Hold His Hand - Chapter 50

Ordinary people in Chongcheng had an extremely difficult life during this period.

Simply surviving has exhausted all their energy.

Now that winter is coming, many people don’t have winter clothes at home. The club that Lu Yanzhou joined intends to buy some cotton that can be used to keep warm and give it to the poor.

Chongcheng was blocked, so many things could not be sent in. Fortunately, food and cotton can still be bought. Using connections, they bought some cotton from the southeast. They also collected donations for cloth and old clothes, then found someone to make cotton clothes. Afterwards, they will donate it to ordinary people.

Chongcheng has been occupied by the Yan people, but the Yan people didn’t care much about it.

They need someone to work for them, so they have no intention of killing the Han in Chongcheng, as long as these people don’t cause trouble, they don’t bother to care.

The content taught in high school is what Lu Yanzhou already knows. Compared to his classmates, his organizational skills are stronger, and he is also the one who pays the most…Before he knew it, he became the leader of this club.

And Lu Tao, who insisted that he was not allowed to skip class before, did not stop him from doing this. Instead, he arranged for some people to help him and donated tens of thousands yuan.

After having money and people, Lu Yanzhou started to do it freely.

Early this morning, Lu Yanzhou went to his rented house again.

Compared with directly giving money, it’s better to use work as relief. Lu Yanzhou took in some homeless children, the elderly, the disabled and women, and asked them to help him make cotton clothes.

Although he doesn’t provide anything else, he provides them with three meals a day and gives them a place to live. Of course, if someone does it quickly and well, he will give some copper coins as a reward.

In modern times, people like him would definitely be regarded as hateful capitalists, but in this era…these sheltered people are all deeply grateful.

When Lu Yanzhou arrived, these people were having breakfast.

These homeless people were originally wandering around. They had countless germs on their bodies, and everyone had fleas and lice. Therefore, Lu Yanzhou made a rule — anyone who wanted to enter his shelter had to shave their heads.

After that, take a bath and put on clean clothes, so that disease won’t be easily spread among them.

At the moment, each of them is queuing up with a rice bowl. When it’s their turn, someone will give them a large bowl of porridge mixed with chopped green vegetables or pickled vegetables, and then give them a piece of salted fish.

Chongcheng is close to the sea, sea fish and salt are not expensive, so salted fish is the cheapest meat.

After eating, they hurried to the workplace and started making cotton clothes or doing other work.

As long as they do enough work assigned by the above, if they do more…they can get money!

A few bald-headed girls were very excited at the moment: “It’s so good here, I can eat three meals a day!”

“And fish.”

“The clothes are warm too!”

…

These little girls looked seventeen or eighteen years old. They were contract workers who came to Chongcheng from other places a few years ago.

Life in their family is very difficult, they can’t even afford food. They signed a contract with the contractor a few years ago and came to Chongcheng to work.

At that time, the contractor said that after entering the factory, they would be able to eat and wear warm clothes, but in fact…After entering the factory, they had to work more than ten hours a day, and what they ate were bean dregs and bran that were fed to pigs.

Ignoring that, if they are sick and uncomfortable, they still can’t rest. If they are seriously ill, they will be thrown out to die.

People were always dying in the factory.

Later, Yan people occupied Chongcheng, so the factories were also requisitioned by Yan people. They lost their jobs, and they didn’t know what to do.

Fortunately, they were brought here.

Although they have to shave their heads, it’s not a bad thing. They used to be bitten by lice and couldn’t sleep, but now they don’t have this problem anymore.

And the boss here said that after their hair grows back, there is no need to shave it.

After Lu Yanzhou walked around, he asked people to weigh out enough food for the next day’s consumption, and counted the things completed the previous day for donation.

After doing this, he began to treat those who were sick among the taken in.

Those who suffer from infectious diseases are sent to live elsewhere by him, so the people here do not have any infectious diseases. However, they do have some other problems. He does not have enough medicines, so even if many ailments were discovered, there is no way to help cure them. However, there are a few things that can be used to prevent their condition from deteriorating.

Lu Yanzhou didn’t have a medical license, so the wealthy people in Chongcheng would never seek medical treatment from him, but these people didn’t care.

Lu Yanzhou’s classmates didn’t say anything when they saw it — what Lu Yanzhou said made sense to them.

They don’t have the money to hire a doctor to treat these people, so it should be okay to let Lu Yanzhou take a look at them casually?

While he was busy, a classmate of Lu Yanzhou came in from outside: “Lu Yanzhou, someone is looking for you.”

