C13 Relief of the Affected Population

Three miles outside the city, the wilderness was covered in frost.

Lu Qingning brought a group of people to arrange some steamed buns and porridge, and was the first to go out of the city. After traveling for a thousand years, he had finally experienced what it meant to be "the reek of wine and meat, the freezing of one's bones along the way".

Merely being separated by a single city gate was akin to the difference between heaven and hell. If she hadn't personally witnessed it when she went down the wrong path in the early morning and circled around the city several times, how could she have imagined it?

Inside was a richly embroidered pavilion with elegant sleeves, and outside was the unclothed and desolate White Bone Village.

At a glance, the bare snow, not to mention the fact that the roots of the grass had all been nibbled clean, was piled up in a circle under the messy and withered grass, repeatedly kowtowing and crying.

"Honored officials, we're not entering the city anymore. I'm begging you, I'm begging you to be merciful and not chase us away!"

Bloody grass, an old body, clothes or bruises that were hard to cover up.

As soon as he saw it, Lu Qingning couldn't help but stop in his tracks.

One of the old men who had come to help sighed and said, "It has been snowing for more than a month, and we haven't even seen any of the government's relief money. The corpses of the people who died of hunger are already piled up like mountains in the wilderness outside the city.

"All the relatives have left, and only these old and young are left!"

Along with her nominal father, Lu Lianghua, a few of the important officials in the imperial court were called over by the emperor every day to be scolded.

As he felt a wave of anger rush to his head, the veins on Lu Qingning's hand beneath his sleeve bulged out, and his tone became much gentler than usual.

"There aren't any big shots here, but there are quite a few steamed buns with hot water. If you're hungry, just come and get it!"

All the victims who were kowtowing were stunned. Their stiff posture showed just how incredulous their words were.

Only the head of a child with a bun suddenly popped out from under the mat that was made of dried grass around her feet. His sallow, skinny face had his eyes fixed on the food behind her, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

"Here!"

Lu Qingning took two steamed buns from the cart and gave it to him. The skinny little hand quickly caught it and took a bite, only then did he dare believe it was real.

"Grandmother, a celestial sister has come to deliver our food. Hurry up and eat it!"

Lu Qingning patted his head, and spoke to the people behind him who were carrying the stuff, "Leave four or five people behind to share all of this with them, make some hot porridge warm for them!"

Before he finished his sentence, the victims on the ground seemed to have finally reacted and rushed over from all directions.

Don't take it!" "AHH!" "Don't steal it!

Many of the people who came to help were knocked to the ground, preventing the victims from snatching the food. In a flash, they were flipped upside down.

The snow-white steamed buns rolled on the ground, the victims crazily fought and became a mess.

"Those who still want to eat, immediately retreat ten meters and form two rows. You have to be quick, and the line can't be disordered!"

With a loud shout, the victims all stopped what they were doing and silently retreated.

The few who were sharing the food looked at each other. They went to pick up the food and continued to distribute it.

If not for Lu Qingning's eyes that were as cold as frost, no one would have believed that such an intimidating sentence would come from the petite and frail girl in the midst of the crowd.

Two hours later, ten boxes, fifty baskets of silver and fifty copper coins had been shipped outside the city to be placed neatly on the slope of three miles outside the city.

Lu Qingning commanded the people who had formed their own group to sweep the snow outside the city and built a simple thatched cottage with the help of the movement ability of the victims.

Behind her, the boss of the grain store came up to her with his men pushing the food cart. He was wiping his sweat on his sleeve as he said to her,

"Second Miss Lu, five hundred loads of food have arrived. Please accept it!"

"Take a few bags and place them in the pot first. As for the rest, put them in the room to prevent them from getting wet. You can take the money there yourself!"

Lu Qingning was giving acupuncture to a child who nearly starved to death, he did not even raise his head when he said this.

Those who had seen her before swiftly pushed the cart into the thatched hut that had just been built and continued doing what they should do, leaving the grocer standing on the spot staring blankly for a long time before he unhappily opened the box and took the thirty gold. After a moment's thought, he put the cart back in the box and closed it, taking his leave.

Before long, supplies from the cloth farm and the medicine store arrived one after another.

Lu Qingning did not understand the prices of this era, so he waved his hand and let them take them all. With a wave of his hand, he took out half of the hundred thousand silver, but it was much more than he expected.

The old man who was helping to carry them was amazed. "Lady's skills are really good. It saved a lot of money for them to take it."

"Coincidence!" Lu Qingning did not hold any thoughts of doing meritorious service, and chose a few medicinal ingredients to drive the cold out and turn them into soup.

Before long, dusk descended. A pile of firewood was lit, and smoke rose from the chimneys. People continued to join the ranks.

"Excuse me, is this the porridge that the Second Miss Lu is preparing?"

The busy woman quickly answered, "Yes, yes!"

"Second Miss Lu is truly a merciful person!"

"That's right. Those madams and mistresses have been praying to Buddha and eating steamed buns and porridge all day long!"

As they were talking, hundreds of soldiers holding torches arrived in front of them. They were surrounded by a wooden fence.

The victims, who had just had a sip of hot porridge and felt a sense of hope for their lives, instantly fell into panic. They almost ran out of the wooden fence to escape, but were all beaten back by the soldiers.

Just as Lu Qingning reached out his hand to stabilize the victim beside him, the leader of the group pointed at her and said hatefully, "Master, it is this demoness who has gathered the victim here, causing the plague to spread into the city!"