Su Mu called Lu Qi over and whispered a few words into her ear.
After speaking, Lu Qi nodded her head and walked up to the abbot to whisper in his ear, passing on Su Mu's words to him. "Grand Master, Esteemed Empress Hui feels that it's rather strange. Why is the rice they eat different from the one the Empress eats?"
He finally stood up and walked over to Su Mu, saying, "Esteemed wangfei, you don't need to worry too much. The harvest this year was poor, and the crops in our backyard are all poor, this is also a matter of helplessness. Just these coarse rice alone is enough for the people in the city to support our Jade Dragon Temple."
It was just that, how could such a grand national temple like Jade Dragon Temple cause such a ruckus?
"Aren't you just kidding me?" Zhuo Qingfeng stood up and said.
Hearing Zhuo Qingfeng speak, and looking at her clothes, he came to a realization that she must be a maid in the palace who had changed into little Shamei's clothes out of fear that her movements might become inconvenient. Otherwise, if she spoke so arrogantly, why would Huifei not care about it?
The abbot could only sigh. He did not say anything else. Su Mu knew that this world was difficult and that no one could protect themselves. This was the last resort …
Su Mu could only tell him, "Master, I came here to bother you because I was too preoccupied with my own matters today. These silver notes can be considered as a token of my appreciation."
Su Mu placed a stack of banknotes on the table. These banknotes were worth quite a bit of money, and Su Mu had already added a lot of money to the banknotes. "Esteemed wangfei, you don't need to do this. You've already done enough meritorious deeds …"
"Looks like Master, you're not here today. Do you have something to say to our Empress?" After saying this, the Master fell to his knees. Ever since Su Mu entered the temple, this Master had always held the dignity of a family member, and had never lowered his dignity by even a little. Now, he was actually disregarding his reputation, which surprised Su Mu quite a bit.
Su Mu hurriedly stood up and said to him, "Master, what are you doing?"
The abbot then said, "Your Highness, the poor harvest is one thing, but our Jade Dragon Temple should not be like this. The Ju Long Temple should not be like this, as the Ju Li Palace was originally new and was built just this year, but the Ju Li Palace was set on fire for a group of bandits. It was fortunate that they managed to pounce on the fire in time, and the temple did not lose their lives!"
"Master, such a big thing has happened, why didn't you tell the Emperor?" Su Mu frowned and said.
"His Majesty has so many things to do every day, how could he possibly take this matter to heart?" Besides, this isn't the right time to do so. In our temple … "Sigh!" This abbot still sighed. In the end, there were some things that were inconvenient for him to say.
"Esteemed wangfei, what happened was like this. The ones that were placed in the courtyard were all old rice, and the ones that were approved by the Ministry of Revenue were new rice. Reverend Misery Fang was kind as he distributed the new rice to the victims nearby, leaving only this old rice for our own use. If we were to report this to the emperor, we probably won't be able to hide it anymore!"
When Su Mu heard this, he finally understood what was going on. This man must have been a kind person, and seeing that the victims had no food, he decided to be merciful. However, how could he bear the consequences of his actions?
In the end, he could only take this bitter fruit. This could originally be considered a good thing, but now …
Su Mu shook her head slightly, and said to the Master, "Master, you have placed all your hopes on me, so I should be doing my duty, but now, I am too busy to take care of myself, so I do not know if you want me to contribute to the disaster relief effort, or just to build a temple?"
The abbot looked up, his eyes bright and full of spirit. He said to Su Mu, "Empress, the matter of the temple construction was originally a small matter. We are all exiles, so what difference does it make where we are? "It doesn't matter where we eat. It's just that we feel pity for the victims."
When Su Mu heard this, she remembered something. A few days ago, in order to provide relief to the victims, Lin Yi had set the Ministry of Revenue on fire. The Ministry of Revenue had clearly granted 200 thousand silver and 100,000 loads of food to the victims.
Su Mu thought to herself, When I came out today, I saw the rich and powerful people in Shang Jing, and the people were living and working happily. I thought that the refugees from Jiangnan did not threaten the prosperity of Shang Jing, and the disaster should have been solved.
Su Mu sat down and said to the abbot, "Master, please get up quickly and tell me the details!"
It turned out that the flood in Jiangnan for the past two months had caused the victims to lose their homes and become displaced. Many victims, in order to survive, had no choice but to sell their children and eat young children.
Afterwards, they wanted to come to Shang Jing to save their lives. However, when they were on the mountain pass, they were actually stopped by that Prefecture Overseer Jing Zhao to prevent the victims from entering …
When Su Mu heard this, she could not help but feel infuriated. It was not easy for these victims to come to Shang Jing, they were even kicked out by those unscrupulous dog officials to protect their own achievements. How could anyone not be angry?
However, this was too much of a coincidence. Why was it that he had to come here today to burn incense and this abbot had prepared such a long speech to tell him?
Was it a coincidence or was it a deliberate plot?
Su Mu was going to ask further, but when she turned around, she saw that there were still a lot of victims outside the yard. Everyone was holding a broken bowl and drinking some porridge.
In the end, Su Mu couldn't bear it anymore. No matter who set this up, if she wanted to jump into the trap, she would have to charge into it herself …
Su Mu let out a sigh before giving Lu Qi a look. She stood up and said to the crowd, "This bit of silver is esteemed wangfei's kindness, and can be of help for a while. Let's talk about the future slowly …"
After Lu Qi finished speaking, the guards gave each of them a big bag of silver.
The guards gave each of them a tael of silver before dispersing. Only then did the victims gradually disperse …
Su Mu looked at these people and thought to himself, "When I return to the palace, I should bring up this matter with Lin Yi. It's just that I won't be able to decide whether it's useful or not …"
The abbot walked beside Su Mu and said, "Esteemed wangfei, this old monk knows that you're kind. However, this way, it won't be able to solve the underlying problem."
Su Mu looked at him and said, "Master, I understand your meaning, rest assured!"
After Su Mu finished speaking, she turned around and left. Although she couldn't blame him for this matter anymore, how could she be willing to be used by others when they painstakingly planned it out for her?