Early in the morning, the dumb aunt appeared at the door of Liu Dingmao's study.

Liu Dingmao looked distressed and worried, when he heard that his daughter-in-law wanted to see him, "Let me come in." ”

The dumb aunt entered the door, gave a salute, stood up, but did not speak, and her eyes were shining on Liu Dingmao's face.

Liu Dingmao was irritable, "If you have something, you can say something, Brother Wan'er's studies have also been suspended these days, I have a lot of official business-"

"Master," the dumb aunt spoke: "If the daughter-in-law guesses correctly, the lord is worried about the affairs of the state capital, Dongliang and Moro are at war, and the Lingzhou state government uses the needs of the war to force the rich squires and loose officials like the lord to give money. And this silver is out of one stroke after another, and as long as the war does not stop, this gap will never be satisfied. And our family, even if there are mountains of gold and silver, can't stand such a toss, so the master is struggling for this, right?"

Liu Dingmao was stunned for a moment, then suddenly stood up, and slapped his hand on the desk with a happy sound, "You even know this? You little woman, you are really not to be underestimated, well, people cannot be looked at, and the sea water cannot be measured, it seems that the words of the ancients are reasonable, and they are very reasonable! The little woman also has something to be respectable and admirable! You are so young, it is very valuable to be able to see through this." ”

The dumb aunt picked up the teacup with both hands and handed it to Liu Dingmao, with a steady smile in her eyes: "Daddy, don't worry, I'm just a little woman, what I said is wrong, Daddy just listens to what the child says, don't laugh." ”

"Don't laugh, don't laugh, tell me what you think!" Liu Dingmao waved his hand.

"This is a boiled frog in warm water, and it is a slow knife to cut the meat, slowly hanging us up and pressing it day by day. Moreover, this is not the imperial order of the upper court, but someone is taking the opportunity to make an ill-gotten windfall. Anyway, now is a troubled time, beacons are everywhere, even if they do this, we can't ask for verification from the top, let alone dare not disobey our orders, and even if one day the thieves retreat and the country settles down, we want to find the imperial court to return the silver we donated, even if we don't return it, in case the imperial court rewards according to the amount of donations, whether it is to add officials to knighthood, or to give any other reward, it may not have anything to do with us, because our money is simply into the black pit, and the court does not know how much we have paid. Because everyone wants to keep this little bit of stability in front of them, they buy peace with silver every time. So every time the lord knew that the money might have gone into some people's purses, he still handed it over. What worries me is not the money that has already been handed over, but how long can we hold on? And it's getting more and more chaotic outside, there are only five families in our house, who have been raised in the house for many years, they are all arranged by the eldest wife when she was alive, and they are old people, so they are naturally good, and there is no need to doubt their loyalty, but I see that they are raised with wine and meat all day long, and they gamble all night in the name of night duty, and their bodies and bones have long been hollowed out by wine. So I think it's time to raise a few more reliable and competent family members to nurse the home. Otherwise, even if it is a casual group of thieves and thieves, they will come to the door to rob and extort money, and it is not the most terrible to rob and rob money, I am afraid that when the time comes, I will burn and kill and commit adultery——"

"Don't say it anymore!" Liu Dingmao suddenly shouted, his hand holding the tea cup was trembling, and the tea fell out in a plop.

This was something he hadn't expected.

Burning, killing, looting, bullying women, destroying homes, and disregarding people's lives, in troubled times, such things can happen at any time, and he, the head of the family, didn't expect it.

Instead, it was pointed out by a little woman.

He was embarrassed, every day, he was busy dealing with the officials in the state capital, and he neglected such a major matter as his own safety.

Liu Dingmao raised his sleeves to wipe his sweat.

The dumb aunt watched quietly, and she knew that she had poked at the nerdy master's weakness.

"Where is your little woman's opinion, it's just a big husband's high opinion, Brother Wan's daughter-in-law, this matter is very important, I think we first have to hire a few strong, loyal and reliable family members to come back, compared with money and other things outside the body, our safety is the most important!"

