After returning to the Su residence that evening, Ning Yi took out paper and brush and began writing down some guidelines and regulations for disaster relief and epidemic prevention. He'd been thinking about these issues for many days now, so writing them down wasn't particularly difficult.

Modern disaster relief strategies naturally differed from ancient ones and couldn't be copied directly. But in many aspects they offered stronger supervision and restraint, more organized priorities, and greater foresight and vision—this was undeniable. After combining these matters with the Wu Dynasty's actual situation and making adjustments, they could be put to use. While this included many methods for epidemic prevention and treatment, it also contained a pyramid-style structure and system for commanding, allocating, and managing disaster victims. This type of management philosophy was exactly what Ning Yi excelled at, so he wrote it all down together.

Creating these regulations stemmed partly from a certain sense of compassion. As a modern person, even if truly accustomed to the world's darkness, thinking about how many people would die from disease or starvation over several months was somewhat painful. He wasn't truly cold-blooded, just possessed strong rationality that could see many things clearly and suppress many emotions. Of course, compassion was only part of it—the other part involved his plans for other matters. That would be the second gift he'd give Old Qin tomorrow.

He busily wrote all night. When Xiao Chan brought in chilled silver ear soup¹and urged him to drink it quickly, he finally paused to chat with her briefly. "If Young Master doesn't eat it, the ice will be gone..."

Normally Xiao Chan wouldn't disturb him when he was concentrating on work, but ice was truly precious in summer, which made her speak up somewhat plaintively. After finishing the silver ear soup, he returned to writing with complete focus while Xiao Chan took her needlework to sit quietly in the corner, working on a shoe sole. Su Tan'er also came to check once, and seeing him writing quietly, she smiled at Xiao Chan and left.

The next morning when he ran to Nie Yunzhu's small building, she drank tea while telling him about Yuan Jin'er's recent situation.

"Jin'er has actually mentioned you for quite a while now. I never imagined your first meeting would be under yesterday's circumstances. Hehe, Jin'er is too wild—I hope Liheng won't blame her."

"Not at all, she's quite straightforward." Ning Yi smiled. "Does she often go to the shop?"

"Not really—where would she find so much free time? I occasionally visit her instead. Recently her mood seems low."

"What happened? Is she unhappy because Qilan won the top courtesan title?"

Yuan Jin'er's personality was actually quite good. Because of the century egg matter, Ning Yi had a positive impression of her and began thinking of various poems to help promote her reputation. But Nie Yunzhu shook her head.

"Not at all. Jin'er never wanted to win top courtesan. Her low spirits probably come from witnessing what happened to Feng Xiaojing recently."

"Hm?"

"Liheng was still outside the city those days, so perhaps you don't know the details. After the courtesan competition, Commander Chen Yong of the Ardent Wu Army went to harass Feng Xiaojing again... This had happened before—when Feng Xiaojing was top courtesan, she was forced to nearly jump from a building. This time was the same, except Chen Yong's wife thought Feng Xiaojing kept seducing her husband, so she brought guards to attack her. They beat Feng Xiaojing until she ran through the streets, and I heard she was almost beaten to death on the roadside. She's still bedridden recovering, and there are rumors she's disfigured or crippled, though it's still unclear. Feng Xiaojing's Delightful Tower reported it to the authorities, but withdrew the complaint a few days later—it ended without resolution. The reasons are obvious. That day Jin'er happened to pass by and witness it, so probably... she feels some self-pity."

"Oh." Ning Yi nodded. "No wonder she wanted to work as a waiter at Zhu's... If she really becomes a waiter, I think we could pay her double wages—triple would work too. Guaranteed she won't get beaten."

Nie Yunzhu laughed. "Trust you to think of that."

"Haha, just tell her to get married soon."

Nie Yunzhu smiled and lowered her eyes slightly.

Soon after, as dawn brightened, Ning Yi left the small building. After Nie Yunzhu watched his figure disappear into the distance, she sighed softly and carried the tea tray back inside. Hutao was looking at her resentfully from the room. "Miss, don't you realize if this continues and that Su Tan'er comes looking for us, we'll be beaten to death too? Miss, you keep talking about friendship between gentlemen, but if people misunderstand, they won't care about such distinctions."

Nie Yunzhu glanced at her, then smiled happily, even somewhat mischievously. "Fine, let her beat me to death. If I really die from her beating, he'll definitely come..." She thought for a moment, then sighed again and set down the tea tray. "But if that really happened... it would make things difficult for him."

Hutao was devastated. "Miss, don't go crazy! Men are all like that—no matter how sweet his words are now, if his legitimate wife comes knocking, he won't come! Besides, he's a live-in son-in-law! That Su family young miss is so formidable! Miss..."

"Don't speak of him that way!" Nie Yunzhu glanced back, though without any real anger, imagining the scene of being beaten to death. Hutao made a long face, still worried. After a moment, Nie Yunzhu took a deep breath, turned around, grabbed the peasant woman's headscarf from nearby and wrapped it around her head. As she passed Hutao, she pinched the maid's cheek.

