The man who spoke was a veteran in Qingyuan County. Although his family was declining, he still wielded considerable influence. Moreover, the saying "even a starved camel is bigger than a horse" holds true everywhere.
“I am naturally very happy that Mr. Liang is willing to lend a helping hand. Please feel free to speak your mind.”
Old Master Liang nodded and said, "First, there is still a long time before spring arrives. I believe that Lord Wang will not only ask once, but we can only help this once. Other than that, Lord Wang needs to solve the problem himself. Second, Lord Wang must not have the slightest dissatisfaction with how much we give."
The others remained silent, since the two elders had essentially settled the matter once they spoke, and it would be somewhat inappropriate for them, as the younger generation, to interrupt.
Now the choice is in Wang Mingyuan's hands. He knows that since this old fox has agreed, there is basically no room for him to back down. However, some of these people are not good people, and it is really too difficult to make them bleed a lot.
But right now, knowing a bird in the hand is worse than knowing a bird in the forest, so even if he didn't want to agree, he had no choice but to agree.
Wang Mingyuan nodded and said, "Since Old Master Liang has such good intentions, I will naturally not refuse. However, I also hope that you can give it some consideration. Those people are not as well-off as you are. Even a bite to eat might save a life."
Old Master Liang said, "Please rest assured, Lord Wang, about this matter. We are not ungrateful and will not go too far. Please allow us to go back and discuss it. We will personally deliver the grain soon."
The matter was thus settled, and Old Master Liang set an example by contributing two thousand dan of grain on his own.
After pooling together resources from other families, the number of refugees reached a considerable amount. Even so, solving the problem of feeding these refugees remained extremely difficult, given the sheer number of refugees.
Now Wang Mingyuan can only take it one step at a time. He simply set up a large pot and gave each person only one bowl of porridge a day to ensure they wouldn't starve. This was already his best effort.
This situation continued until Ning Ye returned to Qingyuan County. By then, the area outside the city was already filled with refugees, and the original military camps were not enough to accommodate them. Looking around, there were at least 20,000 to 30,000 refugees.
Such a quantity would be extremely troublesome for anyone to see, but Ning Ye did not intend to deal with it and instead returned directly to Qingmei Village.
As the only place that was not affected much, Qingmei Village was actually surrounded by a considerable number of refugees.
Fortunately, thanks to Shen Yuanzhi's handling of the situation, nothing went wrong in Qingmei Village. Instead, the refugees were temporarily settled in the surrounding area.
They even found some helpers for them to do the work, even though the villagers could have done it themselves, but now they could only use it to appease the refugees.
Of course, the most important thing is to get these people to clean up all the blood around them. After all, the snow left by this snow disaster is too thick. If so much snow is not cleaned up, it will inevitably turn Qingmei Village into a muddy mess when it all melts.
Therefore, these refugees became the best manpower, since there was just too much snow, and it would take a long time to clear it all by manpower alone.
Even so, people still freeze and starve to death every day. After all, anyone with poor health cannot survive such a natural disaster.
When Ning Ye got off the carriage, Lin Qinshu was already waiting for him at the door. After all, those two shops had already been handed over to others to handle. If there was any urgent matter, he could come here to find Lin Qinshu, so most of the time Lin Qinshu didn't need to stay there.
The two, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, shared a heartfelt hug. Of course, if there weren't other people around, Ning Ye wouldn't mind doing something else.
"My wife left in such a hurry this time that I didn't bring you any gifts. I hope you won't be upset with me."
Lin Qinshu pinched Ning Ye's face and said, "What, next time do you want me to say that you're not allowed to come back unless your husband brings me a gift?"
"My wife is getting more and more witty; it seems she's truly inherited my skills. But could you explain to me why there are so many children in the house?"
Lin Qinshu stuck out her tongue and said, "This is something I should have discussed with you. Our courtyard is not small, and we didn't have enough maids and servants before. I thought I only took in a few children."
Ning Ye said indulgently, "Alright, I know you have a kind heart, my wife, and you can't bear to see these children starving and freezing outside, but we can't take in any more children."
"Don't worry, I know everything has its limits, and I won't go too far with some things."
More than a dozen children who had just turned ten years old had joined Ning Ye's mansion. These children were said to be there to work, but what could they actually do?
However, this was all out of Lin Qinshu's kindness, and Ning Ye naturally couldn't refuse. Besides, if it were him, he might have done the same thing.
Liu Tianci and Ning Ye were also introduced to Lin Qinshu. This big pigeon will basically be following Ning Ye from now on. After all, apart from his decent fighting skills, he is basically a silent person. Even when he does speak, he is still different from ordinary people.
Based on Ning Ye's observation, it can be basically determined that Liu Tianci has some intellectual disability, which, according to inquiries, is due to a high fever he had as a child.
However, it seems the problem isn't too serious. With proper guidance, he should be no different from an ordinary person.
However, Liu Tianci was immediately noticed by Wang Wu upon his arrival. Ning Ye and Lin Qinshu went directly to the inner courtyard, while Liu Tianci stayed outside. Although there was a room arranged for him, Liu Tianci preferred to sit by the door.
Even in the biting cold, this guy didn't seem to feel the cold at all.
Wang Wu approached with a smile, "You must be the young master's new friend, Brother Liu?"
Liu Tianci nodded and said, "Yes, who are you?"
Wang Wu patted his chest and said, "I am the commander of your guards, young master. In principle, you will be under my command in the future, so I came here to get to know you first."
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