Southerners

Chapter 111

This burst of dizziness came and went quickly, but after a while Song Zhi regained his footing, thanked the servant with a grateful face, and then apologized to Heli Huosun.

"Young man, you should pay attention to your own body," Heli Huo Sun frowned slightly, instructed, and then asked, "Are you ready for dinner this morning?"

Of course not.The last bit of food in the family was given to Bai Man'er.

Song Zhi bowed: "Thank you for your concern, sir, it's been used."

Heli Huosun thought for a while, and then asked: "What are you doing here? Are you selling paintings?" He pointed at the scroll that Song Zhi pointed to.

"Yes," Song Zhi said, "to subsidize the family."

"That being the case, show me the painting." Heli Huosun said with a smile.

The chief manager immediately stepped forward, took the painting from Song Zhi, and presented it to Heli Huo Sun.

He Li Huo Sun took it and looked at it. It was a woman in the painting, who was a female celebrity under the lamp.The woman looks to be in her thirties, with a focused expression and a smile on her lips. It seems that the female red on her hand was made by someone important, maybe her son.

He Li Huo Sun carefully looked at it again and again, he is a person who knows how to paint, so it can be seen that Song Zhi's painting must have put his heart and soul into it, so that the woman in the painting can be painted vividly. Jump off the paper.

Heli Huo Sun had checked Song Zhi, so he naturally knew of Xiuniang's existence, so he naturally asked, "The one in the painting is Xiuniang?"

Song Zhi's hands were slightly stiff, the corners of her lips drooped, and she quickly regained her composure, and replied, "Yes, my lord."

Both Song Zhi and Li Huo Sun noticed the change in Song Zhi's expression, put the painting away without saying anything, and asked, "How about selling this painting to me?"

Song Zhi was slightly taken aback.

"It doesn't matter if you sell it to anyone. If that's the case, why not sell it to me. I like this painting very much." Heli Huosun said again.

Immediately, he gave an order to the chief steward, and the chief steward brought up a bag of broken silver, about ten taels.

The price is not low anymore.

Song Zhi pursed her lips. He knew that He Li Huo Sun sincerely wanted to help him, but his painting was worth ten taels of silver, so there was no problem at all, so he didn't refuse any more, accepted the money, and thanked him.

He Li Huo Sun had official duties, so it was impossible to stay here for a long time, so he chatted a few words with Song Zhi, ordered him to go to the Prime Minister's Mansion early in the morning, and then left.

Song Zhi was naturally happy to have money in her hand, and immediately went to buy a few catties of rice and brought them home.

"Man'er, there's rice!"

After Bai Man'er left the Jiaofang Division, she followed her mother to learn from female celebrities. Female celebrities are also good, but now she follows Song Zhi, and her life is difficult. Although she is young, she also wants to earn some money to support her family.

Hearing this, she was overjoyed, put down the needle and thread in her hand, walked out quickly, and saw the rice bag in Song Zhi's hand.

"Master," Bai Man'er was surprised and delighted, "Where did this rice come from? How do you have money?"

Song Zhi pinched her nose and said, "Of course I earned it."

"I just went out to sell paintings, and I sold them for ten taels of silver."

"Ten taels?" Bai Man'er was surprised, and then laughed again, "Master's painting sells for ten taels, which is too cheap for them."

Song Zhi smiled and said, "However, Man'er, from tomorrow onwards, I'm going to work as an errand at an adult's house. Will you be afraid when you're home alone in the future?"

It's a lie to say that you're not afraid, but Bai Man'er thought about it, then shook his head and said, "Not afraid. Just go, young master, and Man'er will take care of everything in the house."

After buying rice, Song Zhi still had more than half of the money left in her hand, so she handed it to Man'er, saying: "You can use this money, see who needs it outside, and do your best to help them, remember to keep it for yourself. Hurry up, don't starve."

"It's getting cold, Man'er has to remember to add two winter clothes for herself."

