Chapter 74
Oh, Qin Yao also wanted to buy barren hills.
Those barren hills don't have iron ore nor do they produce anything. They were basically useless.
As for letting the refugees do what they can, that was even better. This way, they won't have to wander around and cause trouble after being full.
Magistrate Meng only felt that this was a great thing. He almost danced, "Miss Qin, when will you start helping the refugees?"
"Tomorrow." Qin Yao said, sooner rather than later.
"Okay, then it's settled."
"Oh right, Magistrate, what about the barren mountain?" Qin Yao asked.
"Bring me the map of this county." Magistrate Meng immediately called out.
Someone brought the map of Wuling County. "These gray parts are all unowned places. Where do Miss Qin want to buy? They could be sold cheaply to you." Magistrate Meng pointed to the map and said.
Back at the store, Qin Zhen and Jiang Yun Zhu had already researched where to buy barren hills, how many mu of mulberry forests to plant, and where to build a place for silkworm raising and spinning. So Qin Yao hesitated for a while before marking two large areas with her hands.
These two places were in the north of Wuling County, which was also in the direction of Changfeng Manor. One was on the top and the other was on the bottom. They formed the horns of each other, meaning the refugees were divided into two groups. Quite convenient for disaster relief. Of course, it was also convenient for planting trees and building houses.
"Miss Qin has a heart." Magistrate Meng admired and then sold the two barren hills and the surrounding wasteland to Qin Yao at a 10% discount.
Qin Yao paid the silver, a total of six hundred liang. Although the barren mountains and wasteland were cheap, it was still quite an amount. That’s why she spent a fortune. Of course, this little money was nothing in the eyes of the Qin Family.
Qin Yao took the title deed and left.
Now that someone was providing relief to the refugees and he earned an extra six hundred liang in one go, Magistrate Meng felt that he could finally have a good night's sleep tonight.
Back at Qishanju. Qin Zhen was overjoyed when she saw the land deed. The plan was considered to have started.
He got the housekeeper to stay to assist Qin Yao while he immediately rushed back to Lu Prefecture to arrange everything.
On the same day, the refugees got the news that tomorrow morning, North Big River and Four Fingers Peak would open congee sheds. The refugees were skeptical, but hope was better than no hope. Everyone used their last strength to go to these two places.
The next day, the refugees got up early in the morning and looked around, wanting to see where someone was giving away congee. They couldn't hold on anymore!
In the morning light, a group of people came. The leader turned out to be a girl. The girl was fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing an apricot-colored dress, with lively eyebrows and eyes. She looked kind.
Could this be the person who wanted to give congee? The refugees all looked at Qin Yao, their eyes full of hope and pleading.
Qin Yao saw the tragic situation of the refugees. The five or six-year-old children had arms as thin as firewood, while the elderly could barely stand up.
"Hurry up, set up a congee shed, and make congee." Qin Yao immediately ordered.
However, Housekeeper Qin said, "Miss, if you do this, I'm afraid you won't be able to explain to Master."
This was a drama that had been arranged long ago; to let everyone know that Qin Yao is helping them under pressure, so don't bite her back later.
But Qin Yao anxiously uttered, "Let's boil the congee first before we talk about this."
She wasn't acting at all. Still, the effect was surprisingly good. This was why Jiang Yun Zhu wanted her to come forward.
"It was agreed a long time ago that..." Housekeeper Qin muttered.
"Talk about this later." Qin Yao stated.
Housekeeper Qin waved his hand reluctantly. The people behind immediately moved into action, setting up a congee shed and cooking congee. They were prepared. So more than a dozen congee sheds was set up in an instant.
Bags of white rice and sorghum rice were poured into the pot. After a while, there was a delicate smell of congee.
All the refugees stared at the large pots, swallowing from time to time.
On the west side, there was a child who couldn't help but burst into tears. He was so hungry and wanted to eat congee.
"Wait, wait a bit more for the congee." His mother comforted him in a low voice.
The child was too young to understand these things and kept crying.
Mother couldn’t do anything else other than coaxing him.
At this time, someone handed over a pancake, "Give it to the child first."
It was Qin Yao. Seeing the child crying, she couldn't help but give him a pancake.
The woman immediately choked up, "Thank you, Miss, thank you."
She bowed to Qin Yao again and again to thank her.
"Get up. You're welcome." Qin Yao waved her hand.
Only then did the woman take the pancake and feed it to the child.
"Miss, please give me a pancake too. My mother is dying." A thin man came over, fell to his knees, and begged Qin Yao.
Not far from him, an old woman was lying there, breathing weakly.
Qin Yao quickly gave him a pancake.
The man didn't bother to thank her. He hurried back with the pancake and fed it to the old woman.
More and more people asked Qin Yao for pancakes. Qin Yao only hated herself for not bringing more dry food.
At this time, the congee was ready. Housekeeper Qin led the people to start serving the congee.
While giving the congee, he muttered, "Everyone can only get one bowl of congee a day. If you want to get more, you can plant trees nearby. If you plant five trees, you can get another bowl of congee. If you plant ten trees, you can get two bowls of congee."
It can also be converted into money."
After hearing his muttering, people immediately became energetic and asked him what was this tree planting about?
Housekeeper Qin explained that they could dig a hole and plant trees in the nearby mountain. After the planting is complete and someone checks and accepts it, they would get a docket. Then come here to get the congee. It could be converted into money. Planting five trees was two wen. The more one works, the more one gets.
