This year is the fourth year that Xu Qinyu has lived in this era. She has lived in this era for four years, and she is used to it. It is not much different from the life she lived in later generations. She is doing things all day long. vegetable.

If you are not used to it, there must be some, all kinds of living conveniences, the environment, customs and habits are different, and there are some influences and knowledge brought about by the feudal environment, but Xu Qinyu is not bad at present, except just went through the hard days of that period, and now not only mother-in-law loves her, but even sister Ning also protects her. If there are any beautiful jewelry and clothes for fun, she is the first thing that comes to mind, let alone Brother Feng. The two children with Sister Xian, on the contrary, are more attached to her, and the fourth brother treats her very well. The only advantage of crossing over is probably having a family. The family includes the Pei family and Yuanshen's family.

In the fourth year here, although she opened a second branch, Xu Qinyu is satisfied with having two shops, and she has no plans to open branches outside the Southwest for the time being.

After all, she is a concubine exiled by the royal family, so she should keep a low profile. She can do anything in the southwest, but it's hard to say if she goes to other states.

This year the restaurant did not close during the Chinese New Year. Originally Xu Qinyu wanted to close the business, but since the first two months, people have been asking one after another, hoping that the restaurant will not close during the Chinese New Year. Bring your family and your mouth to the restaurant to eat and drink.

Xu Qinyu thought for a while, and planned to keep Xu Ji's store closed during the New Year's Eve in the future, and it would be good to make more profits.

As for whether the employees want to take annual leave, it is up to them. If they are willing to stay in Xuji to work these few days, their wages will be tripled for these few days.

And after the next year, employees will be arranged to take annual leave one after another.

When the guys heard that as long as they continued to work during the Chinese New Year, they would get three times their wages every day, and they would be arranged to have vacations one after another after the new year, so there was nothing they didn't like about it.

Not only that, but by the time of the Chinese New Year, Xu Qinyu also distributed red envelopes to all the employees, which was about the same as their one-year salary, which surprised and delighted all the employees.

Because the employees are willing to stay and work during the Chinese New Year, Xu Qinyu began to make reservations for the New Year's dinner.

However, in a few days, the restaurant was fully booked for the New Year's dinner, and many other people learned that Xu Ji Restaurant could also make reservations for the New Year's dinner, but there was no place left, and they regretted it.

So during the Chinese New Year this year, Xu Qinyu was too busy to touch the ground.

Even the Xu Ji Restaurant in Yuanbao Town is in sync with the restaurant this year, and it has not closed for the Chinese New Year. Similarly, the Xu Ji Restaurant is fully booked for the New Year's dinner.

There are Brother Cheng and Dong Laiju's original cooks at Xu Ji Restaurant, Xu Qinyu is not at ease, she usually goes to Xu Ji Restaurant for a few days every half a year.

It wasn't until the eighth day of the new year that the restaurant became a little more leisurely. Mrs. Wen and other managers of the restaurant began to arrange for the rest of the restaurant's staff to rest.

Xu Qinyu also arranged for herself to rest for three days.

Just after the eighth day of the lunar new year, the fourth brother came back.

The fourth brother came back this time, he managed to raise some meat before, but he lost weight again.

Seeing it, Xu Qinyu was very distressed, and asked, "Did fourth brother run a long way with the caravan again?"

Actually otherwise, Pei Weixuan didn't take care of Liuli's affairs during this time, Liuli was helped by Zhou Yan's caravan, he and Huo Ye didn't need to take care of it, but he and Huo Ye were busy with private soldiers recently.

There are some private soldiers raised on the island, and he usually changes his appearance to train these private soldiers.

As for the obvious leader, it was naturally Huo Jiang.

He can't show his face in front of these private soldiers, because he can't predict whether everyone is loyal or not, so he can't let them see his true face, so he only trains these private soldiers with another appearance and identity.

Otherwise, if it spreads to the capital, it will implicate the Pei family, Wen's family and Yuniang, and I am afraid that even Yuniang's family in the capital will be implicated.

Seeing that the fourth brother was thinking about something, Xu Qinyu didn't ask any more questions, and asked the fourth brother to go back to the room to wash up first, and she went to the restaurant to bring some food over.

