Need for money

When he was in the lobby earlier, Lin Jingzhi roughly read the letter sent by Zheng Jianqiu. Most of the content in the letter was reminiscing about the past, but he also mentioned a thing or two about the locust plague.

"The locust plague broke out in the north, and the imperial court probably couldn't afford the military salary for disaster relief. Could it be that Zheng Jianqiu came here this time to ask me to borrow some silver taels to make up for the imperial court?"Or, is there a shortage of food in the military camp, and money is needed to buy food? '

Lin Jingzhi sat on the back of the horse, meditated secretly, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Master, Zheng Jianqiu won't be able to stay in Luo City for a few days, so it's best not to let him know about my quarrel with Wang Meng, otherwise he will If you find out that the Lin family now needs to rely on the prestige of the Zheng family, you may be very angry."

The chief manager is an experienced person. Although he didn't read the contents of the letter, he can infer a general idea from the words and phrases of the master. Moreover, Zheng Jianqiu will not come sooner or later. The plague of locusts just broke out. He came to visit the Lin Mansion, he was experienced in accidents, he didn't need to be reminded by his master, he could guess a thing or two about the purpose of Zheng Qiujian's visit, and quickly responded: "Yes, this old slave understands. After arriving in Los Angeles, if you really want to stay for a few days, why not arrange for him to live in the house directly?"

"Well, this is the best." Lin Jingzhi nodded in response.

"Also, the old slave lied just now, saying that the old matriarch of Zheng's mansion wanted to see you, please don't blame the second master." The chief steward said again.

Waving his hand, Lin Jingzhi smiled and said, "Don't worry, not only will I not blame you, but I will reward you, well, after returning home later, you take the note I typed and go to the cashier to collect 20 taels of silver. "

To be honest, the chief steward came just in time, and he deliberately told the Zheng family in front of everyone, which reversed the situation in the hall, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

For now, he really didn't dare to go head-to-head with court officials, otherwise the Lin family would be over.

The chief steward didn't shirk, and responded with a smile.

Aunt Yu sat astride the black steed, and at this moment she clamped the horse's belly forcefully, and rode alongside Lin Jingzhi, "The official with the double swords in his back is quite capable, if the second master meets him alone in the future, you have to be careful It is."

Although Yin Lei is not Aunt Yu's opponent, Aunt Yu can also see that this person has some skills.

"En." Lin Jingzhi responded, and then said with a hearty smile: "Yu'er, the Wang Meng you teased just now was ashamed and humiliated. It really pleases everyone's heart."

Pang Lu stroked his beard and smiled when he heard the words.

"As long as the second master doesn't blame the maid and concubine for being vulgar and reckless." Although she and the man next to her are not husband and wife, she is Lin Jingzhi's woman in name, and when she sees someone trying to bully Lin Jingzhi, she naturally wants him to eat It's hard work.

"How come, it's too late for me to thank you." Lin Jingzhi laughed loudly.

The chief steward was taken aback, and looked back and forth between Lin Jingzhi and Aunt Yu for a few times. He was a little puzzled, how could Lin Jingzhi, the majestic head of the family, have the idea of ​​saying thank you to his concubine.

In this era, it is only natural for women to serve and help men, and few men say thank you to their women.

Aunt Yu also had a flash of surprise in her eyes, then she pointed at the refugees on the side of the road and said, "If Second Lord really wants to thank me, why don't you go home early and ask the servants in the house to bring out porridge and steamed buns to help the victims. "

"Okay! Don't worry, I will guarantee that they will have enough to eat every day!" Lin Jingzhi responded boldly, and then flicked his horsewhip to speed up the march.

Back in the mansion, Lin Jingzhi handed over the horse to the guards to lead, and went straight to the direction of the kitchen. Shi Mo had been waiting here, and when he saw him coming, he hurried forward to greet him, "Second Lord, you are back."

"Well, get up." Lin Jingzhi asked after giving him a hand, "Have you prepared all the items needed to open the shed to help the porridge?"

"Back to the second master, everything is ready." Shi Mo straightened his waist, then pointed to several steaming vats and said, "There are eight vats in total here, plus the hot steamed buns just out of the basket, enough for more than 1000 people Have a full meal."

Lin Jingzhi followed Shi Mo's fingers and saw eight wooden vats about three feet in diameter and waist-deep on the carriage not far away. He walked over and saw that they were filled with red beans and red beans. The porridge, red beans and rice had been boiled in clear water, and because of the proximity, the aroma of rice and red beans came to his nostrils in an instant. He sniffled instinctively, sighing secretly, this food grown without chemical fertilizers, when It's really fragrant.

Afterwards, he picked up the big iron spoon hanging on the rim of the wooden barrel, stirred it a few times, and nodded in satisfaction. Although the concentration was not enough to support bamboo chopsticks, it shouldn't be a big problem to eat a full stomach.

"Second Master, these are steamed white flour steamed buns for the disaster victims, do you think the size is suitable?" At this time, Shi Mo asked a steamed bun from a bamboo basket on the side.

