Early that morning, several Taoist priests brought the rice they had ordered yesterday from various restaurants in the city. The fragrance of rice filled the entire Taoist temple in the blink of an eye. Su Cheng only ate a little porridge in the morning, and his eyes almost turned red smelling the fragrance of rice. Naiqiang
I closed my eyes and recited for a long time without knowing the words. Zhen Ming asked curiously: "Girl, what are you reciting?"
"Uncle Master Cong taught me the meditation mantra when I was a child." Su Cheng still closed his eyes, "He said he could meditate after reciting it."
Zhenming said with a smile: "What kind of meditation spell does he know? What do you want to do with meditation?"
"I'm hungry." Su Cheng said with a sullen face, "Yesterday someone reminded me not to eat too much before going to Bodhi Corner. I thought about it and thought it was a very miserable situation. I was afraid I would vomit."
Zhenming thought for a moment and said: "That's right, you are really afraid that you will vomit."
"Uncle Cong said that if someone reminds you of something that sounds a bit outrageous, don't ignore it, because it is usually right."
Zhenming nodded, heard her reciting it again, and asked curiously: "What meditation spell did he teach you? Does it work?"
"I don't know, I've never used it before." Su Cheng then chanted loudly, "Be proud of loving the motherland, be ashamed of harming the motherland, be proud of serving the people, be ashamed of betraying the people..." Zhenming listened inexplicably.
Not long after, the large iron pot borrowed from Youmin Temple also arrived, and the large carriage hired from outside also arrived. Zhenming gave the order to set off. Tianning watched a dozen Taoist priests driving the carriage to Bodhi Point.
Su Cheng dressed up in a Taoist robe and pretended to be a little Taoist priest, and rode in a carriage with Mr. Zhenming. Halfway through the journey, Su Cheng suddenly asked: "Old man, we don't seem to have any water."
"There is a well at Bodhi Point."
"Is the well water there clean?"
Zhenming glanced at her: "If they weren't clean, these people would have died long ago."
"Too."
When they arrived at Bodhi Point, before they even got off the bus, they smelled a rotten musty smell, mixed with a foul stench. Su Cheng had just been jolting on the carriage for a long time, and when he smelled this smell again, he almost felt like vomiting. Zhenming
He got out of the car and said, "If you vomit now, you won't be able to vomit if you want to vomit later." Su Cheng was so frightened that she suppressed her nausea. The old man laughed quietly.
Huizi, quickly pull a long face.
The clerk from Jia's Horse Racing Company was still following him, and he approached Zhenming and whispered: "Taoist Priest, is that really the young lady from Magistrate Su's family?"
Zhenming thought for a moment: "Just think of her as the eldest son of Magistrate Su."
The clerk said: "It's no problem, several young ladies in our Rongguo Mansion have become officials, and Miss Lin's cousin is also a military advisor with great military achievements." Zhenming frowned unconsciously. The clerk breathed out, "I'm just afraid that Governor Su is pedantic.
.Look at this young lady, she is still a sensible person even though she is young." He turned to look at Su Cheng and said to himself, "She is not squeamish either."
Bodhi Corner is a slum, with about ten or so sparse houses, all of which are badly damaged. Most of them are haphazardly built thatched huts. The soup kitchen is located in a small open space outside Bodhi Corner. Yesterday, a Taoist priest came to deliver a letter, so it was early.
There were people waiting for them. At a glance, they all looked sallow and thin, regardless of gender or age. They really answered the word "skinny as a stick". Su Cheng couldn't help but shudder.
Then I heard a little Taoist priest say: "These people are quite well-behaved and don't come up and bump into each other."
A middle-aged Taoist priest said: "I heard that some people knocked over the porridge bucket when they came to give porridge. Later they learned better. There were already many sheds elsewhere, but here is the only one left to give porridge."
Su Cheng frowned slightly. The eyes of these old, weak, sick and disabled people were cloudy, and they didn't seem to be that wise. Someone must have taught them, or they had a leader. Also, seeing that each of them had a broken bowl, it was obvious that most of them lived by begging in the city.
