Chapter 264: The Great Philanthropist Shen [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Bai Su's movements startled the woman who was taking care of her.

The woman asked, "Does my lady need anything?"

Caught red-handed, Bai Su felt a sudden pang of guilt. She awkwardly lowered the carriage curtain, a plan suddenly forming in her mind to extract some information from the woman: "I don't need anything... Madam, do you know the background of that young master?"

The woman asked warily, "Why are you asking this?"

"I suffered a great calamity, and only by chance did I escape with my life thanks to my benefactor..." Bai Su lowered her head, her delicate eyebrows deliberately concealing her overly handsome and spirited face. Hearing that soft and sweet voice, one would subconsciously imagine a frail young lady.

No one will be wary of the weak and pitiful.

They might even feel pity for them.

The woman said, "So that's how it is. Alas, how pitiful."

She looked at Bai Su, who was covered in injuries, with pity, and couldn't help but imagine a scene of "a delicate woman suffering misfortune and a ruthless tyrant taking advantage of his power to commit violence". Then, putting herself in Bai Su's shoes, she finally let down her guard. She sighed softly and opened up: "I don't know the background of the master, I only know that his surname is Shen and that he is a rare and kind person."

Bai Su was surprised to hear this.

"A great philanthropist?"

The lady nodded: "Yes."

"Madam, are you a subject under Lord Shen's rule?" Bai Su asked the woman again, her question more pointed. "You followed Lord Shen all the way to He Yin—madam, do you know what a dangerous place He Yin is? Not to mention the hardships and toil you endured on the journey..."

The woman assumed Bai Su was just being curious.

She didn't notice the subtle "tea talk" in Bai Su's words. She simply answered Bai Su's questions one by one.

She said, "This humble woman is not a commoner under Lord Shen's rule. My family has lived in Sibao County for four generations; we are native to this place. A while ago, when the rebel army was causing trouble, my entire family perished, leaving only this humble woman and my young child..."

A woman who is not old, and a child who is ignorant and unaware of the danger, have had their savings looted by the rebel army and their house burned down. They have no savings, no money, and no skills to make a living. How can they survive in this world?

This combination is as easy to bully as an elderly person.

If she didn't follow Shen Tang and instead chose to stay in her homeland and start over, the woman could guess what she would encounter even with her eyes closed.

She needs to go out to find a job to make a living and cannot stay with her children all the time. Her children will be bullied because everyone is desperate for money and starvation. The children are more likely to be abducted and sold, or worse, end up in butcher shops as dried meat.

If she's lucky, the child is unharmed, but that doesn't mean she's safe—because her home was burned down, she's homeless.

They either lived in dilapidated buildings with their children, barely scraping by, or they built a makeshift thatched hut to provide shelter from the wind and rain, with absolutely no safety in sight. In the middle of the night, various thugs would sneak into the hut to steal money, force themselves on her, or take advantage of her.

This kind of thing happens all the time.

Because she had no means of self-defense and no strong men in her family, the widow and her child were always bullied. When they were bullied, no one would stand up for them; they could only suffer in silence. Bullying women and children was the least risky and most profitable strategy.

How could the woman dare to stay?

Even knowing that Heyin was a treacherous place, she had no choice but to come anyway—at least she and her child would have dry rations for the next few days, and they wouldn't be threatened with whippings by the soldiers if they walked slowly. The woman even received extra pay for taking care of Bai Su.

The woman's words were like heavenly scripture to Bai Su.

However, her first reaction wasn't to praise Shen Tang's kindness, but rather to marvel at his immense wealth. After all, the entire group consisted of over three thousand people! More than three thousand, not just three hundred!

More than three thousand mouths!

Ordinary people make up 60%!

The remaining 40% were private retainers.

The grain wasn't prioritized for able-bodied young men who could fight; instead, it was allocated to feed the elderly, women, and children. Although not everyone could be fully fed, the food gave them the strength to walk a long distance, rather than just enough to "not starve to death while lying down"...

Bai Su made a rough estimate in her mind.

That's a considerable expense.

If Lord Shen is not a wealthy man with a large family business, then he is a complete fool. Otherwise, why would anyone do such a thing?

Bai Su echoed, "Lord Shen is kind-hearted."

The woman nodded with a look of relief.

