NFBE Chapter 233 I dreamed again yesterday
Chapter 233 I dreamed again yesterday
They each said something; some were genuinely curious, while others were deliberately trying to embarrass Xie Wanning.
Xie Wanning was surrounded in the center, her face growing increasingly pale as she listened, and the tips of her fingers holding the cup began to turn white.
Hou House.
Xie Wanning returned to the main courtyard with a livid face. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she saw Qin Jiuwei sitting calmly on the side of the flower hall, discussing something with Old Madam Xie.
Upon seeing her, Xie Wanning's anger burned even more fiercely.
But past lessons taught her to control her temper and not yell directly.
She walked up to Qin Jiuwei, sneered, and said sarcastically, "Sister-in-law, you said before that we shouldn't set up soup kitchens outside, but now the whole capital is providing disaster relief, and only our Xie family is indifferent!"
"We listened to you back then, and what happened? Now the limelight has been stolen by others, and when the people mention our Marquis's Mansion, all they'll think of is cold-blooded ruthlessness!"
Xie Wanning stared at Qin Jiuwei with a cold gaze, her tone somewhat aggressive.
Qin Jiuwei listened to her say so much in one breath without even raising an eyebrow.
She could tell which was more important, these empty titles or her life.
As for Xie Wanning's opinion... that's even less important.
"The entire capital?" Madam Xie frowned upon hearing this. "How could the entire capital possibly go to provide relief to the disaster victims?"
"Grandmother, I'm not making this up." Xie Wanning immediately became excited, "The Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, the Marquis of Dingyuan's Mansion, and the Duke of Wei's Mansion—these noble families who hold great influence in the court—are all distributing porridge outside the city!"
"Even the Meng family of the Marquis of Anping, who are usually stingy, have set up soup kitchens outside the city, and everyone is praising them! Only our family! We haven't done anything!"
Thinking about the humiliation she had just suffered, Xie Wanning felt even more depressed. "What will happen to the reputation of our Xie family in the future!"
As Madam Xie listened from the side, her heart wavered for a moment.
But then she remembered the 50,000 taels Qin Jiuwei had earned before…
In the end, they chose to continue to trust Qin Jiuwei's judgment.
Everything else is just talk; the 50,000 taels and those pearls, however, actually went into the treasury.
Madam Xie took a sip of tea and slowly said, "It's their business to distribute porridge, we can't interfere, and we don't need to. We should listen to Jiuwei's decision. Let's not set up the porridge stall for now."
“Our Xie family has done many good deeds for the people over the years and is already well-known. This one more thing won’t make a difference.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Wanning felt a sudden tightness in her chest, and her face turned extremely pale.
Why didn't Grandmother react at all to what she said? Why does she still believe Qin Jiuwei so much?
She was furious, but she managed to keep her composure and bowed, replying, "Yes, I will do as Grandmother says."
Xie Wanning bowed and took her leave. After returning to her room, her face immediately darkened.
He directly instructed his personal maid, "Take out my private savings and set up soup kitchens outside the city in my name."
Xie Wanning snorted coldly, "Since Grandmother and Qin Jiuwei are unwilling, then I will use my own money to do it!"
"If they don't want this good reputation, then it's all mine!"
The maid whispered a reminder: "But Miss, this matter was not approved by the Old Madam and the Young Madam..."
"So what if they didn't agree?" Xie Wanning interrupted her, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Giving out porridge is a good deed, and everyone will praise it! Who can blame us?"
Thinking of the scene of everyone praising Li Mengqing today, Xie Wanning felt a lump in her throat, and her voice became more firm.
"I will not only distribute porridge, but the porridge kitchen will also be the biggest! I want everyone to know that I run this porridge kitchen! The people will definitely praise me then."
Xie Wanning became increasingly smug as she thought about it. Seeing her like this, the maid beside her dared not say anything more, and could only nod and bow her head before turning to make arrangements.
Late at night, at Qinglan Courtyard.
The candle flame had burned down to a sliver, its flickering light reflected on the wooden window.
Qin Jiuwei was sitting at the table, her fingers gently turning the pages of a book.
Hearing footsteps outside the door, she looked up and saw Xie Yanli, looking cold, push the door open and enter.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Xie Yanli took off his cloak and turned to look at her.
"I've been waiting for you." She took a few steps closer, took the cloak from his hand, handed it to the maidservant serving nearby, and then turned back to tug at his sleeve. "Is it cold outside? Your hands are so cold."
Xie Yanli's lips curved into a smile, his tone revealing amusement: "Madam, please warm me up so I won't feel cold anymore."
Qin Jiu smiled and gave him a reproachful look, then pulled him to sit down at the table.
She poured him a cup of hot tea and handed it to him, saying, "Warm your hands. Dinner is still warm, would you like to eat something first?"
Xie Yanli watched her bustling about, and the corners of his mouth curled up a little more.
"No need, I've already eaten out. I'll just have some tea." He said, and slowly began to drink.
Seeing that he had relaxed, Qin Jiuwei slowly said, "I have something else to tell you."
Xie Wanning reminded her of this today.
In her previous life, she was in the palace and didn't know much about what was happening outside. She only vaguely remembered that the first case of bone boiling disease would appear in the next couple of days.
As for where she appeared or how she appeared, she had no idea.
All we could do was stop the Marquis's residence from distributing porridge and control access.
She also wrote to Yunzhi and Yunzhu, asking them to keep a closer eye on the people in the mansion.
But this only considers oneself and those around one's family, which is far from enough.
Nowadays, more and more porridge distribution tents are being set up outside the city, and more and more people are participating.
If bone boiling disease does indeed occur within two days, these people will be caught off guard and continue as usual, making the consequences difficult to control.
Xie Yanli's brow twitched slightly, and he asked gently, "What is it?"
"My husband, I had another dream yesterday."
Upon hearing the word "dream," Xie Yanli couldn't help but twitch his brow.
Qin Jiuwei continued earnestly, "I dreamt that the first case of bone boil disease would appear in the next few days. Soup porridge stalls are being set up everywhere in the city now, supposedly to provide relief to disaster victims, but the epidemic will definitely take the opportunity to spread, which is really too dangerous."
She paused, looked up to meet his gaze, and said in a softer voice, "If possible, could you try to control the number of soup kitchens so that people in the city have less contact with the disaster victims?"
Xie Yanli lowered his eyes in thought.
The disaster victims arrived suddenly, and the imperial granaries had limited grain reserves, so he did not prohibit the powerful and wealthy in the capital from setting up soup kitchens.
It was thanks to their soup kitchens that the disaster victims were able to be settled so quickly.
But he believed what Qin Jiuwei had just said: that everything she dreamed about would come true.
"Don't worry, I will instruct them to handle this matter well," Xie Yanli said gently. "I will also strictly control contact between people in the capital and the disaster victims."
Hearing his agreement, Qin Jiuwei breathed a sigh of relief.
"There's one more thing." She suddenly remembered, turned around, and took something out of the box next to her.
The thing looked like a cloth bag, but the edges were sewn very tightly with silk thread, and the style looked a bit strange.
She carefully turned the bag inside out, lifted the two thin ropes, and gently wrapped them behind her ears, pressing them tightly against her mouth and nose.
Xie Yanli was stunned, raising an eyebrow slightly: "What is this?"