Xiao Rui left the county government office and returned to the courtyard where he had settled down.
As soon as I opened the door, I saw a girl in a bright red dress rushing towards me.
"Cousin, why are you so late? Are you alright?" Lu Wanqing looked Xiao Rui up and down, her eyes filled with concern.
Xiao Rui was silent for a moment, not answering her question directly, but instead asking, "It's so late, why isn't my cousin asleep yet?"
His mother's maternal uncle, Lu Sheng, whom he should call his maternal uncle, was Lu Wanqing, who was Lu Sheng's granddaughter and thus his cousin.
“I heard my cousin went out and was worried about you…” She paused here, “Since my cousin is alright, I’ll head back now.”
Xiao Rui nodded, "I'm fine, cousin, don't worry. Please don't go out too much these next few days, lest some disaster victims bump into you."
"Don't worry, cousin, I'll bring someone with me when we go out," Lu Wanqing replied with a smile, feeling a sweet warmth in her heart.
After the two parted ways and returned to her room, Lu Wanqing's maid, Emerald, happily exclaimed, "Miss, you made the right choice coming out with His Highness! His Highness was so caring towards you just now!"
Lu Wanqing tilted her head back and giggled, "You saw it too? I told you I needed to spend more time with my cousin so he would develop feelings for me, right? My dad won't even let me get close to my cousin anymore, he's so heartless."
Speaking of this, Lu Wanqing stopped laughing and sighed softly, "Jadeite, do you think my father and the others would agree if my cousin were willing to marry me?"
"Why would you ask that, Miss?" Emerald said with a smile, "With His Highness's status, the master and mistress certainly wouldn't object."
Lu Wanqing said worriedly, "But my cousin's current status..."
“My dear lady,” Emerald said as she pushed her toward the bed, “His Highness is not the kind of person who doesn’t have a plan in mind. Otherwise, why would he come here? Besides, he came to Yongshan County on official business. Who can say what kind of fortune His Highness will have in the future?”
How could a young lady confined to her mansion all day know the suffering of the common people outside? In her view, the world is about to descend into chaos, and it's uncertain who will become emperor. How can she judge other people's future based on her current status?
Lu Wanqing looked at Emerald with surprise, as if she had only just met her today. "Emerald, you understand these principles, so why doesn't my father?"
Jade smiled and said, "Master is just being cautious. After all, he has the future of so many people in our manor on his shoulders, so it's not wrong for him to be cautious."
Lu Wanqing knew this too, and it was precisely because she knew it that she wanted to sigh even more, "Yes, my father is doing this for the good of our family, but he is too cold to my cousin."
Her grandfather is now the prefect of Yukang Prefecture, and her father is the militia commander, responsible for the security and defense of Yukang Prefecture.
Perhaps because he was used to life and death in the military, her father was even more wary of people like his cousin, fearing that he would be implicated.
Although her grandfather warmly welcomed her cousin to their home, her father acted coldly, almost as if he was telling her cousin not to stay at their house.
So when her cousin said he was coming to Yongshan County, she insisted on coming along, because she was afraid that her cousin would never come back to her home again.
"They say things will work themselves out, Miss, so don't worry about these things. Get some sleep first, we still have to go outside the city to distribute porridge tomorrow." Emerald covered Lu Wanqing with the blanket, blew out the oil lamp, and went to sleep herself.
...
The next morning, after Lu Yanzheng had breakfast with Jiang Qinyu, they went to the city gate together.
"Aren't you going down to inspect the area today?" Jiang Qinyu asked Lu Yanzheng, who was sitting beside her in the carriage.
“No need. The rest of the work is almost done. I want to see how the porridge distribution is going outside the city,” Lu Yanzheng said.
Although I trust Wei Chengzhong, it's a different story when it comes to how his subordinates handle things; I have to see it for myself to know.
Jiang Qinyu suddenly realized that Lu Yanzheng truly cared about the people.
She lowered the car curtain, lost in thought.
Today, Ruyi accompanied her out. Looking at the various types of refined rice and tonics piled up in the carriage, she asked, puzzled, "Madam, the porridge we distribute at the county government office is made with broken rice. Won't it be a problem if you use refined rice...?"
Actually, this was not a question that a maid should have asked, but after spending some time with Jiang Qinyu, she didn't want the lady to be misunderstood.
Think about it, the county government only uses broken rice to distribute porridge, and other families are unlikely to use anything of good quality. If the general's wife suddenly brings out so much fine rice and tonics, wouldn't people say she's stealing the limelight?
"This is specifically for the elderly, children, and patients," Jiang Qinyu sighed.
Five days have passed since the heavy rain. Yesterday, she heard that because of the sudden drop in temperature, many people who fled their homes did not bring clothes or bedding and many of them fell ill from the cold. That's why she thought of making a special meal for these people.
Upon hearing this, Ruyi immediately fell silent.
I just couldn't help but think how kind-hearted this general's wife was. She had already managed to get a batch of dried goods from somewhere and asked her husband to help distribute them to the disaster victims. Now she was starting to think about the elderly and children among the disaster victims.
The distance from the county government office to the city gate wasn't far, and they arrived in no time.
Jiang Qinyu got out of the carriage and stood with Lu Yanzheng, watching several yamen runners help unload the things from the carriage.
She looked up and saw that the area near the city wall was completely occupied by various soup kitchens.
It seems that Madam Wei's mobilization work was very effective. Regardless of whether the wealthy households were willing or not, as long as they were willing to come and distribute porridge, more people could be saved.
"Mother, look, isn't that Lu Yanzheng's eldest cousin?" Several thinly dressed people, shivering and waiting to receive porridge, looked in Lu Yanzheng's direction. One of the young women asked the woman next to her in surprise.
The woman also looked in Lu Yanzheng's direction and quickly said, "Oh my, it really is! Quick, let's go find A-Zheng!"
The woman stopped queuing and pulled the girl towards Jiang Qinyu and the others.
Lu Yanzheng was listening to Jiang Qinyu when he looked up and saw two women, one old and one young, rushing towards him. He instinctively pulled Jiang Qinyu behind him and watched the two women warily.
"Ah Zheng? You're Ah Zheng, right?" The woman approached Lu Yanzheng, her eyes shining with excitement. "I'm your aunt!"
Lu Yanzheng was slightly taken aback, "Auntie?"
"Oh dear!" the woman exclaimed, slapping her thigh. "That damned downpour washed away our house! Your uncle and two cousins are trapped inside..."
The woman became more and more upset as she spoke, and she couldn't help but cry.
Judging from her words, this family suffered a disaster. Tragically, the men in her family were all crushed to death inside the house because they wanted to go back to get something.
"...Your cousin and I waited until people from the county came, buried your uncle and cousin, and planned to have a bowl of porridge here today before going to Dingshui Village to find your mother. We never expected to see you here."
The woman pulled the girl behind her closer, smiling and revealing a set of yellow teeth. "This is your cousin Xiu'er, do you remember her?"
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