The waiter seemed to have guessed what she was thinking, and said: "There are also odd jobs. If you can't find a job, those who can go will go begging for food, and those who can't can only wait for others to help and ask for food to be delivered. There are two restaurants every day
Organize leftovers from guests’ meals and give them to them.”
Su Cheng asked: "Which two?"
"I don't know about that."
"Well, I'll check it out myself." The clerk gave her a rare look of approval. Su Cheng felt as if she had received a huge compliment and felt very at ease.
The Taoist priests pushed the big wooden barrels to the well to fetch water. Su Cheng followed, and Zhenming and the waiter naturally followed. It was not far from the soup kitchen to the well, but it was full of sheds, making it difficult to walk. Su Cheng left
As he was walking, he suddenly said: "No! I was fooled by the Taoist priest this morning. It's not like I haven't given out porridge before. Which soup kitchen has not cooked it at home and just pushed it over? I've never heard of him arriving with several carts of carbon dioxide."
It’s cooked right at the soup kitchen! You keep teasing me!”
Zhenming smiled and said, "Do you understand? I don't know why." He glanced at the waiter and said, "Yesterday, this little brother asked me to come over and cook porridge when I was giving it."
Su Cheng hurried to see the waiter. The waiter smiled and said, "Miss, you will know when you turn around." Su Cheng pursed her lips.
It took a long time to move to the well. I saw a four-cornered shed built over the well, and the roof of the shed was covered with oil paper. A bamboo fence half a foot high and two feet wide was surrounding the well. A woman was sitting beside the fence.
, there was a young man drawing water by the well inside. Both of them were in ragged clothes, but they were more normal than the others - the so-called normal, but not so thin. The woman looked less than forty; the young man was nine feet long.
, the child came out carrying a bucket. I saw that he was about seventeen or eighteen years old. Although he is thin now, due to his large frame, it can be seen that he must have been a strong child in his early years. However, just one look at his face can tell,
He was obviously a fool. There were people lining up in front of the woman, all carrying wooden buckets. The young man handed the wooden bucket in his hand to an old man, and took another empty bucket to get water. Su Cheng exclaimed: "No wonder there is no
There's a plague! The water source is clean." He immediately looked at the waiter and asked, "Who came up with this idea? Are you coaxing us to look at this well to recommend this person to the prefect?"
The waiter smiled and said: "The eldest lady is really a wonderful person. I don't want to recommend him, I just want to go out of my way to plead for him."
Su Cheng frowned: "Can't you just say it if you have something to say? What if I dislike the fact that this place is dirty and the smell is so bad that I can't get over it?"
The waiter sighed: "That means his life is bad."
"Shit, life is bad..."
Before Su Cheng could finish speaking, Zhenming interrupted: "Girl! Girls' families are not polite."
Su Cheng curled his lips and pretended not to hear: "Why was he put in the cell? It's very easy to die in the cell. What if it's too late?"
"That's not true," said the waiter, "Your Majesty has sentenced him to exile, and he hasn't left yet."
Su Cheng understood: "Mei family members?"
The waiter nodded: "Doctor Mei often comes here to treat the victims. Without him, there would have been a plague in the past year."
Su Cheng was immediately reminded: "Oh, when was the flood last year?"
The waiter sighed: "June. Nanchang City is often flooded in May and June."
Su Cheng looked around for a few times. It is the rainiest day in spring in the south. There are pits of sewage flowing everywhere in Bodhi Point, and the fishy stench and rotten air fill the mouth and nose. Even if the water does not rise, it is easy to cause plague. She is looking at it.
, only a mouse was seen running past, and someone shouted: "Rat--" Everyone chased and beat him. Su Cheng couldn't help blurting out: "It is indeed a rat crossing the street, and everyone shouted to beat it."
The waiter said leisurely: "There are almost no rats in this area, they have all been eaten."
