The family dinner is usually very long. At night, the banquet is also a gathering. Talking and chatting, and the time has passed. Before I knew it, it has almost two hours passed. It was already dark. My grandson Duguzhi had already gone to bed. His mother took him back to the room. The family dinner became a gathering for several adults to discuss the current situation. Dugu Changfeng told everyone about the drought in Henan Road and the livelihood of the people in the past two years.

"In recent years, Henan Road has suffered disasters almost every year. When the general was the inspector of Henan Road, Henan Road suffered a drought, but that was still a minor disaster. Last year, it was also a drought. Xuzhou and Bianzhou reduced their autumn grain harvest by 40%. This spring, locust plague broke out again, with the worst in Songzhou and Bianzhou. The locusts were covered in the sky and swept everything away. In summer, it rained heavily. The Yellow River broke its dam in Heyin County. The three counties of Heyin County, Xingze County and Yuanwu County were flooded, killing tens of thousands of people."

Dugu Changfeng sighed and said, "So, the Anxi officials mobilized immigrants in the disaster area. Although the distance was so far and daunting, there were still so many people who wanted to go, and they really couldn't survive."

Li Qing'an nodded and asked again: "If I recruit another 50,000 immigrants on Henan Road and expand them to 100,000 immigrants, do you think it is very likely?"

Dugu Changfeng thought for a while and said, "There may be a little more than 100,000 households. There are only 57,000 households in Bianzhou, and the number of people in Xuzhou is slightly higher, which is 73,200 households. However, other states are small, only 12,000 households in Caizhou, 13,000 households in Huazhou, and more than 6,000 households in Chenzhou. I guess 70,000 households may be able to achieve it with the black households and fugitive slaves, but 100,000 households are a bit unrealistic."

Pei Min also advised: "General, immigration should be done step by step. When the first batch of people succeeded, the placement is good, and there is a precedent to learn from. I think it will be much easier to mobilize later."

Several people were talking about immigration and disaster reduction. Mingzhu pretended to listen at first, but gradually she began to doze off. Seeing that the other two girls were tired, she quietly pulled them, and the three girls slipped out of the living room and came outside.

Mingzhu took a long breath of fresh air, then smiled at Wan'er and Pei Yu and said, "Let's go to visit Xishi! This place is very close to Xishi, so let's buy a few fragrant powders."

Pei Wan'er shook her head and said, "I didn't say anything to my family in advance, so I won't go. You guys go!"

Pei Yu has never had any opinion. If Wan'er doesn't go, she will naturally not go either. When Mingzhu saw Wan'er pushing her back, she couldn't help but frown and said, "You are so boring. You are younger than a rabbit. When I was as old as you, I would go to Anxi alone! If you marry your husband in the future, you probably won't dare to go west if your husband calls you to go east. Oh! Can't you live a more comfortable life?"

Although Pei Wan'er is not old, she is very mature in character. She doesn't argue with Mingzhu. She just smiled and said, "Why don't we go to my sister-in-law to learn Xiujin! I've seen her Xiujin, which is really amazing."

"It amazes you, but it hurts me."

Mingzhu curled her lips and said lazily: "I have three fears: one is afraid of learning embroidery, two is afraid of studying hard, and three is afraid of being blind dates."

Speaking of this, Mingzhu suddenly had a flash of inspiration in her mind. She thought of something fun and said with a smile: "I'm so stupid. I forgot everything ready-made. Come with me."

She took the two girls of the Pei family and ran to the hall, "Mingzhu, what are you going to show us?"

"You'll know when you come."

明珠跑进了独孤府的正堂,她跑到正堂角落的一只三尺高的铜制细颈花瓶前,花瓶里插着一束绢制的假花,明珠小心地将假花拔出,放在桌上,她回头神秘一笑道:“你们想到了什么?”

Pei Yu smiled and said, "Mingzhu, do you want to play with throwing a pot?"

"That's right, I've measured this copper pot, and it's exactly the same size as the formal throwing pot. Anyway, we're fine now, so let's play the throwing pot game. What do you think?"

掷壶游戏男女老少都咸宜,无论名门世家还平头小民,家家户户几乎都有投箭和铜壶,就像现在几乎家家户户都有一副麻将一样,裴府家宴后也会聚在一起投箭,裴家两女都很喜欢.

"This game is good, I like it!" Pei Yu clapped his hands happily.

Wan'er also smiled and nodded, expressing her willingness to play this game, but she changed her mind and looked around, then asked, "Where is the arrow? It's also marked, how to draw it? This is a living room, can you play here?"

"It's okay, I often play in the living room."

Mingzhu rolled up her sleeves, reached out to reach into the copper pot, took out five iron arrows from it, and smiled and said, "I've always put this arrow inside."

她把铜壶放在客堂正中,又从桌上取了四只茶碗,依次放在地毯上,拍拍手笑道:“好了,四只茶碗代表五尺线,一丈线,两丈线和三丈线,我们小心点,别踩坏茶碗就是了.”

Mingzhu took three arrows and ran two meters away. He aimed and threw three shots in a row. He heard three sounds of "dong!dong!dong!dong!', and the three arrows accurately threw them into the copper pot.

