Three days passed in a flash, and Zhulan received a thick letter from her youngest son. Zhou Laoda happened to be there, and he asked, "Are you not coming back for the New Year this year?"
"Wu Ming is worried about him leaving on his own and he won't be back this year."
Boss Zhou misses his younger brother. Without his younger brother around, no one will take care of Minghui.
Zhulan flipped through the letter with a frown on her face. There was a lot of information in the letter, saying that Huaizhou was a major grain-producing continent and was not short of food.
Boss Zhou asked, "Mom, what did I write?"
Zhulan put down the letter, "Wu Ming took a concubine, Changzhong was puzzled. He thought Wu Ming and Song had a good relationship, and didn't understand why he wanted to take a concubine. He thought more and wrote more."
Boss Zhou was surprised, "Wu Ming took a concubine?"
The two families had a close relationship, and although he didn't say it, he thought in his heart that Wu Ming would not take a concubine.
Zhulan took out a piece of letter paper, "Changzhong wrote that Wu Ming told him that not everyone can do whatever they want, which shows that taking a concubine was not his original intention, but he couldn't refuse."
Boss Zhou is no longer the honest and straightforward man he used to be. He understood what his mother meant and asked, "Is this concubine here to monitor him?"
"I don't know about that. This is Wu Ming's own business. He will handle it."
After all, Wu Ming is not a member of the Zhou family, and the Zhou family has no right to interfere in Wu Ming's backyard. Moreover, a big shot like Wu Ming has weighed every step he takes, and he knows what he wants.
Boss Zhou sighed, "The reason why we brothers can live comfortably is all thanks to Dad's protection."
There is no need to talk about the capital city, let’s just talk about the third brother, Chang Lian. He was able to avoid a lot of local dirt because of his father.
Zhulan asked, "How are the vegetables in the greenhouse growing?"
Boss Zhou's smile deepened. "It's growing well. We'll be able to eat fresh vegetables in a few days."
"That's great. Let's kill a sheep in a few days and have a mutton hotpot in the winter."
Boss Zhou nodded in agreement and said, "Mom, Dad donated the breeding sheep on our farm. Now we only have one breeding sheep on the farm."
Beef and mutton are scarce in the capital now. The beef that was available before is no longer available. He treasures the breeding sheep on his own farm and was thinking of breeding more next year. However, his father donated the breeding sheep in a blink of an eye.
Zhulan, "The court is short of breeding sheep. The breeding sheep of our farm are of good quality purchased at a high price. Although your father is stingy, he is the most generous when it comes to big things."
Boss Zhou felt ashamed, "My son is selfish."
"Don't say that. You're just feeling sorry for the animals on the farm. You're the one who takes care of them. I understand how you feel."
Boss Zhou asked, "Mother, where does the court plan to raise sheep?"
Zhulan knew, "In the south, once the animals have grown, they will be sent to the grasslands for breeding. Most of the people on the grasslands live on animal husbandry. Without livestock, they cannot survive. The court will only have one or two years of hardship. Now the grasslands belong to the court, and everything will be fine once the animals have grown."
In the Hanlin Academy, Liu Song stopped Wen Rong and said, "Donating grain was your idea, right?"
Wen Rong, "What did you say?"
"Don't pretend, this must have been your idea."
Chang Zhi missed the best opportunity to leave and could only continue to hide behind the bookshelf without moving, but his ears were honestly perked up.
Wen Rong held the book and looked directly into Liu Song's eyes. "So what if it's me? So what if it's not me?"
Liu Song chuckled, "If it's you, then it means you want to change the Wen family and have already taken action. If it's not you, then it only means that I overestimate you."
If it was the former, Wen Rong was ahead of him, and he would not admit that he was worse than Wen Rong.
Wen Rong smiled, took the book and left without saying a word.
Liu Song felt heavy in his heart, as it was indeed Wen Rong's idea. However, he still had no say in the Liu family, and a feeling of frustration lingered in his heart.
