Mrs. Deng is a widow, and a pretty widow who is only three years older than Zhang Xi.
Deng Ai followed Zhang Xi to Jiangxia. It was a disciple following his teacher, which was reasonable. What if she went with a widow? !
Besides, it’s not like Mrs. Deng didn’t hear about the matchmaking done by the village elder to Zhang Xi, and she was a little embarrassed.
That's why Mrs. Deng blushed.
Practically speaking, even if these concerns are put aside, Mrs. Deng is unwilling to leave Xinye.
Mainly because of the ownership issue of the Xinye Deng family.
She was in Xinye, as the widow of the previous head of the Deng family, guarding the family property for her son. When Deng Ai returned from school in the future, he could directly inherit the position of the head of the Deng family.
Although there are not many assets left in the Xinye Deng family now, this is what her husband left to her and her son. Even if there is only a thatched cottage, Mrs. Deng does not want to give it up easily.
But if she followed Deng Ai to Jiangxia, then there's really no telling who owns the assets left in Xinye.
At least the village elder will definitely take away the property title deeds from him in the name of management. It's hard to say whether he can get them back when Deng Ai returns from his studies.
This is the main reason why Mrs. Deng cannot leave Xinye and go to Jiangxia.
Of course, it is impossible for Mrs. Deng to tell the truth to Zhang Xi. This is a family matter of the Deng family and has nothing to do with Zhang Xi.
Mrs. Deng could only find an excuse to give Zhang Xi a hint.
"It's not that the young lady doesn't want to." Mrs. Deng thought for a moment and said to Zhang Xi, "It's just that the young lady has never traveled far, and her late husband's grave is here. It is inconvenient to travel far every year to pay homage to him. Please ask Mr. understanding."
Well, what I said was so high-sounding that Xiao Deng Ai believed it anyway, with a look of disappointment on his face.
Zhang Xi heard some clues, and then wondered whether he should intervene in this matter.
This is a family matter of the Deng family. Zhang Xi is not qualified to say anything. Even if he hears the implication of Mrs. Deng's words, he should not say anything.
But this is Deng Ai.
Even if I take Deng Ai away now, if Cao Cao's army goes south and Xinye falls in the future, Mrs. Deng will still be moved to Runan by Cao Cao. Little Deng Ai should not rush home.
Doesn't this return to the original historical line?
Although Zhang Xi feels that with his own existence, Ji Han's future destiny may not go the same way, but what if? !
After thinking for a while, Zhang Xi decided to send little Deng Ai away and have a good talk with Mrs. Deng.
Little Deng Ai was gone, but the housekeeper was still there, but Zhang Xi had no need to avoid his presence and spoke directly.
"My wife originally asked Ai'er to become my teacher. What happened, Xi slightly guessed. It's just that my wife thought that after Ai'er followed me to Jiangxia, she stayed in Xinye. Can she really keep this family fortune?!"
Don't beat around the bush and talk nonsense, just point out the topic directly.
When Deng Ai is around Mrs. Deng, the village elders will still be wary. After all, Deng Ai's surname is Deng and he is the son of the previous head of the family.
But if Deng Ai is not with Mrs. Deng and is far away in Jiangxia during these years of war and chaos, what will happen? Is it normal? !
"If Madam follows Ai'er to Jiangxia, firstly, Ai'er will be known as benevolent and filial, and secondly, even if she loses her family fortune for a while, when Ai'er succeeds in his studies, one day, Ai'er will be famous all over the world, and he will have the name of Liu Shijun. With Ai'er's ability, how dare the village elder not return the family property?!"
"This is the so-called "If you save the land, you will lose people, and everyone will lose the land; if you save the people, you will lose the land, and everyone will gain the land."
In order to convince Mrs. Deng, Zhang Xi even used the words of great men to explain such simple and clear truths. Zhang Xi did not believe that Mrs. Deng did not understand.
Mrs. Deng hesitated for a long time and never responded.
Seeing that it was not a problem to wait like this, Zhang Xi could only stand up and leave, leaving Mrs. Deng to think about it.
In the next few days, Zhang Xi was packing up his gifts and arranging for Xiao Qibao to go shopping. After all, it was quite a long way from Xinye to Jiangxia, so he had to make preparations along the way.
Then he had to go to General Zuo's Mansion frequently. On the one hand, Liu Bei often asked Zhang Xi to communicate with him, and on the other hand, he had to have a good discussion with Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu to see if there was anything he had missed.
After seven or eight days of preparation, Zhang Xi finally set off.
And Zhang Xi's team, from the beginning of Zhang Xi's family, has now become two families.
Mrs. Deng finally figured it out and decided to accompany Deng Ai to Jiangxia. The village elder smiled like a chrysanthemum and personally delivered it to the entrance of the village.
Of course, Mrs. Deng was nominally going to Jiangxia to visit relatives, and she and Zhang Xi just happened to be on the same road, not in the same company. She had to be careful about the impact.
Although it is not new for widows to remarry these days, Mrs. Deng still wants to let Deng Ai come back to inherit the family business. It is better to have less places to avoid gossip.
As for Zhang Xi's family, they are Zhang Xi, Xiao Qibao, plus Xiao Qi and Xiaoba, a total of four people.
Of course, there is also Kou Feng, who can barely count as half.
Erha is very unhappy now because he was demoted.
Of course, it was impossible for Liu Bei to directly send Zhang Xi to take office under his own banner, so Kou Feng temporarily left his military post and, as the guard captain, led a 150-person guard team to escort Zhang Xi to Jiangxia.
