"Thanks to the Warm Lou now, they finally have a place to shelter from the cold. Otherwise, how could they survive the long, harsh winter?" Li Ke sighed deeply as he said this. His younger sister had gone to such lengths; it would be inappropriate to refuse any longer.
Before Li Ke could utter the words of agreement, a soft sobbing interrupted him.
It was Man Jing, who served beside Li Jingyun.
Through her blurry tears, Man Jing saw that both her mistress and Prince Wu were looking at her. She quickly wiped away her tears and was about to kneel, but was stopped by Eunuch Feng. "Don't kneel. What are you doing? Just speak."
"Yes," Man Jing choked with sobs, her eyes red. "I'm from Yan City. Back then, it was freezing cold and snowing heavily. There was not even charcoal, let alone firewood or hay. We even tore down door frames, but the snow had soaked them all, and they simply wouldn't catch fire."
"My parents and elder brother all died in that heavy snow. If General Zhishi Sili hadn't pulled me out of the pile of dead bodies, and if the princess hadn't taken pity on me and taken me in, I would probably be just a pile of bones by now. Please, Your Highnesses, have mercy on us poor, helpless commoners."
She was so choked with sobs that she could hardly speak, tears streaming down her face, crying heart - rendingly.
Although she had been forced to grow up overnight after the loss of her loved ones and the destruction of her home, she was still just a young girl of a few years old.
When recalling such things, the pain in her heart was unbearable.
Li Jingyun took Man Jing's hand and comforted her softly. But judging from Li Jingyun's expression, it seemed that she was about to cry with Man Jing in the next second.
"Hong Xuan, I agree. I'm not such an unfeeling person. As long as there's even a glimmer of hope, we should give it a try. It's better than just watching them freeze in winter."
Li Ke affectionately ruffled the loose strands of hair in front of Li Jingyun's forehead and said gently.
"Thank you, Third Brother."
Li Jingyun leaned against the soft pillow, a hint of a smile on her face.
"What about the dividends?"
"We'll split them fifty - fifty. Third Brother, I'll have to trouble you more in this regard." Li Jingyun quickly cut in. The extra twenty percent was like compensation for the mental stress on her third brother.
She only provided the ideas; she couldn't be responsible for the proper operation.
"Sure," Li Ke was a bit surprised. He had thought it would be like the Ice Lou and the Warm Lou, with him getting thirty percent, the eldest brother getting ten percent, and Hong Xuan getting sixty percent. He never expected to get twenty percent more than he had anticipated.
At this moment, the mechanical voice of the system rang in her ear: "Would that I had a great mansion of ten thousand rooms to shelter all scholars of the world from cold and make them smile. Sturdy it should stand, firm as a mountain 'gainst wind and rain.' It's not easy to achieve Du Fu's goal. What we can do seems grand, but we're still far from achieving this goal."
Li Jingyun silently repeated the poem in her mind. Even someone like her, who hadn't read much poetry, could tell that it had beautiful rhythms and lofty aspirations.
Just relying on things like woolen sweaters and coal was just a drop in the bucket. It could only slightly improve the situation. It would take hundreds of years of effort to truly achieve this goal.
"What are you thinking about? You look so lost in thought," Li Ke asked with a smile as he saw Li Jingyun staring blankly at the table in front of her.
"I'm thinking about building a big house to accommodate all the poor people in the world. Then I'll put a big brazier in it and give each of them a set of woolen sweaters so that they won't have a hard time in winter."
Li Jingyun organized her words and gestured a big circle with her hands.
Li Ke couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this. "Good for you.不愧是阿耶帶大的 (truly the one brought up by Father). You really dare to think big. But it's not necessarily impossible. Didn't we manage to build the Library Pavilion?"
"Yes, Your Highness. I've heard that since the Library Pavilion was built, there are many more students coming to take the imperial examination next spring," Eunuch Feng quickly chimed in, his expression exaggerated and his tone deliberately drawn out.
Looking at the little princess's expression just now, he was reminded of the night before the woolen sweater shop opened. It was exactly the same! The alarm bells immediately rang in his heart.
All of them trying to cheer up the little princess was of no use. It had to be the princess herself having a good attitude and gradually regaining her composure.
They couldn't let the little princess be unhappy again.
"Haha, it must be very lively when spring comes tomorrow," Li Jingyun propped her chin with one hand, her eyes full of anticipation.
Suddenly, Li Ke seemed to remember something. He came back to his senses and said seriously to Li Jingyun, "Hong Xuan, you need to be on guard against our fourth brother, Qing Que. Don't say everything in front of him. He's as petty as can be."
"What do you mean, Third Brother?"
Li Jingyun's just - cheered - up mood immediately sank to the bottom.
Fourth Brother? She really didn't know him well. But wasn't Third Brother's words a bit too exaggerated? Was there some misunderstanding between them?
Seeing his younger sister looking so innocent and naive, Li Ke was extremely anxious. This silly younger sister would probably count the money for someone even after being schemed against!
"Just what it means," Li Ke said anxiously. "On the night you just came back from Luzhou, did you make him lose face?"
"That night? Well, it was like this..."
Li Jingyun told him all about what Father had tested them on in detail, and also scolded Zheng Min for not doing anything useful all day and just keeping an eye on their family.
"Before that day, Qing Que had always been the best at studying among us brothers. He had never been scolded by Father like that. Now that there's you, who knows more than him even before entering school, it's only natural that he's unhappy," Li Ke said, feeling relieved after finishing.
He saw that Hong Xuan was so carefree and dared to say anything. He was worried that she would accidentally offend someone without even realizing it.
Today, he finally got the chance to have a good talk with Hong Xuan.
Moreover, Li Tai was far more than what he seemed on the surface. Li Ke had a vague suspicion in his heart that he might have ambitions for the throne.
Before Hong Xuan was born, Father and Mother doted on him the most. As Mother's second - born son, he could get whatever he wanted. He was also good at studying and stood out among all the siblings.
"It's normal for him not to know since he had never been in contact with that imperial censor and didn't know the situation in the court," Li Jingyun finally understood and said hesitantly with her head down.
Thinking carefully, after being scolded by Father, his expression was indeed strange. She had never seen him so out of control before, and she had even been a bit scared.
Li Ke wanted to say something else, but the words lingered on his lips and then he swallowed them back. "It's okay. Just be more careful in the future. Use your head and distinguish who is sincere and who is fake."
The rest of the words shouldn't be said to Hong Xuan, a child of only five years old.
Anyway, he had no interest in that position. His mother was a princess of the previous dynasty, which had already determined all this. It would be good enough for him and Yin'er to be carefree princes and live a happy life.
"Okay," Li Jingyun said dejectedly. She thought she had grown a lot and could handle things on her own. But it wasn't until Third Brother said this that she realized she still had a long way to go.
"If you ever meet that immortal elder, you can also ask him. He should be more experienced in judging people," Li Ke reminded.
"The immortal elder? Sure," Li Jingyun held a cup of warm rose and wolfberry milk tea and sipped it slowly, taking in Third Brother's words as well.
While they were chatting, the coal mining had gotten on track. Li Jingyun had also informed Minister Yan of the Ministry of Works, and the stoves were being built. Everything was ready; they just needed time.