Chapter 584： long term plan

"But...but..." Xiumei struggled, "I don't match his status. He is a general now, and I am just a little maid. How can I marry him? He wants to be matched with those ladies and gentlemen. yes!"

"You are not allowed to say that you are just a little maid. I have never thought that you are just a maid. I don't think Brother Xiaoyong and my godfather and godmother would think so either." Wei Ruodao.

After Xiumei thought seriously for a while, she seemed to have finally figured it out. She raised her head and said to Wei Ruo solemnly: "Miss, I won't get married until you are officially married, so no matter how young you are, I don’t even consider whether it’s Brother Yong or Xiaobei.”

"Meimei, your life is yours, and you can't be tied to me for no reason." Wei Ruo said seriously.

"No, from the day I served the lady, my life has been closely connected with the lady. When the lady lives, I live; when the lady is happy, I am happy too. I am what I am now because of you, lady. Therefore, I have to follow you when it comes to getting married. I have never heard of anyone who married a maid first before the young lady got married."

"But your lady and I have already gotten married. I got married in a serious manner with three instructions and six etiquettes, eight carriages of a sedan chair."

"That doesn't count. The prince is your brother, not your husband."

 “Meimei!”

"Miss, you said it yourself. I have made the decision on my marriage. Now I have made the decision." Xiumei said.

 “Why are you so sharp-tongued now?”

 “I learned it all from you, miss.”

"Hey." Wei Ruo sighed helplessly and thought to himself, if Brother Xiao Yong knew that Meimei might not consider her marriage because she was thinking about her, I wonder if he would blame her.

　　###

In the afternoon, Wei Ruo still sent the selected portraits to Xu Zhengyong as planned. Xu Zhengyong pretended to look at them, then said that he didn't like them, and asked Wei Ruo to choose again. He preferred the more heroic ones. A woman, lively yet dignified.

When the servant passed the message to Wei Ruo, Wei Ruo hummed in his heart: You might as well just say that you want Meimei!

 But Wei Ruo still asked the matchmaker to ask for more portraits of women.

When it was time for dinner, Xiumei cooked a table of delicious dishes. Wei Ruo asked people to move the table to the yard, then went to the next door to call Wei Jinyi and Xiaobei over. In addition, during this period, he had been helping Wei Ruo in Prince Rui's Mansion. Uncle Xu and Mother Xu were busy, a total of seven people.

There was no concern about superiority or inferiority, and there was no defense between men and women. We all sat together and had a lively meal. The food cooked by Xiumei was unanimously praised by everyone. It was the most delicious thing in the world.

 After dinner, Xu Zhengyong set off again.

He only has one day's rest, and he will appear in the military camp early tomorrow morning.

Wei Ruo said goodbye to Xu Zhengyong at the door and warned: "Be careful on the road."

 Xiumei followed Wei Ruo's instructions and handed some packed things to Xu Zhengyong.

Xu Zhengyong took the baggage and said, "Thank you Meimei. I will definitely cherish what you gave me."

"This is what the lady gave me and it has nothing to do with me!" Xiumei quickly clarified the relationship.

"it's the same."

"It's different! Miss cares about you, but I don't care about you!" Xiumei said angrily.

"It's useless if you don't admit it. I know you care about me." Xu Zhengyong said firmly.

 “You are shameless.” Xiumei looked disgusted.

 “Hehe.” Xu Zhengyong smiled.

Wei Ruo watched from the side and thought, no matter what, the two people's habit of bickering has not changed.

"Let's go quickly. It's getting late, and the journey is long. If we don't set off, we won't be able to reach the military camp at dawn." Xiumei urged. "Okay." Xu Zhengyong shouldered the burden and got on his horse.

After Xu Zhengyong left, Xiumei said with some distress: "I have spent most of the day on the road. It's such a hard work. Miss, please tell him not to come back next time.

"I can't be the master of this matter. It's not necessarily my sister that he wants to see when he's running back and forth like this." Wei Ruodao.

"Miss, don't tease me about that again." Xiumei stamped her foot.

 “Okay, okay.”

 The two returned to Songzhuyuan talking and laughing.

At this moment, Wei Ruo did not realize that this farewell meeting with Xu Zhengyong was actually like that.

　　###

In the following days, Wei Ruo was still busy planting potatoes. Prince Rui's Mansion had a lot of land in Jiliao, and planting it all would require a lot of labor.

 In addition to the people Wei Ruo brought himself, Wei Ruo also needed to hire many people.

 For this reason, Wei Ruo cooperated with the local government to hire and resettle the refugees near Jiliao City.

Wei Ruo has resources and planting technology, and Wei Jin also has power, status and manpower.

 When all conditions were met, things went very smoothly.

In his spare time, Wei Ruo also drew a city planning map.

 Today's Jiliao City is incomparable not only to the capital city, but also to Xingshan County.

Except for Prince Rui's Mansion and the Magistrate's Office, there are only two decent buildings in the city, and there are only a few scattered houses of three or five families that are pretty good.

There are very few shops on the street. There are only three shops: a tailor shop, a blacksmith shop, and a tofu shop.

The so-called city does not have decent city walls. When you go out from Prince Rui's Mansion, you can cross two streets and reach the fields and mountains.

What Wei Ruo wanted was not just to build a city, but to repeat his old tricks and use work as a relief.

 She provided grain as payment and hired surplus labor to build the city, providing them with a source of income.

 The ownership of the completed houses belongs to her. When Jiliao City develops in the future, she can rent out these buildings to obtain income.

 Of course, this is a long-term plan.

It is unrealistic to develop a lively city in the short term. People need to have enough food and clothing first, and the population will grow. Then it is possible to develop trade and create a city.

The basis of all commercial activities is sufficient productivity. When everyone does not have enough to eat and what is produced is not enough for their own use, there will naturally be no trade.

 But she is not in a hurry to get immediate returns, she is willing to make such a long-term investment.

In this plan, Wei Ruo put road construction first. Wei Ruo drew several north-south and east-west avenues on the drawings, and among these avenues, the highest priority was the horizontal and vertical ones in front of Prince Rui's Mansion. The two main roads, after repair, will facilitate the subsequent transportation of materials for Wei Ruo himself and other people.

　　###

 Time has come to April in the lunar calendar, and the weather has become noticeably warmer.

On the fifth day of April, Wei Ruo went out as usual, but saw Xiumei running over in a hurry.

"Miss, miss..." Xiumei's face turned pale and she looked very panicked.