Su Cheng suddenly felt that the nausea that he had just suppressed was coming out again, and it took him half a day to suppress it. He quickly moved his eyes to look higher. Suddenly he realized that there were a few bamboo pennies hanging across the roofs of several broken houses in the distance.
There were strings of meat hanging on the bamboo poles, like the dried meat I had seen in the countryside before. I thought it was strange - how could someone in a place like this afford to buy meat and still dry it? The waiter also noticed her staring at it.
The meat was dry, and he whispered: "Miss, look elsewhere, don't look at that."
"Why?"
"You are really smart. If you think about it for a while, you will be able to guess the reason. You have to spit it out. Stop thinking about that. I really do it for the eldest lady's benefit."
"Could it be that if you tell me not to think about it, I can't help but think about it... Wow -" While speaking, a thought flashed through Su Cheng's mind. If he couldn't help it anymore, he immediately spit it out.
Zhenming listened to the two of them talking, followed their eyes and noticed the dried meat, and wondered: "Even if the butcher gives them some meat, it's not their turn to dry it."
Su Cheng vomited four or five times before she could muster up the energy to shout: "Taoist priest, don't even think about it...wow-wow-" She simply knelt on the ground and vomited, until stars appeared in her eyes, as if she wanted to vomit out all her internal organs.
Zhenming frowned and raised his hand to press her back a few times. After a while, Su Cheng gradually stopped vomiting, but was still dizzy and unable to get up.
The clerk lowered his eyebrows and watched her recover a little, then said leisurely: "There was a battle in the southern suburbs a while ago, and General Yang killed many bandits with artillery..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhenming shouted: "Stop talking." Su Cheng started vomiting again. After a long time, he stopped vomiting again, but he couldn't move while squatting. After another long time, he started crying.
At this moment, the Taoist priests had finished fetching the water and were pushing the carts out, preparing to burn charcoal and make porridge. Zhenming patted Su Cheng on the back: "Get up. Let's go and do some work." Su Cheng stood up silently and staggered.
After falling down, I finally managed to regain my footing. Zhenming frowned and said, "The bottom plate is so weak. I'll start walking tomorrow."
Su Cheng choked and said, "I'll get pricked today."
"Help me boil the water first."
Su Cheng wiped her tears with her sleeves, nodded, pursed her lips, picked up her feet and left. The waiter followed her and Zhenming. After walking for a while, the waiter asked Zhenming softly: "Why does this young lady come to eat these?"
bitter."
Zhenming said: "If she doesn't endure these hardships, she won't be able to leave the backyard. If she wants to get out of the backyard, she will have to endure hardships. You can't have your cake and eat it too, the path you choose is your own."
When the three of them arrived outside, the Taoist priests had set up a large pot and started boiling water. Su Cheng was helping to burn the charcoal. She didn't know how to do this, but fortunately people are smart and learn quickly, so she could stand and watch others burn it for a while.
Then he understood, and he turned to a big pot nearby and started burning it. Zhenming twirled his beard and nodded repeatedly: "This girl is so smart. It would be a shame if she was locked up in the backyard."
The waiter sighed: "I just wonder if Mr. Su will listen to her."
Zhenming said with a smile: "Don't worry, that Doctor Mei will definitely be fine."
Not long after, a fire was lit under the big pot, and the faces of the fire-burning Taoist priests and Su Cheng were also dusty. Su Cheng broke out in sweat and felt a little better, then walked to Zhen Ming and the waiter, took out his sleeves
Wiping the sweat from his forehead: "The most important thing now is to move these people elsewhere, otherwise it will be difficult to deal with the rising water." After a pause, he smiled bitterly and said, "It's not a bad thing if all the rats are eaten. The plague is not
It spreads easily.”
Zhen Ming said: "Where will these people be placed?"
Su Cheng shrugged: "Xie Jing left so many properties, but now they have been confiscated. It is not a problem to resettle them for the time being."
The waiter clapped his hands and said, "I've tried my best to think about this and there's nothing I can do about it."
Su Cheng said casually: "If you are not in your position, you will not seek to govern. You have no right to touch Xie Jing's property, so you can't think of it."
