Every New Year, the rich were comfortable, but many poor families sustained themselves by eating cassava.

“It gets cold very quickly in autumn, and it feels much colder than our town.”

Liao Tingyu wrapped up in his clothes, sneezed, feeling a little thin even though wrapped in a thick leather jacket.

“Yeah, it’s much colder here, and the humidity is very heavy. I don’t know how these people live through this winter!” Huang Zilan put down the letter sent by his father from afar and looked outside worriedly.

Liao Tingyu didn’t hear clearly. He only knew that Huang Zilan was talking, and his ears were numb.

“What did father-in-law say?” Liao Tingyu said, leaning his head.

“He said he finally had a son.” Huang Zilan pouted. The letter also mentioned that he should take good care of his husband and so on. The most annoying thing was he actually claimed his grandson as a son. Was there such a father?

Huang Zilan sighed softly: “He also sent us some things. They are on the way.”

“Well, it’s better if he sent us something delicious. I really miss the peppers in our hometown now. The ones here are not tasty at all. To be honest. Actually, my father-in-law could come here, but forget it, he probably won’t do it,” Liao Tingyu said, recalling the chili noodles in his hometown.

“Now that I have everything I need, he won’t come here. I’ll write a letter and ask my father to make chili powder and send it over so it can be kept longer,” Huang Zilan said nonchalantly.

“Okay, let’s send some milk powder to him. I see that you are worried about what you want to do these days. No matter what you do, I will support you behind the scenes.” Liao Tingyu looked at Huang Zilan seriously and spoke.

“Don’t we reap a lot from what we sow? We can’t eat it all anyway, so why not make a place to give porridge and feed the poor.” Huang Zilan didn’t want to talk about his father; after all, he was really good at doing his things.

“There is indeed a lot, and it is enough to feed the poor people in the county, but those who can come are the poor people near the county town, and those villagers far away from the county town cannot eat.” Liao Tingyu saw that he was unwilling to talk about his father-in-law, so he followed him.

He really loved Zilan from the bottom of my heart, but this person was just an old naughty child and would never take his father seriously.

“What should we do? Just watch those people who don’t have enough to eat be hungry and cold. You know what? I heard from those people that many people eat cassava in the winter. That thing is poisonous and has killed people.” Huang Zilan felt sad thinking about those people wearing shabby clothes and eating cassava in a drafty thatched house.

Liao Tingyu wanted to say that in fact, cassava was not poisonous, but those people were reluctant to eat it until it sprouted, so they ate it when it was poisonous, then they died.

But if he said this, no one would believe it.

However, eating cassava in winter was not an option. After all, cassava in cold weather was not easy to store, and there were no good storage conditions.

If people wanted to get better, they needed to start working on large areas of land next year.

.

Liao Tingyu thought for a while and felt he could gather the rich people in the county, leveraging manpower, materials, and financial resources to build a charity hall for distributing food relief to the poor.

Despite the poverty in the area, the rich still led luxurious lives.

“I remember that the temple had the habit of giving porridge. Why don’t we also collect food from the rich families in the county and send it to the poor people’s homes? Anyway, my da-ge and the others have been very busy recently. I saw them last time heading out to drink.”

Huang Zilan’s eyes widened: “Your da-ge went out to drink? Did you tell your mother?”

“How dare I say this? If I did, my da-ge would be punished. My father and mother would chase and beat him,” Liao Tingyu spread his hands, showing consideration for others.

“It’s best not to talk about this matter. Although da-ge now has independent money, my mother-in-law will feel very distressed if she hears it.” Huang Zilan thought of the last time Mother Deng heard that Liao Tingyu went to drink with General Zhao and others.

They must spend a lot of money so, Mother Deng was very angry. She stayed alone in the room and didn’t even have dinner that day.

In those days, she kept talking about money in their ears every day, causing the two of them to run away with their child.

Joking aside, after hearing Liao Tingyu’s idea, Huang Zilan thought it was feasible, so he went ahead with it. He first distributed invitations to the rich people in the town, inviting their wives to come to the county government office for a tea party.

Liao Tingyu calculated how much food could be donated.

Although the things he planted on the hillside looked like a lot, the army also needed a considerable number of supplies. In addition, the supplies from the court always consumed by the people above, so it would be very little that fell into the hands of those soldiers who shed their blood for the country.

He donated some to the military. After all, as a soldier, it was hard enough to leave his hometown, so he tries to help as much as he could.

