latelenovela Chapter 110 Help from an Acquaintance
Chapter 110 Help from an Acquaintance
[The remaining 3,000 words of the previous chapter have been completed. Those who haven't read it can go back and read the previous chapter!]
After suppressing the troublemakers and calming the people in the refugee camp, Gu Lin said no more.
To be honest, what he said just now was somewhat inappropriate, but since he mentioned Prefect Zhen in his words, it could be said that it was somewhat forgivable. If he did not restrain himself and continued, it would be considered an attempt to win people's hearts.
Gu Lin dispersed the surrounding refugees, inspected the soup kitchen, and found that the porridge and food inside met his requirements. No one dared to embezzle or deduct from the refugees' porridge. After that, Gu Lin prepared to return to the city.
Leaving the soup kitchen, Gu Lin walked toward the oxcart. On the way, he encountered a strong and tall man, the same man who had stood up for him earlier.
Gu Lin smiled and reminisced, "Brother Niu, it's been a long time."
Niu Qiang clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Boss Gu."
Gu Lin cupped his hands in thanks: "Thank you so much, Brother Niu, for standing up for justice earlier. If it weren't for your help, I don't know how much effort I would have had to put down the troublemakers. When we get back to the city, I'll host a small banquet at Haoyunlai to express my gratitude."
Niu Qiang didn't take it seriously. With the skills of the young man in front of him, those troublemakers wouldn't get any advantage from the other party.
It's just that compared to myself, the other party acted much more slowly.
Niu Qiang waved his hand and said, "I was just... asked to do this. If Boss Gu wants to express his gratitude, he can go back and thank the person he should thank."
Gu Lin paused slightly, Niu Qiang's words flashing through his mind.
He initially thought the other person just happened to be passing by and offered to help him, but he realized that Niu Qiang's words were not the case.
Gu Lin asked hesitantly, "But Xiao Hao asked you to help me?"
Niu Qiang nodded, but he did not reveal the actual relationship between himself and Zheng Hao.
Niu Qiang: "Since the number of disaster victims outside the city increased, things have become unstable inside the city as well. Zheng Xiucai was worried about your safety and specially hired me to follow behind Boss Gu to protect you. But he was afraid that you would disagree, so he asked me to protect you in secret."
"Just now I saw some people causing trouble. I noticed that the people around me were not indifferent to Mr. Gu's good deeds, but they lacked a leader to provoke them, so I stepped forward."
After listening to Niu Qiang's words, he glanced at the other man's deliberately soiled clothes and face, pretending to be a disaster victim to help him.
Gu Lin said sincerely, "It's a matter between the two of you that Xiao Hao hired you, and it's a matter between the two of us that you helped me and I want to thank you. The two things don't conflict."
"Please don't refuse, Brother Niu, otherwise I'll be too embarrassed to face you in the future."
Having put Gu Lin's words to this point, Niu Qiang couldn't refuse, so he nodded in agreement.
Niu Qiang clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Then I shall respectfully accept your offer."
The three returned to the city and arrived at Haoyunlou Restaurant. Gu Lin asked Lin Xiaoyao to prepare a feast with more meat than vegetables, along with the finest wines and spirits. Lin Xiaoyao naturally took her master's request seriously. When her gaze fell upon the tall and imposing man behind Gu Lin, Lin Xiaoyao didn't ask any questions and instructed the waiter to inform the kitchen staff, as Gu Lin had requested.
Gu Lin brought Niu Qiang to the private room. Because of their genders, they couldn't be alone, so Gu Lin also brought Chen Xiaoliu along. Soon, several waiters brought up good wine and meat.
Gu Lin raised his glass to thank Niu Qiang, who then picked up his glass and drank heartily.
After three cups, Gu Lin invited Niu Qiang to eat. It was a good meal, and Gu Lin's gratitude was genuine, not just a formality, so Niu Qiang ate with great enjoyment.
The banquet was a great success, and afterward, with nothing much to do at Good Fortune Restaurant and Chen Xiaoliu keeping an eye on the porridge stalls outside the city, Gu Lin went home. Seeing that Gu Lin was safe at home, Niu Qiang left for a while.
Arriving at a teahouse, Niu Qiang skillfully walked up to the second floor without needing a waiter to lead him, and then entered a private room.
Inside the private room sat a handsome young man, as slender as a pine tree and as graceful as the moon. Niu Qiang stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Scholar Zheng!"
The lighting in the private room was slightly dim, and Niu Qiang couldn't see the other person's face clearly. Zheng Hao moved his body slightly, and his entire face was exposed to the light.
Zheng Hao said, "Please sit down."
Niu Qiang sat down in the empty seat opposite Zheng Hao as instructed.
Then Zheng Hao picked up the teapot, poured tea into the empty teacup, and handed it to Niu Qiang.
Then he slightly raised his eyes, his cold gaze fixed on Niu Qiang, and asked, "How has Uncle Gu been these past few days?"
Recently, due to the imperial edict, Prefect Zhen has been extremely busy and even specially invited Mr. Zhou to come and discuss how to resettle the tens of thousands of disaster victims outside.
