Chapter 7 Refugees
Shen Anan glanced at the Duan family convoy with a cold gaze, and lowered the curtain with her slender jade fingers.
"Miss, why do I feel that the third young lady of the Duan family speaks in a strange way?" said the housekeeper, frowning.
It's just tea talk, how can it not be strange?
Shen Anan smiled gently, "At the palace banquet a few days ago, my aunt intentionally pointed me out to the Fourth Prince. Miss Duan San is the Fourth Prince's junior sister. The two of them were childhood sweethearts. Maybe she is unhappy."
As soon as these words came out, the housekeeper was enlightened, "So that's how it is. That girl looks so soft-spoken, but she actually has so many thoughts on her mind."
Shen Anan smiled and said, "As a girl, it's understandable that you would feel jealous for the person you like."
"Alas, the girl is just too kind-hearted." said the housekeeper.
Shen Anan smiled softly, leaned back on the soft pillow, and closed her eyes.
Duan Mengmeng is very clever, so why not play dirty with her? It’s better to be open and aboveboard.
The butler was a shrewd man. By the time they reached Nanhua Street, everyone knew what had happened on the way.
"Fortunately my daughter is generous, otherwise you and your son would be hungry now."
The person who was scooping the porridge was talking as he served the porridge to the refugees who were lined up.
The people were very polite and asked the reason. The man immediately exaggerated and recounted what happened on the road.
Shen Anan didn't care whether Duan Mengmeng was scolded, but she cared a lot about whether she had a good reputation.
The experience of her previous life told her that as long as she had a good reputation, even if she did bad things, there were reasons for them and they could be forgiven.
It was a simple act of giving way, but soon the rumor spread that Miss Duan San was envious and deliberately making things difficult.
Shen Anan listened calmly, with the corners of his lips slightly raised.
This scene is so similar to the previous life, except that the roles are reversed.
"The housekeeper my mother chose is such a wonderful person," she praised sincerely.
With just a few words, I could understand her thoughts. People like her save time and effort to work with, and you can get twice the result with half the effort.
Mo Xiang didn't understand, but he was used to respecting girls.
People are soft-hearted when they receive favors, and they are short-sighted when they eat the favors. It is also a preconceived notion, so the people will definitely speak in Shen Anan's favor.
This time, Shen Anan did not hide far away like in the previous life, but went out in person to help those disabled and immobile refugees.
Mo Xiang followed behind her, carrying white porridge and steamed buns.
Perhaps all the poor people had come over. Shen Anan looked over and saw a huge crowd, with a large area collapsed near the corner.
The crying of the baby and the helpless sobbing of the woman hurt her eardrums.
Why didn’t she notice it in her previous life?
Is it that when one is so overwhelmed by the love between men and women, even the most basic sympathy and conscience are lost?
Looking at the tragic scene before her, she suddenly felt that their abuse in the previous life was not wrong at all.
In order to save face and reputation, they mixed sand into rice and flour to save food and prolong the time for distributing porridge.
It's really not something a human can do.
At this moment, all of her thoughts about Miss Duan San and Xiao Yuan were forgotten. All she could see was the baby crying loudly from hunger and clinging to his mother's chest.
The woman cried anxiously, but she hadn't eaten for many days and had no milk to feed the child.
"Feed him some rice oil." Shen Anan squatted down, ignoring the dirt on the child, and held him in his arms.
The woman was stunned.
Mo Xiang handed her a steamed bun and said, "Eat some first to fill your stomach. We will feed the child."
"Thank you very much, my dear master. Thank you very much, my dear master." Hope rose in the woman's eyes. She stared at the child who was sucking rice oil in big gulps while quickly stuffing steamed buns into his mouth.
The people behind saw what happened here.
The disabled ones dragged themselves towards Shen Anan and said, "Sir, please be kind and give us something to eat, Sir~"
Shen Anan's heart tightened as she watched this scene.
Mo Xiang quickly returned the child to the woman and pulled Shen Anan back.
When people are crazy, they are irrational.
"My noble man, living Bodhisattva, please be kind."
When the guards of the Shen Mansion saw this scene, they quickly rushed over, drew their swords, protected Shen An'an behind them, and blocked the refugees.
Shen Anan patted the leader, and the guard hesitated and did not move away, "Miss, they are so hungry that they even eat people, so you'd better be careful."
Shen Anan's eyes fell on the refugees, "They are disabled and can't even grab the porridge. They can't do anything to me."
