Chapter 77 [VIP]
Upon returning to Yizhou, Mi Yao briefly met with Yu Shaoyang. Instead of rushing to see Yu Chengda, she didn't even stay at the Xiao residence for a moment before going out to check on the large courtyard that Shuanghua had bought for her.
In order to accommodate as many orphans as possible, Mi Yao chose a location in the west.
Because of the previous flooding, this area has many more cheap open spaces. Compared to the more desolate south, at least the west side has more ordinary people, so the children are not left in a terrible environment.
Not long after entering the western part of the city, Mi Yao saw a stone sculpture with a human body and a fish tail. Although she felt that the face did not look much like hers, the stone sculpture should be her goddess statue.
The plaque next to the stone statue lists the donations made by various families during the floods, detailing the situation not only in the city but also in the counties.
She suggested that Wen Sima make the signboard, but she had refused the stone statue issue many times. She even brought up Zhao Tianhe, saying that even the military governor did not have a statue, so it would be against the rules to make one for her.
After she finished speaking, Wen Sima took out the map of Jiannan and pointed out the places where there were statues of Zhao Tianhe: "Madam should know that Lord Zhao has allowed the people to build statues for you, which is intended to build momentum for the garrison commander. Madam should look at the long term. The garrison commander's foundation is still too weak."
After hearing Wen Sima's words, what could Mi Yao say? From ancient times to the present, the wives of ruling leaders have always presented themselves as virtuous.
If she is truly virtuous, exaggerate her compassion; if she is merely feigning virtue, fabricate a few things to make her appear virtuous and capable.
The stone statue had a compassionate expression, and Mi Yao looked at it for a while before turning her gaze away.
In her previous life, she always felt that she was not a kind person. When she was in the orphanage, she fought for resources, and after entering society, she constantly felt the possessiveness of most men towards poor and beautiful women.
Once she achieved a certain status through hard work, she would regularly donate a sum of money to the welfare home, but those small sense of accomplishments were quickly overwhelmed by the weariness of life.
She had made up her mind the moment she opened her eyes in this life: everything in this world except for her was fake. She didn't need to care about anyone else; she could do anything that went against morality and customs, as long as it benefited her.
She still prioritizes altruism, but at the same time, many other things have also come to mind.
For example, the sense of responsibility after the cleanup.
“Huhu, you’ve come at the perfect time. The plaque just arrived, let’s watch it being hung up together.”
Although Mi Yao said there was no need to wait for her to come back before hanging up the plaque, Yan Yun still wanted to see this ordinary house with her, because it would become extraordinary after the plaque with the words "Tzu Chi Hospital" was hung up.
Knowing that Mi Yao was returning to Yizhou today, she originally thought she wouldn't be able to see her until tomorrow, and planned to have someone put the sign in the courtyard first, but unexpectedly Mi Yao arrived ahead of time.
“I was afraid you would scold me when you saw me. I set up the stall, but I’m only back now to work with you.”
Mi Yao said to Yan Yun and Wang Qing, "Thank you for your hard work."
"It's not hard work. I didn't do anything. It was all Sister Yun who was busy. And even though you weren't here, Sister Yao, you sent people to do the work. You bought this house, Sister Yao, so why would we scold you..."
Wang Qing waved her hand nervously as she spoke, and when she saw Mi Yao and Yan Yun covering their mouths and laughing at her, she realized that she was being overly nervous.
Mi Yao was probably joking.
Wang Qing twisted her hands together: "Sister Yao, Sister Yun, I will try my best to help."
After the Wang family caused a scene at the Zhao family and Zhao Wulang was exiled from Yizhou, Wang Qing was sent to her maternal grandparents' home to relax.
She stayed at her maternal grandparents' house for a while, but because she missed her parents and her aunt kept urging her to get married, she returned to her own home.
Because Mi Yao and her friends sent many people who spread rumors to jail, no one gossiped about her after she returned home. In addition, with the persuasion of her parents, she would occasionally go out for a walk to clear her mind.
