Great Tang Idyll - Volume 4 Chapter 46

The people of the Cao family don’t eat so well or enjoy such delicious food often. They eat with gusto, drinking plenty of wine. An hour later, they are all drunk, speaking in a language only they can understand. They line up and follow the Zhang family away.

Meanwhile, the Liu family is beaten, watching the Cao family devour dumplings, drink wine, and enjoy themselves. Not only does the Cao family refuse to help when their people are beaten, but they also stand by and watch the whole thing unfold with amusement.

“The Cao family has betrayed our master. Let’s go back and tell him that they were bribed by Zhang Zhong. Bah!” the Liu family fumes. They no longer care about the shrimp fishing and stop eating. For over an hour, they haven’t touched anything made here. Seeing others eat dumplings while they are stuck with brown rice is unbearable—won’t they be ridiculed by the Cao family?

Everyone from the Liu family goes back to report to their master. In fact, what angers them the most isn’t just the food, but the fact that about thirty people from the Cao family have watched them make a fool of themselves.

Once the Liu family leaves, the Jiang and Fan families remain, still drifting on the water. They haven’t set foot on land for the past hour, merely observing the scene. They can’t make out the exact words being exchanged, but they know the Zhang family has cooked for the Cao family and has beaten someone from the Liu family.

When the Liu family leaves without a word, the people from the two families become irritated. The Cao family, involved with Zhang Zhong, has eaten and left, while the Liu family, uninterested in anything but food, has also left. What about the rest of them? Shrimp fishing? That’s a joke. If even the Liu family doesn’t care, why would they?

“Let’s go, let’s head back and report this to the master,” says someone from the Fan family. The Jiang family doesn’t speak, but they follow suit. They row their raft back to shore and abandon it. It seems like no one else cares about what happened.

An hour later, a fast horse brings the news to the mansion. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan have been discussing the weaving machine. They both understand the basic principles and have a general idea of how it works, but when they see the loom in person, they feel somewhat dizzy.

“This part is for threading; if you add a component here, the thread’s direction changes. Over here is for sending the shuttle; the thread loops from that side…” Wang Juan mutters to herself while working through it step by step. Zhang Xiaobao is even worse at it, standing by and struggling to mentally visualize the loom’s schematic.

“Xiaobao, it might be better to get a few more people to help with this,” Wang Juan suggests. “When we see the real thing, it’s different from the picture. Let’s find a skilled craftsman tomorrow. It’s not too difficult. Maybe the engineering students from the college can help; Zhang Jiuling has connections there.”

Wang Juan isn’t sure how to proceed. While she can think of a human-powered propeller, the loom is harder to grasp, especially since she doesn’t fully understand the weaving process. She decides to let others take charge of it and set up a project.

“That would take two pigeons for the round trip. You can’t expect a pigeon to fly back after reaching its destination. Long-distance pigeon messages are critical lifesavers at times. We’ll need to give the old steward here a reward,” Zhang Xiaobao says, worried that Zhang Jiuling might refuse, and prepares to offer some benefits.

Wang Juan, recalling the donated money and how Zhang Jiuling’s family had previously looked down on Zhang Zhong, suggests, “He still owes us two favors. We can use that to offset it.”

Zhang Xiaobao quickly shakes his head. “No, he doesn’t owe us anything. Don’t mention it. It’s a favor we did passively. Unless he’s desperate, he won’t think of repaying us. We haven’t figured out how to hatch chicks yet, but let’s hatch more pigeons first. It shouldn’t be hard to trade pigeons for his help. He’s not prime minister yet, and once we have our pigeons, we can create a communication network. We’ll make a lot of money sending urgent messages to rich people.”

“What about ordinary people?” Wang Juan asks.

“Ordinary people? What urgent news do they have? Even if they do, it won’t matter. For example, if there’s a poor student leaving home for an exam, and their family here needs an urgent letter delivered, how do we manage that? We usually deliver letters to aristocratic families and merchants. Aristocrats have their own methods, but merchants may open branches or have dealings with others, so we deliver letters to them.”

Zhang Xiaobao sees great potential in the pigeon business. If he can get information early, he can prepare and make money.

Wang Juan feels a little regretful. Many inventions designed for the military eventually serve the rich. When the rich get better things, the poor are left behind. Now that she considers herself relatively wealthy, she thinks she should care more about the poor.

“Xiaobao, do you know how to reduce the gap between the rich and poor?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” Zhang Xiaobao replies. “The easiest way would be to fight the landlords and local tyrants. But let me tell you this: as long as the landlords and local tyrants can live like others after the fight, they’ll only become richer unless everyone changes their mindset.”

