roccoschili Chapter 281 Donating food
Chapter 281 Donating food
Liu Guizhi ran towards Liu Quezi and his wife crying, her tears and snot all mixed up into a ball. Seeing this, other parents also secretly wiped their tears, and after wiping away their tears, they stretched their necks to look at the children inside.
There was no need to confirm the identities of Liu Quezi's family, and the yamen runners quickly let them go. The rest of the people also found their own children among those children. Soon, there were only a few children left who were rescued, and there were no parents standing outside the door.
All the children lowered their heads in disappointment.
Song Chunlin looked at their disappointed expressions and walked over to ask the yamen runners, "Have you collected all the gifts? Is there anyone who doesn't know that the children have been found?"
The bailiff said, "It shouldn't happen. We went door to door to inform the public early in the morning. With such a big fuss, it's impossible for the family who lost their child not to hear it."
Song Chunlin frowned and thought to himself, let's not wait any longer.
The uncles and aunts from the Children's Affairs Bureau also comforted the children: "It's okay, your parents may not have received the news yet. They may know in two days, and then they will come to pick you up."
One of the little girls said in a muffled voice: "No, my father dislikes me because I am a girl. He doesn't like me, so how could he come to me?"
No one knew how to respond to this. These days there were many people who voluntarily sold their children. Their Charity Bureau had taken in such children in the early years. They were all poor people who were sold by their parents. The Charity Bureau supported them until they were fourteen years old and then let them go out to make a living on their own.
At the moment, it is estimated that these children are almost certainly dead. Considering the evil deeds of the human traffickers mentioned by the imperial guards, they must have been sold into death indentures by their parents. Even if such parents really take them back, they will probably sell them again. Rather than letting them experience the fear of being sold again, it is better to let them stay in the Charity Bureau. At least they don't have to go out to be slaves. As long as they can find a way to make a living when they grow up, their lives will not be too bad.
Thinking of this, Shumo pulled Song Chunlin aside and whispered to him, "I think this young master must have guessed that these children were most likely sold by their own relatives. If we let them go home, they might be sold a second time. We can save them once, but not the second or third time. Can you tell the yamen runners that if no one comes to take these children back tomorrow, let them stay here, is that okay?"
Song Chunlin understood what the other party meant, but when he thought about their empty warehouse, the food shortage was already there, and now there were several more mouths to feed. The situation was even more tense. He might not even be able to drink porridge in the days to come.
Song Chunlin asked his uncle: "You left the child behind, what about the food?"
Shumo was speechless for a moment, but still gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry, sir. As long as I have something to eat, they won't starve. At worst, we can find a few rich families and see if they can give us some alms. As long as we can hold on until summer and harvest the crops in the fields, everything will be fine."
Seeing that he was so persistent, Song Chunlin didn't know how to persuade him anymore.
"In that case, I'll set an example and get you some other food first."
"Young master, do you really mean what you say?"
"Of course I take it seriously. Just wait, I'll go back and find someone to transport the food."
Shumo was overjoyed and bowed to Song Chunlin repeatedly to express his gratitude. However, Song Chunlin could not accept his great courtesy, so he turned sideways, avoided him, and ran away, his figure disappearing around the corner in an instant.
Shumo walked back in a good mood. When others asked him what happened, Shumo smiled and said that a kind-hearted person had donated money to them and the children would soon have enough food to eat.
When they heard that they could fill their stomachs, the children cheered and the adults were also very excited.
Song Chunlin didn't stop until he ran to the main road. On his way back to the Marquis' Mansion, he thought about it and felt that he couldn't be the only one who was a philanthropist. Charity dinners were very popular nowadays. Why don't he imitate one? This would not only raise funds for the Charity Bureau, but also make those wealthy people proud, killing two birds with one stone.
However, the most urgent task at the moment was to deliver the winter food to them. Song Chunlin paused on his way back to the Marquis' Mansion, turned around and went to the carriage shop, rented three ox carts, hired three coachmen, and drove the ox carts to an empty alley. After giving the coachmen mental hints, he took things out of the space.
Bags of rice, flour, and two large baskets of apples. Apples are still affordable these days. At least in Beijing, you can buy them with money. He would never dare to take other fruits.
