If you keep making noise, I won’t stand it anymore!

The next day, it was Mei Ying's turn to be the gatekeeper of Liu's mansion. When Mei Ying just arrived at the gate, she saw the village chief of Xiaoliu Village and two young men in their twenties waiting outside the door. It was obvious from their figures that they had been waiting for some time.

"Village chief, you're here so early? Please come in." Mei Ying was stunned for a moment, then quickly invited them into the house and asked them to sit at the table in the courtyard temporarily. After a brief apology, she continued to get busy. There were still many things that needed to be prepared for today.

People in Liu's Mansion got up one after another. The village chief of Xiaoliu Village looked at the familiar and polite smiles on everyone's faces when they saw them. The three of them were very surprised. They really didn't expect that there were so many people in Liu's Mansion, including several children who had just learned to walk.

"Good morning, village chief. Have you had breakfast? Would you like to eat something together?" Meixiang, who had finished cleaning up, came over and greeted him.

The head of Xiao Liu Village came to his senses after hearing the voice and quickly stood up and greeted, "Miss Liu, we are sorry to bother you. We were a little too impatient." The other two young men blushed and quickly stood up and greeted together, "We have all eaten. You can go ahead and do your work without worrying about us."

"Then please sit here for a while and we will have breakfast." Xiao San brought three bowls of tea and handed them to the three people of Xiao Liu Village's village chief, then went back to the kitchen to help prepare breakfast.

The head of Xiaoliu Village sat there watching the people coming and going in the Liu Mansion, watching the youngest children, Xiaoshiqi, Xiaoshiliu and Xiaoshiwu, rinse their mouths and wash their faces with the help of Xiaoshi, and then move their own small stools to sit at the small table and eat their breakfast slowly. Even such young children have learned the dining etiquette. In his heart, he once again looked at the Liu Mansion with new eyes, and became more determined in his own ideas.

A quarter of an hour later, Xiao San came to invite the village chief into the main hall, and Xiao Er led the other two young men to do the preparations with them.

Chu Zeming, Feng Yizheng, Situ Yidong and Meixiang were already sitting at the conference table in the main hall drinking tea, with paper and pen prepared beside each of them. When the head of Xiaoliu Village saw the conference table, his eyes flickered again. He secretly made a note of it and decided to get one at home when he returned, which would make it much more convenient for him to hold meetings in the future.

Meixiang heard the noise and looked up to see him. She greeted him, "Village chief, please sit down. We are all family, so don't be polite." Then she saw him looking at Chu Zeming and the other two sitting there without leaving any trace. She patted her head and introduced them with a smile, "Look, I forgot to introduce you. The three of you are Master Chu and Master Feng. They are temporarily in charge of the affairs of the government office. This is Master Situ, who is in charge of the military palace affairs. By the way, have the soldiers sent to your village to help today arrived?"

The head of Xiaoliu Village was also surprised when he heard the surnames of the three people. He suppressed his shock and bowed to them one by one: "Head of Xiaoliu Village Ou Mengde greets the three gentlemen." After saying that, he raised his head and glanced at Meixiang, who was getting along casually with her. His doubts about her identity and origin became even greater.

Meixiang was sensitive enough to notice his stealthy gaze. She turned the Buddhist beads on her left hand and smiled calmly, not intending to hide her identity at all: "Village Chief Ou, don't be confused. Their identities are just as you thought. As for me, I think you should have guessed something, right? Haha..."

Village Chief Ou's heart tightened, he reached out to lift up his clothes and was about to kneel down. Chu Zeming and the other three looked at each other, and they all had expressions of "as expected" on their faces.

Chu Zeming spoke on behalf of the four people, "No need to be polite, stand up and sit down to talk."

Ou Mengxiu looked at the table, hesitated for a moment, and sat down opposite the four of them. He was the first to speak and report: "The four questions raised by Miss Liu yesterday, Liu Daniu brought two other young men and the soldiers sent by Lord Situ to guard the potato plot in the back mountain early this morning. I went to check it out before coming to Liu's house. There won't be any problems there."

"As for the second and third questions, I spent a night thinking about it and came up with this plan. First, we will organize people to dig up all the potatoes on the back hill, and then distribute a small amount of potatoes to each household according to the number of people dug up. We will sell the rest to buyers and ensure that everyone who receives the potatoes remembers the taboos of eating potatoes. We will use the money to repair the main road and river through Xiaoliu Village. The rainy season is coming, and we can't delay these two things any longer."

After Ou Mengxiu finished speaking, he glanced at the four people opposite him and continued, "I have a few things to do. I would like to ask the three adults and Miss Liu...Liu for help."

Chu Zeming raised his tea bowl in his direction, motioning him to drink the tea while asking him to continue: "First, could you please send a few people to teach us how to dig potatoes and what to pay attention to when planting them? I'm afraid the two young men here today won't be able to handle it."

"That's fine. Once we finish the work at the Liu residence this morning, we can go over to help in the afternoon." Meixiang nodded and agreed.

"The second question is, can you please send someone to witness our distribution and sales? I would like to set aside a special area at the entrance of Xiaoliu Village for trading. This way, if the villagers who get the potatoes don't want to grow them themselves, they can sell them freely. Also, please set a maximum selling price to prevent someone from breaking the rules by asking for an exorbitant price. That's all I can think of for now."

Chu Zeming and the other three looked at each other again and nodded. The fact that Ou Mengde could think of these things in such a short time showed that he was indeed capable. If Chen San found no major bad deeds in his past after investigation, this person could indeed be used. So this matter of the potatoes at Xiao Liu's mansion could be regarded as a small test for him.

At this time, Xiao San came in with Village Chief Liu. After seeing Chu Zeming and the other three, they bowed respectfully. When they turned around and saw Ou Mengde, they were surprised and didn't understand why he was here today. They looked at the remaining tea in the bowl on the table. It was obvious that they had been talking for quite a while.

"Uncle Village Chief, you've come at the right time. We are discussing the distribution of potatoes among the villagers with Village Chief Ou. Can you tell me what you think about this matter?" Meixiang asked directly without explaining the doubts on his face.

"Well, this is what I think. Each able-bodied man registered in the household register will be counted as one allocation unit, and the elderly, children and women will be divided into half an able-bodied man." Village chief Liu sat down and expressed his thoughts.

"Why are the elderly, children, and women counted as half?" Meixiang asked with a smile.

“Because they eat less?”

"So they don't count as one person? Half a person?"