The clerk added: "On the day when the water rises, the city is also flooded badly."
"Whenever there is waterlogging in the city, it can only be due to insufficient drainage capacity of the city's infrastructure - Aunt Jia Si said." Su Cheng looked back at the victims who were surrounding him eagerly waiting to eat porridge, "Not all of them are weak.
We hired people like Xiaoque’s brother to dig drainage channels. We also hired laborers like Xiaoque’s brother. We were supposed to make underground drainage pipes, but it’s obviously too late now. Let’s get through this first.”
The waiter said: "There are also many people in prison who have hard work. Usually rich people often buy them with the jailer to work."
Su Cheng patted his head: "There must be many people who have been wronged there."
The guy hummed: "Many?"
Su Cheng looked up to the sky: "Every case has to be retried. Oh my god - I will die from exhaustion..." and sighed, "So it's not right to leave everything to the prefect! Which case doesn't matter? The trial of the case is also important.
Yes, it is also important to resettle the victims, and it is also important to dig drainage channels."
Zhen Ming said: "More than that. A few days ago, that old man Yang Qianli told Pindao that he was afraid that there would be a flood this year, which would be bigger than last year."
Su Cheng was stunned. He couldn't help but look at the victims who were waiting for the porridge. He held his head and said, "Why didn't he tell me earlier? It's already April, and it's too late to do anything! What should I do?" He paused.
Suddenly, "Ahhhhhh--" he looked up to the sky and shouted.
Zhenming suddenly felt some compassion and advised: "Droughts and floods have been difficult to deal with since ancient times. It's only April now, so it's still too late to prepare food for disaster relief earlier."
Su Cheng seemed to have been cramped, and said feebly: "That was already an afterthought. Even if we save some victims, more people will drown in the flood. The population... Jiangxi has become like this. Let the floods come again.
If you look at the population, I really don’t know when it will prosper." Her eyes suddenly jumped with excitement, her eyes rolled, she thought in her head, and muttered, "First of all, we must ask the imperial court for skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to control floods.
It was probably too late to control the floods. At least he could see where the embankments were likely to break, so he could move the people away first. While going to Wu Guo, Lingnan and other places, he bought a lot of food for later use. He also planned to plant Western potatoes this season. This can be collected quickly.
.Planting rice is likely to cause water damage before it can be harvested.”
The waiter reminded me: "It's too late. The spring seedlings have already been planted."
Su Cheng covered his face: "It would be great if Uncle Yang reminded me earlier."
"I can't blame him." Zhenming said, "He only guessed it after seeing the rain in the past two months."
"I know, he's not stupid." Su Cheng muttered, "I can't think of a way to shirk my responsibility for the moment, but the old man won't hear me. I'll treat him to a roast chicken later as compensation for me chewing his tongue."
Zhenming raised his hand and hit her on the back of the head.
The waiter suddenly called out "Miss", indicating that someone was coming in front of her. Su Cheng took a closer look and saw a six or seven-year-old girl. She was frighteningly thin but had big eyes. She was holding a flower in her dark little hand.
The small yellow wild flower stood in front and did not dare to come over. Su Cheng hurriedly waved. The little girl ran over and lifted the little wild flower in front of Su Cheng. Su Cheng hurriedly squatted down. The little girl whispered in a thin voice.
Said: "This is...over there...I picked it."
Su Cheng said softly: "Oh, it's so beautiful! You have great vision."
The little girl immediately smiled and stretched her little hand closer to Su Cheng: "Here you go. I saw you were crying just now. Don't cry."
There was a burst of tears in Su Cheng's eyes, but she held it back. She carefully took the flower and looked at her with a smile, "Thank you. It's so beautiful. I have never seen such beautiful flowers. I won't cry anymore."
"The little girl giggled, looking very cute, turned around and ran away. Two lines of tears immediately rolled down Su Cheng's face.
The Taoist priests at the other end have begun to shout: "The porridge is rolling - Haosheng is queuing up to get the porridge -"