Zhang Xiaobao has once pondered how to help ordinary people make money. However, he finds that only those dissatisfied with the status quo and willing to take risks can make money. Some risked big, others small. Some failed due to lack of ability or luck. It’s too difficult for those satisfied with the status quo to succeed.

Wang Juan sighs. “Forget it, let’s live our own lives and help others when we can. We’re not saviors.”

The two then turn to more philosophical thoughts.

Just then, someone arrives to report the situation in detail.

After everyone has left, Zhang Xiaobao smiles.

“Xiaobao, what bad idea have you come up with?” Wang Juan asks, knowing trouble is brewing as soon as she sees his innocent grin.

“All schemes are bad. Tomorrow morning, have the kiln sell off the remaining jars, then we start buying shrimp paste. Twenty pounds per jar, four strings of cash for each jar. No deposits, no written contracts. Just spread the word. I want to see if people’s hearts can withstand the temptation of money. Three days later, we’ll offer five strings,” Zhang Xiaobao says as he walks out.

A bookkeeper comes over, and he needs to sort out the accounts.

Wang Juan follows behind, offering to help a little. She shakes her head as she watches Zhang Xiaobao. He’s been so busy lately, thinking about everything, and even talking in his sleep. If you listen carefully, you can hear him mumbling data.

While waiting for them to enter the study, Wang Juan asks as she grinds ink, “Xiaobao, do you hate those four people so much that you have to deal with them once and for all?”

“I wouldn’t say I hate them. There’s no concrete evidence, but they did do those things. I mainly see them as chickens to be killed to warn the monkeys. Once Luzhou is developed, people will come to steal the fruits of our labor. It’s time for my father to step down too—and your father. He can’t stay stuck in a low-ranking seventh-grade official position forever. This time, he’ll be credited with some achievements.

Even if the court knows he didn’t contribute much, they’ll still give him face. It’ll also help your mother get a better honorary title. A tree lives for its bark, and a person lives for their reputation. My mother won’t have to worry anymore. Even if my father doesn’t fight for it, others will be anxious to raise your family’s status. Otherwise, it will be hard when you marry me,” Zhang Xiaobao says as he flips through the account books.

“Who said I’m marrying you, you little brat? Tell me, who are the monkeys?” Wang Juan pinches Zhang Xiaobao’s cheek as she asks.

Zhang Xiaobao glances at the account book again and answers, “I don’t know who the ‘monkey’ is, but I want those who might be monkeys to be careful. Those who are capable should stand up, and those who are not should retreat. After Luzhou is built, my father won’t be able to enter Beijing yet. What kind of place is that? Huaqing County—who’s doing the accounting? Who kept these accounts? Are you trying to fool idiots? It was fine yesterday, but today you dare to falsify the accounts. Looks like some people I didn’t punish last time are getting restless again. Are they getting a bit agitated with the arrival of summer?”

“What’s going on?” Wang Juan, realizing the truth, leans over curiously to take a look.

“It’s nothing. We’re building a canal in the bay with 1,200 people and 550 kilograms of food. That’s enough for everyone, right? Including vegetables, it’s enough. The vegetables total 600 kilograms of spinach, which shrinks when fried. We use 7.5 kilograms of salt. That might seem like a lot, but it’s normal. After all, when making pickles, the salt and water in workers’ bodies are consumed a lot. We also have special saline solution for when we don’t eat. It’s normal to consume 400 kilograms of firewood. Even if he said it was 1,000 kilograms, I’d believe it. But what if the wind is strong or the firewood isn’t good? What exactly did you see?”

Wang Juan checks the accounts herself. After going through them, she doesn’t find anything unusual. The accounts for water charges and wages are in another book, and have nothing to do with this.

Seeing something suspicious in another account book, Wang Juan finds it and scrutinizes the details. She shakes her head and says…

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong. The difference between yesterday and today is within a few strings of cash. Let me double-check yesterday’s ledger. The only difference is the excavation site—today they dredged the bay, yesterday they hadn’t finished yet. But the consumption was the same, even slightly more yesterday.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. The mistake lies precisely here. Today it’s cloudy and rainy, so shouldn’t the firewood consumption have been a little lower? You said yourself, even 1,000 jin wouldn’t be questioned because firewood is cheap. Even 5,000 jin would be fine. Now look at the ledger for boiling water—separately recorded. Compare it with yesterday’s. They actually used less water today, and the water carriers’ wages were lower.”