She is different from the empress in the history books

Chapter 24 How come there are so few?

When Xu Zhao was found by Cheng Fei, he was reading a letter.

He had a fairly close correspondence with his family, especially his parents, who were extremely concerned about this son who was so far away from home for the first time.

And Xu Zhao is also very concerned about the situation of his parents after they return to their hometown.

The family wrote a lot of letters back and forth, and naturally communicated about a lot of things.

"My cousin asked you to go find her."

Cheng Fei stood far away and waited for a while, seeing that Xu Zhao began to meditate after reading the letter, sighed after meditating, and was ready to reply after sighing...

She had to interrupt.

"Did your Highness say anything?"

Xu Zhao asked.

"I don't know, you should go there as soon as possible."

After Cheng Fei notified him, seeing that he was not in a good mood, and did not exchange a few words with him as usual, she waved her hand and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute,"

Xu Zhao thought of something, quickly called Cheng Fei to stop, and ordered the servants around him to go to the warehouse to get things.

"My parents sent some specialties from my hometown. I originally planned to have someone share some with you tomorrow. Since you are here, let's try them now."

Cheng Fei turned her head in surprise. Although this person is arrogant, son-in-law, and not down-to-earth, he was given a special product for him.

Cheng Fei was a little embarrassed. She made snacks a few days ago and gave them to her cousin, to Xu Shu, to Mr. Wu who let her attend class, and to Yang Luo who lent her books, but they didn't Send it to Xu Zhao.

This comparison makes me very narrow-minded.

"Then... thank you."

"You're welcome, go back, I'm going to find His Highness too."

Pei Peng also received a letter from the Xu family.

Since they wanted to deliver a letter to Xu Zhao, no matter it was out of courtesy or for whatever reason, they had to greet Pei Peng.

The letter mentioned that Mrs. Xu was bedridden.

That's why she called Xu Zhao over.

"I heard that your grandmother is ill, but the letter didn't mention it in detail. Did your parents tell you about the condition?"

As soon as Xu Zhao came, Pei Peng ordered someone to serve him tea, and motioned him to sit down, before asking.

Xu Zhao looked embarrassed. Of course he had learned more information from his parents. He felt embarrassed to tell it, but he was afraid of Pei Peng's suspicion if he didn't tell it.

"Your Highness..."

Pei Peng stopped:

"You child, in front of other people, lest they doubt your ability, I let you call me 'His Royal Highness'. But now it's only our mother and daughter, what are you still doing?"

Xu Zhao felt a little more comfortable. This was true. Although the princess and the Xu family were not close, they were still a family. Xu Zhao was not so embarrassed when he mentioned to his own family the stupid things done by his elders.

"Auntie, my parents told me. It's not that they didn't tell you, it's just that it's really hard to tell.

The doctor said that my grandmother's illness was due to stagnation of Qi. Coupled with her age, she couldn't bear it for a while, so she had to stay in bed. "

Pei Peng knows some Chinese medicine, and knows that this situation has a lot to do with emotions.In other words, it is a gas disease.

"Why is this? But after returning to the hometown, what kind of rumors are there?"

"Uh... the second uncle took a concubine."

Pei Peng is funny. Is this because the old lady can no longer take care of the external affairs and starts to take care of her son's inner affairs?Taking a concubine is worth getting angry...

and many more.

Pei Peng knew this mother-in-law pretty well, she wasn't someone who was limited to one acre of land, and didn't even care about her daughter-in-law, let alone such a trivial matter as taking a concubine. Not so angry.

"But what's wrong with her identity?"

Xu Zhao lowered his eyebrows, didn't look up at Pei Peng, and said in a low voice:
"It is said that she is a maid sent back by your eldest aunt."

Pei Peng was stunned for a moment, then thought again, then this makes sense.

Whether it was the servant girl who suddenly jumped out to provoke her before she left Beijing, or Mrs. Xu's strong opposition to her second son's taking a concubine, these things all made sense.

"Okay, I understand. Wait until I have someone pack up some useful medicinal materials and send them back to your grandmother. If you have a letter to return, send someone to deliver it together."

Seeing that Pei Peng was not angry, Xu Zhao was also relieved, and quickly agreed:

"it is good."

Pei Peng took a sip of tea and said earnestly:
"Azhao, you should tell your uncle about such a big thing as your grandmother's illness. But... the reason for the illness is a family matter after all, and it's not convenient for me to talk to him.

Go and talk to him.Be more detailed and don't say it too quickly. I'm afraid he'll be angry. "

Xu Zhao took the order and left.

That night, Pei Peng heard someone report that the prince-in-law had been brooding all afternoon, became furious, and then threw several tea sets.

Pei Peng didn't live with Xu Qing for a long time, but people kept watching over there, fearing that Xu Qing would lose his mind and be fooled by others.

Now it seems that I have figured out something, but unfortunately it is a little slow and a little late.

"Don't worry about him. But you are not allowed to prepare new tea sets for him. Let him use the unmatched ones. When we are still in the capital, where can I get the money for him to show his temper now?"

Xu Qing was very angry and had nowhere to vent, but Pei Peng was in a good mood. It was very interesting to watch the fool jump up and down and play tricks, and to watch the fool feel upset after being deceived.

But today, she got both of these pleasures.

"Aniang, what happened to Dad yesterday, I went to see him today, and I don't even have a complete set of tea sets to use, and even the phoenix cup he gave me is missing half of its tail."

Xu Shu came to complain early in the morning.

Pei Peng could probably imagine Xu Qing's angry expression on using those half-broken tea sets, he couldn't help laughing while leaning on the table, and even shook the drop-shaped pearl pendant on his forehead a few times.

"If you want to know why, just take the time to ask your cousin. I don't want to talk too much about their Xu family."

Xu Shu didn't want to ask these things at all, and she flirted with her mother for a while, grinding out a set of crystal cups that she liked very much before, and then put it away as soon as she saw it, and talked about serious business.

"Auntie, didn't you ask us to find a suitable village to try to implement land reclamation first? We discussed it and found a more suitable one. You can see if it works."

Pei Peng took the paper.

"Xiaoli Village? 37 households, [-] adult males, the number of acres... only [-] acres of open fields, and [-] acres of permanent farmland? How come there are so few?"

Pei Peng had a village and a horse farm in the suburbs of Beijing. He knew to some extent the situation of farmers in the capital. He knew that in an ordinary farmer's household, each adult male would be allocated sixty acres of open land and ten acres of permanent land.

In fact, it has been a long time since the founding of the country. In addition, there are many nobles in the capital, and a lot of land has been annexed, so that the land allocated to farmers has been discounted.

You know, at the time of the founding of the country, Taizu specifically stipulated in the discussion that an adult male could be allocated [-] acres of open land and [-] acres of permanent land.

But in this Xiaoli Village, on average, the number of acres does not even reach half of the prescribed number.

Pei Peng couldn't help but frowned, how could this amount of land be enough to live on?I'm afraid it's not even enough to pay taxes.

"This Zhou Keping, is this how he manages farming?"

(End of this chapter)