Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 23

Volume 02

Just like what Zhang Xiao'bao said, none of the children from poor families went to sign up. However, the children Li Xun invited all came. A person was sent to report the child's name, and they didn't have to pay any registration fee. When the time comes, their family will send their children here.

By the time Li Xun received the news, there were a total of 53 people that signed up. This number was reasonably large, but it was too far from what he planned. His purpose was not to find a group of people to play together-- he was still thinking about improving the nation's physical fitness.

In the past one or two years, soldiers were needed to fight foreign nations. If he could handle this matter well, his Emperor uncle would be happy. When he heard about the low number, he asked the messenger, "Why are there so few people? Aren't there three manors nearby? There are a lot of children there, right?"

"Young Prince, I don't know why there are so few people. Nobody from the Zhang, Wang and Ge manors signed up, although there are a few from outside of these areas that signed up. The waiters there told me that those who signed up are from rich families. Young Prince, how about I get someone to post another notice, or my Young Prince can make a mandate."

"Mandate? Can I send mandates? How could I do that? Go there and ask why the children of Zhang and Wang manors didn't sign up. They're the ones that gave me this idea. Go tell them that their manors' children must come. Ten children of each age need to come. Actually, just five, ten is too many."

Li Xun was worried. If it was other people, he did not dare to force his request on them, but this was fine to do to the Zhang and Wang manors. His idea was simple. Who told you to give me this idea? Now that the idea is realized and I have made my moves, not a single person from your sides are coming. You're obviously trying to undermine me.

The messenger ran out immediately. Fortunately, the place was not far away. Not too long afterwards, he ran back out of breath and reported, "Young Prince, I've managed to obtain the answer. The people on the Zhang and Wang manors felt that the duration of the event was too long and it would disrupt their children's studies. They said that they're willing to send five children of each age, but the children need to be swapped out after each location change. Otherwise, the children who are going will fall behind in their schoolwork."

"Alright, that's good. Aren't there a lot of children on my manor too? Let them go too. They don't have class to attend. How many children are there that fits the age requirement?" Li Xun was satisfied now since they gave him a reasonable explanation. Originally, it was supposed to be five days, but he changed it to ten days.

Those little children did not receive the same treatment as him. If he didn't study during the day, then he would be taught at night. Who on the manor could invite the teachers to go to their house to personally teach their children?

"Young Prince, in our manor, there are eleven children that are five to eight years old, and nine that are eight to twelve years old. That's a total of twenty children that are old enough." The messenger had the matters on this manor memorized very clearly because he was scared that the Young Prince will suddenly be in the mood to ask him some questions. If he was unable to answer and he ends up angering the Young Prince, then the consequences....

Li Xun was almost pushed to the brink of going crazy; he considered getting four-year-olds to join to increase the number of participants.

The messenger looked troubled and replied, "Young Prince, there are four-year-olds, but all of them are weak and can't endure hardships. Even some five-year-olds can't do it. Do you think...?"

"Five-year-olds can't? How could that be? I saw that all the children on the Zhang and Wang manors were all good. Could it be that the food their residents ate was different?" Li Xun was puzzled.

"Young Prince, you are correct. It is true that the food is different. The food they usually eat is only slightly more expensive than the food here. They occasionally ate meat, but that's the case for the adults. The children ate differently---they ate good food everyday.

I heard people say that they don't eat at home. At school, regardless of the child's age, they are provided with two meals everyday. In the morning, they're given milk and eggs, and in the afternoon, they're given a vegetable dish and a meat dish. Children grow really quickly. If they're given better food, then it is immediately evident. How could our manor's children even compare to them?

Young Prince, if the Zhang and Wang manors' children had to fight children of their age, one child can fight off three children that are from our manor. It is not hard to imagine how good they will be at surviving in the wild. I also heard that as long as those two manors have anything good, they will think of their manors' children. Even when a cow fell to its death, soup was made for the child to drink. As for us... "

When the messenger spoke up to that point, he did not dare to speak on. After the Young Prince arrived here, he didn't give much benefit to the residents. After those people sold the land to him, they saved up the money and were reluctant to spend it. Everyone was usually like this so it was hard to notice any oddities. However, it was different now. The differences in those children can be detected at a glance.

