The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun

Page 468

"Sir, could you please serve me a little more?"

A woman, holding a bowl, pleaded with him.

"Do you think this is your home? Why are you taking so much more? Or should I just give you the whole place? What about everyone else?!"

The yamen runner said.

"But there's not enough here, and I have two children."

The woman pleaded.

The porridge in the woman's bowl was very thin, not enough for one person.

"Stop arguing, I'll give you one more spoonful at most."

The bailiff was already quite impatient, so he scooped in another spoonful and then directly called to the people queuing behind him.

"next."

"Get out of the way."

The man at the back of the line roughly pushed the woman aside and smiled obsequiously at the bailiff distributing the porridge.

"Sir, it's my turn."

The woman sighed silently and left, arriving at a shed where disaster victims were being housed.

Two children rushed up to the woman when she returned.

"mother."

"We are so hungry."

The woman knelt down and handed the bowl over.

"The porridge is here, eat up."

The two children took turns drinking the porridge, and the bowls gradually emptied.

"Mom, you eat too."

The two children handed the remaining porridge to the woman.

The woman then began to drink the porridge, and soon finished the bowl.

The woman and the child, however, were still hungry, their stomachs rumbling with hunger.

"Mom, I'm still hungry."

A child called out to the woman.

The woman, upon hearing this, didn't know what to say, and could only hold her child.

"You can drink mine."

At this moment, a woman came over and placed the porridge in her hand in front of the woman.

Upon hearing this, the woman looked up and saw the young woman, then quickly waved her hand and said, "Miss Du, this won't do, I'm not hungry."

Du Lanyin pointed to the two children.

"You're not hungry, but the child is. Eat up, eat up."

After saying this, Du Lanyin got up and left, with the woman thanking her behind her.

After leaving the shed, Du Lanyin headed back to the county to find Jiang Ning.

"Junior brother."

Du Lanyin walked over.

Upon seeing Du Lanyin, Jiang Ning nodded and asked, "What's wrong, Senior Sister Du?"

Du Lanyin asked worriedly, "The grain is getting less and less. What's going on? Has the government run out of food?"

At the beginning of the disaster relief efforts, the porridge was quite thick, but it became thinner and thinner, and now it seems to be just water with some rice added. Du Lanyin couldn't help but wonder about this.

Jiang Ning frowned slightly upon hearing this.

“I also asked the magistrate of Lantian County about this matter. The magistrate said that the county’s grain has been used up, and the grain transported from Xi’an Prefecture last time is also almost finished. The next batch of grain has not yet arrived, but it should be back in a few days.”

Du Lanyin was relieved upon hearing this.

"That's good. I thought the government had run out of food."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning said, "No, when Master left Xi'an Prefecture, he donated 100,000 taels of silver to the government to buy grain, so there shouldn't be such a problem."

Du Lanyin nodded.

"Speaking of which, I was just thinking of going to check on the disaster relief shelter. Would you like to come, Senior Sister?"

Jiang Ning asked.

"Ah."

Du Lanyin nodded.

Although she had just returned from there, there was no harm in going back again.

The two then headed towards the area where the disaster victims were being resettled.

As soon as he arrived here, someone spotted Jiang Ning and walked over.

A disaster victim said to Jiang Ning, "Jiang Shenxian, thank you for saving my son's life. I will never forget your great kindness."

As he spoke, the man was about to kneel down before Jiang Ning, but Jiang Ning stopped him.

"Saving people and helping the world is what we should do; you don't need to do this."

Jiang Ning said.

"thanks, thanks."

The man remained deeply grateful. After he left, others gathered around, all expressing their gratitude to Jiang Ning for saving their lives or those of their families.

Because there were so many people, even Du Lanyin was squeezed out.

Seeing this scene, Du Lanyin was not surprised, because Jiang Ning had indeed saved many people during this period. For example, the man's son was rescued from the flood by Jiang Ning at the beginning, and there were many others.

"Jiang Shenxian..."

"Jiang Shenxian..."

Jiang Ning couldn't help but laugh when he saw how these people addressed him.

"I'm not a deity."