However, the young women she used to associate with, having received instructions from their families, no longer dared to associate with her.
She was considering whether to go to her maternal grandparents' house to find a suitable husband. Just then, she learned that Yan Yun was helping Mi Yao run a charity home to help orphans. Suddenly, she realized what she could do.
"I'm already happy enough that you're willing to help. The way you acted like you were taking advantage of me when there was no pay made me feel like I was a villain bullying an innocent young woman."
Wang Qing hurriedly waved her hand, but before she could speak, she saw the smile on Mi Yao's face and knew that she was joking again, so she couldn't help but smile shyly as well.
"Let's put up the sign. Once it's up, we can start doing things."
Mi Yao said that when she saw the workers hang the sign on the gate of the courtyard, she felt a sense of relief, and she realized that she would have more responsibility from now on.
She had hesitated before, but now that she's finally made up her mind, she doesn't feel like it's such a crushing responsibility.
She'll do as much as she can, and she'll make sure the children in this yard don't suffer worse than being homeless.
Before we officially announced what we were going to do, some villagers heard rumors and brought us a lot of vegetables. Later, they voluntarily helped us plow the fields and planted winter wheat and buckwheat.
As they entered the courtyard, Yan Yun said to Mi Yao, "There are those who are so willing to help, but there are also those who know this house is going to be used to adopt orphans and just leave the children at the door."
Speaking of this, Yan Yun sighed, "Most of the babies brought in are infants, mostly girls, and the majority of them are disabled."
Without Yan Yun needing to explain further, Mi Yao sensed a problem as soon as she entered the courtyard. Besides the faces, there were too many crying babies. Cao Xiao was being soothed, and upon seeing Mi Yao, Xiao Rou couldn't let go of the baby, so she could only rock the infant while saying, "I was going back to my lodgings, but there are too many children here, and we don't have enough help, so I stayed."
"Thank you for your hard work, elder sister."
Xiao Rou shook her head and quickly said it wasn't hard work, then pursed her lips and said, "If it's alright, sister-in-law, what about this?"
Hearing Xiao Rou's request, Mi Yao didn't find it strange, but...
“If my elder sister is willing to stay and help, I am naturally happy to do so. Let’s make a rough list first. For example, the Tzu Chi Hospital will only temporarily take in orphans without parents. If the parents are still alive but want us to help them raise their children, I remember that according to the law, this is considered intentional homicide of offspring, which is punishable by more than one year in prison.”
After Mi Yao finished speaking, she immediately instructed Pu Qing: "Take people to look for people, go door to door. Later I will go to see Wen Sima to see if we can use silver to redeem those who have been imprisoned and give the silver directly to the Ciji Hospital to increase our donations."
If you say it's money to be given to her, the government will definitely disagree, but if you say it's charity, it's much easier to handle.
Upon hearing Mi Yao's words, the group was stunned, none of them expecting her to handle these abandoned children in this way.
But thinking about it, it really makes sense. These disabled baby girls were clearly abandoned by their parents with malicious intent. We can't just let those parents who abandoned their children take advantage of us so freely just because we have a charity here.
"What if they don't have the money to be fined?"
"The fields in the backyard are still short of people to cultivate them for free. If there's no money to do the work, then we'll use our physical labor as punishment."
Having decided to take on the responsibility, Mi Yao specifically studied the laws of Daxing.
Now Daxing is fragmented and divided by warlords, but it once had a golden age, and a golden age naturally has a sound legal system.
In other places, the law may be rendered meaningless, but Yizhou is different. With Zhao Tianhe in charge, those who deserve punishment will be punished.
Why would anyone throw children into the Tzu Chi Hospital? Yan Yun is introverted and calm, and she wouldn't reveal anything before the hospital was officially opened. The fact that ordinary people could hear the news was naturally because she had put in the effort to get Shuang Hua to send people to spread rumors everywhere.
"After the fine is paid, should we keep these children?"