It was just noon, and it wasn't long before Xu Qinyu finished eating, so she was naturally not hungry. She knew that the fourth brother must not have eaten, but she also ate some with the fourth brother, which were all ready-made meals at the restaurant.

Pei Weixuan was also a little hungry, he rode back all night and did not rest at night.

Xu Qinyu didn't stop talking when eating, and kept talking to her fourth brother about family affairs and recent events, including her participation in a cooking competition, and her grievances with Zuixianlou Zhien, Kong Songkang He told the fourth brother about buying and murdering her.

Pei Weixuan listened quietly, but he paused slightly when he heard Yuniang talk about Kong Songkang buying and murdering her.

He already knew about this matter, and he also asked Huo Jiang to find someone to suppress the bandits.

When he saw Huo Jiang passing the book to his flying pigeon, at that moment, his face was pale, and Huo Ye was a little stunned beside him.

Even if he knew that Yuniang would be fine, Huo Jiang and the others would protect Yuniang, but at that moment, he was still afraid, and he was worried that any accident might happen to Yuniang.

So in addition to Huo Jiang and Lianhua's guards, he asked Huo Jiang to send some secret guards to the restaurant overnight to protect the restaurant and Yu Niang. No matter where Yu Niang went, she would keep up with her in secret.

But at this moment, as long as he thinks of it, his heart will tremble.

Xu Qinyu didn't notice the fourth brother's abnormality, and she rambled about the ordinary things with the fourth brother.

After eating, Pei Weixuan wanted to wash up in the house, but Xu Qinyu asked him to go to the hot spring to soak in the hot spring to relieve his fatigue, so he went there.

She returned after more than half an hour, and Yu Niang had already fallen asleep on the couch in her house.

She was wearing a wide-brimmed jacket with lake-colored plum orchid inlaid with gold threads, and a long jade-colored embroidered dress on her lower body. Her hair was simply tied behind her back with silk, but her skin was like sebum without applying any powder, and her cheeks were snow-white. He was lying on the couch in his room with his eyes closed and taking a nap, holding a drawing book in his hand. Probably because he was too tired during this time, he didn't even put down the drawing book, and he had already fallen asleep.

Pei Weixuan stood at the door, fixed a few glances at Yu Niang, and then went over to the couch and hugged her into his arms.

Xu Qinyu chose a comfortable position and fell asleep in Pei Weixuan's arms.

The two slept for more than an hour, and when they woke up, it was already the time of the evening meal.

Xu Qinyu slept very comfortably on this foot, and when she opened her eyes, she felt a firm chest and a familiar sandalwood scent, she knew it was the arms of her fourth brother.

She had grown accustomed to this intimate contact.

She buried her head in the arms of the fourth brother, lazily, and didn't want to get up. She looked up and saw that the fourth brother also opened her eyes.

She called out fourth brother, leaned over and kissed fourth brother on the lips.

Not long ago, Xu Qinyu's breathing was a little difficult, so she separated from the fourth brother.

Pei Weixuan sat up, leaned on the couch, and let Yu Niang also lean against her arms. It was rare for the two of them to be so leisurely, but Pei Weixuan still had other things in mind.

He thought about some things he had seen while watching the celestial phenomena recently, and after pondering, he decided to tell Yu Niang, "Yu Niang, there are just some things, I want to explain to you, I recently observed the astronomical phenomena, I saw a vision in the sky. Soon there will be a natural disaster."

Yu Niang's face was stunned, and she couldn't help sitting up, "Fourth brother, where will there be natural disasters?"

She still remembered that in the first year of her life, there was a snowstorm in the north, and the weather in the southwest was very cold. Many people were frozen to death by the snow disaster, and many people in the north began to flee the famine. To the southwest side, the diarrheal disease epidemic occurred.

"It should be in Zhongzhou."

Xu Qinyu knew that this place had nothing to do with the historical dynasty she was in, but probably the geographical location also corresponded.

There were sixteen states in the Dasheng Dynasty, and Zhongzhou was also a big state, and there were several state cities.

