Su Qing's business is very large, and even Li Mao can't figure out how much property she has, and her special status is undoubtedly conducive to her business development, but she has never set foot in the salt, iron, weapons and grain trade, which Li Mao regards as the lifeblood of the economy. Since her existence did not endanger the existing system, Li Mao had no reason to openly stand up against it.

Over the years, her business focus has gradually shifted from Yunzhou and Caozhou to Dengzhou, Liaodong and Youzhou, and overseas trade is still her main profit point. When Su Qing first arrived in Youzhou, Li Mao also had the idea of taking the property under her name into public ownership, in order to prevent the emergence of commercial monopoly and destroy the business environment in Youzhou. Su Qing made a concession and announced that he would wash his hands and retire.

But after some open and secret wrestling, Li Mao found that the conditions for turning private into public were not mature, he lacked both talent reserves and a good management and operation model, and the publicly owned industries were gradually withering, or even withering and going out of business. The lesson of blood prompted Li Mao to change his strategy, he gave up the acquisition and transformation of Su Qing's property, and instead sought a cleaner agent to operate this private property in front of the stage, and Su Qing sat behind the scenes to make the decision.

Although this model is not as efficient as Su Qing's personal departure, it is the best choice in Li Mao's eyes, after all, Mrs. Yan Wang's personal business has caused criticism in the world, and some of the gains outweigh the losses.

The couple talked for a while, and Li Mao was getting up to leave, when he suddenly heard a hearty laugh like a silver bell in the courtyard, and a pair of young men and women broke in side by side.

Seeing this, Su Qing's face turned red, and she rushed in front of Li Mao and scolded: "This dead girl went crazy with the leopard head again." ”

The person who came was Li Huiniang and the leopard head, who were walking steaming, and when he looked up, he saw that his father suddenly shrunk his neck in Huiniang, stuck out his tongue again and again, lowered his eyebrows, and stood respectfully under the porch.

The leopard head has joined the army, dressed in military civilian clothes, and sees Li Mao with a military salute, and the salute is respectful, but he is no longer as afraid as before.

Su Qing was afraid that Li Mao would reprimand her daughter, so she preemptively scolded Li Huiniang and said: "The leopard head has enlisted in the army and is doing serious things, you are not afraid of delaying his future if you pester him all day long?" Li Huiniang said: "Mother, he stayed up two nights in a row, and he took a day off today." Su Qing said: "Yes, leopard head, you tell the truth to your mother, is what she said true?" ”

The leopard head said: "Back to Niangniang, I didn't close my eyes for two days and two nights, and today I took half a day off, and Hui Niang said that I wanted to accompany him to do something." I'll come here. Su Qing scolded Li Huiniang and said: "This foolish child, I haven't closed my eyes for two days and two nights, how can I still survive, what can you do?" Leopard head, you go back and rest, and then talk about the big things when you have rested, listen to me, go quickly. ”

Su Qing squeezed his eyes at the leopard head as he spoke, and the leopard head was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said goodbye.

Su Qing was in such a hurry to take the leopard's head away, because he was afraid that he would say something that he shouldn't say, what it was, Li Mao could already guess a clue. When Li Huiniang first entered the door, she held a golden talisman bag in her hand, and when she saw Li Mao, she quietly hid the talisman bag behind her back, and then slipped sideways to her mother, and handed the talisman bag to her mother.

It was a Xuan Spectacular talisman bag, color, style, Li Mao had only seen it in the morning, and he was very impressed, Li Huiniang and the leopard head went to Xuan Spectacular early in the morning, and even last night, and asked for such a bag of talismans to come back, what is the use of this talisman, Li Mao still does not know. He didn't follow the question, so as not to expose the differences between the husband and wife to his daughter.

Li Mao snorted, took out his father's majesty, and said to Li Huiniang: "You are not young anymore, take care of your younger brothers and sisters every day, and run out less if you have nothing to do." The leopard head is now in the army, with his father's shadow, and his uncles and uncles are willing to take care of him, but a man can't always have to be taken care of by others, that will make people look down on him, his world wants him to break in, and you don't pester him in the future. Putting down this cruel sentence, Li Mao glared at his daughter again and walked out.

Li Mao didn't want to be so fierce to his daughter, but every time he saw Li Huiniang's lawless appearance, he was angry, this daughter didn't grow up by his side, she was not intimate, and she was in the period of youth rebellion, so she did everything with him, and she couldn't help but go out with cruel words for a while. After going out, he regretted it a little in his heart, thinking that Hui Niang had lived with his mother since she was a child, and had been lacking father's love, although she had returned to her now, she was so busy that she was always difficult to have time to take care of her.