Chang Zhi came out after the other two left, holding the book and falling into deep thought. If it was Wen Rong who influenced the Wen family and Wen Rong completely controlled the Wen family, would the Wen family and the Zhou family not have to confront each other? Then he fell silent again. The emperor hoped for balance. Even if Wen Rong controlled the Wen family, the Wen family and the Zhou family would still be relative.
In Zhangzhou, Changyi came back from outside, his nose was red from the cold. Yushuang handed him a cup of hot tea, "Dad, it's so cold, don't go out with Liufeng."
Chang Yi drank some hot water to warm himself up, "I want to go see the people here in person."
Whenever his son-in-law goes to the village these days, he follows him. The lives of the people here are harder than he imagined. Many families have run out of food, and the children have no strength and can only lie on the kang.
Some families had hay cooking in their pots and drinking hay soup, and the children seemed to be craving for something delicious.
The son-in-law delivered some sweet potatoes and dried seaweed to each household. The people did not dare to eat too much after receiving the food. A family of six shared a sweet potato and used some seaweed to cook a large pot of soup. Both adults and children were very satisfied with this meal.
Yu Shuang listened to her father talking about the difficulties faced by the people and sighed, "Liu Feng took the lead in donating food, but the county is not rich, so we didn't get much food. The fine grains donated by our family were exchanged for coarse grains with grain merchants, and we don't know how long the county government's food can last."
Chang Yi asked, "Didn't get the fish cake?"
"There are too many poor places in Zhangzhou. Our county government has some food to support us, but some counties have no food at all. Now we can provide relief to the most needy counties."
Chang Yi frowned and said, "I'll go talk to Liu Feng."
You have to fight for what you need to fight for. Don't think you can hold on and let the higher-ups get used to ignoring Liu Feng. That won't work.
Liu Feng was stunned after hearing his father-in-law's words, "Dad, I understand."
"Well, you have good intentions, but you should also plan more. Don't wait until you are really short of food and the higher-ups think you can still hold on. Then it will be the people who suffer."
Liu Feng's junior broke out in a cold sweat and bowed, saying, "I am grateful for your advice."
Chang Yi was satisfied with his son-in-law's attitude. "Don't do everything by yourself. Only those who cry can get food. Of course, I must also praise your actions. You have done a lot of practical things this year. Dad is very pleased."
Liu Feng was embarrassed, "My son-in-law didn't do much."
"Don't be modest. Your idea of letting the people grow medicinal herbs is a good one. As long as it develops, the county will definitely be out of poverty."
The corners of Liu Feng's mouth curled up uncontrollably. He had received recognition from his father-in-law. His recent worries about the people's food shortage were gone, and he was filled with energy.
At night, Zhou Shuren knew that Wu Ming was taking a concubine. "It's not easy for Wu Ming to be outside. He can indeed rely on me, but the emperor wants to see Wu Ming's own ability. Moreover, Wu Ming is a pure ancient man. He has no objection to taking a concubine."
Zhulan, "I just feel sorry for the Song family."
Zhou Shuren laughed, "Wu Ming knows what he wants. He won't let the backyard be in chaos. In his heart, power is more important than emotion."
Zhu Lan didn't want to continue the conversation, so she asked, "Did the King of Qi collect the livestock smoothly?"
Zhou Shuren shook his head. "It's not going smoothly. Now that we have just donated grain, we can't help but feel reluctant. The court is using silver to buy livestock, so who would really want silver? The King of Qi looked for a few places, but they didn't donate much. Some even killed all their livestock after hearing the news."
Zhu Lan sneered, "Oh, they only care about themselves, not the lives of the people."
Zhou Shuren has seen a lot. "It's not worth it for you to be angry with them. They thought they were being very careful, but they didn't know that the emperor knew everything."
"I was wondering how you knew that. So it was the Emperor who told you?"
Zhou Shuren nodded, "Yeah."
Zhulan saw that Shuren looked unhappy and asked, "What else?"
Zhou Shuren said: "The emperor asked about Yuyi's age today."
Zhulan glared, "Does this mean you have any idea about Yuyi's marriage?"