Chapter 94
Zhang Yunniang knew that it was not easy to establish a business base in an unfamiliar place, but she did not expect it to be so difficult.
Everything had to start from scratch. How to choose a site, how to report to the authorities, all the procedures were so overwhelming that she felt overwhelmed.
Lanzhi was very calm and could always easily resolve the difficulties posed by the government.
In this process, she continued to learn Lanzhi's communication skills and ways of dealing with things.
She prepared a small notebook and recorded her daily gains before going to bed every day.
After finishing, I will show it to Laneige and ask her to help improve it to see if there is anything missing.
She knew that Lanzhi was able to cope with it so well because she had suffered a lot before and gained experience step by step.
Since she decided to do something, Zhang Yunniang was very serious about it.
The food here is light, very different from that in Kyoto.
When Lanzhi first arrived, she had trouble acclimatizing to the local climate and diet, and lost a lot of weight.
On the other hand, Zhang Yunniang not only did not feel any discomfort, but her appetite also got better and better.
He had just sat in the carriage and started eating again while holding the box of snacks.
"Why are you eating again?" Lanzhi looked at the person who had gained weight and was really worried.
"Lately," Zhang Yunniang stuffed her mouth with food, squeezing out words only when she had time, "I'm always hungry. I can never seem to get enough to eat."
"Let's go back and ask a doctor to take a look. The face has become visibly rounder." Lanzhi pinched the man's chin and looked at him. His face was a melon-shaped face, but it was tending to develop into an oval face.
"No need, I'm not feeling unwell. Maybe it's because I've been running around lately and I'm hungry." Zhang Yunniang touched her stomach, which had gained a lot of weight. It seemed that she needed to be more restrained. "I'll try to control myself in the future."
"Listen to me, if you get into any trouble, my lord will tear me apart when we return to the capital."
The carriage suddenly stopped and the two men supported each other to avoid falling.
Maybe it was because she had just eaten a lot of snacks, the sudden shaking made Zhang Yunniang's stomach churn and she couldn't help but dry heave.
Lanzhi saw that she was uncomfortable and was instantly annoyed. "What's going on?"
"Replying to the girl, there are people gathering in front, I don't know what happened."
The road was very narrow and the carriage could not turn around, so it had to wait until the crowd gathered ahead dispersed.
Lanzhi saw that the person was feeling unwell and comforted him, "Stay here and don't move. I'll go see what's going on."
Zhang Yunniang steadied herself and said, "Let's go and take a look together."
The two men got off the carriage. A few feet away, there was a small group of people gathered, pointing and looking at something in the middle.
"I'm afraid you don't dare to come this time?"
"Two people drowned before, so I don't dare to drown again this time. I don't know what evil has befallen me, one after another."
"Oh, that's a bit cruel. He dared to do that to the Li family's biological child."
"That's because they're being pushed into a corner. The guy with the penis hasn't shown up yet, and they're losing money left and right. Who can stand it?"
"That shout just now was really too scary."
"Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its creditor. Blame it on your lack of ability. If you don't help, you'll be reincarnated."
Zhang Yunniang was completely confused. Words like "boy" and "money-losing goods" were probably referring to things related to "women"?
Lanzhi listened to the conversations around her, her eyes closed, and she pulled Zhang Yunniang to walk out of the crowd.
"What's wrong? I still haven't figured out what's going on."
"No, we won't watch it anymore. Let's go back."
Zhang Yunniang didn't know why Lanzhi suddenly wanted to leave, and looked suspiciously into the crowd. As the two of them walked out, there were some gaps in the crowd.
It was during this gap that she saw something she would never forget in her life.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh." Zhang Yunniang ran out of the crowd, her legs weak and her heart panicking.
His eyes were full of disbelief.
She couldn't stop retching and was about to vomit out bitter bile.
Nausea and vomiting irritated my eyes and made them tear up.
But she couldn't stop.
Lanzhi looked at her anxiously and kept patting her back to comfort her.
It was too late, she saw it.
"Ugh, ugh, Lanzhi, Lanzhi, that's it, that's it."
"I know, I know, I don't want to think about it anymore ...."
"How can this be? How can this be? Ugh."
The scene just now was completely beyond what Zhang Yunniang could bear. She was so frightened that she fainted.
The person being skewered and roasted in the crowd was a baby, a baby girl to be precise.
Like an animal, his hands and feet were tied up by his closest relatives and he was hung upside down on a wooden stick.
The flesh on his body had been completely burnt, and his soft and tender skin had been turned into charcoal.
The carbonized little figure was shattered by a stick from his closest relative, fell into the fire below, and burned to ashes.
"don't want!"
Zhang Yunniang woke up from her coma with tears in her eyes.
"Yunniang, how do you feel?"
"Lanzhi, that's, that's... a fully formed baby?" Zhang Yunniang was still in shock. As she spoke, she felt nauseous and wanted to vomit. "Ugh, ugh."
