Ming Dynasty: Gain one supernatural power every day

After Zhu Di finished making the necessary polite remarks, he retreated to an old locust tree at the edge of the open space and handed over the distribution of grain entirely to the officials of Prince Rui's residence.

The officials had already discussed the procedures beforehand. Xu Jingchang was in charge of overall coordination. He divided the soldiers and yamen runners into several groups. One group went to call out to the people to collect their grain nearby. Another group went to the prefectural government office to move all the empty sacks stored in the warehouse. The third group was responsible for registration and cataloging.

The registration requirement was added by him. Every household receiving grain had to leave their name and address. Later, the Imperial Guards would check each household with the register. Wealthy households were not allowed to fraudulently receive grain; if anyone was found to have done so, they would be dealt with.

Prefect Liu listened intently from the side, then repeatedly said, "This humble official will have someone take care of it right away," before turning around and kicking a yamen runner in the backside, urging him to move the sacks.

He himself led several clerks, moved a long table to the side of the open space, spread out blank books, ground ink and moistened the brush, and prepared to register.

Xu Jingchang walked to the center of the open space and cleared his throat.

He took a deep breath and shouted to the crowd, "Line up! One serving per person! The elderly and children go first, the young and strong come later! Don't push, there's plenty of food, everyone gets some!"

The sound wasn't particularly loud, but it drowned out the buzzing of human voices.

Qiu Sheng, along with several guards from the Prince's Palace, erected two simple rope fences on either side of the open space. They used the thick hemp ropes used for setting up tents in the military camp, with one end tied to the trunk of a locust tree and the other end tied to a wooden stake that had been temporarily driven into the ground.

The people were divided into two groups: the elderly and children were on the left, and the young adults were on the right.

The constables stood outside the rope fence, forming a human wall to hold back the surging crowd.

The line stretched from the open space to the side of the official road, then meandered along the road for a long distance, seemingly endless. More and more people kept joining, craning their necks to see ahead. There were women carrying children, sons supporting their parents, and elderly people coming alone with canes.

Everyone craned their necks, their gazes passing over the layers of heads in front of them, landing on the white, glistening grain mountain in the open space.

The first to be ushered to the front were several elderly men and women with white hair.

They were old and their legs wouldn't obey them. With their children and grandchildren supporting their arms on either side, they moved shakily to the table.

An old man, leaning on a worn-out bamboo cane, his back hunched over like a fully drawn bow, stretched out his right hand to receive the grain.

That hand was dark and thin, with large, deformed knuckles, and the skin on the back of the hand was as rough as the dry, cracked bark of an old tree, with indelible dirt embedded in the cracks.

Xu Jingchang handed a bag of grain to his son, who was standing next to him. The old man asked his son to take out a steamed bun from the bag. The old man tremblingly took the white steamed bun and looked down at it.

The old man looked down at the steamed bun in his hand, then looked up and his gaze fell on Zhu Gaoxi, who was standing under the locust tree in the distance.

Zhu Gaoxi was talking to Zhu Di from the side, not looking this way.

The old man's lips trembled a few times, and tears welled up in his cloudy eyes.

He didn't kneel down himself because he was too old and his legs were too weak to obey him. So he reached out and tugged at his son's sleeve and pressed down on his grandson's shoulder, asking them to kneel down for him.

"Thank you... Thank you, Your Highness Prince Rui." His voice trembled violently.

The son and grandson knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times towards the locust tree.

The soldiers in charge of distributing the food were very efficient; they had already divided each portion of food in advance.

About fifteen white steamed buns and dried biscuits were neatly stacked; two bundles of dried meat were tightly tied with hemp rope... The soldier stuffed all these things into a large sack, tied it up, and handed it over with both hands.

"Thank you, Your Highness Prince Rui." The old man's daughter-in-law took the sack, hugged it to her chest, bowed to the soldiers distributing the grain, and then knelt down and kowtowed towards the locust tree.

Her husband, supporting the old man's arm, led him back. He was talking to the old man with his head down, but his voice was drowned out by the noise. All that could be seen was the old man wiping his eyes with his sleeve as he walked.

The line moved forward slowly and orderly, stopping and starting with each step, like a slowly crawling dragon.

The people who received the grain reacted in different ways.

After receiving her share, a thin woman hugged the sack tightly to her chest, like she was holding a child. She walked quite a distance before she was reluctant to let go. She was terrified of hunger and worried that the sack of grain might be taken back soon.

Her husband talked for a long time, saying that this was a gift from His Highness Prince Rui and that no one would take it back. Only then did she carefully untie the bag, break off half a steamed bun, and stuff it into the hand of the child following behind her. Before leaving, she pulled the child and kowtowed together in the direction of the locust tree.

After receiving the gifts, the young scholars in long gowns did not leave immediately. Instead, they went to Zhu Gaoxi's direction, bowed several times, and then reluctantly departed.

After receiving his grain sack, a young man walked out of the line, but stopped after taking only a few steps.

"Your Highness, we thank you! The people of Taiping Prefecture will remember your great kindness for a lifetime!"

He stood there stunned for two or three seconds, then put the sack on the ground, turned around abruptly, knelt down, and slammed his forehead heavily against the ground. He slammed his forehead three times, until it was red and covered with yellow dirt, and he kept talking as he kowtowed.

After receiving his grain, the burly man behind him didn't rush to leave. He slung the heavy sack over his shoulder, turned his head, and grinned at Qiu Sheng, who was distributing the grain. His grin was simple and honest, revealing a set of slightly crooked teeth.

He rubbed his calloused hands together and tentatively asked, "Sir, does the Prince Rui's mansion need any more personal guards? I'm strong; I can do any kind of work!"

Qiu Sheng didn't even look up, casually tossing the grain into his arms: "Eat your fill first. Look at your physique, you look like you haven't eaten for three days and you still want to be a personal guard?"

The burly man chuckled as he was hit, bowed slightly, and then kowtowed in the direction of Prince Rui.

The grain mountain on the open ground gradually shrank, shrinking from a small hill into a small mound, and then from a small mound into a low grain heap.

But the line was still very long, with its tail swaying at the bend in the main road, and the dark mass of people was too numerous to count at a glance.

Zhu Gaoxu moved closer to Zhu Gaoxi and nudged him with his elbow: "Fourth brother, look how grateful these people are to you."

He lowered his voice and leaned closer: "To put it bluntly, even the old man might not have received such sincere thanks from so many people."

"Second Brother is joking. I just wanted to do something for the people within my capabilities," Zhu Gaoxi said.

His gaze fell on the people kowtowing, his brows furrowing slightly.

He could stop one or two people from kowtowing, but now the people receiving their grain had formed a long line, and without exception, everyone who had finished knelt down and kowtowed towards the locust tree.

He had just told people to stop kowtowing, but the people wouldn't listen and kept kneeling down to kowtow.