But one thing had been lingering in his mind for a long time.
Shen Shangxu had been staring at the memorial in his hand for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
He hesitated, wondering whether or not to report Liu Yingying's contributions in this bandit suppression operation.
It wasn't that he intended to steal Liu's credit; on the contrary, the reason he hesitated so much was actually because he was considering Liu's sake.
This is a male-dominated world where women are considered virtuous for their lack of talent.
From royalty and nobility to commoners, the attitude towards women who have lost their chastity is basically the same.
The nobles either drank a cup of poison, hanged themselves with a white silk ribbon, or spent their remaining years in seclusion with a Buddhist lamp and a Buddhist temple.
The practices of ordinary people were even more cruel, such as the wooden horse torture, confining people in pig cages and drowning them in ponds...
Although Liu Yingying risked her life to help the government take down the bandit's den, she also saved many innocent victims.
But in the eyes of the world, she was kidnapped to the mountains and spent her days with the bandit leader... This is what it means to lose one's virginity!
Even without official recognition and rewards, her husband's clan would certainly not tolerate her.
However, if her achievements were publicized, it would be tantamount to letting the whole world know about the unpleasant things she had experienced.
At that time, her husband's family might not dare to do anything to her because of the government's influence, but the world still couldn't tolerate her!
Just as Shen Shangxu was struggling with this dilemma, Chen Zhuo arrived.
"My lord, I have just returned from my mission in Qiushui Town to report back to you."
"Come in!" Shen Shangxu put down his pen and put away the memorial.
"Lord Shen, I have compiled a list of all the households in Qiushui Town that have been robbed in the past few days. Here is the list."
Cheng Zhuo handed the list to Shen Shangxu as he spoke.
"Alright, you can leave now." Shen Shangxu took the list and was about to put it down when he saw Cheng Zhuo looking hesitant. "What, is there something else?"
Cheng Zhuo thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Reporting to you, sir, when I returned from Qiushui Town, I saw the servants of the Liang family carrying his recently married concubine... drowning her in the pond!"
"What?" Upon hearing this, Shen Shangxu's heart skipped a beat, and his face darkened. "I remember that among those rescued this time was the concubine newly married to Master Liang. Could it be her?"
"That's right. It's said that Aunt Mei was once the number one courtesan in Furong County. She was redeemed by Master Liang, but she was kidnapped by bandits and defiled. The Liang family could no longer tolerate her."
Shen Shangxu fell silent again, and seeing Cheng Zhuo's evasive words, he couldn't help but feel a little angry.
"So, what exactly are you trying to tell me?"
"Hehe... Your subordinate... Your subordinate just feels that Sister Liu is a woman who is just as capable as any man. It would be a real shame if she were forced to her death by her husband's family!"
Cheng Zhuo finally spoke his mind.
"Alright, I know what to do about this. You can leave now!"
"Yes!" Cheng Zhuo left.
Shen Shangxu sighed, took out the memorial from earlier again, and wrote down the important contributions Liu Yingying made in this bandit suppression!
The next morning, Liu Yingying took her three children and everyone else up to Xijiu Mountain.
Sister Zou, Sister Li, and others brought young people from their village today.
With the addition of Wang Delu's large family of over twenty people in Taoyuan Village, the work was completed quite quickly. In less than a morning, they had already cut down all the bamboo on the northwest hillside.
Liu Yingying roughly estimated the bamboo stalks; they were far from enough to build a pipeline that could extend to several villages at the foot of the mountain.
Fortunately, on the other side of the mountain, separated by a cliff, there grows a lush and verdant bamboo forest.
Once all the bamboo has been cut down, there should be more than enough...
By this time, the sun had moved to the very center of the sky, and its scorching rays could burn off a person's skin.
Liu Yingying shouted at the top of her lungs, "The sun is too strong right now, everyone stop and rest for a while. We'll continue working when the sun goes down!"
"Sister Zou, Sister Li, could a few of you help me make lunch for everyone?"
Everyone was puzzled when they heard this.
At this time, almost every household had very little surplus food.
There are at least seventy or eighty people on the mountain now, and these seventy or eighty people will eat at least sixty kilograms of brown rice in one meal.
Sixty catties of rice, that's two catties of rice for three people for two months!
Sister Zou couldn't stand it anymore and pulled Liu Yingying aside, whispering, "Hey, little sister, why are you so honest?"
"Who knows when it will rain? There are no men in your family who can go out to work, and you have to support three children. Everyone pooled their money to give you that food yesterday, hoping to help you get through this difficult time. But what do you do? You take it all out and share it with everyone. What will you eat next?"
"Don't worry, I told you yesterday that my family still has food, but you wouldn't believe me. Look, everyone is working under the sun. We can't let you all go hungry, can we?"
Sister Zou sighed; "What can we do? Besides, we're not all working for you; we're all doing it for ourselves..."
"I know!" Liu Yingying interrupted her with a smile; "Don't worry about the food, come help me in the kitchen..."
Sister Zou and the others couldn't dissuade her, so they had no choice but to follow her into the kitchen.
Then, in front of everyone, Liu Yingying lifted the lid of the large vats that were placed against the wall.
Two of the jars were filled with brown rice, while the other jars contained pork belly, chicken, and some vegetables.
There were also two large basins on the shelf filled with pickled vegetables, which could be eaten with rice...
Everyone was stunned...
"Sister Liu, the grain we gave you yesterday didn't even add up to this much, did it?"
"Yeah...and I haven't delivered this meat before, where did you get it?"
Liu Yingying smiled and explained, "Don't worry, I definitely won't give you all my savings. This grain was actually left behind by the bandits. The government probably forgot to take it. I found it when I was taking inventory yesterday. And this meat was indeed bought by me, but I didn't pay for it."
"Ah? Who paid for that? This meat must have cost several taels of silver!" Sister Zou and the others were extremely surprised at this point.
"I was rewarded by Lord Shen for my meritorious service in assisting the government in suppressing bandits."
At this point, no one had any further doubts.
As long as they make sure they don't eat Liu Yingying dry, they're happy to have enough to eat while they work.
So the women all joined in cooking lunch, some scrubbing pots and pans, others washing vegetables...
In fact, these things were neither left behind by bandits nor bought by Lord Shen.
Instead, it was redeemed by Liu Yingying from the mall.
It's not that she's a saintly lotus, but she has plenty of points at hand right now. If she can make sure everyone has food, she can also win people's hearts. Why not?
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