Chapter 81: How to Do Charity Work

The person was so weak they couldn’t even sit up. Cai Shi tried to help them up several times, but failed. Zhao Yigong nodded, and one of the escorts beside him came over, unhesitatingly lifted the child, and carried them on his back.

“Wait,” Zhao Yigong said, pointing with his fan. “Jiying, bring me my cloak.”

Jiying was a native intelligence agent trained by the intelligence bureau, serving as Zhao Yigong’s personal servant. He carried a clothing bag for changing clothes when they were out. It was already spring at the end of March, but in the Zhejiang of the Little Ice Age, there were some mountain peaks with year-round snow, so it was still quite cold. The clothing bag contained a blue woolen cloak. Jiying immediately opened the bag and took out the cloak. Zhao Yigong took it, wrapped it around the child, and secured it tightly.

Cai Shi’s eyes widened. He had been a servant in a wealthy household for a long time and had seen a lot. The master’s cloak was made of woolen cloth, an imported foreign good. A bolt of it was worth several taels of silver! A valuable cloak was being wrapped around a dying, smelly, and dirty child! He couldn’t help but say, “The master is truly benevolent!”

The nearby shops and pedestrians, seeing a master pick up a sick and dying child from the bridge, all craned their necks to watch the spectacle. A middle-aged man who was shopping in a shop at the foot of the bridge said, “Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. This child has been given a new lease on life…”

The shopkeeper, leaning against the wooden counter, was unimpressed. “He’s only saving this one. Tomorrow, the day after… people will still be dying here.” He sighed. “It’s heaven’s will to take people away. There weren’t so many a few years ago, but now it’s become a regular thing…”

Zhao Yigong had originally intended to leave with the child, but hearing the idle talk, he walked down the bridge and into the shop. The shopkeeper hastily stood up. Seeing the man’s magnificent attire and that he looked like a scholar who had passed the examinations, most likely the son of a high-ranking official’s family, he couldn’t help but beam with a smile.

“Sir, what would you like to buy? Our shop specializes in all kinds of fabrics…”

“Shopkeeper, I’m not here to buy anything. I just want to ask, are there always abandoned children on this bridge?” Zhao Yigong asked directly.

The shopkeeper nodded. “Sir, judging by your accent, you’re not a local, are you?”

“That’s right. I am from Sanshui, Guangdong.”

“Sir, you have done a great deed by taking in that child today!” the shopkeeper first complimented him. “The harvests have been bad these years, and the number of beggars and refugees increases every year. Every few days, children are abandoned on the bridge, in the hope that someone will take them in and give them a chance to live. But the children abandoned here are either on the verge of death from illness or so starved they’re barely human. Who would take them in? They just wait here to die. The corpse collectors have to carry away a few every few days. Alas, they were all born of parents—what a sin, what a sin.” He sighed.

Zhao Yigong nodded. “I see.”

The shopkeeper continued, “And that’s not the worst of it. Sir, if you’re not afraid of bad luck, take a look down at the riverbank by the bridge arch.”

Zhao Yigong looked in the direction he pointed. On the muddy riverbank, there were a few broken reed mats. Sticking out from under the mats were several pairs of filthy, bare feet. Judging by the size, they were all underage children, some even toddlers. Even the worldly-wise Zhao Yigong couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity.

“…During the spring famine and disaster years, I don’t dare to stay in this shop for long in the evening. I have to board up early and go home,” the shopkeeper said, seemingly still shaken. “Those refugees, they bring their children and knock on every door, begging to give their children away. If no one takes them, some are thrown directly into the river from the bridge by their own families! What a sin, what a sin.” At this, the shopkeeper sighed again.

Zhao Yigong could not bear to hear any more. He thanked the shopkeeper perfunctorily and instructed them to return to the residence. He instructed one of the escorts, “Go to Qingyun Temple and ask the Daoist priest to come!”

On the way back, he tried to calm his agitation. If this had been ten years ago, he might have immediately started establishing an institution to shelter orphans and refugees, spending all his money without a second thought. But now, he remembered that he had not yet established a firm foothold in Hangzhou. Rushing into such a large-scale undertaking would be very detrimental to him, and he didn’t have enough money or manpower to do it.

He decided to first find the Daoist priest to treat the child’s illness and then discuss with him how to handle the matter of collecting personnel. The Senate had sent him to Jiangnan primarily to gather population.

“Fenghua, give the child a bath first,” Zhao Yigong instructed. “There are sores on her body, be careful not to get them wet. Clean the wounds first.”

As a qualified life secretary, Fenghua had received basic nursing training.

“I understand, Master,” Fenghua quickly went.

“Master, I think this child has been starving for many days. I’m afraid she won’t be able to withstand a bath like this,” said one of the Qiwei escorts. Having helped the Senate shelter refugees in Guangdong, he had accumulated a lot of experience. Seeing a child being picked up, he quickly spoke up.