When Lin Jingzhi received it, there was a burst of warmth in his palm. It seemed that the steamed buns had just come out of the steamer. The steamed buns were very white, like snow in winter. One was as big as two of his fists, and it was quite heavy in the hand. "Well, yes, in the future, the steamed buns will be steamed according to this size. You have to settle the people in the kitchen. Don't be lazy for the next day. Otherwise, if there is a fork, the victims outside will not be able to eat. Don't blame me Be ruthless!"

From now on, he was going to win over the victims, so he had to be trustworthy. Only in this way could the refugees obey the orders of the Lin family to dig canals and open up wasteland in the future.

Otherwise, if the words are not worth mentioning and the refugees are left to starve in the end, they may suspect that the Lin family tricked them into working as coolies and refused to give them food.

The matter of digging canals is actually very complicated. For example, if Wang Meng deliberately caused trouble, he would open a shed every day to help the porridge in the name of the government. At that time, the victims would have food without working, and no one would dig canals outside the city. , so Lin Jingzhi thought that he must spread the good name of the Lin family in advance. It is best to let the victims of the disaster spread it to each other, knowing that the Lin family in Luocheng will take care of the refugees every day. The city will not be hungry, so in the next few days, the disaster victims who come to Los Angeles to escape will be affected by the advertisement, and many times more.

The more people there are, the better it is for the Lin family. Even if Wang Meng wants to open a shed to help porridge every day, he has to spend enough money to buy food. Moreover, the more people he recruits, the more wasteland will be opened up. The construction period for digging the canal will be shorter.

As for the amount of food for the Lin family, there is no need to worry at all. You must know that before the disaster, he bought more than 30 taels of grain and grass. Except for the food for the victims and his own family, he took the rest to other cities to sell. , and make a lot of money.

Shi Mo knew that the kitchen must not be slack in the future, otherwise the master's important affairs might be ruined, so he quickly responded: "Second Master, don't worry, the servant will definitely give you a good command, and besides, the servant has also recruited many from other small courtyards. With the help of mothers-in-law and maidservants, nothing will happen to the victims of starvation."

"Okay, if you don't have enough manpower, you can tell the butler to buy more from Ren Yazi." After Lin Jingzhi finished speaking, he waved his hand, "Come on, let's leave the mansion now and go to the gate outside the city." Open a shed to help porridge."

"Yes!" Everyone in the courtyard responded.

With the opening of the gate of the Lin family's mansion, the carriage pulled a bucket full of porridge and a whole basket of steamed buns, and slowly walked towards the south gate. Along the way, the servants of the Lin family would shout loudly, saying that the Lin family responded to the court's call, Starting today, we will open a shed to help the victims of the disaster, and ask them to go outside the city and wait in line.

As soon as they heard that there was food to eat, the victims were naturally happy, and they immediately remembered the Lin family in Luocheng. In a short time, they ran to the south gate of the city, because they could get to Luocheng so quickly. The hometown of the disaster victims in the city is close to here, and they didn't suffer too much, and it was passed down from street to street, so there was no incident of trampling and hurting people.

When Lin Jingzhi and others came to the south gate, they saw that the victims in front of them had already lined up in eight long queues according to the requirements of the guards of the Lin family who had come here to arrange matters in advance. Yu people.

After the wheel creaked and stopped, the servants of the Lin family also started to put steamed buns and porridge.

Holding the porcelain bowls they brought from home, the servants of the Lin family filled the bowls with porridge mixed with red beans, and the white flour steamed buns they handed over, all of these victims burst into tears. Before they left, they all bent down, Facing Lin Jingzhi's direction, he bowed deeply.

At this time, the master of the Lin family was a living Bodhisattva in their eyes.

The people who lined up were almost all standing together, including middle-aged men, white old men, women and children. Lin Jingzhi frowned when he saw many women holding babbling babies in their arms. If they can't eat well and can't get milk, wouldn't these children have to starve to death?

"Shi Mo, come here." He beckoned and called Shi Mo to his side, and he said, "Go find a restaurant on the street immediately and ask them to cook a big pot of millet porridge with red dates in it. Well, don’t forget to add sugar, after it’s boiled, get someone to bring it over and share it with these women who are holding babies.”

"Yes."

"After this matter is arranged, you should go back home quickly and ask the cooks to work harder, boil more porridge, steam more steamed buns, and don't worry about the leftovers. The weather is getting colder these days. It won’t go bad, just let the victims eat it as dinner, remember, there can only be more food, not less!”

"Yes, I understand." Shi Mo responded, beckoned a servant over, then turned around and ran towards the city together.

Lin Jingzhi looked at the people in front of him who had suffered from the locust plague, and sighed softly, since he has the ability, he should do more for them.

Just when he was feeling something in his heart, there was a sudden quarrel among the crowd who put porridge and steamed buns, and then someone shouted, "Hey, stop for me, how dare you grab the Lin family's steamed buns!"