Squire Liu’s heart was resistant. At this critical juncture, recommending any household meant harming that household—wouldn’t those people hate him to death after this matter was over? But following the principle of “let fellow Taoists die rather than this poor Taoist,” Squire Liu still mentioned two households with a trembling voice.
Pang Xiao nodded and smiled: “Squire Liu is truly a sensible person. Then let’s go with Squire Liu’s request—this amount it is.” Pang Xiao held up one finger.
Squire Liu nearly wanted to cry on the spot. He had held up a whole hand, but in the end was so frightened that he repeatedly retreated, only daring to extend one finger. Yet His Highness had the audacity to say with a straight face that this was “according to his request”—how could this prince be so thick-skinned!
But Squire Liu dared not voice these thoughts. His initial arrogance had long been shattered by fear. The troops were indeed positioned right at his door. He had also discovered that this prince was truly not someone easy to deal with—giving silver was already giving him face, so he’d better quit while ahead.
With Squire Liu’s command, the household became busy. Pang Xiao ordered people to stay here to oversee the weighing, and had others immediately go to the two grain merchants’ households that Squire Liu had mentioned to investigate the situation. Then he turned and came to the carriage, where Bingtang and Ji Yun immediately got down.
Lifting the curtain and jumping onto the carriage, Pang Xiao sat down next to Qin Yining: “How did you arrive so timely? Otherwise I’d almost have been taken for a bandit.”
Qin Yining was amused by him and burst into laughter: “Didn’t you plan from the start to buy on credit? It would only be a day or two before the goods arrived anyway.” Moving closer to his side, she examined his posture and whispered: “Did you come by horse? Does your wound hurt?”
“How could I be so delicate?” His long arm stretched out to embrace Qin Yining’s shoulder. When Pang Xiao’s hand landed on her shoulder and touched her frail bones, his brow couldn’t help but furrow.
During this period of poor eating and sleeping, living with constant worry and exhaustion, Qin Yining had lost a lot of weight. They were in a disaster area where people faced death threats daily. They couldn’t even eat their fill, let alone nourish themselves properly. Just when some flesh had been restored to her cheeks, arriving at Jin Harbor had made her thin again.
Qin Yining leaned against his shoulder, her eyes bright like brilliant stars in the night sky.
“Fortunately you thought of such a good solution. We can’t wait for His Majesty’s relief supplies. We can’t just watch the people starve to death. Perhaps we can use this method along the way.” Suddenly thinking of something, she sat up straight to remind Pang Xiao: “You must also act more discreetly, and don’t provoke these merchants too harshly, lest people become suspicious about the origin of our silver.”
The treasure matter was already a thorn in Li Qitian’s heart. After expending so much effort without finding it, if he became suspicious of Pang Xiao, they would probably face enemies on all sides in the future.
Pang Xiao loved seeing her adorable appearance when worrying about him. It felt like being gently patted by some soft, fluffy little animal with its furry paws.
“Good, I’ll follow your advice completely. I’ll be extremely careful.”
Hearing his voice full of joy, Qin Yining couldn’t help but look up, directly meeting his gentle gaze.
Though he did nothing, simply looking at her with eyes full of love, Qin Yining still heard her disobedient heart skip two beats. It seemed that every time Pang Xiao looked at her with such tender eyes, she would almost forget her own name and what she was supposed to do.
Pang Xiao adored her misty-eyed appearance and couldn’t help but kiss her eyes.
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the carriage.
“Your Highness, the grain has been counted—enough for the people inside and outside the city to eat thin porridge for three days!”
Upon hearing this, Pang Xiao joyfully pinched Qin Yining’s cheek: “That old fox definitely still has stored grain he hasn’t brought out. Let me probe a bit more.” With that, he jumped down from the carriage like a child, as if his wound didn’t hurt at all.
Qin Yining wrapped her cloud shoulder garment and waited quietly. Before long, Pang Xiao had finished negotiating with Squire Liu. When they returned to the city, six full carts followed behind them, along with dozens of porters carrying loads.
Though it was still the same autumn scene of devastation, returning with grain was enough to lift anyone’s spirits.
Qin Yining hadn’t gotten down from the carriage, but lifting the window curtain and seeing those people at the soup kitchens outside the city looking at Pang Xiao with eyes full of expectation, her heart filled with intense satisfaction. Using the treasure here was worthwhile.
Pang Xiao and Qin Yining first delivered part of the grain to the soup kitchens outside the city, arranged for people to cook porridge, then quickly returned to the city to make arrangements.
They moved extremely fast. After returning to the city, before they could inform County Magistrate Chen, they had already sent grain to the two soup kitchens in the city first, hoping that having the starving people eat grain an hour earlier might save a few more lives.
When County Magistrate Chen heard that Pang Xiao had indeed returned to the soup kitchens with grain, he immediately rushed over. Seeing cooking smoke rising from the stoves, thick mixed-grain porridge simmering in large pots, and people already lining up in long queues at the soup kitchens with pottery jars and bowls, County Magistrate Chen was so moved he nearly shed tears.
“Your Highness, thank goodness for you! This subordinate represents all the people of the city in thanking you!” Taking three steps in two, County Magistrate Chen knelt solidly before Pang Xiao and kowtowed several times with loud thuds.
