Chapter Ten: The Great Stewardess Huang Yueying

  The crowd walked out of the big tent, and in the gentle breeze, a large team of horses and carriages rolled up a cloud of smoke and dust. On the first carriage, a small flag was inserted with a yellow character written on it. Zhuge Liang took a look at the leader and found that he was Huang Yueying's uncle's family manager, named Huang Qi.

  The crowd ushered Huang Qi into the grand tent. Huang Qi knelt down and paid his respects to Liu Bei: "A humble commoner pays his respects to Uncle Liu, and greets all the esteemed gentlemen."

  Liu Bei had already known about this person's background through Zhuge Liang's introduction, and asked: "Is your family's Old Master Huang doing well?" As for Huang Chengyan, he still knew him.

  Huang Qi said: "Thank you, Uncle Liu, for your concern. My father is well."

  Liu Bei asked again: "What did your master send you here for?"

  Huang Qi said: "Ten days ago, the master of the house received a message from the military strategist, saying that the emperor's uncle was kind and generous, taking in a large number of refugees, and food was scarce. He asked the master to collect grain and donate it to the emperor's uncle. Now the price of grain on the market is artificially high, and it is difficult to buy, so we had to gather from all over. Therefore, it wasn't until today that we were able to collect 1000 dan (about 62,000 catties) of grain, which was sent here overnight."

  Liu Bei was overjoyed. Although the grain was not much, he now had less than 4,000 men, which would last for half a month's worth of military rations. This solved his immediate crisis.

  Everyone saw that Zhuge Liang was well-prepared and made a selfless contribution, which added some goodwill towards him.

  Then Zhuge Liang put forward some measures suitable for the current situation, which were also recognized by everyone. Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Liang with a relieved expression in his eyes.

  Zhuge Liang returned to his own quarters after dismissing the assembly, and read Huang Yueying's letter again. He also inquired about the situation from Huang Qi. In her letter, Huang Yueying repeatedly praised Zhuge Jun highly, which made him feel puzzled, especially when he learned that all the money for buying military rations came from their own family. His younger brother was someone he thought he knew well, but it turned out that as soon as he left home, his brother performed exceptionally well. It seemed that he still didn't understand his brother enough.

  Zhuge Liang wrote a letter back, in which he praised his brother and encouraged him to continue working hard. He also entrusted some family matters to Huang Qi to take back.

  Zhuge Jun returned home after training with the coaching team, only to see Ling'er and Huang Xiaowei standing in the courtyard. Huang Xiaowei had been to his house many times before and was no longer reserved, so when she saw him return, she smiled and greeted him. He also responded: "Wan'er, when did you arrive? And my uncle?"

  Huang Xiaowen's complexion is now rosy and no longer pale as before, probably due to exercise. I heard that her family has also changed to three meals a day now. She said: "I'll be here this afternoon, my father has already left."

  At this time, Huang Yueying called out to him. He said he would come over after washing his face.

  When she arrived at Huang Yueying's house, Huang Yueying said: "Xiao Jun, your brother has sent a letter and praised you in it."

  He saw that her eyes were moist, obviously having cried. Probably it was something Zhuge Liang said in the letter that moved her. So he said: "Sister-in-law, if you miss Second Brother, go take a look at him, and here is not far from Xinye (about 53 kilometers)."

  Huang Yueying shook her head and said: "It's so busy at home, I don't have time to go out, besides, he didn't ask me to go, it's probably not convenient."

  Zhuge Jun thought about it and felt that under the current circumstances, Zhuge Liang would not want her to go. He stopped advising her.

  She took out the account book and said, "Today Uncle came and said to increase our production. I thought about it and we can first increase by 20%. We don't need to add more staff, just let the workers work overtime and give them a bit more wages."

  He couldn't help but want to laugh, his sister-in-law really had the potential of a capitalist, knowing how to exploit workers. He simply said: "Just do as you see fit."

  Huang Yueying is really a capable person. These days, he observed that she promoted four old family members to be in charge of affairs and only directed them herself, without getting personally involved. The whole household was managed by her in an orderly manner. He suddenly thought, if Shu State let Huang Yueying become the Prime Minister, wouldn't it be better?

  "Huang Yueying said, 'Alright, let's do it that way.' She wiped the few loose strands of hair on her forehead and continued, 'Have those craftsmen you found build a separate courtyard on the mountain slope. This racket has been going on all day and is too noisy.'"

  He thought for a moment and then said: "Alright, you arrange it."

  At this time, Ah Xiu came in and said: "Second Madam, Third Young Master, dinner is ready."

  At the dinner table, Zhuge Jun curiously asked Huang Xiaowen, "How did you convince your family to change to eating three meals a day?"

  She put down her chopsticks and said softly, "I didn't even try to persuade them. I just told my father that your family eats three meals a day, and he agreed." She paused for a moment and proudly added, "Whatever I say, they will agree with me." It seems like she's the apple of their eye at home.

  She continued: "Later, my father said that the family's expenses increased by 20%. But they praised me for looking much better than before." After finishing speaking, she smiled. Her little face was really lovely.

  She let out a soft hum and said, "It's still better for you, everyone at home spoils you, but no one takes care of me, they're all busy every day, no one plays with me, luckily you came, otherwise I'd be bored to death every day."

  Huang Yueying smiled and said: "You're always bothering people all day long, I'm so fed up with you."

  Zhuge Jun savored the peaceful and warm family life. However, the dark clouds of war had gradually shrouded the land of Jingzhou, and he needed to prepare himself. He decided to cherish every moment of such days.

  "Tomorrow I'm off, let's have some fun together."

  Back in his own room, he thought that tomorrow he would just do nothing and accompany them to play: "What program should be arranged?"