Disabilities limit their range of activities and they have no ability to compete with normal people for food.
Even when the families were providing relief porridge, they would simply ignore them, because these people could not make any waves and had no ability to compete for anything.
The officials believed that giving the food would be a waste and would not help their good reputation in the slightest.
To put it bluntly, you can only wait for death.
They may also feel that living like this is worse than death, but the process of dying is too painful.
"Everyone, please stop making noise." Shen Anan said loudly, "If you want to eat, just sit by the corner and line up like before, and I will send someone to bring you food."
As if they didn't believe it, those people didn't move, but just stared at Shen Anan.
Shen Anan took a quick look and saw that apart from the disabled, most of the people there were the elderly, the weak, women and children.
"Children should move forward, and the elderly should follow. If you keep blocking here, it will only affect the progress of the porridge distribution, and you won't be able to wait for food."
Finally, someone left with a child and went to sit in the corner. Then people came one after another, crawling or moving to line up.
Shen Anan called the housekeeper, "Go back to the mansion and transfer some more people."
The butler glanced at the refugees, straightened his lips, and did not move.
"Why? Is it not possible?" Shen Anan asked.
"The eldest lady is kind-hearted, so it's fine. But... even if we transfer some people over, I'm afraid these people won't be able to eat."
Shen Anan was startled, "Why?"
The housekeeper sighed, "Miss, you don't know that the emperor has dismissed many officials because of the lack of control over the flood in the south. The number of refugees reported now is probably only more than one-third. The officials are protecting each other, and these people..."
Before the butler could finish his words, there was a sudden commotion among the crowd.
Shen Anan turned around and saw a group of soldiers coming towards this side.
“This must be Miss Shen, right?” The leader saluted Shen An’an.
The housekeeper looked at his daughter with a worried look.
Shen Anan frowned, “Yes, is there any problem?”
"I dare not. I am here to maintain order so that Miss Shen can distribute porridge smoothly."
Shen Anan frowned, and saw the refugees at the corner of the wall dragging their bodies out with terrified expressions.
The leader followed her line of sight and said with a smile, “Miss Shen, don’t worry. The court has set up a porridge stall in the suburbs, which is specially for the disabled, the elderly, women and children.”
"Really?" Shen Anan's eyes darkened. "Since there is food, why did they drag their sick bodies here?"
The leader paused and glanced at Butler Shen.
"Miss, they have their own arrangements, so let's just ignore them." The housekeeper spoke cautiously.
"That's right. We are taking care of the person, so Miss Shen doesn't have to worry about it." The man was very polite.
Shen Anan said, "Since they are here, they will definitely not leave empty-handed. Once the food is distributed, they will leave on their own."
The officer's face was a little stiff, but due to Shen Wen's official position, he didn't dare to say anything.
Mo Xiang led the Shen family guards and distributed food to those people first.
Butler Shen sighed and whispered to Shen Anan, "Miss, this is a tacit understanding in the capital, why do you have to interfere?"
It cannot change the fate of those people.
"What's the tacit agreement?" Shen Anan stared at the officials with a cold tone, "The tacit agreement to starve those people to death to cover up the inaction of officials in the south, does it match the number of people who reported the dragon case?"
Butler Shen choked and was speechless for a long time.
I never thought that the girl was so smart and understood the key so quickly.
Shen Anan said nothing, watching the refugees take the food and gobble it up, and also saw the gloomy faces of the officials.
This is what is called mutual protection among officials. How many lives have been disregarded for the sake of official positions.
At the corner in front of Shen Anan, a luxurious and low-key black carriage had stopped at some point. The curtain was half lifted by a big hand with distinct joints, revealing half of a handsome and unparalleled face.
The man's eyes were light as he looked at the woman's thin figure, his thin lips slightly pursed.
"She's not a woman you can easily mess with. Are you sure you want to stand up for Miss Duan San?"
The man said nothing, lowered the curtain and got out of the carriage.
He was very tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his back as straight as a pine or bamboo, and every movement he made exuded dignity.
Li Huaiyan frowned, "It's normal for a little girl to make a fuss, but you shouldn't do that, after all, she saved your life."
Although that woman spoke harshly and had an unpleasant temper, she was definitely not a bad person.
Xiao Yuan turned around and glanced at Li Huaiyan coldly.
Is he some idle person?
