Chapter 238 Donation
Lu Chenyang raised his eyebrows and smiled: "The prince's move is indeed clever." He looked at Yan Xing: "Is the emperor not distressed?"
Yan Xing curled his lips. "Of course I'm a little angry, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a legitimate reason." He glanced at him and said, "Don't just watch the fun. I'm afraid it will happen to you in a couple of days."
Lu Chenyang was stunned. He never expected that he had anything to do with this.
Yan Xing nodded, his tone heavy with sorrow: "Not one less."
Lu Chenyang: “…”
Zhao Xi walked in at this time with a satisfied expression on his face.
Lu Chenyang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he saw her: "Where have you been? I haven't seen you all morning. Have you eaten the snacks I bought for you?"
"I ate, I ate." Zhao Xi said perfunctorily. She looked very excited: "I just went to watch the fun."
As she spoke, she glanced at Yan Xing.
Yan Xingdao: "Is this excitement related to me?"
Zhao Xi curled the corners of his lips and chuckled, "The Crown Prince's childhood sweetheart is really rich. Miss Zhao just donated two thousand taels of silver to His Royal Highness! This is the largest donation so far, and many people came to watch. They all praised Miss Zhao for her understanding and generosity. Miss Zhao said that this was all for His Royal Highness and the Crown Prince. She said that you are defending the country and it is too hard, and she can only do her little bit to help."
Yan Xing: “…”
Lu Chenyang couldn't help laughing, "Miss Zhao, are you spending a fortune on your beloved?"
Yan Xing pretended to be calm and said, "If you want to call her Madam Liang, she's already married."
Lu Chenyang didn't care much: "I've inquired about it. Her husband has passed away due to illness. Now she has returned to the Zhao family. I heard that she is looking for a second husband."
Yan Xing's eyes lit up: "You...went to find out about her specifically for me?"
Why would Lu Chenyang care about a little Zhao Qingwan? Lu Chenyang paid attention to her, it must be because of him.
Prince Yan was in a good mood.
Lu Chenyang looked a little uncomfortable: "I didn't mean to ask specifically."
Lu Chenyang explained, but Yan Xing didn't listen, and it still couldn't stop his good mood.
Zhao Qingwan, under the banner of donating to the nation, was truly in the spotlight. Her reputation for virtue and righteousness spread throughout the capital. Even the Zhao family's reputation improved, and the Zhao family had made a good profit from this move.
Yan Xing knew a little about the prince, and he really came.
To show his seriousness, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince personally came to the post station to ask Lu Chenyang for a donation. Lu Chenyang had done this kind of forced donation many times before.
He fought in wars and provided disaster relief, which one didn't cost money? When he was short of money, he invited Shen Shiqian and others to drink and eat, and if they enjoyed the meal, they all paid.
Lu Chenyang never expected that one day it would be his turn, and he felt extremely complicated.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not go in either. "I have something to do later, so I won't go in. It would be a big fuss. Lord Lu is wholeheartedly concerned about the people and hopes for peace in the world. He will certainly not refuse to raise donations for food and fodder, right?"
In front of everyone, let's see how much Lu Chenyang can donate. If he donates too little, would he feel comfortable as a governor of a state?
The prince deserves death!
Lu Chenyang felt that the prince was taking revenge on his own, but he did not panic and walked out openly.
There were many people around, and the prince's guards did not drive them away.
Lu Chenyang understood the prince's thoughts at a glance, and he took out a purse in front of everyone.
The purse looked quite old, and the embroidery was very crude, which did not fit Lu Chenyang's status as a powerful official at all.
But he didn't care. He opened his purse and took out all the silver he had - five taels and eight cents.
Then he put all the silver into the tray that the eunuch was carrying.
Lu Chenyang smiled brightly, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Your Highness. As everyone knows, I've always been poor, and I saved this money specifically for going to the capital. However, in order to raise food and fodder and quell the rebellion as soon as possible, I will do my best to help."
