Chapter 51 What are you looking for?
The old housekeeper said, "It was a difficult childbirth with severe bleeding, resulting in the deaths of both mother and child."
Lu Jinlan took a deep breath, filled with endless melancholy.
After talking with Yu Jifang, Xiang Ruzhen was the most depressed.
Watching someone you consider a role model fall from grace is like watching a skyscraper collapse.
Like a pilgrim on a pilgrimage, she imagined how many people had misinterpreted Buddhist teachings and misunderstood the Buddha. But when she finally arrived at the Great Thunder Temple after her arduous journey, she saw the Buddha holding up a wine cup and saying to her: Forget about Buddhist teachings, let's enjoy the moment and be merry.
Xiang Ruzhen felt very sorry, but Lu Jinlan patted her shoulder and comforted her, "Forget it, don't be too demanding of Lord Yu. The officialdom is chaotic, and not everyone can stick to their principles like you. She has her own difficulties, so let's not blame her."
Xiang Ruzhen smiled wryly, "Then whose fault is it?"
Lu Jinlan looked around, standing on the highest city wall of Beizhou, gazing at the border between Hua Kingdom and Qu Kingdom. Late autumn was bleak, and desolation was everywhere he looked.
She stood with her hands behind her back and said in a deep voice, "Blame this place. The wind in the border region is too cold; it chills even the most passionate heart."
Xiang Ruzhen stood in the wind, silent for a long time, and then suggested, "Let's talk all night tonight, and guard the treasury until dawn, then open the chests and distribute the relief supplies tomorrow morning."
*
Many people were on tenterhooks all night, but nothing happened.
As the sun rose, a long line of disaster victims had already formed outside the Northern Governor's Mansion. Most of them were emaciated, their bodies as thin as skeletons, but their eyes shone with a frighteningly bright, yearning gaze.
Seeing the redness in the eyes of the three, Zhao Zhiyu quickly said, "You've worked hard, go back to sleep, I'll watch over things here."
Xiang Ruzhen said, "These disaster victims are physically weak, and some people may be eyeing the money in their hands. I'm afraid Your Highness will have to do more work."
Zhao Zhiyu nodded and called Turing over. "Have the imperial guards wear yellow jackets and patrol the city. Also, take my token to the Northern Prefecture camp and have Cheng Yuanqing bring out her soldiers to stand guard at key points to prevent anyone from taking the opportunity to steal."
Xiang Ruzhen said, "Your Highness is meticulous; in this way, there will be no mistakes."
Lu Jinlan also said, "Then let's go back and rest first. I'll go to the entrance to buy some food, and we'll eat and get a good night's sleep."
No sooner had he said this than Zhao Zhiyu, who was still chatting with Yan Xiang, suddenly heard Lu Jinlan arguing with the mistress who was handling matters at the door.
The three hurried over, only to find a crowd of onlookers already gathered at the entrance.
Lu Jinlan was holding a few sheets of paper, helping an old woman and her teacher's wife to argue.
"Why can't she receive it? Her house was burned down, and there's a certificate issued by the village chief, as well as seven villagers as witnesses. The witnesses have household registrations, which is enough to prove that she is her. Why do you insist on household registration certificates? Everything was burned down, where is she going to find household registration certificates?"
The master's wife said, "Lord Lu, you can't blame me. This is a regulation of our governor. To receive disaster relief funds, one must have a household registration certificate to prevent over-receiving or fraudulent claims."
Lu Jinlan said angrily, "Rules are rules, but people are flexible. Her rules are correct, but you have to treat special cases specially. She was afraid of any oversights, so she prepared so many things in advance. Why are you so stubborn?"
The master's wife said, "Lord Lu, it's not that I'm stubborn. I'm just a lowly master's wife. I can't bear the responsibility if the governor blames me."
Lu Jinlan gritted her teeth: "I'll take this responsibility. If anything goes wrong, come to me, okay?"
The master's wife looked at her and nodded decisively, "Okay."
