Great Tang Idyll

When there was the first glimmer of sunlight the next morning, the officials were all woken up. Each person drank a bowl of brown rice porridge and ate the side dishes that they had yesterday. After eating, they had no choice but to help out in the village. They weren't capable of doing jobs that involved technical skills, and the villagers never hoped that they would be able to do so, so they were told to carry water.

There was a pond in the mountain that was about one li1 away from the village. The villagers weren't left with no water since they had water from the mountain pond, the upstream water that flowed down, rain water, and the small spring that was there. No one in the village grew rice,wheat, millet, or sorghum.

There were many vegetable growing fields; the price of vegetables is cheap and money can be exchanged for it more quickly. There were plenty of the vegetables, so some vegetables can be picked, and then a strong laborer in the village can carry it on his back and go outside to sell it. They took another route. Other than these officials that didn't know about the situation, no one was stupid enough to traverse so many mountains. After they made some money from selling the vegetables, they would buy salt, oil and other related items and bring them back.

Life was a bit harsh, but it was not harsh enough that they had to eat bran all day long. There was also a small mill in the village. They grew soybeans on the farmlands on the mountain, and they were occasionally able to eat soy products. Majority of the beans were handed in as tax payment. Magistrate Cheng knew that they converted that wasteland into farmland, but he didn't record into the records, so the villagers were able to have some spare money.

During the Chinese New Year, Magistrate Cheng also brought the things from Zhang Manor to this place. Therefore, the villagers did whatever he arranged. The villagers don't care how powerful the officials were or which rankings they had; the villagers listened to whoever that treated them well. They were extremely respectful towards Magistrate Cheng when other people weren't watching. They even boiled water for him to bathe in, and before everyone were woken up to eat breakfast, they gave Magistrate Cheng two golden fried eggs sprinkled with sugar first.

The officials' jobs were arranged by the villagers, and it ranged from far to near, from light to heavy. At noon, someone delivered them food and they ate directly at the place where they were working at. A group of officials changed their clothes and started gritting their teeth while working. After walking for so long yesterday, all of them felt sore in their backs and legs, but they had to persist. The two Deputy Chiefs didn't even say anything, so they were in no position to complain.

The two bailiffs did not have to work since they went back to fetch money and get things. They left quietly with Zhou Kong and Zhou Xi'hu, who were both also assigned to do work. Zhou Kong was going to Zhang Manor to discuss some matters and thank them. They were going to come back two days later; the bailiffs will wait until then to return back here with them and some food.

As for the money, it was given already, and this money was paid by the county. Regardless of the quality of the food that the officials ate, it still costs money. The people in the village do not lack this labor as they were able to do the things by themselves, so why would they bother finding someone to do work in exchange for food?

"We're out, we're finally out." Zhou Kong said comfortably as he looked at the scenery outside the mountain.

"My lord, your carriage will be here soon. Those who followed my lord have been persuaded to go back. They were told that my lord will have a good rest here for two days and there will be people caring for my lord. So don't worry about them coming searching for you." The bailiff that came over from the administrative office to wait here reported to Zhou Kong.

The bailiff replied back respectfully, "Don't worry, my lord, the county has the Record-keeper and the County Lieutenant in charge. All the matters were trivial matters. Mister Zhou is also taking care of the San'shui county, so there will be no major issues. Other than the Recordkeeper, Lord Zhao, who does not talk a lot, everyone else is friendly. There are no weak links in the chain."

Zhou Kong was on their side, so the bailiff's words were more extensive.

Zhou Kong didn't say anything this time since he was not worried anymore. His carriage also arrived at this time. The bailiff rode the horse to lead the way, and the outline of the group of people soon disappeared from the foot of the mountain.

The strong wind passed, and the people of Ge manor were still helping the seedlings stand upright. Some of the unusable ones were simply thrown away. The Master Household finally did something to protect the residents. Two days after, the Master Household had provided the seeds for the seedlings. It was said that the three times the amount of seeds were used to exchange for seedlings that did not fall, and the farmers were very happy.

The people from Zhang and Wang Manors also inspected the field and picked out the few seedlings that could not resist the wind. They separated a few seedlings from other dense areas and moved them there. They observed which ones were stronger and noted it down. When the autumn harvest comes, the plants with plenty of large grains will be kept to be used as seeds in the future.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan rode around on their bicycle and when they saw the Manor's residents show happy expressions over the rice seedlings, they also felthappy too. From time to time, they responded back to their greetings with childish expressions and tones.

After Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan had greeted them and left, a ten-year-old child standing beside an adult watched the Young Master and Young Miss, who were now far off in the distance, and spoke to his father.

"Don't talk nonsense, how can the Young Master and Young Miss be compared to rice seedlings? If I hear you say that again, then you will get slapped in the face.. The father lectured his child, and he squatted down and looked at the one plant that was in front of him. That seedling once helped protect other seedlings from the wind. He narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I don't dare to say that again, but I still feel that way." The child agreed, but he did not change his mind.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan stopped when they arrived at the little bridge and looked at the construction site that was still worked on. They were hoping that it would be completed more soon.