When Mr. Zhou left, he didn't forget to take Zheng Hao with him. When they arrived at the government office, Zheng Hao met the two Zhen brothers, who had been on leave for several days. They had been under the care of Prefect Zhen for several days, listening to him talk about the floods in the south and the affairs of the imperial court in the capital. With Zheng Hao joining them, he followed Mr. Zhou and Prefect Zhen to the council hall of the government office.
Standing before a group of officials of high rank, whom ordinary people rarely see, Zheng Hao and his two companions, despite having the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examinations), were still commoners and could not speak while they discussed important matters. Even the free-spirited Zhen Yuan seemed to have become a different person, standing calmly in the council hall listening to their discussion.
Niu Qiang didn't hide anything and told Zheng Hao, "This morning, Boss Gu went out of the city to the refugee camp."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Hao's dark eyes suddenly sharpened as he looked at Niu Qiang, and he said in a cold tone, "Tell me in detail."
Although Niu Qiang appears rough, tall, and careless, he is actually quite meticulous despite his rough exterior.
He recounted everything that happened to Gu Lin in the refugee camp: "When Boss Gu arrived at the refugee camp after leaving the city, he happened to witness a disturbance. Chen Xiaoliu advised Boss Gu to return to the city, fearing that something might happen and hurt Boss Gu. However, Boss Gu was not afraid at all and walked to the soup kitchen. Facing the troublemakers, he did not back down and fought back against them one by one."
Seeing that those men were no pushovers, and fearing that Boss Gu, outnumbered and outmatched, might be betrayed, I pretended to be a refugee and stood up for him. Immediately, the people in the refugee camp were moved and also stood up to speak for Boss Gu.
As Niu Qiang recounted the events, the image of the refugee camp's inhabitants united in their resolve flashed through his mind.
At the time, he did not show his shock in front of Gu Lin. Now, he sighed to Zheng Hao, "They say good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. Boss Gu has done so many good deeds that even the disaster victims who were on the verge of death remember how good Boss Gu was to them."
Zheng Hao's eyes were deep and thoughtful. He knew that no one understood how kind Uncle Gu was better than him.
Back when they were still in Xiahe Village, Zhao Dagen was framed and injured by a minor official in the county government. Uncle Gu was not afraid of being implicated at all and went to great lengths to help Zhao's wife and the other two. He was even willing to stand in court and confront the officials.
The villagers of Xiahe Village were ungrateful and their greed grew. They tried to raise vegetable prices. After Uncle Gu gave them a beating, he still continued to buy their melons and vegetables without holding a grudge.
Later, after earning money and moving to the prefectural city to buy servants, Uncle Gu remained true to his original intentions. He showed no awareness that he could exploit Lin Xiaoyao and the others because their lives were in his hands. He treated the servants with both kindness and severity on a daily basis, and gave them many generous gifts during festivals, as if he was afraid of mistreating them.
Uncle Gu often said, "They are all unfortunate people; life is hard for everyone."
Such acts of kindness are countless.
Uncle Gu always does his best to help everyone around him while ensuring his own safety.
Even if they are strangers or people he has never met before, such as the millions of disaster victims outside the city, Uncle Gu is still willing to lend a helping hand.
In the dim light, Zheng Hao's expression flickered. After a moment, he said to Niu Qiang, "Those people are full of lies and don't know how to be grateful. Go outside the city and pull out their tongues."
In front of Uncle Gu and his classmates, Zheng Hao was a refined and virtuous gentleman, a well-behaved and sensible child. But in front of Niu Qiang, he made no attempt to hide his ruthlessness.
Niu Qiang was used to it. He had dealt with Zheng Hao for many years and had watched him grow from a child to the present day.
However, as he grew older, the boy went from not knowing how to hide his ferocity at first to later putting on a cool and indifferent facade, but his cold-blooded heart remained unchanged, and even became more so.
If you don't provoke them, you'll be fine; but once you do, they'll seek revenge.
Liu Sanlai, who initially intended to rely on Gu Lin, was lured into gambling addiction. He lost everything and couldn't repay his gambling debts. He was severely beaten by thugs from the gambling den and eventually died tragically in the snow.
Having offended the other party, Zhou Wan quickly became increasingly dissatisfied with his adopted son after Zheng Hao used a little trick on him. Later, when they discovered that he had tried to poison them, the Zhou family completely lost faith in him and expelled him from their home.
Having enjoyed a pampered life for over a decade, how could Zhou Wan, who was lazy and loved to eat, bear to return to his biological parents and live a life of abject poverty? So he used the silver his family gave him after severing ties with him to live an even more extravagant life than before, and soon died at the hands of a prostitute.
Each death seemed to be the original owner's own fault, but Zheng Hao's figure was always present.
Even though he knew Zheng Hao was no good, Niu Qiang wasn't afraid, because Zheng Hao wasn't a good person either.
Otherwise, these things wouldn't have gone through his hands.
Moreover, although Zheng Hao's actions were ruthless, they were not without reason, so Niu Qiang clasped his hands in obedience to the other party's orders.
