Ordinary clear day

Chapter 42
Time flies, and several months have passed in a hurry.In late autumn, Zhang Bao suggested to Governor Tusang'a early on to help the poor in the city survive the winter according to the old practice, but was rejected.

Tusang'a believes that there is not much silver in the treasury of the government office. A few years ago, the former governor Yuheng spent a lot of unnecessary money in order to win his personal official reputation. It is already beyond our means, and it is already very difficult to just allocate daily expenses. Where is there any spare money to feed the beggars on the street?He is still worrying about where the official salary for next spring will come from.

Zhang Bao was very angry. In the past few years, the warehouse has always been sufficient. Although it cost a lot to pick up the driver, the main raw materials for making ice sculptures and ice lamps did not cost much money. A lot of money was spent from the emperor's internal treasury. And he remembered that Zhou Fucheng once mentioned to him that when Yuheng handed over the accounts before leaving, there was still a surplus of several thousand taels.How could it be possible that after only a few months, the yamen's warehouse became "overwhelmed"?
However, the boss is the boss, and the opponent's background is strong, not someone like Zhang Bao can fight against, so he had to retreat sullenly.

He sat in the office for half a day, just sighing.Mr. Su came in and asked, "Your Excellency, you must have hit a snag? Did Your Excellency refuse?" Zhang Bao nodded sullenly.

Mr. Su sat down on the chair next to him, poured a cup of tea, and said slowly: "The student inquired about something, which might explain the reason for Mr. Fu Yin's paranoid behavior."

Zhang Bao raised his head to look at him suddenly, only to hear him say: "The Jiangfu Cheng who has just been here for a few months, one of the teachers behind him happens to be the students' former classmates. According to him secretly revealing to the students, it turns out that Master Yuheng once He was also an official under Suo Xiang's sect, but he became friends with Chen Shangshu for some reason, and soon he became the only one who followed suit. The current Lord Fu Yin is Suo Xiang's confidant, and he must be very impressed with Lord Yuheng's deeds. If you are dissatisfied, you will do everything possible to obliterate his achievements, right?"

When Zhang Bao heard this, he couldn't hide his resentment: "Just to vent their anger, did they disregard the lives of the people?"

Mr. Su sneered: "Why do they care about these things? Besides, there is indeed not much silver in the warehouse, but where all the money has gone, adults must be able to guess, right?"

Zhang Bao was silent.He could guess it naturally, but it's a pity that others are weak and can't do anything.After pondering for a long time, he raised his head and said to Mr. Su: "Now the weather is getting colder and colder. If you don't care about it, people inside and outside Fengtian City will die of cold again. I can't just watch this happen. Since Mr. Fu Yin is not willing to contribute , I’ll try to do something as best I can.” He saw Mr. Su staring at him with wide eyes in amazement, and said with a wry smile, “It’s unexpected that an ordinary person like me, who does nothing but do nothing, can become a good person. Is it because you have been with good friends for many years, and you have also acquired the fragrance of a gentleman?"

But Mr. Su respectfully said: "My lord is a gentleman." Then he turned to ask: "Does your lord want to use his money to help those poor people? But your salary is not much, and now those... There are more things in the hands of Mr. Fuyin, what do you plan to do? Besides, next year, Mr...."

Zhang Bao just smiled wryly: "As much as you can help." He has also accumulated some money in the past two years, so it is good to be able to save one more person.

Tong Shi didn't say anything about her husband's decision, but just ordered her subordinates to reduce household expenses as much as possible from now on, and not to make new clothes for the season. They all started rushing to make exquisite embroidery, Shu Ning asked her why, and she said: "I always have to prepare a New Year's gift to send back to Beijing."

After finally squeezing out more than 500 taels of silver, Zhang Baoming ordered Changfu to buy grain, cotton cloth, and coal for firewood in batches inside and outside the city. Among them, potatoes were the most expensive because they were cheap.Shu Ning came up with an idea. Cotton gloves are expensive and not conducive to the work of the poor. It is better to buy thick hemp rope and the like, woven into thick gloves with open fingers, which may be less effective in keeping warm, but they are very wear-resistant, and are more suitable for poor people.Zhang Bao adopted his daughter's suggestion.It didn't take long for him to send things to the broken houses for the homeless, and those people were very grateful.

Zhang Bao's practice soon spread to the Fuyin's ears, and he just sneered at it, but many officials who had served in Fengtian for many years joined the ranks either openly or secretly, and secretly bought winter supplies with their own money. Help the poor in the city.Most of them feel that the achievements made with great difficulty in the past two years are almost obliterated by others, but they can't vent their anger in their hearts, so they can only express their dissatisfaction in this way.

Tusang'a became wary of this trend, and reprimanded Zhang Bao and several other officials, accusing them of disobeying the orders of the superior.Zhang Tongpan, the oldest man, was so pissed off by him that he asked for leave the next day.Zhang Baoxing's term of office was about to expire, and he knew that Fu Yin couldn't really do anything to him, so he just sneered and went his own way.It's just that some officials flinched, while others were worried and didn't want to offend Shangguan too much.Efforts to alleviate poverty have been greatly hindered.

On the contrary, two or three princely mansions donated money and food to several large temples and asked them to open several porridge sheds, which helped a lot, intentionally or unintentionally.

