The Three Spirit Stones

In the side hall of Cheng's house, several men were standing uncomfortably. They were dressed in simple clothes, had rough and dark faces, and had messy hair. It was obvious that they were from poor families.

In the afternoon, Cheng Yu and Sun Yuechan returned home. Cheng Chang came to report that someone was looking for the prince and had been waiting in the side hall for the whole morning.

When Cheng Yu looked over, those people also saw him. Their eyes met and everyone's eyes suddenly became moist!

Cheng Wei, Ma Sheng, A Dong, Dayong,

These were his former subordinates, his comrades in life and death.

"...Prince,"

"...Captain,"

He walked in quickly and held their hands tightly. Several grown men were so excited that they burst into tears.

"My Lord, you are still alive, that's great!!"

"I'm still alive, and you're still alive too, that's great!"

As they talked, everyone couldn't help but choke up.

"Hey, it's good to be alive, why are you still acting like a woman?"

"Hahaha……"

Then they burst into laughter again!

After venting his emotions, Cheng Yu ordered a banquet. The five of them sat around the table, eating and drinking while talking about their experiences over the past few years.

They have had a very hard time in the past few years. As the personal guards of the general, they managed to survive when their leader was defeated and killed. This was due to their failure to protect their leader. Even if Cao Wei did not kill them, they would not have the face to continue staying in the army.

When Cheng Yu died, Cao Wei was grief-stricken and felt sorry for his younger sister and brother-in-law, so he wanted to kill these guys who had escaped death to vent his anger, but then he thought, what's the point of killing them if they are dead? So he beat each of them with a hundred military sticks and drove them out of the army.

There are about a hundred people left in this group. They left the army and went home, but they had been soldiers all their lives. Apart from fighting and killing, they had no other skills. Many of them could only carry goods and sell labor in places like warehouses and docks to barely make a living. Sometimes they had no work and couldn't even fill their stomachs. What's even worse is that some disabled soldiers with broken limbs and blind eyes were not wanted even for their labor.

There were also those who died in the war, leaving behind orphans and widows at home. Although they were given resettlement funds, it was not much, and their lives were very difficult, so most of them were doing very badly!

After hearing about their experiences, Cheng Yu was deeply saddened!

He is in need of people right now, as soap is in short supply these days and he needs to expand his business. He needs to buy land, build factories and start production, all of which require manpower. As for the daily paper, he has also started to experiment with the formula given by Ah Cai. If the experiment is successful, he will also prepare to put it into production, which also requires manpower.

He had only recently contacted them through Guan Da Dangjia,

When they received the news, they couldn't believe that the prince was still alive until they went to Cheng Mansion and saw him.

They also asked about his experience, and Cheng Yu said that he was accidentally rescued by Acai's father and raised him for three years before returning.

Then, he asked Cheng Wei to go back and collect and organize the names of all the personnel, including their families and the orphans and widows of the dead soldiers, to see how many male and female laborers there were respectively?

Because making soap and paper requires more male workers than female workers.

He also asked Cheng Sanbao to withdraw two thousand taels of silver from the account office and asked them to give ten taels of silver to each household to improve their lives, and give the rest to the four of them as activity funds.

They were so excited to receive this huge sum of money that they all knelt down before Cheng Yu.

For a rich man, ten taels of silver might only be enough to reward a girl in a brothel or have a banquet in a restaurant!

But for a poor family, these ten taels of silver could buy a year's worth of food, and could allow them to see a doctor and save their lives.

The prince is back, the backbone is back, and life finally has hope!

Cheng Yu helped them all up and thought to himself, I wonder how difficult their lives would have been in the time and space when he hadn't returned.

Maybe we should do something for them!

As they were reminiscing about the past, a head suddenly popped in from the doorway and looked the four strange men up and down.

It turned out to be Ah Cai.

Cheng Yu waved to her and said, "Caibao, come here, I'll introduce you to some of my good brothers."

