After dinner, Yu Shu called Bai Ran to the north and asked, "Little Kui said that you talked to her about the Laba Festival and about giving porridge. Is that right?"
Bai Ran stood in front of her in a slightly reserved manner and answered with his head lowered, "I just mentioned a few words. Before my ancestor was convicted and his house was confiscated, my grandmother was kind and charitable. As long as I can remember, she would build a porridge shed outside the city to help the poor during the Laba Festival every year. I heard that there was a drought in the north this year, and many refugees moved to the capital region. I think there will be many rich families giving porridge, so I talked about it in front of Little Kui. Please don't blame me. "
His grandfather, Bai Wei, was originally a Jiangzhou Jiedushi. Because of the failure in the northwest war two years ago, he was sentenced to death by Emperor Zhao Qing in anger. As a sinner, he was sold into the Consecrated Institute.
"Well," Yu Shu nodded and did not comment. She believed in her heart that he was like her, a person from another world. She did not have the slightest memory of the original owner. Even if he said he remembered when he was a child, it could only mean that he came "earlier" than her at most.
"In that case, you should have some understanding of the distribution of porridge. How about this? I'll give you some money and manpower. You go and make arrangements to set up a porridge stall outside the city to provide for the refugees nearby. Is that okay?"
Bai Ran did not agree immediately. Yu Shu saw that he was a little hesitant, so she asked, "Can't you do it?"
"No, it's just that today is the sixth day. If I arrange it, I can only open the porridge shed after three days, which is the tenth day. I'll miss the Laba Festival."
Yu Shu raised her eyebrows and said, "If you miss it, then you miss it. Who made the rule that you can only give porridge on the Laba Festival? Besides, it's not just for one or two days. You just need to come up with a plan and calculate how much money you need to spend every day, and then come to me to get the money. Remember not to be too stingy. You can't do it for ten or eight days, so it's not in vain. "
She understood what Bai Ran meant. Choosing a rich family to give porridge on the Laba Festival was not only to do good deeds, but more importantly, to gain a good reputation. Although it was only two or three days late, it seemed insincere.
However, she didn't care. It was just a spur of the moment idea. She simply wanted to do something good and spread her wealth. She had earned quite a lot of money in the past few months. Taking out a thousand or so taels was just a small gesture.
Bai Ran raised her head and quickly glanced at her. After confirming that she wasn't joking, she agreed.
"Go back. Remember to tell Xiaoxiu that you don't need to accompany him to the Academy these days." Yu Shu had long felt that it was a waste of talent to let Bai Ran be Yu Xiaoxiu's errand boy. She seized the opportunity to assign him tasks. With the little spy An Bekui watching him every day, she was not afraid that he would overturn the heavens.
Bai Ran accepted the task, but he didn't hurry to leave. He hesitantly told Yu Shu about what had happened in Baichuan Academy during the day. It wasn't that he wanted to stir up trouble, but he was worried that Yu Xiaoxiu would be ostracized in the academy. If he stayed here for too long, it would affect his studies.
Yu Shu listened with a frown. She thought for a moment and said, "What do you think if I don't let Xiaoxiu go to the academy and hire a teacher for him to go home?"
Bai Ran didn't expect that she would ask for his opinion, so he couldn't answer for a moment.
Yu Shu continued, "I sent him to study so that he could make a few more friends. He's wholeheartedly focused on studying medicine, so he's not good at writing poems and essays. I don't expect him to pass the imperial examinations in the future, so I sent him to study so that he can understand and understand. Listening to what you said, he is not happy in the academy. He doesn't make many friends, and people always criticize him. It's better to let him go home and hire a teacher to teach him alone. He can be more at ease. "
She wasn't a feudal family head who forced her children to study rigidly. She didn't force Yu Xiaoxiu to study even though he didn't like to study, let alone go to school. To put it bluntly, letting him go to school was to find a place for him to learn and have fun, not to let him suffer.
"You get along well with Xiaoxiu. Ask him for me if he wants to continue to go to school or go home to hire a teacher. Tell me later."
Bai Ran understood when he heard this. Yu Shu didn't ask for his opinion at all. She just wanted him to go home and learn. He envied Yu Xiaoxiu from the bottom of his heart. He had such an open-minded elder sister who made decisions for him, so he didn't have to worry about his future.
After Bai Ran left, Yu Shu said to Xin 'er, "Open the warehouse early tomorrow morning. I remember someone gave a set of good four treasures of the study and a box of tung oil cigarettes from Huaiqing Zhai. Take them and send them to Bai Ran. His calligraphy is excellent, so it's not a waste to give them to him."
Since she found out that Bai Ran and she were the same kind of person, she couldn't order him around like a servant. Since they couldn't recognize each other, she might as well give him some preferential treatment.
