The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 35 I am not as far away as you

The 18th day of the winter month in the 16th year of Yuanzhen.

The snow is still raging wildly.

This sudden snowstorm completely changed the fate of the poor people.

In the outer city and suburbs of the capital, countless people were starving, and the number of people suffering from frostbite and death increased rapidly.

Outside Yongding Gate, heavy snow was falling, and the whole place was covered in silver. In this place ravaged by wind and snow, thousands of refugees were living in silence.

They were dressed in rags and shivered under a dilapidated thatched hut.

There was an elderly, hunchbacked man who hugged the thin child tightly, trying to give him a little warmth with his body temperature. His cloudy eyes revealed endless sadness and despair.

There are also pale and thin men with dazed expressions, like fallen leaves buried in the cold in this desolate snow, not knowing when the warm sunshine of spring will come.
Crunch!Crunch!
Suddenly, a burst of noise came, breaking the silence covered by heavy snow.

This sudden sound attracted the attention of the refugees. Some of them stuck their heads out of the thatched huts and looked in the direction of the sound.

Then I saw a few black spots in the distance, coming towards the direction of Yongdingmen. Then, the black spots became bigger and bigger, and there were more and more of them.

About half a quarter of an hour later, the black spots became clearer, and everyone saw that they were actually horses pulling carts, there were hundreds of them.

The car was piled with things and covered with tarpaulin, and no one knew what was on top.

The convoy stopped two or three hundred meters away from Yongdingmen and did not make any further movements, as if waiting for something. In front of the convoy stood a row of guards in tight uniforms with solemn expressions.

clatter! clatter! clatter!
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves was heard coming from inside the city, and the sound was getting closer and closer to the city gate.

After a while, a carriage was seen coming out of Yongding Gate and stopped in front of the convoy outside the city.

Then, two young men got down from the carriage.

"Shen Jieyuan, Mr. Jiang."

The guards in tight uniforms all bowed and saluted.

Shen Yuan waved his hand and asked, "How many are there here?"

"Fifty thousand catties of grain."

Shen Yuan nodded when he heard this. This was enough to sustain the refugees outside Yongding Gate for two or three days, but for the entire Shenjing City, it was still a drop in the bucket.

When Shen Yuan first arrived in Shenjing City more than a month ago, he realized this problem when he saw such a large number of refugees outside the city.

In ancient times, cold winters were difficult to endure, let alone these starving people who had nothing. Therefore, he sent guards to the surrounding areas to purchase grain and transport it to the capital in advance, just to do his part, and they happened to arrive during this snowstorm.

Shen Yuan and his group were not the only ones who spontaneously provided relief to the disaster victims. In the past two days, there were enthusiastic people doing good deeds at all the city gates of Shenjing to help these suffering compatriots overcome their difficulties.

Shen Yuan collected his thoughts, turned his head to look at the thousands of hungry people outside the prosperous capital, and said in a serious tone: "Give out porridge."

In this silent snowy wilderness, Shen Yuan's words penetrated through the layers of snow and reached the ears of many hungry people, like the sound of nature, igniting the fire of hope in their hearts.
Afterwards, the guards built a dozen sheds outside the city with straw mats, bought firewood nearby, and started to build a stove to cook porridge.

Before long, smoke began to rise outside Yongding Gate.

Soon, a large number of refugees came over. Smelling the fragrance of porridge coming from the porridge shed, everyone's eyes were filled with desire.

There were guards maintaining order in front of the porridge stall, and these hungry people did not cause any chaos.

While waiting in line for the porridge, many people would look at Shen Yuan from time to time.

These hungry people saw all the previous scenes. It was the young man in front of them who brought them hope of life.

“This is a living Buddha!”

Suddenly, a hunchbacked old man slowly walked out of the team, came to Shen Yuan, and bowed sincerely. "Please stand up, old man."

As Shen Yuan spoke, a guard came forward and helped the old man up.

He gave porridge to the disaster victims. Although it was out of compassion born out of universal values ​​in his heart and sympathy for the helplessness of the poor people, it was not without selflessness.

What Shen Yuan is doing now is to provide timely assistance, not only to the people, but also to the court. This matter will definitely have a long-term impact in Shenjing.

Of course, these hungry people would not think so much. To them, what Shen Yuan did was to save them without asking for anything in return. After all, they had nothing. What could Shen Yuan get from them?
The old man was helped up and returned to the queue waiting for porridge.

But it was quiet for only a moment, and then more people came up to Shen Yuan and bowed to him. The eyes of these people were full of gratitude and sincerity.

More and more people came forward to express their gratitude, perhaps because they were infected by this atmosphere.

Finally, everyone in the team shouted out.

"Thank you, sir!"

"Thank you, sir!"

Those who are strong shout loudly, while those who are weak and frail murmur softly.

Shen Yuan's eyes swept over the refugees who were enduring extreme hunger and cold. They faced the hardships and despair of life, but still retained their sincerity and simplicity. Their stories were painful but also tenacious, which moved Shen Yuan.

In the freezing cold and snowy weather, the hungry people huddled in their ragged clothes, their figures looking particularly thin and small.

The snowflakes fell on them and blended with the dirt on their clothes, highlighting the hardship of their lives.

But the gratitude from the heart highlights the brilliance of their humanity.
Before long, pots of boiling hot porridge were ready.

Dozens of porridge stalls started serving porridge at the same time. Lines like long dragons moved slowly. The hungry people who received the porridge all looked happy and happily returned to their respective huts to eat.

Although these porridges could not fill them up, they gave them hope to survive.

Shen Yuan took in the expressions of the hungry people and couldn't help sighing in his heart. It was not easy to be born at the bottom of this feudal dynasty.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Fan admired Shen Yuan even more.

"How could Brother Shen predict this snowstorm?"

“No one can predict the future, but we can prepare for it.”

"I still have one thing I don't understand." Jiang Fan hesitated, but still asked, "That day on the canal, Brother Shen was worried that the refugees would be in chaos and didn't rescue them, but why did he do that today?"

"This is the capital, under the feet of the emperor." Shen Yuan said, "If they have stutters, they won't have any extreme ideas."

“It’s really a rainy day preparation.”

On the wall of Yongdingmen, a young man in gorgeous clothes had a panoramic view of everything happening outside the city gate. He looked at the young man in blue under the city tower with admiration in his eyes.

After a moment's silence, he looked at the middle-aged man beside him and asked in a clear voice, "How long will it take for our caravan to arrive in Beijing?"

The middle-aged man replied respectfully: "Sir, it will probably take another seven or eight days."

"Seven or eight days?" The young man in fancy clothes frowned slightly and said in a serious tone, "Too slow! I didn't expect that I still couldn't catch up."

He had a premonition of this disaster, but it was too late for him to prepare.

After a pause, he looked at the blue-clothed figure outside the city gate again and said calmly, "I am far from being as good as others in foreseeing things."

(End of this chapter)