“Who is it?” Lu Yanzhou asked.

“He’s called Zhou Duzhong. He has cooperated with our club before.” The classmate smiled embarrassedly. “He actually came to see me, but aren’t you in charge of the club now!”

This classmate is the former president of the club that Lu Yanzhou joined.

He is capable, but after all, he is young, so he is not as good as Lu Yanzhou, who has managed a company before. He is also not like Lu Yanzhou who can get money from the Lu family too. So he simply gave up the presidency to Lu Yanzhou.

Zhou DuZhong? Lu Yanzhou was a little surprised: “What cooperation have you had before?”

The former president said: “Zhou Duzhong opened a clinic, and the doctor in his clinic is very nice. We used to go to the clinic for free. I also went to him a while ago and wanted the doctor to take a look here. It’s a pity that the doctor went back to his hometown to visit relatives and didn’t come back…Well, in this world, I just don’t know if the doctor will be in any danger.”

After listening to the former president, Lu Yanzhou probably understood the situation, then got up to see Zhou Duzhong.

He met Zhou Duzhong once, but at that time he was in disguise and changed his voice, so Zhou Duzhong shouldn’t recognize him, right?

Zhou Duzhong did not recognize Lu Yanzhou.

In Zhou Duzhong’s heart, Shancha is a very capable middle-aged man. No matter what, he would never associate Shancha with the 18 years old Lu Yanzhou.

And Zhou Duzhong came to Lu Yanzhou this time because he wanted to use Lu Yanzhou’s connection to buy some cotton: “Isn’t there a war this year? The cotton production in the provinces around Chongcheng is very low, and the silkworm industry has also been affected. If the cotton and cloth from the southeast can be shipped out of Chongcheng, they can be sold for a lot of money…”

Before Zhou Duzhong finished speaking, the former president said: “Can we make money by doing business with you? We have a lot of people to support here, and we are short of money!”

Embarrassment flashed across Zhou Duzhong’s face. The Self-Defense Regiment’s soldiers lacked winter clothes. He bought cotton to send to the Self-Defense Regiment, so he won’t be able to make any money at all… “I actually did it for charity. The people around Chongcheng would freeze to death…”

The former president looked at Zhou Duzhong suspiciously, and finally Lu Yanzhou, who had guessed Zhou Duzhong’s plan, said, “Okay, I can help.”

For things like cotton, a small amount is fine, but it’s really hard to buy a large amount, and it’s even harder to ship it out after buying it.

But since Zhou Duzhong came to him, he should have a way to send them out, right?

As for how to buy it…Lu Tao has the Xi country behind him, and Xi has colonies in the southeast, so they can buy it in Lu Tao’s way.

With Lu Yanzhou’s help, Zhou Duzhong bought a lot of cotton and some medicines.

During this period, Zhou Duzhong has always been very enthusiastic towards Lu Yanzhou, obviously wanting to maintain the relationship so that he can buy things this way next time.

Lu Yanzhou was also willing to make friends with him, so the two became very good friends.

When Lu Yanzhou was busy with his own affairs in Chongcheng, the Secret Service Bureau and the Inspection Department were reprimanded again.

They couldn’t catch Zhaojun after so long, which made the Yan Intelligence Bureau very angry. They issued a death order and asked the Secret Service Bureau and the Inspection Office to destroy DaQi Chongcheng Command Station as soon as possible.

After all, if there is no Chongcheng Command Station, even if Zhaojun gets the information, he may not be able to send it out.

As for Zhaojun’s identity…Zhaojun recently sent back some information to Daqi. According to the analysis of that information, Zhaojun is likely to be a high-level official in Yan Country, so the Secret Service and Inspection Department couldn’t find him were normal. Now the task of investigating Zhaojun’s true identity was taken over by Yan Intelligence Bureau.

Both the Secret Service and the Inspection Department are under great pressure, especially the Secret Service.

After all, the Inspection Department is mainly internal people, while the Secret Service is outsider.

The Secret Service has no clue, so they can only use the method of casting a wide net to find people. Since then, their manpower is a bit insufficient.

Because of this, Lu Yanzhou also found that no one around him was observing him.

Thinking about it, he either stays in the school or in the shelter now, and he has no contact with any important people at all, so it’s naturally impossible to have anything to do with Zhaojun.

As for his dissatisfaction with Yan Country…There are many many people in Chongcheng who are dissatisfied with Yan Country, so the Secret Service doesn’t care all that much.

Of course, if the Secret Service can benefit after taking care of it, then they will take care of it.

