Chapter 78: Rescue (Foam and Shi Bi + 2)

  Sheng Siyan looked out the window at the gloomy sky, which seemed to have frozen the air, and really didn't want to go out and join in the excitement.

  "Let's go and take a look, Siyan. Those people are really pitiful." Niu Xiaoye had a soft heart, especially towards those who were less fortunate than her, she was always willing to offer her sympathy.

  Sheng Siyan thought to herself that she couldn't compare to Niu Xiaoye and Zheng Suhui, but she couldn't resist Niu Xiaoye's repeated persuasion, finally saying: "Then let's go take a look."

  She has been cooped up at home for over ten days now, and with Chinese New Year approaching, she doesn't know what's going on outside.

  Sheng Siyan remembered that before the New Year's festival, Wang would always bring her to the capital to buy New Year's goods. Although their family was very poor, Wang would always squeeze out some extra money to buy her a new set of clothes.

  In rural areas, meat is only available on the 1st and 15th of each month at the market.

  Thanks to the blessing of Wang Erge's family next door, Sheng Siyan's family never ran out of meat dishes and had all sorts of mountain delicacies. They ate even better than Sheng Siyan did in her previous life. All were purely natural green foods that didn't require deliberate addition of seasonings for cooking. Just boiling them with plain water and adding a bit of salt made them incredibly fragrant.

  Of course, salted pork was also a luxury for Wang Shi and Sheng Siyan in the past...

  Thinking of her past life and looking at her current one, Sheng Siyan felt a little ashamed. She thought of the Wangjia Village where she used to live, just outside the capital city.

  Are the people there doing well? Did they stockpile enough food for this winter?

  Sheng Siyan's heart skipped a beat, and she said to Niu Xiaoye: "You wait here, I'll go tell my mother."

  Niu Xiaoye nodded, looking at Sheng Siyan who had wrapped her sable coat tightly around her. Apart from the sable hood, she also used a long strip of fox fur to wrap around her head and face, only revealing a pair of spirited phoenix eyes.

  Sheng Siyan arrived at the Wang family's Yanyutang and said to her in a low voice, "Mother, with such heavy snow and cold weather, I wonder if everything is all right for the people on the other side of the Wang family village..."

  Wang thought for many years and thanked the people of Wangjia Village for sheltering her mother and daughter, saying: "I'll send someone to take a look. If help is needed, I'll think of another way."

  Sheng Siyan hastily smiled and said, "Well, I won't bother then. Xiaoye told me to go out with her for a stroll. She said that Zheng Dainai has set up a congee shed and is going to distribute congee. Should our family contribute some money?"

  Wang looked out the window with narrowed eyes and said, "Let's not steal Zheng Dà Niáng's thunder. I'll prepare some medicinal herbs with your father to make a warm soup for everyone to drink, to ward off the cold and prevent illness."

  "Has Father not returned from the palace yet?" asked Sheng Siyan with a worried expression.

  "Even if he returns, he won't be at ease. You should know that it's also treacherous on the Emperor's side in such cold weather." Wang's thoughts turned to Xiaoming Emperor who was lying in the palace, her expression solemn.

  Sheng Siyan nodded, "That's right. Yesterday, three families sent us funeral notices. All of them were elderly people who couldn't withstand the cold weather and passed away."

  They were talking when Wang's servant girl, Yu Gu, brought in two more mourning scrolls and sighed: "Madam, elder miss, two more families have sent their condolences."

  Wang took a look and said: "Tell the steward to follow the usual mourning procedures. The funeral is still some time away, so there's no need to rush for now."

  Because of the cold weather, it doesn't matter if the deceased elderly people are buried a few more days later. Also, because Chinese New Year is approaching, many wealthy families in the capital city intentionally postpone holding grand funerals until after the new year.

  After a while, another maid of the Wang family, Ju Xiang, came in with a note and said with a puzzled face: "Madam, a steward from the Dalisi Temple has come to our house. He is very anxious and says that his master is seriously ill and wants to ask the Duke to take a look. I told him that the Duke was in the Imperial Medical Bureau in the palace and had not returned home for over ten days. The man was so anxious that he said that now the palace gates are closed, people outside cannot enter, and those inside cannot leave. Other doctors are useless, they have asked several, all of whom say there is no solution, and they are preparing for the worst..."

