The good Chongyang autumn travel plan failed to make the trip in the end, which disappointed Zhao Xiu.

Originally, the day of the Double Ninth Festival in September was scheduled, escorted by her brother Zhao Wei with her family, she traveled with Tao Zhuohua and the ladies in the city, and because there was no mountain in Fengxian, everyone said that they would go to the open fields outside the city to let the wind steady, and they also had to row a boat to play, drink tea and chat in the cruise ship. Unexpectedly, from the day before Chongyang, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and it seemed that it was going to rain, or heavy rain. The ladies who received the post sent letters to Zhao Xiu, saying that their parents did not allow them to go out, for fear of being trapped in the rain in the wild, and even Tao Zhuohua sent a girl to apologize. Zhao Xiu held this small party, firstly, to give his brother a chance to relax after studying, but also to introduce new friends to Tao Zhuohua, now that things are like this, what should I do about the party? I had to cancel it.

Unexpectedly, it rained for a whole month.

Fengxian had another rain disaster the next year, and this time it looked even worse than the previous year. Fortunately, at the beginning of his tenure, Tao County Ling encountered the post-disaster reconstruction work, which he attached great importance to, and has been attaching great importance to the water conservancy construction in his jurisdiction for the past two years, cleaning up the silt in the river every winter, repairing the river embankment after each busy farming, and often urging farmers to pay attention to field drainage. With this foundation, the disaster situation in Fengxian County is a little better than the year before, but the rural areas are inevitably flooded for thousands of miles. Tao County ordered to go out early and return late every day, inspect the disaster situation everywhere, and urge the officials and people to take measures to prevent and relieve the disaster, and the people of Fengxian barely resisted.

The Zhao family already has an internal relief mechanism, and each house has experience. Therefore, as early as the beginning of the rains, preparations were already begun to be made to strengthen the houses. Buying food and firewood, asking doctors to prescribe medicine to prevent epidemics, dredging waterways in neighborhoods, etc., and even having spare energy to help neighbors with foreign surnames. In this large area where the Zhao clan lived, the disaster was quite minor compared to other places in the city.

But this also can't stop the losses in everyone's fields. The grain harvest has just been completed in the autumn, and there are a few families who have not had time to finish the harvest. It can be said that there is no return, and they all regret that they are moving too slowly. The families who have planted cotton, melons, beans, vegetables and other crops that have not yet reached the harvest time have long been crying. Even the two-bedroom peach orchard has suffered a lot of losses. Fortunately, the peach orchard was well staffed, and the leading steward was experienced and diligent, draining the rainwater from the orchard as quickly as possible, and most of the fruit trees were saved.

Do the math carefully. I'm afraid that everyone in Fengxian County will suffer heavy losses this time. The people of the Zhao clan are no exception, but thinking that the clan has money to help them, everyone will not have nothing to eat, so they have some confidence in their hearts, at most, they sigh or cry secretly, but they are not desperate. Looking at such a Zhao clansman, other big families in the county were thoughtful. They all said that the Zhao family was a good example, and they should also set a rule. Gather a piece of silver and put it away, usually do not move, and prepare for the relief of the tribesmen in the disaster year. Otherwise, there will be a natural disaster in the past three years and two years, and large households can barely support it, where can small households withstand it? Didn't you see those people who were originally well-off, and they were so miserable that they were about to sell their sons and daughters?

Zhang's is the most unbearable to see this kind of thing, she is getting older and older year by year, eating fasting and reciting Buddha more, and her heart is much softer, I heard that the poor people outside are going to sell their children, and my heart is sad: "Where did it get to this point?" Sister Xiu'er, let's give porridge a few more times, so that those who have been affected by the disaster can stutter and not starve to death. ”

When Zhao Xiu heard her say this, he couldn't refuse, and he also wanted to do something good, so he invited Zhao Jing's wife Shen to come over, wanting to discuss with her whether she could give porridge in the city in the name of the Zhao clan.