"How is it? It's okay!" Mingzhu smiled proudly.

Although the two girls of the Pei family often threw arrows, they did not have the ability of Mingzhu. Wan'er said in surprise: "Mingzhu, you can go to the competition."

"Of course, I have been practicing for a whole year. I can throw eight arrows three meters away. Last year, I was the second place in Wubenfang's pot throwing competition."

Pei Yu was discouraged and said, "What's the point of playing? Anyway, you will win."

"You two silly girls, aren't we three playing? Is my brother-in-law not here? Today I want to defeat him and let him taste the power of this girl."

Mingzhu handed the arrow to them and smiled and said, "You guys wait, I'll go and find him."

Looking at Mingzhu walking away happily, Pei Yu whispered to Wan'er: "Sister Wan'er, it seems that she is a little bit towards Li Qing'an..."

"Stop talking, my head hurts a little. I want to go out for a walk. You can wait for Mingzhu here! When she comes, you tell her that I don't want to play, so I'll go home first."

Pei Yu understood Wan'er's thoughts, so he nodded, and Wan'er hurriedly left.

Mingzhu ran back to the living room like a gust of wind, but as soon as she entered the door, she was a little stunned. Uncle, father and elder brother were both there, but Li Qingan was not seen. She quietly walked to the elder brother and asked, "Brother, where has the brother-in-law been?"

"Didn't he go to you? Why didn't he meet me?" Dugu Changfeng smiled.

"It's strange, where did he go to find us?" Mingzhu said to herself. She turned around and left the living room. When she happened to meet a maid coming, she asked her, "Chuntao, have you seen your son-in-law?"

The maid pointed to the small garden eastward and smiled, "I saw my son-in-law going there."

Mingzhu knew there was a pavilion over there, and probably Li Qing'an had gone to the pavilion, so she quickly walked towards the pavilion.

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Li Qing'an worked hard for a day today and was really tired. He drank a few more drinks just now, so he came out to find three girls with a drink. At this time, he heard the bells coming from the temple. The bells were melodious. He was attracted by the bells and came to the East Garden without realizing it.

The East Garden of Dugu Mansion is actually a pond, covering an area of ​​about three acres, with lotus flowers planted inside. A path is laid out to lead directly into the pond. At the end of the path is a pavilion, located in the center of the pond. This pavilion is called the "Sitting with Lotus Pavilion". It is a good place to appreciate lotus flowers in summer. However, it is Mid-Autumn Festival, and the lotus flowers have already faded, and the lotus leaves have gradually turned yellow and become withered. In another month, it will be the season to dig lotus roots.

Li Qing'an walked closer to the pavilion. When he looked up, he saw someone in the pavilion. When he looked closer, he turned out to be a woman with a beautiful appearance, long and slender hairpin with a swallowtail shaped head, a graceful body and jade body, wearing a light green silk dress, shining brightly under the moonlight. She was sitting on the railing, as if she was enjoying the scenery of the lotus pond on the autumn night.

Li Qingan suddenly recognized the woman, it turned out to be Pei Wan'er. Why was she here alone? Under the moonlight, he saw that Pei Wan'er's eyebrows seemed to be covered with a faint sadness, so he slowly walked towards the pavilion and smiled: "Miss Pei!"

Pei Wan'er was startled and turned around. Seeing Li Qing'an standing at the entrance of the pavilion, she looked at her with a smile. Pei Wan'er was so scared that she quickly stood up, her heart was pounding, she lowered her head and whispered: "General Li, why are you here?"

"I heard the bell ringing and was attracted to me. I didn't expect there was a pavilion here, so I came over to see you, and I happened to see you."

Li Qingan slowly approached her and smiled and said, "Why aren't you with Mingzhu Pei Yu?"

"They want to play with throwing pots. I have no interest, so I go out for a walk. I'm going back soon."

"Sit for a while, don't rush back in such a hurry. It's rare to meet you."

Li Qing'an said this sentence was originally unintentional, but when he said it, he realized that there was a grammatical problem in this sentence. If it was a friend, it would be nothing. But he and the Pei family had reached a marriage agreement, which means that Pei Wan'er was about to marry him. In this way, the relationship between them was extraordinary, and Li Qing'an said this sentence seemed to have a profound meaning.

Li Qingan originally wanted to change his words, but he saw Pei Wan'er lowered her head, blushing her pretty face, and her eyes were full of affection, and she looked extremely cute. She swallowed the words she was about to say.

The two of them had nothing to say for a moment, and the atmosphere became a little awkward. Li Qing'an looked around and said, "This pond is not bad. I can imagine the situation of lotus blooming in summer. Miss Pei, do you like lotus?"

"Well! There is also a pond in the back garden of my house, full of lotus flowers. When summer comes, the garden is full of fragrance. But I prefer the new green and the fragrance of lotus leaves. The lotus flowers have already exposed a small corner, and I can't describe the artistic conception."

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "It's the little lotus that has just revealed its sharp corners. There have been dragonflies standing on top. This is the artistic conception, right!"
Chapter completed!