Great Tang Idyll

Early in the morning, the fog on the distant mountains had not yet cleared and there was a man kneeling outside of the Master Zhang's house. The gatekeeper did not know what was going on and the news had not reached the Master yet. The gatekeeper knew Zhang Xiao'shu and he was still dressed in the clothing made for the residents. He thought that Zhang Xiao'shu was in serious trouble, so he didn't dare to neglect the matter and he hurried to find the housekeeper.

Recently, Housekeeper Zhang was still busy with some matters surrounding the Spring Tillage. It was also unclear to him why a resident was kneeling in front of the yard. He followed the gatekeeper out and he saw Zhang Xiao'shu kneeling while staying absolutely motionless. He spoke with a low voice, "Xiao'shu, did you encounter trouble?"

"Housekeeper Zhang, you have come out. No, there is no trouble, but my mother's leg broke after she fell last night, her bone was realigned already. She can work in the fields again in half a month. I'm just going to kneel here for two hours; I'll leave once I'm done kneeling. "

Zhang Xiao'shu looked at Housekeeper Zhang with grateful eyes and knelt there. He still remained motionless apart from moving his mouth to speak.

"Oh, kneel for two hours, your clothes, it seems..."

"I was afraid that the clothes given by Manor on the previous fifteenth will be ruined by my kneeling. I wore the top and changed the bottoms for the ones I use when I do work. I need to save this outfit; when I have a grandson, I will show it to him." Zhang Xiao'shu didn't wait for Housekeeper Zhang to finish speaking and began to explain.

Housekeeper Zhang was a little confused. He don't know where Xiao'shu was feeling ill; what was he doing kneeling here when there was nothing wrong? Furthermore, he had a sick patient at home so he said, "Since someone in your family is sick, you should quickly go back and take care of the person. Oh, go to Warehouse No. 5 to get some bones to make some soup out of it."

'Warehouse No. 5' was named by Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, and it was considered as a public warehouse. The items inside were really random and untidy. There were everyday items and food items that were chilled---bones was one of the many items. Since she broke her leg from falling, she should have bone soup to help her recuperate. When items were taken out, all that needed to be done was to write it down in the record book. At the end of each month, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan would check it over.

The gatekeeper knew that instruction was directed towards himself so he turned around to go retrieve it. Not only did he take bones, but he also took kelp, which was just seaweed, and a certain fish's liver that was obtained by the Young Master. Whenever soup was made, these three ingredientsmust be placed in the pot together. He didn't know why and he just followed the instructions.

"Xiao'shu, don't worry if you encounter something. Get up first before you speak. Did you find a doctor yet? The injury must be carefully tended. Don't make delays and don't be scared of using money since the Master household will cover a part of the cost." Housekeep Zhang wasn't aware of the situation last night so he assumed that Xiao'shu didn't have money.

Before he said all of that, Zhang Xiaoshu was just kneeling, but as soon he said that, Zhang Xiao'shu began to bang his head loudly on the ground three times towards the Master's house.

"Housekeeper Zhang, one was found last night already. My mother fell off of the heated brick bed. In less than a quarter of an hour, the doctor from the Master's house was there. It was so speedy. I heard from the neighbors that this was faster than in the palace. For this half month, all I had to pay was just three coins. Today I came here to thank the Master. Last night I used the newly installed thing to call for help."

"Oh, so it turned out to be like this. Then, you don't have to kneel. Just remember the master's kindness and that is enough. Work harder in the future. The master is not giving you alms, but just wants you to work with no concerns. As long as you aren't lazy on the job, then you arerepaying the Master."

After listening to Zhang Xiao'shu's words, Housekeeper Zhang understood that this was the thing that the Young Master and Little Miss Juan'juan made just yesterday and it was immediately used. This idea was very amazing. If there was something wrong with the residents, in less than quarter of an hour, action can be taken at the Master's house already and help can arrive on scene. No one would believe this if this was spoken to people outside of the manor.

However, he also knew that it was absolutely impossible to reveal that this was made by the Young Master and Young Miss. He could only speak using the title of "master". As long as the Young Master and Young Miss had not reached the age of adulthood, the people in the inner courtyard had to seal their mouths shut; they weren't even allowed to discuss amongst themselves.

Zhang Xiao'shu still didn't get up, and continued to kneel there as he replied to the housekeeper's words, "Yes, we all know that we must work hard. Other than the masters of the two Zhang and Wang Manors, no other manors' master would do this for the residents. After this, I will work hard to stomp the fields to remove the air from the soil."

"Housekeeper Zhang, what's the matter here? This person is Xiao'shu from the back Manor, right? Did he commit some mistake, why is he kneeling? Come, stand up. As long as you don't collude with outsiders, it's fine if you make a little mistake."

Madamn Wang-Zhang had come out to take a stroll by the riverside; this was sort of a workout. Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were the ones that persuaded her to do so. Zhang Xiao'bao's intention was for her to exercise in the morning, but Wang Juan objected at first saying that the morning air was not good and that the evening was better.

Zhang Xiao'bao argued that the air quality in the morning was not good due to depositions that accumulated overnight, but the humidity of the air was good and suitable for human breathing. The particulates in the air that were accumulated overnight have not been exposed to ultraviolet rays but the white blood cells in the body could handle it.

Although the particles present in the evening have already been irradiated by ultraviolet rays, the moisture in the air was also reduced, and it would be more harmful to the lungs during exercise.