Thinking of this, Li Mao's heart was sour. Suddenly, I thought of one thing, I remembered that Su Qing used to look down on this great master of heaven, when Su Zuoming's mother borrowed the corpse to resurrect the soul and came to Youzhou to ask for help from him, he was frightened inside and outside, Cai Wencai suggested that the master of great virtue be invited into the house, but Su Qing dissuaded him.

After a few years, Su Qing has also become his believer, this person, Li Mao wants to see him more and more.

The bag of talismans that Li Huiniang brought back was not for herself or Su Qing, and it had nothing to do with Li Mao, she was asked for Qin Mo, the father of the leopard head, who grew up in the academy in the palace since he was a child, because Li Mao personally reviewed the syllabus, and the students received an authentic atheist education. Li Huiniang wanted to help him but didn't dare to help openly, so she could only lie to him and ask for a talisman to keep her safe, so she coaxed him to accompany her overnight to get the talisman from the Heavenly Master.

"Does this charm really work? Your Uncle Qin drank a few rune waters, but it didn't seem to work. ”

"Don't let him fool you, I'll tell you, he's already fine."

"Nonsense! Okay, still pretending to be crazy, is it fun to pretend to be crazy? ”

"Hey, I knew you wouldn't believe it, just like that fool. Oh, mother, why are you screwing my ears? ”

"It's light to twist your ears, and if you are so open-mouthed, sooner or later one day I will sew up your mouth and take these things away, so that your father can see it, and I won't be able to peel off your skin."

Li Huiniang took the talisman bag, hid it closely, and said, "Believe it or not, in less than half a year, my father will definitely use a sedan chair to invite the Heavenly Master back to the palace and serve as a guest." People have great magical powers, and they are real immortals. ”

After Hui Niang finished speaking, she happily went out, Su Qing shook her head, and said to herself: "You still carry a sedan chair, knowing that you don't have firewood to burn him when you interact with him, it's polite." ”

After a day of meetings and a number of important people, Li Mao had back pain, dry mouth, and jerky eyes at dusk, so he went to the Xincheng construction site lightly.

In the twilight haze, the city of Youzhou is as quiet as a mountain, and in front of you is a new city rising from the ground.

The city wall has been half repaired, because the quality requirements are too strict, the supervision is too transparent and fair, no one dares to take over the builders of Youzhou, and they have to send sergeants and prisoners to build, lack of manpower, lack of experience, and the progress is not much faster than that of a snail.

However, no matter how slow it is, it will be completed by the beginning of summer next year. Nowadays, Youzhou is peaceful, and it is completed one day earlier and one day later, but it has little to do with it. But the erected city wall has to be managed for thousands of years, and it must not be sloppy in the slightest.

Returning to the palace from Xincheng, Cai Wencai reported: "Li Guotai has been waiting for a long time. ”

Li Mao said: "It's just right to come, let's talk while eating." ”

Early this morning, Li Mao asked Cai Wencai to personally inform Li Guotai to come to see him in the evening, that is, he had the intention to reveal to him a little bit of the key content of the evening conversation, Cai Wencai and Li Guotai both understood it, so Li Guotai had made full preparations before entering the house, and then sat down to eat with him.

Li Mao's dinner was very simple, gruel, steamed cakes, two vegetarian dishes and a small plate of pickles, because Li Guotai added a soup and a stir-fry when he came, which was very simple. During the meal, we chatted casually, and the atmosphere was very harmonious, and after the meal, I moved to the conference room opposite the study. Li Guotai sat upright, waiting for Li Mao's inquiry.

Li Mao took a sip of tea, it was too hot, put down the tea bowl, raised his head and asked Li Guotai: "What kind of person is the Great Virtue Heavenly Master?" The good and the bad, I want to know, have to be justified. ”

Li Guotai coughed and cleared his throat, and said: "In short, he is a clever warlock, used to pretending to be a ghost, I saw with my own eyes that he turned a small snake into a red dragon, and instantly separated the flesh and bones of a live rabbit into a white skeleton, which is very terrifying." I asked a clever acrobat to go with me, and he told me unmistakably that he was using illusions, but the means were so clever that ordinary people could not see the tricks in front of him. ”

Li Guotai stopped and observed Li Mao's face, Li Mao said: "You go on, tell everything you see, hear, and know." ”