Great Tang Idyll

Later on in the day, the sun was no longer as intense as it was in the noon. The occasional wind blew by, giving people a brief moment of coolness. The owners of the grain shop added more dishes to their workers' meal, and the hired workers also found out that the other people were the Zhang and Wang manors' residents. Since their food will be taken care of by their employer. they happily ate until they were full, and no longer caused ruckus.

But when they began to work in the fields again, they realized that when they bent over, the food in their stomach surged upwards. They had no choice but to endure the discomfort while feeling satisfied that they had eaten the food.

Of course, the Zhang and Wang manors' residents would not eat as if they have not eaten for eight lifetimes. They only ate until they were seven tenths full, and they saved the rest of the meal for later so that they could heat it up and eat it after they finished their work.

Four hours later, the Zhang and Wang manors' residents finished harvesting all of the remaining rice and they threshed all of the grains. They downed a couple mouthfuls of water and rested for a while. Then, they all rushed to transport the grains to the warehouse, and once they were done, they came back and ate the remaining food after heating it up.

Before the residents had the chance to heat up their food, Housekeeper Zhang ran over and shouted to everyone.

The residents didn't even question him and they divided up the food. More food was given to whoever had more people in their family, and then they turned around and ran home. They absolutely trusted their master now, and did whatever they were instructed to.

Housekeeper Zhang looked at the scattered people, smiled, and instructed those who followed him, "Bring all of the prepared items."

After speaking, he walked to the Between The Water And Clouds.

The bosses, who were at the Between The Water And Clouds, were becoming more and more dissatisfied with the workers they hired. They did a good job in the morning, but they wasted a lot of money at noon---120 coins were spent on each person. They had no other choice. The cost of the meal was three times more expensive than the original price. Including the cost of drinking water, it was 130 coins.

Twenty-six taels of silver was used up just for one meal, even though it was originally just supposed to cost ten taels a day.

The most annoying thing was that when these people started to work in the afternoon after being well fed and well hydrated, they did not work as swiftly as they did in the morning. Each and every one of them stood up and rubbed their stomachs after cutting a few plants. At this rate, they wouldn't even finish harvesting in three days.

"Brother Jin, we can't go on like this anymore. It's not like we have money but do not know where to waste it. Look at how they're working. The manors' residents work much faster than them. Their meals are not bad anymore now. How is this hiring people to work for us? It's more like we're taking care of our ancestors."

Boss Lu looked through the window and shook his head helplessly.

"It's hard for poor people to stumble upon an opportunity to eat delicious food, so they ate until they were bloated and no longer had the energy left to work. I will talk to them when they're done with work in the evening. If they really do turn against us, where will we find new workers from? Do you perhaps intend for you and I to go harvest the plants ourselves?"

Boss Jin understood the reason, but at the same time, there was no good solution. He spoke angrily, "Rather than blaming those workers, it is better to complain about the Zhang manor's people. They are so bad. They came to eat together on purpose and the food they ate was so good. I doubt they eat like that on other working days."

"Boss Jin, you're actually wrong. This kind of food wasn't served a few days ago when they were harvesting the plants. Instead, they ate lamb soup, which is not any cheaper than this. It was not our intention to cause you trouble when we asked our residents to harvest the crops. It's going to rain today. If you don't believe me, you can ask the local elders. They know the climate here best."

Just after Boss Jin finished speaking, Housekeeper Zhang walked in from the doorway and explained to them, but the expression in his eyes was telling them that he saw them as people who used petty mindsets to judge an upright person.

"It's going to rain? Housekeeper Zhang, you're not joking?" After hearing this, Boss Jin shivered. Anything that could go wrong, went wrong. He stared at Housekeeper Zhang, wanting to know if he was lying.

Housekeeper Zhang smiled and sighed again, "Boss Jin, do you think I have nothing better to do so I came all the way here to tell you nonsense? Did you not notice that it's cooler in the afternoon, and it feels a little stuffy? The wind has started. Look at the sky, it looks like it's almost night time."

"How's it? Do you feel more comfortable? Ah~! We are really afraid that when the rain falls, the things in the fields will be ruined. If not, why would we call our people to come back? The work on the mountain is not complete yet."

Housekeeper Zhang opened his arms, standing in front of the window, feeling the coolness of the wind, and said quietly.

What the bosses felt was not the coolness, but coldness--not just from the fear that their seeds would be ruined after the rain, but also from the fear of the Zhang and Wang manors.

Just like what Housekeeper Zhang said, only the elders in this place know about the climate here. Housekeeper Zhang deliberately waited a few days. He asked them to first deal with the shops before harvesting. So, it turned out that these were their preparations made for the rain.

What to do? What should they do? It seemed that the rain was about to fall, and it seemed impossible that the rainless sky would last until tomorrow morning. The seeds in the field cannot be sprouted anymore. When the time comes, there may be some that are not moldy, and they can be sprouted and planted directly, but they can't be planted in this season, can they?