Shen Anan was squatting to help wash rice, her pink skirt hanging on the muddy ground, but she didn't care. Her face facing the sun was white and tender, as if covered with a layer of light.
Suddenly, a tall figure pressed down, casting a large shadow.
Xiao Yuan's heavy gaze unconsciously fell on the woman's exposed white neck.
As beautiful as flawless jade, with skin as white as ice and bones, these eight words suddenly appeared in his mind.
Shen Anan subconsciously raised her head and unexpectedly bumped into the man's dark eyes.
Startled.
The beautiful face quickly turned cold.
It was the first time that Xiao Yuan was looked at with disgust by a woman. Her almond-shaped eyes were filled with unhappiness and even a hint of hatred.
hatred? He couldn't remember when he had offended her.
But it seemed that she had an inexplicable hostility towards him since the first time they met at Gong Yan.
Shen Anan stood up slowly. Yes, on this day in his previous life, he had come to question her about the unpleasantness that had occurred with Miss Duan San.
In front of everyone, he scolded her for being spoiled, petty, delaying people's livelihood for a trivial matter, full of jealousy, and having no sense of family.
It was when she first got engaged, and she was filled with joy. However, she did not expect to be severely punished. She was shy and felt wronged, so she ran back home and cried for a long time.
I guess he was standing up for Duan Mengmeng today, but I don't know with what identity he scolded her.
"The Fourth Prince has come to visit. What's the matter?"
Xiao Yuan was looked at by her with critical and disgusted eyes, and his handsome face, which was already expressionless, became even colder.
"It's okay, it's okay, we just happened to pass by and came to take a look." Li Huaiyan poked his head out from behind and laughed.
"My dear grandson, you are here too."
"..." Li Huaiyan's face turned visibly red and he closed his mouth awkwardly.
It was just a joke, why did this girl take it seriously?
Xiao Yuan's gaze swept back and forth between the two of them, his dark eyes narrowed.
Li Huaiyan said awkwardly, "I agreed to this joke in a hurry to save you a few days ago."
"Yes." Shen Anan took the handkerchief handed over by Mo Xiang and wiped the water stains on her hands, "He also lost you at that time."
"I didn't." Li Huaiyan's eyes widened, "Miss Shen, you can't talk nonsense, it will cost someone's life."
"No?" Shen An'an raised her eyebrows, "Who said that as long as I agree to save people, I will be their aunt's?"
Xiao Yuan cast a cold gaze towards Li Huaiyan.
"……" He was even purged after becoming a grandson. What was he trying to achieve?
"I was trying to save you, and I spoke without thinking in a hurry."
“Miss Shen, didn’t I say at the time that being his aunt would get you beheaded, or being my aunt.”
Shen Anan nodded, “Yeah, I did say that.”
"Look." Li Huaiyan spread his hands towards Xiao Yuan.
"Idiot." Xiao Yuan spat out two words coldly, took a step back and distanced himself from Li Huaiyan, as if he was afraid of being labeled as stupid.
Li Huaiyan was stunned, and looked up to meet Shen Anan's playful gaze.
“Shen Anan, you’re playing tricks on me.”
"Who taught you to talk to me like that? Is this the upbringing of your Li family?"
Li Huaiyan, "..."
"Fourth Prince, I sacrificed myself for you. Are you just watching the show and not saying a word for me?"
Xiao Yuan pursed his lips, glanced at the rosy-faced Shen Anan, and chose to remain silent.
This woman is very fierce, which is unnecessary. It is better not to have a conflict with her. After all, she can be called a lifesaver.
Shen Anan looked at Xiao Yuan with a cold gaze, and the playful smile in his eyes suddenly turned into coldness, "The fourth prince came here specially to treat the third lady, right?"
"no."
"Huh?" Shen Anan raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"I didn't have time to thank you for saving my life that day, so I just happened to pass by today and wanted to say thank you."
Shen Anan looked at Xiao Yuan's face carefully, trying to find some clues from it.
Xiao Yuan was calm and composed.
"No need. If Li Huaiyan hadn't been so shameless, I wouldn't have planned to save you."
Li Huaiyan, who was rubbing his chest in anger, was stabbed again.
"I see." Xiao Yuan said, "But I did escape danger because of you, so I should thank you out of courtesy and reason."
Shen Anan sneered, “The Fourth Prince is indeed a gentleman, but I don’t know if he is just pretending or if he is sincere.”
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