After lunch, Zheng Boyuan went to find Feng Shaoli. The two discussed the epidemic prevention matters for an entire afternoon, and the next day, they arranged the tasks one by one.
Chu Huaigui personally organized people to go outside the city to repair roads. The disaster victims living in the government office and inns in the city were from nearby villages. Their villages were destroyed by the flood. Although they took a lot of things with them when they evacuated, it would cost a lot of money to rebuild their houses. When they heard that they would be provided with a meal and a wage of thirty coins per day to repair the roads, many people signed up.
They found over a hundred people to repair the road, and Zheng Boyuan and Feng Shaoli found another hundred or so to disinfect the city, paying them twenty coins a day.
The roads outside the city had been almost completely destroyed. After Chu Huaigui went out of the city with the road repair team to take a look, he returned with a heavy expression.
Master Chu followed him into the study and whispered, "Cousin, what should we do next?"
Chu Huaigui scratched his head in frustration and said, "How am I supposed to know what to do? The roads out of the city are blocked, and the waterways are controlled by Zheng Boyuan's men. Our people are probably already fish on their chopping block."
Master Chu was a little nervous and said, "But we can't just sit here and wait to die. We can't explain this to the Third Prince. Besides, my sister-in-law took all our belongings with her when she returned to the capital. What's the point of us staying here?"
Chu Huaigui said angrily, "Even if it's boring, I have to stay. Do you think I, a prefect, can leave so easily?"
Master Chu leaned close to Chu Huaigui and whispered, "Didn't that Xu family member go to Liaodong from Dengzhou last year? Why don't we find a reason to leave here too?"
Chu Huaigui sneered twice and said, "Xu Di is a special case. Miaozhou is currently suffering from a disaster, and I am still the prefect of Miaozhou. If I were to leave without permission, it would be desertion. Do you think I would have any chance of survival? Don't talk to me about this. If you want to leave, then leave. It's just that the roads outside the city are all destroyed now, so you can't leave even if you want to."
Master Chu said somewhat obsequiously, "Cousin, didn't the fourth aunt and her husband from the Xu family come over? Are they here and not leaving? When they leave, do you think it would be alright if I hitched a ride with them in a car or on a boat?"
Chu Huaigui looked at his cousin speechlessly and said, "If you want a ride, you have to ask yourself. I can't ask you. I have to remind you, you've been with me in Miaozhou for so many years. For many people, seeing you is like seeing me. Do you think Zheng Boyuan can let you leave so easily?"
Upon hearing this, Master Chu's expression changed drastically, and he asked, "Cousin, what do you mean by that?"
Chu Huaigui sighed and said, "Cousin, whose orders were we given to take someone's head? It was the Third Prince. Zheng Boyuan and the Third Prince have an irreconcilable feud. Based on the last time we sent someone to take someone's life in the middle of the night, do you think you could have gone?"
Master Chu's face was pale. Chu Huaigui looked at his cousin, sneered twice, and said, "Over the years, I have done some things in Miaozhou. You know that. Do you think Zheng Boyuan would rather be a general than a prefectural assistant in Miaozhou?"
Sweat streamed down Master Chu's forehead and cheeks. He hurriedly wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "Cousin, since that's the case, let's just fight them."
Chu Huaigui looked at his cousin as if he were watching a joke, and said, "My good brother, if I were capable of fighting, would I need to live in fear here every day? Last time we sent out all the people we could, and what happened? How many came back? Now we have no people and no money. What do you think we can do? The nanny that the Third Prince sent us, we still don't know where she is being held. What can I do? I can't do anything. I can only stand here and wait for someone to turn their knife on me."
Master Chu emerged from Chu Huaigui's study, looking dejected, and headed towards his own courtyard. On the way, he encountered the concubine Chu Huaigui had left behind.
The concubine curtsied to Master Chu and said with a smile, "Greetings, Master. Are you going back to rest?"
Master Chu was a man of amorous nature. Normally, he would chat with his concubines and take advantage of them with his words. But now he had no such mood and waved his hand haphazardly.
Watching Master Chu's absent-minded figure, the concubine frowned. A maid following behind her leaned closer and whispered, "Madam, what's wrong with Master Chu? Usually, he teases us a bit when he sees us."
The concubine, seemingly lost in thought, whispered, "Don't make a sound, hurry back with me."
Back in her room, the concubine whispered, "I found it strange when the old nanny took me to see Madam Zheng at the government office last time. It's even stranger that the old nanny has disappeared since then. I think we've encountered something big this time."
The maidservant turned pale and asked, her lips trembling, "Madam, what could it be?"
This concubine was bought from outside. Back then, her family couldn't make ends meet, so they sold her. At that time, Chu Huaigui wanted to buy a concubine to come to Miaozhou from the capital. However, Chu Huaigui's wife disliked the poor living conditions in Miaozhou and refused to come. After Chu Huaigui bought the concubine, he brought her to Miaozhou with his entourage.
Fortunately, the aunt met a girl from the same village who worked as a maid in the Chu family mansion. She used her connections to bring the girl to her side and even managed to get her indenture. After that, the two of them came to Miaozhou with Chu Huaigui.
This concubine was a shrewd woman. When she first came to Miaozhou with Chu Huaigui, she took control of Chu Huaigui's backyard and made a lot of money. Then she found a way to send it back to her hometown. Not only that, she also helped the maid cancel her indenture. The two of them were like sisters. In a few years, their families built tiled houses, and their brothers all got married.
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