This year's winter came quickly, although it was not as cold as the previous two years, it was also full of wind and snow.The people in the city are living in a more miserable life than in previous years. Those poor people living in dilapidated houses or living on the streets were rescued and managed to survive the winter. However, Zhang Bao and others had limited abilities, and more poor people were frozen to death. Yes, according to figures reported from various places, after the New Year, 17 people have died in the cold winter.

It's also due to Natusang's bad luck, the news of someone freezing to death in Fengtian City spread to Beijing through some people's channels, how could the people from the Mingzhu faction miss this opportunity?He immediately sued the emperor, which made the emperor furious, and hurriedly summoned Tusang'a to go to Beijing to inquire about the crime, and scolded Suo'etu again.If it weren't for the help of a large number of officials to intercede, Tusang'a might have been dismissed immediately, and it turned out that the emperor allowed him to stay in the post for probation and make meritorious deeds.

At the same time, the emperor also learned about Zhang Bao and other low-ranking officials helping the people with their own money. Not only did he order a reward, but he also instructed the Ministry of Officials to rank these officials as excellent in the evaluation last year.

This time, neither Chen Liangben nor Yu Heng was involved in the conflict between the DPRK and China, at least on the surface.However, this incident once again caused disputes between the two factions of Suoming. With the fall of several officials and the newcomers' positions, the incident of Fengtian freezing to death again, which was originally the trigger, gradually faded out of people's sight.

It took more than two months for this commotion to settle. When Tusang'a returned to Fengtian from the capital again, Zhang Bao's family was already packing his luggage.He took office in the autumn, but he took over the term of his predecessor because of his sudden illness and died, so his term expired in April this year.A letter also came from the Earl's Mansion in Beijing, urging him to leave as soon as possible, so as not to stay in Fengtian and have conflicts with his superiors.

However, Mr. Fu Yin, who had just suffered a loss, would not seek his bad luck immediately, and he had to be wary of the few supervisory censors who came back with him who would make small reports.

When the people in the city who had been rescued by Zhang Bao heard that he was leaving, they all came to say goodbye to him.They didn't know what to say, but they sincerely regarded Zhang Bao as a great benefactor. Many people even twisted a small piece of cloth from their own clothes and handed it to a handy woman to sew a small Wanmin umbrella. (In fact, it should be Baimin Umbrella), when Zhang Bao got it, he was moved to tears.

Shu Ning grew up in Fengtian since she was born, and she was very reluctant to leave now, she decided to take a good look at this city again, because she didn't know when she would be able to come back.

Tong was worried that she only brought Chun Xing by her side, but Zhang Fu and Chang Gui each had their duties, Ma San'er had errands to do, Qiu Ju was too beautiful to cause trouble, so she couldn't be sent out, but Huzi is too young again.In the end, Duanning volunteered to act as his sister's flower protector, and he also got his good friend Tongying.With such a guide who is familiar with Fengtian and has a prominent status, it is absolutely impossible for them to have an accident.Tong readily agreed.

The first thing they were going to was the main streets of the city.Huzi leads the battle, Shuning leads Chunxing first, Duanning and Tongying follow behind.Duanning saw that Tongying was a little unhappy, so he asked him what was going on.

Tong Ying forced a smile and said: "When I came to your house last time, your mother-in-law spoke very kindly, why has it changed today? I sound a little awkward."

Duan Ning didn't care: "Last time, she only knew that you were my classmate and friend, and didn't know your identity, so she didn't have any taboos about speaking. Later, when someone told her, she would be more respectful today. It's not a big deal."

Tong Ying was a little depressed: "Since I was young, except for people like me, everyone has respected me. When they look at me, they all look at my origin. Since my mother-in-law passed away, except for my brother, There is not even a person who can seriously speak what is in his heart. I finally recognized you, and I saw me in my eyes, and I only treated me as an ordinary person when I spoke and acted. The same is true for your sister. Your mother-in-law She talked to me as if she was a nephew, but I was actually very happy, but today she changed her attitude, which made me very sad."

Duan Ning slowed down, turned to look at him: "You have always been an open-minded person, why are you complaining today? It's really not like you." He dodged Tong Ying's fist and said with a smile: "Thinking so much What are you doing? My mother is more respectful to you, it's just human nature, and I didn't specifically curry favor with you, what's wrong with you? Let's go play."

Tong Ying laughed, and pulled him to follow Shuning and the others quickly.

A group of them walked through the streets and alleys of Fengtian, markets and shops, and went to see the green mountains and green waters on the outskirts of the city.The two teenagers rode horses, and Hu Zi drove Shu Ning and Chun Xing in a small car, talking and laughing all the way, it was all like a spring outing.

When they finished the last spot and were about to go home, Tongying gave Duanning a hand, and the latter slowed down the horse, and the two fell behind the carriage.

Tong Ying said: "You guys are leaving the day after tomorrow. I'm afraid I won't be able to see you off. Today is probably the last time I see you. I don't know if we can meet again in the future, but no matter what, don't forget me as a friend."

Duanning nodded solemnly and said, "I will write to you."

The two young friends punched each other, looked at each other and smiled, but they heard Shu Ning calling them: "Brother, Brother Tongying, what are you doing? Go, the gate of the city will be closed later." The two quickly followed.

(End of this chapter)