Inside Zhao's Rice Shop.
Zhao Si doubted his own ears. He dug at them tentatively and asked, "Miss... Miss Xu, what did you say you wanted to buy?"
"I said, I want to buy all that stock in your warehouse that's been sitting for over three years, the moldy, fungus-covered, stale rice even dogs wouldn't eat!"
Xu Qinghuan impatiently tapped the banknotes on the counter. To maintain her "vicious female supporting character" persona, she deliberately raised her voice, speaking with a sharp, acerbic tone: "What? Has Business Owner Zhao's operation grown so large that he now looks down on this young lady's money?"
"No, no, no! I wouldn't dare!"
Zhao Si was instantly ecstatic, his greasy face breaking into a smile so wide his features all squeezed together.
That was stale rice! It was garbage, damp and moldy in the warehouse, a headache with nowhere to dump it! If he dared try selling it on a normal day, the common folk would have smashed his shop long ago.
And now this young lady actually wanted to buy it all... at three times the market price?
This was the God of Wealth descending to earth... no, this was the Money-Scattering Boy with a screw loose, here to hand out cash!
"Miss Xu, are you serious?" Zhao Si still couldn't believe it. Could such a pie-in-the-sky deal really fall into his lap?
"Nonsense!" Xu Qinghuan gave a cold snort, her gaze sweeping disdainfully over the surrounding commoners and scholars whose faces showed anger. "This young lady has recently been raising a batch of... well, special pets. They just love the taste of mold. As for the good rice, it's too refined, my pets can't stomach it."
The crowd around them instantly erupted.
Several hot-blooded young scholars trembled with rage.
"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!" A scholar in a faded, washed-out long gown pointed a trembling finger at Xu Qinghuan. "Outside the city, refugees are exchanging children to eat, corpses litter the fields! The Xu family, as the family of the local magistrate, not only shows no intention of providing relief, but actually... actually spends a fortune to buy rotten rice to feed pets? What kind of malicious heart is this!"
"Exactly! The Xu family really has no decent people among them!"
"This is the epitome of 'the rich feast while the poor starve'! Is there any justice left in this world?"
"Corrupt officials! Greedy officials! To raise such a wastrel daughter, heaven must be blind!"
The scholars' curses rose and fell. Listening to the insults, Xu Qinghuan felt a twinge of guilt inside, but watching the numbers on her system panel skyrocket, she endured it.
[Ding! Detected group hatred value. Host's behavior judged extremely vile, aligning with the core value of 'the heartless rich'. Retirement fund reward: 200,000.]
That's right! Curse away, curse away! The harsher you curse, the faster my progress bar for going home fills up!
The corner of Xu Qinghuan's mouth lifted in a mocking smile (actually forced out), and she said to Zhao Si, "Shopkeeper Zhao, what are you standing there for? Do you expect this young lady to move it herself?"
"Ah! Right away! We'll move it immediately! Immediately!"
Zhao Si rubbed his hands together excitedly. Getting rid of this batch of rotten rice not only cleared his inventory but also brought a huge profit. This Miss Xu was practically his savior reborn.
"Men! Bring out all the stale rice from the warehouses in the back! Load it onto Miss Xu's carts!"
Sack after sack of stale rice, reeking of mildew, discolored black and yellow, was carried out by shop assistants and loaded onto the large carts brought by the Xu family. The pungent smell instantly spread throughout the entire street, causing passersby to cover their noses.
Xu Qinghuan stood upwind, holding a handkerchief to her nose, a look of disgust on her face. "It truly stinks. Hurry up and take it away, take it to the city gate."
"Miss Xu, this... the total comes to fifteen hundred dan of stale rice. At triple the price as you said, that's ten thousand taels..." Zhao Si rubbed his hands, his face greedy.
"Here's five thousand taels as a deposit. Collect the rest from my father at the county magistrate's office." Xu Qinghuan didn't even bat an eyelid, flinging the banknotes onto Zhao Si's face.
Zhao Si didn't take offense, picking up the notes cheerfully. "Understood! I will naturally make arrangements with Magistrate Xu."
Watching the convoy loaded with moldy, stale rice rumble towards the city gate, Xu Qinghuan's heart was actually bleeding.
The rice did look disgusting, but in these times, having anything to eat was a blessing. Although she wanted to squander the family fortune, subconsciously she still didn't want to truly waste food.
But the system said: Squander, be vicious.
She could only grit her teeth and play her part.
"Let's go, to the city gate to distribute porridge!" Xu Qinghuan waved her hand grandly and got into her carriage.
...
Meanwhile, on the second floor of a teahouse.
Two figures sat by the window, taking in everything happening below.