For example, not long ago, the son of a veteran businessman in Chongcheng was arrested by the Secret Service because he complained a few words about Yan people. Then it was a matter of course to take over all this family’s properties

Lu Tao has some background, so the Secret Service can’t invade the Lu family’s properties, therefore they naturally don’t bother to talk to Lu Yanzhou.

Once the suspicions were cleared and no one was watching him, it was much easier for Lu Yanzhou to do things. He asked his father for some property and started to run around.

He asked for nothing but to be able to feed the large group of men under his command.

Running around every day, insisting on exercising at night, after doing it for only three months, Lu Yanzhou’s muscles have grown. His combat effectiveness has also improved a lot.

Even with all kinds of firearms he can get his hands on right now, he can use them smoothly.

At this time, the Chinese New Year is approaching, and the cold winter has come.

In the shelter run by Lu Yanzhou and his slub, it was warm.

It won’t be too cold for a large group of people to work in one room, not to mention that these people were all wearing padded clothes made of new cotton.

The women who had already grown some hair were chatting: “My hair used to be as dry and yellow as weeds, it would break if I pulled it lightly, but now the newly grown hair is pitch black.”

“Mine too.”

“Don’t worry about your hair, it will be chinese new year in a few days, will we be able to eat the big fat marinated pigs in the backyard then?”

“We might.”

“When my father was about to die, he wanted to eat a bite of fat meat. Unfortunately, my family didn’t have money, so we couldn’t give it to him.”

“When I left home, there was no food in the house, I don’t know if they are dead or alive…”

“I don’t even know where my home is, but I remember walking for a long time before I reached here…I’m afraid I won’t be able to go back in this life.”

“Don’t talk about this, think about the big fat pig in the backyard! Let’s do more work, maybe we can eat an extra piece of pork then!”

Eat an extra piece of pork! Everyone stopped talking and started working.

They can eat fish every day, but they haven’t eaten pork yet!

What these people are making now is no longer the kind of cotton-padded clothes that were used for charity at the beginning. The cotton-padded clothes and trousers they make now are all sold for money.

Sold to Zhou Duzhong.

If the Yan people had successfully encircled and suppressed the Self-Defense Regiment before, it would have been very very difficult for Zhou Duzhong to send things to the Self-Defense Regiment, but now that the Self-Defense Regiment still occupies a large area, there is an opening for him to send things there.

So, Zhou Du gritted his teeth and pooled money for Lu Yanzhou to make more cotton-padded clothes.

As far as Lu Yanzhou knew, Zhou Duzhong was so poor recently that he had already started pawning off his old clothes.

But it is impossible for him not to charge money, after all, he is not the only manager of their shelter.

The only thing he can do is to send the money in his hand to Zhou Duzhong.

But he didn’t have much money at all, at least for the huge number of Self-Defense Regiment, it was a drop in the bucket!

He has many ways to make a lot of money, but he can’t use them in this era.

Thinking of this, Lu Yanzhou went for a stroll in the backyard to check the marinated pork.

At this time, there is no large-scale breeding industry, so the price of meat is very expensive. During the Chinese New Year, it’s even impossible to buy it, so he bought a few pigs in advance and prepared to eat them during the Chinese New Year.

These pigs have been cut into pieces and marinated in large vats for a few days. Taking advantage of the good weather today, they can be taken out to dry.

While busy with work, one of Lu Yanzhou’s classmates suddenly exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Yanzhou asked.

“There is someone here!” The classmate yelled in horror.

Lu Yanzhou hurried over, only to find that there were two people hiding in the firewood room. After being discovered by them, the two pushed them away and ran out.

“Are these two thieves? Quickly capture them!” Lu Yanzhou’s classmate said.

Lu Yanzhou only took one look and knew that those two people could not be thieves.

That strong body and dark aura all over their body are more like Jiangyang bandit.

Since these two people didn’t plan to kill anyone, it’s better for them to let them go.

Lu Yanzhou didn’t intend to take care of this matter, but he didn’t expect that disaster would come from above. The moment the two escaped, the Secret Service came.

It was said that the two people who had just escaped were important criminals that the Secret Service needed to capture.

Lu Yanzhou: “…” Those two people should be from Chongcheng Command Station, right? Don’t know if they escaped or not.

Of course, now is not the time to sympathize with those two people. The problem now is that the people from the secret service plan to catch him instead of catching those two people.

The Secret Service has always been domineering!

“They escaped our pursuit by hiding with you. Who knows if you are with them? Clean up and come with us!” The arrester from the Secret Service stretched out their hand to tie Lu Yanzhou up.