At this time, Uncle Zhong hurriedly appeared at the door, and when he saw that there were people in the study, he hesitated to leave, and Liu Dingmao saw it and shouted: "Something comes in and says, what is urgent, I see that your forehead is sweating." ”

Lao Zhong stepped into the threshold, "Master, I just heard a news that the You family in the east of the city entered the thieves last night, and a group of masked people, armed with knives, not only robbed the You family of gold and silver, but also raped and killed several family members on the spot. ”

"Is that really the case?" Liu Dingmao jumped up from his chair. His face was like ashes, and he shouted: "It's over, I'm still talking about Cao Cao just now, Cao Cao is here so soon! How is this good? How is it good! The strength of the You family is much stronger than ours, and the family alone has more than ten numbers, and I heard that there are still a few martial arts among them, and they can also be looted overnight, if the villains really target our family, it will be bad!"

"The old slave is also worried about this. Old Uncle Zhong nodded.

"Then what do you say? Why don't you call Steward Liu to discuss?" Liu Dingmao knew that the matter of security was urgent.

"Master-" The dumb aunt stood up again, "Since the master has handed over the power of the family to me, how have I managed the affairs of the house in the past few days, and is the master still satisfied?"

Liu Dingmao nodded: "I heard Wan Jiao say that you are really good, you are quite capable, the eldest lady's funeral can be managed in an orderly manner, and yesterday I inspected the winter heating in each house and courtyard, and also added charcoal fire on the spot." Also, Wan'er suddenly changed her temperament and followed me to study, and she was able to study seriously, which can be seen as the result of your troubles. So, this lady in charge, you can do a good job, don't be timid because you're young, and don't be afraid of offending people, now in the backyard of our house, you have the final say. If there is any dissatisfaction, just remove. ”

The dumb aunt nodded: "Daughter-in-law, I am just a little woman, naturally I can only manage the affairs of the inner house, but now it is so chaotic, the matter of protecting the family and the hospital, although it is the management scope of the men outside, but it also has a lot to do with our inner house, so the daughter-in-law wants to recommend a person to the master to be a martial arts coach, and then invite six young men, let the coach teach martial arts every day, so that the physique can be strengthened. It's just that the five old family members who were raised in the house before, I don't think they can stay, they are addicted to wine and weak, not to mention, they are really familiar with the house, but once some of them have collusion with the villains outside, I am afraid that there will be no harm to the house. ”

Liu Dingmao groaned, "These people were indeed raised by us with a stinky problem, and they were all introduced by Xie Yulin, Steward Liu and others, either this relative, or that family, and they have an intricate relationship." Now that I have chased them, I am afraid that Steward Liu will feel uncomfortable. ”

"Steward Liu also has to be replaced. The dumb aunt said steadily.

"Master, the state government official is here again, saying that you have something important to discuss in the past. "A guy came to report," people are waiting at the door, and it seems that they won't leave if you don't go. ”

"Here we go again. I won't let go of a single day. Liu Dingmao's face was full of distress.

"The lord had a sudden emergency, he just fainted, and I was applying an injection to rescue him, so I could only ask the official to go back and truthfully reply to Lord Zhizhou. The dumb aunt raised her voice, and as she spoke, she walked over, and suddenly grabbed Liu Dingmao's wrist, and she didn't know where she found a silver needle and pierced Liu Dingmao's arm.

The little guy was hesitant, this old man was obviously sitting and talking in front of him, why did he faint and rescue, before he crossed the threshold, there was a grunt behind him, and a body fell down.

"The old man fainted again—come on, carry him to bed!" Old Uncle Zhong shouted at the top of his voice.

The dumb aunt said: "This disease is dangerous, today is the second time to faint, I am afraid that my little carving insect skills will not be cured, so let's go outside and ask a famous doctor." He pulled out the silver needle from Liu Dingmao's wrist.

Steward Liu rushed over when he heard the sound, "The master must have been sick from hard work, and his body collapsed because he couldn't bear it, so please ask a doctor." ”

For a while, the news that the old man fainted and fainted spread all over the house.

People of all sizes suddenly jumped and people were panicking.

Liu Dingmao is a big tree in this Liufu, everyone's backer, if he falls, these dozens of people will lose their support, especially the soldiers outside, in case this house is down, no one's life will be good.

The two officials also rushed over, and saw with their own eyes that Liu Dingmao really had his eyes closed, his lips were blue, and he had not turned around for a long time after passing out, and it seemed that he was really sick.

They stopped pestering and went back to their lives.

"The man is gone. Old Uncle Zhong approached the edge of the bed and told the dumb aunt who was guarding the pillow.

The dumb aunt took another silver needle and applied the needle again.

Liu Dingmao woke up slowly.