After all, whoever goes to distribute the disaster relief grain and funds has the right to manipulate these because only by feeding them will they be willing to risk their lives for those above them, and only then can a few be spared for the disaster victims below.

When Jiang Xue talked about this, she did not feel that Shui Yixuan was cold, ruthless, or merciless; instead, she felt he was the one who understood the situation most clearly.

She remembered that He Shen had said similar things and done similar actions in TV dramas, and he had even questioned Ji Xiaolan.

"How is the character for ’official’ written? Two mouths, one above the other. You must first feed the mouth above before you can feed the mouth below. Throughout history, how many upright officials have there been? How many corrupt officials?"

Upright officials are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, while corrupt officials are as numerous as grains of sand in the Yellow River. During Zhu Yuanzhang’s reign, countless harsh punishments were used to punish corrupt officials, but were they ultimately stopped? No, because they simply couldn’t be stopped, couldn’t all be dealt with!

So sometimes ideal and reality are worlds apart. On this point, Jiang Xue stands with Shui Yixuan. She even feels that Shui Yixuan is truly someone who has experienced adversity from a young age.

"You... didn’t you suffer a lot since childhood?"

When Jiang Xue tentatively asked this question, Young Master Runyu smiled, "Did you figure it out?"

"For a young master of the Shui Clan, you have such deep-rooted experience in civilian life, officialdom, and commerce. These seem to form a fixed triangle in front of you, indispensable to each other. I’m very curious, how exactly did the Manor Master and the manor owner’s wife train you?"

Young Master Runyu glanced at her indifferently, "If you were thrown into this manor to work from a young age and then followed the shopkeeper across the country in your youth, you could also achieve what I’ve achieved today. People believe that traveling thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books. These years, I’ve traveled all around the Four Countries. Although I haven’t read many books, I don’t think I understand less than others. So sometimes you must believe that taking a different path can also lead to success."

"Do you mean they never planned for you to become an official?"

Runyu sighed, somewhat regretfully asking Jiang Xue in return.

"Someone as capable as me, if I had pursued the imperial examinations, would I necessarily end up worse than I am now, right?"

"With merchants at the lowest rank after scholars, farmers, and craftsmen, have you ever felt inferior because of your status?"

Runyu shook his head, "Never. In your saying of scholars, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants, ’martial’ should be added at the front. Although we at Holy Water Manor are merchants, we are also Martial Arts Supreme, the number one manor under heaven. With that alone, who would dare to look down on us? Inferiority is established under a lack of ability. I have ability, so why would I feel inferior? Besides, my parents’ education never included any notion of feeling inferior!"

From this point of view, the two people’s values are quite aligned.

Soon, as autumn passed and winter came, not only the disaster victims found it hard to endure, but even at Holy Water Manor, it was cold enough to shiver.

Due to tight schedules and heavy tasks, they only paid attention to repairing houses and simply did not have time to build adobe houses or earthen beds, so coldness in winter was inevitable.

Those who practiced martial arts were a bit better, but someone like Jiang Xue, who lacked Inner Strength, could only rely on continuously adding layers of cotton clothing to maintain her temperature.

Ever since that time Shui Yixuan challenged the court, no one dared to interfere with what he did here. He did his work with freedom, not only enabling the disaster victims to be self-reliant by providing them work opportunities to earn food, so they wouldn’t go hungry but also giving them a chance to earn wages and use the saved money to rebuild their homes.

Because of the grain shortage in the Holy Dynasty, he even went all-out to import grain from the other Three Countries. However, he was met with resistance from the joint forces of the Three Countries during his first attempt. They not only prohibited the ships and horse carriages from Holy Water Manor from leaving but also banned other merchants from transferring grain to the Holy Dynasty, even if some intended to profit significantly.

In their own words, "We may refrain from taking advantage of the situation to attack your country, but we absolutely will not allow any possibility of supporting them to occur."