Yao Youqing frowned slightly as she thought of this: "There will definitely be more and more."
After saying that, he lifted the curtain again and looked outside, his face full of worry.
"With the weather getting colder and colder, if we just let it go, those people will probably freeze to death on the streets."
Mother Zhou understood her meaning and asked, "Does the Princess want to open a soup kitchen?"
Yao Youqing nodded: "My snack blanket can help one person, but it's limited. I can't just give every person I meet a box of snacks and a blanket. Not to mention I don't have that many blankets, the box of snacks will be gone once it's eaten. What will I do then?"
"Why not set up a soup kitchen and provide soup every day so that they always have something to eat?"
Mrs. Zhou thought it was a good idea and said with a smile, "Since ancient times, the government has set up soup kitchens during times of war or natural disasters, and the families of officials in the capital will also do their part."
"Now that you have married the prince, and this is his fiefdom, where he guards the border, it is quite a good thing that you have set up a soup kitchen here to provide relief to the refugees."
Yao Youqing sighed and shook her head: "What beautiful story? I hope such a beautiful story never happens, and that everyone can have enough to eat and wear, and not have to rely on porridge distribution to survive."
“Yes,” Zhou’s mother squeezed her hand. “Once the war is over, everything will be alright, just like before.”
Yao Youqing nodded, and the matter was settled.
After returning home, she summoned the stewards of the front yard and discussed the porridge distribution with them in detail. In addition to the porridge sheds, she also decided to build several temporary warm sheds in relatively open areas of the city.
"These greenhouses don't need to be too fancy, but they must be warm enough for the refugees to get through the winter safely. As for manpower..."
She thought for a moment and said, "Don't recruit laborers. Let's choose from the refugees and let them build their own greenhouses."
The manager was taken aback, seemingly not expecting her to say such a thing.
Yao Youqing explained, “I’ve heard my father and brothers mention before that there were places where distributing porridge caused trouble instead. Some refugees ate and drank for free and caused trouble, which made the local people dissatisfied and led to frequent conflicts.”
“In that case, let’s find some work for them. Except for the elderly, weak, women and children who are really unable to do anything, let the others receive porridge according to how much effort they put in. Those who did not put in any effort will not receive porridge. That way, no one will have anything to say.”
"Moreover, they built the greenhouse themselves, so there won't be any arguments about things they're not satisfied with in the future."
"Once the greenhouses are built, we'll arrange some other work for them. They can choose what they want to do, and we'll pay them on a daily basis. That way, the local people won't feel like they're getting a free ride and won't feel resentful."
After saying that, fearing there might be something else they hadn't thought of, they asked the managers if there were any other things they needed to pay attention to.
She had already considered all the things that were most likely to cause trouble. The managers didn't say anything else, only discussed some details, and then made arrangements for many things.
...
On the street, after Yao Youqing's carriage left, the mute vagrant opened the snack box, looked at the snacks inside for a moment before picking one up and putting it in his mouth.
Before he could finish the snack, two tall, thin vagrants suddenly appeared from nowhere, snatched the snack box from his lap, and spat at him.
A wad of phlegm was spat on the mute man's head, sticking to his messy hair, while the vagrant chuckled, clutching the stolen snack box.
"Why eat so well when you're both deaf and mute? You should just die sooner and save some food!"
He grabbed a pastry and stuffed it into his mouth, then shared one with his companion.
His companion swallowed the snack whole and then reached out to pull the new blanket off the mute man's body.
The mute man did not take the blanket away as he had done before, when he had let them take the snacks.
The man tugged at it once but couldn't get it. He tugged again but still couldn't get it into his hand, and let out a cry of "Hey!"
"You're pretty strong, aren't you?"
He then kicked her.
The mute man was kicked so hard that he staggered and fell to the ground, the blanket in his hand being pulled away and lost.
After snatching the blanket, the man chuckled and then used his foot to hook over the tattered blanket that was originally next to him, which was full of holes. He bent down, grabbed a corner, and covered the mute man's head with it.
