Chapter 62 Li Yang Offers Advice on the Flood Disaster in Gao County (5)

"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, what delicious food is in that pot?"

Liu Yitong pointed to a pot and asked a question. The pot was still covered with a lid, and only the aroma could be smelled, but the contents could not be seen. After asking the question, without waiting for an answer, he hurriedly swallowed the braised pork in his bowl, and it was gone in no time.

The meat chunks are square, arranged in a square formation of six horizontally and six vertically in the pot. When pushed with chopsticks, they all tremble and sway, dripping oil and juices onto the preserved mustard greens underneath.

Normally, a gourmand like Liu Yi would never eat that meat, because the layer of preserved mustard greens underneath it soaks up all the meat juices and is the most quintessential part. But these days he's been really starved for oil and fat, so he's been eating braised pork piece by piece. As for the preserved mustard greens, he plans to save them to mix with rice later.

At this moment, all he could see was the pot on the table. As for the officials and salt merchants beside him, he couldn't see a single one. Oh no, he could see his sister-in-law, who was now like a golden pig in his eyes—no, a little golden figure, shimmering with golden light, with chicken, duck, fish, and meat flying around in the glow. He could surely obtain them tomorrow with just a prayer.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Chen Junbo was sitting upright next to him, her head down, picking at the food in her bowl.

In the past few days, she had brought food, and the salt merchants would gather in her tent to share it. They had all become familiar with each other; Liu Yi would chatter incessantly, or someone would inquire about town affairs, asking her about everyone's business. With these topics of conversation flowing day after day, Li Yang didn't feel constrained. But today, several officials suddenly arrived, and she didn't know what to say.

At this moment, Liu Yitong was still as arrogant as ever, which actually saved Li Yang. She hurriedly said, "Mr. Liu, this pot is lamb stew with radish. Chen Junbai said you wanted to eat lamb."

Liu Yitong: "But what about the lamb?"

Li Yang: "Yes, it's a little lamb that's just turned 100 days old."

Liu Yitong chuckled and began chanting a spell, "Grandpa Sheep, Grandma Sheep, may I borrow your grandson for a while? He'll still be a dish for my Liu family next year."

"General Manager Liu."

Lin Yihuai suddenly spoke up, and everyone looked at him. Liu Yitong also had to turn his gaze to him. Lin raised his hand and pointed at his nose, saying, "Don't just use all that pleading and begging on this plate. If you used even half that effort, maybe the flood would listen to you."

Everyone burst into laughter. Liu Yitong's mouth gaped open, and he tilted his head, somewhat puzzled. This Lord Lin was actually joking with him today? Hey! This old man, who usually has a stern nose and a bristling beard, is actually joking with me today?

Seeing him standing there dumbfounded, Chen Junbai was about to take over when a soldier-looking man came to the entrance of the tent and reported, "Lord Lin, the Imperial Guards have sent word that they will be returning to camp tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Lord Lin's expression changed instantly. He waved his hand to dismiss the other party, his brows furrowing tightly.

This time, Liu Yitong stopped being stunned. He couldn't hold back his resentment any longer. "Damn it, something happened in Gao County, all the soldiers have left, leaving us few people from Songshan Town here to do hard labor. Damn it, I'm not doing this anymore! Damn it, I can't stand this humiliation. Ziheng, don't glare at me, even if you glare at me, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm going back tomorrow. Oh no, today, I'm going back today. Sister-in-law, when you take your carriage back, please take me with you. I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place for even a day longer."

It turned out that with the completion of the dike reinforcement project, the floodwaters had gradually stabilized, and the next step was to release water for flood discharge and rebuild the villages. The group would need to stay in Gao County for a few more days until the canal construction was completed before leaving.

The Imperial Guards were only there to help with flood control; once the dikes were secured, they needed to return to camp. This meant that all the burden fell on the shoulders of others, and there was clearly a shortage of manpower.

