Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
The next day, the butler of the general's mansion came to Xiao Baili and said that the food was ready.
Xiao Baili also knew that Ge Chunru was grounded and couldn't squeeze other people dry, so there was no point in staying in the general's mansion.
So she brought Xiao Erlang to the outside of the city to give porridge.
They gave porridge for several days.
It wasn't thin porridge but was partially starchy.
In addition, everyone had a hot mixed-grain bun.
Because of the heavy snow, some villagers were troubled and ran to the capital to seek shelter and beg.
They all gathered outside the city and became a group of refugees.
However, there weren't many people giving alms, so life was very difficult.
The emperor sent his people to stabilize the situation and help build a shack for them to stay.
Every day, some dry mixed-grain cakes were given out, but that was to ensure that they did not starve to death.
Therefore, when they had a bowl of warm porridge and a hot steamed bun, everyone looked at Xiao Baili, who was giving out porridge not far away.
They all felt that this young lady was beautiful and kind-hearted.
Xiao Yuanshi, who was paying for the food, was completely ignored by everyone.
That day, after Liang Mingcheng and Xi Xinheng met, they even brought up this matter.
Liang Mingcheng said, "What is Xiao Yuanshi thinking about all day? He is building roads and giving out porridge, but he is not the one that others are thankful for."
Everyone in the capital knew that General Xiao had done something wrong to his ex-wife and his children.
He had nightmares every day and felt uneasy, so he could only try his best to make up for the guilt he felt towards his ex-wife and children.
His ex-wife wanted to repair the roads, so he paid someone to do it.
His daughter saw that the refugees outside the capital were pitiful, so he spent money to buy food and porridge.
Since everyone in the capital heard his reasons to do so, many people thought that Xiao Yuanshi must have gone too far in the past, which was why he felt uneasy and made up for it.
Then, be it the commoners who benefited from the road construction in the outskirts of the capital or the refugees outside the capital, they were all grateful to Mdm Kong and Xiao Baili.
Anyway, no one really said that Xiao Yuanshi was good.
There were even people who laughed behind his back that he had lost his mind.
Xi Xinheng chuckled softly. "He might have been schemed against by Shi Qingluo and her husband."
Only Shi Qingluo and her husband could think of such a method.
Xiao Yuanshi might even believe that since he had spent money to do good deeds, others would feel indebted to the general's residence.
He probably did not expect that every time he did something, the capital would spread the news of his reason for doing so.
Instead, people were laughing at him.
Liang Mingcheng could not help but laugh. "We thought of the same thing."
This made him feel extremely fortunate. It was fortunate that he did not try to rope Xiao Yuanshi in.
Otherwise, he would have stepped into a huge pit.
It had to be said that his youngest son had a good eye in this area.
Xi Xinheng curled his lips. "It's better to stay away from Xiao Yuanshi in the future."
Liang Mingcheng nodded. "Of course."
It was not just the two of them who thought so. Many people in the capital thought so too.
Xiao Yuanshi also knew what the rumors in the capital were about and what the others thought of him.
He was so angry that he almost vomited blood and fainted on the spot.
Just as he was furious, his butler suddenly ran over in a hurry.
"General, our county's royal family came to look for you. They said that our young master beat up their young master and wanted to settle the score with you.
"What do you think we should do?"
Xiao Yuanshi's face was extremely dark. "How many times has that brat caused trouble?"
The butler replied, "This is the fifth time."
Ever since his young master had moved into the general's residence, he liked to bring the guards of the general's residence out for a stroll.
He particularly liked to poke his nose into other people's business.
Whenever he saw others using their power to bully others or molest a virtuous woman, he would get the guards to beat them up.
After that, he would spread the word, "My ex-father is General Xiao. Although he has already broken off his kinship with us, he said that he wanted to compensate me. If you are not satisfied, feel free to go to the general's residence to look for him."
Previously, he had only beaten up a few young masters of the court officials.
Who would have thought that he would directly beat up the son of the commandery prince's family today...
Xiao Yuanshi was really going crazy. Wasn't he supposed to be obedient and sensible? Now he was like this?
The butler looked at the general who was about to go crazy and carefully said, "Moreover, several shops in the capital came to collect the bill today.
"Our young master spent more than ten thousand taels of silver outside, and all of it was recorded in the general's estate's account."
Xiao Yuanshi was very puzzled. "What did he spend?"
A few days ago, Xiao Erlang became closer to him.
He even said that he wanted to buy things, but he did not have any silver with him.
He asked him if he could use the general's estate's silver to buy them, or if he could go out and buy them and charge the bill to the general's estate.
At that time, he thought that the child would not spend much money, so he agreed to let him charge the bill to the general's estate.
However, he set a condition.
He could not buy shops, fields, farms, gold, silver, jewelry, and other large ticketed items.
He was also worried that Xiao Erlang would be taught by Shi Qingluo and the others to scheme against him.
Xiao Erlang had obediently agreed at that time.
However, in just a few days, he had spent more than ten thousand taels of silver.
The butler replied truthfully, "Our young master bought a lot of cloth and cotton from the cloth shop and sent them to the refugees outside the city to make clothes for the elderly and children.
"He went to the bookstore and bought a lot of writing materials and sent them to the poor students sitting for the hui examinations.
"He also bought a few carts of books and rented a small courtyard. He put the books inside and provided free reading to the students who couldn't afford the books.
"He also provided hot water every day and bought an iron stove table for others to read books in the courtyard. He also bought a beehive coal that can be used to warm the sky.
"All of these expenses were incurred by the general's mansion."
Xiao Yuanshi's eyes turned black when he heard that. "This evil creature must have done it on purpose."
These were things that could buy people's hearts. That Brat had used the money from the general's residence to do it. He had been a good person, but he had to spend money on this father of his.
"No, I have to send these two little ancestors away." He really could not take it anymore.
Xiao Baili had spent a lot of money on the porridge.
After giving the porridge, she said that there were many lonely elderly and children who had lost their parents in the capital who were very pitiful.
She insisted on giving these people some warmth.
She sent each family a gift, which included grain, vegetables, cloth, eggs, and brown sugar.
It seemed like a small portion, but after sending it to so many families, it added up to several thousand taels of silver.
He was still thinking about how to send Xiao Baili back to the Xiao residence first so that he could properly cultivate a relationship with his younger son.
Who would have thought that his younger son was even more difficult to deal with, and was especially good at deceiving people...
Forget it, send him back together then.
Otherwise, no matter how big the general's mansion was, it would not be enough for two evil creatures to fail.
The butler reminded, "General, the people from the county palace are still waiting outside."
What else could Xiao Yuanshi do? He could only deal with it personally with a dark face.
He heard from the butler that his son had brought people to beat up the young master from the county palace because he wanted to forcefully buy good citizens to be his servants.
The key point was that the young master was the most dotted illegitimate son of the county palace's crown prince, one that even his legitimate son had to give in a little.
Xiao Yuanshi was extremely angry.
What was this evil creature poking into other people's business when they forcefully bought a servant?
Those who came were directly related to the county palace's crown prince directly, so they were very impolite.
They first scolded Xiao Yuanshi, accusing him of not being able to discipline his child.
Xiao Yuanshi could only pinch his nose and apologize.
He said a bunch of words pleasant to the ear, and in the end, he compensated with a good amount of medicinal herbs before sending them away.
Finally, with a dark face, he rushed to Xiao Baili and her brother's courtyard.