IDWBE -Chapter 123 The Fire

Unfortunately, although the roast tasted excellent, Lin Yi didn’t eat much. In the end, he gave it all to the children at the orphanage.

A batch of children had already been sent away—mostly half-grown boys from Songyang. Those remaining were mainly local children. Most had physical disabilities: blind, lame, intellectually impaired—every condition imaginable.

The rest who were physically normal were mostly baby girls, still crying in swaddling clothes.

Lin Yi couldn’t bear to abandon a single one. How much grain could they really eat? Besides, he could teach them martial arts. Once they were a little older and stronger, they could be sent out to farm—there’d be no problem making a living.

Even those who were mentally impaired—he could at least arrange some work for them in the future so they wouldn’t starve.

As for the children missing arms or legs, literacy was the priority. Lin Yi rarely taught at the school, but he was willing to spend large amounts of time at the orphanage teaching arithmetic and accounting.

He often played games with them too.

The only difficult case was an eleven-year-old blind child. Lin Yi planned to send him to the Daoist temple on Baiyun Mountain—bone-reading and fortune-telling seemed professionally aligned enough.

To lay a foundation early, Lin Yi had practically “invited” the old Daoist priest down from the mountain.

The old priest felt wronged. He had only extorted one ingot of silver—was this really necessary revenge?

But he dared not utter a word of refusal.

Not only did he have to teach the boy, he also had to accept him as a disciple.

Children were pure and innocent. Since Lin Yi treated them sincerely, they naturally gathered around him all day.

Lin Yi found this deeply comforting.

Shan Qi, Xie Zan, and the others all found it astonishing—only at the orphanage did Prince He resemble a normal person.

“Your Highness, these are wampee fruits,” Granny Sang said, bringing over a plate. “They cut through grease.”

She had once been a frail old woman—dim-eyed, hunched, illiterate. But after practicing Huiyuan Gong at the training ground, she seemed reborn from illness, lively and vigorous again.

Since becoming the so-called “Dean” of the orphanage, she had gradually developed a certain authority about her.

Lin Yi waved his hand. “Too sour. I won’t eat them.”

At dusk, just as he stepped out of the orphanage gate, he saw the northern sky glowing red with firelight.

Ma Gui reported, “Your Highness, word just came—those Yuezhou fellows’ fireworks workshop has caught fire.”

After Bao Kui became Chief Constable of the prefectural office, he rarely returned to Prince He’s residence. Two days earlier, Ma Gui had been promoted to Deputy Commander of the residence.

“Any casualties?” Lin Yi asked.

“Only the workshop owner suffered burns on his arm. Nothing serious. But more than a dozen homes have burned to the ground, and the fire is still spreading.”

“As long as no one’s dead, that’s good,” Lin Yi said. “Those old ramshackle houses were an eyesore anyway. Hard to demolish properly—now that they’re burned clean, we’ll just build new ones.”

He added, “Tell Shan Qi—every affected household will have their homes rebuilt at government expense.”

There were no insurance companies in this world. Without aid, most families would end up homeless.

“Yes, understood.”

“That Shan Qi really makes me worry about everything,” Lin Yi sighed. “Workplace safety is important. Fireworks workshops shouldn’t be inside the city in the first place. Don’t punish the fireworks craftsmen. It wasn’t intentional. Move them to the south bank of the West River—there’s more open space there.”

Ordinarily, someone would be punished as a warning to others.

But Sanhe was different.

Skilled craftsmen were treasured—especially those knowledgeable about gunpowder and fireworks!

Since that fireworks family arrived, Bian Jing’s obsession with blasting mountains had only grown stronger.

Lin Yi was afraid even mild punishment might frighten the family away or cause some health scare.

Although many people joined the firefighting efforts, they lacked professional equipment and expertise. The blaze in Baiyun City continued spreading.

When Lin Yi woke the next morning and looked toward the city, he saw ruins stretching for nearly a mile. Many of the old wooden shacks had burned to ashes.

Fortunately, the prefectural constables handled disaster relief well. The displaced residents had food and drink, and the government promised to rebuild their homes. There wasn’t even a trace of despair—some even seemed faintly pleased.

“Your Highness.”

Shan Qi had not slept all night and looked utterly exhausted.

“Your body is the capital for work,” Lin Yi said with a smile. “Delegate to your subordinates. Why come personally?”

“It is my duty,” Shan Qi replied. “Most victims have been resettled. Does Your Highness have further instructions?”

“The city’s always been too cramped—hard even to walk,” Lin Yi said. “Since it’s burned, don’t rebuild here. Level it, pave it with cement, plant some flowers and grass—turn it into a training ground.”

Shan Qi agreed readily.

“And it’s time to start planning renovations,” Lin Yi continued.

“Planning renovations?” Shan Qi asked—another new term for him.

“Something like that,” Lin Yi said. “Residential areas should be residential. Commercial areas should be commercial. Workshops must have their own zone—no more mixing everything together.”

“Understood.”

“All newly built blacksmith shops, brick kilns, porcelain kilns, fireworks workshops, salted fish processors, flower accessory makers, textile workshops—move them to the south bank of the West River as much as possible. The commercial district can center around Jinfu Restaurant. Keep expanding the roads—and make them as wide as possible.”

After giving instructions, Lin Yi mounted his donkey and headed toward the south bank of the West River.

Halfway there, a loud bang nearly knocked him off his donkey. Looking closer, he saw a group of children playing with fireworks. Ingeniously, they had stuffed fireworks into bamboo joints, causing rapid crackling explosions.

He didn’t scold them.

There were already too many restrictions in this era.

He didn’t want to be yet another person imposing rules—this forbidden, that prohibited.

Sanhe lacked too much. He wasn’t afraid of people doing things—he was afraid of them doing nothing.

His attitude toward new things had always been to let them grow wildly.

As for what they eventually became—leave it to fate. Better than stagnant water.

With the road to Fangniao Island completed, the Lian and Li tribes from the southern mountains gradually descended to Baiyun City, selling mountain and sea goods, buying oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea.

Many came to visit their children at the school—after all, Lin Yi had rather “inhumanely” brought their children to the city.

Traffic across the West River Bridge was constant. At busy times, people had to queue. Especially with large carriages—otherwise they would block the bridge’s center, unable to advance or retreat.