“My lords, our young master has absolutely nothing to do with those people!” Hu Zi said while going to stop him.

“Hu Zi, get out of the way,” Lu Yanzhou said, “I’ll go with them.”

With the domineering nature of the Secret Service, if he resists, the Secret Service will definitely not let him go!

Now they only want to arrest him alone. If he resists, maybe everyone here will be handcuffed by the Secret Service.

At that time, his father may not even be able to help him, let alone others.

But if he goes alone… his dad should be able to fish him out.

This is really an unwarranted disaster!

Lu Yanzhou was taken to the Secret Service.

After the Secret Service didn’t need to investigate Zhaojun anymore, they went all out to investigate Chongcheng Command Station.

The traitor deputy station master before really came up with some clues after thinking hard — another Chongcheng Command Station’s deputy station master once brought a sauced duck when they met, so the sauced duck most likely was bought from where they were hiding!

There are quite a few shops selling sauced duck in Chongcheng, but the sauced duck is quite unique, and it’s only sold in one place. People from the Secret Service sealed off the area and checked them one by one. Anyone with suspicious identities was arrested.

Grabbing and catching, someone fled.

They also know that there must be something wrong with the person who escaped. The people from the secret service rushed to chase, but those two people found the right opportunity to escape. At that time, the ordinary people who were driven by them happened to block their way. In the end, they were too late to catch up and let those people run away.

After finally finding them, the two were startled away by Lu Yanzhou and the others ahead of time.

Once again, they returned without success. The people from the Secret Service, who came to work, knew that they would die if they went back, so they wanted to find a substitute.

They knew that Lu Yanzhou’s family must have money just by looking at his clothes, so if they brought him back for a trial and knocked down a sum of money to give to their superior, their life would be easier.

“Everyone, my father is Lu Tao.” Lu Yanzhou, who was tied up, still tried to reason with them.

“It doesn’t matter if your father is Lu Tao or Hai Tao, you influenced our arrest!” The man who captured Lu Yanzhou was just a pawn of the Secret Service, so he had never heard of Lu Tao’s name.

Lu Yanzhou: “…” he just hopes now that his father will come to him soon…

Lu Yanzhou was quickly arrested and sent to the Secret Service, but luckily no one came to torture him.

On the way, he said that he was Lu Tao’s son. After all, the person who arrested him was attracted to him. After returning, he immediately went to find out who Lu Tao was.

Lu Tao has been washing his hands in the golden basin for many years. Although he was doing well in the world, the Secret Service is not afraid of him, but there is no need to mess with him.

After all, if Lu Tao was offended. Lu Tao will find someone to fight against the Secret Service, and it will become very troublesome for them, the Secret Service.

Of course, this offense means that Lu Yanzhou died at their hands…As long as Lu Yanzhou is not dead, Lu Tao will not do anything to them.

Now in Chongcheng, Yan’s people are the largest!

After finding out Lu Yanzhou’s identity, the Secret Service immediately told bureau chief Li about Lu Yanzhou’s arrest.

Bureau chief Li has been scolded a lot these days because of his poor handling of affairs, even if he sent a lot of money to his superiors, it was useless.

He was in a state of desperation when his subordinates suddenly told him the news…

Bureau chief Li said: “Make Lu Tao send 50,000 silver yuan over here, then let him go!”

The Secret Service has already arrested him, so naturally they can’t just release him for nothing, Lu Tao must bleed some blood!

“Yes!” The subordinates were about to do this immediately.

“Wait!” At this moment, Bureau Chief Li called them to stop.

“Bureau Chief?”

Bureau Chief Li suddenly asked: “Who arrested Lu Tao’s youngest son?”

“Yes.”

“I remember that Lu Tao’s youngest son has been making a lot of noise recently. He has helped many people. He is truly a bodhisattva…” Bureau Chief Li suddenly laughed, “Send him to Xie Chengze!”

“Bureau Chief?” His subordinates were puzzled.

Bureau Chief Li said: “Xie Chengze is very interested in him. Since we have already arrested him, let’s send him to Xie Chengze!”

If Xie Chengze accepts him and he is satisfied, he may be willing to help him talk to headquarters.

As for how Lu Yanzhou will be treated by Xie Chengze…What does that have to do with him?

It’s a pity that I can’t get money from Lu Tao.

Tsk tsk, I hope Xie Chengze will not play too much and kill him. If that is the case, that old man Lu Tao will probably came to find Xie Chengze desperately.

T/N: Lu Yanzhou: So much for staying away from Xie Chengze