But three days before leaving, Kou Feng was demoted from his official position of guard captain to deputy captain.
The current captain of the escort team is a burly man who is over eight feet tall.
Kou Feng was very dissatisfied, but it was useless. He couldn't beat this big man.
Zhang Xi was also very unhappy because the big man's name was Wei Yan.
Zhang Xi doesn't understand why the Lord sent this bastard with negative emotional intelligence for what purpose? !
Although, having Wei Yan lead the army does make people feel more secure than Kou Feng leading the army.
But we don’t have a good relationship, lord, don’t you know? !
Fortunately, Zhang Xi didn't look at Wei Yan when he showed up this time. He just shouldered the escort task silently with a dark face. He even listened to Zhang Xi's instructions for camping and resting along the way, which made Zhang Xi feel at ease.
The journey was smooth sailing. After more than ten days of long journey, Zhang Xi and his party finally arrived at Xiling County, the seat of Jiangxia.
Xiling County has been the seat of Jiangxia since the Han Dynasty. Huang Zu managed Xiling County vigorously during his time. The height and grandeur of the city made Zhangxi look much stronger than the small town of Xinye.
After Zhang Xi arrived in Xiling County, he first asked Wei Yan and others to wait outside the city, then entered the city himself and went to see Liu Qi with Liu Bei's letter of recommendation.
Liu Qi was currently in his prefect's mansion. Hearing Zhang Xi's arrival, he quickly came out to greet him.
It's not that Liu Qi has heard of Zhang Xi's name. In fact, Liu Bei has already written to Liu Qi and told Liu Qi that Zhang Xi will go to see Liu Qi in the name of bringing local warriors to Liu Qi, and Liu Qi is just going through the motions. Establish yourself as a courteous corporal.
After entering the prefect's house, Zhang Xi handed Liu Bei's letter. Liu Qi laughed after reading it. After chatting with Zhang Xi for a while, he asked his subordinates to contact Wei Yan and others to enter the city to make arrangements.
As for Zhang Xi, Liu Qi appointed Zhang Xi as the postal supervisor of Jiangxia County on the spot.
Because "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, when it comes to postal supervision, the image of a dead fat man who failed to ask for a bribe and was tied up and whipped by Zhang Fei came to everyone's mind. Zhang Xi's first reaction was like this.
As a postal supervisor, Zhang Fei can smoke it casually, and after finishing it, he feels that he is fine. This gives people the illusion that the postal supervisor is not an important position.
But in fact, the governor is a military attache of a county, responsible for the military affairs of the entire county. In theory, it is a position second only to the prefect and the county magistrate.
In the romance line, the reason why the governor asked Liu Bei for a bribe was to thoroughly investigate the behavior of pretending to receive military honors during the Yellow Turban Uprising. This is a military matter, so it was the governor who went to inspect.
Therefore, the Postal Supervisor is really not a small official. If you exaggerate and say that he is the third-in-command in a county, no one will refute you.
Liu Qi first appointed Zhang Xi as the postal superintendent, in charge of the military affairs of Jiangxia County, and then held a dinner to introduce Zhang Xi to Jiangxia civil and military officials.
At the banquet, Zhang Xi met Su Fei, Huang She, Chen Dao and the new Jiangxia County Magistrate Chen Zhen.
Zhang Xi was surprised when he heard Liu Qi introduce Chen Zhen as the county magistrate of Jiangxia. After all, Zhang Xi knew Chen Zhen and was an old friend of Liu Bei.
After hearing that Chen Zhen had not been in Jiangxia for long, and that he had served as the deputy to the prefect of Jiangxia, Zhang Xi seemed to understand something.
When Liu Bei told Zhang Xi about coming to Jiangxia, he said that Liu Qi asked Liu Bei for two talents, one for government affairs and one for military training.
And Zhang Xi should be a military training talent, so the government affairs talent should be this Chen Zhen.
Although Chen Zhen and Liu Bei have a very good relationship, and they have known each other since they were under Yuan Shao's tent, on the surface, Chen Zhen and Liu Bei really have nothing to do with each other.
Chen Zhen is from Nanyang and is a standard local nobleman in Jingzhou.
He had been working for Yuan Shao before. As Yuan Shao's staff, this had nothing to do with Liu Bei.
Now that Yuan Shao was defeated, Chen Zhen returned to Jingzhou. As a famous scholar, Liu Qi appointed him as the governor of Jiangxia. This was completely reasonable and logical.
Not to mention Huang She, Su Fei and others, even if Liu Biao knew about it, he would only say that Liu Qi did the right thing this time and hired a capable celebrity to help him handle government affairs.
Zhang Xi and Chen Zhen saluted and said hello, but when they looked at each other, they both saw the playfulness in each other's eyes and guessed the other's identity.
Sometimes Zhang Xi is really worried about Liu Qi's IQ.
You said that you are the son of a Jingzhou shepherd, a dignified prefect of Jiangxia. Government affairs are handled by Liu Bei's people, and military affairs are handled by Liu Bei's people. Even leading troops in battles are sent by Liu Bei.
Aren't you afraid that one day you will die in bed without knowing why? !
If you still daydream about succeeding Liu Biao in governing Jingzhou like this, it's no wonder that in the end neither Liu Biao nor the Jingzhou family chose you as their successor.
This is too short-sighted.
People like Liu Qi are lucky to be born in a ruling world, and they are bound to be rich by virtue of their family background.
But living in troubled times. Oh, what a pity.
(End of chapter)
