The refugees were still hungry after drinking the porridge, and they had no strength to work.
“Girl, if you give us a full meal, we are willing to stay and work.”
One person speaks, and the refugees echo him. For these refugees, having enough to eat is more important than anything else.
Qiu Yan looked up and scanned the group; there were over a hundred of them in total.
"As long as you work hard, you'll be fed. But the condition is that you must obey my rules. Otherwise, I won't support idlers."
When the refugees heard that Qiu Yan could feed them, their eyes lit up and their previous despair vanished.
Qiu Dafu went to the blacksmith shop and bought a large number of building tools, which were originally essential.
Qiu Yan had Xingyuelou make over a hundred multigrain pancakes, and only those who did the work could receive them.
Because of her delicious mixed grain cakes, the refugees worked even harder than they had ever worked in their own fields.
Clothing store,
Zhao Yuanyuan was new to the area, so she was naturally very kind to everyone.
A short, plump embroiderer with a round face asked with a smile:
"Yuanyuan, how did you meet Miss Qiu?"
When they mentioned Qiu Yan, they all expressed their admiration, for at such a young age, she was in charge of such a large restaurant as Xingyuelou.
Zhao Yuanyuan replied, "Hua Xiuniang, we are from the same village."
"It's good to be from the same village; you can at least have some influence."
Another embroiderer surnamed Miao glanced at Zhao Yuanyuan out of the corner of her eye, somewhat disdainfully thinking, "She's just a mountain village girl who got in through connections. What abilities could she possibly have?"
She said coldly, "Zhao Yuanyuan, now that you've come to our clothing shop, tell me, what kind of embroidery can you do?"
Zhao Yuanyuan gave Miao Xiu Niang a stiff smile: "I usually embroider with my mother, making handkerchiefs, purses, or sachets. Now that I'm new here, I'll have to trouble you two embroiderer sisters to teach me more."
The Miao embroiderer asked again, "Have you ever embroidered silk before?"
Zhao Yuanyuan was at a loss, but she forced herself to say, "No."
She felt that she was far inferior to these embroiderers.
Miao Xiu Niang smacked her lips twice. "Is that all? You dare to call yourself an embroiderer?"
Her harsh tone drew the attention of all the tailors around her, who all turned to look at Zhao Yuanyuan.
The way these people looked at her made Zhao Yuanyuan feel a little ashamed. "I can learn."
Hua Xiuniang disliked Miao Xiuniang somewhat, "That's right, if you don't know how, you can learn. The master said that we should do our best to teach Yuanyuan."
Miao Xiuniang sighed and sneered, "My embroidery skills are not as good as yours, so you should take on the task of teaching others."
Zhao Yuanyuan stopped talking, sat down next to the embroiderer, and carefully looked at her clear stitches and lively needlework, and began to learn diligently.
At noon, Qiu Dayu took advantage of his meal delivery time to look for Zhao Yuanyuan.
He first went to the house in the backyard of the garment factory to deliver four dishes and a soup to Jiang Liu and Cui Zhu. "Madam, please enjoy your meal."
Then, he returned to the shop in front, took out all the food boxes from the food box, and distributed the food to the clothing store owner and his assistants.
After finishing his work, the clothing store owner asked with a smile, "Young man, why are you delivering the food today?"
"I happen to have some free time," Qiu Dayu said, then went straight up to the second floor of the clothing store without saying anything more.
Zhao Yuanyuan was threading a needle when she vaguely heard Qiu Dayu's voice from the first floor. She was a little excited, and as soon as she turned around, she found a lunchbox in her hand.
"Eat."
Zhao Yuanyuan took the lunchbox handed to her by Qiu Dayu, opened it and saw that inside, under the fragrant twice-cooked pork, was a bowl of delicious rice, and on top of it were two braised eggs.
She was already hungry, and the smell made her even hungrier.
Afterwards, Qiu Dayu handed the remaining lunch boxes to the two embroiderers and the tailors.
