"Oh my! Baizhenlou has so many courtyards, and each one is bigger than our house. How much ice would it take to cover them all? This... is simply unimaginable!" Xu Cui recalled the huge and elaborate courtyards she had seen at Baizhenlou, which was still a major topic of conversation she shared with her neighbors!
Even Cheng Ruyi couldn't help but exclaim, "The Gu family truly lives up to their reputation as the number one family in Chongzhou! Look at their resources; they even have an absurdly large amount of ice compared to others! Tsk tsk tsk, even the Zhou family can only admire them!"
"But... there are so many refugees outside the city, ragged and homeless, while the people inside the city... sigh, I don't know how to put it, something just feels off..."
When the refugees appeared in Huaishan County last year, Cheng Yunping did not see them. By the time he left the city, most of the refugees had already been settled. So this was the first time he had seen the miserable situation of ordinary refugees, and he couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Seeing Cheng Yunping like this, Ruyi roughly understood why he felt this way. "Yunping, I am very pleased that you can discover this. This not only shows that you are kind-hearted, but also that you are perceptive and can perceive the greatest injustice in this world, which is class!"
Explaining what class contradiction is is far too complicated and troublesome, so she could only try to say it simply and clearly: "In fact, the world is full of injustices everywhere, such as injustices between men and women, injustices between commoners and the powerful, and so on. However, these injustices have existed for a very long time and are deeply rooted. It is extremely difficult to change them. Our current strength is too weak. Trying to change or fight against these unfair rules is undoubtedly like throwing an egg against a rock. As the saying goes, 'When poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when successful, one should benefit all under heaven.' It is enough for us to maintain our original intentions now."
"Then...then can't we do something to help them? Like last year, we could go to the city gate to distribute porridge and provide free medical care!" Cheng Yunping became more and more excited as he spoke. "Mother, didn't you say that a great hero needs to have a benevolent heart and care for the world?"
Cheng Ruyi looked at her son calmly and said indifferently, "The prefectural city is too far away from us. Besides, do you know how many refugees there are in the entire Chongzhou? You go to the prefectural city to distribute porridge and provide free medical care, but do you want to go to the refugees in the neighboring Dongming County? Do you want to help the refugees in Xinbi County? What if there are refugees in our Huaishan County too? Can you help them all?"
"We should help as much as we can! A chivalrous person should sacrifice themselves for others!" Yunping suddenly felt that his mother was so cold-blooded. She was not like this before.
Ruyi didn't mind the confusion and even anger in Cheng Yunping's eyes as he looked at her, but her tone became even calmer: "Selflessness? Fine, go ahead and help if you want. Anyway, I'm not the one who will suffer, and I will definitely not stop you. But, do you have money?"
"I...I..." Cheng Yunping really wanted to say that he was rich. He had worked in the shop for a year and had actually saved up a little money. He originally thought he was quite wealthy, but after spending half a month in the prefectural city, he was no longer an ignorant young man who had a limited perspective. He knew that there were people more capable than him and understood the gap between them and the truly wealthy.
"Kindness is indeed necessary in life, and being helpful is a very admirable virtue. However, the most important thing in life is to have self-awareness and know one's own limitations. Giving everything to help others may not necessarily earn their gratitude. That's not chivalry; that's foolishness and ignorance!"
As Cheng Ruyi spoke, she teased her chubby grandson who was sleeping in the cradle, "Our family is old and young, and it's already difficult enough for us to live a peaceful life in this world. Do you want everyone to starve so that you can fulfill your dream of being a chivalrous knight-errant?"
Cheng Yunping felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He looked at his son, who was just over a year old, then at his wife who was looking at him with worry, and his two young sisters...
The once arrogant young man suddenly deflated, sitting on the stool looking deeply defeated.
"Ruyi, you've gone a bit too far! Who talks about their son like that!" Cheng Yan felt a pang of sympathy seeing Cheng Yunping's dejected state. He patted his grandson's shoulder and said earnestly, "Yunping, you are the only male in this family. The Cheng family will need you to support them in the future. You are their only support. Do you understand?"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yunping looked up at his grandfather, his eyes red, and nodded.
Ruyi, however, was somewhat dismissive of this. She did not agree with the theory that male offspring were the only reliable source of support, but she felt that Cheng Yunping was still too young and naive. In fact, she really hoped that her son could suffer some setbacks and learn from them, so that he could truly grow up.
Unexpectedly, just a few days later, Cheng Yunping returned from the prefectural city in tattered clothes and a disheveled appearance, with not a single spot clean from head to toe.
His family was terrified, thinking he was injured, and immediately rushed around fetching medicine, clothes, and boiling water.
Fortunately, after a check-up, it was discovered that although it looked terrifying, he had only suffered minor superficial injuries, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He only told her what had happened after he had showered, changed his clothes, and tidied himself up.
