"I don't know if we can get the grain from our fields. I even secretly went to the city gate to check. There was a huge group of starving ghosts, all staring at the grain fields."
"Everyone, be careful! Don't get caught by those starving ghosts when you leave the city to reclaim the land!"
"Oh, it's okay. His Highness has sent people to protect several of our families while we go to harvest grain, no matter what! And we've done weeding and fertilizing several times before, isn't that what we did? What's more, we have officials helping us get grain."
"This time is different. There are so many people outside. My nephew, who's guarding the city gate, said many people have started eating people! Some are even killing children and drinking their blood for fun! It's terrifying!"
"Yes, this time we are here to collect food. They are so hungry that they have lost their humanity. Who knows if they will see the ripe food and go crazy and steal ours."
"What are you afraid of? Your Highness has many talented people under his command, and even the immortals listen to you. We have set up a powerful formation to block the group of people outside!"
Many of the people in the teahouse were farmers who had received Ji Wan's orders to prepare to harvest their crops tomorrow.
They all have to leave the city early tomorrow morning to help the fairies harvest the crops.
"Yuqing, please bring the child who is at the fourth level of Qi Refining here later. I want to meet him." Ji Wan remembered that he had not yet returned the indentures of these children to them.
"yes."
In the evening, just after dinner, Eleven followed Mr. Pan and got on the carriage to the princess's mansion.
Thanks to Zhang Baojiang, it was the first time for Eleven to come to such a luxurious mansion.
She knew that she was coming to see Her Royal Highness the Princess; Mr. Pan had told her so before she came.
But Mr. Pan didn't say why Her Royal Highness the Princess called her that.
Ji Wan was sitting in the reception room of the county magistrate's residence, watching a somewhat timid figure appear before her.
"I've seen you before." He was a slave bought by Yang Guan.
"What's your name?" A seven-year-old girl with fire spiritual roots.
"Your Highness, I haven't given you a name yet. I'm the eleventh person you bought. So I'll be called Eleven for now."
Ji Wan frowned. He didn’t even have a name... Yes, yes, there was a boy among them who went to the [realm] before. He didn’t have a name either. The name was even given by Ji Wan.
Slaves in ancient times did not have names. They would only be given names by their masters after they purchased them.
She had just traveled through time and was very busy with the affairs of Qingshi Prefecture. In order not to trouble her, Yang Guan never mentioned it.
"It's my fault for not thinking of this. Do you have a name you want to be called?"
Eleven was a little surprised. She thought that Her Royal Highness the Princess bought them and even paid for their education just so that they would work better in the future.
However, they didn't expect that His Highness seemed to have completely forgotten them and didn't summon them for a long time.
"Your Highness, I don't have a name, so I'll leave it to Your Highness to decide."
Seeing that the child looked very serious, Ji Wan really wanted her to help choose a name.
He then lowered his head and thought for a moment, remembering that this child had a pure fire attribute spiritual root. "The name, Zhuo, matches your spiritual root. As for the courtesy name... let's call it Yingyao. It means a faint and bright light."
"Thank you, Your Highness." The little girl spoke a little louder and raised her head slightly, looking much more confident.
Ji Wan ordered Xiao Cui beside her to take out the indentures of these children.
"Here are the indentures of your companions who were bought together with you. You are to take them back to them.
I bought you back then just to save your lives. Now that you are a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining, you will be able to protect yourself in the future, and I can rest assured.
I will return your indentures to you, and from now on you will be the children of Qingshizhou Tongcheng."
Ji Zhuo's face was full of disbelief. Although she was young, she was not a fool. If Her Royal Highness the Princess returned their indentures to them so casually, how could she command them to do things in the future?
If it was just to save them, how could His Highness be so foolish as to send them to Moxiang Academy for training?
Moxiang Academy is now well-known throughout the Qingshi State and even in the neighboring states and counties. Everyone knows that by entering the academy, one can become an "immortal cultivator". This is clearly a path to success for children from poor families.
Sitting in the swaying carriage on the way back, Ji Zhuo was still confused. He even wanted to ask Mr. Pan who was resting with his eyes closed beside him several times.
"What do you want to ask?" Even with his eyes closed, Pan Zhuo could still feel that the child next to him was hesitant to speak.
"Sir, I'd like to ask why His Highness gave us the indenture so easily.
Shouldn't she hold on to the indenture tightly and use the opportunity to order and drive us slaves? We were bought by her.
And why do you still let us study at Moxiang Academy?"
Ji Zhuo was puzzled.
"Because His Highness only regards you as an ordinary child, not a slave.
Her Highness doesn't want you to be confined to the status of slaves for the rest of your life at such a young age. She hopes you will have better development.
His Highness lets you continue to study in Moxiang Academy because he wants to tell you that your background is not the criterion for determining your strength, nor is it the basis for determining how you should walk the path of your future life.
Children, in order to save you, His Highness has offended almost all the powerful people in Qingshi State.
Her expectations of you are more than just simple slaves. If she only wanted to save slaves, she could have just bought you, instead of clearing out the entire slave street and buying you all."
When Pan Zhuo was recruited by Ji Wan, he had a detailed discussion with her, so he knew very well what Ji Wan thought about the children.
"Child, practice hard in the future and don't let His Highness down."
Ji Wan didn't tell the children directly, he didn't know why, but as Ji Wan's counselor, helping Ji Wan win over the hearts of the people was his most basic ability.
To be honest, Ji Wan is the only royal relative Pan Zhuo has seen in his thirty-plus years of life who truly cares about the people. In comparison, he is also a kinder person.
Yes, kindness.
She could consider what the future would be like for the children who were sold as objects in Slave Street.
If we allow Slave Street to develop, we wonder how many children will suffer in the future.
Considering the people outside who were suffering from the heat and famine, they opened the granaries and took out the small amount of food left in the city after the Anliang Village was looted to supply the people.
He took money from his own treasury, hired soldiers and laborers, and emptied his own pockets.
I would like to ask, in today's world, which emperor does not put money into his own pocket? No one has ever been able to use his own money to help the people.
Not to mention paying as much as Ji Wan did.
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