Qin Yining had already anticipated the scene would become this chaotic. Having suffered through famine and hunger herself, she knew what emotions and reactions people would have upon suddenly seeing food after being hungry for so long.

To prevent stampede casualties, Qin Yining had already instructed Zhao Wanjin and Zhao Yinuo to mobilize Azure Sky Alliance brothers to disguise themselves as soup kitchen workers to maintain order.

Seeing that people in front were being pushed down by those behind them, Zhao Yinuo in the crowd shouted loudly: “The boss said that if anyone disregards others’ lives, pushing people down or causing excessive crowding that results in casualties, then the soup kitchen will close! No one will get to eat porridge!”

Zhao Wanjin also said: “I’ve prepared plenty of grain. Regardless of order, everyone will get a share. There’s no need to crowd. If there’s more pushing and someone gets hurt or dies, I’ll be in legal trouble! If the authorities arrest me, the soup kitchen will close for good!”

The Azure Sky Alliance members maintaining order both prevented chaotic rushing in the crowd and explained the situation clearly while organizing people into lines.

Soon, the originally nearly out-of-control crowd became orderly.

This made Qin Yining in the distant carriage truly breathe a sigh of relief.

If stampedes occurred over food, that would be her fault.

Fortunately, though there were many poor people and quite a few going hungry, at least it wasn’t like during famines when missing one meal could mean death. Now everyone could still exercise restraint and not fight over food.

Long queues formed, and Zhao Wanjin organized his people to serve porridge to the common people. Some brought broken pottery bowls or cracked earthenware jars, while some were obviously beggars with only half a bowl. Zhao Wanjin even instructed people to give such individuals new pottery bowls directly—after all, how much porridge could half a bowl hold?

The soup kitchen was filled only with workers’ voices cautioning people “be careful, it’s hot” and “next,” occasionally mixed with people’s slurping sounds while eating porridge. There were even small children not yet table-high who came carrying broken earthenware jars for porridge, their skeletal bodies wearing only thin, worn single garments, their exposed thin arms and legs purple from cold, their heads large and bodies thin as if they’d fall over in the wind. Zhao Wanjin couldn’t bear to watch and instructed his people to give such children extra portions, then escort them home to check their family situations and donate cotton clothing or see what other help was needed.

People all have compassionate hearts. Even former highway robbers were moved with pity and happily went to escort the small child home.

Zhao Wanjin’s soup kitchen had no fierce, intimidating subordinates. The porridge was cooked thick, using good quality grain without a speck of moldy food. They treated all these people coming for porridge very gently, without the slightest contempt. When encountering elderly people, children, or pitiful disabled individuals, they would give extra portions and tell them to return for more after finishing.

Such kindness moved everyone deeply.

Everyone ate the hot porridge, and though the winter wind cut like knives across their faces, their hearts were warm.

Many people began crying while eating porridge, choking with emotion.

Those who felt they’d saved their lives after eating porridge couldn’t help but kneel and kowtow to Zhao Wanjin.

“Thank you, Boss Qian, for saving our lives! Thank you, Boss Qian, for the grace of life!”

“Boss Qian is a great benefactor! In the future, I’ll definitely set up a longevity tablet for you, praying for your peace and long life of a hundred years!”

“Good people like Boss Qian receive good rewards!”

…

With one person taking the lead, many others followed suit, kneeling and kowtowing in gratitude. Finally, hundreds of common people in front of the soup kitchen all knelt excitedly, expressing their thanks in voices high and low.

Zhao Wanjin’s heart also felt warm. Though a strapping eight-chi man, he was now so moved that his face flushed red, tears filling his eyes. If he hadn’t clenched his fists to hold back, he might have wept on the spot.

So there were things in this world even more joyful than plunder and getting something for nothing. Giving and helping others could bring such happiness!

“Please get up, everyone get up. My financial resources are also limited. I can help everyone for as long as I can. It’s very cold, so everyone should eat while it’s hot.”

As Zhao Wanjin spoke, he helped several people nearby to their feet.

The scene was indescribably heartwarming.

Qin Yining lowered the warm curtain of the carriage and instructed them to return to the manor.

Bingtang smiled: “Who would have thought that Hall Master Zhao, who looks so fierce, is actually such a good person.”

“Everyone has compassionate thoughts—no one is born a bad seed.” Qin Yining smiled: “I’ve seen you buried in the pharmacy these past few days. Are you researching some new medicine?”

“Yes.” Bingtang’s heart skipped a beat, her expression becoming somewhat stiff.

But Qin Yining didn’t notice, only cautioning: “You’re not made of iron and steel either. You must take good care to rest—don’t wear yourself out at such a young age.”

“Yes, thank you for your concern, Princess.” Seeing that Qin Yining hadn’t discovered anything, Bingtang couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Thus, Zhao Wanjin’s soup kitchen even alarmed the authorities. There was no choice—with so many common people gathered in one place, the government worried about potential uprisings.

However, seeing the people queuing orderly, and that “Qian Gui” Boss Qian neither used government funds nor needed government assistance, everyone was pleased to see such charitable acts.

Every noon, Qin Yining would ride out to stroll around. When she saw the soup kitchen scene, she would stop and observe for a moment.

She acted exactly like a curious and kind-hearted passerby, having no eye contact whatsoever with Zhao Wanjin and Zhao Yinuo. No one could imagine that she was actually the boss behind this soup kitchen.

On the fourth day of the soup kitchen’s operation, Yuchi Yan and Gu Shixiong also came to observe the situation.

They had originally thought that such costly charitable acts would be unsustainable for ordinary people after a day or two, so they specifically came to see if there might be signs of exhaustion.

But upon arriving at the soup kitchen, they saw that the porridge was still as thick as before, using good rice, the common people had grown familiar with Boss Qian, and some pitiful widowed and lonely individuals had even put on thick cotton jackets, obviously just given by someone.

Seeing this, Gu Shixiong shook his head: “It seems this boss is quite skilled at buying people’s hearts!”

Yuchi Yan shook his head: “There are still more good people in the world. I think this benefactor is simply warm-hearted.”

“Is that so?” Gu Shixiong shook his head disapprovingly: “Who would be so warm-hearted as to continuously spend so much silver feeding unrelated people? Besides, even if warm-hearted, there’s no need to spend one’s entire fortune, right? I haven’t seen this person having any particularly great background either.”

Yuchi Yan disliked Gu Shixiong speaking this way and couldn’t help pursing his lips. But Gu Shixiong was now like his backbone—he couldn’t openly contradict him, so he could only endure.

“Hm?” Just then, Yuchi Yan looked up and saw Qin Yining sitting in the carriage, couldn’t help but exclaim: “Look there—isn’t that Princess Zhongshun?”