Meng Lanqing did not expect that An Jing, a mere peasant girl, would possess such great altruism. She had nearly emptied the entire grain shop to save the people of Jing Tian County, which left him greatly surprised and admiring.
Subsequently, he grew even more respectful toward An Jing, the Princess.
Truth be told, although he had previously treated An Jing with the utmost respect and addressed her as a Princess, he had not truly accepted her as the Princess in his heart. He always felt that An Jing was not a worthy match for their master, Xiao Changyi.
But at that moment, he no longer harbored such thoughts.
Having seen the Princess several times, his opinion of her gradually changed, until now, when he sincerely accepted and respected her as the Princess.
And his younger brother, upon learning of this matter, would surely feel the same as he did, never again thinking that the Princess was unworthy of their master.
Their master’s, Xiao Changyi’s, judgment of people was indeed beyond their comparison.
"Yes!" said Meng Lanqing as he clasped his fist, with extreme respect and firm conviction.
"How is the water management going in Jing Tian County?" asked An Jing.
Meng Lanqing reported truthfully, "The government officials have been handling it. The water near the Shi River is too turbulent to control for now, so they started with the water farther away from the river. At the moment, the water in the central and northern parts of Jing Tian County has been redirected to a small gorge on the northern border, and it is estimated that by tomorrow, the central and northern parts of the county will be completely drained."
An Jing nodded in understanding and did not ask further.
Although the government was distributing grain, the amount being given out each day was getting smaller and smaller. Even though the government officials kept saying that the Emperor had allocated grain from the national treasury and it was on the way, the people of Jing Tian County remained pessimistic.
The incomplete water management in Jing Tian County only added to their gloom.
Without waiting for the disaster relief grain from the national treasury to reach them, some of the people of Jing Tian County, with their families in tow, had already left, flowing into the nearby counties in hopes of finding a way to survive elsewhere.
Especially those whose homes had been destroyed were the first to leave Jing Tian County, with no houses to return to and little grain available.
In less than half a month, a large number of refugees poured into Hecheng County.
Even Sixteen Town saw an influx of many refugees.
One day, An Jing and Xiao Changyi went to Sixteen Town to shop and found that there were many refugees sitting in corners, looking desperately hungry and pitiable.
One refugee, overwhelmed by hunger, disregarded everything and began snatching buns from a bun vendor on the roadside to eat.
Fortunately, there were government officials patrolling the town who quickly gained control over the refugees who were grabbing the buns.
Seeing this scene, An Jing sighed deeply in her heart.
If there was one refugee behaving now, as time passed and more grew hungrier without finding a way to survive, there would be more and more doing the same. What would happen then?
And the disaster relief grain was still on the way, probably a month away...
With this in mind, An Jing sighed again in her heart.
Just as she was about to tell her husband to take out the last remaining thousand catties of grain and rice from their shop to make porridge for distribution to these refugees, she suddenly heard—
"Everyone, move quickly, Good Samaritan Wang is serving porridge at the intersection ahead. Hurry and get some!"
Li Wuyu, dressed in men’s clothes, was holding a gong. While striking the gong, she shouted to the refugees sitting in the corners, urging them to hurry to the intersection ahead for porridge.
Upon hearing that there was porridge to drink, the refugees, regardless of whether it was true or false, all got up and headed there.