Disaster Relief, Part 2

"Your Princess Consort, the Su Family has arrived."

Cuiqin came in and said.

Lin Yunwan opened her eyes; they were already bloodshot.

She propped herself up and said, "You came so quickly?"

It hadn't been long since she gave the order.

Cuiqin said, "Master Su and Young Master Su were already on their way. The people we sent haven't returned yet. It was Maternal Uncle of the Su Family who heard you were here and inquired along the way. He was afraid of disturbing your rest so late, so he sent me to inform you."

"It's no trouble at all, please let maternal uncle and Cousin in."

They are nominally a family, so there's not much room for them to avoid suspicion.

Cuiqin turned and went out, then brought Master Su in.

Master Su and his son were both travel-worn and wearing raincoats. They had been in a hurry all the way here and hadn't even had a chance to catch their breath.

"Princess Consort."

Young Master Su also bowed. "Your Princess Consort."

Lin Yunwan kept the conversation brief with Master Su: "maternal uncle, regarding your joint porridge distribution with the Lin Residence, people outside only know about the Lin Residence, not the Su Family."

"If you want to resume your Ancestral Trade in Jiangqian in the future, you'll need a good reputation."

Master Su said with shame, "I know that..."

He sighed, not wanting things to escalate too much with the Lin Residence. He said, "I always think that the Lin Residence is the Princess Consort's maternal family, and your mother is also buried in the Lin family's ancestral tomb. We're all family."

Lin Yunwan said helplessly, "You treat the Lin Residence as your own, but does the Lin Residence treat you as their own?"

Master Su lowered his head, thought for a moment, and then said resolutely, "I know what to do."

He said worriedly, "Your Princess Consort, you don't need to worry about such a small matter. Just take good care of yourself. Your Princess Consort and the Prince's offspring are the most important thing."

Lin Yunwan nodded.

Master Su took his son out, and the two of them also brought along Su Family's Servants.

However, the Su Family only purchased new servants after returning to Jiangqian in the last six months; they could no longer find their old servants.

"These servants are all novices in disaster relief. Pick a few clever ones to be junior managers, and leave the rest to them."

Master Su taught his son how to employ people and how to do things.

The father and son quickly came up with an idea. They took more than ten servants, changed into easily identifiable clothes, left Xu Tianyou's place, and went out of the city gate to distribute porridge with the Lin Residence.

Lin Huabin also arrived. Upon seeing Master Su, he pulled him aside and said, "Brother-in-law, why did you bring your little nephew here to suffer like this? Let the child go back and rest! We can take care of things here."

Master Su objected. "What your children can do, my son can endure the same hardships."

Seeing that he was about to leave, Lin Huabin tugged at his sleeve and said, "Then, then how about this, you open another soup kitchen, and we won't get mixed up with each other."

Master Su pushed him away and sneered, "Fine. Then your Lin Residence will return the money to me now."

When it comes to money, Lin Huabin has nothing to say.

Master Su limped into the rain, leading his son and servants to do his work.

As dawn approached, Lin Yunwan had taken a nap for half an hour when she was startled awake by the sound of the night watchman's drum.

"Princess Consort?"

Cuiqin hurried over. She dared not sleep; her mistress was heavily pregnant, and she was more afraid than anyone else.

Lin Yunwan roused herself and asked, "Has the rain stopped?"

"Not yet, but it's only drizzling now."

"That's good."

Cuiqin wrung out a hot towel and brought it in for Lin Yunwan to wash up.

She said, "Six Physician from the Lu family clinic have arrived. Sister Xiruo led them out of the city half an hour ago to treat pregnant women, the elderly, and children first."

"It's probably not good for so many frail people to be crammed together."

Lin Yunwan asked worriedly, "Have we prepared a clean place for them to stay?"

Cuiqin didn't know much either, so she said, "Sister Xiruo said there are already five houses. I don't know if the sick and weak can use them first..."

But she felt that in this situation, the seriously ill should be admitted first.

Xiruo the personalities of Xiruo and her husband, Lin Yunwan was no longer worried.

"Your Princess Consort, you've been up most of the night too, please have something to eat!"

Cuiqin added, "There's only porridge left, please make do with this."

Normally, in the Prince's mansion, the Princess Consort would eat bird's nest, which was offered as tribute.

Lin Yunwan didn't care about that. She ate two bowls of porridge, finding it delicious, and said to Cuiqin, "You should go and rest too."

She called over Nanny Lü and asked her to find out what was happening outside.

Nanny Lü was the Stewardess in the inner courtyard of the Prince's mansion. She was much more capable than Cuiqin, and because of her age, it was easier for her to inquire about things.

He had only been gone for half an hour when he returned and talked a lot with Lin Yunwan.

"The people haven't been fully settled yet, but they've all had some porridge."

"They were all exhausted, and since the rain had lessened, they fell asleep near the soup kitchen."

"The Prefect and several Assistant Prefects and Circuit Judge all stood on the city wall, dressed in their official robes. The people below could see their faces clearly. Some of the more astute ones even sent their own people to comfort the disaster victims and introduce themselves, thus spreading their fame."

Lin Yunwan listened calmly.

Whatever they were doing, the fact that nothing bad happened last night is good.

"Did they send someone to inform the Prince?"

Last night, the city gates were locked, and Lin Yunwan's people couldn't get out. Later, when the city gates were opened, only two guards from the Prince's Mansion came.

However, the guards of the Prince's mansion certainly weren't as familiar with the situation here as the officials from Jiangqian's yamen.

Nanny Lü said, "The Prefect has secretly sent a team to bring the Prince back. However, we don't know where the Prince is now. Even if he comes quickly, it will take a day or two. If he is slow, it will take four or five days for Prince to return."

Lin Yunwan closed her eyes and mentally reviewed the situation before saying, "We can hold out here for another three days without any problem."

A few more days, and it won't work.

Even wealthy families in Jiangqian wouldn't give all their grain to disaster victims.

She was ultimately just a behind-the-scenes strategist; relying solely on the Prince Huan's Private Seal, those on the city wall wouldn't always listen to her.

"Your Prince..."

Lin Yunwan rubbed her temples, hoping that Qi Lingheng would return soon.

Two more days passed, and still no news from Qi Lingheng. Cuiqin was getting a little anxious.

"Your Princess Consort, why don't you return to the Prince's residence to rest?"

After enduring this for several days, and hearing that some people outside the city had fallen ill, Cuiqin was very worried that something might happen to Lin Yunwan was pregnant.

But Lin Yunwan can't let go now.

She couldn't directly command Jiangqian's officials, and those people wouldn't listen to her directly either.

The Prefect was well aware that he couldn't openly listen to the Princess Consort, but if he truly didn't, he would have to take responsibility for some things.

He wrote down all the important matters, big and small, on a piece of paper and sent someone to deliver them.

These past two days, Lin Yunwan's pen has barely stopped moving.

"I know my own body."

I am tired, of course, but I don't feel any discomfort.

Lin Yunwan thought for a moment, worried that the people in the Prince's mansion would be concerned, and not wanting to harm her own health or the child, so she gently said to Cuiqin, "How about this, I'll go back to the Prince's mansion tomorrow at sunset, whether the Prince returns or not."

Go check Xiruo has returned yet.

Cuiqin a sigh of relief, nodded, and was about to leave Xiruo hurriedly came in.

"Your Princess Consort, something has happened."

Seeing Xiruo's worried expression, Lin Yunwan knew that this matter was probably related to her.