The old woman thanked him profusely and accepted the silver. Then someone in the line said, "Lord Lu, please help me out. My family has a special case; two corners of my household registration certificate are missing..."
"Lord Lu, you can't see this character clearly in my house. Could you please help me understand it?"
"Lord Lu..."
Lu Jinlan took a deep breath. Okay, no need to rest.
"Don't rush, one at a time!"
Lu Jinlan simply moved a table to himself, put up a sign that read "Special cases are handled here," and returned to his old profession, starting to do grassroots work again.
Yan Wuxin leaned closer, "How can I help you?"
Lu Jinlan said, "Write down a few notices and tell the people who are coming later what they need to prepare in advance. If they are missing anything, they should go back and get it so they don't have to make another trip."
Xiang Ruzhen said, "What about me? Lord Lu, please give me some work too."
Lu Jinlan smiled, glanced at the endless line of disaster victims, and the two mistresses who were handling matters.
“If you don’t mind, you can help with that too. Tens of thousands of disaster victims are relying on these two windows; it’ll take forever to get things done.”
Xiang Ruzhen immediately grabbed a stack of registration books, pulled over a table, and loudly proclaimed, "Those from other counties, line up here."
One of the mistresses smiled and said, "Then we'll have to trouble the two special envoys. There's no other way; our Northern Prefecture only has four mistresses in total, and those bailiffs are illiterate and can't do this job."
Yan Wuxin was taken aback. "What about the other two?"
The man said, "We're here in the morning, they're here in the afternoon."
Lu Jinlan was furious. "We haven't had a full night's sleep in ages! This is a disaster, and you're still working half a day? Look at these disaster victims, they're just one breath away from death. The civil servants of Beizhou are really heartless. Even if the sky is falling, can't they work overtime?"
She was at a loss for words. In this critical moment of disaster and epidemic in modern times, she and her colleagues were working non-stop. No one would ever say, "Let how many people die, I'm going home anyway."
This isn't about forcing yourself to endure hardship; it's about not letting things fall apart at crucial moments. If a bakery or clothing vendor wants to quit, they can simply close down, and no one will be affected. Even if a medicine seller or a coffin seller closes down, there are other vendors.
But the state apparatus is not an individual entity; it concerns tens of thousands of people in a country or a city. Although those at the grassroots level may seem insignificant, like a screw, removing a screw while the machine is running at high speed will cause major delays.
Right now, the entire city of Beizhou is focused on these 200,000 taels of silver. The sooner it's distributed, the sooner people can be saved, and the sooner everyone can have peace of mind. With only two windows open, who knows how many days they'll have to work? I'm really afraid that if half the silver is distributed, it'll be lost again.
After listening for a while, Zhao Zhiyu instructed, "Bring me a table too."
Turing was stunned. "Your Highness, how could you..."
Zhao Zhiyu snorted, "Go tell Lord Yu that since she is short-handed, I, the eldest princess, will take over."
As Zhao Zhiyu spoke, he pulled a booklet from Xiang Ruzhen's table and said to the crowd, "People from Jiu'an County, come and line up here."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" The disaster victims were overjoyed, no longer worried or resentful, and enjoyed a brief period of happiness.
Ping Xiyu squeezed through the crowd and looked at Lu Jinlan with concern, saying, "Young Master, how about I do it for you? You can rest for a while."
Lu Jinlan gestured for her to look to the side. Everyone was too busy to look up. Even the eldest princess was registering there. How could she leave by herself?
As she spoke, the disaster victims she was assisting received their relief funds. Just then, the aroma of steamed buns wafted over, and the little girl exclaimed happily, "I'm going to buy a steamed bun!"
Lu Jinlan quickly stopped her, "Wait! If you've been hungry for a long time, have some liquid food first."
I've finally made it this far, and if I were to overeat or choke to death, all my hard work would have been for nothing.
Ping Xiyu thought for a moment, "Then I'll set up a soup kitchen next door and provide free soup."
Lu Jinlan repeatedly praised, "Good, good, good! Then go ahead."
