Magistrate Qiu was inwardly cursing, but outwardly he was still trying his best to deal with the Tu family, though he was extremely anxious.
Just then, someone announced that it was Scholar Zhao from Zhao Family Village who had come to visit, and Magistrate Qiu felt he had been saved. He quickly invited him into the inner hall.
After dismissing the Tu family guards, Zhao Qianci and Zhao Minggeng entered together.
"Old Master Zhao, Brother Minggeng, what brings you here?" Magistrate Qiu was very polite and hospitable.
"I have seen you, sir. What wind is it? It is an auspicious wind, which means I have something good to discuss with you."
As soon as Zhao Qianci finished speaking, Qiu Xianli's eyes lit up. He knew that the Zhao family was definitely his lucky star.
He had already received a commendation for the previous tribute case, and his three-year performance evaluation was guaranteed to be excellent.
Magistrate Qiu's eyes sparkled as he waited for Zhao Qianci to speak.
"I came here for no other reason than to see the orphans outside the city, who are poorly clothed, starving, and emaciated."
From a young age, I was taught by my elders that when poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when successful, one should help others. Looking at those pitiful children, this old man feels uneasy.
Although the Zhao family didn't have a fortune, they had enough to eat and wear for the time being, and they wanted to do their part for those poor children.
I'm planning to have the Zhao family fund the opening of an orphanage, primarily to take in homeless children. What do you adults think of this? Do you have any suggestions?
Magistrate Qiu was taken aback, and after a long while,
"The old man is very kind, but supporting so many children is extremely expensive. Can the Zhao family afford it?"
Furthermore, if one remains an orphan and no one cares for them, their life and death are predestined, and they have no reason to complain.
But if they are given a good life, and then that good life is gone one day, they may have no chance to continue living.
Has the old man thought this through?
Zhao Qianci nodded.
"My mind is made up to humbly decline. I hope to help more children with my modest efforts."
Children are hope, they are the future.
Qianci couldn't bear to see those children suffering from hunger and cold. Of course, Qianci also had his own selfish reasons. He raised these children while they were young, and when they grew up, they would come to work for Qianci's family.
Even if one day I humbly decline the opportunity to care for these children, I will teach them a skill and never let them become lazy and ignorant of farming.
What else could Magistrate Qiu say? He had already tried to persuade them. Since they had money and were willing to spend it, he, as the magistrate, naturally wouldn't stop them.
If there were more orphanages like this, his political achievements could be even higher.
Therefore, Magistrate Qiu sold a piece of land on the outskirts of Zhao's city to the Zhao family at an extremely low price.
They also arranged for craftsmen and others to build houses and walls, and recruited teachers for the orphanage in the name of the county government to provide care.
Magistrate Qiu was willing to do the work, after all, everyone was grateful for the magistrate's great kindness and virtue.
The children from the dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city, hearing that the county magistrate was building houses for them to live in, toddled off to help with the work.
Even something as simple as moving a brick or bringing a pot of water to the workers is a token of their appreciation.
Magistrate Qiu was in charge of recruiting workers, and naturally, the supervisors had to be from the Zhao family. Lü Feng was transferred out to be the supervisor.
His combat skills weren't as high as the others, but he was quite good at handling other tasks.
Seeing these children come to help, I decided to provide them with two meals of porridge every day.
To avoid these children being merely filling in the numbers,
They clearly have parents, but they come here to freeload. The kids who come to help with the work have to drink the porridge at the construction site first.
Later, the older orphans brought the little ones to the construction site, and eventually settled there.
Lu Feng then had the workers build thatched huts for the children, and laid wooden planks on the ground to make a large communal sleeping area. Finally, the children had a proper place to shelter from the wind and rain.
The wages were high, and the workers built the houses quickly. They all knew that these houses were built for homeless children, so the work was done with great care.
A month later, the Qingmiao Orphanage was officially completed. The caregivers also began to take up their posts.
Many of the childcare workers responsible for looking after the children are also people who are in dire need of help.
To ensure they wouldn't abuse the children after they'd had their fill, the Zhao family transferred a few more people from Zhao's Snack Shop and Qingshan Xiaozhu.
At the same time, they also bought some people.
When the slippery children were washed clean and dressed in new clothes and shoes, they felt as if they had entered paradise.
Several older men, along with a group of children, came to kowtow to Magistrate Qiu and the Zhao family.
This scene brought tears to many eyes, and it is still talked about years later.
Zhao Qianci delivered an important speech.
"Children, this is your home. From now on, you can read, write, and learn many life skills every day."
For example, arithmetic, furniture making, house building, hunting, cooking, clothing making, and embroidery.
As long as you have two hands, are willing to work hard, and study diligently, when you grow up, you will be able to earn a living wherever you go, relying on your own abilities.
Here, children are neither hit nor scolded, and there is no starvation.
So children, you must study hard and do your best so that when you grow up, you too can be able to care for more homeless children, just like the ones cared for at the Qingmiao Orphanage…
Years later, several great merchants, scholars, and even those who passed the imperial examinations emerged from the Qingmiao Orphanage, making significant contributions to the development of the Divine Dragon Kingdom.
It's only just opened, and everyone who came to the opening ceremony was moved to tears.
While the Zhao family was busy building an orphanage and doing good deeds, they were also investigating Zhao Qingyan's Tu family matriarch and her wife, and taking the money from pawning Tu Haoyu's jade pendant back to the capital.
As for Tu Haoyu, he did not go back with them and remained in Qingyang County.
Because his father cut off his financial support, he actually put aside his pride and set up a street stall to write letters to earn money, not for anything else, but for the unlikely chance of a chance encounter.
Before long, he became a shade darker darker, and the few relatives who used to follow him around stopped hanging out with him after he lost his money.
After experiencing the coldness of human relationships, Tu Haoyu, this playboy, saved some money, moved out of his family's mansion, and rented a room in the slums for 50 coins a month.
Perhaps moved by the heavens, he indeed saw Zhao Qingyan again on the street that day.
However, he was smart and did not directly step forward to intercept them.
Instead, he asked the stall owner next to him to watch over the tables and chairs, and after tidying up the writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones, he quietly followed Zhao Qingyan.
First, they followed them to Zhao's snack shop, then to the county school, where they gave the gatekeeper 10 coins and learned the exact address of Zhao's family.
Therefore, everyone was stunned when Zhao Qingyan saw Tu Haoyu in Zhao Family Village.
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