After returning to the main hall, Chen Qiu solemnly kowtowed to her mother and grandparents again, chatted with them about An An, divided the gifts brought back from Kyoto, and then was settled back to her boudoir before getting married.
The two maids who received the news had been waiting outside the yard. When they saw Chen Qiu and Xing'er coming from afar, they knelt down. Their mistress had finally returned. These two maids were the head maids who were in charge of the affairs in her previous room, and they had been staying here to guard her small yard. "Chunhong, Lvliu missed you so much." Chen Qiu helped up the two little girls who were kneeling and kowtowed to her.
"Miss, you are finally back." Lvliu was gentle and was about to cry while speaking.
"That's right, miss. If you come back a few days later, you won't be able to see Green Willow." Chunhong has a similar personality to Mingyue, but she is more mischievous than Mingyue.
"Oh? Is she getting married? Who is so lucky to marry our Lvliu?" Chen Qiu and Xing'er pulled each other and the four of them entered the house.
"It's the guy named Mu Qi who worked under the general. Now he's the general's personal soldier. Madam is the one who made the decision. Lvliu is very satisfied, right?" Chunhong stuck her head out from the front and talked to Chen Qiu about Lvliu, and teased her by the way. Lvliu was shy to begin with, and now she turned around and left.
"I'll go prepare some hot water for you, young lady, so she can wash off the dust." After saying that, he lowered his head and ran away.
"Lvliu has found a partner, what about you? Do you have someone you like? The first thing I have to do when I come back this time is to resolve the lifelong event of the two of you." Chen Qiu pretended to be serious and picked up the teacup to drink tea. Chunhong's face was already full of praise. She didn't want to get married. Her parents fought every day, and she didn't want to live that kind of life every day after getting married. She lived in such a big mansion, received a monthly salary, the master of the mansion was kind and had status, and she was a maid who served the young lady closely. She also received a lot of rewards on a daily basis. Now, which servant in the mansion would not call her Miss Chunhong when they saw her? When she got old, she could become a head aunt, with dignity and money. When she was old, she could still be supported by the mansion and would not live on the streets. Why should she find someone to serve her? And then have to be beaten by him when she was unhappy? How unprofitable would that be?
"Miss, can I not get married? Or you let me look for myself, and when I find someone I like, I will tell Madam and let her decide for me, okay?" Chunhong squatted at Shen Qiu's feet, looking at Shen Qiu with a flattering face. As long as she could wait until the young lady left, it would be fine. She didn't want to comb her hair up now, because if she combed her hair, she wouldn't be able to wear beautiful hairpins and flowers. After the young lady left, Madam wouldn't care much about her, and she could still wear beautiful hairpins and flowers for a few years. It wouldn't be too late to comb her hair up then.
Chen Qiu looked at Chunhong's bright eyes and knew that she was trying to evade him again, but what could he do? He couldn't just marry her off to anyone. Although he had the right to decide whether they stayed or went, he could abandon her or even sell her off, but he couldn't force her to marry someone she didn't want to.
Besides, Chunhong and Luliu, like Xing'er and Mingyue, have been by her side since they were young. She couldn't bear to see them suffer any injustice, right? Otherwise, after she got married, the two of them wouldn't be guarding the same courtyard alone, without a master to let them do whatever they wanted.
"Okay, seeing how pitiful you look, I know I won't force you. Whenever you find someone you like, bring him back and I'll make the decision for you. When I'm not around, you can ask your mother to make the decision for you." Chen Qiu helped Chunhong up while she was squatting and touched her nose. This girl's nose was really beautiful.
"Miss, the hot water is ready. Take a hot bath first to relieve your fatigue." Lvliu prepared the hot water and came in to help Chen Qiu take a bath.
"I don't need you to serve me. You haven't seen Xing'er for a long time. You can just have a private chat. I can do it myself." Chen Qiu said and went into the bathroom.
Over there, Ye Chen, Shen Yue and the grain delivery team went to the county government office. Before changing into official uniforms, they were guided by Shen Yue and performed the junior etiquette to Shen Qiu's father, Shen Bolin, before changing into official uniforms.
After Ye Chen changed into his official uniform, he came out and sat in the highest seat holding the imperial edict.
"Everyone, please take a seat. No need to bow. Tell me about the current situation. What's the current situation of the people? What about the price of grain? Are the grain merchants taking advantage of the situation to raise the price? And is there enough food for the army?" Ye Chen directly asked the most important question in Qi County right now. If the people can't eat, their hearts will be uneasy. If someone incites them at this time, riots will easily occur. The army is the barrier of Qi County and even the northwest of Dayin. If the soldiers don't have enough to eat, how can they resist the enemy? Food is a big deal. Only when food is solved can other things be better solved.
The Qi County Magistrate continued, "We have an army here, so grain merchants dare not raise prices too much. However, the price has doubled compared to last year. At this time of year, there are plenty of wild vegetables and mountain products, so some people have less food in stock. Landless hunters and herders also have insufficient food and less grass than in previous years. The cattle and sheep are now sick and some have started dying in the past few days. If this continues, I'm afraid the losses will be huge. The sick and dead can't be eaten, so they have to be buried."
"So the most important thing now is food, as well as fodder for cattle, sheep, and horses of the army?" Ye Chen tapped the table with his fingers. The food he collected plus the food that the Ministry of Households could send were enough to feed the people and the army here, but fodder for cattle, sheep, and horses was a bit difficult.
"Food is not a problem. Seven days after I left Kyoto, the Ministry of Revenue's food was dispatched. There was also a batch of food shipped from Binzhou. It should be enough to last for a year. But I didn't prepare any fodder, and it's not enough to feed the army's horses." Ye Chen explained the food problem to them to make them feel more at ease.
"Maybe we can go to Ning County to buy them? I've been to Lan County and seen that the locusts don't go to Ning County after they reach there. It's been so long and there's no sign of them continuing to move east." Shen Yue has been dealing with locusts almost every day during this period. She has thought of many ways and even led the army to catch and kill them, but the effect is minimal.
"Qi County is guarding the Qishan snowfield, so it gets cold much earlier than other places, and it's almost cold in August. We don't have to worry about food now, but there is a huge gap in fodder. I'm afraid Ning County alone can't solve it. The northwest is cold in winter, and cattle, sheep and horses are in the fattening season. Without fodder, they won't be able to survive the autumn nor the winter." Shen Bolin sat there thinking all the time, and only spoke after listening to what everyone said.
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