It was common knowledge that Lu Chenyang was poor, but the fact that he was a provincial governor, a frontier official, and one of the most powerful officials in Dagan, only had a little over five taels of silver on him was enough to make anyone cry.
Even the prince was shocked. He came so hastily that Lu Chenyang had no idea he was coming. He was wearing casual clothes, and he came straight out of the house to greet him. There was no way he could have prepared in advance.
So there really was only five taels of silver in Lu Chenyang's purse.
Why? Because Lu Chenyang used all his money to buy food and provide disaster relief.
Lu Chenyang has the best reputation in the entire Dagan. Almost everyone in the world knows that Lu Chenyang loves the people like his own children and has been constantly purchasing food just for disaster relief.
In some ways, Lu Chenyang was as wealthy as a local tycoon. He gave the people land, farm tools, and houses for free, not to mention providing them with relief food when disasters struck.
Even the people in Lingnan had money to perform labor service!
They originally thought that the things were exaggerated, but when they saw the more than five taels of silver, they realized that everything was true.
He spent all his money on the people, so he, a governor of a state, was so poor.
Everyone's eyes were on the five taels of silver. Such a small amount of silver placed on the tray was so inconspicuous, but it was worth a thousand taels of gold.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not expect things to develop in this direction. He looked at Lu Chenyang and felt a little sad.
There is no need to ever doubt Lu Chenyang's love for the people.
The prince suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, because of his own calculations. His calculations now seemed ridiculous and ironic.
The prince's voice was a little hoarse. He said, "Lord Lu loves the people. Who in the world doesn't know you?"
This sentence can be regarded as a compliment and also as an affirmation of Lu Chenyang's efforts.
Lu Chenyang curled the corners of his lips. The handsome young man stood in front of everyone with a straight back and a firm gaze.
He said, "I studied the books of sages, took the imperial examinations, and served as an official in the court. It is only my duty to help the emperor and bring happiness to the people."
He looked at the Crown Prince and said, "Your Highness is willing to lower your status to raise food and fodder. This is also a blessing for the people. I admire you."
This can be considered as giving the prince a way out.
After all, compared to Lu Chenyang, the minister, what the prince did was too insignificant.
The prince felt a little ashamed.
Lu Chenyang turned his head to look at Tan Feng. Tan Feng understood and immediately stepped forward to pour all the silver in his pocket into the money.
Seeing this, Lu Chenyang's guards also donated generously.
However, the soldiers were all poor, and the generals were all poor. Few people in the entire Lu family army had any money.
A group of people gathered together, but still couldn't get enough for a tray.
The Lu family army... is poor.
Lu Chenyang felt a little embarrassed. He coughed lightly and said, "Well, Lingnan is located in a remote area. It's really... it's not rich."
Lu Chenyang felt that saying "poor" was not auspicious, and he always felt that the more he said it, the poorer he would become, so he decided to change the word.
People who are afraid of being poor are very superstitious and think that they may have a bad fate.
The people Lu Chenyang brought with him only managed to gather a little over two hundred taels of silver, but the news spread throughout the capital. The fact that the Zhao family had contributed two thousand taels was quickly forgotten.
On the contrary, when the two are contrasted, people wonder how the Zhao family can be so rich? Where does all this money come from? The people have never hesitated to use the greatest malice to speculate about these officials, and their words are not very nice.
The Zhao family's reputation, which had been restored with great difficulty, was destroyed once again, and they were even suspected of corruption.
Fortunately, Zhao Qingwan explained that this was money raised with the whole family's efforts to quell the rebellion, so it was barely justifiable. Furthermore, it was a donation to the country, so they couldn't seriously investigate it. Otherwise, who would dare to pay in the future? However, after this incident, there was no certainty about whether there would be a future.
As for whether the people believe it or not, that is another matter.
The Zhao family went through a lot of trouble, but it was all in vain.
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