The temperamental white moonlight is back, and the entire Marquis's family obediently calls him

May has arrived in the blink of an eye, and summer is here.

The sun grew increasingly intense, and heavy rains came one after another. I heard that there had been floods in the south, and many people were fleeing north.

Liu Muqiu's due date is approaching, but her condition is visibly deteriorating.

The Marquis's residence received a letter from Zhou Shili a month ago, and according to the time stated in the letter, Zhou Shili should have arrived home half a month ago.

But now, half a month has passed, and there has been no news of Zhou Shili.

The entire Hou family was extremely anxious. They sent people outside the capital to keep watch in the direction where Zhou Shili was about to return. If there was any news about Zhou Shili, they were to rush back and report back immediately.

Even so, Liu Muqiu still couldn't eat or sleep properly.

She strongly supported her husband's decision to go south to handle a case.

If something really happens to her husband, even if her mother-in-law doesn't hold a grudge against her, she will still find it difficult to cope.

For this reason, Liu Muqiu has been burning incense and praying to Buddha these days, hoping that her husband will return safely soon.

Meanwhile, Lu Mingzhao was running around trying to find out the whereabouts of her eldest son by using the connections she had built up over the past six months and her husband's friends in the capital.

On May 10th, Lu Mingzhao finally brought the message to Lanfang Pavilion.

"The severe floods in the south forced many people to leave their homes and become refugees, heading north in search of a way to survive."

The first group of refugees had arrived in Xunzhou, south of the capital, but the prefect of Xunzhou refused to open the granaries to distribute grain, so the refugees remained in Xunzhou, seemingly intending to riot.

On his way back, Zhou Shili was blocked by these refugees.

Xunzhou is surrounded by waterways on both sides, but due to the heavy rain and rising water levels, the waterways have been blocked.

They wanted to take a detour back to the previous state capital, but the second wave of refugees had already headed north.

Zhou Shili was caught in a dilemma, unable to move forward or backward.

Upon hearing this, Liu Muqiu panicked: "What can we do? Mother, can't we send someone to pick him up?"

Since there are signs of riots, who knows when something bad will happen?

Zhou Shili's situation was far too dangerous.

Lu Mingzhao frowned and shook his head: "As you know, this time, not only Li'er but also the current Third Prince are traveling south together."

"If they can't even help a prince trapped here, how can our people possibly rescue him?"

Liu Muqiu's eyes reddened: "Then what should we do? Mother, my child can't be without a father..."

"Don't worry, Muqiu, I'll think of something," Lu Mingzhao quickly grasped her hand. Seeing Liu Muqiu's reddened eyes, she felt a pang of sadness in her heart as well.

On the way here, she had already thought of a plan, but it was a bit difficult to implement.

"If we want Li'er to return safely, we must lure away those refugees blocking the road."

Liu Muqiu: "The refugees are just looking for a way to survive. Wouldn't it be enough to open the granaries and distribute grain?"

Lu Mingzhao frowned slightly and sighed softly: "The imperial court has already distributed grain for disaster relief, but the emperor's intention is to first use the limited surplus grain to help the more severely affected areas in the south. However, the refugees feel that this shows that their lives are not being cared for, so they are blocking the road for the disaster relief teams."

"The refugees wouldn't let us pass, and the relief teams couldn't get through either; a stalemate ensued."

"Right now, there is only one way to solve this urgent problem—we need to raise funds and donate grain ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Liu Muqiu's eyes lit up: "Our family bought a lot of land last year and planted grain on it."

Lu Mingzhao nodded and said, "That's right."

When she first returned last year, her eldest son bought a lot of land to grow grain in order to make her happy. The batch he planted this spring is now ready to be harvested.

"On my way back, I sent Butler Sun to inform the farms under our name to donate whatever they can to disaster relief, but..."

These are far from enough.

Unfortunately, the world is not short of unscrupulous merchants who profit from national crises. With the floods and food shortages in the south, many merchants have raised prices on the spot, making it impossible for them to buy low-priced food now.

"I have arranged to meet with Dong Heqing tomorrow. Her family are imperial merchants and they know many grain merchants."

Liu Muqiu pursed her lips: "But... will she help us?"

During these meetings, Dong Heqing did indeed always linger around Lu Mingzhao, but businessmen are profit-driven; who would willingly do charity for nothing and not make money?

Lu Mingzhao said, "Nothing is impossible for a willing heart. What we want, she will have too."

"In addition, I will also contact other grain merchants and buy as much as I can."

Liu Muqiu nodded with a somewhat somber expression, seemingly lost in thought.

"Don't overthink it. I'm telling you all this to put your mind at ease. I'm here for you," Lu Mingzhao said softly. "The most important thing for you is to take care of yourself. You're carrying two babies right now."

Liu Muqiu forced a smile, got up to see her mother-in-law off, then leaned against the door frame, staring blankly at her mother-in-law's back for a long while before turning back to Wan Mama: "Prepare the car for me, tomorrow morning... I need to go back to my parents' home."

.

The next day, Lu Mingzhao and Liu Muqiu left the Marquis's residence one after the other.

Lu Mingzhao went straight to the Xu family.

Dong Heqing came to greet her personally. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Lu Mingzhao got straight to the point and stated the purpose of her visit.

Dong Heqing's smile faltered slightly, but being a daughter of a royal merchant family, she quickly recovered and smiled, "From the first time I met Madam Lu, she seemed like a chivalrous woman, and she certainly is now."

"Only Madam Lu would be willing to do such a good deed."

Lu Mingzhao: "I'm doing this for the child too."

Dong Heqing smiled and shook her head: "Actually, the Third Prince is also trapped in Xunzhou, just like Young Master Zhou. How could His Majesty not be anxious? Besides, we all know the method, so how could His Majesty not have thought of it?"

"But he was unwilling to be coerced by the refugees."

Royal dignity has always been this way.

The emperor can voluntarily open granaries to provide disaster relief, but he cannot be forced by displaced people; otherwise, where would the emperor's dignity be?

Therefore, the more refugees lived in this situation, the less willing the emperor was to order the distribution of grain.

Even now, when ministers in the court request imperial permission, the emperor refuses their requests.

"Yesterday, my husband was summoned by the Emperor and learned that he wanted an divination to help him make a decision—guess what, this divination will be beneficial to those refugees?"

Lu Mingzhao closed his eyes.

Compared to being coerced by disaster victims into opening granaries and distributing food, it was clearly simpler and more brutal to suppress them with force, and it better demonstrated the authority of the royal family.

If Lu Mingzhao were more ruthless, perhaps he could contact Zhou Ningchuan's friends in the capital and ask them to submit a memorial to the emperor.

Such a memorial was exactly what the emperor wanted, and he would certainly agree to send troops to suppress it immediately.

In this way, Zhou Shili can go home.

Lu Mingzhao is the most skilled person in using force, how could he not have thought of this solution?

It's much easier to be a bad person than a good person.

But is the simplest thing always the right thing to do?