Madam Wang-Zhang knew that the children were doing her good, so she used both time periods to exercise once in the morning and once in the evening. Despite feeling that it was wasteful, she ate those wood fungus to help clear her lungs and make breathing easier. Today she brought a maid along with her and she saw the person kneeling there. After thinking about it for a while, she felt that the person looked familiar so she spoke up about it.

"Replying to my Madam, Zhang Xiao'shu has made no mistakes. The towers for transmitting information that my Madam has requested to build yesterday came to use last night. Xiao'shu's mother fell off her heated brick bed in the middle of the night, and that thing was used to notify this place of what happened. The doctor on the Manor was woken up to be sent there.

From the time the accident occurred to when treatment was delivered, less than a quarter of an hour was used. Xiao'shu came to express his gratitude. I have sent someone to go to Warehouse No. 5 to fetch the bones to help Xiao'shu's mother recover which will take half a month."

The Housekeeper was a bit cautious when he reported Madam Wang-Zhang, and he subtly inserted hints. He was no longer as careless as before. He used to be loyal to the Manor and only respectful to the Madam but now he was in awe with her. He was afraid of the Young Master misunderstanding that he had disrespected the Madam. It was very possible that this could lead to his death. He firmly believed that if the Young Master wanted to kill a person, it was as easy as a hand's turn.

"I see. No need to express gratitude, just do your work well. Xiao'shu, remember to boil all the ingredients together after you get back, don't leave an ingredient behind. Those ingredients are my family's... my family spent a lot of effort to find them. Take good care of your mother and don't let her move around too much. Get up."

Madam Wang-Zhang spoke lightly, and she almost said "my family's precious baby" just now. With this greeting, the dignified air of the Master household was undoubtedly revealed.

Zhang Xiao'shu kowtowed a few more times out of respect, and then stood upfeeling a little embarrassed. He originally came to express his thanks, but in the end he was able to get some bones which was worth far more than the three cents he spent. He wanted to turn around and walk off without taking anything but he also didn't dare to do that. What was meant by not taking what the Master gave? Was he afraid that consuming it will cause illnesses?

Therefore, he could only wait to pick up the items, and secretly swear in his heart to do more to repay the master. As for the indifferent tone of the master's wife, he didn't have any thoughts about it as the master should be like that.

After a while, the gatekeeper brought back the three items in a bamboo basket and the bones still had a bit of frost on them. The basket weighed at least ten catties. Zhang Xiao'shu took the basket and wanted to kowtow to express thanks but he realized that the Master household's madam had left with her maid already.

In fact, Zhang Xiaoshu's mother breaking her leg after falling was a matter so small that it couldn't be even smaller. However, from the time of the fall to the time of receiving medical treatment, the total time was less than a quarter of an hour, and this matter was no small matter.

All the residents knew that if this had occurred in the past, either the person was carried to where the doctor was or it was waited until dawn and then money was spent to hire a carriage car to quickly find the doctor. The last possibility was that the person chose to bear with the pain; if they could endure it, then it was fine, but if they couldn't, then they would end up disabled.

The problem was that Zhang Xiao'shu's mother fell but he didn't even have to leave his house at all. Within a short period of time, people came. This was life-saving. People who were paralyzed to the point of being bed-ridden will contract quite a bit of illnesses and will end up rotting away on their bed.

After the news was spread by Zhang Xiao'shu's neighbors, the entire Zhang Manor learned of the incident. Next was the Wang Manor and then the Ge Manor.

Both the Zhang and Wang Manors had the emergency alert system, but the Ge Manor didn't. They didn't even dare to imagine that the master household was able to respond and send help over to any houses facing trouble within a quarter of an hour. Just thinking about this made people feel terrified. Also, there was no need to worry about medical expenses. It was heard that the houses of Zhang and Wang manors will be managed by the Master household in the future.

It seemed like the residents didn't have to make other preparations and just had to work hard on the Manor and didn't have to worry about the future. The residents in the Ge Manor were all jealous. Blue smoke must have risen out of ancestral graves1 of the residents of those two manors and they must have cultivated for eight lifetimes to receive such blessing. If such a good event fell on top of the heads of the residents of the Ge Manor, then they would sell their life to the manor and work hard.

Ge Ying'xi also heard about this. He was speechless and could only sigh when he looked at the two manors of the Zhang and Wang families. He didn't even have the courage to make comparisons with them anymore.

"My master, what they did has made things hard for us. How about we expose the matters about their fields and cause some trouble for them?"

Housekeeper Ge was also jealous. You're just the master of a manor, why are you keeping doctors? The environment at your side was good now but the residents' hearts on my side are faltering now.

"Shut your mouth, don't talk about this again in the future. Do you still dare to use such means? Do you think that the Zhang and Wang Manors are friendly? They knew of what happened last time but they didn't do anything. It was not that were afraid of us, but it was because they can't be bothered to deal with us. Do you want to force them to work against us?

If we go cause trouble again, then there is no path to retreat into anymore. We're still working with them to build that restaurant. I heard that they're still looking for doctors, how about we have a discussion with them. We can contribute some money and copy what they did and install that quick communication system.

If something is up, then people can be found to help. If the person was sick, then they can be treated. If there was a fire, then the neighbors could help. If we don't do it, then when autumn harvest comes, their crop yield will be greater than ours by a large fraction. I don't know if encountering this type of neighbor is a blessing or a disaster. "

Ge Ying'xi had no other choice but to follow what they did. Fortunately, some things were not kept as a secret, and they even invited him to join in.

Translator's Notes

1. Blue smoke must have risen out of ancestral graves 祖坟冒青烟

According to feng'shui, if blue smoke rises of the ancestral grave, then it was an auspicious omen and the family would be blessed with luck.