Upon hearing this, Pang Xiao didn’t immediately agree, hesitating as he said: “It’s inappropriate for you to show your face in such matters. I’ll find ways to persuade them. It’s better if you don’t get involved.”

Those wealthy households were now sitting back waiting for people to come begging, so how could they possibly show any pleasant demeanor? Moreover, most of these wealthy families had members who had once served as officials under Great Yan, and these people perhaps harbored some resentment against Great Zhou.

Regardless of whether their character was genuinely noble or pretentiously so, as long as they stood on moral high ground to condemn Qin Yining, their words wouldn’t be pleasant to hear.

After all, Qin Yining, as the daughter of the Grand Preceptor’s mansion who had once been considered for the position of Empress in Great Yan, had now become the princess consort of the very person who was the chief culprit in overthrowing the Great Yan Dynasty. In those people’s eyes, she had already become a traitor.

Pang Xiao knew that Qin Yining had already endured much suffering by following him—how could he bear to let her listen to people’s gossip and criticism?

Seeing his worried expression, Qin Yining understood what he was concerned about after a moment’s thought, and warmth surged uncontrollably in her heart. She hugged Pang Xiao’s arm and nuzzled against his shoulder: “Don’t worry. Am I the kind of person who cares about others’ opinions? Besides, living in this world, how can one demand to be liked by everyone? With different positions, being scolded is normal.”

“That may be so, but you should still listen to me in this matter. I’ll go by myself—don’t get involved.” Pang Xiao held Qin Yining tenderly. The more understanding and sensible she was, the more Pang Xiao’s heart ached for her. If she hadn’t endured so much suffering, at what should be a lively age, how would she have been forced to learn so much about human nature’s warmth and coldness?

Although it was already dark, this was still a street after all. Qin Yining’s face reddened as she gently pushed Pang Xiao away.

Pang Xiao then stopped embracing her and instead put his arm around her shoulders as they slowly walked toward the government office.

“Since you put it that way, I won’t insist. Actually, it’s better for us to be more cautious in our actions during this period.” Qin Yining was also afraid of becoming a target and bringing trouble to Pang Xiao, especially since Li Qitian had already secretly deployed troops to surround the old capital.

Pang Xiao understood her meaning and nodded: “You’re right. We just need to focus on disaster relief. We especially need to be careful about other words and actions—we can’t have any ambiguous behavior that people could use against us.”

“I understand. Since you won’t let me participate in negotiations, I won’t go out wandering around unless there’s something important.”

Qin Yining had witnessed the chaos and cruelty of war.

When people couldn’t even guarantee their own safety, morality became a luxury. At such times, wandering around carelessly could indeed lead to danger, and some might even take advantage of the chaos to cause trouble.

Seeing how sensible she was, if they weren’t still on the street, Pang Xiao really wanted to hold her in his arms and shower her with affection.

When the two walked near the porridge tent, they saw crowds of people gathered ahead.

Outside the small porridge tent, hundreds of common people crowded together, holding up broken bowls and pottery jars with their withered, dirty hands, competing to get a ladle of porridge first. The strong pushed to the front while the old, weak, women, and children were blocked outside the crowd. There were children crying, elderly people sobbing, plus the broken walls and ruins on both sides of the road and old trees that had been stripped of their leaves and bark…

All of this struck Qin Yining and Pang Xiao’s hearts heavily. After seeing this, they couldn’t help but feel waves of chill and anxiety.

What treasure? What competition?

None of these were as important as a bushel of grain right now!

These were people who had been struggling in the disaster area for two months after the earthquake, ignored by everyone! They had suffered disaster after disaster. The former emperor was an incompetent ruler, and the new emperor only cared about finding treasure, ignoring them completely.

When immortals fight, mortals suffer—what fault was theirs!

Pang Xiao’s back teeth ground together audibly as he pulled Qin Yining and turned to leave.

Only when the voices gradually grew distant did Pang Xiao say: “This can’t continue. The grain won’t last much longer. I must make those wealthy households give up their grain. Otherwise, more and more people will die! Not killed by collapsed houses, but starved to death by their own ruler… Damn it!”

In his fury, Pang Xiao punched the mud wall beside him. The wall, already cracked from the tremors, was completely shattered by such force, dust flying as mud blocks scattered everywhere with a crash.

Qin Yining took Pang Xiao’s hand and saw his fist clenched tight, veins bulging, knuckles scraped and bleeding, mixed with dust—a shocking sight.

She didn’t nag at Pang Xiao but silently took out her water pouch to help him clean the wounds, then applied the wound medicine that Bingtang had given her to carry, finally wrapping the injury with a light green silk handkerchief.

Pang Xiao’s initial anger had long since dissolved into nothing under Qin Yining’s gentle care. Now his heart was as calm as still water as he looked down at the woman carefully bandaging his wounds.

No matter what happened, as long as she was by his side, he could endure it. And he had to endure it. Because he was a man, and having a family meant he had to hold up the sky for her.

“Yining, I…” Pang Xiao’s tone was apologetic.

Qin Yining smiled and pinched his stubbled chin: “Next time you’re not allowed to hurt yourself like this again. This is a disaster area where even healthy people worry about contracting diseases, yet you dare to injure yourself? If you do this again, I’ll hurt myself too.”

