Great Tang Idyll

Book 1: Chapter 63

"I'm not ill, I'm really not ill. I was just kidding. I'm planning to set up a restaurant in that place. A two-story one will be fine, and it will be built directly on top of the water surface. However, the layout will not be simple; the center of the restaurant will be an open space. People can sit and dine in the restaurant while observing the scenery outside and as well as the scenery inside.

The open space on the lowest floor will be enclosed by railings and fishes can be raised in that area. Those that want to observe from above can go to the second floor and those that want to fish can stay on the first floor and fish for fishes in the open space or in the surrounding waters.

There are fields and mountains nearby, so usually in the morning, the mountain fog will appear and surround the place with a misty cloud veil. With the humid water vapor from the river, it will absolutely be comfortable to dine and rest atop of the water surface. I have thought of the name already, it will be called Between the Water and Clouds'."

Zhang Xiao'bao finally discussed the important matters and told Wang Juan about his plan.

"Why does this idea sound so familiar? I remember that there was a scam like this; it was said that an entire city will be placed on top of the water's surface. Are you making up a lie?" Wang Juan thought of the case as she listened to him speak.

"That was to swindle people into making loans. Who am I going to swindle? We're the ones that are putting out money. Ge Ying'xi is already so poor, do I even need to swindle him? Swindlers have class too. Of course, when the building is completed, there is no guarantee that people will come. The travel is too far; for one, there is no gambling house, and for another reason, there is no brothel, so how many will be willing to come?"

Zhang Xiaobao also pointed out the shortcomings of his idea.

Wang Juan blinked, "You realized that already and yet you still want to build it?"

"We can have other things, such as food. After all, the cuisine here is nowhere as good as the cuisine from our day and age. At the same time, there are many dishes that were lost through time, and some are better than modern dishes; however, this is not a concern since we can find a chef from here. As long as we list down all of the foods that we have eaten before and then change up some of the ingredients and spices, we can come up with a lot of dishes that people here have not eaten.

Song Jing'gong can use his reputation to invite a group of scholars, poets, and others of that kind to enjoy their time here. After eating good food and reciting literatures, they can help us promote the place. Once that is done, more people will come; plus, there are bazaars here so those businessmen with money making brains will see business opportunities.

We can build more shops to lease to them and when the government sends people over to collect taxes, we can ask Magistrate Cheng to intercede and say that the profits are used to repair and build roads. By the time the roads are done, the farmers will have raised chickens and pigs, and our two farms can unanimously set prices. The farmers don't have to personally send the livestock outside to sell them and when we buy items, it will be delivered to us."

Zhang Xiao'bao looked at the farmers who had started to work again and described his thoughts with a look of determination in his eyes.

"Then what? Go on, I love to listen to these kinds of things." Wang Juan also made a face of anticipation.

"The assets we have on our hands are still too little. Let's talk about it when the time actually comes. Wealthy people would look down on small places like ours. At the same time, there will be many people who will copy us and compete with us for customers. Driven by desire to gain profits, all kinds of troubles will come one after another."

Zhang Xiao'bao's tone changed as he spoke; he sounded a little helpless but also a little indifferent.

Wang Juan also understood that this was unavoidable after all. If one wanted to live a good life, one would have to face all kinds of things and avoiding problems will not bring upon any resolutions.

"Let's go and practice shooting with the slingshot. Things of the future can be discussed in the future. Let's take things on bit by bit."

The two picked up some small stones and started to bully those chickens again. Ge Ying'xi went along with his housekeeper to here. Originally, Housekeeper Wang just sent people to go find Housekeeper Ge, but when Ge Ying'xi learned of this, he insisted on coming over too. He wanted to see what that protected secretive thing looked like.

"Village Chief Ge is here too, Housekeeper Ge, this is the new plough on our farm. We call it the curved-plough. A few days ago, it was still in the testing phase to see whether this plough was good or not, thus, we not inform Chief Ge about it. If it was not good to use, it would have brought troubles to the Ge Farm."When Housekeeper Wang, who was waiting here, saw that someone was about to cross the bridge, he immediately went forward to greet them. On the way back, he ordered a person to bring a plough over to show the two of them. No normal person would have believed the words he spoke though.

Ge Ying'xi and the housekeeper squatted down to carefully look at the plough. At the same time, they said to the Housekeeper Wang, "Housekeeper Wang has been thoughtful and thorough. So, the plough has been used already? This is such a great achievement; do we need to find the Junior Officer? "

Ge Ying'xi's tone was sour and cynical when he spoke. He thought the Zhang and Wang Farms were making compromises because he reported this matter.

"This is not necessary. It was actually the Magistrate who asked us to make this curved-plough. Such arrangements were made much earlier on. There should already be many of these ploughs for sale in the county seat. As for this plough here, it will be given to Chief Ge. It shouldn't be too late to bring it back now and craft copies of it."

When Housekeeper Wang looked at Ge Ying'xi, he really felt that this person was a bit pitiful. After so much effort, the result remained unchanged, but the process was different. He must have felt very uncomfortable in his heart.

