Su Muyao asked in confusion, "Lord Wang looks quite old, yet his daughter is still unmarried?"

"The girl who publicly declared that she had her eye on the top scholar was only 15 years old."

Su Muyao was very surprised to hear this. Lord Wang looked quite old, but she didn't expect his daughter to be only a teenager.

Before Su Muyao could even voice her thoughts, Xia continued, "This youngest daughter of Lord Wang is truly the apple of everyone's eye."

Lord Wang already had a bunch of sons and always wanted a daughter. He never expected to have a daughter in his old age, so he doted on her rotten.

This top scholar is only 17 years old. Not to mention in this dynasty, even going back several dynasties, there has never been such an outstanding young man.

Su Muyao laughed when she saw Xia's lovesick expression: "What, have you seen that young man before? Quickly put away that lustful look of yours, or others will see it."

"How can a woman act so unreservedly? If others find out, it will be a disgrace to my princess's household."

"Miss, what are you saying?" Xia stomped her foot, covered her face, and ran out.

"Beauty can be a vice."

Just then, Xiao Qiu arrived at the princess's room and knelt down in front of Su Muyao with a thud.

"Xiao Qiu, what do you mean by this? Get up quickly."

Four maids, representing spring, summer, autumn, and winter, each managed various trivial matters.

Xia followed Su Muyao, Xiaochun managed the princess's room, and Xiaodong was in charge of the outer courtyard.

Xiao Qiu had to run between the shop and the princess's mansion, which is why Su Muyao rarely saw Xiao Qiu in the mansion.

"If you have something to say, stand up and say it. If you're kneeling, I won't listen."

Xiao Qiu quickly stood up. "Princess, I would like to ask to resign for two days. There is a letter from home saying that my grandparents are dying and asking me to go home to see them one last time."

Su Muyao naturally knew about Xiao Qiu's background; Xiao Qiu was also a pitiful person.

Years ago, there were years of drought that nearly caused many people to starve to death. At that time, the palace happened to announce that it needed to take in some young maids.

The matron who was selecting the maidservants thought she was pretty and asked her a question.

And so Xiaoqiu sold herself, got two taels of silver for her family, and then left with the palace stewardess.

Later, I heard that Xiao Qiu's mother cried until she went blind because of this. Fortunately, Xiao Qiu was later assigned to the Princess's Mansion, where she received a considerable monthly allowance.

Moreover, there are several days off each month. I told the person in charge that we would go home together on our days off to visit our parents, who are already old.

It was after that that I reconnected with my family.

When Xiaoqiu returned home, her family recognized the person she had been longing for day and night at a glance...

"What happened? Are you sick or something else? Should we have the royal physician accompany you?"

Xiao Qiu shook her head: "The princess is not sick, but... in the letter, she said... she was starving."

Su Muyao's eyes widened immediately. If she remembered correctly, Xiao Qiu's parents lived very close to Beijing.

It's not even considered a remote area, so how could there be a situation where people are almost starving to death?

"Alright, bring more grain and money from your residence."

After saying this, Su Muyao thought that since she had nothing else to do, she might as well go and take a look.

"Go prepare the carriage, I'll go back with you."

Xiao Qiu was surprised that the princess was also going, so she quickly knelt down and kowtowed before getting up to call the coachman.

I selected four highly skilled guards from the manor to go with me. I wasn't sure what the situation was, but I had to ensure my own safety.

In just over two hours, the carriage stopped beside a small mountain village.

Xia helped Su Muyao down from the carriage. When Su Muyao stood up, all she could see were collapsed houses everywhere and the cries of children in the village.

At this moment, the villagers patrolling back and forth at the village entrance heard the sound of approaching hooves and assumed that bandits were coming to rob them, so they quickly took out their weapons and blocked the entrance.

When Niu Er saw from afar that it was actually his own sister, he quickly called for the villagers to stop.

"Uncle Village Chief, Little Ya is back."

When the village chief heard Niu Er say that Xiao Ya had returned, he told everyone to put down what they were holding.

As Xiao Qiu approached, she saw her brother grinning at her.

"elder brother"

"Hey, aren't you cold? Go back and warm yourself up."

"Brother, how are Grandpa and Grandma?"

The eighteen or nineteen-year-old boy in front of her instantly had tears in his eyes. "They're gone, but don't be sad. Grandpa and Grandma said you should be happy, they just reached a certain age... Everyone has to die..."

Tears streamed down Xiao Qiu's face, and Xia Xia, unable to bear seeing this, sniffled beside her.

"Brother, this is the young princess I mentioned to you. She's very kind. Come and pay your respects."

Upon hearing this, the villagers surrounding Xiao Qiu immediately knelt down and bowed to Su Mu Yao.

They also knew that there was a young princess in the capital who was a reincarnation of a lucky star.

Now, this little lucky star has come to their village, and most importantly, the people in their village are actually working in the little lucky star's mansion.

Is there any hope?

Soon, the village chief gave Su Muyao a brief overview of the village's recent situation.

Su Muyao then realized that due to the heavy snow, many houses that were not very sturdy to begin with had collapsed.

It was precisely because of the heavy snow that some village houses were damaged, and the entire village houses collapsed. These people who had no place to live became refugees and had no choice but to steal from other villages.

Unfortunately, their village was closest to the official road, making it the first place to be robbed by refugees.

Nowadays, every household is out of food, and even those families who have hidden away money can't buy much grain with their silver.

So many elderly people simply stop eating and give the last bite or two to their children.

Xiao Qiu's grandparents were the same; it wasn't until the family discovered that the old man and woman had hidden all the multigrain cakes they gave her under the bed.

Later on, the old man and woman no longer had the strength to swallow, and the village doctor said they were exhausted and their life force was about to die.

Niu Er quickly asked the villagers who were going to the capital to buy grain to deliver a letter to the general store, hoping that Xiao Ya would receive the letter and have time to come back to see her grandparents one last time.

When Su Muyao was invited into the village, she found that there were thatched houses in the village, and under the houses lay the elderly, the weak, the sick, the disabled, and many children.

The children all looked at the baby in front of them with innocent and curious eyes.

One of the girls, about five or six years old, asked her older sister, "Sister, she's so pretty! Her clothes are nice, and the thing on her head is pretty too."

The little guy didn't know how to describe Su Muyao's outfit, he just kept saying "beautiful".

The woman addressed as "elder sister" quickly covered her younger sister's mouth, saying, "Don't talk nonsense."

After saying that, she shrank back inside, and the people inside nudged the girl who was holding her younger sister.

"Why are you pushing? I don't even have a seat, why are you trying to squeeze in?"

Su Muyao looked at most of the people who were drowsy and didn't even lift their eyelids as they sat in the hay.

"The village chief and the others are..."

The village chief, whose name was mentioned, sighed: "Alas, there's nothing we can do. These families have run out of food, and now they're just lying here waiting to fend for themselves."

After saying that, he shook his head. It wasn't that he, as the village chief, didn't want to help, but that every household was out of food, and his family only had half a scoop of mixed grains left.

They could have survived the winter with the food they had stored at home, but those damned refugees, having run out of food themselves, stole from them.

There are so many children in the family, sigh.