She came in holding her cat,

When several people saw this pretty and lovely girl, they were all wondering who she was. Cheng Yu introduced her to them, "This is my wife, Acai. It was her father who saved me."

"This is Cheng Wei, this is Ma Sheng, Dayong, and Adong,"

Oh! It turned out to be the mistress, and also the daughter of the benefactor!

The four of them knelt on one knee and bowed to greet the mistress.

Ah Cai is a modern person and has never experienced anyone kneeling to him. When he lived in a public cemetery, he saw some people kneeling when they went to sweep graves and pay respects. In his mind, he thought that people would only kneel when someone died.

She was startled and quickly hid behind Cheng Yu, waving her hands and saying, "I'm not dead yet, don't kneel to me!"

Four people: ...

Cheng Yu was so embarrassed that he quickly helped them up and said, "You don't have to kneel down in the future. A man's knees are made of gold. We are all brothers. Just bow when you meet."

The four of them bowed and said yes.

Cheng Yu pulled A Cai out from behind him and asked her if she had had lunch.

She nodded, but stared at the four men without blinking, which made the grown men feel embarrassed. They thought, this mistress is so young, why is she not shy at all? What's so good about us rough men?

Cheng Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and asked her in a low voice, "Why are you staring at me?"

As she watched, she said, "...there are so many lice crawling around on their heads!"

Damn, I spent so much time looking at lice on someone’s head!

People in ancient times had poor hygiene conditions, long hair and few effective shampoos. Not to mention ordinary people, even many royal nobles had lice.

These people have been at the bottom of society for a long time. They can't even afford food and clothing, so how can they afford to take care of their personal hygiene?

So their heads are covered with lice, which is very conspicuous.

Ah Cai had never observed people with so many lice on their heads up close. She couldn't help but feel her scalp tingling and goose bumps all over her body. It was hard to imagine how these people could bear to have so many lice on their heads.

She asked, "So many lice? Don't you feel itchy?"

The four of them looked at each other, not knowing how to answer the mistress's question.

Isn't it normal to have lice? Is there any ordinary person who doesn't have lice?

As for the problem of itching, isn't it okay to just scratch it?

Just when Cheng Yu wanted to tell her about the life of the common people here, she suddenly said, "Wait for me, don't leave yet, help me hold it," and then handed the cat to Cheng Yu and ran out.

Cheng Yu watched her walk away and then said to the four people embarrassedly, "Uh~, her personality is a bit weird, don't mind it!"

"Haha, how could that be?"

"The mistress was born in a wealthy family and has never seen sloppy guys like us, so it's not surprising that she's curious for a moment, haha!"

Everyone laughed it off to ease the awkward atmosphere!

After a while, Ah Cai came back with a basket filled with more than a dozen bars of soap. She came up to them and stuffed three or four bars into each of their hands, saying, "This is sulfur soap. It can kill lice when you wash your hair. Take it back and use it."

Only then did everyone realize that she was going back to get soap for them.

This kind of soap is now a high-end commodity in Bianjing City. Many dignitaries are queuing up to buy it.

The mistress actually gave them such expensive gifts when they met for the first time. They felt really flattered and said they couldn't accept such expensive gifts.

Cheng Yu was very pleased!

Although Acai is arrogant, which modern girl is not arrogant?

She has a very kind heart. When she met her brothers, she did not despise them. Instead, she wanted to help them. This virtue is very valuable!

He advised them to accept it, and Ah Cai said, "Remember to wash it every two or three days, so that the lice can be killed quickly. My son Cheng Fugui also washed it every two or three days before, and now there are no lice even if he doesn't wash it."

Just when they were guessing which son of the Cheng family Cheng Fugui was, she took the cat back from Cheng Yu, stroking the cat's fur while showing it to everyone.

"Look, Fugui doesn't have a single louse."

Oh! It turns out Cheng Fugui is her cat!

Cheng Yu held his forehead and sighed!

My dear! Beasts cannot be compared with humans. This is disrespectful to humans. Fortunately, these people are his subordinates and have simple personalities and don’t mind!