Quick Transmigration: The Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character's Revenge

After Yao Zhiying took over this matter, she indeed remembered Li Yunshu's lesson and sent people to keep a close eye on things at all times to prevent anyone from embezzling. The porridge given out was also thick and delicious.

But things still went wrong.

Yangzhou is a prosperous city with many rich people, but even more poor people.

Who wouldn't want free porridge? So a large number of ordinary people pretended to be refugees and took all the porridge, and the refugees couldn't compete with them at all.

Although the Xu family is in the grain business and has no shortage of grain, they cannot supply it indefinitely.

Doing good deeds is one aspect, but the Xu family are ultimately businessmen, and businessmen are in it to make money.

This makes the situation even more difficult to resolve. We can't just drive away the ordinary people pretending to be refugees, and even if we did, we wouldn't be able to tell which ones are actually disguised ordinary people.

This situation is much more troublesome than the last time the porridge incident happened.

This time it was Li Yunshu's turn to mock Yao Zhiying: "Third sister-in-law, you'd better think of a good solution. Since all the rice and grains arranged by the manor have been used to make porridge, we can't possibly take out any more rice and grains. Otherwise, how can we keep our shop open and do business?"

Yao Zhiying rolled her eyes inwardly. If she had known this matter would be so troublesome, she wouldn't have rushed to take it on.

Now she has no desire to continue at all; she has gained no good reputation and has only gotten herself into a mess.

The news that the charity would last for half a month had already spread, and it couldn't be stopped halfway through, otherwise it would invite even more criticism.

Yao Zhiying sneered: "What you say is true, sister-in-law. I did a poor job. Since that's the case, I might as well give this matter back to you to do."

"That won't do. I have to take care of Heng'er. I can't manage all that."

Li Yunshu immediately refused; how could she possibly take on this mess again?

Li Yunshu had already realized that this year's situation was different from the previous two years, when Yangzhou City didn't have so many refugees.

In hindsight, it was the right thing to get rid of this hot potato sooner rather than later.

Seeing that Li Yunshu didn't respond, Yao Zhiying glanced at the second and third wives who seemed indifferent to the matter, and then at the old lady with an unpleasant expression. After a moment's thought, she had no choice but to pass the conversation to Qi Ning.

"Second sister-in-law, I heard that second brother's health has almost recovered, so you don't need to worry about him too much now. Why don't you take care of this matter?"

Qi Ning looked down and fiddled with her handkerchief, saying ambiguously, "That won't do."

Seeing that Qi Ning did not immediately refuse, Yao Zhiying saw a glimmer of hope and then said, "Why not? I've heard that Second Sister-in-law has a knack for managing servants. You must have a way. Whether it works or not, we'll know once we try."

In order to get rid of trouble, Yao Zhiying kept praising Qi Ning.

Qi Ning listened to the flattery and praise in a good mood, and then reluctantly said, "Alright, I'll give it a try."

Yao Zhiying suppressed the ever-growing corners of her mouth, and on the surface, she repeatedly thanked Qi Ning, but in her heart, she secretly mocked Qi Ning for being so foolish as to accept the job so easily after just a few words of praise.

However, Yao Zhiying was naturally happy to get rid of this trouble.

Not only Yao Zhiying, but even Li Yunshu thought it was too foolish of Qi Ning to take on this matter.

The old lady had a terrible headache, so she went with Qi Ning.

Privately, the second wife said worriedly, "Ning'er, you are still too young and impulsive. How can you take on such a hot potato?"

Qi Ning comforted her, "Mother, don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Besides, it doesn't matter if I don't do it well. My sister-in-law and my third sister-in-law have already messed it up, so it's not surprising that I don't do it well either. I'm sure Grandmother won't blame only me."

The second wife thought that made sense; now that the old lady had agreed, she couldn't change it.

She only thought that if Qi Ning didn't do well, she would put in a good word for her with the old lady and plead for her.

When Qi Ning returned to Guanlan Courtyard, Xu Yanqing also received the news.

"I heard you took over the supervision of the porridge distribution from the third branch?" he asked.

Qi Ning nodded: "My husband is quite well-informed."

Xu Yanqing frowned: "You knew this was a troublesome matter, so why did you take it on?"

If this is not done well, I will inevitably be scolded by my grandmother.

Qi Ning put on a righteous and awe-inspiring look and said in a serious tone, "Of course it's for the Xu family. If this matter is not handled well, the Xu family's reputation will be greatly affected. But if we keep increasing the amount of rice, most of the people in Yangzhou will come to collect porridge, and our warehouses will be emptied."

Seeing her expression, Xu Yanqing guessed, "So you agreed because you have a way to solve this?"

"Of course." Qi Ning smiled smugly. "If there were no other way, would I have agreed so easily?"

Xu Yanqing asked curiously, "What method?"

Qi Ning immediately called Chun Tao and A Ji in.

She instructed, "Aji, go and buy a batch of the most common and cheapest green vegetables tonight, and put them into tomorrow's porridge to make vegetable porridge. You don't need too much, just enough so that you can see a few vegetable leaves in the porridge to know that it is vegetable porridge; also, add Coptis chinensis to the porridge."

"Chuntao, when you distribute porridge tomorrow, tell everyone that we are distributing a new vegetable porridge that I specially arranged. I have also added some medicinal herbs to it, which can help prevent some colds and other ailments. However, this porridge is very bitter, so those who cannot tolerate the bitterness should not force themselves to eat it."

"Yes."

Aji and Chuntao exchanged a glance and quickly went to make arrangements.

After listening to this, Xu Yanqing immediately understood: "Adding the most common green vegetables increases the amount of vegetable porridge without spending too much money, and it also makes our Xu family seem more generous; but porridge with bitter herbs is bitter, and only refugees can drink it if they are not truly hungry."

Qi Ning nodded, "What my husband says is absolutely right."

Xu Yanqing looked at Qi Ning in surprise: "Where did you get these strange and wonderful ideas from?"

Qi Ning was anything but modest. She tilted her chin up and said, "Of course, it came from my brilliant mind."

The following day, the almsgiving ceremony began as arranged by Qi Ning.

When the people who came to collect the porridge saw the vegetable porridge served, they exclaimed that the Xu family was truly generous.

At this moment, Chun Tao said in a loud voice that several medicinal herbs had been added to this vegetable porridge, which could help prevent colds.

Everyone was even more grateful upon hearing this.

But Chun Tao said that the vegetable porridge with medicinal herbs was bitter. Although it was good for the body, people who couldn't tolerate it shouldn't drink it to avoid wasting it.

Some people didn't believe in superstitions, thinking that since it was free, they had to drink a bowl no matter how bitter it was.

But as soon as he took a sip, he spat it out, complaining that it was too bitter.

Upon hearing this, most of the ordinary people hiding among them backed down.

Some people didn't believe it, but after trying a bite themselves, they gave up.

After those people left, those who remained were real refugees. They were so hungry that they were almost too weak to care about the bitterness of the porridge.

The others were waiting to see Qi Ning make a fool of himself, but unexpectedly, things took a turn for the worse.

The Xu family's reputation also changed overnight.

Qi Ning wasn't satisfied yet, so she called Chun Tao over: "Go and have your brother spread the word about this incident as well."

She carefully explained to Chun Tao what to say.

Chuntao nodded: "This servant understands."

Just as she was about to turn around and leave, she met Xu Yanqing at the door.

Chun Tao quickly called out "Second Young Master" and then hurriedly left with her head down.

Xu Yanqing entered the room: "What did you just tell Chuntao to do?"

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