Chapter 042 Chapter 42

"How can this be? Yuan Ming is a scholar, and a gentleman stays away from the kitchen. How can he hang around in the kitchen like Chaozi?" Song Yan said, "Yuan Ming, go outside and chat with Chaozi, the meal will be ready soon."

"It's okay, Sister Yanzi, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen is just a saying made up by those scholars to avoid doing housework. When I was at home, I often helped my mother cook. It happened that I hadn't seen Qingqing for a day, so I talked to him for a while." Yuan Ming said.

Hearing what he said, it was hard to refuse, so he could only give the kitchen to the two of them.

Song Yan went out, Ji Qingyue suddenly threw herself into Yuan Ming's arms, and said in a coquettish voice: "Husband, I miss you so much."

Yuan Ming pinched his face, "Are you scared by Sister Yanzi's accident?"

Ji Qingyue nestled in his chest and nodded in a daze.

"It was just an accident, and I will never let you have any accidents."

Ji Qingyue came out of his arms and looked at him sideways: "Brother Jin said in the storybook that you must never believe a man's words like this, this is called drawing a big cake, what you can't do now, you will definitely not be able to do in the future."

Yuan Ming: "..." Is he shooting himself in the foot?

Feeling a little angry, he bent his fingers and tapped Ji Qingyue's forehead: "When did I say I couldn't do it now? I will keep working hard and try my best."

Ji Qingyue stuck out her tongue and ran to the stove to continue cooking.

Yuan Ming looked at him, shook his head and smiled.

Dinner was ready soon. It was already cold in the evening. Fearing that the meal would get colder, Yang Chao set up the dining table in the kitchen. With the heat from the stove, they were warm after dinner.

The four of them chatted here and there, and it took them an hour to eat a simple meal.

When Yuan Ming and Ji Qingyue went home hand in hand, it was already dark.

There were few people on the street, so Ji Qingyue pulled him along and walked in the middle of the road, jumping and skipping.

Yuan Ming also followed him and made a fool of himself. The two of them were very happy, completely unaware that the scene at this moment had been seen by another person.

"That's Yuan Ming and his husband."

In a tavern not far away, King Yong leaned on the railing, looking at the street below, and suddenly said when he saw a familiar person.

The guard wearing a silver mask was massaging his shoulders behind him, and he only looked away for a moment when he heard the words, as if his whole body and mind were focused on giving him a massage.

"Yeah."

"I've heard for a long time that Yuan Ming and his husband have a very deep relationship. Now I see that it's true. I've never seen a couple as inseparable as they are after marriage."

The expression on his face covered by the silver mask could not be seen. His eyes moved slightly, and he said in a soft but firm voice: "It will happen."

Upon hearing this, King Yong laughed and stopped talking about this topic.

"How is the task assigned to Fu Li going?

The reason why the silver-masked guard was not with him today was because he sent him to supervise Fu Li's work. Although he brought a lot of people this time, he and Xiao Wu were the only ones he could fully trust and were capable.

Thinking of how this man specifically told him last night that he wanted to do Fu Li's work, King Yong raised his eyebrows: "I didn't expect that you like an old man like Fu Li more, and would rather watch him than be with me."

A smile flashed in the eyes of the silver-masked guard, and the hand that was pinching his shoulder slowly moved down: "Don't you know why I did this?"

King Yong quickly grabbed his messy hand, cleared his throat, and said calmly: "Let's talk about business first. "

Fu Li and his people have been negotiating with the chief of Xia Shi Village, and they didn't play any tricks during the negotiation. However, the chief of Xia Shi Village was very resistant to this. After hearing about our purpose, he was even unwilling to say more. He just sat there in silence with his pipe in his hand."

King Yong was not surprised by this . After all, land is everything to farmers. Letting them leave the place where they were born and raised forever is tantamount to killing them.

He clicked his tongue. He often said that his royal brother was a fool. He didn't expect that he saw this matter so clearly, otherwise he would not have thrown this rotten stall to him.

"Are there any responses from the gentry? "

For him, the difficulty is not only to convince the villagers of Xiashi Village to relocate, but also to find a place better than Xiashi Village to ensure that everyone has a house to live in and land to cultivate.

