mtlumby2d Chapter 403: Giving Porridge
Chapter 403: Giving Porridge
Xiao Mo did not respond to Ye Jintang's words. He did not want to tell her the cruel reality.
In winter, horse-drawn carriages carrying corpses leave Ningchuan City every day, and some people always cannot survive the cold nights.
As for why more people die outside the city every winter, it’s because this is a place of exile.
The news that the palace would distribute porridge on New Year's Eve had been spread long ago. At first, Ye Jintang thought that only a few hundred people would gather at the city gate. After all, a mouthful of thin porridge could not save lives, but it could only warm the heart.
But when she arrived at the city gate in a carriage and looked at the dark crowd in front of her, she fell silent.
The common people in the crowd were all in rags. They wore blue or gray clothes. Not a single piece of clothing was clean. Some people's clothes were so dirty that their original color could not be seen.
It would be okay if the clothes were a little dirty, but many people's cotton jackets were so worn out that the cotton was exposed.
You can't survive this cold winter with thin clothes.
There were so many people asking for porridge that Xiao Mo could only send the city guards to maintain order.
Each person was given a bowl of porridge to drink on the spot. Some people said that they had a sick child at home and their elderly mother could not come, so they wanted to take the porridge back home, but the nanny who was distributing the porridge did not agree.
"We have our own rules in our palace. Today everyone can only drink the porridge and cannot take it away."
"Why is the palace like this? If you are distributing porridge, just give it out. Why do you have to set so many rules? Everyone in my family is too sick to get out of bed, so how can they come to get porridge?"
Someone else wanted to take it away but was stopped, and started arguing loudly with the lady who was distributing the porridge.
Not many people wanted to take the porridge away, but once the commotion started, some people started to join in and wanted to take some portions of porridge back home.
Ye Jintang and Xiao Mo did not get off the carriage, but watched the farce outside from a distance.
"It seems that you have foresight. At first I was wondering why you let everyone stand in the cold wind to drink porridge. Now I understand that it is difficult to be a good person at any time."
"I have no choice. I can only do this to allow more people in need to drink some porridge. Maybe those who want to take porridge back really have patients at home and it is inconvenient for them to come, but there is nothing I can do about it. If they can take it away, today, let alone the 1000 kilograms of porridge made from rice, even 1 kilograms would not be enough to share."
"As long as there is one person who can take away the porridge, there will be people who will have bad ideas. They will keep queuing up. It is easy for one person to take away 10 or 8 portions. And as long as one person does this, others will follow suit. By then, I am afraid that many people will not be able to drink the porridge."
The human heart is the thing that cannot stand the test. Ye Jintang had started her own business before and had seen too much darkness in people's hearts, so when it came to distributing porridge, she would rather sacrifice the interests of a small part of the people in order to preserve the interests of the majority.
Some people wanted to cause trouble, but with the city guards there, they just murmured a few words and left, not daring to make too much trouble.
There was a long queue of people waiting to get porridge, so long that the end of the queue was invisible.
Ye Jintang was afraid that so many people would have to wait too long in the cold wind and get sick, so she had twenty pots set up at the city gate to cook porridge and distribute it immediately.
After watching for a while, Ye Jintang felt a little tired, and the two prepared to return to the palace together.
When the carriage passed by the soup stall, the people who had been queuing just now fell to their knees. They didn't say any auspicious words, but they knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to the carriage.
Seeing this scene, Ye Jintang and Xiao Mo were quite moved, and they got off the carriage together.
"It was the princess' idea to distribute porridge today. If you want to thank someone, then thank the princess."
"Thank you, Princess, for the porridge."
The common people kneeling on the ground bowed in the direction of Ye Jintang.
So many people suddenly knelt down in front of her, and she felt mixed emotions and was very uncomfortable.
In the past, she always wanted to be a salted fish in a high position and live a leisurely and comfortable life.
But today, looking at these poor people in tattered clothes, shivering in the cold wind for a mouthful of thin porridge, she realized that while those who hold high positions and enjoy life also have more responsibilities on their shoulders.
She didn't want to see the people living in hardship, and she wanted to give them a hand.
"Everyone, please get up. This is my first year in Ningchuan City. Giving out porridge on New Year's Eve is a token of my appreciation. I won't be giving out porridge on this day next year, but I will make sure that everyone of you has enough to eat."
Ye Jintang's promise was like a thunderclap, striking the heart of everyone present.
They looked up at Ye Jintang in disbelief. Looking at the pretty girl in front of them, to be honest, they didn't quite believe it.
The three words "having enough food to eat" are simply a fantasy to them. They have been barely getting by for so many years and have never dared to think about the day when they will have enough food to eat.
How could Ye Jintang, a little girl, possibly feed them within a year?
Standing on a high place, Ye Jintang looked at the people kneeling on the ground with numb faces and felt very uncomfortable. She hoped that her arrival could bring a ray of hope to these people.
After returning from outside the city, Ye Jintang was not in a very good mood.
"What's wrong? Why do you become listless after just taking a walk outside?"
Xiao Mo was very worried about Ye Jintang when he saw that she was in a depressed mood.
"I've been too busy lately. I always feel exhausted."
Leaning on the Arhat, Ye Jintang couldn't help rubbing his forehead.
Whenever she felt tired, she liked to drink spring water, but it seemed to be of no use. She still felt very tired and sleepy the whole day. For this reason, Xiao Mo had been like a monk for several days.
"Do you want to ask Aunt Mu to take a look at you? Are you sick?"
"I'm a doctor myself, so how can I not know myself? It's not a big problem, it's just that there are a lot of things to do at the end of the year."
Ye Jintang just thought that he planted too many things in the space, which caused him to be mentally exhausted and feel tired all the time.
She now has ten acres of land, and she grows cotton, wheat and various crops every day. It would be strange if she is not tired at the end of the day.
"During the New Year, you should stay in the palace and take good care of yourself. I will take care of anything you need."
Xiao Mo still felt distressed when he saw Ye Jintang so tired. He married her to give her a stable and prosperous life, not to let her work for him all day.
"Well, I don't want to do anything before the Lantern Festival. I'll just rest."
Ye Jintang was lying on the bed and wanted to take a nap, but when she thought about the ragged clothes of the common people just now, she couldn't fall asleep, and finally she quietly entered the space.
The farmland was replanted with slow-growing medicinal herbs. Looking at the vibrant medicinal herb field, Ye Jintang murmured in his heart, it would be great if the crops in the space could be automatically harvested after they matured.
In this way, she could plant a field of wheat and not have to worry about anything else. She could then just come back and see how much wheat she had harvested.