In addition to these, there are also half a pig, 100 kilograms of bacon, 200 kilograms of cabbage, and 100 kilograms of radishes. If these things are eaten sparingly, they will be enough for the children to eat for half a month.
After finishing all these, Song Chunlin asked the drivers to drive the ox carts to the Charity Bureau.
At first, the uncles from the Charity Bureau thought that Song Chunlin could only bring a few bags of rice and flour, but they didn't expect that he actually brought three full carts of food.
One ox cart was used to carry food, with 300 kilograms of rice and flour each. Another cart was loaded with half a pork, piles of bacon and two large baskets of apples. The remaining cart was used to carry vegetables.
"This is the Pinellia fruit, right? It's the first time I've seen Pinellia fruit that looks so good and is so fresh." The lady who manages the kitchen's eyes lit up. With so much food, the children can spend a happy winter.
The children also gathered around excitedly, drooling at the fruity apples.
There was also a brave child who secretly touched the half pork. It was hard. This was the pig raised by Song Chunlin's family. After slaughtering it, he put it in the snow pile to freeze for a while and then put it into the space.
"What a fat pig! I don't know who raised it, but it's really well-fed. This big piece of suet can be used to make a lot of oil."
"Who says it's not true? My mother-in-law's family also raises pigs, but they've never raised pigs this fat. Most of them are thin."
The uncle in charge stared in amazement as the truckloads of food were moved into the warehouse. The originally pitiful warehouse was instantly filled with rice, flour, pork, fruits, vegetables and so on, giving people a sense of security.
Seeing the children were really greedy, an old lady couldn't help but ask him: "Children haven't eaten fruit for a long time, why don't you cut a few Artocarpus and let everyone have a taste."
Uncle Mo came to his senses, looked at the hungry children, and was generous: "Cut it, cut it all, there's something for everyone, let's cut it into four portions, one for each person."
Hearing that there was fruit to eat, the group of cubs cheered, and their laughter almost blew off the roof.
There was laughter and joy at the Charity Bureau, but the atmosphere in the Ministry of Justice's prison was rather tense.
Gu Fengyun and Gu Fengyue sat on either side, watching the people below torturing the human traffickers. They were all very stubborn and refused to reveal who their upstream and downstream customers were.
Gu Fengyun was quite patient. When he saw the man fainted, he immediately signaled the doctor beside him to go over and give the man an acupuncture to prevent him from dying.
"Send someone over." Gu Fengyue gave an order, and immediately someone dragged another human trafficker over. This man was addicted to alcohol. He drank a lot of industrial alcohol that day. His mind was still dizzy until this time, and he knew nothing about anything others asked him.
"What did he drink? I don't think he's in the right shape."
Gu Fengyun signaled the doctor to come forward and check. The doctor felt the man's pulse and then shook his head at the two men: "Sir, this man seems to have been poisoned. Because the toxin has damaged his brain, his consciousness is not clear now. As for what kind of poison he has been poisoned with, I can only say that this poison is extremely harmful to the liver and kidneys, and it is fierce. As for the antidote, I have to go back and look up the medical books to find out the cause."
Gu Fengyue was a little disappointed: "So he can't get anything out of me now, right?"
"This person is not in his right mind, so there is really nothing we can ask him."
Gu Fengyun pondered for a moment and said, "In that case, lock him up first. Go back and study the prescription. Make sure he wakes up quickly. If we can't even pry his mouth open, wouldn't it seem like I've failed in my duty?"
These words made everyone present feel a chill down their spines. The master was just warning them.
After seeing off the two Gu brothers, all the jailers and doctors wiped the sweat from their foreheads in silence.
Gu Fengyue and her brother separated at the door, one went to the palace to pay respects, while the other prepared to return to the Marquis' Mansion.
As expected, Song Chunlin was waiting for Gu Fengyue and the others in the Marquis' Mansion. He looked behind Gu Fengyue but did not see Gu Fengyun.
"Where's Big Brother?"
"He has gone to the palace. The emperor has been alerted by this matter. He needs to report it to the emperor. Also, the people we caught are all tough guys. They are unwilling to tell anyone, so we may have to use some special means when necessary."
When it comes to special methods, Song Chunlin is familiar with them. He looks eager to try:
"Me, me, me, I can do it, choose me, choose me."