***
The next day, Bai Ran figured out the cost of setting up the shed to distribute porridge. Yu Shu roughly looked at it. According to the shed, three pots would be set up, and the stove would be heated twice in the morning and in the evening. Fifteen pots of porridge would be cooked. Rice and flour accounted for most of the ingredients, plus miscellaneous items, it would cost two hundred taels of silver a day.
Money was a small matter. The key was the lack of manpower. The porridge could be cooked at home and then sent outside the city, but on the day of distribution, there needed to be at least ten people present.
Yu Shu thought about it and also found Zhou Hu. She asked him to arrange a shift for the guards, five people in a rotation. The next day, they would go to the porridge shed outside the city to help. Xin 'er and An Beikui would help Bai Ran. She also picked two or three handymen from the front yard. That was enough.
Yu Shu gave Bai Ran a stack of silver notes and a small box of silver ingots. There were more than two thousand taels of silver. She directly calculated the expenses for ten days and gave it to him. It was ten times more than the two hundred taels of silver he got when he sold himself.
Bai Ran was surprised by her trust. He couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart. He just got a reward this morning. The set of brush, ink, paper and inkstone, as well as the excellent tung oil cigarette. No matter how he looked at it, he didn't think it was something to reward a servant. It seemed that it was specially selected as a gift.
He didn't feel it before. It seemed that since Xiao Kui learned to read with him, the girl treated him differently. Could it be that Xiao Kui said good things about him in front of the girl?
Bai Ran could only explain the sudden attention that Yu Shu paid to him in this way.
"Write down the daily expenses and show it to me every three days." Yu Shu paid and gave it to others. She didn't want to care about it anymore.
In the evening, Zhao Hui learned that Yu Shu was going to give porridge outside the city. She called her to the room, took out two hundred taels of silver, and said to her,
"This is the old lady's and my share. Take advantage of your free ride to do a good deed. Don't think it's too little. It's really pitiful that I can still get married and have children at this age. Seeing Xiao Chuan grow up day by day, I want to do more good deeds for him. "
He Fangzhi's medical center had a plaque given by the emperor. Although it was cheap to see a doctor and buy medicine, it was stable. It was a lot to be able to make two hundred taels of profit a month. Now, Zhao Hui and Old Madame He took out so much of their private money to add a share. It was also sincere.
Yu Shu didn't refuse. She said seriously, "In my opinion, I don't know how much good deeds godfather has done to be able to marry a good wife like you."
Zhao Hui gently pinched her face and said with a smile, "Then I don't know how many good deeds I have done in my previous life to be able to meet a savior like you in this life."
That night, Yu Shu asked An Beikui to send two hundred taels of silver to Bai Ran. She told him that it was donated by the old lady and the madame. She asked him to buy more red dates and peanuts to make porridge and not to be stingy.
.....
On the day of the Laba Festival, the entire Celestial Commissioner Mu Xiu, three divisions and two bureaus were left with only the gatekeepers.
Yu Shu got up a moment later than usual. After casually washing up, she put on a newly made cloak and went to the dining room in front for breakfast. Yesterday, Zhao Hui specially told her to have porridge with the whole family this morning.
The breakfast was quite sumptuous. A bowl of Laba porridge alone had more than twenty kinds of ingredients. In addition to the indispensable white rice, carrots, and green vegetables, there were also lotus seeds, sweet potatoes, white fungus, and so on. The porridge was soft and fragrant. When one scooped a spoonful of it, it was still shredded, and the smell was enough to make people want to eat it.
In addition, there were fried spring rolls, lard cakes, and scallion beef buns as the main dishes. Together with Zhao Hui's homemade red and white radish strips and honey chicken feet, Yu Shu only stopped after drinking three small bowls of porridge. She was so full that she burped. He Fangzhi and Yu Xiaoxiu were not inferior.
Zhao Hui looked happy. When it was time to eat, she said to Yu Shu, "I asked the kitchen to make an extra portion. Later, you can go see your mother while it's warm."
"I can pick her up tomorrow. There's no need to trouble yourself." She was locked up for a total of three days. She went in on the fifth day of the Chinese New Year. Not counting the half a day, she could come out on the ninth day of the Chinese New Year.
Zhao Hui disapprovingly said, "What trouble? Today is the New Year's Eve. It must be uncomfortable for her to be alone in that kind of place. What's the point of making an extra trip?"
Yu Shu really didn't want to go. "Aren't we going to worship today? I don't have time. Xin 'er, go to the front and see if Lu Hong and Xu Qing have eaten. Let them feed the horses and leave in a while. "
The Yu Family's situation was a bit special. After Aunt Cui remarried, she didn't burn paper for Yu Xiucai's grave. When Yu Shu and Yu Xiaoxiu left Yiyang City, they didn't bring their ancestors' memorial tablets. It was only after Zhao Hui reminded them that they carved a few Reincarnation Tablets and placed them in Ascending Cloud Temple to enjoy the incense. Therefore, on the day of worship, Yu Shu and Yu Xiaoxiu would go to the Taoist temple to burn incense.
