Chapter 1187 Prestige
On the third day after capturing Luoyang, Shan Tong'er brought the grain from Huiluo Granary into Luoyang.
The entire city of Luoyang was in an uproar.
As Shang Ruyi stepped out of the official residence, several figures flashed before her eyes. Immediately afterward, a large number of people emerged from their tightly closed doors and poured out of the streets and alleys, running wildly forward with great joy, asking as they ran, "Where? Where can we get our food?"
Seeing their incoherent behavior, Shang Ruyi couldn't help but laugh.
Soon, news of the grain distribution spread throughout Luoyang. The government set up grain sheds in the North Market, South Market, and Tianjie Street, and each household received grain rations according to the number of people in the household, with each person receiving one dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice.
Upon hearing this, Shang Ruyi immediately prepared to take Wo Xue over.
Wo Xue, however, was somewhat worried and advised her, "Your Highness, these people have been starving for a long time. They heard that food was being distributed, and now they're all crowding into those few places. I heard that His Highness Prince Qin has also mobilized a lot of people from outside the city, but I'm worried that things might get out of hand. You'd better not go."
Shang Ruyi smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, I'll just go and take a look."
Seeing her say that, Wo Xue had no choice but to protect her and walk out. When they left Demao Lane, where they were, there was no one in the streets and alleys. But when they turned a few corners and entered Beishi, they could hear a great deal of noise from afar, almost as if the sky was about to be lifted off. When they got closer, they saw that there was a huge crowd of people, which squeezed the wide streets of Beishi into a complete blockage.
Wo Xue originally wanted to persuade her, but when she looked up, she saw that Shang Ruyi was only focused on walking forward. She had no choice but to take two steps forward and put her hands around Shang Ruyi to prevent others from touching her. They stumbled and fell all the way, and finally arrived at the shed where the food was being distributed.
A tall canopy was erected early in the morning, with three horse-drawn carriages parked behind it. The grain sacks piled on the carriages were like three small mountains. Shan Tong'er and several soldiers were sweating profusely. Although it was already autumn, each of them was only wearing a single-layered jacket. They kept shouting, "Don't push! Don't push!" while they were working hard to fill the sacks with grain using wooden shovels and pour it into the sacks of the people in line.
Even with several people working together, the supply still couldn't meet the demand.
The local people all looked pale and swollen from eating too much dust. Their steps were unsteady, and they seemed about to faint and collapse at any moment. But each of them held on with their last breath, their two bloodshot eyes fixed on the snow-white grains of rice, as if they wanted to reach out from their eyes and scoop out the rice bags.
Just then, another shoving erupted from behind, nearly overturning the table in front of the canopy.
The child jumped onto the table in a panic and shouted, "Don't panic, everyone will get some!"
However, even if the people in front could hear his voice, those behind were already swallowed up by the noisy shouts. Not only could they not hear anything, but seeing the people who had received the grain happily walking back, these people became even more anxious and kept pushing forward. It looked like these people were about to knock down the shed.
If the shelter is really overturned, these people will definitely rush forward to grab the food, and then things will really get chaotic.
Just as Shan Tong'er was about to cry in distress, Shang Ruyi saw several young people in the crowd secretly poking the waists of the people in front of them, and constantly pushing and shouting, "The food is about to be distributed!" Hearing this, everyone around was anxious and stretched their necks to squeeze forward.
The crowd was starting to get out of control.
Shang Ruyi whispered to Wo Xue, "Go and stop those people, don't let them cause trouble."
Wo Xue asked, "Should we arrest them?"
Shang Ruyi thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "No, arresting people at this time will easily cause misunderstandings among the people, making them think that the government is arresting people arbitrarily; besides, there are so many people now, and if a disturbance breaks out, it could easily lead to a major incident."
"That--"
Shang Ruyi thought for a moment, then whispered a few words into Wo Xue's ear. She immediately understood and turned to disappear into the crowd.
Despite her petite stature, Wo Xue possessed considerable strength. Coupled with the fact that these people were already too weak from hunger, she quickly cleared a path for them. Reaching the back of the young men, and seeing them still laughing and pushing forward, Wo Xue raised her foot and kicked one of them in the back of the knee.
"Ouch!"
The man let out a soft cry, stumbled forward and fell to his knees.
Before he could even utter a curse, Wo Xue kicked the other two young men twice in the back of the knees. She was agile and strong, and the men, caught off guard, were all forced to their knees. These men, still swearing and cursing, were about to get up when they felt a commotion behind them. The people behind them, unaware of what was happening ahead, were still moving forward.
The young people panicked and shouted, "Don't push! Don't push!"
They had just been causing trouble in the crowd, but now that trouble was befalling them, they panicked. The surrounding people were at a loss and tried to stop, but the people behind them kept walking forward, pushing and shoving, and it looked like they were about to be trampled.
Just then, a cry rang out from ahead—
"mother!"
The cries were exceptionally pitiful, causing those around to instinctively stop in their tracks, which gave them a glimmer of hope. The young men scrambled to their feet, drenched in sweat, too terrified to move again.