It's the end of September, and winter is coming in a blink of an eye, so it's time to prepare winter clothes.

Bai Man'er nodded obediently.

In the early morning of the next day, Song Zhi went to Heli Huosun's residence to report, the guard at the gate had received orders earlier, and when he heard that Song Zhi had arrived, he asked someone to lead him in.

Early in the morning, He Li Huo Sun had breakfast and hadn't left the house yet.

The servant led Song Zhi all the way to Heli Huosun's study.Heli Huosun originally wanted Song Zhi to serve in the study, but Song Zhi missed the victims and asked for orders to go to the disaster relief. Heli Huosun wanted to see Song Zhi's other abilities, so he agreed without much hesitation, and put him in the In the disaster relief team of the household department.

With this level of relationship with Li Huo Sun, although the officials of the household department for disaster relief did not know Song Zhi's origin, they did not dare to despise him.

The first step in disaster relief is to investigate the disaster, that is, to find out the scope and number of people affected by the disaster, and report it truthfully. Then, according to the severity of the disaster, pension money, relief grain, etc. will be distributed.

It was originally the imperial city at the foot of the emperor, so the speed of disaster relief is naturally much faster than that of the local area. Although the earthquake happened not long ago, the general situation of the disaster has been ascertained, and the next step is disaster relief.

This morning, the court discussed the details of disaster relief for an hour, such as how to reduce or exempt corvee taxes, how to distribute pension money, and how to send doctors to the people to treat victims.

Song Zhi followed a group of officials from the household department, running around in the neighborhoods of Dadu all day long, walking out of Xingshun Hutong, and found that Xingshun Hutong was not the most severely affected in Dadu.There are many poor families who originally lived in a dilapidated thatched hut. In this earthquake, the thatched hut collapsed, not to mention the pillars of the family.

There is even such a tragedy that the whole family died in the earthquake.

Song Zhichu could hardly bear to look at it at the beginning, but later on, she was almost numb.

"Come on, ma'am." Song Zhi supported a 50-[-]-year-old woman, "Have some porridge."

The woman's left leg was broken by the collapsed beam, so she could only sit on the ground, but she ignored Song Zhi's words, not because of the pain, but because of the child in her arms.

It was a girl in her teens.

The woman was originally in poor health and thought that she would not be able to give birth in this life. She did not expect to be pregnant at the age of 30 and gave birth to the child healthy and healthy. Gone.

The woman was holding the child, her expression was dull, and she kept murmuring, "Ninny, nannie..."

Song Zhi had a sore nose and almost shed tears.

At this time, a young official couldn't stand it anymore, and came up to snatch the already stiff body: "Mother, the child is gone, you should take good care of your body."

"No!!!" The woman let out a shrill scream, and tightened her arms tightly, "My baby is not dead, my baby is not!"

"Don't take my child away, she is not dead!!!"

These days, Song Zhi has seen such scenes many times, and he did not panic. He calmly pulled the little official away, and then comforted her in a low voice: "My daughter is looking at her mother. If mother doesn't eat, she will Distressed."

Only then did the woman move her eyes and look at Song Zhi.

Song Zhi hadn't had a good night's sleep these days, couldn't eat, didn't sleep well, she lost a lot of weight, and looked rather haggard. His colleagues said that he didn't look like a disaster relief person, but a disaster victim.

"My lord..." The woman made a hoarse voice from her throat. She is one of the people who live at the bottom. If she hadn't been hit by a disaster, she would never meet officials in her life, and the lord in front of her was young. , dressed in plain clothes, looks like she has worked hard, and even took care of her emotions, "Military woman... Thank you, sir."

The woman wanted to salute to Song Zhi, but she had trouble with her legs and feet, so she had to bend down to express her gratitude.

Song Zhi's heart was so sore that she didn't know what to say, so she helped the woman up: "I'm not an adult, so don't be too polite, ma'am."