Shen Shi said first: "This is a great good thing. But then he asked, "I just don't know how many days my uncle and grandmother plan to do it?" ”

Zhang said: "Now I heard that there are many people in the county who have been affected by the disaster, and many of them don't even have a stutter, and they are about to sell their sons and daughters. How could I bear to see such a thing? As long as I can do it, I should give a few more days, and it is good to be able to save one more person. ”

Shen hesitated for a moment and said: "My nephew and daughter-in-law also have the heart to do more good deeds, but there is not much rice and grain in the county, and the heavy rain has soaked several granaries, and now the price of rice is expensive, even if we take out all the grain we received from our own family, it may not be enough for a few days." Don't we eat in our own homes? ”

Zhang was silent, and said after a while: "Your worries are also reasonable, usually the price of rice is only eight yuan a load, but in the past few months, due to the drought, the price of rice has risen to one or two taels of silver, which has risen by fifty percent, which is more powerful than the year before." If there is rice, it is more expensive, and it is just to spend more silver, but this year's fields are not harvested, and the granary is soaked by rain, even if we have our own family, there may not be much grain in stock......" She asked Lu's mother: "Or ...... Do your best to go to Songjiang to buy a batch of grain and come back? ”

Without waiting for Lu's mother to answer, Shen Shi said first: "Songjiang also has big water, but I'm afraid it's not much stronger than Fengxian, and my mother's side only got a letter from before, saying that the ground is full of water, and it can't go back." In contrast, there is Tao County Order in our county, and after the rain stops, the water drains quite quickly. We're all miserable here, let alone the surrounding counties? If you really want to buy grain, if you are close, you must at least go to Suzhou to buy cheaper grain. ”

Zhang thought about it and resolutely said, "Then send someone to Suzhou to buy it!" Buy more! Send a few more men, and ask a few of the clan's sons to follow. ”

Shen hesitated for a moment, and nodded vigorously: "Okay, my nephew and daughter-in-law will go back and tell our uncle." We also have to buy food to eat, so we just buy more and help the people affected by the disaster. Our family is not comparable to other families, and Fengxian is not comparable to ordinary large families, so we should set an example for the gentry in the county. The house of goodness can last for a long time, which is more reliable than any title. ”

The Zhang family knew that she was the daughter of the wang family, and her knowledge was much stronger than that of other concubines, so she was relieved, so she had to do it, and she only had to pay for it. However, in private, Zhang also taught his granddaughter: "At this time, you can't feel sorry for the money, as long as your family won't starve to death, you have to do more good deeds, and let people know that others can do good deeds together." A good reputation is much more useful than empty money. It is also a business person, who does good deeds all year round. When others talk about it, they will say that they are a kind family, even if they are scholars for generations, they are willing to associate with his family; But I usually don't pull out a dime. The rich and unkind is that he has mountains of gold and silver at home, and people don't care about him, what else does he have besides money? ”

Zhao Xiu had the intention of doing good in his heart, but he didn't have a very specific concept of how much to spend, and listened to his grandmother's teachings. He smiled and said, "Grandmother, don't worry, I understand this truth." Just like our family often helps the tribesmen, when we want to drive the small long house out of the clan. The people are willing to be on our side. And the small long house always likes to put up a noble shelf, and does not like to deal with the clansmen, so the clansmen are not willing to get close to them. Do good deeds and accumulate virtue, and be a good person. Do good deeds. This is the accumulated effort, we must really help others, and people will really respect us. ”

Zhang smiled: "This is the reason, you can understand the best, just don't say anything about Xiao Changfang in the future." ”

Zhao Xiu understood, since Zhao Jue's family had been expelled from the clan, it was not a small long house in the second room.

Porridge sheds were soon set up at the gates of several major cities, and the Zhao family sent their children and servants to preside over it. There are also messengers sent by Tao County to maintain order, in front of the porridge shed of the Zhao clan. The victims received their share of porridge in an orderly manner. Half of the porridge is made of new rice and half of last year's old rice, which is very thick, and a bowl of hot water can support people for half a day. The victims of the disaster held the hot porridge, drinking it while shedding tears, and heard that the Duchess of Zhaojia County had sent someone to Suzhou to buy grain for the soup kitchen, and they all praised the benevolence and righteousness of the Zhao family in unison. For a time, the reputation of the Zhao family spread throughout Fengxian County, and also spread to the surrounding areas.

