Next, Xiao Heng began to deal with the placement of those children in a hurry.
The children really didn't want to go to the Miao village again. A braver child looked at Xiao Heng and Su Yao and choked up and said, "Your Highness, Sister County Lord, I don't care what others do, I don't want to go to the Miao people's place. They almost killed me. When I was kidnapped by them, I saw with my own eyes that they beat my father so hard that he couldn't get up. I don't know how my father is doing. I will wait here for my parents to come find me. If Your Highness thinks I'm troublesome, just don't worry about me. I can survive by begging for food and drink. I must wait for my parents!"
Su Yao was somewhat speechless.
After coming to Yunnan, she has seen a lot of human suffering, but no matter how much she has seen, she still can't help but feel sad about such things.
She touched the child's head, nodded heavily and agreed: "Who said you should go begging? If your parents really come and see you begging, will they be happy? You have to live and live well, which is the best thing for them, understand?"
Because Su Yao has always been nice to them, the children generally listen to her. After hearing what she said, the child's eyes turned red, but he still agreed.
Many other children didn't remember their parents, but they were also unwilling to go to the Miao village again.
Su Yao thought about it, and after discussing with Mrs. Ji and the others, he dispersed the children. Some stayed in the charity hall, some stayed in various farms of the Ji family, and some were simply recruited as Boy Scouts.
This was also what Xiao Heng and Liao Jingxu meant after discussing it.
In this way, children who are too young to join the army now can join the Boy Scouts when they are a little older.
During this period, they can also visit their relatives.
The news of many children in Yongchang Prefecture looking for their parents was also written into the official gazette. If there were anyone who really wanted to find a child, they would definitely know about it. Even if they were holding on to a tiny hope, some of the children's parents would probably come.
Xiao Heng didn’t know how many children would eventually find their parents, but for him, it would be better if there were more, even just one more. It wouldn’t cost all this effort.
Mrs. Ji brought many people to Yongchang Prefecture. They planned to set up an escort agency here. In this case, they would need a large number of apprentices. These children were all assigned to the escort agency.
Su Yao even went out of his way to meet her.
Mrs. Ji knew why Su Yao wanted to see her, so she smiled and said, "I know why the county lady asked me to come. Please rest assured that if I am a human being, I will not mistreat these children."
Su Yao nodded and said, "We have nothing to say if you ask them to do something within their ability. After all, you are not directly running a charity, so it is impossible for you to support them for no reason. I only have one thing to tell you, Madam, that is, no one should interfere with these children's ideas. If I find out, it will not be so easy to deal with."
Su Yao never threatens anyone, but it is best to listen carefully to what she says.
Mrs. Ji was very clear about this, and she immediately became serious: "Don't worry, County Lady, I won't joke about our family's lives and future. I promise that these children will not suffer any harm. If their family members come to look for them, we will also subsidize their travel expenses to let them go home."
Su Yao believed this. Mrs. Ji had a weaving mill business with the imperial court. If anything went wrong with her, not only would the money invested in the three weaving mills be lost, but the Ji family would also be affected. People would not go against him. Now that the Ji family had the imperial court behind them, they could live a very easy life, and their descendants would even be rich and powerful.
Under such circumstances, they would not and would not need to offend the imperial court out of greed.
Su Yao nodded at Mrs. Ji.
Mrs. Ji breathed a sigh of relief, but she felt more and more regretful in her heart. It would be great if Su Yao could be her daughter-in-law.
But this kind of thought is just thought.
She smiled generously and quickly put the matter aside. She just whispered to Su Yao, "I have something to give to the county lady. I hope the county lady will not refuse."
Before Su Yao could say anything, Mrs. Ji clapped her hands.
A few maids came in holding boxes.
Before Su Yao could refuse, Mrs. Ji said quickly, "After the county lady came, she helped our family through countless difficulties. Now this is just a small token of appreciation. I hope the county lady will not be polite to us."
Su Yao walked over, opened the first box, and found a set of ruby headpieces.
The second box contains two luminous pearls.
The third box was much smaller. When it was opened, a small seal was revealed.
She turned to look at Mrs. Ji.
Mrs. Ji smiled and said, "In fact, these are not very valuable things, so I said, it's really just a small token of my appreciation. There is only the seal at the back, County Lady, this is our Ji family's private seal, my father-in-law asked me to give it to you. He said that he hopes it can be of help. With this seal, wherever our Ji Family Escort Agency is, our people can obey your orders."
The first two were okay. To be honest, they might be very precious to ordinary people, but to Su Yao and the Ji family, they were not rare things. Only the seal at the back really moved Su Yao.
Mr. Ji is really...
She held the seal in silence for a moment, then nodded to Mrs. Ji: "I understand. Thank you, old man, for me."
After she collected the things, Mrs. Ji felt indescribably happy and relieved. She let out a long sigh and stood up. "Don't worry, I will definitely tell him. By the way, I heard that you are leaving tomorrow. We will stay in Yongchang Prefecture for a while longer, so we can't go back with you. I'd like to wish you a safe journey in advance."
We say goodbye here, and we may not see each other again in the future.
Seeing Mrs. Ji's sincerity, Su Yao also said softly: "Take care of yourself too. We'll see each other later. There will always be a time to meet again."
Mrs. Ji smiled.
In the evening, Mrs. Liao also came over. She spoke much more simply. After all, they were just separated here. Liao Jingxu had made such a great contribution now, and he would go to Beijing soon. Maybe he could even stay in the capital at that time. There would be many days for them to see each other, so there was no need to be sad.
Mrs. Liao also asked Su Yao to bring some things back to her parents' home in Beijing.
Su Yao agreed to everything and talked with Mrs. Liao for a while before going to rest feeling a little tired.