She had also experienced years of famine. Back then, the country was still called Xin Kingdom—there were locust plagues here and floods there, and the people's lives were "full of ups and downs," constantly fluctuating between "almost starving to death" and "a little hungry but not starving to death."

In the event of a disaster, some places will distribute food as relief.

The so-called porridge was sometimes so clear you could count the grains of wheat, and sometimes so murky it was mixed with half mud and sand. It was enough to keep people from starving while they could lie down and drink it. Let alone dragging their families along for long distances each day, they didn't even have the energy to say a few more words.

Comparing the two, the woman genuinely felt that Shen Tang was a great philanthropist. She wasn't the only one; all the people who had hesitantly chosen to follow him felt the same way. They had no way to survive in their homeland, so they gritted their teeth and chose Shen Tang, only to find themselves with plenty to eat.

Because Lord Shen Lang spent most of his time at the front of the army, he did not see it—the soldiers distributed rations to the people. Every person who received the rations accepted them with tears in their eyes. They either wolfed them down, worried that they would not have enough for the next meal, or they were reluctant to eat them and secretly hid them, worried that they would not have enough for the next meal.

But they didn't expect that it would be available at every meal.

Over the past half month—

Stop when told to stop, rest when told to rest, and proceed when told to proceed.

Has anyone ever complained about the hardship, the exhaustion, or the unwillingness?

No!

Not a single one!

Bai Su was moved upon hearing this.

However, she worried that the woman might be exaggerating and wanted to see for herself. Half a day later, Bai Su used the excuse that she felt a little better and wanted to get out of the car to walk around and get some fresh air. Taking advantage of a moment when the group stopped to rest, she was helped out of the car by the woman.

Soldiers were distributing rations in bamboo baskets.

Bai Su secretly craned her neck to look.

The bamboo basket was indeed full of plump, round cakes.

These cakes are made with very generous amounts of ingredients; they are thick and heavy.

When the soldiers of the garrison issued the cards to Bai Su, they handed one to her without even looking at it. Basically, there were two cards for adults and one for children.

Eat it during half of your break.

The other half can be eaten on the way.

Bai Su chewed a piece of the pancake, which had little flavor but smelled of wheat. She softened it with her saliva, chewed it, and swallowed it.

The woman handed her a section of bamboo tube.

This is for drinking water.

Even if these people's belongings weren't burned, they wouldn't have brought all their pots and pans on their escape route, and they would be short of drinking utensils. Just then, they passed by a secluded wild bamboo forest, and Shen Tang unceremoniously ordered Zhao Feng's private troops to cut down the bamboo.

It would be a waste not to use free labor.

Bai Su accepted it and thanked her softly.

As she ate, she secretly observed the expressions of the people, and indeed, as the woman had said, they were not faking it. She sighed inwardly and finished the entire pancake, including the crumbs that had fallen. Just then, the young woman she had seen the night before approached.

Bai Su saw Lin Feng coming towards her.

Smiling, he asked, "Is it my benefactor who wants to see me?"

Lin Feng was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

She said, "No."

Bai Su asked, puzzled, "What's this young lady doing here?"

Lin Feng: "The young lady's injuries have not healed and she needs to recuperate."

She glanced at Tu Rong following behind her, then gestured with her lips. Tu Rong, as if resigned, handed a small pot of food to the woman beside Bai Su. Bai Su was initially puzzled, but as the small pot drew closer, she keenly smelled an enticing aroma of meat and couldn't help but swallow.

She asked, "What is this?"

Lin Feng answered truthfully: "Oh, this was a wild animal that the scouts hunted while exploring the area. They plucked its feathers and cooked it."

Bai Su knew it was a kind gesture, but she had already eaten a pancake, and coupled with the torment of her injuries, she had no appetite at the moment.

He then thought of using the flowers to present to Lin Feng.

Lin Feng thanked her for her kindness: "I cannot refuse your kind offer, but I am still in mourning and have some dietary restrictions."

Although she had been traveling a lot and it was very tiring, her teacher's cooking skills were far superior to those of a chef, and there was meat available every day. Her teacher cooked for her husband, and would also leave a small portion for others to enjoy.

However, she and Tu Rong were still in mourning, so they had dietary restrictions.

Theirs is a bit special and needs to be done separately.

Lin Feng is young and has a small appetite.

I've gotten noticeably rounder over the past two weeks.

Bai Su said apologetically, "It was my rudeness."