One of them, dressed in fine brocade robes and fanning himself with a folding fan, was precisely Xu Youde's political rival, Assistant Prefect Li Wencheng.
"Heh, this Xu Youde truly failed in teaching his daughter." Li Wencheng took a sip of tea, his eyes full of mockery. "Spending five thousand taels on a pile of rotten rice? Is the Xu family worried their reputation isn't foul enough, or that their heads are sitting too securely on their necks?"
Sitting across from him was a young gentleman of extraordinary bearing. Though dressed in simple cloth clothes, an air of nobility that was hard to conceal emanated from his brow. He didn't speak, merely watched Xu Qinghuan's departing convoy thoughtfully.
"Your Highness, what do you make of this..." Li Wencheng ventured to ask.
This young gentleman was none other than the Third Prince, Xiao Jingyan, traveling incognito.
Xiao Jingyan set down his teacup, his fingers lightly tapping the table. "Lord Li, do you think the Xu family's young lady has gone mad?"
"What else? What sane person would do such a foolish thing?" Li Wencheng sneered. "I'm aware of the Zhao family's stale rice. It's stock from three years ago. Eating it might not kill, but it easily causes diarrhea and illness. For the Xu family to buy it and then publicly distribute porridge made from it... isn't that clearly meant to humiliate the refugees and incite a riot?"
Xiao Jingyan shook his head, a glint of insight flashing in his eyes.
"Not necessarily."
"What does Your Highness mean?"
"You only see her buying rotten rice, but not the consequences of this move." Xiao Jingyan pointed downstairs towards Zhao's Rice Shop, which was already somewhat agitated. "Look at those wealthy households and grain merchants who wanted to buy rice."
Li Wencheng looked down and saw Zhao Si loudly arguing with several managers from other grain shops.
"Zhao Si! You bastard! You've sold off all your stale rice, what about our stale stock?"
"Exactly! You sold your stale rice at such a high price! Now the whole city's commoners are eyeing our stale rice. If we don't lower prices and sell good rice, we'll be cursed to death!"
Xiao Jingyan said calmly, "Currently, in Taoyuan County, grain prices are soaring, and the wealthy are hoarding for speculation. If the Xu family bought good rice to distribute porridge, those wealthy households would surely send people to impersonate refugees, snatch it up, and resell it. The real refugees wouldn't get a single bite."
"But this moldy, stale rice..." Xiao Jingyan paused, a hint of amusement curling at his lips. "...the wealthy disdain to eat it, and those with passable means are unwilling to eat it. Only those truly on the verge of starvation won't turn their noses up at this mouthful of life-saving grain."
Li Wencheng was stunned.
He was a seasoned old fox in officialdom; a hint was all he needed.
This... was this the so-called method of 'passing off inferior for superior' to filter the recipients?
"And what's more," Xiao Jingyan continued, "the Xu family is buying up old rice at high prices, sweeping the market clean of it. Those grain merchants, eager for profit, will inevitably dig out all the old rice they've been hoarding. And for the common folk who can't afford the expensive rice, as long as rice enters the market, the grain prices will be impacted. This Miss Xu... is using an utterly absurd method to suppress grain prices and save the disaster victims."
Li Wencheng's jaw hung open, unable to close for a long while.
That arrogant, foul-mouthed eldest daughter of the Xu family... could she really be so far-sighted?
"This... this can't be right? A coincidence! It must be a coincidence!" Li Wencheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "That Xu Youde is a corrupt official, how could his daughter possibly be..."
"Whether it's a coincidence or not, we'll know by going to the city gates to see for ourselves."
Xiao Jingyan stood up, a glint of interest in his eyes. "Come, let's go get ourselves a bowl of porridge too."
...
At the city gates, the porridge stations were already set up.
Dozens of large cauldrons were lined up in a row, the firewood underneath crackling and popping.
The distinctive sour, musty smell of the moldy old rice grew even stronger and more nauseating in the steam.
But for the disaster victims outside the city, their eyes glazed with hunger, this was the most delicious aroma in the world.
"There's food! There's food!"
"A living Bodhisattva! Miss Xu is a living Bodhisattva!"
Thousands of victims surged forward, a dark, dense mass, their eyes filled with desperate hope.
Xu Qinghuan stood on the raised platform, looking down at the gaunt, emaciated faces below. Deep down, it still pained her to see.
Beneath this exterior, after all, was someone shaped by the core socialist values.
But she couldn't show it.
She was the vicious supporting female character! She was here to squander the family fortune!
Xu Qinghuan's heart gave a jolt.
Holy crap! Are these people so starved they've gone mad? They're grateful to me for feeding them this pig slop?
No, I have to be even more wicked!
Just at that moment.
