Ning Fan was walking on the street with two beautiful maids, Eleven and Twelve, who he brought out from Yihong Courtyard.
"Master, where are we going today?"
"Old place, take you back to the door."
"Come back?"
"Yihongyuan!"
Ning Fan walked towards Yihongyuan with ease. Halfway there, his brows gradually furrowed.
"Master, what's wrong?"
Ning Fan did not answer, but walked straight towards a stall, his expression a little more solemn.
"where u from?"
"Why don't you speak?"
"Don't be afraid, I can give you something to eat."
Ning Fan looked at the gray-faced little girl in front of him with a somewhat distressed expression, and gently put his hand on his head.
"Where did it come from?"
"Huangzhou."
"Where is your family?"
"All dead."
"Um?"
Ning Fan gently rubbed her head, trying to wipe off the dirt on her face, but after wiping it for a few times, he found that he couldn't wipe it off at all.
This little girl had a pair of big bright eyes and thick lips. She swallowed her saliva several times towards the stall next to her, but in the end she did not move forward.
"How long have you not eaten?"
"Three days."
"Girl, go buy some meat buns."
Eleven nodded, Twelve took out a handkerchief from his waist, stepped forward and gently wiped the dust from the girl's face.
"How old?"
"Thirteen!"
"Why are you here?"
"Did something happen at home?"
Ning Fan tried his best to keep his voice gentle. He had seen many suffering people along the way, but he had never seen such misery as this little girl.
His feet were bare, his face was dirty, and his clothes were in tatters, with traces of sewing and mending.
The girl heard Ning Fan's question, but she didn't speak. She just looked at him timidly. It wasn't until Eleven got the meat buns that her eyes lit up and she kept swallowing her saliva.
"Eat."
"I bought it just for you."
"Thank you, sir!"
The little girl wolfed down the three buns she bought on Eleven. After finishing, she looked at Ning Fan with a hopeful look on her face, as if she wasn't full.
"Have you been hungry for a long time?"
"Don't eat too much at one time. Overeating will hurt your stomach."
"I'll take you back to eat later, okay?"
"Um!"
The girl didn't seem to be too defensive about Ning Fan. It seemed that being able to fill her stomach was a big deal.
"Are there many people like you?"
"have no idea."
Ning Fan did not continue talking, looked at the maid aside and said softly: "Girl, take her back to the house, give her a good wash, tidy up, and put on some clean clothes."
"Yes, sir."
After Ning Fan finished speaking, he looked around and walked towards the city gate.
"Sir, would you like a bowl of Yangchun noodles?"
"Um!"
Ning Fan nodded, took his seat, looked in the direction of the city gate, and said softly: "Boss, there seem to be more refugees in the city in the past two days. Do you know what's going on?"
"Hey, isn't this normal?"
"The heavy snowstorm in the southern border two years ago affected our territory in Huainan, and the people lost everything."
"Nowadays, bandits are everywhere, strongmen appear, thieves are rampant, and the world is in chaos!"
Ning Fan frowned when he heard this: "Don't you have any food left in the people's homes?"
"Surplus food?"
The store clerk said in astonishment: "There is no surplus food. If you can fill your stomach, you are considered a wealthy family."
"In the past two years, King Huai has increased taxes year after year, and I don't know how many people have become tenants."
"Not to mention losing the fields, I still can't fill my stomach. All year round, I am more tired than an ox every day, and I still can't get a bit of harvest."
"Some time ago, King Huai conspired to rebel and led out all the border troops in the south."
"The border is even more chaotic."
"There are bandits coming across the border from Dali, and there are cavalry from the Southern Barbarians coming here..."
"In the past few days, there have been more than thousands of victims entering the city every day..."
Ning Fan's face showed a hint of concentration, and he continued to ask: "Does the Sheriff's Office not care about it?"
"Tube?"
"Can you handle it?"
"There are countless victims in the entire Huainan area, and it is not a matter of one county. How can we take care of it?"
"Yesterday, many disaster victims entered the city. An official came and asked the defenders to drive them out."
"As long as you don't come to my place, you'll have to fend for yourself."
"Ah!"
Ning Fan's expression turned cold for a moment. Without saying a word, he dropped a piece of broken silver and strode away.
"Hey, guest, your lovely noodles."
"Don't eat it!"
…
Back at Cai Mansion, Ning Fan sat in the small courtyard while Eleven and Twelve washed the little girl's body and put on new clothes.
Cai Yan was sitting in the pavilion, looking at Ning Fan who had a serious face, got up and walked towards him.
"Have you encountered anything troublesome?"
"I just went out for a walk, and there have been many disaster victims in Lingzhou City in the past two days."
"Disaster victims?"
Cai Yan looked startled for a moment, then said sadly: "The world is like this. Huainan has been plagued by disasters since ancient times, especially during the rainy season. Disaster victims flee almost every year, but the rainy season has not yet arrived."
"Why are there disaster victims?"
"Due to years of land annexation, people's land has fallen into the hands of landlords."
“I went from farming on my own to working for others and having to turn in the harvest.”
"Plus the chaos in the world."
Ning Fan's brows were almost twisted into the Chinese character "Chuan". If there were only a few victims, they would only need to be resettled. But according to the stall owner, there are now countless victims in Huainan!
And it has multiple contradictions, not only natural disasters, but also man-made disasters.
The fall of the Huai Palace has broken the balance that Huainan has maintained for many years. The destruction of the political ecology has led to regional chaos, and even the government has no control.
"I'll ask Uncle Qin to set up more porridge shacks outside the city."
“Treating the symptoms rather than the root cause.”
Ning Fan shook his head slightly. He could ask Shen Wansan to set up hundreds of porridge sheds, or even thousands of porridge sheds, or even more than ten thousand porridge sheds.
Maybe one day, two days, ten days and a half month?
"These are not things that you and I can solve. We just have to do our best."
"Young master is very important to the world, and he has the mind of a seven-foot man, which is enough."
"If you want to do something, I'll help you."
Cai Yan stood beside Ning Fan and spoke softly.
Ning Fan was also touched in his heart. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Salt sales will be accelerated."
"In addition, in the name of the Cai family, buy me some shops. The more, the better."
"I'm going to meet some friends."
"Um!"
Cai Yan didn't ask why, but nodded gently and went directly to make arrangements.
"Miss."
"He plays in the wind and snow every day, and even brings the girl from Yihongyuan back to his house. Why do you tolerate him in every possible way?"
"He is happy because Xiaocui, don't just look at people by their superficial appearance."
"Mr. Zhao is a man with great ambitions. He naturally has his reasons for doing this."
"oh!"
The little maid nodded depressedly and silently stopped talking.
…