It wasn't so easy to plant trees on barren hills. It was necessary to do their best to dig a relatively large hole, lest that the ground was too hard and the saplings wouldn’t grow well in the future.
But this job, no one would force them. They could grind it slowly, unlike going to the mine, where one had to keep moving the ore weighing more than 100 jins. If one wasn’t a strong young man, they couldn't do it at all.
So immediately many people decided to plant trees.
At this time, everyone received congee. The rice used in Qin Yao's congee was sorghum rice plus rice. Although the congee was a bit runny, the rice used was good rice. It was much better than the congee issued by the government. At least the congee smells fragrant.
On some cold spring mornings, one feels warm all over the body after drinking such a bowl of hot congee; as if they have gained strength all of a sudden.
After drinking the congee, someone immediately went to plant trees. Didn't you hear what the housekeeper said, plant more, get more congee. If one can't consume that much congee, they could exchange it for money.
The most important thing for a person was to have hope. With hope, one could persevere.
There was an energetic scene on the mountain.
Seeing this, Magistrate Meng smiled in relief. Of course, he had something to do. The 1,200 liang of charity money needed to be used on the refugees. For those who couldn't even plant trees, the officials were responsible for their congee.
With a combination of two approaches, few died of starvation despite having many refugees in Wuling County. This was almost unimaginable in the past.
Drinking two or three meals of congee a day, the health of these refugees gradually improved. Some people went everywhere to find a way of survival.
Planting trees could provide food. But in the end, it wasn't a long-term solution. One need to find a suitable job to do it.
This was Jiang Yun Zhu’s intention. Planting trees was to give these refugees a buffer time so that they could slowly adapt to this place.
What most of the disaster refugees lack was this buffering opportunity and ride a donkey to find a horse. At least they don't have to worry about starving to death.
And from the beginning to the end, the disaster refugees worked and ate like normal people. They won't have the feeling of being separated or abandoned. It would be much easier for them to reintegrate into society.
Unlike those people who were rescued by the officials's congee in the past. They gradually gave up on themselves and waited to receive that bowl of congee every day. Life was like death.
This was something Magistrate Meng didn't expect at the beginning. After he noticed, he admired Qin Yao a lot. He wondered why Qin Yao asked these refugees to plant trees. It turned out to be like this!
These days, as more and more congee was being given away,Qin Yao's reputation was getting bigger and bigger. The disaster refugees all knew her as a girl with a bodhisattva heart and were all very grateful to her. Many people who survived because of her set up longevity tablets for her and prayed for her sooner or later.
During this time, Housekeeper Qin would choose some people who were smart or hardworking to stay. First, to manage the people. Second, after the refugees of the disaster leave, someone would stay here to take care of the mulberry trees and then raise silkworms and spin them.
There were quite a few people kept. So everyone saw even more hope.
Everything was in order. Some people left the barren hills and new refugees joined in. Beidahe and Four Fingers Peak were like two temporary resettlement sites for the refugees, People came and people went, while the barren hills and land next to them slowly began to turn green.
The chaos of selling people and fighting in the county suddenly decreased a lot. The days seem to have returned to calm. The people of Wuling County don't reject these refugees so much anymore. Everything seemed to be moving in a good direction.
Magistrate Meng could now sleep well every day.
However, the magistrates of other counties couldn't sit still. The problem of the refugees couldn't be solved. It seemed that there was going to be a big mess in their counties.
The county magistrate of Huayang County first found Qin Yao, hoping that she could go to Huayang County to serve congee. His Huayang County had a lot of barren mountains and wasteland. If Qin Yao needed it, he could sell it to her with a 20% discount, no, a 30% discount.
At this time, Qin Zhen had already contacted and prepared everything. Originally, he wanted to develop in other counties. This was basically someone giving pillows to sleepy people.
Immediately, he decided to serve congee in Huayang County.
This still required Qin Yao’s involvement. At this time, it was already the end of March. Xie Chen and other students in the county had to pack their things and prepare to go to the capital.
It was amazing. Qin Yao used to think about Xie Chen's leaving every day. But since she started serving congee, there was a lot less sadness about parting. Maybe it was because she was too busy. Maybe it was the feeling of being needed and actually liked this job very much.
She used to be very afraid that Xie Chen wouldn't pass the exam and then she would have no chance with him.
But now, she felt that no matter what his test results were, they could work hard together.
This may be growth. From a girl in a boudoir to the young owner of Changyuan Grain Company, she had become more cheerful, more confident, and more capable.
Qin Zhen took this in. He saw Qin Yao often sticking together with Jiang Yun Zhu and later realized why Jiang Yun Zhu had to ask Qin Yao to get involved. It was all for her own good. Otherwise, choosing someone else was the same.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was schemed against. Now that Qin Yao had become a living Bodhisattva in the hearts of the disaster refugees, he could no longer force her to marry. But it felt good. He only had Qin Yao and Qin Lu. Qin Lu was young and he planned to let him take the imperial examination. If Qin Yao could achieve something, he would be happy to see it.
Only afraid his silly girl didn't know how lucky she was to meet Jiang Yun Zhu.
Just for this, he decided to give Jiang Yun Zhu a gift in a few days.
Jiang Yun Zhu didn't know Qin Zhen's thoughts. But today, she received an invitation card from Xu Qing Shan. It turned out that he was going to get married in two days and invited her and everyone in the Jiang Family to his wedding banquet.
I hope Qin Yao will have a happy ending this time. Thank you for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteNice. He can move on.
ReplyDelete