I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 148 Money and Food Out of Stock
“Young Miss, the grain in the storeroom is almost gone. I’ve done the math, and if we continue to distribute porridge, I’m afraid it won’t last more than three days.”

"May I ask, young lady, will the Jimintang continue to provide porridge?"

Bai Rouyin exclaimed in surprise, "How could it be so fast?"

“Young Miss, Jimintang has fourteen soup kitchens under its name, providing relief to nearly 90% of the disaster victims, consuming about eighty dan of grain every day,” Manager Bai sighed. “Now it’s the seventh day of the soup distribution, and there are less than two hundred dan of grain left in the storeroom.”

Bai Rouyin said unhappily, "If you're short of food, just buy it with money. Do I need to teach you that?"

"The silver won't last long. There are three thousand taels of silver in the Jimin Hall's account. Two thousand three hundred taels were spent on grain purchases," Manager Bai explained to her. "The fields in the south have been severely damaged by heavy rains, and the price of grain in the northern prefectures has also risen. Wheat that used to cost eleven coins a catty has now risen to fourteen coins a catty."

Bai Rouyin's brows relaxed slightly. "It's only increased by three copper coins."

"For every additional day of porridge provided, the cost increases by forty-five taels of silver."

What does forty-five taels mean? An ordinary family of five wouldn't even spend two taels of silver a year!

"Forty-five taels it is, I'll raise some more silver," Bai Rouyin instructed. "No matter what, you must persevere."

Thanks to this disaster relief effort, her reputation has greatly improved, and her prestige among the disaster victims even surpasses that of Tang Zhao. How could she not continue like this?

After the steward left, Bai Rouyin hurriedly sent someone to invite Meng Shuer and Gu Xuan, only to be told that both of them were under house arrest.

Bai Rouyin asked in confusion, "How could this be?"

Lian Qiao whispered, "Mudan, who serves Miss Gu Qi, told me that the marriage between Miss Meng Da and the Xuan Prince's Mansion has fallen through. Miss Meng Da somehow offended Old Madam Meng and was confined to her quarters. Miss Gu Qi was mocking Miss Meng Da when the Princess Consort of Xuan heard it and also confined Miss Gu Qi to her quarters."

It's over? Bai Rouyin's eyes widened, a fleeting look of joy and mockery flashing across them.

"I heard from Miss Gu that Miss Meng is not going to marry the General of the Cavalry at all," Lian Qiao whispered in Bai Rouyin's ear, "but Prince Xuan!"

Bai Rouyin was stunned for a moment, then laughed so hard she couldn't straighten up.

Thinking of the smug look that Meng Shuer had deliberately put on in front of her yesterday, she felt a sense of satisfaction!

Lian Qiao breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Miss Meng. If the young lady was happy, they would suffer less.

After Bai Rouyin finished laughing, she began to worry about the money.

The officials in Wuwei City were almost all from the Northwest Army, and their families were all extremely poor. They would donate once and gain a reputation, but they would never donate a second time.

How much silver do I have left?

"When the eldest daughter got married, the madam gave her three thousand taels of silver as a dowry. In the past six months, more than one thousand taels have been spent. When the Jimintang was being set up recently, she took the lead in donating one thousand taels. Now she still has more than seven hundred taels left."

For the first time in her life, Bai Rouyin experienced what it meant to not know the value of daily necessities when you're not in charge of the household. "Seven hundred taels it is, let's send it to Steward Bai to buy rice and grain for disaster relief."

Lian Qiao was dumbfounded. If they had given away all the money, what would they eat and drink? The northwest wind?

Seeing that Lian Qiao was standing still, Bai Rouyin urged, "Go quickly!"

Lianqiao went there with a long face.

Three days later, Steward Bai came to visit again. "Young Miss, the grain in the storeroom is running low again. Shall we continue to buy grain and distribute porridge?"