Now, many people on the manor secretly regretted their decision. They heard that on the day the Young Prince bought the manor, the Zhang manor also sent someone to buy their land. Unfortunately, it was a step too late. The people who sold the land back then complained and blamed each other. They ranted that they should not have sold the land so impatiently, and that they should have waited for the Zhang manor to come and buy it.

He did not expect that those two manors would give the residents' children such good meals to eat. Looking back at the children that were there that day, he recalled that every single child had plump rosy cheeks.

"How about this, there are still a few days left before we go to that place; in the meantime, go arrange food for those children to eat. Give them four meals a day-- no, four main courses and when they're done eating, let them play for a while. If they feel hungry again, give them food whenever they want it. There must be both meat and eggs. They should be able to grow a bit more, right?"

It was a bit too late for Li Xun to regret, so he had to rush the process. However, when he asked the messenger, his voice was filled with a bit of uncertainty.

"Yes. Young Prince, please rest assured, Children grow really quickly. They can grow quite a bit after a night's sleep. As long as there's enough food, they can grow chubby in just a few days. I'll go arrange this right now."

The messenger was delighted to hear what the Young Prince said. This way, the residents would not complain anymore, and he could feel a bit more relieved. Just when he was about to leave, Li Xun spoke again, "It's not good if they can't sleep well. Go, get me some ice and place it in their houses. Find people to drive mosquitoes away for them too. There's no way that my manor could be inferior compared to the Zhang and Wang manors."

The messenger felt that his Young Prince has gone crazy. If ice was delivered to the residents and the mosquitoes were driven away, then the expenses will not be small. He wanted to dissuade the Young Prince, but at the same time, he was too scared to speak up so he could only consent. Suddenly, he remembered something, and spoke again, "Young Prince, I heard that the two children from the Zhang and Wang families have signed up. There's one boy and one girl."

"Good. They're not too bad then. But I remember that those two children are less than five years old, right?" Li Xun was happy at first, then suspicious.

"Young Prince, they're over two years old, but they have grown to be big. They're much larger than other children of their age. They look like they're four, and they're more stronger than some of the five year olds on our manor. They have probably eaten better food." The messenger was rather well informed in this regard.

Li Xun recalled and he felt that he seemed to have seen the two children before, and they were indeed larger than the others. He nodded, "I see. Remember to get people to take care of them and don't let anything happen to them."

"Shi'fu, what do you think should be done about this matter?" After seeing his Shi'fu, Li Xun told him everything and asked his Shi'fu to help him out.

The middle-aged man didn't know what to do, but after pondering for a while, he said. "This is easy. Since those who aren't wealthy can't come, then only find families that are wealthy. Write the invitations yourself and deliver it to each family. I don't think they would dare to reject you. As for figuring which family isrich and has kids, we can ask the administrative office."

Li Xun now had a framework to work with. He ignored what his identity was and he ran back to the study room to write the invitations himself. In the past, how could he possibly write invitation letters to people? This time, he wrote very simple invitations. He left a space to write in the name, and then he wrote down the body of the invitation letter. When the time comes, the name can just be filled in. Although it didn't really look polite, who could complain while knowing who wrote the letter?

When Li Xun was busy finding people, the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant was almost done preparing. The next day, the intellectual competition between the scholars' was going to begin. This game was still relatively new to all of the scholars'.

The little flags were placed into the ground, and ten large flags rumbled in the wind. Of course, neither the large nor the small flags could be blown straight by the wind because they were already fixed to a frame. Various store names were written on these flags, and the large flags can be spotted from afar.

What people didn't expect was that these big banners were all occupied by stores in the San'shui County that sold brushes, ink, paper and inkstone. Those stores were holding in their anger and they wanted to fight for the top at the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant. They also wanted those scholars' to use their products. Some of the scholars were from the place near Little Luo'shui River.

The people at the stores were enjoying the gratification of seeking revenge. How dare you say that our products aren't good. What do you have to say now? You still have to use our products in the end. Who let an outsider's store come here to steal business. What do you think now? We bought all ten of the large flags for one entire month.

The stores' employees felt particularly satisfied when they heard people's exclamation when they came here and saw the banners. Each employee came here to watch the excitement and to show their faces to everyone who came.

The Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant also did a good job in this regard. From early on, they have been spreading news that so-and-so stores have provided so-and-so products. Before the intelligence game had even started, many people had memorized the names of these stores. Some even directly stated that they would go to a particular store to buy things in the future.