"Hutao, you're really cute, getting prettier and prettier... time to get married."

After saying this cheerfully, she walked to the door, then lowered her head and whispered somewhat mischievously and willfully about certain things in her heart.

I just won't get married...

After finishing morning classes and eating lunch, he went to the Qinhuai riverside. Kang Xian was already waiting there. He was actually quite interested in whatever Ning Yi brought each time, though he hadn't expected this kind of manuscript.

Poetry, some novel but rather unorthodox ideas, chalk, century eggs—these things interested both Qin Siyuan and Kang Xian, but they were all peripheral matters. Most of the time they might think Ning Yi was quite talented and that if he truly managed something he'd surely succeed, but these were all assumptions without real proof. After he presented this document, however, that perception changed somewhat.

The Wu Dynasty also had similar disaster relief and epidemic prevention proposals, but they differed significantly from what Ning Yi had written. Most focused on maintaining stability. When problems arose, the military would forcibly suppress them, or let disaster victims fend for themselves—always prioritizing protection of fundamentals. The group had been chatting casually, but after opening the booklet and seeing the title, they grew serious. Their expressions became solemn, and after finishing, they remained silent for a long while before Kang Xian had Lu Agui fetch the Wu Dynasty's disaster relief regulations for comparison. Then he asked about the sanitation aspects, and Ning Yi explained by the Go board.

"Epidemics often originate and spread from poor sanitation, so we must first try to address these issues... Given available resources, management personnel are often insufficient. When a region is full of disaster victims in complete chaos, officials should delegate authority downward level by level, selecting one or two tiers of management personnel from among the victims and quickly telling them what needs to be done..."

"It's still summer now—find open, well-ventilated areas and quickly erect shelters for shade and rain protection. Try to maintain order, dig trenches at suitable locations nearby to establish unified latrines and drainage ditches. Transport any available quicklime²to disaster areas immediately, spread it inside and outside gathering points for disinfection. Assign special personnel for publicity—rats, dead fish and shrimp absolutely cannot be eaten! Any dead rats found must be burned and buried..."

"Set aside a separate area. Anyone who gets sick—headaches, fever, coughing with phlegm, diarrhea, anything—send them there immediately. Separate severe and mild cases, ensuring proper isolation. I know many places lack materials, so I've listed priorities for what must be guaranteed. As long as cloth can be found, doctors must wear masks. Clean water sources are crucial. Dead fish, shrimp, and rats absolutely cannot be tolerated..."

"As long as order can be maintained, arranging hierarchical selection of officials is just a matter of manpower. We need people publicizing the dangers of rotten things, dangers of rats, dangers of overly dirty things—being slightly dirty is unavoidable, just try to keep it out of mouths. As long as clean water can be found, washing hands should be possible. Arrange people to publicize government measures—how much relief grain is coming, etc... Of course, this all must be built on them receiving minimum rations. In most parts of our dynasty, it shouldn't have reached that point yet..."

Ning Yi explained some points while Kang Xian nodded. "Most places do have certain reserves of relief grain. With effort, some can always be squeezed out."

"That's good then. Ensure they don't starve to death—if they can get one or two bowls of porridge daily, they won't riot or eat those rats and dead things. If the first link doesn't fail, the rest can be controlled. But if major disasters combine with epidemics, it becomes uncontrollable—basically they can only fend for themselves, impossible to stop..."

"So the later personnel management and relief grain allocation methods, simple recording techniques, finding literate and numerate people, strictly implementing these procedures, creating rankings... The workload shouldn't be too heavy. With this data, investigations afterward become simple too. Of course, settling accounts later is one part—more importantly, achieving maximum efficiency in initial distribution."

"If the officials above are truly all corrupt and by the time it reaches Brother Shaohe's³level not a single grain remains, there's no solution—no one can satisfy hunger by imagining plums. But as long as there's a certain amount of grain, everything's negotiable. If we can't guarantee the top, we must guarantee the bottom. Catch a few typical cases—kill them as warning! Killing a few more doesn't matter. Using this recording method, arrange trustworthy people to audit accounts daily or every few days. I've written several key audit points in the back—anyone with problems at these points, depending on severity, kill! In the short term, few people should be able to exploit this system's loopholes. Even if some do, it's not a big problem. We must ensure maximum utilization efficiency..."

In the afternoon by the Qinhuai River, gentle breezes blew as Ning Yi spoke eloquently, fluid and composed. He picked up Go stones for demonstration, placing them with crisp sounds while explaining. Before him, Old Qin, Old Kang, Lu Agui and others watched silently, understanding, contemplating. No one spoke—the atmosphere seemed somewhat unusual. At the nearby tea stall, the owner muttered to his daughter, occasionally craning his neck to look, not understanding what these people were discussing now...

Watching Master Ning place stones so smoothly, it was probably some new chess formation, the tea shop owner thought.

The leisurely afternoon continued as always in the world.