Before long, Yu Jifang arrived with officials from all thirteen counties, and upon seeing Zhao Zhiyu, he immediately knelt down to beg for forgiveness.
Zhao Zhiyu chuckled, "You're all here? Perfect timing! We're too busy here, so let me bring you all a table. Let's all work together to distribute the disaster relief funds as soon as possible."
Even a higher-ranking official can have a crushing effect, let alone the emperor's own daughter. With the number of service windows doubled, the queues immediately sprang into action.
A pair of eyes watched all this silently from the shadows, seemingly lost in thought.
As noon approached, Lu Jinlan felt a stomachache from hunger and kept rubbing her stomach. However, she was experienced and planned to endure it for a while until the hunger subsided.
A waitress from the steamed bun shop next door came over with two steamers of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) in her arms. "Lord Lu, someone asked me to bring these over to you."
Lu Jinlan's eyes lit up, and she was about to pop one into her mouth when she suddenly heard Zhao Zhiyu say, "You dare to eat something you don't even know who sent it to you? Don't forget, a few days ago, someone tried to assassinate you."
Lu Jinlan hesitated for a moment, and Xiang Ruzhen said, "It must be Manager Ping. There's no one else but her."
If Xiang Ruzhen hadn't mentioned Manager Ping, Lu Jinlan wouldn't have thought anything of it. But the moment Manager Ping was mentioned, Lu Jinlan instantly realized it couldn't be her. Because Manager Ping was an extremely thoughtful person; if she were the one delivering, why would she only send a meal?
She instinctively thought it was one of the disaster victims, since when she was in the countryside in modern times, she often encountered kind villagers who would give her some fruits and vegetables picked from their own yards. But then she thought, disaster victims wouldn't buy her meat buns, they'd probably just buy her a steamed bun.
She hurriedly asked the waiter, "Who sent it?"
The waiter said, "A tall, thin man wearing a straw hat, I couldn't see his face."
Yan Wuxin smiled, "It's not surprising that it's a man. You, the talented Lu, have countless admirers, even the young master of Beizhou has fallen for you."
Lu Jinlan didn't think so. She hadn't been in contact with any men since arriving in Beizhou City... no, she could barely count one as having been in contact with him. Could it be him?
She couldn't confirm who it was, but whoever it was, that person should be watching from the shadows right now.
Lu Jinlan suddenly stood up and looked around. A dark shadow flashed in the corner, but she frowned and couldn't see anything clearly.
Xiang Ruzhen hurriedly asked, "What are you looking for?"
Lu Jinlan shook her head. "It's nothing." She checked with the second sister again to make sure that the person hadn't touched the bun, so she ate it without worry.
The dough was soft and fluffy, the filling was flavorful, and the savory meat juices burst in your mouth, which suited Lu Jinlan's taste perfectly.
Zhao Zhiyu grimaced, "Aren't you afraid it's poisonous?"
Lu Jinlan puffed out her cheeks and mumbled, "Let's see if I die in a bit."
After a while, she handed the steamed buns to everyone, saying, "I'm not dead. You should try some too, they're quite delicious."
*
As night fell, Ah Qi changed into his night clothes and once again sneaked into the Northern Governor's Mansion.
"Seventh Brother!" someone called out in a low voice and quickly followed.
"Thirteen, what are you doing following me?"
Are you going to assassinate Lu Jinlan?
Ah Qi hesitated for a moment, "Yes, this matter is extremely dangerous. Master forbids me to go, so don't tell anyone."
Thirteen said, "Then I'll go with you. With the two of us working together, we're sure to take her life. Let's go!"
Forehead……
Ah Qi frowned and followed helplessly.
With the moon high in the sky, the two of them lay on the roof, watching Lu Jinlan drag her tired body back to her room and throw herself hard onto the bed.
Then a muttered voice drifted on the wind: "I'm exhausted."
A hint of joy flashed in Thirteen's eyes as he drew his dagger. "Seventh Brother, we've stumbled upon a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This day next year will be the anniversary of her death!"
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