Chapter 877 Atone His Crime By Good Deeds

After Steward Guo left, Qin Yi poured a cup of osmanthus tea for Yun Shang. The sweet fragrance of the osmanthus soon permeated the room. Yun Shang cupped her chin with her hands, squinted her eyes, and tapped the table gently.

Qin Yi put the teapot aside and said gently, "Your Highness, do you want all our stores to dole out?"

Yun Shang sat up straight, pondered for a moment, and nodded. "Your Highness has just become the Crown Prince. It would be best if he can get good reputation from this natural disaster."

Saying that, she seemed to be lost in thought. After a long moment, she continued, "But we don't know what's going on now. I'll discuss with His Highness whether or not we should do that after he returns home. Maybe he could come up with some good idea. Send someone to check what's going on now. And see that if there is any businessman providing food or other stuff for the refugees in the city?"

Qin Yi replied in a soft voice. She looked at the teapot on the table, and seemed to be a little hesitant. "Your Highness, you might have to take precaution for one possibility. Not long ago, someone deliberately set up the pestilence to frame the Empress. Now there is also something weird with this case. The drought is indeed a natural disaster. But how could there be a large number of refugees all of a sudden? I always feel that there is someone behind this."

Yun Shang looked up at Qin Yi with a bit of admiration in her eyes, "Qin Yi is very thoughtful. You can ask the secret guards to check when the refugees have appeared outside the Jin City. You'd better ask people to disguise as refugees and sneak in. Figure out where most of the refugees come from, how long it took to get to the Jin City, and how is the situation of the disaster-affected areas."

"Yes, Your Highness." Qin Yi agreed in a low voice, swept a quick curtsy and left.

At dusk, the secret guards who went to investigate reported, "These refugees are all poor people from Liucang City, Nanyang City and Siyang City. The drought has lasted for almost half a year, which made them gain nothing from the fields. Before the autumn harvest, all the rice plants have died." So those poor people have no food to eat. The local officials did present memorials to the court and the court did provide relief supplies. But those relief goods haven't handed out to the people in the stricken areas with the officials taking a cut at every stage."

"So they had to beg along the way. Thinking that Jin City is the Imperial City and His Majesty will certainly help them, they all came to Jin City. Seven or eight days ago, some of them arrived at the Jin City. They just begged along the street, and not too many people noticed that there were suddenly more beggars in the city. It's just that more and more refugees are swarming in and they are discovered."

"Currently, there are three or four hundred refugees in the city, and more than one thousand people outside the city who haven't entered the city. No one has yet been seen giving alms to them."

Yun Shang frowned slightly, with doubts in her eyes. "Isn't it the best time for a

l me."

Luo Qingyan hurriedly said, "As for the disaster relief, what I hope most is that all the relief materials can be used on the victims, saving as most as possible the people's lives. Those relief materials were worth a lot of money and everyone was greedy. This was the reason why the relief materials couldn't reach the hands of the victims. In the past two days, I have been wondering what kind of person is not greedy? Who is the most suitable person? I've considered it for a long time, but I could only thought of one person, my seventh brother."

"Seventh brother will be beheaded in a few days because he committed a murder case. For a person, saving his own life was naturally more important than satisfying his greed. Those greedy officials knew that they would be sentenced to death once they were exposed, but some of them would still take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome. But seventh brother is different. He has been condemned. If he could be given a chance to atone his crime by good deeds and save his own life by accomplishing the task. He will definitely take saving his life as the first priority, and in this way, he will not be greedy." Luo Qingyan looked up at Xia Huanyu with deep eyes.

Xia Huanyu kept silent, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"I second that." Li Qianmo looked up at the officials who were whispering, slowly stood out and knelt down.

Seeing that, several officials followed him. "I agree with His Highness Crown Prince."

Soon, many official fell to their knees.

Xia Huanyu looked at Luo Qingyan indifferently. After thinking for a while, he said, "But the seventh Prince has killed court two officials. A murder pay the forfeit of his life."

Luo Qingyan clearly heard that the way Xia Huanyu addressed Xia Houjing had changed from a condemned prisoner to the seventh Prince.

Luo Qingyan replied in a hurry, "Yes, I agree. He who murders pays the forfeit of his life. But if seventh brother could distribute all the relief materials to the victims, he will save thousands of lives, which could make it up."