"Housekeeper Zhang, you can't be tricking us like this. You let us throw our money into the field, and you caused us to lose so much money. The shops in the capital were sold to you in accordance with your requirements. Now that we have given them to you, you gave us something like this?"

Boss Wang stood up suddenly, took two steps towards Housekeeper Zhang, and he spoke with a sad face while grabbing his arm.

"Boss Wang, if you have something to say, then let's talk it through calmly. What we gave you was correct. We left the crops in the field for you to harvest. The reason why we didn't harvest it for you is because we feared that you would suspect that we had replaced it with other seeds. You must be aware of how considerate we tried to be."

Housekeeper Zhang moved to the side, but he still could not escape from Boss Wang's grasp, so he could only calmly persuade him.

"No, it's not like that, Housekeeper Zhang. You knew that it would rain, but why didn't you tell us a few days earlier?" The veins on Boss Wang's hands were visible; it was evident how tight his grip was.

Hearing this, Housekeeper Zhang's face sank, his eyes widened, and he said, "Boss Wang, what are you talking about? How could we possibly tell you a few days earlier? If we knew about it earlier, we would have harvested it a few days earlier. Take a look at how tired our residents are, and compare their speed to your worker's speed. Don't you know how much effort our residents are putting into it?

Just now, Boss Jin complained that the food our manors gave to our residents was too good. Human hearts are made of flesh1, so how could we not feed them well when they are putting their lives on the line by working so hard for us? The two Zhang and Wang manors wouldn't be able to mistreat them like that. Even so, the residents would have to rest for a few days before they can recover.

My master had already said that in a while, he would give the residents better things. We bought a few sheep, and butchered them for our residents to eat. Where could we find such manor residents as good as them? Look at the workers you hired--- they eat a lot but don't work that well."

"Housekeeper Zhang, don't be angry. If you have something to say, let's discuss it. When we sold those shops to you, we made some money---about a thousand or eight hundred taels of silver. We don't need that money. We will sell you a few more shops. Help us, is there any way to make us lose less?"

Boss Lu was afraid that Housekeeper Zhang would be angered and leave at this time, so he walked over, pulled Boss Wang away, and spoke in a quiet voice.

"A solution... is hard to come up with. Don't worry, everyone, the manor won't just stand by and watch. Come, sit down and let's talk. Let's discuss it carefully."

House Zhang led Boss Lu Dong to sit on the chair. He started to frown and thought about it.

*

Over at the Zhang Manor, Wang Juan was adding fillings to a thin plain crepe. Seeing that the sky was overcast outside, she happily spoke to Zhang Xiao'bao.

"Yeah. Who told them to report false prices and not pay for the freight? Do they really think we're easily tricked? This time, if I don't get him to lose a thousand or eight hundred taels of silver, my name, Zhang Xiao'bao, can be written backwards."

Zhang Xiao'bao's child face showed a devious smile as he replied back to her. He didn't like to eat crepes that were rolled up. He held the crepe in one hand and with the chopsticks in the other hand, he picked up some fillings, and he ate them separately. Spring crepes were usually eaten at the beginning of Spring, but he got people to serve this to residents at this time of the year. Oh, wait, the people here call it a Spring platter.

Wang Juan didn't understand why Zhang Xiao'bao didn't like rolling it. When she finished rolling the crepe, she saw that Zhang Xiao'bao had eaten more than half of the four inch crepe and had eaten several bites of the filling. She now understood that rolling it was a waste of time.

Even when eating the braised shredded pork that carried a little bit of sauce, Zhang Xiao'bao didn't roll it up. He just held the crepe in his hand and used his chopsticks to pick up the shredded pork.

After taking a bite of the crepe, Wang Juan took a bite of the filling. She chewed it a couple of times, and said, "Other than not having the taste of hot sauce, everything else is almost the same."

"It's just the same things, so of course the taste is almost the same." Zhang Xiao'bao picked up his second crepe.

"Xiao'bao, even if our people help them harvest, they perhaps won't be able to finish it by the middle of the night, right? They will still have to lose some." Wang Juan asked puzzledly.

Zhang Xiao'bao was still chewing food in his mouth, and he nodded. After he finished swallowing the food, he said, "Of course. If it really doesn't rain, I will even delay things for them for a while. I thought of the reason already---it's too tiring to work during the day. This is to help them work desperately."

While speaking, Zhang Xiao'bao used his chopsticks to get a little bit of fermented bean curd. He brought it in his mouth, tasted it and smacked his lips a few times. Then, he continued,

"I want them to lose a part. The seeds they have bought have been planned for already: they will sell one part to people they have good relations with, and they will grow the other part themselves. If they lose some, then we don't need to look for buyers elsewhere. We can kindly sell our seeds to them."

"Xiao'bao, you are still that bad, I understand now. The amount you are going to make them lose is exactly the amount of rice that we have left after we have saved some to use as seeds. Come on, Xiao'bao, I'll give you this piece of stinky tofu as a reward for you.

Translator's Notes

1. Human hearts are made of flesh

This means that humans are able to sympathize with others.