"Xiao'bao, when Zhou Xihu's uncle comes over, how many things do have to discuss with him? We can't speak to him in person, so let's think about it first so that nothing will go wrong." Wang Juan got off of the bicycle to go see the river that had completely stopped flowing and asked.

"It should be three things. First is the long-term plan for some business cooperation deals with Zhou Xi'hu, the second is to get him to help build a reputation for the restaurant here, and the third is to ask him if anyone offered help during the time when the country was suffering a disaster, and what rewards were given to the prefecture. As for what he wants to discuss about, that is not known. I think he would want to see the two masterminds at the Zhang Manor.

Song Jing'gong mentioned more than once that Magistrate Cheng wants to seek discipleship. It seems that these people are curious about this aspect. Should we meet them or not? If we meet them, then someone has to be in the middle to pass news back and forth. This is also a kind of meeting. I'm afraid that when the time comes, he will want to ask for the mastermind's opinion, and ask some sensitive questions."

Zhang Xiao'bao sat on the bicycle with his elbow resting on the bar handle in front of him, and he replied after spending a while in thought.

"I think we should meet him then and listen to his thoughts so that we can understand him better." Wang Juan suggested.

"Okay, then we will let people pass the words back and forth." Zhang Xiao'bao agreed.

At 4 PM, a carriage quickly rumbled its way over from the faraway Tu'qiao Village. Three horses pulled the carriage, and clouds of dust were stirred up along the entire way. The horse looked exhausted, and the coachman only slowed down when they entered the Ge Manor because the roads were not as easy to drive through.

Zhou Xi'hu and his uncle were also tired out by the bumpiness of the carriage. As soon as the car slowed down, they directly ordered the carriage to be stopped. He and his uncle got out of the carriage and walked over there by foot. When he first got into the carriage, he still wanted to eat something, but his uncle lectured him saying that some time was needed to go from here to the administrative office, and more time will be needed to go from there to the Manor. The two of them had already made some delays when leaving the village, so if they were to travel any slower, they would not arrive until nighttime.

Therefore, the carriage was rushed all the way, and good thing the horses were good ones, or else the horses would have died from exhaustion if they were normal horses.

After getting out of the carriage, the two of them drank some water first, while they allowed the coachman to go let the horses rest. There was a bailiff that accompanied them. The bailiff also jumped off his horse and handed the horse to the coachman. The three of them slowly walked to shake off the motion sickness and made their way to the Zhang and Wang Manors.

At the moment, they were still in the Ge Manor. As the Si Cang Can Jun, Zhou Kong was in charge of taxation in the Prefecture, and he was also responsible for its storage of supplies. Tax reduction and exemption depended on the local disaster situation. Since he was here, of course he had to take a good look.

He let the bailiff lead them down a road in the fields. After the three people walked around the two houses that were blocking their view, a large paddy field appeared in front of them, and there were others working busily in it. Looking from a distance, it seemed as if they were picking things out from the field.

"Could it be the river here never stopped flowing?" Zhou Kong hadn't inquired about the fields here before, so he asked.

"It did stop. It stopped flowing a few days ago. The upstream villages have guided the water to their own fields. There was only just a small river here. This place is called Ge Manor. The water used here is taken from the two manors of the Zhang and Wang families. Before, when there was no drought, the Zhang and Wang Manors stored water in six large ponds and dug seven wells. Now the Zhang and Wang Manors have ten wells in total, and the Ge Manor has three."

The bailiff stayed on the side to clarify his questions. When he talked about Zhang and Wang Manors, his tone was full of respect. Not only was this because the Zhang and Wang Manors were powerful, but they took care of them. On normal days, the Manors would send things over to the administrative office for everyone to share. His family still has fungus that his family couldn't bear to eat. His wife was pregnant, and every time she wanted to eat it, they would stir-fry a small amount.

He didn't know who told the Zhang Manor a few days ago that his wife was pregnant. Mister Song came by himself to give them some dried tofu skin2, chili sauce, a small jar of ten years old black vinegar and a bag of white sugar. He said to cut the tofu skin into smaller pieces after soaking it in water, then blanch it in hot water and then mix it with sugar and vinegar to give it a sweet and sour taste. It could also be made spicy by adding in chili sauce.

At that moment, the other bailiffs looked at him with envious eyes, and when he went home, he was welcomed by his wife's smiling face--- both of these was enough to bring pride to his face. Not to mention just praising them and supporting them, but even if he saw them killed someone, he would turn his head away and pretend that he didn't see anything.

Enjoy my little drawing of Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao'bao making their daily biking rounds on the manor!

1. "li" 里

This is a unit for measuring lengths, and is about 500 m.

2. Dried tofu skin 豆皮

This is a soy product made from skimming and drying the top layer that is formed from boiling soy milk.