"You should use this one!"
After saying that, he and his companions strode away.
The mute man lay on the ground for a long time without moving, and did not remove the dirty and smelly tattered blanket.
No one could see that his eyes, beneath the blanket, were bright and clear, unlike their usual dull and lifeless state. At this moment, his scarred face held a sinister and terrifying expression.
He clenched his hands on the ground, and after a long while, he struggled to sit up, slowly pulled the blanket off his head, and curled up in the corner like before, looking like anyone could bully him.
But as he curled up, he casually placed the hand that had just grabbed the blanket on his knee and brought it close to his nose to smell it.
There seemed to be a lingering fragrance on it, a familiar, light scent from the owner of the blanket.
...
The mute man sat in the corner for a long time until night fell and it was completely dark before he walked back to his usual spot to rest.
There were many refugees in this place, but the warmest spots had already been taken by others, so he could only go to the windy vent where the cold wind kept blowing in.
Another man, about his size, was already squatting there. The two seemed to know each other. When he saw him coming, the man made way for him and asked in a low voice that no one else could hear, "Young master, I've been hungry all day. Do you have anything to eat?"
Liancheng lay on the ground: "Eat my ass, I'm still hungry."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud "poof" was heard, and a stench hit him in the face.
He was in the windy spot, and the person was squatting in front of him to block the wind, so you can imagine that the stench was practically being poured directly into his nose.
Liancheng sat up abruptly, his face ashen. If he hadn't remembered that he was now "deaf and mute," he would have started cursing.
The servant shrank back and said, "I...I had a bit of an upset stomach today, and I couldn't hold it in."
Liancheng gritted his teeth and glared at him. After a long while, he managed to suppress his anger, lay back down, and said, "Go and kill two people for me, and bring back some food while you're at it."
The servant exclaimed "Eh!", leaned against the wall, slowly stood up, and limped out.
Chapter 92 Distributing Porridge
About fifteen minutes later, the servant who had left returned, sat down, and quietly slipped two steamed buns to Liancheng.
Liancheng lay down and broke the steamed bun into pieces, stuffing them into his mouth one by one. His movements were very light, and from behind, it looked as if he hadn't moved at all.
While eating his steamed bun, he mumbled, "They killed him so quickly? They were pretty efficient."
The servant gave an awkward smile: "No... I didn't kill anyone. I forgot to ask you who you were killing earlier."
Liancheng choked, another gust of cold air rushed into his mouth, and he coughed.
The commotion startled several sleeping refugees in the distance. One of them woke up, frowned, and shouted irritably, "Hey, you mute, are you trying to kill me? What are you doing in the middle of the night! If you want to cough, go cough somewhere else! Can't a person get any sleep?!"
After he finished shouting, someone next to him laughed and reminded him, "He's not only mute, but also deaf. He won't hear you if you shout at him. You might as well talk to the little cripple next to him."
"What's the point of talking to him? He's just a useless piece of trash."
The man muttered something, then wrapped himself in the blanket and turned to sleep again.
The surroundings quieted down again. The servant, not wanting anyone to know his relationship with Liancheng, remained motionless and didn't pat Liancheng's back. He squatted there like a stone in the night wind.
Liancheng caught his breath after a while, then patted his chest and sighed silently.
If it weren't for the fact that he was afraid of being recognized by Wei Hong and his people in Shuozhou, and therefore couldn't bring the old man who used to accompany him, he would never have brought this fool out.
But thinking about it, I realized I'd forgotten to tell him who to kill, which seemed pretty stupid of me.
He sniffed and whispered, "Qin Datou and Niu Laosan."
After saying that, he added, "They should have brought a blanket with them. Find a place to hide it and then notify the people in Cangcheng to retrieve it."
As expected, after the Southern Yan launched its war against the Great Liang, Wei Hong began searching for his whereabouts everywhere. His portrait was distributed to the city gate guard posts in various parts of Shuozhou. Although it was not posted directly, the guards secretly checked people entering and leaving the city. Some people even walked around the streets with the portrait, wishing they had eight eyes to dig him out of the crowd.
