Three Hundred and Ten: 3 Years in Langya (10)
The noisy sound of music outside made Han Yu lose his mind to study, but Lü Zheng was relaxed and ate happily. Liewen 『 网Ww『W． LieWen． CC
Seeing Han Yu's brows were still furrowed, Lü Zheng's eyes flickered slightly, and he asked casually, interrupting Han Yu's meditation.
"Where did Zixiao go? I didn't see him this morning, and he wasn't at the morning reading..."
Han Yu's thoughts came back and he asked him, "Didn't you see him either?"
Lü Zheng ate a plate of white cakes, and then drank a large bowl of hot tea happily, and the coldness in his body was steamed out.
"I didn't see him... This plate of white cakes was his breakfast. He didn't eat it, and it would be a pity if it got cold, so I cooked it and ate it." Lü Zheng patted his chest to relieve himself, and then gulped down a large bowl of hot tea. The warm feeling made him feel a little sleepy.
Han Yu's mouth twitched, as if he had seen Wei Ci's embarrassing situation when he came back and found that there was no food.
Where was Wei Ci, who was being talked about by the two people at this time?
He wore a plain Confucian robe, covered with a cloak that barely kept out the cold, and took two servants and a cart to the slums that were severely affected by the snowstorm.
Many slums that had been in disrepair for many years collapsed, making the already difficult roads extremely rugged. It was difficult for the people to enter and exit. There were no porridge stalls nearby, and many families had a difficult livelihood. The frail old people and children could only starve to death or freeze to death in the cold weather.
"Wei Langjun is here--"
As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the alley, a seven or eight-year-old girl ran into the alley happily.
Soon, more than twenty frail old women holding bowls or children under the age of ten came out. Wei Ci asked the servants to stop the cart and lifted the thick blanket covering the cart. There were four large barrels on it. Even with the lids on, sweet hot air still floated out.
"No hurry, everyone has a share."
Although Wei Ci didn't have much expression, beautiful people always have some privileges. The people were quite touched by his act of coming to deliver food every day. They had already let down their guard and were not afraid of this beautiful man who looked like an immortal. Instead, they were very close to him and liked him.
It didn't take long for the three big buckets of steamed buns to be finished, and the big bucket of sticky white porridge was also empty, and the residue was scraped clean.
At this moment, Wei Ci found that his clothes were being pulled by someone. He looked down and saw that the girl with a gray face looked at him with black and white eyes.
The bottom of her eyes was full of admiration. Through these eyes, he seemed to see another child, and his heart softened.
Squatting down and looking at each other, he asked, "Have you completed the tasks assigned to you two days ago?"
The girl nodded heavily, her yellow face flushed a little, and she responded happily, "Yes, everything is done!"
The house collapsed, and I don't know how many people who were sleeping were crushed to death. The road was blocked, and the people in the cave were cut off from the outside world.
Wei Ci hired young and strong men from the caves, provided them with three meals a day, and gave them extra wages to clear the rocks and snow on the road. Otherwise, the big cart behind them could not be pushed in, and more houses would be damaged under the pressure of the snow.
The girl in front of him lost her mother in the snowstorm, and her father's leg was broken by the fallen beam, so he couldn't work at all.
Losing the only labor force, the life of this family of two can be imagined.
Wei Ci smiled and gave her a task, asking her to remember the people who cleaned the snow and rocks, pay them daily wages, and give them warm clothes.
The child was very concerned about this and did it very seriously.
"You did a good job." He praised.
The child smiled and opened his mouth, revealing his gums with a few missing teeth. He seemed to realize that this was not good, and then closed his mouth shyly.
Wei Ci asked the servants to settle yesterday's wages, and asked the servants to take down several bags of grain from the cart and leave some grain for each household.
"I won't come here in two days. There are still some food and silver here, everyone can keep them for use."
Wei Ci's family is now in decline, but a starving camel is bigger than a horse. Before the Wei family moved away, they left him a lot of money, enough for him to have food and clothing for the rest of his life. However, when he followed Mr. Yuan Jing to the capital for evaluation, he did not expect to encounter this matter at first, so he did not bring much.
"Thank you... Thank you for your great kindness..."
The crowd said words of gratitude, and even some old people wanted to kneel down, but they were all stopped by Wei Ci.
Leaving the slum, Wei Ci sighed with worry.
The power of an individual is always weak. Even if he spends all his wealth, what can he save?
The house where Wei Ci stayed was not close to the second prince's mansion, but if he wanted to go back, he had to pass by there.
The farther away from the kiln cave, the neater and more luxurious the surrounding houses became, and the road under his feet changed from muddy dirt roads to neat stone slabs.
It is hard to imagine that such a kiln cave and the courtyard houses in front of him would be in the same area.
Seeing the majestic procession leading the way ahead, he asked the servant to stop the cart to the side and make way for them.
"My dear, the street ahead is the residence of the second prince. Do you want to take a detour?"
The servant pushed the cart and spoke anxiously.
Hundreds of tables of buffets occupied the entire street. Ordinary people were not allowed to approach, and their servants could not enter.
"Take a detour, so as not to bump into the nobles and cause unnecessary trouble."
Wei Ci lowered his eyes, tightened the sides of his cloak, and frowned with some wrinkles.
The residence of the second prince was originally the property of a local official in Shangjing. Later, he was confiscated for a crime, and the government allocated this area to the second prince. The house was expanded and renovated, and almost the entire street was the scope of the second prince's residence, so it would take a lot of time to take a detour.
Wei Ci saw from a distance that the corner door of the second prince's residence was opened, and buckets of swill were transported to the swill cart.
After a long while, the swill buckets were finally moved, and the vermilion corner door was quietly closed.
From a distance, Wei Ci heard the servants who were transporting swill whispering to each other.
"Alas, this is not swill, it's clearly buckets of silver... I see those dishes, they are neatly arranged, some of them were only touched with two chopsticks, some were not even touched, and were just thrown into the swill bucket as garbage... Outside, I don't know how many people are starving to death... Even if these unfinished food is thrown to those people, it can save many people..."
Another cook said, "You are talking nonsense here. If the noble hears it, it's a small matter to lose the job, but I'm afraid you will lose your life. What are the untouchables outside qualified to eat what the noble has eaten... Otherwise, how can they say that they are born noble with a golden spoon in their mouths, and we are mud legs in the fields, born to be abused by others..."
"You still have the nerve to say me, aren't you also a careless mouth..."
The two cooks quarreled for a while, sighed, and quietly drove away from the back door of the mansion.
After hearing this, Wei Ci felt like he was in an ice cellar, and the cold air rushed from the soles of his feet to his brain.
A pair of mocking eyes seemed to flash before his eyes, causing his heart to tighten.
"Your Majesty... you are right..."
He murmured in a low voice, his eyes became hot, and he almost cried.