Just as Cheng Ruyi had predicted, Yunping couldn't resist spending all the nearly ten taels of silver he had saved over the years on steamed buns and dumplings. He filled two large mule carts with them and then distributed them at the city gate.
As expected, he not only ended up with numerous injuries, but also nearly caused a stampede, resulting in extreme chaos. Most importantly, despite his good intentions, he was chased and beaten by the refugees who hadn't managed to get any food. If the city guards hadn't managed to arrest him in time, he might not have been able to escape safely.
When he was taken away by the yamen runners on charges of disturbing the order, he still looked incredulous.
Fortunately, he ran into He Zheng at the entrance of the government office, and Zhou Shouyi promptly paid money to bail him out, so he was released without suffering any imprisonment.
After this incident, Cheng Yunping finally understood what Ruyi meant before, and he began to mature more.
However, by the end of mid-August, there was still no sign of rain. Not only were there more and more refugees in the city, but the continuously rising temperature also led to an increasing number of patients.
At noon now, no one dares to walk on the street, because as soon as the skin is exposed to the sun, you can immediately feel a stinging sensation, not to mention the scalding hot stone pavement, as if you are being roasted on a fire.
After taking a look around, Cheng Ruyi estimated that the temperature during the hottest part of the day was at least over 40 degrees Celsius. If she stayed outdoors for a long time, the perceived temperature might be 50 degrees Celsius. Under such temperatures, she especially missed the days when she could enjoy air conditioning, watermelon, and ice cream.
Recently, the water level of the Jinshui River near the county dock has dropped to a record low, remaining at only about half its original level. The water levels of several small rivers in the town have also dropped accordingly, and the water supply for the town's residents has begun to become somewhat strained.
As a result, the streams in several nearby villages began to gradually become shallower. For example, the river at the entrance of Lishan Village is now only a shallow layer of water. Several wells in the village have also dried up, making it difficult to irrigate all the farmland.
Actually, the situation in Lishan Village is already quite good. Thanks to Cheng Ruyi and the village chief's foresight in digging canals and building water storage tanks, the daily water supply for each household has not been greatly affected so far.
However, the situation is much worse in the nearby villages. Not only is there not enough water to irrigate the rice paddies, but even the water needed on a daily basis is in short supply. Villages often have to wait all day for their turn to use the wells, and many people have quarreled and fought because of this, making the atmosphere even more uneasy.
Of course, the scene at the Cheng family's Lishan Villa was completely different.
Their family built more than a dozen small reservoirs in total, with two on each side of the ten acres of paddy fields, and only three of them are currently in use.
There's still about a month until the autumn harvest, which should be more than enough, especially since she also has the Spirit Rain Talisman!
Cheng Ruyi was still somewhat hesitant about whether to use the Spirit Rain Talisman now, because she currently only had a mere eleven points of spiritual power.
According to the instructions, a first-grade low-level Spirit Rain Talisman comes with three points of spiritual power. If you choose to bring rain over a radius of 100 miles and adjust the concentration of spiritual energy to the lowest level, one point of spiritual power can last for one hour.
If we take Huaishan County as the center, it can barely cover half of Chongzhou Prefecture within a radius of a hundred miles. In other words, at most, she can make half of Chongzhou rain for fourteen hours using a single Spirit Rain Talisman.
The rain the next day certainly won't alleviate the drought, but it can at least soothe people's hearts and give them a little hope. People won't easily give up their principles unless they're in dire straits.
After thinking it over, Cheng Ruyi decided that she still needed to go to the prefectural city in person to see what the current situation was and to gather as much information as possible before making a decision.
Ideally, I should also earn more spiritual energy points, otherwise there won't be enough for a second Spirit Rain Talisman, and who knows what unexpected situations might arise? In the end, a dozen or so spiritual energy points are still too few; they're simply not enough!
When she arrived in the prefectural city herself, she realized that the situation was more serious than she had imagined.
At this time, there were at least a thousand refugees without travel permits or household registration outside the city gates. Fortunately, Qionglin's government office was relatively reliable, and with last year's experience, these refugees were temporarily settled in a wasteland about ten miles away from the city.
The wasteland was already sparsely wooded, and now the stronger or more manpower-rich refugees had cut it all down to make temporary thatched huts, causing many people to fall ill or even die every day because they could not bear the hot and dry weather.
As time went on, the number of corpses piled up gradually increased. Fearing that a plague might break out, the government dug a pit not far away and instructed everyone to throw the corpses into the pit and burn them every three days.
The death of a loved one is already a great sorrow, but to be unable to rest in peace without a complete body is an unbearable act of filial impiety. However, there is nothing else they can do but kneel by the pit, weeping and blaming the injustice of fate.
Ruyi glanced at it only once as she passed by, then turned her head away, unable to bear looking at it any longer.
In such a world, ordinary people without power or influence are as worthless as grass. Who can say it's not a living hell?
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