Bai Rouyin, who had been eating only vegetables for three days, turned even greener upon hearing this. "Not enough again? What are the officials doing? Why haven't they come up with a way to resettle the disaster victims yet?"

Little did Steward Bai know, all he knew was that if they continued distributing porridge, this villa would be sold!
Bai Rouyin slammed down her teacup. “If we abruptly stop distributing porridge, the disaster victims will definitely harbor resentment. So, we’ll make the porridge thinner from now on.”

Bai Rouyin made up her mind, "Lianqiao, pick some things from the storeroom and pawn them to raise some money for the emergency." "Manager Bai, take the invitation from the Marquis of Zhongyong's residence to the government office and inquire about the situation."

"And another thing," Steward Bai, who had already reached the door, stopped immediately upon hearing the voice, "send people to spread the word among the disaster victims that we must force the government and the Protectorate General's Mansion to take action before the Jimin Hall runs out of rice and food!"

Manager Bai solemnly agreed to the first matter, but pretended not to hear about the second one.

He remembered clearly what happened to Manager Qian's family; losing his job was better than losing his entire family's lives.

The next day, as usual, the disaster victims lined up in front of the porridge stall under the name of Jimintang to receive porridge. Bai's cook scooped a spoonful of porridge from the porridge bucket and poured it into the disaster victims' bowls.

The disaster victims expressed their gratitude, only to realize upon looking down that today's porridge was much thinner than yesterday's.

"Madam Bai, why is this porridge so thin?"

"We're running out of rice. This is what our young lady managed to get by selling her dowry!"

Upon hearing this, the disaster victim dared not ask any more questions. He returned to the corner where he had been lying for several days, gulped down the porridge, and then felt even hungrier.

Sigh! The disaster victims should lie down and sleep; they won't be hungry when they're asleep.

On the third, fourth, and fifth days, the porridge provided by Jimintang was so small that the grains of rice could be counted.

Manager Bai was so anxious that he developed blisters on his lips and made repeated trips to the government office, only to receive the reply, "We are trying to find a solution, please do not rush us."

"Hey brother, is the porridge from the Protector General's Mansion still thick enough?"

"Thick! But it's all bean porridge, it's really hard to eat! I heard that this is the staple food of people in the north, I really don't know how they can eat it."

"Thick is fine, good enough to fill my stomach, I'll go get a bowl."

“By the time you get there, they’ll have all been collected,” a disaster victim reminded him. “The General’s Mansion only cooks relief porridge for three thousand disaster victims every day.”

"But we have 30,000 people!"

"Isn't there a Jimintang? They kept saying that their master's eldest daughter, the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion, would definitely provide relief to you when you were settled by the government. Didn't you also say that the Marquis of Zhongyong's eldest daughter was more benevolent than Princess Zhaoshan? You even organized people to go to the front of the General of the State's mansion to curse."

The disaster victim retorted, "Providing relief to disaster victims is what Princess Zhaoshan should do! If we hadn't been misled by Princess Zhaoshan's reputation for taking in disaster victims, why would we have ended up in this wretched place, Wuwei!"

"Then go ahead and leave! The gatekeepers of Wuwei City have never stopped anyone from entering or leaving."

The disaster victim fell silent.

“You can tell how loudly he’s shouting,” another victim said. “Just look at the constant stream of victims coming to Wuwei; they look much worse off than us.”

"I've heard that many people have starved to death in Qin Prefecture!"

"Really?"

"Of course, that's why I'm not leaving! Bean rice may be hard to eat, but it's enough to survive, right? Be content!"

On the sixth day, the cook from the Bai family came to the porridge stall as usual to distribute porridge, but there was not a single disaster victim in sight. Meanwhile, the porridge stall in front of the General of the Nation's mansion had a long line of disaster victims stretching as far as the eye could see.

The newly hired handyman quickly set up the equipment and started cooking porridge.

The first disaster victim in line looked at the bowl full of bean porridge and shed tears of happiness.

Princess Zhaoshan is still the most reliable!