The twins returned to the Zhou residence, and estimating that their sisters must be accompanying their grandmother, the two brothers headed straight for the main courtyard.
Zhulan was telling stories to her granddaughters. At first, she was only telling them. Li and others came to listen and didn't leave. This time, Zhulan told positive little stories. There were so many idiom stories, and if she expanded them, they would become good stories.
The twins came in and interrupted the story. Zhulan was tired of telling the story and drank her tea. "That's all for today."
Yudie and the others looked as if they hadn't heard enough, and even Li and the others wanted to continue listening.
Zhu Lan moistened her throat and asked, "I heard from your second aunt that you and Mr. Liu went out. Didn't you come back too early?"
After Jiang Ping greeted everyone one by one, he sat down on the chair and said, "Grandma, Second Young Master Liu is even more stingy than Second Uncle said."
Jiang An nodded, "We ordered a pot of tea, but there was only one pot of tea without any snacks. It was such a small pot of tea for three people to share, and the tea had no taste. It's amazing that we can endure it until now."
Fortunately, Mr. Liu had the shame to not order the cheapest tea, otherwise, they would have come back even earlier.
Zhu Lan was amused, "This Liu family is quite interesting."
Jiang Ping was silent. "If you only look at his painful expression, it's really interesting."
Zhao couldn't help but smile while holding her handkerchief. Even though her husband had refused, the Liu family just wouldn't give up.
Li blinked her eyes and asked, "Is the Liu family having a hard time?"
Zhu Lan shook her head. "The Liu family is very well-off. I heard from Chang Yi that when the Liu family's ancestors were ordinary people, they suffered from disasters, famine, and drought year after year. After life got better, the Liu family set a family rule to save money, and gradually some people became stingy."
What can the Liu family say? Anyway, they just don’t talk about money as friends. It’s embarrassing to talk about money. The Liu family would rather have no friends. This is also a kind of realm.
The twins' eyes widened. Jiang An said, "It is a little bit stingy there. It is very stingy."
Zhulan smiled and said, "Only a few are stingy, the others are pretty normal."
Yudie blinked, "This guy is so stingy, what if he finds a woman who can spend money?"
For example, she spends money lavishly. She always carries a lot of bags when she goes out, and she never brings back any money she brings back!
Zhao was happy. Yes, if the Liu family didn’t give up, their daughter’s ability to spend money would also make people give up.
Zhulan looked at Yudie and said, "Who knows?"
The next day, at the city gate of Zhangzhou, the Tongzhi looked at the extra sheds and felt impressed by the prince's thoughtfulness. Just one sentence earned him so many cotton-padded clothes.
As the Tongzhi walked along, he clearly felt the lost expressions of the girls in several sheds. He thought to himself that if the prince had not come here to catch more sheds, he would have planned to set off back to the capital tomorrow. Now that he had supplies that did not require money, the prince decided to stay for a few more days.
Zhou Shuren and the prince left Zhangzhou City to visit the nearby villages.
They did not look closely, but walked further away. The collapsed houses in the nearby villages had been cleared, but the villages in the distance were still unattended. The villagers had all fled to the provincial capital. The few families left in the villages seemed extremely quiet. If it were not for the rising smoke, one would have thought it was an uninhabited village.
The prince got off the carriage and followed a trampled path into the village, "Houses are very important to the people."
Zhou Shuren, "Well, a house is one of the most important assets."
The prince sighed, "It would cost a lot of money for the people to rebuild their houses by themselves."
"Your Highness can ask the villagers."
So don't rely on your own ideas and think that it will cost a lot of money. Even if the prince lowers his standards, it is still out of reach for the common people.
"My uncle is right."
Lord Yan looked sideways when he heard the title. He actually overlooked the fact that Zhou Shuren was related to the royal family.
The prince did not say anything else. They walked to a house that was lighting a fire to prepare dinner. The door was closed. The mountain was blocked by heavy snow, and the wild beasts on the mountain would come down when they were extremely hungry.
They saw traces of wolves on the road along the way, but there were too many of them and the wolves were smart and didn't show up.
The guards shouted a few times, but the room remained silent. After waiting for a while, a man with a bent back came out. When he saw Zhou Shuren and the others, his eyes were filled with fear, and he trembled as he asked, "Why are you calling me, sir?"
Zhou Shuren was silent. If he had not taken the path of imperial examination in ancient times, he would have been extra careful when facing the officials.
The prince stepped forward and said, "Don't be afraid. We are officials from the prefecture. We are here today to check the damage. We want to get some information from you, our fellow villager."
The man sensed the kindness. As they seldom dealt with officials, they were very sensitive and felt relieved. He did not dare to offend anyone and slowly opened the door. "It's cold outside. I'll go boil some water and warm myself up."
The prince stopped him and said, "Don't bother, fellow villager. We'll just ask and leave."
Man, "Well, sit in that room."
The room was dim in the low adobe house. The prince was used to the brightness brought by the glass windows, so he found it a little difficult to adapt.
He had been around the capital, and he had never entered a farmer's house. This was the first time.
The prince looked around the room. There was a repaired table and the legs of the chairs were also repaired. There were five chairs in total, three of which were repaired. The man went out for a while and soon came back with hot water. There were only a few bowls in total, and these should be the only intact bowls in the house.
The man said nervously, "We don't have anything good to offer you at home, only hot water."
Tea is not something that people like them can afford. Even if they could afford it, they would not buy it. It would be better to buy more food with the money they would use to buy tea.
The prince motioned for the fellow to sit down, "Don't bother, fellow. We are not cold."
The man didn't dare to sit down. "No, no, I'm used to standing. If you have any questions, just ask directly."
Zhou Shuren sat on the chair. Poverty alleviation in modern times has to be done slowly, not to mention in ancient times. Poverty alleviation in ancient times was extremely difficult. Zhangzhou was indeed poor, but not the poorest. He knew best about the tax revenue of each state.
This family's things are shabby, but from the smell of cooking, it can be seen that this family has some wealth, otherwise they would not have stayed in the village and fled with the people.
Although the man was shivering with cold, he still had an old cotton coat to wear.
In the truly poor states, it is not an exaggeration at all, it is difficult for a family to have a set of warm cotton clothes, and they can't even get enough to eat. There is no need to talk about clothes if food is not solved. There are also countless ignorant and bad habits.
He thought about helping the poor, but stopped thinking about it. Zhangzhou used some of the money for disaster relief, but didn't dare to use the rest because it was close to the capital.
As for the remote states far away from the capital, the silver is sent there and then stripped away layer by layer. Those with a conscience can leave more for the people, but those without a conscience can.
After the prince asked his questions, he signaled the guards to move some food and two cotton-padded clothes from the carriage, one for each farmer left in the village.
The man was stunned when he saw the food and cotton clothes. When he realized that the carriage had left, he knelt down excitedly.
The prince felt bad watching this, "The people are having a hard time."
Zhou Shuren hummed, "But I believe things will get better and better."
There were stars in the prince's eyes, "Yeah."
Zhou Shuren's smile deepened; the purpose of this trip was successfully accomplished.