"Go see your mother first, and then go to the Taoist temple." Zhao Hui put on a posture that said she had to go. Yu Shu had to admit defeat. She turned her head and said to Yu Xiaoxiu,
"Are you going or not?"
Yu Xiaoxiu wanted to go, but he had to go to school as usual today. The Academy didn't allow him to rest until the end of the year.
Yu Shu patted his head and said, "Just ask someone to take a vacation. Let's go back to the room to change clothes and see my mother with me."
"But there is a test today. Can I not go?" Yu Xiaoxiu looked hesitant.
"What are you afraid of? I said I won't go, so I won't go." Yu Shu took his hand and walked out.
In order to coax Yu Shu to go see Aunt Cui, Zhao Hui didn't interrupt. After the siblings left hand in hand, she said to He Fangzhi worriedly, "Is Xiao Yu spoiling Xiaoxiu too much? How can he not go to school just because you said so?"
He Fangzhi didn't find it strange because Yu Shu had reported it to her in advance. After explaining the cause and effect to her, Zhao Hui didn't have any objection. She just sighed and suddenly lamented, "As parents, you only know how to say that your children are unfilial. When will you think about whether you have done anything wrong to your children? I hope that after this lesson, Little Xiu's mother will learn from her mistakes and stop causing trouble for the two children. "
He Fangzhi nodded in understanding.
.....
Yu Shu didn't have to trouble Xue Rui when she went to visit the prison today. She was unfamiliar the first time and became familiar the second time. When she saw the warden, she stuffed a piece of silver into his hand and smoothly saw Concubine Cui.
Aunt Cui sat in the cold and damp cell, holding a hot bowl of Laba porridge. She drank it and cried. Yu Xiaoxiu comforted her in a low voice. Yu Shu patiently waited until she was full and cried enough before leaving with Yu Xiaoxiu.
The two came out of the prison and didn't go back home. Instead, they went straight to the Rising Cloud Temple outside the city.
Today was a festival, so the street was very lively in the daytime. It was even more crowded after passing through Qianyuan Street to the south of the city. Performers, medicine sellers, and prostitutes could be seen everywhere. They were all trying their best to make more money before the end of the year and have a good New Year.
Yu Xiaoxiu leaned on the window and looked all the way. He temporarily forgot his worries. When they arrived at the city gate, the carriage stopped. Liu Zhong said outside,
"Miss, there are many people at the city gate. There is a queue to go in and out."
The closer it was to the end of the year, the stricter the security of Anling City was. Only the south side of the city could be used. It opened at sunrise and was closed at night.
Yu Shu pressed Yu Xiaoxiu's head and looked outside. Sure enough, it was too crowded to squeeze through. "Then let's wait."
But it didn't take long before there was a noise in front. Lu Hong and Xu Qing were both there. One stayed to take care of them, and the other got off the horse to see what was going on.
After a while, Xu Qing came back. He stood under the window and reported to Yu Shu, "They are disaster victims from the north. There are a lot of porridge stalls under the high wall outside the city. They are all waiting for porridge to be distributed, so the road is blocked. Some disaster victims wanted to sneak into the city, but they were caught by the garrison guards. They are driving people out. The carriage is too big to pass, so we have to wait for the crowd to disperse."
Yu Shu sat in the carriage for a long time and felt bored. Hearing this, she said to Yu Xiaoxiu, "Let's get out of the carriage and take a few steps. We can take another carriage after we get out of the city."
Yu Xiaoxiu couldn't sit still anymore. He jumped out of the carriage like a monkey and turned around to help her get down. Lu Hong and Xu Qing discussed it for a while. The former followed them, and the latter went with Liu Zhong.
Yu Shu and Yu Xiaoxiu followed the flow of the crowd and squeezed their way out of the city. Looking around, they saw a row of porridge stalls at the foot of the city wall. There were about twenty to thirty of them, and each stall was crowded with people. The victims, who were emaciated and dressed in rags, were all stretching their hands out, trying to grab a bowl of hot porridge to fill their stomachs.
At first glance, they looked like a group of hungry ghosts reincarnated.
Yu Xiaoxiu was shocked by the scene. He grabbed Yu Shu's sleeve and whispered, "Sister, why are there so many people?"
Yu Shu had mixed feelings. It was also the first time she saw such a situation. Five hundred years later, there were very few people in the country who didn't have enough to eat. "Disaster victims" was just a synonym.
But this was five hundred years ago. In the feudal society, there were exorbitant taxes and heavy taxes. When there were droughts and floods, farmers lost their harvests and their fields. They could only become refugees and leave their homes to beg for food. Even if Daan was said to have been peaceful for three hundred years, it was no exception.
"Don't look. In a few days, our family will also send people to distribute porridge." Yu Shu pulled Yu Xiaoxiu and walked forward slowly.
Not far behind them, there were two porridge stalls connected together. The servant who was distributing porridge with a spoon put his hands on his waist and shouted —
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