Great Tang Idyll

"Let's go, I wonder who leaked our identities. If we keep standing here, we will just delay the boatmen's work. Boatman, let's go ashore."

Zhang Xiao'bao looked at the boats that spontaneously guarded them from the side. He was unwilling to waste other people's time, so while holding an umbrella, he notified the person rowing the boat.

"Okay, young master, we will go ashore now." The person rowed the boat to the shore, and the surrounding boats also moved, using the boat in the center as a pivot point. Just like what the coachman had said, the existence of the Zhang and Wang manors was not only related to themselves. Many people relied on them to survive. Therefore, nothing can happen to the people of the two families.

By the time Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao'bao arrived at the shore, it was as if the Heavens were cooperating with them. It was not raining too much before, but now, the rain was crashing down and a cloud of mist immediately formed at the shore and on the river.

When a gust of wind blew, Zhang Xiao'bao had no choice but to prop the umbrella up on the ground. He and Wang Juan firmly held the umbrella with their four small hands. In order to block the rain, the two of them used a large umbrella with a diameter of 1.5 meters. They were short while the umbrella handle was long. This was the perfect opportunity to show that only a bit of surrounding rain that crashed against the ground could splash onto them.

"Xiao'bao, are you cold? It's so cool." Wang Juan could feel water mist blowing at her and asked Zhang Xiao'bao. She stood facing the wind, Zhang Xiao'bao had his back turned to the wind, blocking most of the tiny raindrops.

"Xiao'bao, don't men like to protect women?" Wang Juan had no better option, so she hugged Zhang Xiao'bao.

"Not all. Some men like to let women protect them. I think men who are willing to protect women are generally controlling. They believe that they hold the decision making power and it's their responsibility to protect women. Whenever you want to receive something, you always have to give something away in return."

Zhang Xiao'bao thought for a while and analyzed it rationally.

"How about you?"

"I am also relatively controlling, but I still listen to some of your opinions. After all, sometimes, for certain things, you are more professional. I think you are also a controlling person. I don't know whether it is because of your family or because of the department you were in."

While talking, Zhang Xiao'bao tightened his abdominal muscles to keep his core warm. At the same time he relaxed the muscles in other parts of his body by giving himself psychological cues. If he doesn't do this, goosebumps would form on his skin and increase his body's calorie consumption. The purpose of goosebumps themselves was to reduce heat dissipation, but if his entire body's muscles were contracted, energy consumption would speed up.

"Didn't you get someone to check my background? Why didn't you find out about my family?" Wang Juan asked with a smile.

"Nothing was found. That kid didn't know much; he only knew about what you originally studied and trained for. Nothing about your family was found. I found a deputy ministerial official to check, but we only found out your name and the names of your family members. We don't know anything else. But, because of this, I know that your family is absolutely extraordinary.

I guess that your grandfather, on either your mom's or dad's side, has armed soldiers standing guard at the door of their house. You are indeed very fortunate. Not because your family is great, but because you have a family. Huh? The wind is dying down? "

Zhang Xiao'bao felt a bit regretful every single time he thought about how he asked someone to check the background of the person who wanted to arrest him. The time was too short. If he was given just one more day, he would be able to find the answer. Unfortunately, after they came back, Wang Juan reacted too quickly. While he was still talking, he realized that it was not so cold anymore.

Wang Juan smiled, "It's not cold anymore, right? Do you know why? This is the power of the human heart. Don't always think about my family's affairs. Mhhm, you guessed it right. Both my grandpas‘ houses have guards, but your level of alertness is too low. Did you not hear the noise? Turn your head and look back."

Zhang Xiao'bao was not as alert. The cold made him focus all of his attention on adjusting his body. He turned his head and looked back. Even if he had become accustomed to many things, he couldn't control himself at this moment, and his eyes turned red.

Hundreds of people that were doing things on the pier, were now standing behind them. They just stood there next to each other, with no straw raincoat on their bodies, nor hats on their heads, and they formed a rectangular array that was 20 meters wide and 56 meters long. The blowing wind couldn't break through this wall of people at all.

"I really didn't hear any footsteps. Why did they come here?" Zhang Xiao'bao took a deep breath, blinked, and returned to a calm appearance.

"I came gently, and spring bugs grew silent for me. Silence is the footsteps in the rain, and the wind shatters outside the human wall." Wang Juan said a weird poem.

Zhang Xiao'bao understood, and nodded, "From tomorrow on, no, starting from today, I will make a buffet place for all the workers here at the wharf. They can eat as much as they like for two meals just for two coins, and drinks are sold without profit. This is to continue to squeeze out every little bit of worth they have left in them. Let them advertise for our shop here or for Between The Water and Clouds, and make custom-made clothes for them, with our trademark printed on it. We can't give the clothing away for nothing."