Such a woman who loves her daughter so much coincides with the image of Xiu Niang in Song Zhi's heart.

Xiuniang had no children in her life, so she devoted all her efforts to herself.

Thinking of this, Song Zhi felt a twitching pain in his heart. He didn't dare to think about it anymore, and hurriedly lowered his head to hide his emotions: "Anyway, ma'am, living is the most important thing."

"No matter what happens, don't give up hope of being alive."

Song Zhi comforted her like this, even though he knew that it would not be of any use.This woman, like Xiu Niang, gave all her love to her daughter. Now that she has no daughter, she probably won't live long.

The little official who was pulled away by Song Zhi still had a good impression of Song Zhi. Seeing that Song Zhi had finished speaking, he quietly said to him: "What are you doing with her so much, this woman can't be saved. She doesn't want to live, who can save it?"

Song Zhi knew.

"But what if she still has a little idea of ​​living?"

He didn't want to give up any hope of saving her.

The little official sighed, and said, "You'll know after watching too much."

There is nothing greater than heartbreak, and this woman is like that.

After two consecutive months of disaster relief, most of the disaster situation has finally stabilized.

In the past two months, Song Zhi followed the officials of the household department, from the initial ignorance to the later familiarity, and handled all matters of disaster relief in an orderly manner. Not only the officials of the household department saw it, but Heli Huosun also saw it .

So after the disaster relief was over, it was already late winter, and Heli Huosun gave Song Zhi a long vacation to let him, who was physically and mentally exhausted, take a good rest. Song Zhi thanked her, and dragged her thin and tired body back to Xingshun Hutong.

These two months' salary was useless, it was enough for Song Zhi to get through the New Year's Eve.

This winter was probably the coldest winter Song Zhi had ever spent, and it was also the most miserable year that Song Zhi had ever lived.

There was no Xiu Niang or Meng Huan by his side, only he and Bai Man'er, master and servant, depended on each other for life.

Bai Man'er didn't like to set off firecrackers anymore. On New Year's Eve, the two of them stood at the door together, watching the children in the neighborhood, smiling again in the first New Year after the disaster, playing and making trouble together. The firecrackers were ignited, and they covered their ears, heard a sound, and laughed together again.

The two worshiped their parents and Xiu Niang respectively, and sat in front of the fire, staying up until midnight, when Bai Man'er was so sleepy that he yawned, sat on a stool, and fell asleep with his head propped up.

Song Zhi didn't disturb her, carefully picked her up, sent her to the inner room, put her on the bed, tucked in the quilt, and was about to leave when Bai Man'er grabbed her by the hem.

Song Zhi paused for a moment, then looked back at her.

Bai Man'er was still asleep, her little face wrinkled into a ball, and she called indistinctly:

"Mother..."

"Don't go, don't want Maner..."

With wet eyes, Song Zhi carefully took off Bai Man'er's hand, put it under the quilt, moved a chair and sat beside Bai Man'er's bed, then touched her sad cheek, and said softly:

"Don't be afraid, Man'er, Brother Lang is with you."

New Year's Eve is one of the most festive days of the year. The people of Dayuan Yizhao are immersed in the joy of getting rid of the old and welcoming the new. Whether the old year is good or bad, the new year is coming.

The New Year is always full of expectations.

The lights of Wanjia were dimmed, and in the deep blue night sky, gorgeous fireworks bloomed one after another, and the people laughed and laughed together.

And the boys and girls in Xingshun Hutong of Danguifang are engulfed by the cold of heavy snow in the winter night, and all the joys in this world seem to have nothing to do with them.

And the so-called hopeful New Year also makes them unable to raise any expectations. What fills their hearts is only hesitation and loss.

Song Zhi put her head on her knees, closed her eyelids, and thought to herself, what should the Annan battlefield look like at this moment?

The author has something to say:

Reminder is the primary productive force...