Zhuge Liang looked at Yan Yan and laughed twice. Yan Yan was about ten years older than him. Since he met, he took care of him like a brother, no less than his elder brother Zhuge Jin who went to Youzhou. Although one of them was from Pengcheng and the other was from Yangdu, they had no contact before.

"Brother Mancai, you're thinking too much. It's not that I think it's rare to be accustomed to be accustomed to General Sun. It's not appropriate for me to disturb him now." Zhuge Liang looked at the pedestrians on the roadside. "Do you think these money, food, wine, meat, and cloth all fell from the sky?" He raised his new clothes in his hand and shook them. "After the huge epidemic, a large number of refugees poured into Yuzhou. According to common sense, prices should rise, but the new clothes are about 20% cheaper than in previous years. Why?"

Yan Yan also felt strange. "Yes, I don't understand very much. It doesn't feel like it's after a major disaster, but it's like a good harvest."

"This is a last resort. After the epidemic, people were in panic. If prices rise and people's lives are difficult, not only will the refugees be unable to persevere, but even the local people will complain and say that they will still take their anger on foreign people. At that time, do you think the locals in Pingyu would be so kind to us who speak foreign accents?"

As he was speaking, a girl in brocade suddenly snatched Zhuge Liang. "Boy, where are you from? Can you tell me your name?"

Zhuge Liang was calm and greeted with a smile. "Thank you for your concern, my reputation is so bad, I dare not have any dirty ears."

The girl frowned, tilted her head, and looked at Zhuge Liang in confusion. At this time, her female companion came over, pulled her away, and teased her: "Don't be crazy, this young man is a child of a noble family at first glance, so it will be your turn."

"What's wrong with the children of aristocratic families?" said the girl in brocade in dissatisfaction, broke free from her female companion, quickly walked to Zhuge Liang, and put a flower on Zhuge Liang's head. "I am the second daughter of the Meng family in the west of the city. I am not married yet this year. If you have time, come to my house to sit down. My brother is Meng Jianmeng Gongwei, who works in Taifu Mansion. You will know it as soon as you ask."

Zhuge Liang felt a little embarrassed, his face turned slightly red, and he didn't know how to deal with it. The girl in brocade looked at it, giggled and rushed to chase her female companion. Yan Yan couldn't help but smile. Although Zhuge Liang was only fourteen, his figure was no different from an adult. In addition, he was handsome and had a youthful face, but there was a little calmness that was rare for his peers to see, which was very easy to attract the attention of passers-by. Along the way, several girls were staring at him without any concealing their admiration in their eyes, but the first one was like so proactive.

"Since the third general's Yulin Guard formed an army, the women in Pingyu have become more and more generous." Yan Yan smiled and said, "If you join the army and study, you can do whatever men can do. Women are as good as men. In my opinion, sooner or later, one day, there will be their place in the court."

"The possibility is not high." Zhuge Liang said lightly.

"Why do you say that?"

"A gentleman's virtue, villain's virtue, and folk customs change, all of them are effective. Do you think General Sun's wives and concubines are officials?"

"The Third General is the chief general of the Yulin Guard."

"The Yulin Guard is just a song of people. At best, as a guard, it is impossible to form an independent army. Because of her physiology, women are naturally not suitable for engaging in politics and military affairs, so it is rare to do academic research."

"Kong Ming, be careful. Don't say these words in front of the third general, otherwise you will be more beautiful."

Zhuge Liang couldn't help laughing. "Thank you, Brother Mancai, I must be careful."

The two of them chatted all the way. After leaving the city, they rented a carriage and talked about the price. It cost 30 yuan to go to Gebi. Although it was about half the price than usual, the two of them were not too much, so they got on the car. The car was very neat and cleaned, and prepared a pot of hot water and a few bamboo cups, washed very cleanly, and hung upside down. Zhuge Liang took two bamboo cups, poured two cups of water, handed one to Yan Yan, and brought one himself. He drank a mouthful of hot water, not only quenched thirst, but also kept the cold.