Before Niu Qiang left, Zheng Hao slightly raised his hand, wanting to write a letter for the other party to deliver to Uncle Gu. Now that the matter of Niu Qiang being sent by him to protect Uncle Gu had been made public to Uncle Gu, there was no need to hide it anymore.
But faced with the blank sheet of paper on the table, Zheng Hao's many concerns and worries could not be put into words.
Finally, he put down his brush and said to Niu Qiang, "Please pass on a message to Uncle Gu for me, telling him that I will be returning home on my ten-day holiday."
Niu Qiang agreed and then left the private room.
Zheng Hao sat motionless for a long time until the water level in the water clock in the private room reached a certain mark on the floating arrow in the pot. Only then did Zheng Hao get up and head to the government office.
On the other side, Gu Lin felt slightly relieved after receiving Niu Qiang's message.
A few days ago, when he went to the government office to deliver grain, he learned from Zhen Cheng that Zheng Hao was staying there. Although he had some guesses, he didn't know exactly what they were doing. He also didn't dare to send someone to the government office to look for Zheng Hao when Prefect Zhen and others were in a state of panic. So, for the past few days, Gu Lin had kept his worries to himself.
A few days later, Zheng Hao returned home from the government office. As soon as he entered the main hall, he saw a young man sitting inside.
“Uncle Gu,” Zheng Hao called out.
Gu Lin looked up at the young man walking towards him. Seeing that the young man's face did not show the fatigue he had imagined and his spirits were as good as ever, Gu Lin was slightly relieved and asked, "Are you hungry? Your sister-in-law will have dinner ready soon."
After sitting down in the empty seat next to Gu Lin, Zheng Hao said, "No rush. I had some snacks at the government office before coming back, so I'm not hungry."
When this matter was mentioned, Gu Lin's attention was diverted.
He asked Zheng Hao, "Why did you go to the government office?"
Zheng Hao then explained why he had been staying at the government office recently.
Upon hearing that the other party had been taken to the government office by Mr. Zhou to broaden their horizons, Gu Lin had no further questions.
He then asked, "You've been in the government office for so many days, do you know why the number of disaster victims outside the city has increased so much?"
Knowing that the other party had already gone out of the city to see the situation in the refugee camp, Zheng Hao no longer concealed the truth.
He recounted how the disaster relief funds and grains transported by the imperial court to the south were embezzled, the imperial envoy was killed by the disaster victims in the affected prefecture, the imperial court sent troops to kill the disaster victims who killed the imperial envoy, but the disaster victims directly rebelled and seized the local prefecture, and then the imperial court took some care of the disaster victims, in addition to continuing to send troops to suppress them, it specially ordered other prefectures to provide relief to the disaster victims, and so on.
Upon hearing this, Gu Lin's face showed shock, which gradually turned into anger.
Zheng Hao was most sensitive to Gu Lin's emotional changes. Fearing that the other party might harm his health in a fit of anger, Zheng Hao advised, "Uncle Gu, don't be angry."
Looking up and seeing the concern in the boy's eyes, Gu Lin slowly calmed his turbulent emotions and said, "It's okay, I know how tough it is."
Then, his expression turned slightly cold as he said, "If the court had known this would happen, why did it in the first place? If it had shown more concern for the people during the initial disaster relief efforts, how could they have rebelled? Now they finally realize the consequences of neglecting and mistreating the people, and are starting to try and fix things after the fact?!"
Zheng Hao didn't speak. He knew that Uncle Gu was angry and wanted him to vent, but he kept a close eye on Uncle Gu's expression, worried that he might be feeling unwell.
After venting for a moment, Gu Lin calmed down, realizing that simply venting his emotions wouldn't solve the problem.
He asked Zheng Hao, "Has the Prefect come up with a solution?"
Zheng Hao nodded, but Gu Lin, looking at his expression, seemed not to approve of Prefect Zhen's strategy.
Zheng Hao never discussed this matter in front of outsiders, not even in front of Mr. Zhou.
But in front of Gu Lin, Zheng Hao did not hide his thoughts: "The number of disaster victims outside the city is not a few hundred or a few thousand, but tens of thousands. Now it is autumn and planting is impossible. In the short term, the prefect will not arrange for them to settle in the surrounding villages."
"With so many people, even if the soup kitchen is cooking the thinnest soup, the government office doesn't have enough stored grain to keep the soup kitchen open until winter."
"The granaries of this prefecture cannot be opened without orders from above. The prefect's call for donations of money and grain from wealthy families in the city a few days ago was a last resort. Although this amount seems large, it is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the needs of the disaster victims and cannot sustain them for long."
“Although many wealthy families in the city have set up porridge stalls to distribute porridge, Niu Qiang told me that the porridge they distribute is gradually mixed with sand, grass and chaff. Presumably, they will stop distributing porridge in winter after they get through autumn.”
"When the time comes, the city will be covered in ice and snow. The people inside the city will have clothes and food, but the disaster victims outside the city will have nowhere to live and will not even have enough food to survive. If this goes on for a long time, unrest will be inevitable."
At this point, even the usually composed Zheng Hao couldn't help but freeze in shock.