Hearing Song Wangyue’s words, Meng Cheng froze in disbelief.
“Xu Ling’er was raised in the Xu family? ……”
Song Wangyue briefly and concisely told him about the Xu family, but of course, did not say anything about Xu Ling’er and Huo’s plotting against Song Si.
Even so, after hearing this, Meng Cheng stumbled backwards a step, his body leaning against the corridor pillar, not uttering any words for a long time.
He had been attracted to Xu Ling’er from the first moment he saw her. Because of his business, he had met many women, and his family had introduced him to several marriages, but there had never been a woman like Xu Ling’er, who spoke and behaved like a lady of the house. He thought that all the women in the capital were like this, but never thought that Xu Ling’er would be someone who had been driven out of the house by the Xu family.
Looking at her with a deeply stricken look, Song Wangyue shook her head. The reason she had given him this was to prepare him mentally, not to give him a blow.
“Fundamentally, she’s innocent, what Huo and Wen Zhong did doesn’t implicate her, and she didn’t do anything to wrong the Xu family. I only told you because I thought she would object when you mentioned it to your uncle and grandfather, so that you could be prepared in advance.”
Meng Cheng’s mouth grew several times, and no words came out.
He was still young when his Aunt Wan’er was lost, but he knew how sad his grandfather was and had sent out many people to help find her. Although none of this had anything to do with Xu Ling’er, she was, after all, Huo’s granddaughter and Wen Zhong’s niece. To have his own heart set on her would be to apologise to Aunt Wan’er.
“What are you thinking about?”
Song Wan patted his shoulder, “From Xu Ling’er’s personal point of view alone she is still good, Uncle Li An is also a good person, since you have your heart set on her, find a way to go for her.”
Meng Cheng shook his head slowly, his voice mute, “No, no need.”
If it were any other case, he would have gone for it, but not this case, grandfather would not agree, and he could not get past himself.
Song Wan Yue,……
She seemed to have done something wrong and was about to persuade, when the watchman hurried in, saw them and stopped, “Miss Song, the governor’s housekeeper has come over and said he wants to invite you, the master, and Li An to go over.”
The three of them were invited over, had they explored the aqueduct?
Song Wangyue swallowed her words of persuasion and nodded, “You go and report to uncle grandfather, I’ll go and find uncle Li.”
The watchman scurried away, and Song Wan Yue patted Meng Cheng’s shoulder again and went back to the old man’s courtyard.
The old gentleman and Li An had finished playing a game of chess, Li An had lost badly but didn’t care, he smilingly took the pieces back to the chess box one by one, “Your chess skills have improved again, I used to be able to play fifty pieces but now I lost in thirty.”
“It’s all because of that girl Yue’er. She’s good at chess and often beats me.”
“That’s because my great-grandfather gives me a chance.”
Song Wan Yue lifted the curtain and went inside, smiling as she answered, and seeing that the two had finished playing, she said, “The governor has sent a steward over to invite us over, I think he has already sent someone to explore the aqueduct, and will probably be asking Uncle Li what good advice he has.”
“This cannot be delayed, you go quickly, and come back with me in the evening.”
The old gentleman said.
Li An got up, gave the old gentleman a bow and then came out with Song Wan Yue, after walking out of the courtyard door, Meng Yang also happened to come over, and the three of them went out of the house.
The governor’s housekeeper was waiting at the door, and when he saw a few people coming out, his attitude was very respectful, “His Excellency is waiting for you three at the courthouse.”
The three of them got into the carriage separately and followed her to the government office and went to the back office unhindered.
Apart from the governor, there were a few people standing inside the house, their trousers and feet more or less covered in mud, and when they saw the three of them enter, their eyes immediately fell on them.
The governor’s attitude was much kinder, “Have a seat and serve tea.”
The three of them took their seats and the servants served tea.
The governor pointed to the people standing there, “After hearing what you said, I sent them to check the drains, and it is true that there are many areas that are not unblocked. I asked the steward to invite you all here because I wanted to ask you if you had any good suggestions?”
It was Li An who he was looking at when he said this, obviously asking him.
The few people standing also looked over with his gaze.
Over the years, Jinling had been blessed with good weather and rainfall, and they, the River Department, had taken a casual glance when they went to inspect the water channels. If it wasn’t for the fact that the lord had suddenly asked them to check them today, they wouldn’t have known that the water channels outside Jinling were blocked so much.
Being stared at by several people, Li An was not timid, “Do you have the drawings of all the waterways? Can you bring them to me for a look?”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
Li An took it, moved his tea and spread it on the table, and asked the few people standing there, “Can you point out where there is a blockage?”
Several people looked at each other, and then quietly looked at the governor. There were too many blockages, some of them had even collapsed, they hadn’t dared to tell His Excellency when they returned, if they told him now, would they be sentenced by His Excellency?
“I need to know exactly what’s going on so I can know how to respond.”
One of them wiped the cold sweat rising from his forehead and stepped forward, his hand turning almost halfway around on the drawing, “This, all of these, are blocked.”
Li An looked at him in consternation.
The governor’s face was darkened, these people dared to hide even from him.
“If it’s really as you point out, the waterway must be rebuilt.”
“Repaired?”
Several other people did not hold back their exclaims, “Do you know how many aqueducts there are outside of Jinling City? If they are rebuilt, how much money and material resources would have to be spent?”
“Even if it costs even more financial and material resources, it’s still better than having a flood, once it happens, the consequences are unthinkable.”
After saying that, Li An looked at the governor, “Your Excellency, you have to make an early decision on this matter, the continuous heavy rain of the last few days has already poured a lot of rain into the farmland, if there is another heavy rain, I am afraid that the crops will not be saved. This is just into May, and if it rains a lot in June, the situation will be worse.”
The governor’s face looked grave.
The people said that the governor of Jinling was an emperor of the land, and he agreed with that, because the sky was high and the emperor was far away, and no one could restrain him. But if there was a flood here, even if it was far away, the emperor would reach over and he, the earth emperor, might be dismissed by the real emperor and have his head chopped off.
He did not want to end up like that.
With this in mind, he spoke more politely, “Please estimate the amount of manpower and materials needed, and I will go and prepare immediately.”
After hearing this, Li An did not hesitate to get up, “I will go with them on a field trip and report to Your Excellency tomorrow.”
“Many thanks.”
The governor even arched his hand.
The few people standing saw the governor treating Li An like this, and they were a little more respectful themselves.
“The few of you lead the way.”
Several people answered and led Li An away.
When they had gone, the governor looked at Meng Yang, “Master Meng has just heard that it will take a lot of manpower and resources to unblock these drains. The government alone cannot do this, so I would like to ask you, Master Meng, to be the leader and take the lead in donating money to help us build the aqueducts.”