Wang Qing thought of those disabled children, and if they were returned to their parents, they probably wouldn't raise them properly. She felt a pang of pity and said.
"Leave their parents' names and addresses, return the child to them, and then send people to search for them regularly. Since they were born, we should naturally raise them. If the parents have no moral problems but are simply unable to raise the child, we will offer some assistance."
Mi Yao glanced at the group of people. She knew they were all kind-hearted women, otherwise they wouldn't have been willing to come and help. But some rules needed to be explained in advance.
"I don't need to say much about how the world is now. The children I've saved are either sold to demons by their own relatives or orphans who have lost their parents and relatives in war-torn areas. One of the rules of Tzu Chi Hospital is that we only accept orphans. We can't save that many people, so we can only do our best. If we take pity on people and take them into the hospital, in the end we won't be able to save a single one."
"I understand."
Xiao Rou nodded first. She came from the worst background here, having experienced famine as a child and witnessed a lot of chaos in Jingzhou a few days ago.
"Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. We understand what you mean, Fufu."
Yan Yun and the others nodded in agreement.
During the time Mi Yao was away, some people tried to sow discord between Yan Yun and Mi Yao, saying that her status was not much different from Mi Yao's, so why should she do something that would benefit Mi Yao?
That's why. She had a kind heart, but without Mi Yao's leadership, the most she could do was distribute porridge to help the poor, instead of helping more people like she does now, ensuring that every penny went to the right place and truly made the poor better off.
There is no such thing as doing something for someone else's benefit; rather, some people are born to be leaders and the center of attention.
While discussing with Yan Yun and the others, Mi Yao looked through all the planned areas of the courtyard.
I mainly looked at the accommodations and the places used for introductory classes.
It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. Tzu Chi Institutes must have places for reading and writing, as well as places for older children to learn a trade.
After touring the courtyard and having a general idea of what to do, Mi Yao discussed the class schedule with Yan Yun and the others. When she saw that it was almost time, she got up to find Wen Sima.
Besides finding and fining the parents who abandoned their children, there is something else more important.
When she looked at the Daxing Law, she found that Daxing does not prohibit marriage between cousins. There were two sisters in the hospital, both of whom could not stand upright from the waist down. The older sister said that her younger brother could not walk if he stayed at home. If it was just one of them, it might be an accident. But if both brothers and sisters were like this, it was most likely a genetic defect.
Banning marriages between close relatives could significantly reduce the number of disabled people.
After finishing her work, Mi Yao returned to her residence and fell asleep immediately. When she woke up the next day, she vaguely felt that she had forgotten something. When she went out, she ran into Yu Chengda and his group who had come to visit. When she saw the unfamiliar yet familiar face of her biological father, she remembered that her adoptive father had come to Yizhou.
And she even brought her beautiful daughter with her.
"Xiao Chuan is away on business as ordered by his father and is not in the mansion. You can come back to flirt with him later."
Because she had too many things to do, Mi Yao glanced at her well-dressed cousin and half-sisters, setting the tone for their relationship from the start. After speaking, she looked at Yu Chengda and said, "Father, are you well? You've married so far away. Hu Hu misses you so much."
The phrase "swaying and coquettish" was extremely offensive. The faces of the women who were swept by Mi Yao's gaze turned either pale or flushed. Yu Chengda also looked displeased, feeling that Mi Yao was too domineering for speaking of her own family members in such a way in front of the servants.
But the next moment, when he saw Mi Yao look at him, her expression changed. She said she missed him with a pitiful look in her eyes, her eyes filled with affection. He grinned, feeling that he hadn't seen his daughter for a long time. Not only had she become more beautiful, but she also looked more like him, exuding an ethereal aura that was different from ordinary people.
“My dear daughter, you miss your father, and naturally your father misses you too. That's why I would have traveled all the way from Jiangnan to see you.”
With tears welling up in their eyes, the father and daughter had completely forgotten about the men posing and preening beside them.
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