Xu Qinyu worried: "Fourth brother, can you see what kind of natural disaster it is? Can you prevent it?"

"It's probably a drought."

Pei Weixuan's voice was also a little lower. Although he could see something by looking at the sky, but for things like natural disasters, with his own strength and the people on the island, there was absolutely no way to help Zhongzhou, even if there were Potatoes and sweet potatoes are crops that cannot be saved by distant water. He has let the residents of the island plant these crops for two years, but it is only enough for the seeds of a state city. If he wants to go to Zhongzhou, it is not enough for all Zhongzhou people. One day's rations .

If you want to save the people of Zhongzhou, only the imperial court.

It's just that Empress Dowager Fu and the new emperor are now in control of the government, so Empress Dowager Fu's temperament. She didn't care about the snow disaster in the north at the beginning. I'm afraid that this natural disaster, she still lets it go.

However, Pei Weixuan still planned to do something for the people of Zhongzhou. He could not save the people of Zhongzhou, so he could only pass the news to the prefect.

When Xu Qinyu heard this, she was very worried. She didn't know what she could do for Zhongzhou, so she only whispered to Pei Weixuan and the fourth brother, "I have made some money over the past few years, and I will give it to Zhongzhou soon. Buy some food to send over?"

The silver money that Xu Ji Restaurant had earned before was invested in the restaurant, but now that the restaurant has been open for more than half a year, she now has a silver bill of 200,000 taels on hand.

She is not short of money now. If there is going to be a drought in Zhongzhou, she is willing to donate some of it, and leave the expenses for the restaurant to buy the wages of the guys. After all, Zhongzhou is still quite far from the southwest. There is a natural disaster, and it will not affect the southwest side for the time being.

Since it is a drought, it will definitely affect the harvest at that time. As long as they can survive the drought for a few months, most people can still survive.

But the crops over there are all harvested once a year, and at least they have to wait until the next spring to plant the crops. Droughts usually occur in summer, so it will take at least half a year, and after more than half a year, you will be able to survive.

"No." Pei Weixuan refused. "You keep the money close to you. Even if you donate it, it probably won't reach the people of Zhongzhou."

The court is now rotten from top to bottom, and the money from the court's disaster relief may not necessarily go to Zhongzhou, let alone donate it from other places. Besides, it is still a little early to discuss this matter.

Xu Qinyu also knew that it was really early to talk about this matter, so he could only take a step by step.

Pei Weixuan told Yu Niang again, "There should be half a year. If Ma Liu comes back next time, you should ask him to send a message to the family. Don't use letters to communicate, and let your father-in-law and mother-in-law secretly store some food."

Xu Qinyu nodded, she remembered that Brother Malu told her that he would send a group of prisoners to Biancheng after the year, and he would bring her letters from home.

The next day, Pei Weixuan went to see the prefect, and told him that he would watch the sky and knew that there would be natural disasters in Zhongzhou in a few months. The Taoist priests who traveled around the world learned that there may be natural disasters in Zhongzhou in a few days, and I hope the court can prevent it in advance.

If you want to prevent, that is, taking advantage of the normal food prices now, stock up more food, and then you can help the victims.

When the prefect heard it, he was indeed worried. This kind of thing would rather be believed. He wrote a seal to the imperial court and asked them to rush to the capital.

When the book was quickly sent to the capital, before entering the desk of the Queen Mother Fu, the Queen Mother sneered, "The prefect of Raozhou City is really confused, even the words of such a warlock are believed, there really should be such a master, Why don't you come to the palace to be a national teacher, and travel around the world to endure hardships."

Empress Dowager Fu naturally didn't believe this kind of book, so she threw it aside.

It has been four years, and she has never found the trick to establish the crown prince written by the late emperor, but it has been four years, and she is not as restless as before, thinking that maybe she is just mistaken, and there is no such edict. , or why she searched the entire palace and couldn't find it.

She also gradually did not take the lineage of the Wen family and the fourth prince in her heart.

Now the king is running a business with a small caravan. Even the second girl from the Marquis of Dechang is quite capable. She can open a restaurant and earn money to support her family. Just a lowly businessman.

