Dress up as a farmer's wife from the Wang family and fight for the best with space

While feeling happy, Gu Yunxi was also a little worried and asked, "Achuan, if His Majesty praises you in front of all the ministers, will it cause resentment from other officials and families?"

Originally, she was just thinking that due to the drought in the capital, the price of food would inevitably rise. Since her family was weak, she could not help much, so she could only do her best.

The Lu family is just a small family in the capital, and not many people know about it. Even if they do, they would look down on them and would not associate with them.

Now, the emperor praised Lu Jianchuan in front of all his ministers. On the one hand, he might really appreciate the Lu family's approach, but on the other hand, and most importantly, the emperor might want to use the Lu family's affairs to put pressure on the capital's aristocratic families and control grain prices.

Seventy to eighty percent of the grain shops in Beijing are owned by wealthy families. If they raise prices uniformly, other small merchants will have no choice but to follow suit. Otherwise, they would be going against them.

The Lu family only had one grain store, and they did business for the common people, and they didn’t make much money, so the aristocratic families turned a blind eye.

But now, after the emperor’s praise, there might be some wealthy family eyeing the Lu family and secretly trying to trip them up.

Lu Jianchuan smiled and shook his head: "It shouldn't be. After the emperor praised me, my teacher also expressed his opinion. All the grain shops of the Yuan family have reduced their prices to keep the same price as our grain shops."

"Minister Xu has also expressed his opinion. He said that he would give orders when he got home to have the Xu family grain shop unify its prices to match ours."

"There are also Minister Fan's family, General Liu, and Mo Jieshi... They have all expressed their opinions. In front of His Majesty, even if they don't want to, they dare not not do it."

After hearing this, Gu Yunxi felt less worried.

As a result of this move, grain prices in the capital were effectively controlled. They were no longer priced out of control and were affordable for the people.

As for the lack of water, there is still no way to solve it.

As the water in the capital's wells became less and less, people began to flee the city.

For a time, chaos broke out in the capital again, and the emperor had no choice but to appoint a prime minister to transport water from the south to the capital for the people to use.

To transport water, you naturally need water buckets. In order to reduce the loss in the water transportation process, the prime minister urgently looked for skilled craftsmen who could create water transportation tools and buckets that met such needs.

Gu Yunxi learned about this at home and struggled with it for a long time. Finally, she designed a large bucket with excellent sealing properties.

Four large buckets can be neatly placed on a normal-sized carriage.

She asked Lu Jianchuan to take the design drawings and secretly find Minister Yuan, and hand the design drawings to the Prime Minister.

The prime minister ordered the craftsmen to urgently build four wooden barrels according to the design drawings. When they were used, they found that the barrels did not leak at all whether they were placed horizontally or vertically.

The prime minister was overjoyed and ordered the craftsmen to continue making hundreds of such wooden barrels. He also arranged a team of carriages to travel back and forth to Nannan every day to fetch water back to the capital.

Because of this incident, the emperor secretly credited the Lu family with a contribution. However, the practice of transporting water from the south could not last long because drought began to occur in the south.

The south also began to suffer from water shortage. People in the capital wanted to drink water, but they naturally could not compete with the local people. The prime minister had no choice but to return to the capital to report to the emperor.

The emperor was frowning all day long and could not think of any other solution.

The prime minister ordered people to search for water in various mountains, but every wave of people he sent out returned empty-handed.

The mountains were also completely dry, without a drop of water.

Due to lack of water, people in the capital city all had chapped lips. Some even started digging tree roots in the mountains and licking them in an attempt to moisten their chapped lips.

Within three days, almost all the trees on the mountains outside Beijing had been cut down, their roots dug up, and the entire mountain was in ruins.

The emperor was furious, but there was no other way to go. He couldn't just watch the people die of thirst, could he?

The Lu family was also affected. There was a water shortage in the capital and all the vegetables were gone.

Everyone in the Lu family was in a panic, but compared to the people outside who were in a panic, it was still relatively good.

Gu Yunxi flashed into the space, pulled out the cabbages, radishes, and cucumbers that had been planted long ago, filled a whole bag, carried it out, and called Xiao Cui over.

Xiao Cui opened the sack and looked at the lush green leaves inside. Her eyes lit up and she asked hurriedly, "Where did these vegetables come from, Madam?"

In this situation, where can we buy vegetables? Especially vegetables of such good appearance!

Gu Yunxi had already thought of an excuse, and said, "The secret guards got it. Don't ask for details. Just quietly move the dishes to the kitchen and give them to Sister Ying."

Mrs. Ying will naturally take care of the rest.

Xiao Cui nodded excitedly, found a cart, and quietly carried the sack of vegetables to the kitchen herself. She found Mrs. Ying and gave her some instructions.

Mrs. Ying looked at the fresh green vegetables in front of her, her eyes full of surprise.

"Xiao Cui, where did you buy these things? Didn't they say that there is no food left in the capital?"

The Lu family had gone without vegetables for several days. Now when they saw the fresh vegetables, Mrs. Ying couldn't help drooling.

She didn't even want to cook it. She just picked up a radish and started eating it without washing the skin.

Seeing this, Xiao Cui lowered her voice and said, "Young Madam asked the secret guards to help find it. Sister Ying, this matter must be kept secret and no one else in the mansion can know about it."

"Just consider the amount of food you want to eat each day. I will tell others that these are just some dishes that the young lady bought at a high price."

Mrs. Ying naturally agreed readily. She understood this principle. Vegetables have become a rare commodity nowadays. If others knew about it, there was no guarantee that something unexpected would happen.

Although the servants in the mansion were dutiful, she did not dare to trust them completely.

What happened to Xiao'e before is an example.

Gu Yunxi not only let his family eat the food, but also secretly asked Mo San to take three baskets of food and quietly go out to deliver them to the Yuan family, the Xu family, and the Yongchang Marquis Mansion.

They were all surprised and delighted when they received the dishes.

This basket of vegetables was like timely help to them.

As a result, the Yuan family, the Xu family, and the Yongchang Marquisate all reciprocated and sent many valuable gifts to the Lu family.

Gu Yunxi listened to Mo San's report and smiled as he asked him to put the gifts in the storage room.

Taking advantage of the free time, Gu Yunxi quietly took Xiao Cui out and walked along the street. Along the way, she saw the people at the foot of the wall, all of whom had chapped lips due to lack of water.

Some people even fought each other over a sip of water, leaving blood all over the place.

She shook her head and walked to the public well in the capital. She looked into the well, but there was no water at all.

Gu Yunxi was very conflicted. Should he help the people?

The spiritual spring water in her space is obviously inexhaustible, and it flows continuously and endlessly.

But the space is her secret, and she must never mention it to outsiders, otherwise she will be regarded as a monster, or even face death.