Chapter 311 Going Home
After taking the medicine, Lin Changning was in a daze the whole way. After getting up in the morning and getting into the carriage, he woke up again and was already halfway there. He had been sleeping soundly in the carriage the whole way.
Unlike the carriage they had ridden in on their return, this carriage must have been reserved for the use of a duke or marquis's residence. It could easily accommodate two or three people lying down, and there was even a small table in front of Qi Rong with tea and pastries on it.
Lin Changning rubbed his head, which was a little dizzy from sleeping too long, and squinted at Qi Rong, somewhat confused about what year it was.
"woke up?"
Qi Rong turned his head and looked over, extending his hand with a calm gaze: "You've slept for too long on the way here, get up and eat something."
As he spoke, he tried to pull Lin Changning up. Lin Changning put his hand in Qi Rong's large palm and used the support to sit up directly. He bent over, moved slightly, walked to the table next to Qi Rong, and sat down. His voice was slightly hoarse as he spoke.
Where are we?
As Lin Changning spoke, he picked up the cup on the small table and took a sip of tea. He was really thirsty after just waking up.
Qi Rong thought for a moment: "We just passed Yuncheng not long ago, and it will take a few more days to get there."
Lin Changning nodded to indicate that he understood, took a few sips of tea to moisten his throat, and his voice slowly returned to its clear tone: "I've been so busy sleeping these past few days that I haven't asked how the people in the border town are being settled?"
Qi Rong knew exactly who Lin Changning was asking when he heard her question. He picked up the teapot and poured Lin Changning a cup of tea: "You want to ask about Mr. Zheng and those little kids, right?"
Lin Changning nodded with some surprise: "Yes, I do want to ask."
Qi Rong explained, "When Wan Jin and the others returned, they had already sent someone to bring Mr. Zheng and his family to Taiyuan. They should be settled in your home. As for how they are settled and where they live, it is probably your mother who will arrange it. There are a few bright children among those children, and they are now being properly settled in the orphanage in Taiyuan. Their lives may not be very easy, but they will be able to survive."
Lin Changning, still somewhat puzzled, repeated, "The Orphanage?"
Seeing that Lin Changning seemed a little confused, Qi Rong explained, "The Prince's Mansion allocates a sum of money every year specifically for elderly people and children who have lost their only child. They won't be rich, but they can survive. However, their daily lives may be a bit tough, and they will still need to do some work."
Upon hearing the commander's explanation, Lin Changning instantly understood what an ancient version of an orphanage meant. It was essentially an ancient version of an orphanage combined with a nursing home, except that it was funded by the Prince's Mansion.
Qi Rong continued, "There are nearly a thousand such children in Taiyuan now, and nearly ten orphanages have been opened. The elderly are better off; as long as they have relatives at home, they will take them in. However, since the orphanages opened, many poor families have abandoned their children at their doorsteps because they cannot afford to raise them."
Qi Rong paused, about to say something, when he heard Lin Changning frown and suddenly say, "Are most of them girls?"
Qi Rong was silent for a moment and then nodded: "Yes, nearly eight or nine out of ten are girls. The rest are orphans left behind on the battlefield. Anyone who can be named and whose relatives can be found will be properly settled. Only a small number are either the result of their family members dying or are too young to recognize people."
Lin Changning suddenly remembered the group of children he met on the battlefield. They were obedient and sensible. If he remembered correctly, there was a little carpenter named Chunsheng among them. He wondered how the composite work he had asked them to do went.
The mission came too suddenly, and I didn't have time to say goodbye to the little ones. But the children were so sensible that it was heartbreaking, and it was also quite difficult for the young boys to protect their younger siblings.
"Were Chunsheng and the others sent there too?"
Qi Rong didn't react for a moment: "Chunsheng?"
Seeing Qi Rong's confused expression, Lin Changning explained, "They were the little kids who washed our clothes in the military camp back then."
Qi Rong frowned and thought for a moment: "You mean them? They probably came back with others a few days ago, but they should have been with the main force, so they should be in Taiyuan now."
As he spoke, Qi Rong looked at Lin Changning and said earnestly, "I know Xiao Liu is kind-hearted, but there are quite a few children like this in the border regions. We can't save them all. Your salary can't support so many children either. Do you know how much money the Prince's Mansion has to allocate to the orphanage every year?"
Lin Changning propped his head up with one hand and blindly guessed a number: "Several thousand taels??"
Qi Rong shook his head: "The Prince's Palace spends between 10,000 and 15,000 taels of silver on these children every year, which is equivalent to the tax revenue of a county."
Qi Rong paused and then continued, "It's still the case that we only raise the children until they're 13 before finding them jobs. If they grow another year older, the annual expenses will increase again. The orphanage has been open for about seven or eight years. At first, we only raised the children until they were 12. Later, we found that many children who left home at 12 couldn't find any work to support themselves and were easily led astray. So we raised the age by another year. The boys are fine, but they can join the army when they're around 14, so at least they won't starve. But the girls..."
Qi Rong's gaze was deep: "When I went back that year, I was having drinks with some colleagues at a restaurant when we met four or five little girls singing for money. They were all girls who had come from the orphanage..."
Lin Changning remained silent for a long time. This era was indeed not very friendly to women. For a group of young children who had not yet grown up, especially girls, it was even more difficult to find a suitable job.
Most people want baby boys; fewer people want baby girls.
"Aren't there any places like cloth shops, embroidery workshops, and wineries that need to hire people? Girls should be able to do those jobs. Besides these, each household should also be hiring some maids or something, right?"
Qi Rong sighed, "Most of the places you mentioned train people from a young age, and their skills can't be acquired overnight. If most girls are lucky, the nannies and madams at the orphanage will find them a suitable marriage when they are 12 years old."
After getting married, at least you'll have a place to live and enough to eat. As for selling yourself into servitude as a maid, it wasn't unheard of before. There was a period when human traffickers were so rampant that they would sneak into orphanages at night to steal children and then resell them as slaves elsewhere.
My aunt was furious. These children from the orphanage all had tattoos on their bodies from when they were little. Taiyuan had a crackdown on this, and notices were issued in other places as well. Any child with a plum blossom tattoo on their body, if forced into slavery and discovered, would have both the traffickers and the original owners punished. After that, traffickers stopped coming, but the slave brokers also stopped taking in these children.
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