Zhao Yuan saw the prospects of terraced fields and Liao Tingyu’s milk powder business and followed suit. The army made a lot of money, but it was still difficult to support tens of thousands of people.

.

Huang Zilan spoke with the wives and ladies of the rich during the day.

He tried to move them emotionally and reasoned with them, but those people were desensitized and didn’t feel much about the tragedies. They just laughed and tried to smooth things over, expressing their support. In the end, they merely gave face to the wife of the county magistrate and said they would think about it.

Nothing worked in the end.

Huang Zilan returned to the house exhausted, looking visibly upset: “What do you think happened to those people? It’s obviously a very simple thing, why don’t they want to help?”

“There are still a few who are willing, but it’s not too significant. Most people are not happy, which is normal. After all, when we do such a thing and touch their possessions, no one is willing to give their things to others for free.” Liao Tingyu leaned on his right hand and read the book leisurely.

This kind of thing was no longer surprising. After all, people often had selfish motives.

“How can they not give to the poor for free? They can win a good reputation. Don’t think I don’t know so many foods in the granaries of rich people here, ends up being spoiled because they didn’t consume it.” Huang Zilan became angrier as he thought about it.

A crooked idea came up: “I remember, there was a book that said we can demolish the homes of some rich people who are unkind then use the money and things for the poor.”

Liao Tingyu looked back at Huang Zilan, “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m not thinking about it. I remember that you wrote in that book. It is the most popular among the poor families.” Huang Zilan was not afraid when he looked at Liao Tingyu’s serious expression.

“That’s a novel; you can write it however you want. I wrote it because someone did something unforgivable. Look at the family wealth in our county, accumulated for generations. Although there are some issues with bad style, the people are generally good, and the clan power here is very strong. We don’t have the ability; you are out of your mind,” Liao Tingyu said very seriously.

“Okay, I was just joking. Come and think of a solution with me. I’ve been busy all day, but I haven’t achieved anything at all.” Huang Zilan was just joking. He also knew that it was wrong to do so. After all, people were relatively law-abiding.

“What are you thinking of? Haven’t you already thought of it? You were just saying that they could gain fame,” Liao Tingyu said sharply.

This sentence immediately cleared up the confusion for Huang Zilan: “I have really fallen into a misunderstanding. We could set up a stone monument at the door of the county’s vegetable market. Whoever donates more will have their name listed on it, along with the items and quantity. In this way, those people must take their face and reputation into consideration and not make any comments.”

“I will get you a big stone tablet tomorrow and arrange a conspicuous place for you. You can get started,” Liao Tingyu said. He thought this was a good and feasible approach. After all, everyone wanted to save face.

“You’ve been busy recently; what are you doing?” Huang Zilan solved the problem and felt very comfortable. He walked over and looked at the frames and other things drawn on the paper, which were very strange.

“I’ve been studying how to make a fire bed recently.”

“What is that?” Huang Zilan had never heard of this name.

“Well, how should I describe this thing? It probably looks like this. You can imagine it as a bed, but made of earth, with a fire burning underneath, for sleeping in the winter, it feels warm when you sleep.” Liao Tingyu explained.

“Wouldn’t someone get burned if there was a fire down there?” Huang Zilan thought for a while, and something suddenly came to his mind.

When he went back to their hometown with Liao Tingyu to eat pig rice, the pig was just put into the pot and scalded to death. He touched the goosebumps on his arms and shook his head away from the strange sight.

“I can’t imagine it. Have you counted the food we have now? How many families we could give?” Huang Zilan is still more concerned about his own affairs.

“It’s been done a long time ago. The amount of grain is still relatively large, only about a hundred. You can figure it out,” Liao Tingyu handed over the book that recorded the amount of grain.

“So much!” Huang Zilan was shocked.

“That’s because it’s wasteland. We didn’t pay taxes, so it’s possible to have so much. And there are so many people taking good care of his fields.”

“By the way, what are you going to do?” Liao Tingyu asked.

“As you said, the real poor will not come to the county in this winter. After I have completed the charity hall, I will go to father-in-law and ask for the county’s list of poor people, and have the foods delivered to them door to door.”

“Be careful, someone will take advantage of you.”

“I’m not afraid, I won’t send it all at once.” Huang Zilan said proudly, knowing those old foxes wouldn’t move under his cunning tricks.

“That’s it. I’ll go to bed first, and you go to bed early. If you need any help, just tell me.” Huang Zilan thought about it and saw no problem.

It was getting dark now, so time for him to rest.

“No, you go to bed first; I’ll come later.”