The Marquise: I Earn My Own Worship

This was the first time Song Shengfu felt so helpless here, wanting to do something but being unable to do it.

Besides, no one can be told about these things in the future. If you can't tell anyone, you will either be beaten to death as a monster or be executed for spreading evil words to mislead the public.

Ever since Song Shengfu had a sudden inspiration and made up the story of a dream, she knew that in this royal society, every word and action affected the fate of the family.

This is no longer the prosperous and harmonious country of her previous life. Song Shengfu understands this, and it is a fact that cannot be changed no matter what.

But she couldn't just do nothing, so Song Shengfu made up her mind and asked someone to call Lu over.

"This year, we won't sell any of the produce from the farms in our mansion; we'll store it all."

Lu was a little confused but still replied "yes"

"Mother, we keep the new grain produced on the farm every year. Do we sell the old grain?"

"Keep them all"

Seeing Song Shengfu's serious expression, Lu felt a little uneasy. After sending the servants away, she began to ask:

"Mother, what happened?"

Mrs. Lu thought about all the possible things that might happen and was so scared that her face turned pale.

Song Shengfu looked at Lu's panicked expression and decided it would be better not to tell her about this.

"Nothing, I just feel that the weather this year is a little unusual, with the floods and the temperature dropping. Didn't you also say that there were refugees entering the capital? I just want to be prepared. When the time comes, I can use the old grain to set up a porridge tent. It will be a good deed."

Mrs. Lu thought about it and realized that this was the truth. She quickly said, "Mother is right. However, the Princess's Mansion has already ordered people to open a porridge stall outside the Meridian Gate. I think our mansion should follow suit tomorrow."

Song Shengfu nodded. No wonder most refugees headed for the capital. There were many wealthy families in the capital, and each one had a porridge shop outside the city, enough to feed countless people.

"Speaking of which, I also heard that the porridge shop at the Princess's Mansion in the outer city was almost robbed. Fortunately, the Princess's Mansion has guards and sent people to suppress the refugees. Mother, you said these people really don't know what's good for them. They're lucky to have something to eat, so why would they rob them?"

Lu's expression was filled with disgust. She naturally looked down on these people. Although she felt pity for them, such rude behavior truly disgusted her.

Song Shengfu saw it but said nothing. No one from an aristocratic family would really take these poor people seriously. The so-called free porridge was just to gain a good reputation.

As for Lu, she had no experience, so how could she know that when people can't even get enough to eat, it's not surprising that they will do even more immoral things.

But this also reminded Song Shengfu that people in this era had no moral constraints. If there was no strong suppression, they would be robbed like the porridge shop in the Princess's Mansion at the beginning.

"When you open the porridge tent tomorrow, bring some strong servants to guard it, so that no one with ill intentions can ruin things. Also, choose a location away from the tent of the eldest princess and the others."

"By the way, what kind of food did our mansion usually provide in previous years?"

Mrs. Lu answered without thinking, she knew all about these things.

"In previous years, we usually cooked porridge, white flour buns and dumplings."

"In this way, the steamed buns can be removed and all steamed into steamed buns, so you can prepare more. And the porridge can be mixed with some vegetables and whole grains. Even if you only eat it once a day, it can still be a little full."

Song Shengfu remembered that although the porridge here was distributed in a porridge stall, they only visited each household once a day, and once the food was distributed, it was gone. Some people could eat it, but some could not get any at all.

Some refugees who were not fleeing at all also came to receive porridge, while those who needed help the most could only suffer from the cold and hunger.

"Adding vegetables directly to the porridge? Isn't that a bit inappropriate, mother?"

Song Shengfu didn't react at first, and was even a little stunned when Lu asked. What's wrong with adding vegetables and whole grains to porridge? She often ate that way in her past life, and it was both filling and healthy.

Seeing that her mother-in-law didn't seem to understand, Mrs. Lu explained it again, and Song Shengfu suddenly realized.

What?! Only poor people would cook vegetables into porridge?

Some poor families who have no food at home will go to the mountains to look for edible wild vegetables. Cooking a handful of chopped wild vegetables and adding a little rice is enough for the whole family to eat.

Mrs. Lu wondered if doing so would cause criticism that her family couldn't even afford to give out a bowl of porridge.

After hearing this, Song Shengfu thought it was a good thing.

"Look, since only those poor families would cook vegetables with their rice, then by doing this we can actually provide food to those who really need it."

Mrs. Lu was a little puzzled, but she immediately realized that her mother was really smart.

That's right. Since we are refugees, it's good enough to have something to eat. How can we be picky?

On the contrary, only those who are full will dislike these meals.

"The same goes for this year's corn. Take out some and crush it, and cook it in porridge. Just these two will do: vegetable porridge and corn porridge. And then there's steamed buns. With the grain saved from previous years, we can make more every day."

Lu thought it was a good idea and nodded in agreement.

Song Shengfu then told the matter to the brothers Duan Jingzong and Duan Jingan, and they had no objections.

Duan Jing'an had also heard about the robbery of the porridge stall at the Princess's residence. When his colleagues were talking about it, he just wanted to send more people to guard it. He had never thought that his mother's roundabout strategy would directly hit the vital point, which was indeed a brilliant strategy.

As a result, more and more refugees came to the capital, and people living in the outer cities complained bitterly. There were simply too many refugees, which completely affected their normal lives.

Nowadays, there is not even a vendor setting up stalls outside the outer city. Who would dare to sell things outside? If you are not careful, the refugees will snatch everything away from you.

Especially food, all the food shops in the outer city are now closed.

When the number of refugees in the outer city increased, Lord Luo realized that something was wrong and took the people from the military to seal off the outer city.

The outer city was no longer open to the public, and the refugees who came later were stopped outside the capital. As for the refugees in the outer city, they were all driven out and settled outside the city.

Because of this incident, Lord Luo was reprimanded by the Emperor of Chu, who blamed him for his poor performance and fined him one year's salary.

In this way, the porridge shop was moved from the outer city to outside the city. When the people who distributed porridge outside the city came back, Song Shengfu and others realized how serious the situation was.

"Outside the city, it was pitch black and filled with people, all sitting or lying on the ground. Many were so hungry that only bones were left. I heard from the servants that some were as thin as bamboo poles, but their bellies were incredibly big, like women about to give birth."

Kang Ge'er and Wei Jie'er were both a little scared when they heard this, and Xuan Ge'er was so scared that he shrank into Song Shengfu's arms.

Duan Jingzong looked a little serious. This kind of thing had not happened in many years. The flood in Nanyang was so serious.

Song Shengfu had seen this scene before in her dreams, even more tragic. The ground was littered with people who had starved to death, lying in the snow in the middle of winter, motionless.

The scary thing is that what is visible to the naked eye is only the top layer. There are countless people stacked underneath. Song Shengfu felt a little creepy when she recalled that scene.