Fortunately, there is a vacant land in Shifang Town that can allow so many people to survive for a long time, but they are all occupied by the owner, that is, the private property of the big gentry entrenched in Shifang Town.

"I followed Han Huaiying to visit those gentry. Han Huaiying is eloquent and has a good prestige in Shifang Town. Those landlords are all obedient, but there is only one person who is not easy to deal with."

King Yong frowned: "Who?"

"Liu Huairen, the largest landlord in Shifang Town. More than half of the land we are interested in belongs to him. "

"I have some impression of him. It is said that he is the most kind-hearted businessman around here. He has provided porridge to the relief during several natural disasters and he would take the initiative to reduce the rent in years with bad harvests. How could he not agree?"

"Last summer, there was a mudslide. In order to prevent the rolling rocks from hitting the village below, Liu Huairen took the initiative to ask the town guard to divert the mudslide to his land, destroying the boundary of the ancestral tomb. A Feng Shui master said that he was doing a good deed and the ancestors would not blame him if they knew about it, but the ancestral tomb must be moved to another place."

King Yong said, "So the place you are interested in is the Liu family's ancestral tomb? "

Han Huaiying hasn't told Liu Huairen yet, but what he meant is that with Liu Huairen's broad mind and kindness, as long as he is explained and moved by emotion, Liu Huairen will definitely not disagree."

Seeing him nod, King Yong laughed angrily.

"Just because he is an honest man, does he deserve to be wronged? Liu Huairen is kind and can do good deeds, but this is not a reason for us to morally kidnap him."

"I have been to many places with Han Huaiying, and only that place is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the way to the town is not far. They all think that only this place can make the people of Xia Shi Village agree to move away." "

Money makes the world go round. This king has always believed that there is nothing that money can't solve. If there is, it is because the money is not enough. "King Yong turned around and looked at him: "Go tell Han Huaiying that money is not a problem. I want him to find another way."

"Okay." The man replied without thinking.

King Yong reached out and touched his mask, scolding: "There are only two of us here, why are you still wearing this thing?"

The man's eyes flashed with unnaturalness: "After all, this is not Luo Mansion, it is better to be careful."

Prince Yong leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Then come in, I will take it off for you personally."

The man choked, said yes, and followed him into the house.

According to the plan, Prince Yong will inspect the people's conditions for the first three days, and then decide how long to stay in Shifang Town based on the specific situation.

Yuan Ming and others are just students no matter what, and they are students who will take the imperial examinations in less than half a year. On the fourth day, Prince Yong said that they had to make their own arrangements and let them go back to class.

When the group returned to the classroom, they were immediately surrounded by the people in the class.

The incident in Nangang Fishing Village caused a sensation, and now everyone's favorite topic after dinner is the new imperial inspector.

Li Qingzhou and his classmates, who usually have little presence in the class, enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by people and started talking nonstop. Yuan Ming and Zhao Yucheng didn't like to join in the fun, so they found an excuse to go outside.

The two walked by the small lotus pond in the backyard of the school. Yuan Ming asked, "Brother Zhao seems to be worried?"

Zhao Yucheng paused, thought for a while and asked, "If a big thing involves many people, but nothing can be done, what will you do?"

"If you can't do anything, just pretend you know nothing. Anyway, the result is the same." Yuan Ming said.

He glanced at Zhao Yucheng and continued, "Is it related to Prince Yong? If so, there is no need to think about it. He is the emperor's younger brother and a descendant of a noble family. His perspective and way of thinking on things are different from ours. Instead of worrying about it and doubting it, it is better to pretend that you know nothing."

Zhao Yucheng smiled bitterly, "Nothing can escape Brother Yuan's eyes. You are right. Take the incident in Nangang Fishing Village. If I had known everything, I would never have been as calm as the prince."

"Maybe his purpose is not just a small fishing village. How do you think it is so coincidental that the Minister of Revenue suddenly got into trouble?"

As soon as the voice fell, they heard a low laugh from above their heads.

They immediately became alert, looked up, and were stunned.