She then handed the pot of soup over to the woman's child.

Watching the child not afraid of the heat at all, slurping up the fragrant, milky-white soup in a few gulps, and chewing on the not-so-plump pieces of meat in the pot with a satisfied look on his face, Bai Su stared blankly, suddenly feeling a pang of sadness, and her eyes reddened.

The woman asked, "My lady, are you feeling unwell?"

Bai Su lowered her head to avoid the woman's concern, not wanting others to see her vulnerability. She composed herself and soon regained her composure, saying softly, "Nothing much, it's just that seeing you and your child reminded me of my younger brother and sister who died young..."

Strictly speaking, they didn't exactly starve to death.

My family was really, really poor back then.

The father begged for help and took on debt, but he could barely keep his family afloat. His two younger siblings were the smallest and received the least amount of food. They were so hungry that their legs often gave way and they felt dizzy. When they felt unbearably hungry, they would drink water...

One day, all the adults in the family went out.

The two children stayed at home playing.

Just then, the village scoundrel passed by the door and saw the two children playing house, one playing the father and the other the mother, cooking a meal. The scoundrel chuckled and tricked the two children into believing that there was a place at the edge of the village where the soil was much more fragrant than meat.

People who eat it will be free from illness and disaster!

They actually went and dug, and they devoured the food, not forgetting to leave some for their grandparents, parents, and siblings. When their father returned from work, the two children had choked to death on the sticky mud... their bodies were stiff.

Bai Subi's mentor was "greedy".

She has too many regrets in her life.

For example, it's a pity that my younger siblings came into this world without even knowing what "flesh" tastes like, and as for that lazybones...

When they went to demand an explanation, they were mocked instead. It was because of this incident that the grandmother got into a fight with her stubborn mother, and afterwards she fell ill and never recovered...

The woman was unaware of the reason.

But seeing the sadness in Bai Su's eyes, she knew that her son had stirred up the past. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly waved her hand secretly, signaling her son to leave Bai Su's sight.

In the woman's view, the fact that Shen Tang was willing to pay her to take care of Bai Su meant that Bai Su was a very important person, and she could not neglect her or make her unhappy.

Bai Su did not miss the woman's expression and subtle movements.

She knew why after a little thought.

He just smiled and didn't say anything else.

Traveling is a very tedious thing.

How boring?

It was so boring that even Shen Tang felt bored, to the point of mentally creating melodramatic stories! She was enjoying herself, but poor Gu Chi was "following the updates" to hear the story, only to find that he had the first half but no second half.

It's like that inner court eunuch, who started it and then stopped!

Is anyone there?

Inhuman!

Gu Chi revealed a mournful face, as if he had been constipated for seven or eight days.

Qi Shan looked on with a puzzled expression.

He and Gu Chi were kindred spirits who got to know each other.

Don't hold back when you speak, just say it directly: "Really, you don't need Chu Wuhui to sprinkle some croton powder into your food?"

Gu Chi did not understand his meaning.

Qi Shan took out a small, round bronze mirror, about the size of a palm, with delicate patterns on the back, from his cloth bag and showed it to the world.

He gestured for Gu Chi to look at his face in the mirror.

Gu Chi was a beat slow to react before he realized what was happening, and said with an unfriendly expression, "Croton powder? You can keep it for yourself and enjoy it slowly!"

This guy deserves a bowl of thick, rich croton porridge!

Is this a loss or not?!

Qi Shan didn't get angry even when she was scolded.

Because he knew that Gu Chi was even angrier than he was.

Hearing Qi Shan's laughter from behind, Shen Tang looked back with a puzzled expression and saw Gu Chi threatening Qi Shan with a sword sheath, while Qi Shan had a defiant look on her face that said, "Go ahead and draw your sword if you dare..."

Shen Tang whispered to Kang Shi.

"Later, Ji Shou will ask Yuan Liang about it."

Kang Shizheng turned his head to watch the spectacle.

"What do you want to know?"

Shen Tang asked, "What color burlap sack does he like?"

_(:3」∠)_

Ah, the 14th is getting closer and closer...

Feeling guilty...

While reviewing some materials today, I suddenly discovered examples of work-for-relief programs dating back to ancient times. The method itself was good, but the problem wasn't how ingenious the idea was, but rather the availability of food—even the landlords were running out of grain…

(End of this chapter)