Great Tang Idyll

As the sun slowly sets, the sky and water both reflected waves that were stained red and the clouds chased the swan geese's song. The swan geese's song blended with the wind and each birdcall told other swan geese to return home. The kind mother spoke gently as smoke covered the twilight.

After summer, there was still a month of work left to do in the fields. The weather was getting hotter; when night arrived, people who couldn't fall asleep looked at the starry night sky outside. The Manor residents had worked all day long so they did not spend their time like that-- only the people of the master household were that leisurely.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan had chives-filled buns at night and they finally felt full after drinking some spinach soup. They quickly entered dreamland after laying down on their bed. After about four hours, Shi'liu woke them up and they realized that there were still some people that were unable to sleep and were still wandering around.

"Xiao'bao, everybody is a bit too energetic. Let's find some entertainment activity for them. They can't even sleep at night right now. When the weather becomes even hotter, wouldn't they have to stay up all night? That would interfere with their ability to work the next day."

Wang Juan sat in front of the desk and was about to study, but when she saw that the light in the rear window changed from light to dark, which should have been caused when someone moved passed the torch in the yard.

"There is no use to having any entertainment activities. If you let them play mahjong, it is very likely that they will play for the entire night. It's evident that they have done too little work during the day. It's mainly because more people have been hired to work in the yard, so after dividing up all of the work, there's not much for each person to do. Since you can't sleep, let's study."

Zhang Xiao'bao spread the paper onto the table and flipped open the book. He was thinking about the knowledge he learned from his father, and began to review. He admired the energy of these servants. He grinded the inkstick1 while he spoke to Wang Juan,

"They can be given more work to do during the day. How about letting them go to the mountain to pick wild vegetables? They can pick bracken fern and if they find ‘monk head', which is the balloon flower, or Platycodon grandiflorum, they should pick more of it. When they bring it back, it can be sprinkled with salt and then sealed in a jar, or it can be sun dried. It can be eaten during winter when there are no veggies to eat."

"Okay, let's do that then. So it seems like we need to find more work for them in the future, so that they can fall asleep at night from tiredness." Wang Juan thought that this was a good idea. Those who were still wandering outside don't know their Young Master and Young Miss have found fun things for them to do.

The next morning, the majority of the two master households' servants took a day's worth of food and water, and made their way up the mountain. Their have been assigned to collect anything that is edible, stay in groups of two or three, and be careful of snakes and insects.

The little children on the manors who were originally playing around thought that something major happened because they saw that so many people left the master household. When they asked around, they found out the people were going to pick vegetables in the mountain. The children gathered together to discuss, and then they decided to go to the mountain too, but they did not dare to go too far. It was not too tiring since they spent their time eating and playing while they foraged.

In the evening, the children delivered the foraged items to the master house first. Although they were just kids, their foraging speed was not slower than that of the adults, and the group of little children actually collected two big sacks of mountain vegetables. They placed the sacks outside the master house and waited for the people inside to come out and get it.

It was normal for the people from the courtyard to work outside so there was no need to pay them extra money. The little children were busy working the entire day, so of course, they should have been rewarded. The housekeeper brought out some salted duck eggs, and gave each child two duck eggs. The children were content to receive just anything. Furthermore, two salted duck eggs were a lot already. If it was eaten conservatively, it can be eaten for five or six days. They placed the duck eggs into their pockets and left while cheering happily.

The workers from the courtyard came back at a later time. It was not known how far they went, but they were all listless. They brought back dozens of sacks, and together the sacks weighed more than 3,000 catties. If they were all pickled with salt, then the amount of salt needed would be a lot, so this was not doable.

Thus, they decided to pick out the better ones and brine them while the remaining ones were placed in a cool place and dried in the shade, and then they can be hung in a ventilated place. This way, it could be stored for a long time. When those people wanted to go to bed after having dinner in a hurry, they were instructed to study words. The three special class maids from the inner yard were responsible for teaching these people.

After studying for two hours, these people finally couldn't stand it anymore, and, one by one, each went back to their rooms, and immediately fell asleep. No one stayed up late that night.

"What do you think? The method works, right? We have gained a lot of things and resolved their insomnia." Zhang Xiao'bao spoke to Wang Juan while they were studying at night.

"Okay, but in two days when there are no more mountain vegetables, what else can you get them to do? You can't possibly ask them to go to the mountain to chop wood, right? You have to arrange something that they can do for a long time. Except for working during some festivals and doing farm work, on normal days they don't seem to be doing much work?"

Wang Juan found that after more people were found to work at home, the workload was lessened. She and Zhang Xiao'bao helped to plan most of the things. Although the efficiency was improved, there was now excess manpower. She was not foolish enough to let the workers clock in at nine and clock out at five, and then enjoy nightlife.

Zhang Xiao'bao also did not want to see so many people have this much free time since this will make them become lazy. If they have things to do during their free time, then it was easy to handle, since they had something to look forward to in life. However, if they did not know what to do during their free time, then it would be troublesome.

They must have a goal, even if the goal was one that they had to blindly accept. Hearing that Wang Juan asked him to think of a long-term solution, he thought for a bit and then he shook his head, "No, you can't confine them with a long-term job. They need to think that the work they do is fresh and new.