“That won’t do. I’m rough and thick-skinned—you can’t compare.”

“Does being rough and thick-skinned mean it doesn’t hurt? Even if you don’t feel pain, it hurts me to watch.” Qin Yining turned and walked toward the government office: “If you can’t change, you won’t be allowed to sleep inside anymore.”

This was a tremendous threat. In such an anxious environment, where everyone was eating thin porridge and surviving under enormous pressure every day, the only comfort was being able to sleep in each other’s arms at night. How could Pang Xiao agree to this?

But he didn’t dare disobey Qin Yining, afraid of making her unhappy.

“Yining, I know I was wrong. I won’t do this anymore.” Pang Xiao’s attitude in admitting his mistake was very sincere, and he smiled ingratiatingly while reaching to hold her hand.

After a restless night, Qin Yining slept poorly. But the next day she still pulled herself together to accompany Magistrate Li to inspect the porridge tents.

Pang Xiao went again to the Ding and Pei families, trying to persuade them to lower their rice prices.

However, the Ding and Pei families seemed to have agreed in advance—when they saw Pang Xiao, they all displayed hateful expressions.

Master Pei had served as a Hanlin scholar in the court for several years and was pedantic by nature. Now seeing Pang Xiao, he actually spat at him.

“Bah! You murderous demon, how dare you come talk to this old man? Let me tell you, this old man has grain, but I won’t sell it to you! Never mind asking me to lower the price—even if you offered a small gold ingot for one catty, I still wouldn’t sell!

“You bunch of scum deserve to have your Great Zhou perish!”

Pang Xiao suppressed his anger and persuaded gently: “The court is buying this grain from you, not forcibly seizing it. Moreover, by selling the grain, you’re saving the lives of most common people. Even if you harbor hatred toward this prince, Great Yan Dynasty no longer exists. Now it’s the Great Zhou Emperor who rules the world and seeks welfare for the people. If you continue to be obstinate and insult this prince, do you believe this prince could level your Pei family?”

“Look, there’s your true face! What grain requisition—I think you just want to profit from this opportunity!”

Master Pei’s curses became increasingly vile, eventually insulting all the female elders in Pang Xiao’s ancestry.

Pang Xiao was already grinding his teeth. How could such a confused person have become a Hanlin scholar? No wonder the Great Yan Dynasty perished!

“Regardless of what you say, your behavior of disregarding people’s lives and opening your mouth like a lion with sky-high prices isn’t particularly noble either. Since you love the Great Yan Dynasty so much, why don’t you think about saving the people of Great Yan?

“Do you want to watch people die miserably from hunger right before your eyes? The Pei family has quite a few people, but your stored grain, if properly preserved, would be enough to feed half a Dragon Cavalry Army! Yet you stubbornly refuse to let go!

“How dare you portray yourself as a loyal, patriotic, brave knight? With your disregard for people’s lives, I find you disgusting!”

Pang Xiao had been holding back his frustration for a long time, and now it finally erupted completely.

Master Pei was just a scholar after all. Faced with the cold killing intent that Pang Xiao had developed through battlefield combat, he trembled all over and nearly fainted.

Naturally, Pang Xiao wouldn’t let this slide. After leaving the house, he called up twenty Dragon Cavalry soldiers to stand menacingly at the gate. He said in a deep voice to Master Pei: “Today’s rash disturbance was indeed my oversight—I didn’t do enough homework. However, the people still need to eat. If you sell at a price one-tenth lower, that would be doing real good for the people, accumulating merit. Your descendants will prosper for generations.”

On the contrary, those descendants might not have such fortune—whether they could even keep their lives was questionable.

Without finishing his words, Master Pei already understood the meaning and broke out in a cold sweat.

This Prince Zhongshun was truly extraordinary, frightening him to this extent with just a few words.

But he absolutely wouldn’t give in.

He didn’t believe Prince Zhongshun would dare do anything to him!

“No matter what Your Highness says, I won’t agree. Either ten taels of silver per bushel of rice, cash on delivery, or you can go without food! See the guest out!”

Master Pei flicked his sleeve and turned to go inside.

Pang Xiao watched his retreating figure, his expression darkening into a smile.

Only those familiar with him knew that beneath his smiling expression, a storm was brewing in his phoenix eyes.

Having gained nothing at the Pei family and been severely humiliated, the visit to the Ding family yielded the same result.

After Pang Xiao’s efforts of running around for many days, the grain that Qin Yining had procured was almost exhausted. Meanwhile, Li Qitian had secretly arrived in the area but refused to show himself, nor had he brought any disaster relief grain.

The people’s porridge became thinner with each meal, and they gradually grew dissatisfied.

“Isn’t Prince Zhongshun the disaster relief official? Didn’t His Majesty give us any grain at all!”

“Did you corrupt officials secretly pocket the grain and plan to sell it back to us poor people at inflated prices? Without money to give you, you want to starve us to death? You’re not giving people a way to live!”

The people’s emotions ran high. At first, it was just private discussion, then it became open cursing, and finally they began collective protests in front of the porridge tents, triggering an extremely dangerous riot!