In comparison, the checks conducted by Shangchuan were not as strict, especially in Hucheng and Cangcheng, two places he used to frequent.
Because many people here know him, they can recognize him without a portrait.
This made them all think that even if he wanted to hide, he wouldn't hide here, and they lowered their guard.
Liancheng's shops in various parts of Shuozhou were still operating as usual, but they were under strict surveillance by Wei Hong's men, so he rarely contacted them. However, if he really wanted to, he could still contact them, but he just had to be careful not to be discovered.
After entering Cangcheng, he never contacted them again, wanting to see if these people he knew would not recognize him if they walked down the street.
If they can't recognize him, then Wei Hong and the others definitely won't recognize him either. He's completely fooled them and doesn't need to worry about being discovered.
Now that several days have passed, no one has recognized him. Cangcheng's subordinates don't even know he has entered the city. There's no need for him to keep trying to find out, otherwise he's afraid he'll really freeze or starve to death on the street.
The servant responded and prepared to sneak out again. Before leaving, Liancheng said, "Forget it, let's just kill one. What if we get caught killing two at once?"
Although they were just homeless people on the street, the deaths of two of them would still attract some attention. It wouldn't be worth exposing himself for those two worthless bastards.
The servant nodded slightly: "Which one should we kill?"
"Whoever has the blanket, that's the one we'll sue."
Liancheng gave a concise instruction, and then added, "Be careful."
The servant felt a warmth in his heart and was about to say something when he continued, "Don't get the blanket dirty and splattered with blood."
"……yes."
...
The next day, Niu Laosan was found dead on the street, not far from where he usually stayed.
It was a dirty mud alley, rarely frequented by ordinary people or wealthy families, but for refugees it was a warm place that provided shelter from the wind and rain. It had always been occupied by Niu Laosan and his gang, and only their "own people" could live there. Anyone else who wanted to live there had to pay "offerings" to them every day according to the rules.
The corner of the muddy alley was where they relieved themselves at night. Niu Laosan died there, lying slumped next to a filthy spot, with a dried-up blood hole on his head and a blood-stained stone next to it.
When his body was discovered, it was already cold, and the blood that had gushed from his head had frozen into red ice on the ground.
When the patrolling soldiers heard that someone had died here, they came over, took a look, pinched their noses, and waved their hands.
"I've told you all before not to relieve yourselves here, but you wouldn't listen. Look what's happened, someone's dead now!"
Niu Laosan's shoes had some mud and filth on the soles, and there was a slip mark on the ground next to him. It looked like he had accidentally stepped on someone else's excrement while getting up at night and slipped, then hit his head on a stone on the ground, which is how he died.
The soldiers frowned and ordered the body to be carried away. They then addressed the surrounding refugees, saying, "The princess has decided to open soup kitchens in the city starting today. The soup will be served in half an hour. You can all go and get a bowl of soup then."
These words made the eyes of those around light up, and they were overjoyed. They no longer cared about Niu Laosan on the ground and exclaimed, "Great! Great! We'll have porridge to drink from now on!"
"Yes! We don't have to beg on the streets anymore!"
Before they could finish celebrating, the officer said, "But! Only the first bowl of porridge is free for you. After you finish this bowl, everyone else except the elderly, women and children who are truly unable to contribute will have to help with the work of building the greenhouse."
The refugees were taken aback. Before they could even murmur anything, the soldiers continued, "Once this warm shed is built, it's your own place to live. So if you want to be lazy, that's fine with us. But if the shed isn't warm in the future, don't blame anyone else. It's all your own fault."
He has now made his point clear in front of everyone, and without their supervision, these refugees will work together to ensure the greenhouses are properly built. Anyone who slacks off will cause everyone to freeze and will inevitably be attacked by the crowd.
The refugees were overjoyed to hear that the greenhouse was built for them to live in.