousand acres of land, thousands of serfs, and perhaps a quarter of the Popolo family's property would be given to him.
From then on, I had a real base here.
All of this is very touching.
But, forget about the marriage, let’s see how to buy it.
In fact, this is not too absurd according to local customs. The first thing to consider when planning a marriage is the status of the marriage partner.
The Popolo family is naturally the most sincere nowadays. In particular, they do not think that they would value the beauty of women in this kind of marriage relationship.
After all, the higher your status, the more you will understand what marriage really means.