Shi'liu, Xiao'hong and Ying'tao were exceptions. They have already regarded their job as an honor, and they love their jobs from the bottom of their hearts. If their job was changed, they would think that we have found them unsuitable for the job.

Get these people to pick mountain vegetables for another two days, then let them work on the lotus flowers. Weren't the lotus flowers that Magistrate Cheng found were all placed into the pond? Let them work on this first, and then after two days, let them raise shrimps and crabs. Don't let them get too familiar with the jobs. Swap them out with a different group of people and assign them a new job every two days.

The disadvantage of this is that we cannot expect the things we raise will have a high yield, and they will die easily. The advantage is that when they encounter something they are not familiar with, and if they want to satisfy their masters, they must learn from others, and others have to learn from them."

"I see, in the process of teaching others, they will get a sense of satisfaction in return. This will also strengthen their intercommunication, and at the same time, they are forced to take everything seriously, otherwise they will not be able to answer the questions other people ask them. It would be embarrassing if they were called out by another person."

After Zhang Xiao'bao said this, Wang Juan realized that they had to use their own money to train these people. If a person developed a habit to do work seriously, then the person will keep the habit when the person works on a different job. In order to be better at teaching others, the person had to learn seriously, and then think hard to summarize their experience.

The two of them wrote a few more lines, and then Wang Juan spoke again, "In fact, not much money will be lost. The so-called loss is actually the difference between the expected output and the actual yield. The transplanted lotus does not cost money. We have ponds already; we can ask the shrimp and crab sellers for the baby shrimps and baby crabs.

I think this will work. Other than some vegetables in the backyard, there should be some plants that can be grafted, like fruit trees. There will always be new job waiting for them. Let's continue writing, and then sleep after a while. "

Unknowingly, the Dragon Boat Festival will be here soon. The Spring Tillage ended several days ago. The crops were looked after, and everyone was waiting for the harvesting season to come. The wheat has already been cut once already, and the second cutting will be done later.

At the same time, construction of the restaurant at the Manor was completed. The supply of MSG to the three restaurants in the county seat has always been very minimal, and it was reserved to be used in their own business. Of course, the names behind these businesses were not the Zhang and Wang families. The Zhang and Wang families have always been pure farmers. The Zhang family's ancestors have a bit of political credit, so they can be regarded as patriotic descendants.

As for business matters, they had no connections with the merchants. It was other people who occupied the Zhang and Wang family's space to do business. Even the mountain near the Little Luo'shui River was simply bought by the master of the Zhang family to be rented out to people. As for what business they conducted, it had nothing to do with the Zhang family.

Construction at the Little Luo'shui River was not complete yet. The river still needs to be dug, and the levee needs to be repaired. The buildings need to be built according to building codes and standards, and the wharf also needs to be built. These projects were carried out simultaneously and it solved the problem of having many unemployed laborers in the county. The small road and pavilions on the mountain and the man-made lake at the bottom of the lake can only start after the other projects are complete.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, those who collected wormwood, collected wormwood and other medicinal herbs. During this time, they collected everything that could be foraged. The two Zhang and Wang Manors also purchased a lot of medicinal herbs during this time, and it was Zhang Xiao'bao who paid for these. The supply at the apothecary was going to be low eventually, so they stocked up on these items too.

It was finally the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Zhang and Wang Manors began to give out bamboo leaf rice dumplings2 to their residents again. The restaurant was also opened on the same day. Strings after strings of firecrackers were ignited as if they did not cost money. Magistrate Cheng brought some people from the administrative office over to congratulate them. Zhou Kong did not lie; he also called people from the prefecture to come join him to eat and drink for free.

Song Jing'gong's name was well-known, and he has attracted many friends to come here to support the restaurant. These people knew about the opening two days beforehand, and they all raced to write poems at home while they still had the time so that they could attract the spotlight on the day of the opening.

Even a remote place like the Tu'qiao Village became more lively because of the opening of the restaurant, which made all the residents in the three manors happy.

It was impossible for Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan to participate, let alone stand at the entrance to welcome customers. The adults in the family all left, leaving behind only the two of them to play in the yard.

"Xiao'bao, are there any bamboo rice dumplings that children can eat? Children like us." Wang Juan looked at others steaming or boiling the bamboo rice dumplings. She was craving it, but she was also worried that it would be difficult to digest. She asked Zhang Xiao'bao boredly.

"There should be? I was thinking about using rice that was not so glutinous like normal rice, and then add some minced meat and other fillings inside. Wrap it all up, and then steam it, then it can be eaten." Zhang Xiaobao analyzed.

"Stop talking. How is that still a bamboo rice dumpling? Zhou Kong might come over to ask things again, and we have had to answer him." Wang Juan laid on the chair, and then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Translator's Notes

1. Grinding inkstick

An inkstick is a form of solid ink. To produce ink, the inkstick is grinded against an inkstone with a bit of water.

2. Bamboo leaf rice dumplings 粽子 (zong'zi)

This is made by wrapping glutinous rice in bamboo leaves, and it is usually wrapped to be shaped like a tetrahedron. It can be be plain without any fillings, or have a sweet filling like red bean paste, or a savory filling with pork, Chinese sausage, salted duck egg, etc.

This rice dumpling is eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate the death of a famous patriotic poet named Qu Yuan. The story goes that Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River, and in hopes that the fishes won't consume Qu Yuan's corpse, the people threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fishes.