It's just that she has had a lot of troubles recently. The censor has been scolding her and King Han Dong, and she can't let the new emperor kill the censor directly in the court.

Fortunately, she recently got two new male pets, which can be regarded as a relief.

...

Inside the Mansion of the Marquis of Dechang.

Xu Qinhui was also worried. She vaguely remembered that there would be some visions this year. It seemed that there was a natural disaster in Zhongzhou. The Queen Mother ignored Zhongzhou. Gradually, only the vertical king's lineage remained.

A few years later, the number of rebels led by King Vertical gradually increased, and many state cities were successively recovered.

In the tenth year, he was approaching the capital, and he even took out the emperor and wrote an edict to make the eldest prince the crown prince.

Therefore, the vertical king can be considered a justifiable crusade against the emperor and the queen dowager, and successfully inherit the throne.

With only five or six years left, Xu Qinhui sighed.

No matter how miserable she was, she still had to take care of Zhongzhou's affairs first.

Naturally, she didn't care about the people in Zhongzhou, and the lives of those people had nothing to do with her, but after the accident in Zhongzhou, the price of capital in the capital also rose a lot, so she asked Father Xu to hoard a lot of food, but it was all stored by her mother. The dowry Zhuangzi was not transported to the mansion, nor did it disturb other people.

...

Raozhou City.

Pei Weixuan did not report his hopes to the capital and the imperial court. After staying in Raozhou City for half a month, the imperial court did not send anyone to return the prefect's letter, so he returned to the island.

Xu Qinyu was also concentrating on the affairs of the restaurant.

Another month later, Ma Liu sent the prisoner to the Southwest, and brought Xu Qinyu a letter from Cui Shi.

When Xu Qinyu got the reply from her parents and felt the thick stack inside, she knew that it must be her mother who sent back the twenty thousand taels of silver note she had given her before.

Xu Qinyu opened it and looked, as expected, Xue said that she kept two thousand taels of silver notes, saying that it was not easy for her to make money, let her keep it by herself, eat well and dress well by herself. I leaked it to others, and talked a lot.

Thinking of the natural disaster that would happen in Zhongzhou, Xu Qinyu worried that the money at home would not be enough, so she planned to send the money back.

She didn't write a letter this time, but just put the eighteen thousand taels of bank notes back in an envelope again, and asked Ma Liu to explain to her family to stock up on some food.

The story was still the same as the eunuch handing out the brochures to the capital, saying that he met an eminent monk who traveled all over the world, and Guan Tianxiang learned that there would be visions and natural disasters in Zhongzhou in a few months, so he asked the family to stock up on food.

Xu Qinyu asked Ma Liu to keep the matter a secret, and then find another excuse to ask relatives and friends at home to stock up on food.

She has also known Ma Liu for more than four years, so she naturally knows what Ma Liu is like.

As soon as Ma Liu heard this, he immediately assured Xu Qinyu that he would never say such words to the outside world.

When Ma Liu returned to the capital with a letter containing only money, he handed the envelope to Mrs. Xue, and told Mrs. Xue what Miss Xu told him.

After hearing the letter from Maliu, Mrs. Xue was not refusing. She was just worried, worried about the people of Zhongzhou, and also worried about Yuniang. She planned to keep these bank notes to buy more food. When a natural disaster happened in Zhongzhou, she could donate the excess food.

The Xue family also listened to Yuniang's words and stocked up a lot of food, but she did not put the food in the Dechang Hou Mansion, but in the home of her brother Xue Liang.

Xue Liang has now turned from a small tea stall into a small restaurant on the second floor, specializing in barbecue. He can earn more than 30,000 taels of silver a year, which is already very satisfying for him.

He also bought a Zhuangzi outside the city and bought some fields.

Knowing this from his younger sister, Xue Liang believed it immediately. She helped her younger sister and herself hoarded a lot of food on the Zhuangzi. She didn't tell the children about it, only he and his wife, Shi Shi, knew about it.

Shi Shi was also a little worried about Yuniang, and asked him, "If there is a natural disaster in Zhongzhou, nothing will happen in the southwest, right?"

