CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49 IS IT ENOUGH? IF NOT, I’LL KILL ANOTHER 3000 PIGS!_1

THUD.

THUD.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

One by one, the ragged refugees knelt in unison before the He Manor servants, some even knocking their heads on the ground repeatedly.

"There’s no need to thank us." The servants hurriedly helped the refugees to their feet. "We’re just doing a job. The one who came up with this idea was Daoist Wang Xiu of the Sanqing Immortal Sect."

"Of the three thousand pigs, Daoist Wang Xiu bought two thousand with his own money. The remaining thousand were donated by our Landlord."

"If you want to thank someone, it should be the two of them."

After the servants’ explanation, tears welled up in the eyes of all the refugees. Some were from nearby cities, forced to relocate due to floods. Others were from territories governed by different Immortal Sects, driven away by the disciples’ oppressive demands, their lives unsustainable. They had no choice but to flee to distant lands.

Some had even escaped from the ’human livestock farms’ within the Devil Race’s sphere of influence, surviving against all odds to finally reach Maple City. They had starved and suffered on their journey, leaving them half-dead.

But now, after downing a bowl of hot, steaming coarse rice porridge, they felt alive again. The feeling of a full stomach was sheer bliss.

Daoist Wang Xiu. Landlord He. These two names were etched into their minds, more deeply than anything else.

***

The news spread like wildfire.

Word that the He Family was providing disaster relief with ’bran and coarse rice porridge’ quickly swept through Maple City. Initially, upon hearing that the He Family was using bran—animal feed—for relief, the city’s residents cursed them out.

However, when they heard that the He Family was also ’exchanging pork for coarse rice at a twenty percent discount,’ the criticism vanished, replaced by nothing but praise. Some even suggested the He Family ’add more pork,’ asking, ’Who can three thousand pigs possibly feed?’ or declaring, ’If the neighboring cities see this, they’ll think we people of Maple City can’t afford it!’

In no time, the entire city was stirred to action. Bags of coarse rice were transported from thousands of households toward the He Manor.

In fact, if He Daren understood the concept of ’futures trading,’ he could have used this opportunity to amass a large quantity of coarse rice. By hoarding it to create a shortage, he could have driven up the price and sold it at the opportune moment. With such an exchange, trading pork at an eighty-percent value for grain wouldn’t just prevent a loss—it would turn a profit.

Of course, Wang Xiu would never teach him such a scheme. It wasn’t an honorable path, and unscrupulous merchants who did such wicked things too often tended to have sons born without a certain orifice.

But even without this knowledge, as 3,000 pigs’ worth of meat flooded the Maple City market, the price of pork was bound to plummet. Whether it would hold even eighty percent of its original value was highly uncertain.

In other words, for those who exchanged coarse rice for pork... if they were just looking for a taste of meat, then everyone was happy. But if they were thinking of reselling it for a profit...

COUGH, COUGH.

They would probably lose their shirts—and their underpants too!

***

Elsewhere, in the refugee settlement on the city’s outskirts, news of the He Family distributing porridge was also spreading rapidly.

After all, for these refugees, nothing was more important than a full stomach. They had avoided the relief tents before simply because they had been disappointed too many times and could never get anything. Waiting for relief porridge was less practical than digging for wild vegetables or gnawing on bark and roots in the mountains.

But things were different now. Coarse rice porridge mixed with some bran? Bran was for animals and might hurt their pride?

Dignity be damned!

Never mind coarse rice porridge mixed with bran; even porridge made purely from bran would be a delicacy!

Instantly, the entire refugee area was in an uproar. Over a hundred thousand refugees swarmed toward the various relief tents in the city, a sight that struck fear into the hearts of the other citizens watching.

Goodness gracious. Have these people gone mad? That awful-tasting porridge mixed with bran... they can actually stomach it?

At that moment, many of the gentry and scholars of Maple City, who had insisted that Wang Xiu and He Daren’s ’bran relief’ was a disgrace, felt an inexplicable shift in their hearts.

Ensuring every grain of relief food reached the mouths of the refugees, the disaster victims, and the starving...

Perhaps... this was the right way to do disaster relief all along.

"SOB, SOB... I’m finally full! This is the first time I’ve been full in half a year! SOB, SOB..."

"Brother, big brother, we’re not going to die!"

"Mother, can you see from heaven? My sister and I finally made it to Maple City! We can finally live!"

"Sanqing Immortal Sect... Daoist Wang Xiu... and Landlord He... sob, sob..."

***

In front of the relief tents, there were tears of joy and cries of gratitude. Some tried to kneel and kowtow, and no amount of stopping them could hold them back. All the vicissitudes of life were on full display.

Atop the high city wall, Wang Xiu and He Daren stood side by side. The old butler stood half a step behind them. "Everything is just as Daoist Wang predicted. Your foresight is truly divine, Young Master—"

"Call me Master!" He Daren interjected.

The old butler nodded. "Of course, Young Master. I’ve already calculated that with the coarse rice and bran in the He Family’s storage, we can feed one hundred thousand refugees for half a month."

"If we add the rice from trading those 3,000 pigs, we should get about 3,000,000 jin of coarse rice, enough to last another three months."

He Daren nodded, watching the grateful refugees praise him. A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through his heart as he murmured, "I never expected being praised for doing good deeds would feel this great! Daoist Wang, how about we slaughter another 3,000 pigs?"

The old butler: ???

Wang Xiu: ???

The corner of Wang Xiu’s mouth twitched. With a wry smile, he said, "Don’t be rash. As the saying goes, a handful of rice is a favor, but a bushel of rice is a grudge."

"Right now, these victims are drinking bran porridge and are deeply grateful to you because you saved their lives. But once they recover their strength, if you continue to supply only bran porridge, they will lose the motivation to fend for themselves, and they will no longer be grateful."

"They might even start complaining that your bran porridge tastes bad and question why you don’t provide them with fine white rice porridge or steamed white rice."

He Daren was stunned. "How could that be?"

The elderly butler beside them, rich with experience, nodded. "Young Master, if you really keep providing coarse rice porridge, that sort of thing is very likely to happen."

He Daren scratched his head. "Then what should we do? Giving porridge is wrong, but not giving it is also wrong. We can’t just let them die!"

"It’s simple: work-for-relief," Wang Xiu said with a smile. "I’ve already reported to the Sect and proposed an expansion of Maple City’s north gate, incorporating those barren lands north of the city."

"The refugees can build houses and cultivate the wasteland there, allowing them to become self-sufficient as soon as possible. If they want to eat white rice and gnaw on big pork trotters, they can. Let them earn it with their own two hands!"

Holy cow! Brilliant! Simply brilliant! He Daren’s eyes lit up.

***

Good grief. This Daoist Wang is clearly younger than me, so why is his brain so sharp? The problem of over a hundred thousand refugees was a headache for anyone, but he solved it just like that?