"Yeah." Lanzhi looked reluctant. Knowing that she had seen it, she no longer concealed the truth.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yunniang's stomach became even more turbulent and she began to retch.
"Don't think about it anymore. You are already two months pregnant and need to take care of yourself." Lanzhi brought a cup of concentrating tea and comforted her softly.
"What? I'm pregnant?"
"Yes, you are going to be a mother. I will get a divorce letter and return to the capital soon. Your Excellency will be very happy when he knows about it."
"Don't tell him yet." Zhang Yunniang touched her belly. No wonder she felt hungry no matter how much she ate recently. It turned out that there was a little life growing here.
"The court is busy right now. If I tell him, he'll definitely want to come over. Wars are raging in the southwest, and he has important matters to attend to and can't leave the capital. Telling him will only cause more trouble. I'm in the early stages of my pregnancy, so it's not convenient for me to travel long distances. Let's wait a while."
"good."
When she learned she was pregnant, she was overjoyed. This was her child, hers and Jun Qingmo's. Thinking of that charred little body, she couldn't calm down for a long time.
"Why would they do this? They were their own flesh and blood. How could they be so cruel? They were living children. This was brutal slaughter."
Lanzhi has traveled to many places, experienced a lot, and seen a lot over the years.
She had seen baby girls drowned by their parents, baby girls burned alive, and babies thrown to the ground with blood gushing from all seven orifices.
She saved some, but it was not enough.
This situation is all too common in many uncivilized places, and it is impossible to stop if social customs do not change.
"In backward areas, people prioritized the continuation of their family line and the birth of male children. If they didn't want a female child, they would drown her. There's a folk saying that if two female babies drowned, the third one wouldn't be allowed to drown in order to avoid further harassment. This is what you're seeing."
Lanzhi didn't dare say anything more, fearing she might upset her. The truth was even more cruel. The third baby was tied to a stick, roasted over fire, and then beaten with the stick.
At first the baby cried sharply, twisted and struggled, but gradually became silent.
They believed that this would scare the baby and prevent it from coming back, thus preventing the birth of baby girls.
"The people of Kyoto are open-minded. Although they still favor boys, they are not so harsh on girls. Since I've traveled all over the country and seen so much, I've become more and more eager to open a Shuyuxuan in every corner of the country to leave a way out for those baby girls."
"Right now, I'm feeling a bit regretful. In the past, I always thought that living my own life was enough. So, I didn't think about anything else. If I had learned more about management and business from you back then, I could have done this, and fewer people would have suffered."
"Yunniang, you shouldn't say that. If you hadn't taken good care of the master, giving him the opportunity to succeed, the opening of Shuyuxuan would be out of the question. To change the world's customs, the intervention of the government is necessary. No matter how much a private organization does, it will only be a drop in the bucket."
Despite numerous obstacles, the imperial decree was still issued. It would soon reach Nanjiao County.
Families who gave birth to baby girls could register with the government to receive a subsidy of one or two taels of silver. After a month, the government would send someone to visit and check on the baby girl's upbringing.
If a baby girl is raised to three months old, she will receive one tael of silver.
If a baby girl is raised to six months old, she will receive one or two taels of silver.
If the baby girl is raised to one year old, she will receive another two taels of silver.
From then on, until the baby girl is three years old, she can receive another five taels of silver.
When a child is three years old, he can already run and jump. Compared with the state of being a piece of fish when he is just born, he can cry and shout. Based on blood ties, he can be prevented from being harmed again.
And if someone really kills again, he will not be able to escape the punishment for intentional homicide.
Zhang Yunniang's eyes were fixed on the air. "I, I just feel that I have done too little."
"Our power is insignificant." Lanzhi held her hand. "No matter how unwilling we are, this is the era and the social trends. We have been to a place and tried our best to change things, but that is already our limit. You think you have done little, but with this decree, how many people can it bring life back to? "
Lanzhi grew up in the capital, and as a close friend of Xu Shuying, she witnessed countless instances of powerful people trampling on and oppressing the lower classes. Those people, obsessed with power and status, resorted to dirty tricks, and considered it benevolence not to oppress others. How could they care whether the lower classes lived or died?
Since entering the court, Jun Qingmo has assisted the new emperor in reforming the civil service, paying attention to people's livelihood, reducing taxes, and issuing one decree after another.
If it weren't for Zhang Yunniang's unwavering support, it's unknown whether Jun Qingmo could have left the Anle Palace.
Zhang Yunniang herself didn’t do anything, but she is also the cornerstone, isn’t she?
"Yunniang, you always say you're stupid, that you're not smart, that you can't do anything right, and that you're selfish. From now on, don't belittle yourself. We've come this far step by step, thanks to your company, your guidance, and your own way of doing so many things. The advice you offer, whether intentional or not, always gives us new inspiration and helps us find hope in difficult situations."
Zhang Yunniang didn't expect that Lanzhi would look at her this way.
I feel a little ashamed.
She felt a little uneasy at the high evaluation.
She is not as good as Lanzhi said.
But she wants to get better.
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