Chapter 139 Ingratitude, Post-Disaster Reconstruction...
After settling the three thousand refugees and instructing the county clerk and county constable on all defense matters, Zhang Ting was too exhausted to continue and went back to Black Bear Cave to rest.
Early in the morning, the rain was still drizzling, and the sky was gloomy, as if it were wrapped tightly in a thick black cloth, making it hard for people to breathe.
A glimmer of hope quietly arose in the hearts of the people inside the cave.
Suddenly someone pointed excitedly to the horizon, "Look, look! The rain has stopped!"
Everyone stood up and crowded around the cave entrance. The air was filled with the earthy smell of soil. The dark clouds on the horizon dispersed, and a bright red sun appeared before them, its rays shining brightly on the earth.
At the same time, Zheng Er and Wang Wu brought over some medicine for catching a cold.
The crowd cheered and the atmosphere was more excited than ever before.
"The county magistrate is truly our lucky star! As soon as she arrived, not only did she find us a cave to shelter from the rain, but the heavy rain that had been falling for days also stopped!"
"The county magistrate is kind and compassionate; he even brought medicinal herbs to our fellow villagers!"
The county clerk and the county constable were caught up in the atmosphere, their faces beaming with joy and excitement.
Zheng Er and Wang Wu looked at each other, not understanding what these people were excited about, but they were also extremely happy that they supported their boss.
Both of them smiled with pride.
Zhang Ting was completely unaware of this; she was fast asleep on her husband's lap.
Traveling day and night for three days straight was already extremely exhausting, and she also went out to look for someone last night without sleeping. Over the past few days, her cheeks have become sunken.
Zong Suyi gently wiped her face with a damp cloth, tenderly touching the dark circles under her eyes. His wife had a regular schedule and slept on time; she had never experienced anything like this before.
I haven't been eating or sleeping well lately, and aside from everything else, my face has become much thinner.
He wiped Zhang Ting's face clean, then untied her hair and combed it neatly strand by strand, so that she wouldn't have a headache after a good night's sleep.
After everything was settled, Zong Suyi gently placed her head on the pillow, pulled the blanket up to cover her chest, his eyes as soft as water, overflowing with affection. He pressed his face against hers, smiled, and turned to kiss her lips again.
Even after all this, this person is still sleeping like a dead pig, without any reaction. Zong Suyi covered her mouth to suppress a laugh, and couldn't help but reach out and gently push Zhang Ting's nose upwards.
Hmm, it looks even more like a pig now.
He laughed so hard his shoulders were shaking, and it took him a long time to recover.
Having had his fill of fun, he still had many important things to do. As he turned around, he glanced back, waved to the person who was fast asleep, and said silently with a smile in his eyes, "See you later, my dear wife."
Although the Black Bear Cave is several times smaller than the cave above, it doesn't feel cramped at all compared to a regular house.
Zong Suyi called a few people outside and deliberately lowered his voice to say to Zheng Er, "After several days of torrential rain, many people in the cave must have caught a cold. Didn't we buy a lot of medicine packets for treating colds in Luchuan? Keep one or two packets for emergencies, and take the rest upstairs. It's better than nothing, and it's all a token of our goodwill."
He then turned to the others and said, “The wife has just arrived to take up her post, and at this stage, what she needs most is to stabilize the hearts of the people. In addition, now that she holds an official position, there will surely be countless villains around her who are jealous and want to start a rebellion. Remember to keep yourselves in check and do not let others take advantage of the situation.”
"As you all know, my wife is a good person. Once Fengxian has settled down, we will never forget your hard work."
Everyone knows Zhang Ting's character and that she has a bright future; otherwise, they wouldn't have followed her all this way.
Zheng Er wholeheartedly agreed, saying that the Dong family's character was unparalleled and that was beyond question.
“Why are you saying this, sir? We know our master’s character well. When has he ever mistreated his own people? Besides, we are not heartless people. We should step up in times of crisis.”
Li Ruilian nodded affirmatively. The master treated them very well, and she had long been determined to serve as his bodyguard for life.
Wang Wu and Liu Da both said, "At this critical juncture, we should do our utmost."
Zong Suyi smiled noncommittally and then instructed Liu Dayong to cook some porridge with grain for everyone to eat for breakfast.
Immediately, he turned around and went to check their luggage and supplies.
Liu Da lit a fire, set up a pot, poured water, and cooked porridge. Staring blankly at the rice grains floating in the pot, she seemed lost in thought.
A little while later, Zheng Er and Wang Wu returned after delivering the medicinal herbs.
Zheng Er went to report back to his master, while Wang Wu squatted by the fire and spoke quietly to Liu Da.
"You didn't see it, the people of Fengxian really support our boss, they practically worship him like a god."
Liu Da poked at the fire expressionlessly. "The boss is naturally very capable, with a good temper. It's normal."
Wang Wu noticed that she seemed to have something on her mind and asked her a question.
Liu Da looked around before pulling her over to talk, asking with difficulty, "Fifth Sister, do you want to go home? Do you miss your husband and children at home?"
Wang Wu's expression changed drastically. "At a time like this, you're not thinking of abandoning your employer and running away, are you?!"
Liu Da clicked his tongue and grabbed her clothes. "What do you take me for?" After a pause, he explained, "I just haven't been back for a long time and I miss it terribly. If I really have to leave in the future, I'll wait until things at my employer's place are settled and Fengxian has settled down before I say goodbye."
