The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Wang Yong finally didn't dare to act rashly. He gritted his teeth and stood up and said, "Madam Pei, the noise outside is getting louder and louder. I'd better go out first."

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "Master Wang, I have asked my servants to prepare ginger tea. You just need to take the ginger tea and help me delay for a while. Although these people should not come to the door of my Pei Mansion to ask for an explanation, I will naturally not ignore it. It's just that I don't want anyone to cause trouble in my Pei Mansion. If Master Wang can help me with this matter, I will promise Master Wang to find a famous doctor who has cured heart diseases to take a look at your sister."

Xia Mianwan only needs Wang Yong's help to delay for a while. This request is not difficult, and it does not contradict what the superiors said. If you can get things done without offending anyone, who would want to offend anyone?

Thinking of this, Wang Yong bowed and said, "Okay, then I'll take Jiang Cha out to delay for a while. I hope Madam Pei can solve it as soon as possible."

Xia Mianwan nodded and asked the servants to bring some ginger tea.

After another stick of incense, Qian Da finally came back.

"Young Madam, I have been waiting for Xiaowu." Qian Da looked happy.

"Where is Xiaowu?" Xia Mianwan asked hurriedly when she heard that Xiaowu had arrived.

“I saw so many people blocking the entrance of Pei’s residence, so I asked Xiaowu to put all the supplies in Manyue Tower. Madam Sang was also waiting there.” Qian Dadao.

Xia Mianwan nodded and stood up, "Qian Da, come with me to the door."

"Yes!"

The entrance of Pei's house was still surrounded by a large group of people. After Xia Mianwan asked someone to open the door, the crowd began to make a commotion.

As soon as Xia Mianwan came out, the crowd began to push forward. Wang Yong hurriedly asked the people from the military division to stop them. Qian Da and the servants of the Pei Mansion also surrounded Xia Mianwan.

Xia Mianwan asked someone to bring a bamboo stool to put under her feet, "Hello everyone, I am the young lady of the Pei Mansion. Everyone, please stop making noise and listen to me for a few words."

At this time, the crowd quieted down a little.

Seeing that everyone was quiet, Xia Mianwan continued, "I know that everyone is somewhat resentful of me, and that's why you came to my Pei Mansion to make trouble, but think carefully, I did call for donations of supplies to Yubei, and Yubei does need assistance, but do these grain merchants in Beijing really have no grain on hand?

Let me tell you a story. Overseas, everyone loves to drink milk, so there are merchants who specialize in producing milk. Milk makes money, and more and more people are producing milk. When there is too much milk, it cannot be sold at a high price. Those merchants would rather pour out the milk than sell it to ordinary people. They would rather wait until ordinary people can no longer buy milk and the price of milk rises again, and then they start selling milk again.

This is what our grain merchants in the capital are doing now, hoarding goods to make a profit."

Xia Mianwan's words were easy to understand, and the common people gathered at the gate of Pei's house understood them. One of the leaders shouted, "What's the point of you saying so much? Even if we know that the grain merchants are hoarding grain as you said, it's useless. We have no way to deal with it, and we will still starve to death."

Xia Mianwan carefully looked at the common people gathered at the gate of Pei's mansion. Some were dressed very simply, while others were not too poorly dressed. Some had particularly cloudy eyes, while others still maintained clear eyes.

"Since I have stood up, I will definitely not let you starve to death. I don't ashamed for those who want to make money from the national crisis. So I want to ask you, if I can solve your food and clothing problems, do you still think that I am wrong to call for donations and take the lead in donating?" Xia Mianwan's words were so powerful that the people were silent.

A man dressed like a scholar said, "If it can solve the problem of food and clothing, then the Pei Mansion has done nothing wrong."

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "My dear boy, I see that you look like a scholar when you are dressed like this."

The man said, "I am indeed a scholar."

Xia Mianwan said, "I have always respected scholars. My husband also came from a poor family. But I want to ask this young man, if we can't solve the problem of food and clothing, is the Pei Mansion wrong? My husband worked hard in Yubei to provide disaster relief. There were no supplies and no medicine. I was worried about my husband and the people of Yubei, so I called for donations and took the lead in donating money for disaster relief. Am I really wrong? Young man, tell me from your conscience, what did my Pei Mansion do wrong?"

The man who was reading looked into Xia Mianwan's eyes and was speechless for a moment. The Pei Mansion did nothing wrong in this matter. The one who was wrong was the grain merchant who refused to sell grain.

The man who was reading didn't dare to look at Xia Mianwan anymore. He was really ashamed of his behavior of standing in front of the door of Pei's house.

The man bowed deeply and said, "Student, I feel guilty. I was wrong... I was definitely not in Pei's house."

The man was about to leave when the crowd started to riot again. "We don't care about right or wrong. People are starving to death, so why should we care about right or wrong?"

"Yes, yes, ma'am, your life is better than ours. We are starving to death, and no one can judge for us."

"Yeah yeah!"

"That's it!"

Xia Mianwan asked everyone to be patient, and then said: "Since I have come out, I must have a way. But will you believe me if I just say it? I must be well prepared and make sure it is possible before I come out to tell you."

The scholar was about to leave, but when he heard Xia Mianwan's words, he stopped. After all, he had an old mother at home waiting to be taken care of. If there was a way, who would be willing to be so shameless.

"Then tell me about it, ma'am!"

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "I have a food store on Sixi Street. Starting tomorrow morning, I will provide rice and grain trading. There are ready-made food for sale, as well as coarse and fine grains. There are many varieties, and the price will be based on the price before the price increase. However, after I do this, it will naturally hit those black-hearted grain merchants. Those grain merchants are not really out of grain to sell, but they are unwilling to sell at a low price.

The food I brought this time is sufficient and will continue to be delivered, but I have a concern."

"What worries you? Tell me!"

"Yes, tell me now!"

"Yes, yes, please tell me!"

Xia Mianwan said loudly: "I'm afraid those unscrupulous grain merchants will send people to buy all my grain. Then, you will have to buy grain at a high price or have no grain to buy."

Everyone lowered their heads slightly, thinking that this was exactly what was going on. So they asked one after another, "What should we do?"

"Yes, yes, what should we do?"

"Yes, yes, what should I do?"

"Ma'am, please stop keeping me in suspense!"

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "Well, I have thought of a way. Starting tomorrow, everyone can go to my food store to buy food, but the amount per person is limited each time, and you need to press a fingerprint after buying to prevent someone from causing trouble in the food store. I also hope that if you find anyone with ulterior motives, you can tell us. If we verify that it is true, we can give you a few cents off."