After listening to Liu Yitong say "damn it" dozens of times, Li Yang couldn't help but tug at Chen Junbai's sleeve. When the man turned to look at her, she whispered, "You're here repairing the waterways in Gao County and rebuilding houses for the people of Gao County, but the people of Gao County don't know where to go in the Xiahai Temple."

Seeing that Chen Junbo didn't speak but gestured for her to continue, Li Yang swallowed and raised her voice, "I think, since Gao County is short of manpower for repairs, could we organize the disaster victims in the town and bring them back to Gao County to help with dredging and building houses?"

These past two days, Zhong Qian has been complaining every time he comes back from the Xiahai Temple.

The disaster victims now live in the Xiahai Temple every day, receiving porridge from flower vendors for three meals a day, and clothes, pants, shoes and socks from the temple's benevolent people. Gradually, some troubles have arisen.

With clothes to wear and food to fill their stomachs, some of the young and strong among the disaster victims couldn't stay idle.

Some people led a disturbance, saying that "the rice porridge from the Flower Bureau is too thin and there is no oil or water in the stomach after eating it," and that "the Flower Bureau's disaster relief and rice distribution is just for show, and in reality, it is a case of the rich being heartless."

These words infuriated Zhong Qian, who was so angry that he almost cursed. After returning to the flower shop, everyone had to persuade him to continue visiting the temple the next day.

Not to mention the strong young man who would harass the orphan and widow from time to time, actually wanting to become a cheap father in the temple.

Li Yang understood that there was an old saying: "A peck of rice is appreciated, a bushel of rice is resented." Now that these people were well-fed and clothed, their mindset was different from that during the famine.

That's how ordinary people are. When they have nothing to eat or wear and nowhere to sleep, all they ask for is a shady corner, a bowl of thin porridge, and the chance to survive.

If one is well-fed and has built up strength, then one should exert some energy. If one still has land to cultivate, then it's fine to work in the fields during the day and fall asleep as soon as one is tired at night; otherwise, trouble will arise. Moreover, there are those idlers and scoundrels who will gradually reveal their true colors.

The hooligans on the long street are all spoiled by their elderly parents, who have raised them to be idle and lazy. If their parents were to pass away, they would become beggars within a few years, losing all their energy to bother cats and dogs.

If we could organize the restless disaster victims to return to Gao County to repair canals and build houses, wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?

The little girl's words landed with a crisp sound, silencing everyone present. Even Liu Yitong, unusually, stopped cursing. Lin Yihuai looked around and said, "Madam Chen, you just mentioned that the disaster victims from Gao County are gathered at the Xiahai Temple. May I ask how many disaster victims there are? And how many of them are able-bodied young men?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, the total number of people receiving disaster relief rice at Xiahai Temple each day is 175. Among them, 30 are over 60 years old, 38 are under 15, 40 are women, and 67 are able-bodied men." Li Yang answered quickly, as she was very clear about the number of disaster victims.

When settling the disaster victims at Xiahai Temple, she had them registered and their travel documents checked, just in case any troublemakers among them caused any unrest. After all, it was a borrowed place, and it would be a sin if anyone caused trouble and disrupted the temple's incense offerings.

Moreover, she had personally distributed porridge for several days, handing each bowl to the disaster victims by hand. She could recite many names, let alone the number of victims.

Lin Yihuai was taken aback when he heard this. This young lady actually knew it by heart? When he asked the question, he felt that he had asked a redundant question. This young lady, who was asked by General Manager Chen, seemed to be a person who did not know the ways of the world. It was already difficult enough to settle the disaster victims in the Xiahai Temple. Perhaps General Manager Chen taught her the method. How could she know the specific situation of the disaster victims?

But now, the young lady is answering questions with clarity and detail, showing that she has carefully studied the principles involved.

"It turns out I was too attached to appearances and made the mistake of judging people by their looks."