Wang Wu didn't understand. "Once we've settled down here, why don't you bring your husband and children over? Zhangzhou Prefecture and Tongzhou Prefecture are right next to each other."
Liu Da lowered his head and poked at the freshly burned ashes. "Zhangzhou Prefecture was already poor. After the disaster, won't it become even poorer? Won't my husband and children suffer along with us? We may have made a lot of money, but we'll have nowhere to spend it."
Wang Wu glared at her through gritted teeth, exasperated. "The master's husband and children can endure hardship, but yours can't?" She stood up abruptly and spat on the ground. "You make it sound so noble, but you just think Fengxian is poor and want to go back to a better life after making enough money off the master. What husband and children? Bah!"
"Liu Da, you're an ungrateful wretch!"
Her voice was a bit loud, and Liu Da was worried that others would hear, so he quickly covered Wang Wu's mouth and pulled her to sit down, saying, "Keep your voice down, the boss is still asleep!"
"How dare you mention your employer? You're heartless!"
Liu Da told her to lower her voice and said calmly, "Fifth Sister, we've known each other for so many years, and I won't lie to you. You've seen it yourself, Zheng Er and the eldest brother have a high status and are highly valued by the boss, while what about us? We've been doing these odd jobs for so many years, and we don't know when we'll be able to get ahead."
"Don't you feel even a little bit resentful or dissatisfied? It's not like I'm going to run off to work for someone else right after leaving this company. I'll always remember how good my employer was to me. It's just that since I haven't been able to make anything of myself, why don't I go back to my hometown and enjoy a peaceful life with my husband and kids?"
“We are not the master’s slaves, and we are not bound to her side for life.”
Wang Wu looked at her with a sense of unfamiliarity and shook his head. "Liu Da, you've changed."
“If we hadn’t followed our master back then, we’d still be risking our lives for the escort agency to make a living. We might not even be alive today! Let alone be able to get married and have children.” She said with a frown, “This is a life-saving grace. Although we are as fragile as grass, we must remember this kindness!”
Liu Da got angry when he couldn't reason with her, saying, "If you want to stay with the boss forever, don't drag me into it." He thought that Wang Wu would empathize with her because they were in the same boat, but it turned out that she was just being presumptuous.
The two parted on bad terms.
Zhang Ting, the person at the center of the discussion, woke up at noon. She sat on a blanket, her head still heavy with sleep. There was a thick layer of dry grass under the blanket, so she wouldn't feel sore even after sleeping for a long time.
When Zong Suyi saw that she was awake, he brought over a bowl of rice porridge, touched her forehead, and breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it wasn't hot.
He bent down and stirred the thick rice porridge in the bowl, then scooped up a spoonful and fed it to her, saying, "Fill your stomach quickly."
Zhang Ting took a spoonful of rice porridge into her mouth, swallowed it, then took the bowl from his hand, swallowed it gulpingly, and swallowed it down to her stomach.
"Hey, don't drink so fast!"
After finishing her porridge, she handed the bowl to Zong Suyi. "There are more than 20,000 people in Fengxian. We only found 3,000 yesterday." She looked outside. "We need to find the rest quickly while it's sunny outside. Who knows when it might rain heavily again."
She stood up and looked at him solemnly, "My lord, I entrust the affairs of the household to you. Please remember to take care of yourself and the children."
Zong Suyi smiled and replied, "Okay." He opened his arms for a warm hug, but the other woman had already turned and left, her back view swift and without the slightest hesitation.
Zong Suyi's lips curled down, and he muttered, "That blockhead just doesn't understand romance."
She lowered her head and stroked her lower abdomen, saying, "My son, never be like your mother."
...
Finding someone on a sunny day is so convenient; you can find all the people in the county in half a day.
With accommodation sorted out, the next serious issue to face is food.
The crops were all submerged, and the people had almost run out of the food they had brought. With the tide not receding anytime soon, it was too late to request disaster relief grain or for the prefectural city to open its granaries and release grain.
Zhang Ting knew that if she couldn't solve the food problem, what awaited her was a group of people who would turn into wild beasts.
She divided the group into batches and teams. The weak were put into one team to collect wild vegetables such as purslane, ferns, and bamboo shoots from the mountains, bringing back anything edible; the strong were sent out to hunt and fish, bringing back any edible insects they found, which both expended the energy of the young and strong and provided them with food.
The obtained food is centrally managed and allocated in fixed quantities.
This temporary food crisis has been resolved, but the mountain is not inexhaustible; the key to the future lies in importing food from outside.
She had a raft made and summoned three young women who were good swimmers. She gave them the disaster relief documents to be sent to the prefectural city so that at least the food could be transported to the city during low tide.
Only by taking this two-pronged approach can public sentiment be barely maintained.
However, with so many people gathered in one place, trouble is bound to happen, requiring strict control and consuming a lot of energy.
Zhang Ting stared at the group of idle young or middle-aged women, stroking his chin with a gleam in his eyes. This was a perfect opportunity to borrow these surplus laborers to solve the next problem—the epidemic.
Eating, drinking, and defecating are basic human instincts, so a team should be assigned to dig latrines; many people have drowned in the flood, and their bodies need to be retrieved to prevent the stench from spreading and causing an epidemic; those who collect medicinal herbs should also be organized.
Well, the house will need to be rebuilt after the tide goes out, so we can start preparing timber and thatch now.
After Zhang Ting finished planning, she walked towards them.
A group of young women were laughing and talking in a circle when they suddenly shivered and touched their shoulders in confusion.
Did they catch a cold too?
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