Zhao Yuanyuan lowered her head and said, "Brother Dayu, I only ordered one serving of white rice."
As the daughter of the village chief, Zhao Yuanyuan was pampered by her parents from childhood, and the villagers treated her with great respect.
But when she arrived in Baiyang, she felt ashamed of herself and thought she was inferior to others in every way.
As for food, her family used to eat mixed grain pancakes, and white rice was only eaten occasionally, which was considered rather meager by the locals.
Qiu Dayu noticed her discomfort and gave her a bright smile to ease her unease. "Yuanyuan, if you don't like this food, we can change it tomorrow."
"No, I like it, it's just..."
Zhao Yuanyuan suddenly felt like crying; she admitted that she was just a little woman.
Thinking this, her eyes reddened.
Qiu Dayu knew she had no money, but smiled unconcerned, "It won't cost much. From now on, I'll bring you food every day."
For the first time, Qiu Dayu experienced the joy of having money in his pocket.
"No need, don't let it bother you."
“It doesn’t affect it at all.” Xingyue Tower isn’t just for him.
Hearing their conversation, Hua Xiuniang chuckled and teased, "Young man, did you come here today specifically to see Miss Yuanyuan?"
Qiu Dayu said, "Yes, Yuanyuan has just arrived, so I hope you will take good care of her."
Hua Xiuniang smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Of course."
Miao Xiuniang clicked her tongue twice and said sarcastically:
"Sigh, I never thought that Yuanyuan, a country girl, would be so lucky. Not only does she have an acquaintance like Miss Qiu, but a man also takes the initiative to bring her food."
However, before a woman gets married, she should stay away from men; it's not a good influence. Her words were laced with sarcasm, making Qiu Dayu very uncomfortable.
Qiu Dayu turned to look at Miao Xiuniang and continued her words, saying, "It's much better than those who have nothing at all."
Miao Xiuniang's face immediately turned ugly. "Who are you talking about?"
Hua Xiuniang chuckled to herself, thinking to herself that this young man was quite protective of his own.
Qiu Dayu proudly tilted his head back and stood in front of Zhao Yuanyuan, saying, "Whoever admits it is whoever it is."
Hearing Qiu Dayu say this warmed Zhao Yuanyuan's heart.
Miao Xiuniang snorted coldly, wanting to say something in rebuttal, but couldn't think of a good remark for the time being, so she silently ate the food in the box.
Qiu Dayu was busy with the business of Xingyue Tower and did not stay long. After talking with Zhao Yuanyuan for a while, he went downstairs to the second floor.
Just then, they ran into Jiang Liu, who hadn't eaten much.
"Madam, you're busy, I'll take my leave now."
Jiang Liu nodded to him and went up to the second floor.
As soon as she went up, everyone stood up and bowed to greet her.
Jiang Liu nodded to the group, telling them to go about their business, then walked directly to Zhao Yuanyuan's side and teased with a smile, "Yuanyuan, Qiu Dafu's younger brother seems pretty good."
He's quite good at charming young girls, unlike Qiu Dafu, who's completely wooden.
Jiang Liu shook her head. Why did she suddenly think of him?
“He’s a good person,” Zhao Yuanyuan thought so too, but the villagers didn’t think so.
After greeting Jiang Liu, Hua Xiuniang continued eating, while Miao Xiuniang was filled with resentment. She believed that Zhao Yuanyuan was incompetent and unworthy of being called a embroiderer.
At the border, in Youzhou City, as soon as Gu Qian entered the city, he ordered the city gates to be closed and the enemy to be killed.
The people in the city were terrified and at a loss. Some hid in the cellars, while others hid under their beds.
In an instant, the city gates were filled with a bloody storm.
Gu Qian drew his bow and nocked an arrow, his gaze fixed on the enemy general on the city wall.
The enemy general was already in a panic. He ordered his men to cover him, and he had only one thought in his mind: to wait for the prince to rescue him.
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