  Wang's face changed as soon as he heard it, and he immediately trembled with fear, saying: "Prepare a carriage for me, I'm going to... Dalisi Temple."

  Sheng Siyan knew that Wang's medical skills were also very impressive, possibly only slightly inferior to Sheng Qiye's. However, Wang could go take a look and figure out the symptoms, then come back and discuss with Sheng Qiye when he returned.

  Jie Xiang hurriedly complied and went out to order someone to prepare a carriage.

  But the steward of the outer court hurried in and said, "Madam, the snow on the road outside has not been swept clean yet, it's frozen hard, you can't take a carriage, only sedan chairs."

  "Then get me a sedan chair." Wang said calmly, having composed herself. She went to the pharmacy to collect her medicine box, thought for a moment and didn't feel at ease, so she packed up all the medicines she could think of into a big bundle and had Ju Xiang carry it as they went out on their rounds.

  Sheng Siyan hastily said: "Mother, I'll go with you."

  Wang looked at her, shook his head and said: "You go out with Xiao Ye to take a look at Zheng's porridge shed. I'll go to the Dalisi Temple first, and then come back and talk to you." After finishing speaking, he hurriedly walked away.

  Sheng Siyan leaned against the door frame at the entrance of Yan Yutang, watching Wang Shi hurry away. Her tall stature made her long purple fox fur coat seem to be blown by the wind as she walked too quickly, and soon she was out of sight after turning a corner.

  When going out with Niu Xiaoye, Sheng Siyan was always sulky.

  They didn't take a car, but rather the sedan chair of the Niu family.

  Because Niu Xiao Ye was very fat, the sedan chair prepared by her brother Niu Da Peng was very sturdy and spacious. It would not be a problem to have two more people sitting inside. Inside the sedan chair, there was also a brazier that had been lit, making it warm and cozy.

  Niu Xiaoye took out two more dishes, one was crispy fried broad beans and the other was five-spice peanuts.

  Sheng Siyan saw this situation and couldn't help but laugh, saying: "You're quite a broad-minded person."

  "Of course. The sky is falling, but there's a tall guy blocking it, what am I afraid of?" Niu Xiaoye carelessly tossed a fragrant peanut into her mouth and ate it with great relish.

  Sheng Siyan asked her, "Has your family prepared enough food?" As far as she knew, this sudden heavy snow had caused many families to run out of food, and even many wealthy families had to be frugal.

  Nowadays, even with silver in hand, there is nowhere to buy rice.

  The rice in the shops on the market has been sold out, and the rice outside cannot be transported due to the heavy snow blocking the roads.

  Sheng Siyan and his family, due to Wang Yixing's reminder, also known as Wang Ergou, had stockpiled rice and grains in the Guogong Mansion early on, so even if it was half a year, not just one winter, they would be unaffected.

  Niu Xiaoye's family is more familiar with Wang Ergou, they should have prepared too?

  Niu Xiaoye looked confused and said, "I don't know. As long as I have food to eat every day, I won't care about anything else. My brother said it's nothing, so it's probably nothing."

  Sheng Siyan looked out of the sedan chair and saw that there were indeed many people with pale faces sitting by the street corner, curiously asking: "Why are these people sitting here? What do they want to do? Aren't they cold?"

  Niu Xiaoye took a glance and said, "That's someone who froze to death."

  Sheng Siyan shuddered and hastily withdrew her head, taking half a day to recover.

  Although she knew that these people had nothing to do with her, their deaths were also unrelated to her, but she couldn't help but think of the poem "The wine and meat in the Zhu family's house are fragrant, while on the road there are frozen bones."

  "My brother said that Miss Zheng is the one with a heart that sympathizes with heaven and pities the people. 'The wine and meat in the Zhu family's mansion stink, while on the road there are frozen bones' - this poem really hits the nail on the head."

  "Is this also a sentence from 'Yong Wen Collection'?" Sheng Siyan had already become indifferent to Zheng Er's "out of bounds" behavior, and even if she didn't let off Concubine Qiong Yao, how could she possibly let off Du Fu?!

  "Yes, I've almost got it down pat." Niu Xiaoye said with a smile.

  Niu Xiaoye's older brother Niu Dapeng is a die-hard fan of Zheng Xiangrong.

  Alas, if Zheng Er didn't court death and hadn't fallen in love with the Second Prince, she probably wouldn't have ended up dying young like this...

