Chapter 361 : Qingming Hall (1)Translated byきつねonJuly 17, 2022

It was already a bit cold in the eleventh lunar month, and the ground was already covered with frost.

Zisu rubbed her hands and said, “Madam, it’s much colder here than in the capital.” At the beginning of the month, Zisu had come back to work. But this time, instead of serving Yuxi, she was in charge of the inner courtyard’s accounts. If Guo Xun had free time, she would go back together with him. If not, she would stay at the Yun Residence.

Zijin exclaimed in surprise. “Is it that freezing? Why do I feel it’s warmer here than in the capital?” This was her true feeling, not to have a fight with Zisu.

Yuxi smiled a little and pointed to the golden pear on the table. “These pears are the special products here. You guys should try one. See if it tastes good.”

Zijin was not even polite. She walked forward, picked a clean pear and took a bite. After chewing a few times, she nodded repeatedly. Then, she spat out unclear words that sounded like, “Delicious.”

Yuxi laughed. “No one is going to snatch it from you. Why are you in such a hurry to eat?” This girl was very good at following rules while still in the capital. However, when she arrived in the northwest, she became impatient. It was just that Yuxi wasn’t generally that harsh when it concerned this kind of thing. Since Yu Zhi didn’t mind it anyway, she didn’t care much about it either.

Zijin inquired, “Madam, how many more does Madam have? I’ll bring a few for Yu Zhi to eat later.” After she had finished asking, she then turned to Zisu. “Zisu Jiejie should also bring a few for Guo Xun to try.”

Yuxi laughed. “Some have been sent to Master Yang’s side much earlier.” Although Master Yang was there to protect her, his identity was a bit special. Yuxi did not dare to really treat him as a guard but as an elder in general. If she had good food, she would usually send some over.

Zisu said with a smile, “You two haven’t married yet, and you are already this protective of him?” Zisu was actually quite envious. Even though Zijin had not married Yu Zhi, she had a good relationship with him, making them act like they were one person. When they met, they would chat non-stop, and Zijin could even instruct Yu Zhi as if he were one of the residence’s younger maids. In comparison, Zisu and Guo Xun had nothing to say to each other, even when they were already married. As if there was always a kind of separation between them. But Zisu knew that she was actually doing well now. Zijin’s situation was kind of unique after all.

Zijin wasn’t embarrassed as she responded, “Married or not, it’s not the same. They are all family.” Even without a marriage between them, she would still treat Master Yang and Yu Zhi as her family in general. One shouldn’t be fooled by the way Zijin kept calling Master Yang ‘Old Chief Yang’, but she respected him as if he were her father.

Yuxi amusingly let out, ‘that won’t do’. “That’s what you said. But if others heard this, they would think you have no shame and no eagerness to get married.”

Zijin chimed in, “Since their mouths grow on their bodies, they can talk about anything they want. It’s not like I will lose any piece of my flesh anyway.” As long as she lived comfortably, she wouldn’t care what others would do. If she kept thinking about what others thought of her every day, it would only make her exhausted.

Yuxi nodded and smiled. “That’s a fair statement.” No one in this world could be perfect. Perfect people only existed in books and legends.

When Yun Qing walked into the courtyard, he saw that Yuxi was talking to Zijin. Her face was full of smiles, and when he saw this scene, he couldn’t help but feel much better.

Yuxi suddenly sensed something. When she turned to look towards the door, she saw Yun Qing. At that moment, she walked out with a smile and asked, “Are you done with your work?” Now that the weather had become colder, there were fewer battles, but that didn’t mean that things had stopped completely. On the contrary, there were more things to do, and the main thing at the present moment was for the army to pay attention to the cold. The money given by the Imperial Court was not enough, and they had to find their own ways to solve the problem.

Yuxi also learned from Yun Qing how hard it had been for the generals in the border cities. The military pay could not even be issued on time. Not to mention that the food was not good, they didn’t even have clothes warm enough to wear. Yet, they were still required to fight on the battlefield. However, these soldiers never uttered a single complaint which touched Yuxi.

Yun Qing shook his head. “No, I just came back to see you.” He hadn’t been home for ten days and missed his wife and their unborn child so much that he went back home just to see them.

Yuxi was very happy to hear his words. She pulled Yun Qing into the house, took the clothes made for him from a box, and said, “Try them on.”

Despite Yun Qing being a Third Rank General, he didn’t have many sets of clothes. Moreover, they were all not tastefully chosen. They were either black, dark green or vermilion. The colours he picked were very dark, giving him an old-fashioned look. After Yuxi married over, she made several clothes for him. However, she knew Yun Qing’s frugal nature, so she didn’t prepare much. She only made four to five sets, enough for him to change into.

This time, Yuxi made Yun Qing a black coloured with a hint of red fluttering overcoat. When he wore it, he looked particularly heroic. Yuxi was somewhat gloomy as she lamented, “At that time, there were some good skins in the chests I brought from the capital. If those bandits hadn’t robbed them, I could have made you better clothes.” What Yun Qing currently wore was a garment made of several pieces of fox skin sewn together.

Although Yun Qing was happy that Yuxi thought of himself at times, after taking off the overcoat, he asked, “Have you made clothes for yourself?”

