The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity

Chapter 365 - 333: Earthquake, Sanyang Missing (First Update)

Wen Wan carefully checked the abacus twice but still couldn’t balance the accounts. She didn’t rush to tell her mother-in-law and asked Song Wei what was going on in the evening.

Song Wei took the letter, looked at it, and fell into deep thought.

Their family’s previous four hundred mu free quota had all been given away, and less than half of the remaining sixteen hundred mu had been leased, only about six to seven hundred mu. Song Wei had already told Father Wen that these fields would only be taxed at half the rate by the court.

Six to seven hundred mu, taxed at half, wasn’t much to begin with, and selling below market price could only bring in a few dozen taels of silver.

Song Wei understood Father Wen. If he wanted to send money to his daughter, he would definitely specify in the letter that grain money was grain money and what was for his daughter was for his daughter. He would never lump them together.

But now the letter only mentioned grain money and nothing else.

Song Wei found it odd and privately sought out Wei Qian, asking him to arrange for someone to go to Ningzhou to gather information.

Wei Qian said that with it being the twelfth lunar month, the route south was blocked by heavy snow, and information might not come quickly.

"No matter how long it takes, have someone investigate," Song Wei instructed.

The masters’ orders left Wei Qian no room for delay, and after leaving, he promptly arranged for someone to set out for Ningzhou.

The next day, when Song Wei went to the Hanlin Academy, he heard from a colleague about an incident. The colleague said he had a relative in Ningzhou, where an earthquake occurred a month ago, followed by a blizzard, damaging many households.

At this, the colleague couldn’t help but sigh, "Thankfully my cousin’s parents and brothers ran fast. Although the house was gone, at least they saved their lives. Otherwise, if lives were lost, they really would have nothing left."

His colleague’s words left Song Wei silent for a long while.

An earthquake is no small matter. Had he been too uninformed, or had someone deliberately kept it from him?

Later, in the afternoon, Song Wei delicately brought this up to Emperor Guangxi.

Emperor Guangxi nodded directly, stating that officials had already reported Ningzhou’s disaster situation in court, and funds and supplies had been dispatched long ago. In recent days, however, he had been busy with the New Year’s offering ceremony and nearly forgot about it.

Song Wei inquired about the disaster’s impact.

Emperor Guangxi told him that initially, with abnormal weather and mountain animal behavior, the current Ningzhou Prefect had already noticed something. He immediately instructed the County Magistrates in each county to find ways to relocate the villagers in their jurisdictions ahead of time, so when the earthquake occurred, casualties and property losses were minimized.

"Minimized" means that there were still some unavoidable casualties and losses.

No wonder the second house hadn’t written by year’s end. Song Wei thought they might have forgotten. Now, he realized the second house must have suffered quite a loss, especially that fish pond...

After Lower Court, Song Wei told Wen Wan what he had found out.

Wen Wan was startled, "An earthquake?"

She had lived in that place for more than ten years and never encountered one. Before her marriage, she had heard from her great-grandmother that one happened decades ago. It was at night, and the sudden earthshaking startled everyone. The villagers had no experience and didn’t know where to hide.

Her great-grandmother and her husband could have escaped, but before leaving, they saw a child trapped under a boulder. Others only cared about escaping, screaming for their own lives, while her husband bent down to move the rock, trying to save the child.

Unfortunately, the house behind her husband collapsed too quickly, and the massive impact buried him alive. The rock, half-lifted, fell back, and the child died as a result.

Wen Wan had never witnessed it herself, but the words "earthquake" seemed more terrifying than floods or beasts.

"How is the family?" Wen Wan’s face was anxious, now worrying most about her father.

Song Wei calmly reassured her, "Since Father could write a letter and send money, it means they are safe."

"But we don’t know if this letter was written before or after the incident," Wen Wan was still uneasy, wishing she could sprout wings and fly back personally.

"I’ve already had Wei Qian arrange for someone to go to Ningzhou." Song Wei placed his palm over her hand, a warm touch accompanied by his steady voice, "In this weather, news won’t come quickly, but regardless, we must not lose composure until we confirm something happened."

The light in the room was soft, his gaze focused and firm, indeed comforting her.

Wen Wan acknowledged with a sound, agreeing to stay calm, and after a while, thought of a few people, "Godfather and godmother are staying with Lu Yanli at the foot of Da Huan Mountain. Husband, do you think this earthquake might affect them?"

If something happened to those two, Emperor Guangxi and the Empress Dowager wouldn’t possibly remain so calm.

Song Wei shook his head, saying no, even if it did reach them, there were so many Hidden Guards who would protect the masters with their lives.

Wen Wan finally smiled, "Since husband says it won’t, then it definitely won’t."