He clasped his hands in a gesture of respect and bowed to Li Yang. To the others, this grand gesture seemed insignificant, but Li Yang smiled wryly. “You flatter me, sir. It was only because my family’s flower shop had borrowed the place at the Xiahai Temple to distribute rice porridge that I was particularly worried about causing trouble. Therefore, I asked the county magistrate to help register the disaster victims’ indemnities, and that’s how I learned about the situation.”

She spoke modestly, but those present were either seasoned businesspeople or government officials. How could such a group not know the intricacies involved? If, as she claimed, they had simply asked the county government officials to register the victims, she could at most know the total number of disaster victims, but how could she possibly know the number of people of different ages?

Seeing her say this, Lin Yihuai seemed to become interested. "Madam Chen, I would like to hear the details."

Unexpectedly, Lord Lin pressed for details. Li Yang gasped and looked at Chen Junbo, who smiled and nodded slightly. Li Yang then said, "During the first few days of distributing porridge, some of the disaster victims caused trouble. The elderly and weak couldn't get any first, and by the time it was their turn, there was only the bottom of the pot left. So at home..."

As she spoke, she glanced at Chen Junbai again, and after a moment's thought, said, "The shopkeeper of the house came up with a method to make different colored tags according to age and gender, and wrote each person's name on them and distributed them. Every day when the porridge is served, the yellow tags are placed first for the elderly over sixty, then the green tags for children under fifteen, then the red wooden tags for women, and finally the black wooden tags for adults. That's how I know the number of people in each group."

"Oh? That burly man with the black wooden sign must be one of the troublemakers from earlier, right? They didn't object to this?" This time it was Li Yuhan who spoke up. His family had been involved in disaster relief for many years, so how could he not know what kind of people the disaster victims were?

Li Yang smiled and said, "Of course I'm not satisfied, but the manager has a brilliant plan. First, if any of the able-bodied people cause trouble, then everyone will skip a meal of porridge. The elderly and weak don't eat much anyway, so they can get through a meal of porridge, but the able-bodied people can't go hungry even for a meal. The manager said that this is called 'inciting public anger and being outnumbered.'"

Liu Yitong: "What a terrible metaphor. This is called 'exterminating nine generations of relatives'."

This analogy wasn't much better. Lin Yihuai coughed lightly and said, "What a fine 'collective punishment' method! And what's the second one?"

"Secondly, it's said that 'petty people value profit'." As she spoke, she laughed at herself, "Please forgive me, Lord Lin, but the manager of my household is not very learned and often makes some laughable mistakes when it comes to naming things."

"Hehe, hehehehehe, hahahahahahahaha."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Liu Yitong tugging at Li Yuhan's sleeve, laughing uncontrollably. Chen Junbo frowned and said, "If you don't want to listen, then get out."

The laughter abruptly stopped, but Liu Yitong's lips were still twitching.

Li Yang then explained, “The amount of rice in the porridge increases gradually. The elderly and children can’t eat much rice, and if you give them too much, they’ll be too full and people will take it away. So the manager increases the amount of rice in the porridge one by one. When it comes to the fourth black card, it’s a full bowl of rice. As a result, these disaster victims behaved themselves for a while.”

Hahahaha.

This time, Lin Yihuai laughed loudly, "Good, good, this method is brilliant!" As he spoke, he turned to Zhong Zhengyuan, "What do you think of Madam Chen's plan, Lord Zhong?"

Actually, this question should have been directed at the magistrate of Gao County, but the magistrate has now been exiled and imprisoned by Zhong Zhengyuan for dereliction of duty, so Zhong Zhengyuan is temporarily in charge of all matters in Gao County.

Zhong Zhengyuan, with his round face and wildly scraggly beard and eyebrows, was extremely satisfied with this method. Returning the people's affairs to the people meant he could finally go home; what could be better? Now, having been singled out by Lin Yihuai, he naturally followed suit, "Excellent, very good!"

Hearing Lord Zhong's approval, Li Yang was overjoyed and went to look at Chen Junbo. The man was looking at her, his eyes narrow, but she found them incredibly clear and refreshing.