"Ah? The county magistrate already knew? This...this, okay, so it turned out that this plough was made because the Magistrate wanted to increase the people's harvest It's indeed really extraordinary." Ge Ying'xi was really uncomfortable in his heart, and he didn't believe that the Magistrate knew of this matter long ago. But when he heard that the county seat already had this kind of plough, he understood that the Zhang and Wang family thought ahead of him.

He felt that right now, he had used all his might to catch the chicken on the ground, but when he saw that he was about to catch it, he ended up pouncing onto empty air. These two families were really good at entrapping others.

Although he had these thoughts in his heart, he still had to speak nice words. After asking his housekeeper to go back and find someone to come get the plough, he said to Housekeeper Wang, "Thank you, Housekeeper Wang. First of all, Housekeeper Wang allowed your own farm to test it out first; this level of bravery is extraordinary. Only after using it and concluding that it was effective, did you give us a plough to study its design; your kindness is not little. With the new plough, we can plant the sprouts earlier this year. If we are able to catch two rains after finishing, then there is no need to worry about in autumn."

"No need to be so courteous, it's because our farms are located so close together. As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors'.Those who are capable must give a helping hand. Who has never encountered difficulties before, in case one day the Zhang and Wang Farms have encountered a problem, Chief Ge will certainly do the same for us."

Housekeeper Wang responded with a sincere look.

"Yes, yes, help each other out. There are still some affairs at my estate that I must attend to. Housekeeper Wang, please return to your own tasks. " With the item in his hands already, Ge Ying'xi wasn't willing to talk more, and after saying a few polite words, he turned and left.

The new plough, which was more effective than the old ones, were sold in the county seat. This news was spread throughout the county seat in just half a day, and some people had already started to buy it. This was a notice was issued by the magistrate himself, so it couldn't be a lie.

Magistrate Cheng was also busy. After a short rest, it occurred to him that he had forgotten the most important thing. He got up and went to the study room, wrote a memorial, and asked the person to send it out in an expedited manner. As soon as he left, he sent two sets of curved ploughs to the prefecture division as quickly as possible. This was his time to show off his accomplishment so he could not be late in doing so.

After finishing all these tasks, he couldn't sleep anymore, so he ordered people to call Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng over. He brought the two of them, who evidently looked like they haven't rested enough yet, on a walk to Zhou Xi'hu's place. He had to be there personally to help convince those who were hesitant to commit to buying one.

When the three of them arrived after setting out from the administrative office, there was already a sea of people here. The farmers who have heard of the news came here to inquire about the plough, the cost, how to use it and so on.

As soon as Magistrate Cheng arrived, the people immediately gave way. The crowd watched the magistrate walk by with a smile, and each of them expressed looks of respect. When they arrived, they had already heard people say that this type of plough was much more quicker than the old one and all of this was thought out by the Magistrate.

They also heard that the magistrate's hair became grayer and he became thinner because he put so much effort and energy into thinking; only then was it possible for the new plough to be created. He even ran out in the middle of the night to test if the new plough was effective or not.

Oh, he was a good official. Even during Chinese New Year, he sent gifts to the farmers. Taking all of this into consideration, some of the people started chanting to praise him and others were influenced to follow suite. Magistrate Cheng's prestige became unsurpassable during this time.

At this moment, Secretary General Zhao Xiang was writing a memorial to the throne. He knew in his heart about the truth of what was going on, but he could not report this. He could only write according to what everyone said. He used up two full pieces of paper to clearly explain the situation. Many of the details were about how Magistrate Cheng was anxious about the spring tillage.

He blew the written ink dry and placed the letter into an envelope. After sealing it,he ordered a person to send it away. He sat there in a daze, thinking about the Zhang Farm and wondering who was this powerful person. They produced so many ploughs and not to mention that they made a lot of money, they also knew how to advance and retreat appropriately. Although they let the Magistrate take the credit, they got on the Magistrate's good side.

"It seems that it was the correct right for me to help them, otherwise, this curved plough might never make an appearance. The little store they had in the county had really good tasting dishes and the price was low. Every single time I brought my daughter there, we ate quite a bit.

It seems that the people there still had some more tricks up their sleeves. I've heard that their land will be taken away and yet they let the Magistrate take this huge accomplishment. It must mean that they have other plans to help raise the name of the farm."

Zhao Xiang sat there, muttering to himself as he thought about it. Then he closed his eyes and hummed a local song.

In contrast to the leisure Secretary General Zhao Xiang had, Magistrate Cheng was much busier. More and more people were buying ploughs now that the Magistrate was there. Every single person that arrived there also went to greet him and he had to reply. After not too long, his mouth was dry, and it didn't get much better even after drinking a cup of tea.

"Xi'hu, not only will you make money now, but when rewards sent by Emperor havw arrived, you will also get a share. If you hadn't arranged for someone to craft so many ploughs, the people wouldn't be able to use the new plough. For the next two days, you mustn't slack off and you must have more ploughs crafted. It is best for the new plough to be available to all farmers in the county."Magistrate Cheng looked at Zhou Xi'hu, who was also smiling while standing there, and walked over to him and spoke with earnest.

"What Uncle Cheng has said will be followed. I will definitely order people to craft more of these ploughs. This way, all the farmers in the county can enjoy this blessing."

Zhou Xi'hu was also acting courteous here. In fact, what he thought was that if so many curved-ploughs were sold, then the money would not be less too.