Su Hua was slightly taken aback. In officialdom, it was certainly wise to protect oneself.
However, she didn't quite understand why they were short of money. "Judging from the Liu siblings' clothes and appearance, they don't seem like people who are short of money. Besides, doesn't the Liu family own a jade shop on the jade gambling street? Jade should be very profitable, so how could they be short of money!"
“Hua’er is right. Although the Liu family is not very wealthy, they are considered quite well-off in Tangshan Prefecture. However, it is true that they are short of money now.” Xiao Jinhan pursed his lips and glanced at the girl. “Speaking of which, this is actually somewhat related to Hua’er.”
"What does this have to do with me?" Su Hua was completely confused.
She had never had any dealings with Prefect Liu, nor had she ever even met him.
Xiao Jinhan raised his eyes, "Hua'er, do you remember Liu's Restaurant that opened not long ago in Tongxin Lane?"
"Of course I remember." Su Hua nodded gently. Su Erhu had been sending her messages about the restaurant via carrier pigeon for the past few days. The Liu family wanted to sell the shop, but the news of someone dying at Liu's shop had spread like wildfire, and no one was interested in it. The Liu family had already lowered their offer twice, and Su Erhu was waiting to take it over in the next few days.
Even with the addition of the cloud satin that Liu Yuxian sold at a loss, this Liu family business should not be able to shake the foundation of the Liu family.
Seeing his expression, the man slowly explained, "Liu Ji is just the beginning. Prefect Liu is actually a person who hosted the banquet for the Third Prince. In addition to Liu Ji in Tongxin Lane, Liu Yuxian secretly received a lot of money from the Third Prince and opened more than ten restaurants in the county of Tangshan Prefecture."
However, after the restaurant was completed, a problem arose with the hot pot base, and it had to close down before it even opened.
The back-and-forth resulted in enormous losses, and the Liu family couldn't possibly let the Third Prince lose money for nothing. Therefore, the huge hole that Liu Yuxian created must ultimately be covered by Prefect Liu himself.
Su Hua was stunned. Liu Yuxian had repeatedly targeted the restaurant, and she had finally reached her limit. That's why she came up with the idea of making an extremely oily and spicy hot pot base and having the master thief 'steal' it, thinking that after Liu Yuxian suffered a great loss, she would never dare to steal again.
But no one expected that Liu Yuxian would dare to open more than ten restaurants with only a burlap sack of ingredients.
She's incredibly bold.
With his mind in turmoil, he looked up at the gloomy sky outside and his worries deepened. "As Zichen said, Prefect Liu is short of money, so I'm afraid he's even less likely to agree to harvest the rice ahead of schedule."
Xiao Jinhan shook his head, "Hua'er, don't worry. This Prefect Liu is incompetent, but there are quite a few people in Tangshan Prefecture."
For example, the Jinyun family, the Zhou family, the Li family, and the Zheng family.
When I arrived, I had already spread the word that Qingshui County had harvested rice ahead of schedule. If the wealthy families in Tangshan Prefecture followed suit, the people of the prefecture would be more or less aware of the situation.
Su Hua's eyes lit up. "Yes, Jin Yunyang is known as a big fat sheep even in Chengdu. He owns quite a lot of land. Also, the Zhou family, the Li family, the Zheng family, and the Wu family are all people I met at the Hundred Flowers Banquet. Now, they are regular customers of the restaurant's Fucheng branch."
Once the wealthy families in the city start making moves, the common people will follow suit to some extent.
We hurried back to the village and wrote to my second brother, asking him to go to those families as soon as possible.
Seeing that her worried expression had disappeared, Xiao Jinhan unconsciously smiled and said, "There's no need to go back to the village. The carrier pigeon has already been brought."
The girl looked up and saw the man reach out the car window, and a chubby little white pigeon appeared in his palm. It was the carrier pigeon that usually communicated with Su Erhu. The little guy even cooed happily a few times when it saw her.
Su Hua took the carrier pigeon and looked at the man in surprise, "So Zichen already had a plan, he's really got seven orifices in his head!"
"No, Hua'er is not only intelligent, but also kind-hearted. She is praised by everyone in Qingshui County!"
Xiao Jinhan chuckled, opened the drawer under the desk, and took out a writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for her. "Floods are merciless. If we can do a good job in the early prevention, we may be able to reduce some of the losses."
Su Hua paused slightly in her writing, then nodded emphatically. "Zichen is absolutely right. In the face of a major disaster, prevention is always better than cure. In addition to harvesting the rice ahead of schedule, people's houses must be repaired and reinforced, rivers can be dredged to clear silt, and each town should find high ground for people to take refuge in during the disaster..."
When Su Erhu received the letter, Jin Yunyang happened to be having hot pot in a private room.
Upon hearing that it was a letter from Su Hua, he immediately put down his chopsticks and went home to urge people to harvest the rice. As for the remaining Zhou, Li, Zheng, and Wu families, he also sent his personal attendants to notify them one by one, so that Su Erhu would not have to make another trip.
When it was time to leave the government office, it was already the next morning when Prefect Liu learned of the news.
Master Yuan's heart sank. "Sir, many wealthy men are gathered outside the yamen, asking you to confirm whether the news of the great flood is accurate and whether we should harvest the rice early to make preparations."
"What great flood?! That's utter nonsense!" Prefect Liu sneered. "Go out and tell them not to listen to the slander of these young brats. Harvest the rice whenever it's time to harvest it."
Master Yuan frowned for a long time. "However, as the day passed, the entire Qingshui County was almost working by lamplight to harvest rice. More than half of the rice had already been harvested. The County Magistrate of Le'an and Magistrate Qin were also leading people to reinforce houses and dig ditches everywhere."
Even the five major families of Jinyun, Zhou, Li, Zheng, and Wu in the prefectural city followed the example of Qingshui County and harvested rice overnight.
Hearing the news, many residents in the prefecture had already begun harvesting rice.
"What? You mean the five families of Jinyun are all joining in the fun with Su Hua?!" Prefect Liu's expression darkened slightly. He looked up at the sky outside, and after a long while, he clenched his fist.
"Didn't the Lady of Le'an say that a flood was coming? Today is the second day, and not a single drop of rain has fallen. Where is the disaster coming from!"
Tell those wealthy men not to act rashly before the autumn harvest.
Upon hearing this, Master Yuan had no choice but to respond in a low voice.
Once everyone was alone, Prefect Liu turned and went into the inner hall, where he added another stick of incense to the altar.
All the silver in the government treasury was misappropriated to compensate the Third Prince. Now the treasury is almost empty. He is just waiting for the autumn harvest to collect more taxes to fill the gap. He must not have a flood!
In Shanghe Village, almost all the villagers, young and old, went to the fields to harvest rice, except for the Feng family and the old village chief's family.
The family in the former case was in poor health. Feng's mother and Feng Zicai were either bedridden or had severed tendons in their hands. The only healthy one, Meng Yun'er, was just waiting to go to the capital soon to rise to prominence and had no interest in working in the fields. Therefore, the two acres of land remained untouched.
The atmosphere in the latter's home was now as stiff as ice.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