Xue Liangdao: "It should not be. Zhongzhou is more than three thousand miles away from the southwest. If it really has some influence, it must be that the people of Zhongzhou can't persist and flee to the southwest. However, Zhongzhou is close to the capital, and the famine is to run to the capital first. Yu Niang doesn't need to worry too much about her, let's store the food ourselves, and help store the food bought by my sister's house."

Zhongzhou is relatively close to the capital, but far from the southwest.

Shi Shi nodded, and finally couldn't help sighing, "Yu Niang has been sent to the Southwest for more than four years, and I don't know if there will be a chance to meet each other in the future. If it weren't for Yuniang, our family would not be able to live like this."

Xue Liang didn't say a word, he also missed his niece.

...

Raozhou City.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month has passed, and the garden built a few years ago in the restaurant has been finished, and guests have started to receive guests one after another.

The garden here is called Taolin Garden, because there are many peach trees planted in every yard here.

With one more garden, there are twenty more courtyards, and naturally there are many more guests.

The restaurant has been recruiting people one after another, and now it is almost enough.

Xu Qinyu is still the same in Raozhou City as before. She cooks every day and goes to the hot springs with her family. Sister Ning’s shop in the city has also been rented, renovated and opened for business. Instead of going to the shop in the city every day, she hired a shopkeeper to help take care of the shop, and stayed in the house most of the time on weekdays.

Xu Qinyu didn't know that there was a 'rumour' in Zhongzhou, saying that there would be a major drought in Zhongzhou soon, so everyone should stock up on food. Said, "It just rained two days ago. There is no sign of a severe drought. How can you still believe this kind of words? It must be the idea of ​​some rice shop."

But since the heavy rain, it hasn't rained in Zhongzhou for half a month. It's obviously not summer yet, but the weather is very hot. The nearby river carries water to water the fields.

Some people finally started to panic and bought some food.

Grain prices have risen a bit at this time, but the rise is not outrageous.

After a month passed, there was still not a drop of rain, the water level of the large lakes dropped a lot, and the smaller rivers had dried up without a drop of water.

Only then did everyone know that it turned out that it was not a 'rumour', but that there would be a serious drought.

Many crops have not yet matured, because the crops have also been affected by the successive months of severe drought. In order to reduce losses, some people and tenants directly harvested the crops, so that at least there is still some harvest. It can still be eaten when boiled, otherwise, if it is dried in the fields, there will be countless particles.

Some people still do not want to believe that there will be a major drought, thinking that it will definitely rain, and they are unwilling to harvest crops and let them continue to grow in the fields.

In this era, many people and tenants had no food at all.

In particular, some tenants, because they rent other people's fields to grow food, usually only get 40%. Some landlords who are like slaughtering their skins only give 30% to the tenants. If there is a severe drought, there will be no harvest, and there will be no food to eat.

The biggest impact of the drought is the problem of drinking water.

The lakes are all dry, not to mention the wells.

Even if there is food, the problem of drinking water is not easy to solve. Fortunately, the well water on the ground has not completely dried up, and there is still some drinking water.

The news of the severe drought in Zhongzhou also spread to the various prefectures of the Great Sheng Dynasty, and naturally it first spread to the capital.

Empress Dowager Fu never expected that the book handed over by Prefect Zhu was real, and that there was a serious drought in Zhongzhou.

But even knowing it was of no use.

It is also easy to relieve these victims now. As long as the government allocates funds, the food is always purchased for disaster relief.

But the entire Zhongzhou has a population of several million, so much food has to be eaten in a day. If you really want to use the money from the treasury to buy food for disaster relief, the entire treasury will be completely empty.

Before, for the construction of the palace and her extravagant life, there was not much silver in the treasury.

The Empress Dowager Fu had no way out for a while, and all the officials of the court were also asking the new emperor to help the disaster relief.

The new emperor had no idea at all, so he went to ask the Queen Mother Fu after leaving the court.

Empress Fu can only let the new emperor delay first.

In this way, another half month has passed, and it is already summer, Zhongzhou is getting hotter and hotter, and the crops in the fields have been completely dried. Many tenants and people have countless grains, and they can barely buy them with the little money left in the family. High-priced food to eat first.