"Why aren't you a god?"

Others, however, said, "You're not a god, so how could you have such godlike abilities? You're a god sent down from heaven to save us."

"That's it."

The others chimed in with their own opinions.

The "divine means" they referred to were the extraordinary martial arts skills Jiang Ning displayed when he saved them.

They witnessed Jiang Ning moving effortlessly across the raging river, rescuing them from the floodwaters, and saw even more incredible feats they had never seen in their entire lives. They came to regard Jiang Ning as a deity.

Faced with these terms used to refer to the disaster victims, Jiang Ning didn't know what to say. No matter how he described them, they were all the same, and Jiang Ning felt somewhat helpless.

Du Lanyin, who saw this scene from afar, couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

Du Lanyin only came over after Jiangning had finally seen off these disaster victims.

"Junior brother is very popular."

Du Lanyin smiled.

Jiang Ning smiled but said nothing more.

"Let's go."

……

Several more days passed, and Lantian County still hadn't received any grain.

Jiang Ning found the magistrate of Lantian County.

"Magistrate He, why hasn't the grain arrived yet?"

Jiang Ning asked directly.

The magistrate of Lantian County was a plump middle-aged man.

"This... I don't know either. I wrote to the Prefect a while ago, and he said that he has already started to collect grain, which will be delivered in the next few days."

Magistrate He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stammered.

"Master Jiang... Master Jiang, shall we wait a little longer?"

Jiang Ning couldn't help but frown.

"I can wait, but can the people wait?"

"Yes, yes, what Master Jiang said makes sense."

Magistrate He nodded in agreement, but then said with a bitter face, "This is the arrangement of the prefecture. I am just a small magistrate, and for now I can only wait."

Jiang Ning then asked, "How long can the county's grain reserves last?"

Magistrate He hurriedly replied, "We can only hold out for five more days."

"Five days..."

Jiang Ning frowned, then turned and left.

"I need to go to Xi'an Prefecture."

Seeing Jiang Ning leave, Magistrate He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why would this jinx come to my county?"

Since Jiang Ning came to Lantian County to help with disaster relief, Magistrate He has been on tenterhooks every time Jiang Ning comes to visit after learning of Jiang Ning's identity. He is afraid that Jiang Ning will cause trouble for him if he does not do a good job in disaster relief. During this period, he has been doing his best in the disaster relief work.

Seeing that Jiang Ning was going back to Xi'an Prefecture, Magistrate He finally relaxed a little.

"Go, go, and it's best if you don't come back."

Magistrate He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ning was already on his way to Xi'an Prefecture.

Upon arriving in Xi'an, Jiang Ning went straight to the government office to find the Xi'an Prefect. After identifying himself, he entered the government office and was led to the main hall by government officials.

As soon as I entered the hall, I saw that the Xi'an prefect looked very unhappy, as if he was very angry.

Chapter 637: Arrival in Xi'an

"Hero Jiang".

Upon seeing Jiangning, the Xi'an prefect immediately composed himself and asked a question.

"Master Jiang has been busy with disaster relief in Lantian County these past few days. Why are you back today?"

Jiang Ning didn't mince words and said directly, "Lantian County is short of grain and has been waiting for the grain allocation from Xi'an Prefecture for a long time. I've come to ask what's going on."

Upon hearing that Jiang Ning had come to inquire about this matter, the Xi'an Prefect replied, "There is currently a shortage of grain, but we are already procuring more. Once the grain is procured, it will be immediately sent to the disaster-stricken counties for relief."

Jiang Ning nodded, not saying much about it, but asked, "When I first arrived, I saw that the prefect looked troubled. Did you encounter some trouble?"

The prefect of Xi'an was taken aback by what he heard, but still shook his head and said, "It's nothing, just some trivial matters in the government office. No need for you to worry about it, Master Jiang."

"Ok."

Seeing that the other party was unwilling to tell him, Jiang Ning did not say anything more.

"In that case, I shall take my leave."

"Take care, Master Jiang."

The Xi'an Prefect bowed and said.

After Jiang Ning left, the Xi'an prefect looked irritable again.