Wang Juan rubbed her eyes on Zhang Xiao'bao's shoulders; she was also emotionally touched. She and Zhang Xiao'bao were the only children of the manors, but just because they did some things they thought they should do, they received this kind of treatment. Perhaps even Magistrate Cheng did not get to enjoy such treatment.

If these workers were replaced by the soldiers from her and Zhang Xiao'bao's time, then she would believe that they would do something like this. However, these people were not that strongly disciplined, let alone have such a high level of perceptiveness. Everything was due to their sincerity. What these people thought of was actually the same as Zhang Xiao'bao original thoughts.

If you treat me well, I will treat you well. Life in the family was better than before, so they had to safeguard this benefit. She and Zhang Xiao'bao issued an order to not charge any additional fees for dock workers. Other docks required the dock workers to pay some extra money every day just so they could work there.

"Why would there be nothing to do? They can dig pits in winter. After two days, when the boats are less, the digging can begin and we can hire them to work for us. They need to dig big pits. One pit will be connected to another pit, and a frame will be placed over top of the dirt or we can just get them to dig a cellar, a bigger cellar."

At this moment, Zhang Xiao'bao really wanted to find something for them to do. They couldn't let them waste a whole winter doing nothing.

Wang Juan thought for a while and said, "Are we going to get them to dig a cellar to store some vegetables or something? Then, they have to work now. But there is a lot of work on the wharf to do."

"Absolutely not. We don't have to worry about the vegetables. The cellar is dug for storing ice. Once the water in the river freezes in winter, we can store it in the cellar. When the next summer comes, the ice can be taken out. I don't plan for people to eat it. It can be used to cool things, or be placed in a basin so people can have a basin of ice next to them as they eat.

This is all money. Saltpeter is not cheap either. If Magistrate Cheng encounters something in the Capital, ice can also be transported to him by boat. Since we have decided to invest in him, we have to plan ahead for him. We need to get him to understand that he has a huge team standing behind him."

Zhang Xiao'bao was a quick thinker. He immediately thought of a way to continue to make people have things to do, so he voiced his idea to Wang Juan to listen.

"Yes, he is not fighting alone. At this moment...hehe, let's not joke anymore. What else can they do after digging the cellar and storing the ice? Liang'pi is not easy to sell in winter, right? Savory crepes should be okay."

"By the time the work is done, it should be near the beginning of spring already. If they have land at home, then they can farm their land. If they don't have land, then we can organize them to help others to farm the land, and they can go pick mountain vegetables and other stuff. It's not that they are not unwilling to work, but they lack an organizer. In the upcoming years, I plan to connect everyone in the San'shui County with our manors. Whoever dares to touch our manors will be trying to attack everyone in the San'shui Country.

The thing about the Liang'pi is easy to handle. Change it out if we can't sell it and replace it with numbing spicy skewers1. There seems to be too little spicy ingredients, but there should be ingredients to make the ‘numbing' sensation. The tools are simple to make. Although it doesn't seem like we earn that much profit and others will be able to copy us later on, our brand has a good reputation. When numbing spicy skewers are mentioned, the first thing people will think of is the Zhang and Wang families. "

If this was back then, Zhang Xiao'bao would never even consider these kinds of low profit businesses. Now the environment was different. He had to think about ways for people to accept the two manors as a part of their life.

"We can't just stand here and wait. Let's go to the barbecue restaurant. If we don't, the others will catch a cold." Zhang Xiao'bao glanced at the people who were standing there to block out the wind and rain again, and Wang Juan grabbed the umbrella and walked to the restaurant.

When the two of them moved, those people followed closely behind. No one spoke. They walked in silence, and their paces matched Zhang Xiao'bao's and Wang Juan's pace.

The end result was that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan walked on the side, and on the other side, a uniform sound came from the direction of the wind blowing. The sound of footsteps resonated in the water, and people in the distance could hear the thud thud noise.

As they walked all the way to the Zhang family's barbecue restaurant, the surrounding shops and pedestrians hiding from the rain all looked at the group of people, dumbfounded. Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan appeared more prominent since they were the only ones under the umbrella.

When they came to the entrance of the barbecue restaurant, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan held up their umbrella and looked back at the people who showed good intentions to them. They wanted to say something, but found that everything was pale at this time. The two looked at each other, then turned around and entered the store without looking back at those people.

The restaurant was not small. The low windows were open, and the pitter patter noise of rain came from outside. People eating in the shop were able to clearly see that after the large group of people escorted the two little children here, they turned around and left tacitly.

Because of this, when Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan looked around looking for a spot, many people could not help but feel the impulse to stand up.

Translator's Notes

1. Numbing and spicy skewers 麻辣串

This is a very popular food item in China and has its origin in Sichuan. Skewers of meats or vegetables that are cooked in a rich "numbing" and spicy broth and then eaten. The numbing sensation comes from the Sichuan peppercorns inside the broth.