Gu Fengyue smiled slightly: "That won't work. Anyone you interrogate will become a fool. What we need now is evidence in court. How can a person testify if he becomes a fool?"
"Oh, I see." Song Chunlin was a little depressed that he couldn't interrogate the prisoner.
Seeing this, Gu Fengyue asked him what he had done today. Song Chunlin became interested again and told him incessantly about his experiences in the Charity Bureau.
"You don't know, their warehouse is empty and the rats can hold sports games in it. Isn't it said that the government allocates a sum of money to them every year? Then why are they still so poor? The children even have trouble getting food."
Gu Fengyue frowned, "This is the Ministry of Revenue's business. Although the government said that they would allocate a sum of money, I don't know exactly how much it is, but it should be enough for them to have enough food and clothing. In addition, every year there are wealthy families who donate food and clothing to the Charity Bureau. How could they be reduced to the point of not having enough to eat?"
Song Chunlin glared, "But they just can't eat enough. Besides, are you sure that the money will really fall on them after it is taken out? I heard that they have to cultivate farmland in the back mountain and be self-sufficient to avoid starving to death. If the money really falls on them, are they stupid? Will they not use the money to buy food?"
Song Chunlin thought of those hypocritical charitable organizations in his previous life. Every year, they said that the donations would be used for everyone in need, but in fact most of the donations were embezzled by them. The most famous foundation was like this. Later it was discovered that the embezzled donations amounted to hundreds of millions, or even more.
There are corrupt officials in every era, including in ancient times. Song Chunlin guessed that most of the money from the Charity Bureau was swallowed up, otherwise how could that uncle have the audacity to ask for alms from wealthy families.
"The amount of money from the Salesian Bureau is not a lot, but it is not a small amount either. The big guys may not look down on it, but the chances of villains tampering with it are relatively high."
"Forget it, no matter who touched their money, I will make them spit it all out!"
Gu Fengyue looked at his high-spirited face and rubbed his head with a smile.
"Okay, my little ancestor, let me go to sleep for a while. I'm a little sleepy."
Only then did Song Chunlin realize that Gu Fengyue had been busy since last night, but he had forgotten his hard work and had been talking to him nonstop. Feeling guilty, Song Chunlin quickly pulled him to the bed.
"Come, go to sleep first. I'll go out and see if there's anything delicious in the kitchen. I'll bring it to you when you wake up."
"Well, thank you Chunlin." Gu Fengyue said and really closed his eyes. After a while, the sound of even breathing was heard, which showed that he was really tired.
Tiptoeing out of the room, Song Chunlin slapped his head in annoyance. After stomping his feet at the door, he quickly ran to the kitchen, intending to make some delicious food for Gu Fengyue to replenish his body.
What Song Chunlin called delicious was actually stewed beef. He borrowed the small kitchen of the Marquis' Mansion and stewed a big pot of braised beef. It was served on the table and smelled delicious.
Gu Fengyue smelled the scent while he was still asleep. His nose moved, and the overbearing fragrance went straight into his nasal cavity, tempting the glutton in his stomach to keep growling.
When he opened his eyes, the fragrance became stronger. He turned around and saw Song Chunlin stirring something there. The fragrance spread with his movements, filling the entire room.
"Hey, you're awake. I've prepared dinner. Go wash up and get ready to eat."
Gu Fengyue got up, washed up briefly, and sat in front of the table. Song Chunlin served him a large bowl of hand-rolled noodles. There was a thick layer of braised beef on the noodles, and the beef broth was poured over it. The bowl of braised beef noodles was ready.
"Eat it while it's hot. I asked the chef in the kitchen to make hand-rolled noodles. Try it and see if it tastes good."
Under Song Chunlin's expectant eyes, Gu Fengyue picked up a piece of beef and put it into Song Chunlin's mouth first. The beef with rich flavor was stewed until it was soft and tender. Song Chunlin squinted his eyes in admiration for the delicious food.
Seeing him eating so happily, Gu Fengyue also smiled, then lowered her head and started eating noodles.
The noodles are chewy and smooth, the beef is soft and tasty, and the noodle soup is full of meaty aroma. When you mix the two together, your stomach will feel warm after one gulp.