Chapter 116 Snow Has Become a Disaster
On the snow-covered riverbank, boats cannot sail on the winter solstice.
Although it's not yet the winter solstice, the river is completely impassable due to the heavy snowfall.
At noon today, Lin Ruhai and his group abandoned their boat and went ashore, then boarded a carriage to continue their journey to Yangzhou.
Fortunately, Lin Ruhai and his group were heading south. Although it was bitterly cold along the way, it gradually warmed up as they traveled.
The journey from the capital to Yangzhou is over two thousand miles. To make it more comfortable, they would travel by boat along the Grand Canal. If the weather was favorable, it would take about half a month, but if they encountered bad weather, it could take one or two months.
Traveling by land was anything but comfortable. We changed horses all the way, but not people. If we got tired, we would take a nap in the carriage. After traveling day and night, it took us ten days to finally get back to Yangzhou.
Upon arriving in Yangzhou, Lan Cong suddenly remembered that he had promised Mr. Yuan to find a bodyguard for the young lady, but he seemed to have forgotten about it.
Although the journey was not peaceful, fortunately, the master was brought back to Yangzhou safely. Lan Cong did not have time to rest and quickly wrote a letter, which was sent to his younger sister Lan Su, hoping that she would go to the capital as soon as she received the letter.
Although Yuan Hongqu in the capital had not forgotten this matter, her current situation made it understandable.
Although Lan Cong said that Lan Su would be able to come to the capital within five days when she left, given the current situation, she wouldn't be surprised if Lan Su couldn't come to the capital even after a month.
On the nineteenth day of the eleventh lunar month, the capital city was hit by a once-in-a-century snowfall, which lasted for three days. Countless houses in the capital collapsed under the weight of the snow, and in the ordinary households of the western city, almost every family had someone who had perished in the snow disaster.
Three days later, the weather cleared up a bit, and people rushed to the streets to replenish their household needs. Smaller grain stores were almost completely sold out, and larger grain stores, seeing this, hurriedly raised their prices.
The snow inside the city was three feet deep, and the snow outside the city was even deeper.
Most of the grain in the grain stores in the capital was transported from outside the city. With the current road conditions, even pedestrians had a problem, let alone carriages and horses.
Although the situation will improve slightly as the snow melts, no one can guarantee that the snow will continue to fall.
Because the sky was clear for only half a day, and a cold wind blew for half a day, it started snowing heavily again in the evening.
The west city was filled with wailing. They had hoped that God would give them a way out, but now their hopes had been dashed once again.
The weather was fine before it snowed, and no one would have thought that the next day would be such a heavy snowfall, with snow and wind raging for three consecutive days.
Ordinary people already live a tight life. During the winter months, when they hibernate, they wish they could eat only one meal a day, just to avoid starving to death.
Even this meal has become a luxury now.
There's no rice, no firewood, and our house has collapsed; we don't even have a place to shelter from the wind and snow...
God, how are we supposed to live?
Are you even going to give the poor a way to survive?!
This is still right under the emperor's nose!
Yuan Hongqu was unaware of these things. With the head of the Lin family away, they were living their own lives behind closed doors.
Because of her hamster-like personality, the Lin family's stored grain and winter vegetables were enough to feed everyone in the mansion for at least three months.
Even if it wasn't enough, she still had her space, and the basement of her space was filled with a warehouse full of supplies, so Yuan Hongqu wasn't worried at all.
It was Fangya, a lowly maid in the household, who returned home, and only then did Yuan Hongqu learn about the situation in Xicheng.
Fangya lives in Xicheng. Her family consists of her parents, grandmother, and younger brother. On the fourth day of the heavy snow, her family sent her a letter through various channels, urging her to return home as soon as possible.
Unless it's an extremely urgent matter, her family wouldn't call her back in this weather.
Fangya received the message and asked for leave to go home and visit her family.
What used to be a half-hour journey took Fangya two hours to get home.
This was only because some of the snow on the inner city roads had been cleared; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to get home in three hours.
The western part of the city was in ruins, with almost no intact houses to be found. Fangya finally found her home, only to find that it had collapsed and the snow had completely covered the ruins. She stood at the door and called out to her parents several times, but there was no response.
After calling for a while, their neighbor across the hall opened the door. Seeing Fangya, he seemed relieved and quickly invited her to their house.
Fangya saw her younger brother at her neighbor's house and learned that because of the house collapse, her family members were crushed to death in their sleep, and only her brother survived.
It's too cold to go now, and the bodies of her parents and grandparents are still buried in the snow in their dilapidated house. The funeral can only be held when the snow melts...
Seeing that it was getting late and there was nowhere to stay in Xicheng, Fangya carried her younger brother and used both her hands and feet to get back to the Lin family before curfew.
Fangya would definitely have to report to the head maid if she brought a five or six-year-old boy back to the mansion out of nowhere.
The head maid dared not make the decision herself, so she reported it up the chain of command, until finally the matter reached Yuan Hongqu.
Since the child was about five or six years old and spoke clearly, Yuan Hongqu kept him and made him a messenger at the second gate.
After receiving the results, Fangya ran to Jiaoyun Garden and kowtowed to Daiyu and Yuan Hongqu to express her gratitude.
Daiyu then learned that Fangya's parents and grandparents were still lying dead in the snow, unable to be buried. She couldn't bear it and pulled Yuan Hongqu aside, asking her to find someone to properly bury Fangya's relatives the next day.
Yuan Hongqu was in a dilemma. It wasn't difficult to arrange a burial for someone, but the problem was that she couldn't easily get to the west of the city!
Even if it were in the past, it would be extremely difficult to remove the body.
Although she had never been to Xicheng, she knew the general situation there from the snowfall over the past few days.
Actually, the deceased cannot be buried at present due to the freezing weather, and it is unlikely to cause any epidemic in the short term, so this is a minor issue.
What's frightening is that so many people's houses have collapsed, and the heavy snow hasn't stopped yet. How will they survive the days to come?
The population in the western part of the city is not small. Fangya said that the government has not taken any countermeasures so far, leaving the people of the western part of the city to fend for themselves.
In ancient times, many mobs were formed due to natural disasters.
After much deliberation and consulting with Fangya, Yuan Hongqu decided to make a trip to the Rongguo Mansion.
As for burying Fangya's relatives, she sent a few people to go back with Fangya to take a look before making any decisions.
Inside the small hall of Rongqing Hall, the room was warm and cozy. Grandmother Jia was reclining on the couch, while two young maids were massaging her legs with their fist-like movements.
“Grandmother, Mr. Yuan has arrived and says he wishes to see you,” Yuanyang said softly as she entered.
Grandmother Jia immediately opened her sleepy eyes.
"Why is she here at this time? Is something wrong with Daiyu? Quickly help me up."
Yuanyang hurriedly went to help Grandmother Jia up. Just as Grandmother Jia sat down, Yuan Hongqu and Wang Xifeng walked in together.
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