Ning responded and put away his weapon.
The room fell silent, but the atmosphere remained tense. Lin Qixia scratched her head and said, "I need to rest. You can all leave."
After she finished speaking, neither of them moved for a long time.
Huo Yanqing gave Ning Shi a threatening look, but Ning Shi rolled his eyes dismissively.
However, he still left the house afterward, and Huo Yanqing went out after him.
Finally, it was quiet. Lin Qixia lay on the bed, grumbling, "So, even Ning Shi's initial mission has been abandoned now?"
That guy originally came to hunt down Huo Yanqing.
Everything is developing in a way that Lin Qixia finds increasingly incomprehensible.
No! In order to get rid of these two deadly guys, she also needs to work towards her goal as soon as possible.
...
The following months, Xiahezhuang's business went very smoothly.
As the year draws to a close, Hongfang Street remains festive, with many people coming to the area to buy New Year's goods, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere.
Lin Qixia plans to temporarily close her business in three days and return to Xiahe Village with He Zhilan and the others to celebrate the New Year.
"Business has been very good in the second half of this year, and everyone has done a great job. Today is the last payday of the year."
While Wen Xuan was distributing wages to the store employees one by one, Lin Qixia spoke to everyone from the side.
"The next thing is my personal request. In the past few months, I have established an organization dedicated to helping disaster victims. Previously, we had been distributing porridge outside the city gates to help disaster victims who were homeless due to the famine."
Upon hearing this, many shop assistants looked surprised: "So, the people distributing porridge at the city gate these past few months were actually arranged by our boss?"
"Is that so? Our boss is so kind!"
Lin Qixia felt a little embarrassed by their barrage of compliments, so she cleared her throat and continued:
“The people who joined that organization before were all people I recruited from my hometown, but because the number of people was too small, the intensity of their porridge distribution was far from enough.”
Our shop is about to close for the holidays, and for the last three days before we shut down, if you'd like to go to the city gate to distribute porridge and give back to the community, I welcome you to join us.
After she said that, many of the shop's employees started to consider it.
After all, many people plan to take advantage of the holiday to go home early, reunite with their families, and have a good New Year.
Facing the crowd, Lin Qixia continued, "I plan to organize a larger-scale relief event at the end of the year, so I need more people to help than before. Of course, this is not a job, but a public service. It's a good deed, and there's no salary, but it's not mandatory either. Anyone who is free and willing to come can come on that day."
Upon hearing this, Li Xing'er raised her hand without hesitation: "I'll do it! I'm free then!"
"I'll go too," Wen Xuan said, turning her head as she handed out the last paycheck to one of the employees.
Lin Qixia smiled and nodded: "Very good, thank you."
At this point, the other guys also chimed in enthusiastically: "Me! Me! I'll go too!"
"Count me in. There have been quite a few disaster victims outside the city lately."
"Yes, they all look quite pitiful."
"That's right, we're all just lucky to have enough to eat and drink thanks to the boss."
"Now that I've received my salary, spending a few days doing good deeds is also a way to accumulate good karma for my family."
Seeing everyone so enthusiastic, Lin Qixia was very pleased. "Very good, as expected of the employees of my 'Xiahe Manor'."
"I'll go to the warehouse to take stock and see how much grain is left," He Zhilan said to her, then turned and went to the backyard.
Lin Qixia told the employees to go back and rest first, then turned around and followed them.
If she wasn't mistaken, He Zhilan's expression just now was quite worried.
When Lin Qixia arrived at the warehouse in the backyard, she saw that the warehouse door was open and He Zhilan was standing alone inside, unusually quiet.
"What's wrong, sister-in-law?" she asked as she walked over.
He Zhilan turned her head and glanced at her, forcing a smile, "You've come."
"I didn't know you'd been distributing porridge to people behind the scenes. I was a little worried, so I came to check on you."
“However—” He Zhilan paused, then smiled wryly, “Actually, Xia’er, you can decide for yourself. I don’t need to worry about it.”
Lin Qixia walked in, looked at the bags of grain in the warehouse, scratched her head and said, "Sister-in-law, what exactly are you worried about? You can tell me."
She felt that He Zhilan was holding back something, so she pressed her for details.
He Zhilan walked into the warehouse, checking everything around her.
At this moment, because of Lin Qixia's questioning, he couldn't help but speak up: "It's really nothing serious, it's just that I feel that your food reserves have never run out, which is a good thing."
"I just... I just wonder if you really could earn the money to buy all this grain by just buying and selling woven fabrics?"
"Moreover, our store—our store—offers even cheaper prices compared to other stores."
"Not to mention, Lin Qixia has been distributing porridge outside all the time."
He Zhilan was quite puzzled that they could still make a profit under these circumstances.
She had kept quiet, not wanting to affect others, but now that Lin Qixia had suddenly confessed to giving out porridge, it triggered her long-standing worries.
Since Lin Qixia had asked her about it, He Zhilan couldn't help but tell her.
After she finished speaking, the vast warehouse space was quiet for a moment.
There was a moment of tension in the atmosphere, and Lin Qixia's heart skipped a beat.
She didn't expect that He Zhilan had actually been aware that something was wrong all along, but had just been holding back from asking her.
It's also her fault for overlooking this point.
“Sister-in-law.” After a long silence, Lin Qixia finally spoke up, “This matter is actually more complicated than you think—it’s not as simple as me using the money from buying woven baskets to open a shop.”
"With so much grain, it's certainly not something that can be obtained so easily."
She put on a nonchalant expression and said, "The merchant I told you about before who buys woven baskets is actually a wealthy merchant. I bought these grains from them."
"However, that family is kind-hearted and knows that the disaster in our Huailiang Prefecture is severe, so they offered a relatively low price."
"Is that so?" He Zhilan's expression relaxed considerably after hearing her say that.
However, she continued walking forward.
Lin Qixia followed behind her and soon realized where He Zhilan was going.
"Sister-in-law—" she called out.
He Zhilan finally stopped in a corner, lifted the cloth covering it, and what appeared in front of them was a pile of grain sealed with tape.
“And what about these?” she asked.
Lin Qixia stopped and looked at He Zhilan in front of her with an awkward smile.
"I didn't expect you to know even this, sister-in-law."
This batch of grain was the disaster relief grain and the collected grain tax that she obtained from the Feng family's residence on the night she finished the lawsuit, just before the Feng family's property was about to be raided.
Even if the Feng family father and son were detained, Tong Xuewei still needed to consult his superiors about how to handle the confiscated grain.
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