She is different from the empress in the history books

Chapter 16 What do you want

The mansion of the prince and princess in the fiefdom was built with local financial revenue.

Chengyang County is not wealthy, local taxes are low, and money is needed everywhere.

Among other things, when it is spring plowing time, we must distribute some grain seeds to the people. If there is spare capacity, we must repair the canals to prevent drought.

Zhou Keping's patchwork is still not enough to overhaul the Princess Mansion.

In the end, it was a coincidence - in the Northland, it is very expensive to build rockery, flowing water, small bridges and gardens; but if the Northland style is the main style, the cost will be greatly reduced.

Pei Peng is quite satisfied. Now that he has come to Chengyang County, it seems out of place to blindly pursue the southern style.

She didn't come to the city to get drunk and dream, it's more appropriate to integrate into the local area as soon as possible.

Zhou Keping wanted to host a banquet for Pei Peng and his party today, but a few days ago, Pei Peng sent someone to send a message, saying that he wanted to rest for a few days and see everyone in Chengyang County.

So everyone settled down separately.

The back kitchen cleaned up temporarily, quickly made some light dishes and sent them to various places, and boiled water for them to wash, and everyone went to rest early.

Pei Peng did not rest. He listened to reports about how many manpower was missing and what needed to be purchased. He gave instructions one by one and did not rest until late at night.

Early the next morning, the Princess Mansion, which had been vacant for more than ten years, came to life.

There are those bold small merchants who are waiting at the back door of the princess mansion with their goods, hoping to see what the nobles like and whether they can give them more income.

The concierge of the Princess Mansion didn’t chase people away, so one person was assigned to find the people who were in charge of purchasing everywhere, and asked them to come and pick things up, and took out broken tea to make them, and let these small vendors sit on the threshold to drink tea, and chat about Chengyang by the way. local conditions in the county.

"Sir, do you have anything you want to ask?"

one of the vendors asked.

The concierge waved his hand quickly:

"What kind of adult am I? I'm just a servant. My surname is Zhang. You can just call me Lao Zhang. Our Highness just arrived, and we don't understand anything. You can talk whatever you want."

Everyone saw that Lao Zhang really just wanted to listen to their chats, and they also relaxed a little. They talked about the local customs and food in Chengyang County, talked about the big families in the area, talked about the hot spots, and even mentioned some secrets in a subtle way.

They are all residents of the county. Although they are all small families, they have stayed in the city for a long time and know many things through word of mouth.

Especially the family affairs of the big households in the city are what they like to discuss in private.

And this is indeed one of the information Pei Peng needs.

Lao Zhang listened attentively, secretly wrote down useful information, and then asked:
"What about our county magistrate? Is he okay?"

"Okay, our county magistrate is a good official. The Feng family beat to death a hired maid a few days ago. They wanted to give her ten taels of silver and a coffin to settle the matter, but the family refused and sued the county government. .”

Another person also heard about it, and answered:
"Then we, County Magistrate Zhou, sent people to fetch people from the Feng family. Finally, they took their chief steward over and beat him up."

Lao Zhang was also brought by Pei Peng from Beijing, and he also knew a lot about this kind of thing.

The one who beat the dead must not be the manager, it must be the master, but it is also an act allowed by the law to use a slave to bear the death on behalf of the master.

Being able to do this, Magistrate Zhou is considered fair enough.

This has been a big topic in Chengyang County in recent days. Others know something about it and have revealed some true or false information.

"Speaking of which, that girl's fate is also bad. The family has a heavy burden, there are many children, and the old mother suffers from illness all year round. Her father has to work all by herself. I originally wanted her to work for a few years to help the family, but it turned out... ..."

Lao Zhang spoke at the right moment:
"So how did this poor girl die?"

"It is said that he broke his head."

"Why did I hear that the whole body was beaten to pieces?"

Lao Zhang saw that he couldn't get anything out of it, so he changed the subject.

After chatting for a while, the little stewards of the purchase also came over.

The merchants and hawkers lost all chatter for a moment, and one after another displayed their goods and introduced them to the stewards one by one.

The Princess Mansion does not need the cloth jewelry and the like here in Chengyang County.

The masters don't need it, and the servants have clothes distributed every season, which can't be better than those sold by these vendors, and they don't need to buy them.

It is local ingredients, which are needed by the Princess Mansion. Some ingredients have never been seen in the capital. The stewards carefully asked about the eating method and taste, and bought some carefully, ready to cook and have a look.

So some people are upset, some are excited, and so on.

Lao Zhang asked another concierge to look at the back door, and then he went to the back house. After being informed, he was led to Pei Peng's study.

Pei Peng got up a little late today, but continued to practice calligraphy in the study. This was a habit she had persisted for many years.

Accompanied by Xu Shu, she also copied the copybooks that Pei Peng had collected.

She couldn't calm down at first, after all, she was a young girl, new to a place, always wanted to go out to have fun, but slowly she also calmed down.

The mother and daughter enjoyed a rare moment of silence when they heard a call from outside.

"So, this is how the Feng family recognizes them?"

After hearing Lao Zhang's report on this matter, Pei Peng searched from yesterday's memory, but there were indeed people from the Feng family present, and it seemed that they had reached a certain degree of reconciliation with Zhou Keping.

Pei Peng was not prepared to use the conflict between the two parties to do anything to Zhou Keping, but she remembered the Feng family.

If a high-ranking family kills one or two servants and covers up one or two, no one will pursue it too much, and even force some tenant farmers to death, and often they will not suffer any losses.

But even the hired maid dared to beat to death blatantly, and it was still under the eyes of the county magistrate, which showed her arrogance.

Such a family, whether in public or private, will be an excellent breakthrough for Pei Peng to deter others.

Pei Peng thought for a while, put the matter aside for the time being, and asked Cheng Fei to come over again.

If Pei Peng was already up late, then Cheng Fei could only be said to be extremely late.

Liang Tao, who was sent to take care of her, reported several times that Mrs. Cheng always slept very late, but couldn't wake up in the morning.

Occasionally, she would wake her up early in order to hurry, and she would say something like "The long-term workers of the landlord's house don't get up so early".

So Pei Peng was not surprised to see a sleepy cousin.

"A Fei, come and see how the calligraphy practiced by me and A Shu today?"

Cheng Fei looked over and thought it looked good, even better, but let her taste it...

She can only say:

"It's so beautiful. Well, it looks like everyone else."

Xu Shu couldn't help laughing. In fact, she wasn't very good at appreciating calligraphy and paintings, but she didn't admit it to Cheng Fei.

Pei Peng was just looking for an excuse, chatted with Cheng Fei for a few words, and then got to the point:
"A Fei, my second uncle didn't agree with you leaving Beijing with me, but I thought, if you really want to make a breakthrough, with me by your side, you won't encounter uncontrollable things."

Cheng Fei nodded. Her status in this era, as a commoner and a young woman, can be said to be a very difficult start.

I really want to start a career by myself, and I don’t know how I will die. It is most suitable to have the right thigh.

"But, whether I want you to learn some real skills or find you a husband, I have to give you and my second uncle an explanation. So, Ah Fei, what do you want?"

(End of this chapter)