"Brother-in-law, how do you keep the water warm?" Zhuge Liang opened the front window and asked loudly.

The old handheld driving style is very happy and the sound is very loud, so that Zhuge Liang should avoid it a little. "This pot of water is just poured, buried in the grass nest, and it is still hot until Gebi. If you drink it quickly, this pot of water will be finished in Gebi, and then pour a new pot and then return to Pingyu. Our handlebars are old customers of tiger stoves. The old stove will fill the water, so we can just change the empty pot to the full pot."

"How much does this pot of water cost?"

"Not much, not much, you can fill two pots per ounce. We will make a monthly basis, and it is enough to give him fifty dollars a month."

"That tiger stove doesn't make much money?"

"Oh, of course, there are not many gentlemen who study. It's only five or six thousand yuan a month, and a few people in the family are enough to live. For example, this twelfth lunar month, I guess I can earn 10,000 or 20,000 yuan. After opening the year, there will be a large society in Pingyu City, and there will be no fewer people at that time, and I can earn a lot. Nowadays, as long as I am willing to endure hardships and not be lazy, I will be more than enough to have enough food and clothing. Every once in a while, I can eat a meal of meat and drink two glasses. The old man I have lived a lifetime and drove a car for my whole life. I didn't expect that my old age will live a nourishing life. This year I eat more meat and wine than I did in my previous life."

Zhuge Liang chatted with Laobashi all the way. When they arrived at Gepi, they got off the car and had not paid the fare, and someone rushed over to Pingyu. Yan Yan hurriedly paid the fare and walked into the workshop with Zhuge Liang. The workshop had already been on holiday, and most of the workers had already gone home for the New Year, and there were only a few workshops left and there were still people working.

"Kong Ming, as you said just now, General Sun gave so much money, grain, wine and cloth to stabilize people's hearts, but in fact he couldn't make ends meet?"

"Isn't it?" Zhuge Liang asked back: "In the first half of the year, the army fought and consumed a lot of materials. Later, the Guanzhong drought severely. General Sun urgently transferred money and grain to source Guanzhong. The autumn harvest had just collected some food, and the epidemic came again. Go to the warehouses of each county to see how much grain there is left? The distribution of grain is to stabilize people's hearts, otherwise there is no way to talk about farming. The shortage of food must be waited for the late spring to harvest wheat before it can alleviate. If Yuan Shao acted quickly and launched an attack before harvesting the wheat, these wheat would become Yuan Shao's spoils. After all, Yuzhou is not a suitable place to defend..."

Zhuge Liang spoke as he stepped into the gate of Xu Yue's courtyard. Several people stood in the front yard, dressed in military uniforms, and Xu Shu was accompanying him to gossip. When he saw Zhuge Liang and Yan Yan coming in, he turned his eyes. Zhuge Liang was stunned. The clothes he knew about these people were the military uniforms of the guards of Sun Ce. Their appearance here meant that Sun Ce was here.

Zhuge Liang's heart suddenly beat faster, subconsciously stopped and straightened his body.

Xu Shu came up and looked down at the bags in Zhuge Liang and Yan Hu's hands. "Oh, are you making a fortune? Are you buying these many clothes?"

"It seems cheap, so I bought two more. If I hadn't known that you didn't have to worry about wearing it, we would have brought two for you." Zhuge Liang said, and took out a book and handed it over. "I'll give this to you, please don't think it's too bad for you."

Xu Shu took it and took a look. "Oh, the original metaphysics, which one's work is this?"

"I heard it was a Western Regional Morphology interpreted by a doctor Hu from Bencaotang in Nanyang. I read it in a bookstore and thought it was good. It was very different from our Zhongyuan Monomorphology, so I bought two. You one, I one, and see who can understand it first. Boyuan, who is here?"

"General Sun." Xu Shu said while flipping through the book: "I'm talking to me, Ah Weng. You're back. General Sun will ask you as soon as he comes and will see you later."

"Okay, then I'll go back to the house and put down the things."
Chapter completed!