The people closer by heard County Magistrate Chen’s words and excitedly knelt down together to kowtow, discussing among themselves how fortunate it was that His Highness had obtained grain, allowing everyone to get through these days. The people all knelt down following County Magistrate Chen, their voices of gratitude to Pang Xiao nearly reaching the clouds.
Pang Xiao hurriedly helped County Magistrate Chen up: “Magistrate Chen, what are you doing? This is all within this prince’s duties. This prince is incompetent—letting everyone suffer hunger unnecessarily for so long truly fills this prince with shame.”
“Your Highness must never say such things! His Majesty won’t provide grain supplies, and Your Highness isn’t a deity—how could you conjure grain from thin air? If not for Your Highness spending your own money to buy grain this time, how could everyone survive!”
County Magistrate Chen spoke directly, saying whatever came to mind in his excitement.
After the words left his mouth, he realized what he had said and immediately felt it was somewhat inappropriate, as matters like His Majesty not providing grain could easily provoke discussion. But on second thought, since His Majesty as the Son of Heaven actually performed worse than His Highness, if he dared act this way, surely he shouldn’t fear people talking behind his back?
On the contrary, Prince Zhongshun was amiable and benevolent, acting with discretion. He had just inquired—all this grain was bought by His Highness. Though his words to the squire had been harsh, in the end he had only frightened him at the squire’s house and still paid money.
His Highness was willing to spend his private silver to buy grain for the people’s survival when His Majesty wouldn’t send supplies—such noble character deserved recognition. If His Highness wouldn’t promote it himself, he couldn’t let this matter be suppressed.
Sure enough, once County Magistrate Chen said this, the people immediately began discussing. This news spread like a tide, and soon the crowd was filled with the people’s praise.
Pang Xiao and Qin Yining exchanged a glance, both feeling rather helpless.
They had always kept a low profile precisely to avoid arousing suspicion. This situation was still manageable—His Highness having some silver to spend wouldn’t attract much attention. But they planned to continue providing relief all the way south, which would be an enormous sum. It was hard to guarantee that no one with ulterior motives would think too much, and if someone mentioned it to Li Qitian, Pang Xiao would be unable to explain clearly.
Therefore, Pang Xiao and Qin Yining, including strategists like Xu Weizhi and Xie Yue, had been hesitating about what method to use for publicity—one that would allow Pang Xiao to win popular support without arousing Li Qitian’s suspicion.
But who could have anticipated that plans couldn’t keep up with changes? Before they could devise their method, County Magistrate Chen had already made the decision for them.
Seeing Pang Xiao’s somewhat embarrassed expression, County Magistrate Chen assumed His Highness had such a character—unwilling to seek fame for such deeds—and felt even more fondness for this young prince. He increasingly felt it was too unfair for His Highness to remain unknown after doing such good deeds.
Pang Xiao and Qin Yining saw that under County Magistrate Chen’s arrangements, the people at the soup kitchens maintained order. The young and strong didn’t push to the front because of their strength, but instead yielded to the elderly, children, and women. Though everyone was starving and seeing stars, they hadn’t lost their human dignity and moral bottom line.
Both Qin Yining and Pang Xiao felt very pleased, and couldn’t help but reflect that Jin Harbor under County Magistrate Chen’s governance was indeed different from the places they had seen on their journey. Perhaps it was because this coastal area had lighter disaster conditions, but more importantly, the people here were simple-hearted and everyone retained their kindness.
For a county magistrate to maintain stability in a region was already difficult, but what was more precious was that he allowed the people to always maintain their simple hearts without developing any bad customs. Even under the shadow of death, this remained true—this was County Magistrate Chen’s capability.
Pang Xiao and Qin Yining returned to the government office to rest briefly.
Upon hearing the news, strategists like Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi took guards to walk around and observe the city’s situation.
The people all knew that this grain was bought with Prince Zhongshun’s own silver for them to eat. Now eating hot porridge, they found it more precious than any delicacy. Thinking of His Highness, they praised him even more highly, and his previous brave deeds on the battlefield were also brought up. This made the strategists investigating the situation feel honored and proud beyond measure, deeply moved.
Those strategists who had initially opposed Pang Xiao using the treasure for disaster relief, seeing this situation now, finally completely understood the principle of “those who win people’s hearts win the realm” advocated by Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi. Some even thought how fortunate it was that His Highness hadn’t adopted their suggestions at the time.
Qin Yining and Pang Xiao returned to their room, and before long Ji Yun and Bingtang brought a jar of mixed-grain porridge cooked until thoroughly soft.
Pang Xiao picked up a bowl, ladled out a spoonful, and pursed his lips: “Not easy—finally eating something a bit thicker.”
Qin Yining was amused by his aggrieved and resentful appearance: “You eat more. These days you’ll still need to work hard going around to find grain merchants and negotiate prices.”
Pang Xiao laughed heartily, handing the bowl full of rice grains to Qin Yining, then holding the remaining contents of the earthen jar himself.
“Don’t worry, with such a good beginning, Jin Harbor’s situation can be alleviated within a few days. Then we can set out for the next stop.”