On the Difficulties of Escape in Ancient Times

Grandma Gu San took the tea from the maid and presented it to Madam Li personally: "We renovated these five rooms last year just to entertain the ladies who came to donate."

"The room at the side is full of account books. The rooms at the back contain a kitchen and a warehouse full of food and cloth."

He then said modestly: "I am young and ignorant, and I am far less discerning than you, madam. If you find any mistakes, please send someone to find me."

Several other grandmothers came over and praised Mrs. Li with envious tones.

Not only did Xiao Xiao not interrupt them, she also hoped that they could talk more. She whispered to Mother Zhou and asked her to lead a few accountants to the back to start doing the accounting.

When Grandma Gu San saw this, her heart began to beat faster and she felt fear that her inner thoughts were being seen through.

Then she comforted herself that the fake accounts with problems could not be easily detected, and her heartbeat returned to normal.

Furthermore, the Li Mansion cannot have so many accountants. Even if the accountants hired from outside find any problems, they may not want to offend the Gu Mansion and will not speak out.

But she still felt that this place was unacceptable and it made her feel uneasy.

In fact, she also regretted taking this job. Although she got some benefits, the bulk of the money was taken away by her aunt.

Originally she didn't care, but now seeing someone else taking over the charity, she feels uneasy.

If something is discovered, I will be the first to bear the brunt.

Therefore, after hesitating for a while, she walked over to Xiao Xiao and spoke to her in a humble manner: "Grandma Li, how about I go in with you?"

By the way, I can also take this opportunity to find out whether Grandma Li is smart or easy to fool.

Xiao Xiao didn't object: "Okay."

She was speechless. Did she look like a soft persimmon? She was not blind, so she could tell that she disdained to talk to her.

I really wronged her.

Just for this reason, Xiao Xiao also wanted to annoy her, so she agreed very readily.

Grandma Gu San first exchanged glances with her mother-in-law and aunt, and then walked to the back with Xiao Xiao.

She even covered her nose with a handkerchief, with a look of disgust on her face: "A place like this is dirty, messy and smelly. If my aunt hadn't insisted on my help, I really wouldn't want to take it over."

If Xiao Xiao was not strong-willed, she would suspect that she was implying that she had a bad background after hearing such words, and she would either be angry or uneasy.

Xiao Xiao acted as if she didn't hear anything and asked, "How many people are there in the charity hall?"

Grandma Gu San really didn't know: "More than 2,000 people, right?"

She just knows a rough number.

Because what she said before was the truth, she really hated the charity house and was annoyed by the sight of those dirty children.

Xiao Xiao was a little confused: "The three charity halls combined only have more than 2,000 people?"

Ever since she knew she was going to take over the charity, Xiao Xiao asked someone to inquire about it.

Just let Mrs. Yan go to the charity to buy a child.

Although the manager of the charity hall firmly refused, Mrs. Yan still treated him to a good meal and wine, and got some information out of him. She learned that there were about 2,600 children and elderly people in the three charity halls in total.

What's more, she asked Li Yan for help, and he had people keep an eye on the charity hall. Naturally, he knew that more than 300 children in this charity hall were transferred to the other two charity halls.

It was already dark, so they stuffed the people into a mule cart and moved away secretly. It was obvious that this could not be a good thing.

But she had not yet taken over the charity hall, so even if she noticed something fishy, ​​she could not expose it. After all, people could also lie and say that the transfer was due to too many people in the charity hall.

If you are not careful, you may be blamed for it.

Therefore, Xiao Xiao could only ask Li Yan to continue to keep an eye on the family, to find out what the Gu family was planning.

"What do you mean by that?" Grandma Gu San was immediately displeased and said coldly, "The other two charity halls are our houses. Do you want them too? You have such a big appetite. Aren't you afraid of getting full?"

Xiao Xiao was not afraid of her and immediately retorted: "You Gu family want to keep two charity halls, are you planning to rebel?"

It is not allowed to adopt too many children privately now, for fear that they will be given inappropriate ideas during the process and will not know who they should be loyal to in the end.

Therefore, no matter whether you are a high-ranking official or a wealthy businessman, you are not allowed to buy too many servants and maids. There are restrictions.

Of course, ambitious people would also raise the children they bought outside, training the talented ones to be guards and throwing the untalented ones on the farm to work.

That is to say, General Li of the Li Mansion is an upright person. Moreover, he is a military general with many people following him, so he did not have such thoughts.

However, Li Yan had a different opinion on this, and he told her privately that the emperor was a little afraid of military generals, and the Li family escaped a disaster in this way.

For those nobles who secretly keep people, who knows when they will be discovered by the emperor.

The reason why the emperor is not taking action now is simply to calm people's hearts first, so that his subordinates will not think that the emperor is getting rid of him.

Therefore, when Grandma Gu San heard Xiao Xiao's words, a chill rose uncontrollably from the bottom of her heart and quickly spread throughout her limbs.

She doesn't dare to take the blame, or she will lose her head.

She argued: "You, you are talking nonsense, those are just little girls, what use can they be, we are just doing good things."

Just at this time they had already entered the inner room and saw many little girls sitting on the steps making knitting clothes, some drawing water with broken wooden buckets from the well in the corner, and some washing clothes with wood ash.

There were also a few seven or eight-year-old girls holding babies in their arms…

Xiao Xiao felt like she had accidentally entered the Land of Women.

Even if the status of women is improved, girls are still unwelcome in poor families.

Especially in poor families who have given birth to several daughters in succession, the cruel ones would abandon their daughters, while those who still have a conscience would secretly leave their daughters at the door of a charity.

People nowadays value filial piety very much and will not kick their parents out of the house.

Of course, even if one was unfilial, one would not dare to drive their parents away. If they asked their parents to go to the government office to file a complaint, they would be arrested, beaten with a stick, and thrown into prison.

Therefore, the largest number of people in the charity hall are young girls of all ages.

They were all wearing gray, patched old clothes, with unkempt hair and dirty faces, and pale and thin bodies. When they saw them come in, they did not come forward to greet them, but instead carefully stepped back a few steps and knelt down.

Xiao Xiao felt a pang in her heart.

No, I didn't accidentally enter the Kingdom of Women, I must have accidentally entered a refugee camp.

There are too many children, and it is already autumn, so it is impossible to bathe and change clothes every now and then. There is indeed an unpleasant smell.

Grandma Gu San was unwilling to take another step forward, and said to Xiao Xiao with a cold face: "Okay, you have seen it, can you go back now?"

If Xiao Zhou came, she would still pretend to be nice.

But Xiao Xiao was just a farm girl, and she regretted accompanying her. (End of this chapter)