Donations

The banquet took place as promised the next day. The ladies who had received invitations dressed with care and came in their family carriages, wondering why the Prince of Anbei's residence had suddenly decided to hold a banquet.

Though the banquet had been arranged in haste, Steward Mu was a longtime member of the household with a wealth of experience. Everything proceeded in good order, with nothing that was needed left wanting.

"We pay our respects to Your Highness, Princess Consort." "Please rise, ladies. Make yourselves comfortable and help yourselves to whatever you like."

After a few polite words in a gentle voice, Yan Wanning said nothing more. Seeing this, the ladies could only suppress their curiosity and eat the food on the table, each with her own thoughts. An Yingying, who already knew the reason for the banquet, enjoyed the food without a care on her mind.

Only when the banquet was nearly over and the ladies had finished eating did Yan Wanning speak. "I invited you all here today because there is a matter I wish to discuss with you."

The ladies knew the main event of the banquet had arrived.

"Please go ahead, Your Highness," said Madam Sun.

Yan Wanning smiled and told them directly why she had held the banquet. Silence fell over the gathering for a few moments.

She was in no hurry and waited quietly to see how they would react. To her surprise, the first to speak were the ladies of the Sun, Wang, and Lin families.

Madam Sun said, "My eldest son is serving in the army at present. Only when the common people are safe and well can they fight the enemy without worry. I am willing to donate thirty thousand taels of silver and the spare quilts in my home to aid the displaced people."

Madam Lin's words were no different from Madam Sun's, while Madam Wang said, "It is my great fortune to be able to do something for the common people." Her words were not without a note of flattery, and she donated twenty thousand taels of silver.

With the ladies of those three families leading the way, others could no longer sit still and declared themselves willing to donate money and clothing. A few ladies, however, still seemed hesitant and made no move for a long while.

Yan Wanning smiled and thanked the ladies gently, then remarked casually, "With your generous aid, the displaced people will surely make it through this hardship. Grandmother and the young madam of the Gu family also donated money yesterday, all to put everyone's minds at ease."

On hearing that the dowager princess consort was also involved, the ladies who had pledged their support finally felt completely at ease.

Since the dowager princess consort was involved, she could not be separated from the matter either. For all they knew, this might have been her idea, carried out through the princess consort.

The ladies who had yet to act naturally realized the significance as well and hurried to pledge their support.

"Your Highness is truly kindhearted. I will have someone send the money over shortly."

Yan Wanning was pleasantly surprised. She had not expected things to go so smoothly and had thought it would take a good deal of persuasion. It seemed everyone hoped the war would end soon. After all, no one liked war.

The banquet proceeded quickly and ended just as quickly. After the ladies returned home, they sent people to deliver silver and clothing at different times. Yan Wanning also donated a hundred thousand taels of silver, in addition to the old madam's hundred thousand taels. She had Steward Mu record every contribution and note down where it was used.

Once they had discussed and settled on a plan, it was put to use for the displaced people in less than three days. Yan Wanning had several wooden huts built in the south of the city to house them. She also purchased cotton-padded clothes and bedding in bulk from far away and distributed them to the displaced people. She had a spacious area found, where large pots were set over roaring fires to cook porridge and big, plump white steamed buns were made, so the displaced people could eat their fill twice a day.

Of course, the food did not come free. Able-bodied men had to help carry timber and build the wooden huts, while the women cooked porridge and kneaded dough. People were assigned to supervise them all.

Yan Wanning sent people to find physicians at the medical halls and bring them to the settlement to examine the displaced people one by one and prescribe medicine. All expenses were paid from the donations.

Several days of tireless work finally saw the displaced people settled. To prevent anyone from deliberately causing trouble, Yan Wanning issued an order that anyone who made trouble without cause was to be thrown into jail. From then on, Yan Wanning's reputation for virtue spread.

That day, after the displaced people had eaten their fill as usual, those who had work to do went about it. Suddenly, they saw several burly men carrying over a large stone stele. Curious, the crowd gathered around and saw that it was densely engraved with characters. Puzzled, they whispered to one another.

"What does it say on this stone? Can anyone read it and tell the rest of us?"

"Little Shi, can't you read? Take a look and see what it says."

One of the onlookers could read, so he read out the words one line at a time. The crowd fell silent at once to listen.

"List of donations of money and clothing for the relief of displaced people." After reading it aloud, the man explained to everyone, "Folks, these are the names of the kind people who gave money and supplies for us."

"What? So many people gave money to help the likes of us?"

Someone counted the names and exclaimed, "There are more than a hundred people in all!"

"Look, it says Madam Sun and the eldest young lady of the Sun family donated thirty thousand taels of silver, the young madam of General Gu's residence donated fifty thousand taels, Madam Wang gave thirty thousand taels, and the Lin family gave twenty thousand taels..."

"Folks, they're all great benefactors who saved us from fire and water."

The displaced people listened as he read out the words line by line, their hearts full of gratitude. Some even shed tears. Then, no one knew who knelt first, but the others followed, knocking their heads against the ground three times before the stele. Their cries rang out to the heavens: "Thank you, great benefactors, for saving us! We will remember it always and be grateful at all times!"