Seeing this, other large households also followed suit, and those who were stingy or had limited grain reserves only applied for a day or two, and some gave distributions and medicines, and those with many tenant farmers at home also took the initiative to reduce or reduce this year's rent, and some also said that they could provide low-interest or interest-free loans to help the victims tide over the difficulties. Life gradually improved for the victims, and when the waters receded, revealing the fields, and the sun came out again, everyone could not help but cry.

Although there was a flood, the water receded faster than expected, and the harvest in the fields was not guaranteed, but there were large households in the county who contributed money and efforts, giving porridge and rice, and the life of the poor people was not very sad. It's the middle of October, and winter has passed, but the weather is strangely warm, not cold at all. The affected people were able to take a breath and take advantage of the good weather to quickly repair their houses in preparation for the cold winter.

On this day, Zhao Xiu was at home, reading the letter written by Gwyneth, she also encountered a rain disaster in Nanhui, Zhao's family was busy at the time, she couldn't take care of her side for a while, she was also in a hurry for a while, but now she has settled down, and saw that the people affected by the disaster are living very hard, and there are many people who want to sell their children, she can't bear it, so she bought those children, sent them to a nearby chapel, and provided them with food to feed them, and then brought people over every day to teach them simple English, Etiquette (Western, of course) to get them to find work in the port. Now there are still very few small workers in Nanhui Port who know foreign languages, these children are diligent in their hands and feet, and have a little language advantage, and several of them have found messengers to support their families. Gwyneth didn't take any pay, so she let them go back to her parents, and her good reputation soon spread all over Nanhui, and the government didn't dare to touch her lightly.

Zhang listened to Zhao Xiu's letter, and said: "If she can use this to make a name for herself, she can also temporarily deter the enemy, and in the future, when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince arrives in Shanghai, if she hears that there are foreigners and merchants doing good, maybe she will be ordered to summon her to see her." ”

Zhao Xiu thought to herself, could this be the method that Gwyneth came up with? It's not bad, but I don't know if it works.

Zhang Shi also said: "She is a foreigner and a widow, and it is nothing if she wants to do good deeds, but she should not send people to any house of worship and teach them foreign etiquette. Anyway, our family has some friendship with her, so let's help her, pick two literate ones from the mother-in-law in the family, and teach those children to learn some rules, whether they will go to the dock in the future, or go to other people's homes to be servants, so that they know the height of their eyebrows. If there are good girls among them, and they are willing to sell themselves, it is better to choose two of them to come to the house. Bilian next to you is almost at the age of getting married, and the few little girls at the bottom are also getting older, and if you don't prepare some manpower, you should not be able to take over in two years. ”

Zhao Xiu was about to speak, but she heard Lu's mother rush to report: "Old lady, it's not good!" She looked at Mama Lu's rare swift steps in surprise and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Mother Lu took a deep breath: "I just came to the door to report, uncle...... No, it's Zhao Jue, Zhao Jue is here! Kneel outside the gate of our house and ask to see the old lady. The porter didn't hear any sound, but he heard someone crying outside, and seemed to be saying something, so he opened the air window to look, and found that the person was coming, so he knelt at the door, crying in front of people outside, saying that grandmother is merciful, don't resent his grandchildren because of what his dead father did, and said that if his grandmother and cousin really want the family property, he is willing to offer it with both hands, just ask you to let him in the door, kowtow to the ancestors, and say a bunch of nonsense, it is clear that he wants to pour dirty water on the heads of the old lady and Brother Wei! There were already many people around him, and the porter felt that it was too late to stop people, so he had to report to the second door and ask the old lady to show him, what should I do? ”

"Bastard!" Zhang got up in a rage, but suddenly felt a blackness in front of his eyes, and his body shook. Zhao Xiu hurriedly hugged her: "Grandmother! (To be continued......)