"Hmm, let’s not tell father and mother about this now," Song Wei said, "If Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law are all right, we would just be worrying unnecessarily and there’s no need to bring father and mother into it."

...

In the following days, the household began to busy itself for the New Year.

The mother-in-law led the maids in a thorough cleaning, while Wen Wan took Song Jiao and a few sturdy servants out to purchase New Year’s supplies.

The snow-covered streets and alleys of the Capital were adorned with lanterns and decorations, and the hurriedly passing pedestrians were talking about New Year’s Eve, which was now in countdown mode.

Wen Wan had not heard a whisper about the disaster in Ningzhou from anyone’s mouth.

Today’s trip was quite fruitful, as they bought several baskets of charcoal, countless dried fruits, incense candles, firecrackers, almanacs, New Year paintings, red paper for writing couplets and the character "Fu", and for making window decorations, among other things.

When buying candies, Wen Wan didn’t go inside and let Song Jiao pick them out by herself.

Song Jiao negotiated the price with the shopkeeper, let the servants bring out the goods, and upon coming out, saw Wen Wan staring blankly into the distance. She waved a hand in front of her, "Aunt, you seem to be preoccupied today, did something happen?"

Hearing the young girl’s voice, Wen Wan snapped back to reality, looking at her increasingly fair and lively little face, she barely forced a smile, "With the New Year approaching, do you miss your parents?"

Song Jiao nodded, "It’s just a pity the Capital is too far from our Ningzhou, otherwise I would really want to have the New Year’s Eve dinner with them."

Wen Wan turned her gaze away and said there would definitely be a chance in the future.

The young girl, simple-minded, did not catch the comforting tone in her aunt’s words.

...

The busyness of the year’s end finally wrapped up, and various government offices gradually went on holiday.

When Wen Wan returned home, she found Song Wei in the courtyard building a snowman with their son, which surprised her. She walked up, "Husband, you’re back so early today, did the Hanlin Academy start the holiday?"

Song Wei paused his actions, patted the snow off his sleeves, "Isn’t it good to come back and spend more time with my son?"

Song Jiao had already returned to Tingsong Pavilion, and a few servants were busy moving the New Year’s goods to the storeroom. With no one else in the courtyard, Wen Wan took the opportunity to ask, "Is it just to spend time with our son?"

"Yes, and to accompany you too."

Wen Wan heard this and smiled inwardly. She squatted down to cradle Jinbao’s little face wrapped in a cotton hat, nudged his forehead with hers, and suddenly sighed, "Who can blame me for not wanting to compete with my son for attention? Since it’s convenient, might as well take advantage. If someday even ’convenient’ is gone, I can at least remember today."

After a pause, she looked at Jinbao again, "Baby, your mother has been neglected, give me a kiss, and once I feel better, I’ll help you build a snowman, how about that?"

The little guy raised his chubby arms and handed the snowball to her.

Wen Wan: "What is this for?"

Jinbao said: "Mommy build first, then kiss."

"Little rascal!"

Wen Wan poked his chubby cheek, reached out to take the snowball, and grasped a big handful of snow from the ground, starting to shape the snowman’s hands.

After finally finishing the snowman, the little fellow began to get sleepy, completely forgetting about his earlier promise, yawning and wanting to close his eyes.

Knowing that Wen Wan was tired from running around all day, Song Wei voluntarily picked up their son and went back to the room, taking off his sheepskin boots, removing the chilly outerwear, and finding a new outfit for the little guy before letting him sleep.

——

The news from Ningzhou arrived on the night before New Year’s Eve.

The Hidden Guard mentioned in the letter that this earthquake didn’t result in many casualties, but in the Upper and Lower River Village area, due to the terrain, there was significant loss of property, and the villagers are now mostly homeless.

Song Erlang’s house, which was being newly renovated, was gone, and the fish and shrimp in the pond were buried alive, cutting off their livelihood. The couple dragged their three children to seek refuge with the Wen Family in the county town, during the chaos they realized Sanyang was missing.

Now, the couple with Er Ya and Song Duobao are taking shelter with the Wen Family.

Like them, many people have fled to seek refuge, and the tents set up by the government in advance are insufficient, the supplies allocated by the court were blocked halfway due to an avalanche.

It was later that the Eldest Princess intervened to have her people help escort the supplies for the government, allowing them to resolve the crisis swiftly. The Eldest Princess also bought the grain stored by wealthy households within a few hundred miles at high prices to provide disaster relief.

The Hidden Guards under Wei Qian were formerly from the Princess Mansion, even though the Princess was demoted to commoner status, they still referred to her by the same title in private.

The over two hundred taels of silver Wen Wan received came this way, as their family’s grain was sold at a high price to Fanghua, but Fanghua repeatedly instructed Father Wen not to tell Song Wei and Wen Wan, so Father Wen didn’t mention a word in the letter.