“Oh, right, right. We have to give her something to eat first, to let her recover,” Zhao Yigong said repeatedly. “Quick, tell the kitchen to make congee!”

“No need, I have a way,” Cai Shi said. Although he didn’t know that the transmigrators had a penchant for collecting orphans, seeing how much the master valued this child, he naturally wanted to curry favor. “Lotus root starch will do. It’s a local product, can be eaten just by mixing it with water, and it’s easy on the stomach…”

Someone immediately brought some lotus root starch, mixed it with water, and fed it to the child with a small spoon. In a short while, she finished a bowl of it.

“She can’t eat any more now. Feed her again in half an hour,” Sun Wangcai said. “She’s very hungry. Eating too much at once will kill her.”

Fenghua first brought a basin of water and soap beans to wash her face. With the first wipe, the water turned black. After several wipes and a fresh basin of water, the dirt on her face was mostly cleaned off.

“She’s a pretty girl,” said Sun Wangcai’s wife, who had come to help, with a sigh. “Just has bad luck!”

“Nonsense. If she had bad luck, would she have been taken in by Master Zhao?” Sun Wangcai reprimanded. “Master Zhao taking her in is a testament to her ancestors’ virtue.”

The girl before them, although her face was sallow and her breathing was shallow, with her eyes closed, had delicate features.

“Wipe her body too. The doctor will be here to treat her soon,” Sun Wangcs instructed the women. Although she was a child, there was still a distinction between sexes, so he didn’t enter the room, just gave instructions from the doorway. He had someone bring in two more hand warmers.

A moment later, Zhang Yingchen arrived with a medicine pouch. He first looked at the patient’s complexion and spirit, then took her pulse.

“She should be fine,” Zhang Yingchen said. “Just starved.” He took out a box of glucose and saline solution powder and gave it to Fenghua.

“Mix it with 500 milliliters of water and give it to her. She’s a bit dehydrated.”

“Yes. Should we give her congee?”

“You can, but in small, frequent meals. Be careful not to overfeed her,” Zhang Yingchen said. He then looked at the festering sores on her body, treated them briefly with a scalpel, cleaned the wounds, and sprinkled on sulfanilamide powder. Then he took her temperature.

After a while of busy work, Zhang Yingchen finally finished. He washed his hands and went to Zhao Yigong’s study.

“This child has no serious illness, just starvation. She’ll recover in about two weeks of nursing. But the wounds on her legs will probably take a while to heal. I’ll write another prescription for you to have filled. When she’s stronger, I’ll write another prescription for deworming.”

Zhao Yigong said, “If we’re going to save her, we have to save her properly. Otherwise, it’s no fun.”

“Hehe, she looks like a beauty in the making,” Zhang Yingchen said with a smile, picking up his teacup.

Zhao Yigong shook his head. “Whether she’s a beauty in the making is a matter for the future. A child is about to starve and rot to death right before my eyes. Can you be indifferent?”

Zhang Yingchen smiled without speaking.

Zhao Yigong said, “I really wish I could open a Cihuitang (Hall of Benevolence) in this city of Hangzhou right now and take in all the children outside. Although it’s called a paradise, for many, it’s hell.” He stood up and paced a few steps in the study. “Originally, our purpose in coming here was to gather population. I think we don’t have to wait until next year. We can start now. Let’s work out a plan together and first set up a Hangzhou version of the Cihuitang. We can start on a small scale now, and then expand next year.”

Zhang Yingchen said, “The problem is, we’ve just arrived. Where will the money to shelter refugees and orphans come from? To run a Cihuitang, we need a building and manpower. You only received three thousand taels of silver for operating expenses. You’ve already spent a lot on buying a house and furnishing it, right? To buy another building, purchase equipment, and hire people will be a huge expense! Sheltering refugees is a bottomless pit. We can take in as many as there are. We’re not doing charity for a good name. With daily expenses, even a mountain of gold and silver wouldn’t be enough. Besides, where will we find a suitable person to be our patron? After all, we’re strangers here. There’s no Liang family or Gao family to help us, and no navy gunboats that can arrive overnight. If two outsiders like us start sheltering a large number of refugees, won’t the government become suspicious?”

This was a very reasonable argument. Zhao Yigong pondered for a moment and said, “I understand. For now, we still have to ‘generate blood’ first! Only with enough blood can we continuously ‘transfuse’ it to others! The first step is still to make money quickly and establish our own industries!” He turned around. “But I have an idea for sheltering refugees: first, we can take in orphans and start a charity school!”

Zhao Yigong’s idea was to first section off a piece of land from the abandoned garden and build a few houses to shelter and educate orphans. Even if a hundred or two hundred children were gathered, it wouldn’t arouse the government’s suspicion. Orphans were more malleable than adults. Once educated, they could become future technicians, administrative cadres, and economic management talents.

“This method is feasible!” Zhang Yingchen nodded and smiled. “I remember you had this idea for a long time, right? You told me before when we were just chatting that if you transmigrated alone, you would have to spend at least ten years educating your own generation.”