Yuxi smiled. “Yes, I did. I made a rat skin overcoat and several sets of cotton jackets for myself.” Seeing Yun Qing frown, she explained, “I will not go out in the winter anyway. Let’s wait for next year to buy good skins, and I will make a few pieces of leather coats for myself. For this year, let’s just forget about it.” She thought there were a lot of skins in the northwest. However, when she got here, she realised there were indeed a lot of skins, but they were all sheepskins and cowhides. Yuxi did not like these two types of skins since they smelled, while for the other type of skins, you have to book them in advance. Otherwise, the good skins wouldn’t be available for purchase. Yuxi had already suffered this loss. Since she wasn’t unable to buy the good ones and she was unwilling to make do with the other options, she would prefer to wear cotton coats instead!

Yun Qing didn’t say much when he heard this. “We don’t have a shortage of money, so don’t wrong yourself.” There was no way for him to make Yuxi live luxuriously as she did in the capital, but there was still no problem for him to feed her and let her wear warm clothes.

Yuxi smiled and said, “What nonsense are you talking about? I know we are not short of money for clothes. I just don’t like those skins. When we buy good ones next year, I will make a few more sets.” Although she didn’t have big hands and feet, she would not mistreat herself.

Yun Qing nodded his head gently.

Yuxi added, “By the way, I heard Hao Dazhuang say that every winter, a lot of old people and children get frostbite and freeze to death. I want to ask someone to make a thousand sets of cotton clothes with pants and send them to your subordinate’s family who is in difficulty. What do you think?” It was impossible to send them to the military camp. She wasn’t worried that there would not be enough to go around. She was only concerned that they wouldn’t be evenly distributed. At that time, this matter could easily lead to conflicts. But if these things were given to those soldiers who had difficulties in their families, the meaning would be different.

Yun Qing looked at Yuxi, shook his head and said, “That’s not quite proper.” This act would be perceived as buying people’s hearts.

Yuxi chuckled. “What’s not proper about it? When I was in the capital, my mother used to buy rice and give congee every winter. Now it’s just a set of cotton clothes and pants. What can others say about it? And if someone follows suit, wouldn’t it be a great good thing?” After following Qiu Shi’s side for a long time, she was also influenced to do more good deeds to accumulate a good fortune for her family.

Yun Qing also felt that he worried too much, and after thinking for a while, he said, “If you want to do it, then go ahead!” Since Yuxi had this intention, he should support it and not attack her enthusiasm.

Regarding this matter, Yuxi was ready to hand it over to Hao Dazhuang to handle. After this period of constant engagement with him, she also understood that Hao Dazhuang was a righteous person. Such being the case, there was nothing for her to worry about.

Hao Dazhuang tried to reason, “Madam, I don’t think it’s appropriate to do this. In addition to the elderly and children, the young people still have hands and feet. They can still work to support themselves and their families. As for the elderly and children, a set of cotton clothes and pants can not help them much.”

This argument was entirely valid. Nonetheless, Yuxi liked such an honest person. After thinking for a while, Yuxi suggested, “How about this? I will open a temporary school for children under ten and over five years old. We will be responsible for their three meals and hire a teacher to teach them to read and write.”

Hao Dazhuang thought this was a good idea. Still, he added, “Even if there aren’t tens of thousands of children under ten in Yucheng, there will be at least several thousand of them. A temporary school will be stuffed with them.” After a pause, he added, “However, if there are prerequisites for them to enter, it will be a different story.”

Yuxi reacted quickly and immediately understood the meaning behind Hao Dazhuang’s words. “You mean the school should only accept orphans?”

Hao Dazhuang nodded. “Yes. Otherwise, there would be too many people.” Although Madam’s intention was good, she must assess her capabilities and act accordingly. Otherwise, it would be impossible to manage even if she used all her family properties.

Yuxi nodded. “This is a good idea, but there must be specific regulations. First, we must determine how many people we should accept. So that we can choose a house suitable for this number and to purchase food as well as hire a few teachers. In addition to preparing sand trays.” This kind of study would consume a lot of ink and paper. But these things were expensive everywhere, and an average person simply could not afford to use them. Yuxi could afford to provide for them, but their daily consumption would be incredible if there were too many people. Even if she had assets, she still could not support all of them.

Hao Dazhuang did not understand. “What is a sand tray?”

Yuxi explained with a smile, “It is a four-sided box with sand inside. When the time comes for the children to write, they can do it on the sands using branches. They can also learn to write without consuming the standard inks, paper, and brushes.”

Hao Dazhuang smiled. “Madam is really smart.” This was indeed a difficult problem. If they had to provide them alone, the consumption would be too big. But if they requested the students to pay for them themselves, they definitely couldn’t afford them.

Yuxi smiled a little. “I also read it from a book.” Nurturing the next generation was comparable to giving them porridge and cotton clothes with pants.

Hao Dazhuang still praised her sincerely. “It’s already remarkable that Madam can learn to apply what Madam read. And Madam’s kindness is already really rare.” If the gifts of cotton clothes and pants would only be seen as an act, then running a temporary school was enough to show Madam’s sincerity and desire to do good deeds in contributing to needy families.

Yuxi smiled slightly as she said, “When you come to their doors, remind them that what’s going to be taught in the school is very simple.” As far as Yuxi knew, few children over here could read and write, so she was just ready to impart rudimentary knowledge to them and didn’t think much for the time being.

In this regard, Hao Dazhuang did not object but finding the teachers wouldn’t be easy. “Madam, I can do everything else, but I can not do anything about the recruitment of the teachers.” These literate people always acted noble and lofty. An uncouth person like him would absolutely be driven out if he tried to meet them.

Yuxi smiled. “I’ll take care of this.” It was just to impart rudimentary knowledge to the children. How hard could it be?