Seeing their lingering fear, Wo Xue let out a cold laugh.
At the same time, she noticed the strange thing in front of her. She looked up and saw that bright figure in the crowd quickly pushed through the crowd and walked towards the place where the crying was coming from.
An old woman lay on the ground in front of the pergola, a young girl in a simple cloth dress and hairpin was holding her and crying bitterly. It turned out that the old woman had been queuing for a long time, and she was already out of breath watching the people in front of her receive their rice. When it was finally her turn, watching the snow-white rice grains pour into her rice bag like rain, and smelling the long-unseen aroma of rice, her eyes widened, and suddenly she reached out, grabbed a handful of raw rice, and stuffed it into her mouth!
She only chewed one bite before her eyes rolled back, and she fell backward, unconscious.
"Mother! Mother——"
Her daughter knelt before her, tears streaming down her face, crying, "Mother, what's wrong? Wake up!"
Shan Tong'er was terrified by what she saw. She quickly jumped off the table, reached out to support the old woman, and checked her breath. Her eyes immediately reddened as well: "She's already—"
Upon hearing this, the girl threw herself onto the old woman and burst into tears. Those around her felt sorry for her and shook their heads and sighed. The people behind, unaware of what was happening, only heard people crying and sighing, and assumed that the food had been distributed. They were even more anxious to push forward, and it looked as if the crowd was about to rush up and trample on the mother and daughter.
In the critical moment, a voice shouted, "Don't panic, Shan Tong'er, stop the people behind!"
When Shan Tong turned around, he saw that it was Shang Ruyi walking over quickly.
Upon seeing her, Shan Tong'er felt as if a pillar of strength had been lifted from her heart. She was about to call out to her when Shang Ruyi, disregarding everything else, knelt down in front of the old woman. As the people around her continued to push forward, almost trampling on her, Shan Tong'er immediately jumped onto the table and shouted to the people in front of her, "Don't rush! Someone has fainted here! There's plenty of food!"
He shouted his last words the loudest, which steadied the people in front. He then waved to the guards on both sides, who hurriedly moved to the back, shouting all the way. Among them was Wo Xue, who kept stopping those behind her while yelling back, "Someone has fainted! Don't worry! There's plenty of food!"
The crowd shouted and tried to stop them, and finally managed to stabilize the situation temporarily.
At the same time, Shang Ruyi helped the old woman up. She saw that the old woman's jaw was clenched, her face was ashen, and she had stopped breathing. She was clearly going to die.
Her daughter was crying so hard she almost fainted. Shang Ruyi watched for a while, then said to the girl, "Don't worry, it's alright."
After saying that, she looked around but couldn't find anything suitable, so she simply pulled out a hairpin from her hair, stuck it into the old woman's mouth to pry open her teeth, and while taking out the rice that the old woman had stuffed into her mouth, she said to the girl, "Quickly pat your mother's back!"
The girl's face was streaked with tears, and she was still somewhat dazed: "Huh?"
Shang Ruyi said, "Quickly pat her back, I'm saving her life!"
Hearing her say that, the girl came to her senses and hurriedly reached out to pat her mother's back hard. There was a "thump thump" sound. The old woman was so hungry that she was skin and bones, and her back bones were raised high. The sound of patting sounded particularly hollow.
With each spit, the old woman opened her mouth and spat out all the rice grains she had swallowed with a "whoosh" on the seventh spit.
However, it sprayed Shang Ruyi all over.
Then, she started coughing violently, so hard she couldn't straighten up. The girl's eyes lit up instantly, and she hugged her with a mixture of surprise and joy: "Mother! Mother, you're alright!"
The old woman was still somewhat dazed, staring blankly at Shang Ruyi for a while before turning to look at her again: "Ni'er, what's wrong?"
Shang Ruyi patted her clothes and said, "You were so hungry that you ate raw rice and choked. That won't do. You've all been hungry for too long. Even if you take this rice back, it's best to make it into soup. Otherwise, you might overeat and get sick."
After she finished speaking, she stood up and said loudly to the people behind her, "Listen up, take this rice back, take a handful of rice and a bowl of water, boil it until you get rice oil, and then eat it. That way you won't hurt your stomach. Otherwise, you will end up like her."
The surrounding people were stunned by this scene, feeling both surprised, frightened, and respectful, and could only nod blankly at her.
Someone whispered, "Who is she?"
As they were talking, someone pushed forward from behind, and several commoners almost squeezed in front of Shang Ruyi. Shan Tong'er was startled and jumped off the table to block her way: "Your Highness, be careful!"
Everyone was startled by the shout.
"princess?"
"It's the Princess! Princess Qin!"
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
Filled with awe and gratitude, the crowd knelt before her. In an instant, people along the long street knelt in unison, calling out "Princess Qin," and bowed to the dignified and beautiful woman before them, who resembled a living Bodhisattva, saying, "Greetings, Princess Qin..."
"Greetings, Princess Consort of Qin!"
"Long live the Princess!"
The sound shook the heavens.
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