Chapter 273: Helping Her Father
Chapter 273: Helping Her Father
Xiang Ling thanked the stall owner for the tea he served them before she turned her full attention toward Zhu Peng who had been waiting for her to start speaking the reason for which she asked for a moment with him. Still, she took her time and sipped the tea to refresh herself a little bit. The warm liquid made her feel instantly better.
"Miss-"
"I’m Chen Xiang Ling." Xiang Ling interrupted the man before he could speak any further. It was a must to let him know about her identity before talking about anything else. "I’m County Magistrate’s only daughter."
Zhu Peng seemed completely shocked after she introduced herself. He didn’t even try to close his jaw that was hanging open as he stared at her for a couple of minutes before he finally shook his head as if to get rid of the shock.
"Young M-" As if he recalled Xiang Ling being a married woman, he immediately fixed his mistake. "Young Lady Chen, why do you suddenly want to talk to me? Do you even know me? Or do you want me to relay some message to County Magistrate?"
Xiang Ling smiled at the man’s questions and took another sip of the chrysanthemum tea. "You should enjoy the tea. It’s really good." She informed the man when she noticed that he had made no move to drink the tea from his cup that she poured for him.
For a moment, it seemed like Zhu Peng was going to ignore her words, but then he surprised both of them as he picked up the cup and took a sip of the tea and a look of amazement immediately dawned on his face.
Xiang Ling observed every little change in his expression and realized that the man had no control over his emotions. Unlike many others who knew how to keep a blank face despite the tsunami of emotions that they felt inside, Zhu Peng had no such talent. He was way too innocent to pretend otherwise. This only made her feel more confident about sharing her idea with him.
A few more moments of silence passed between the two of them before Zhu Peng once again turned his attention toward Xiang Ling and spoke, "Lady Chen, can you now tell me what you wanted to talk about with me?"
Xiang Ling gave a little nod of her head as she spoke, "Official Zhu, I just heard the exchange between you and those people. I think I have a plan that can help you resolve the issue of providing aid to the beggars of this city."
Zhu Peng’s interest was immediately picked as his ears registered her words. "Why do you want to help us?"
Xiang Ling let out a small sigh as she answered, "Initially, I had no plans for helping. Unlike my father who’s an official and works for the safety and growth of the people of this city, I’m a businesswoman. My goal is always same - making as much profit as I can. Still, I do try my best to stay kind and true while doing my businesses..."
Zhu Peng listened silently even though he wasn’t sure where she was going with her story.
"... I was going to walk away from that place when I heard those people talking about father, and their words were harsh enough for me to consider stepping forward and help in solving this issue. Providing aid to the beggars will solve one of my father’s long time worries, and it will also soothe down the anger of the citizens toward the County Magistrate and other officials."
Zhu Peng appeared thoughtful for a couple of moments before he finally nodded his head in understanding. "So, you are doing it to help you father?"
Xiang Ling slowly nodded her head in a positive response before adding, "I might be doing it for my father, but I have some personal benefits from it as well."
"What kind of personal benefits can you gain by helping these beggars?" Zhu Peng asked as he was curious.
"My plan is to provide the beggars with a shelter." Xiang Ling didn’t immediately answered his question, but before she could have continued speaking, Zhu Peng spoke up.
"If that’s your plan, then it’s nothing new, Young Lady Chen. We already came up with this idea, but building a shelter for them will take months, and we don’t have that much time. The beggars need immediate help. We have been providing them with food and clothes, but unfortunately, it’s not enough to keep their lives safe. Besides, providing them with a shelter will only momentarily solve the problem. They are jobless people and their care will require a lot of money. Unfortunately, government can’t provide them help for their entire lifetime."
"I know that a shelter can’t be built that quickly. That’s why, instead of building a new home for them, we can try finding an already existing home to turn it into a shelter house. There are several manors and residential buildings in the city that are unoccupied, we can buy one of them and turn it into a shelter home." Xiang Ling introduced her idea.
However, Zhu Peng was quick to shake his head in denial with a dejected look on his face. "Those manors are worth hundreds thousands of silver taels. Even though County Magistrate’s Office can take out some government fund to help the beggars, we can’t find so much money to buy a manor. This idea will not help."
Xiang Ling smiled softly before she asked, "How much money can County Magistrate’s Office provide?"
"Around a thousand silver taels," Zhu Peng answered and it took Xiang Ling a while to wrap her mind around the numbers.
"Only... a thousand silver taels?" She finally asked as she failed to control herself. The shock was real. Though she wasn’t expecting a big term like ten thousand taels, but she wasn’t expecting such a low amount either.
A long sigh escaped her lips before she spoke, "Nevermind. Consider it a charity I’m doing on my family’s part. I will buy a manor and prepare it for the beggars. You can use those thousand silver taels to buy them some food and rations. Let’s shift them to their new home the morning after tomorrow."