Mei Niang also led the doctor to resettle the victims outside the city every day. Jian Ning knew about it. She also asked Xu Dali to send a lot of medicine over. Since coming to Xing'an County, the two families have been in closer contact than before. Whenever Mei Niang has some free time, she will bring her children to Xing'an County to stay for a few days.
"Thanks to my sister-in-law, my wife and the others are doing well. Thank you for your concern." The two families had more exchanges, so there were no more empty formalities. Qin Yifan smiled and said, "If it's convenient for you, my sister-in-law, please cook some dishes to go with the wine. Brother Ding and I have something to discuss, so we won't be able to rest for a while."
"Okay, wait a moment, I'll be there soon." Jian Ning came out of the flower hall and went to Duan Xinyan first.
Duan Xinyan came to Xing'an County with Jian Ning and others last summer and has never returned to the capital. She gave birth to a daughter before the New Year in December last year. Mei Niang hired a wet nurse for her, and Aunt Li also selected three mothers to come over before she gave birth.
The three mothers were all elderly people in the Pingnan Palace. Two of them were helping Duan Xinyan take care of the children, and the other was sent here to teach Erniu and Sanniu etiquette and manners. All three mothers were well-mannered and diligent. Jian Ning only wanted them to help with housekeeping. They were not heavy laborers in the palace, so she didn't want them to help with cooking. She preferred to do these things herself with Erniu and Sanniu.
When she went to Duan Xinyan's room, Erniu and Sanniu were also there. Duan Xinyan was generous. Her mother Min left her a lot of money. She was generous to her two nieces, and they also loved to stick to her.
After giving birth to a daughter, Duan Xinyan once blamed Jian Ning, blaming Jian Ning for her bad luck and causing her to give birth to a daughter. Later, Jian Ning coaxed her to bloom first and then bear fruit, and the second child would definitely be a boy. In addition, Erlangzi did not spoil her less because she gave birth to a daughter. On the contrary, he spoiled her even more than before and loved the daughter to the core. Only then did she calm down.
"I came over to see Xiao Chuntian." Jian Ning came in and saw Erniu and Sanniu there. "You two go to the kitchen and light a fire first. Mother will cook a few dishes for your Uncle Qin and your father. Go quickly."
Erniu and Sanniu agreed to go.
The two girls came out, laughing and joking, and started sparring with each other as they walked. They had learned all the rules in vain, mainly because they were naughty, especially the second girl. If the sparring was good, it would be fine, but if the third girl accidentally hurt her, the two of them would start fighting immediately.
"I just played with Jiajia and Yaoyao for a while, and went to sleep after the wet nurse fed her." Duan Xinyan pulled Jian Ning into the inner room to see her daughter, and told Jian Ning to walk lightly and not to disturb her daughter, which made Jian Ning twist her butt.
She screamed and jumped up high.
"Hush~ Be quiet, don't disturb your daughter." Jian Ning rolled her eyes at her, "I'm a mother of four children, don't I have more experience than you? Your voice is getting louder and louder like your brother-in-law. If there's any quarrel, it's you who's disturbing your daughter."
"You are right anyway. I don't want to bother with you." Duan Xinyan said while rubbing half of her butt.
"I'm glad to know." After entering the room, Jian Ning went forward to look at the sleeping little Chuntian. Chuntian was the nickname she gave to Duan Xinyan's daughter. She hadn't been able to get pregnant for a long time and now she had figured it out. As her relationship with Duan Xinyan became increasingly close, she also became particularly fond of her niece.
"Eldest sister, tell me, does Chuntian look more like me or her father?" Duan Xinyan asked Jian Ning while holding her arm as the two came out of the inner room.
"It looks better if it looks like you, and it does look more like you."
"Are you praising my beauty, Eldest Sister?"
Jian Ning elbowed her and said, "Yes, you are as beautiful as a flower. You are the most beautiful in the world. Especially when you are stuck in the cow dung, you are even more beautiful."
"Elder sister!" Duan Xinyan shook off her arm, stomped her feet, and pouted her lips to the sky.
Jane Ning waved her hand and walked towards the kitchen with a smile.
That night, Ding Youtian and Qin Yifan drank and chatted until three quarters past three in the morning. When Qin Yifan asked Mei Niang and others to go to Danyang County to celebrate the New Year that year, he openly sided with the prince's party.
Ding Youtian might be only a county magistrate, but behind him stood the Prince of Pingnan, the Crown Prince. Who among the dignitaries of Baiya Commandery didn't know him? Ever since he arrived in Xing'an County, the prefect and the governor of Baiya Commandery had both sent invitations to him, and many other officials, both great and small, had come to pay him an audience.
Qin Yifan also had some military talent. Ever since the floods broke out in several prefectures and counties east and west of Dayan Dynasty, the number of vendors wearing Yue Kingdom costumes on the streets of Zhuling County increased day by day. Most of them came to buy grain, and they bought it in large quantities at high prices.
Although there could be some real businessmen among those vendors, he concluded that most of them were sent by the military to purchase grain. Since he was quite knowledgeable about military affairs, he naturally knew that the army had to send food before it moved. He thus sensed that the Yue Kingdom might be ready to make a move and wanted to take advantage of the flood and lack of food supply to start a war.
Last night, long before Huo Jincheng arrived, he had mentioned this to Ding Youtian, and Ding Youtian told him what Blind Liu had said. Blind Liu thought highly of Pei Xiyuan, but he also saw through one of his fatal weaknesses.
There is a saying: Kindness cannot command the army, and righteousness cannot command wealth.
It can be said that Pei Xiyuan has neither of these two qualities. He is by no means a kind person. As for righteousness, he does deserve some, but his righteousness is limited to his brothers who are as close as brothers and his soldiers.
His fatal weakness is his extreme conceit. After hearing Blind Liu's assertion that there would be floods in the eastern and western counties this spring, Ding Youtian asked Blind Liu whether the Moon Kingdom would take advantage of the situation and launch a large-scale military invasion?
Attacking the Central Plains at this time was definitely a godsend opportunity. At that time, Blind Liu waved his hand and told them that if the Moon Emperor had not died of illness last winter, or if the eldest prince had inherited the throne of the Moon Emperor, they would definitely launch an attack.
But Pei Xiyuan won’t.
Not only that, with his usual strength, he would even go against the majority's opinion. His arrogance determined that he would only launch a large-scale attack when the Yan Dynasty was at its peak. He would not bother to take action when the enemy country was at a disadvantage. Even if he won the war, he would feel that the victory was unfair.
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