  But as soon as she thought about it being related to the royal family, Sheng Siyan couldn't help but have a wild imagination again.

  Is it really dead from illness? Or "killed by illness"? The difference between the two is quite big.

  Niu Xiaoye whispered something in her ear, and Sheng Siyan responded sporadically.

  The two were talking happily when the sedan chair suddenly lurched violently.

  Sheng Siyan and Niu Xiaoye supported each other, doing their best to steady themselves.

  "Niu Xiaoye called out to the outside: 'What's going on? What happened?'"

  The sedan carriers outside seemed to have stopped in their tracks and didn't move forward again, saying to those inside: "Miss, there are officials from the government and the charity house ahead, collecting corpses along the way."

  "Amitabha!" Sheng Siyan immediately responded with a sentence of blessing, "Finally someone has come to their senses and is doing something right."

  "Where is the government official? Look closely, that's the prince's man!" Some idle people seemed to have come out from the roadside to watch the excitement.

  Sheng Siyan poked her head out and indeed saw a man wearing a yellow robe riding a tall horse, accompanied by a group of followers, pointing and gesturing to the surroundings, then looking at his subordinates who were collecting black cloth bags along the way. ——It was exactly the prince she had met in the palace before.

  Sheng Siyan stared tightly at the sack and couldn't help but ask Niu Xiaoye, "What's that thing? Have you seen it before?"

  Niu Xiaoye took a look and shook her head: "I've never seen it. It looks like a bag for carrying rice, but it's not that long."

  The sedan carriers outside also heard the conversation between the two people inside and said, "We haven't seen it either. In the past, when government offices and charity houses collected corpses, they just wrapped them in a mat of reeds and that was enough."

  Some people also said: "This thing is really good. Each one is packed and put on the car, it won't scare people out."

  Sheng Siyan took another look at the prince riding on horseback, seeing his heroic face and the sorrowful expression that filled his face, earning him many praises. —— That must be the prince.

  Sitting in the sedan chair, Sheng Siyan thought to herself that the sack was actually a shroud used in later times. She had often seen such things during rescue operations after disasters.

  Is this also what Zheng Xiurong copied from somewhere? She's already been caught plagiarizing other people's writing, so why would she go and make up a fake corpse too? Besides, hasn't she been dead for over ten years now?

  Sheng Siyan couldn't help but ask Niu Xiaoye, "When did Zheng Xiangrong pass away?"

  Niu Xiao Ye looked dazed, "I don't know, it's been over a decade, I guess?"

  Sheng Siyan smiled and said, "Your elder brother thinks so highly of Zheng Xiangrong, how can you not know when she passed away?"

  "It's enough that my brother knows, why should I know?" Niu Xiaoye said with a giggle.

  The sedan chair stopped for a moment, and the porter outside said, "Young lady, the road ahead is clear, we can go now."

  Niu Xiaoye and Sheng Siyan sat down steadily.

  Before long, they arrived at the place where the Wu family had set up a rice gruel stall.

  Niu Xiaoye lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and saw a sea of dark heads, people queuing in long lines, holding large and small rice bowls, walking towards the porridge shed emitting hot air.

  "My goodness, so many people! I've never seen so many people in Dongshi City before! Is half of the population of Beijing here?" Niu Xiaoye exclaimed.

  Sheng Siyan looked up and was also surprised, saying: "There are actually so many people." After a pause, he said: "It seems that food is really in short supply."

  She saw that those people were all pale and thin, indeed looking like they had been hungry for several days.

  In the front porridge shed, Zheng Suhui was surprisingly wrapped in a fox fur coat standing aside, with a white fox skin muffler covering her face just like Sheng Siyan, watching the servants distribute porridge to people.

  "Grandma, you should go back. You've been guarding here for several days, even a person made of iron can't withstand it." The maid beside Zheng Suhui persuaded her.

  Zheng Suxin smiled bitterly and said: "This matter was started by me, I naturally have to take care of it. You see only a bowl of porridge, but actually it's a human life..."

  Sheng Siyan squeezed forward with Niu Xiaoye, just in time to hear Zheng Suhui say this, and couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration in her heart: As long as Zheng Dainai didn't target the Sheng family, at other times, she was indeed an impeccable good person.

  The second piece of He Shi Bi has been delivered to the master of Paomo Tang. Can I ask for some pink tickets and recommendation votes? Watching with eager eyes (⊙o⊙)!

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