Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 24

Volume 02 Chapter 24: Hard To Guess Their Thoughts Without Any Clues

Many people were surprised that it would have this kind of effect. Some of them saw this kind of thing for the second time, and some saw it for the first time. During the very first time, not many people paid attention to it because the participants were all children, but now that they were adults and that there were also those flags, in the midst of being surprised, this particular method was committed to their memory.

"Shi'fu, I finally know why Housekeeper Zhang was willing to provide us with supplies. Look, it's written here. When the time comes, we need to make it clear that the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant gave the stuff to me. Li Cheng just told me that three stores had went to him and offered to pay for the supplies needed during this survival game.

One said that he would pay for everything, and he would even make clothes for them too. Another person said they were willing to put out two thousand taels of silver upfront. Shi'fu, we have lost money. "

Li Xun was sitting at the roof floor of the restaurant. Nowadays, a lot of rich people are willing to pay to be seated at the roof floor for a change of environment. The roof floor of the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant was more expensive than booking a private room on the second floor. Since only a group of people can go up at a time, and there must be less than twenty people in the group, whenever people get a chance to go up there, they get to enjoy their time in their own little world.

Li Xun had heard the words that were spoken by people with loud voices, and Li Cheng came to report just now, so now he finally understood why Housekeeper Zhang left so happily after the contract was signed. Li Xun placed down the contract that was in his hand and he spoke to the middle-aged man.

Listening to what Li Xun said and looking at his expectant gaze, the middle-aged man sighed helplessly. "Nothing can be done. They have a copy of the contract too. If we want to go back on our words, then we would have to murder them all, and we will have to make sure no one finds out about it. Do you think that would even work?"

"No. I never thought about killing them. Even if someone plans to kill them, they might be able to kill the master of the manor, but can they kill all of the residents on the manor? If all of the residents are killed, my Imperial uncle will not be that forgiving. It's too frightening to kill that many people at once, and it would definitely be investigated thoroughly.

Furthermore, the Zhang manor is a place where an auspicious omen appeared before. If the people from the place where an auspicious omen appeared all died, then could it be that what appeared was not actually an auspicious omen? And that my Imperial uncle did not govern the country well? Shi'fu, let's stop talking about killing people. Is there any other way? "

Li Xun was frightened to death when he heard his Shi'fu mention killing people. It was fine to not care about the people of the Zhang manor when they're still alive and not give them any benefits, but if he tried to kill them all, then the auspicious omen will be implicated. How could something bad happen to a place where an auspicious omen appeared? If something did happen, then how could that be an auspicious omen?

"There's no other way. How about you go to Housekeeper Zhang and tell him about this, and see if he has any plans? I think they will not make things hard for you given your identity." The middle-aged man wasn't serious when he mentioned killing people just now. He didn't have the guts to do that. Only the person who tied the bell can remove the bell.1 Since Li Xun wanted to benefit from this situation, he could only go ask them for help.

Li Cheng was busy dealing with an endless amount of people that wanted to give away money for nothing. When he heard that the Young Prince was looking for him, he had an excuse to leave, and he ran off. His forehead was covered in sweat, but it wasn't due to the heat, it was due to being pestered.

After waiting for Li Xun to finish speaking, Li Cheng knew that this time he would not be pestered by others, but instead, he had to pester other people. He found Housekeeper Zhang, who was responsible for arranging this, at the restaurant and he said to him, "Housekeeper Zhang, can we go somewhere to talk?"

Of course Housekeeper Zhang didn't dare to refuse. He followed Li Cheng to a place with no one else present and then he asked, "I wonder what matter Mister Li needs to talk about?"

"This...this is a long story." Li Cheng spoke bashfully.

These things sounded simple, but if he made any mistakes, then he would be too ashamed to stand in front of his Young Master and Young Miss. This was the first time he heard about this idea. He was afraid that this would anger the scholars, so he went to ask them, and to his surprise, the scholars agreed happily. They said that the weather is hot, so it was good to have a bowl of water prepared. After hearing these responses, Housekeeper Zhang felt relieved.

Seeing that Li Cheng wanted to wait to see who could be more patient, Housekeeper Zhang no longer had the patience to keep stalling here.

Li Cheng didn't expect Housekeeper Zhang's words would be so direct, so he was taken aback for a moment. He had to tell him what the Young Prince ordered him to do.

"Housekeeper Zhang, your restaurant has now accepted other people's things and set up banners for them---those are all good ideas. What my family's childe want to know is that can you allow other people to get involved with the survival game? They're all the Great Tang's people."

"Oh, so that's the situation. That's easy to do." Housekeeper Zhang no longer made remarks out of amazement about his Young Master and Young Miss anymore because he was now desensitized. Just today, when he was about to leave, his Young Master came looking for him. His Young Master told him that if Li Xun changed his mind, then another plan will be used and we will still receive the benefits we deserved.

After saying this, his Young Master gave him some brief instructions. The instructions made him feel a bit puzzled during that moment, but now after thinking about it more carefully, his Young Master's words were truly the words of a prophet. He was able to predict everything.

Fortunately, he was used to this. Everything that his Young Master and Young Miss said was correct, and everything they did certainly brought in profit without losing any money. The only thing he needed to do was listen to their words and follow their steps.

"So Housekeeper Zhang has agreed, then... can the things written by the Childe be...?" Li Cheng was relieved when he heard Housekeeper Zhang's words. It seems that Housekeeper Zhang was quite easy to talk to. Right now, he wanted to take back the contract.

Housekeeper Zhang smiled. Right now he felt like he had the control of everything in his hands; although his Young Master was the one that allowed him to have this feeling. He said to Li Cheng,

"Mister Li, do not rush and let me finish. I believe that the childe of your manor wants other people to join in, but you may not know that this is rather complicated and it will tire people to death. However, Mister Li does not need to worry. My manor knows how to handle this. How about you return and ask if this matter can be handed over to the Between the Water and Clouds? Then, you will only have to wait to receive items and money. What do you think?"

Before thinking of anything else, he thought about that gold. That gold was rewarded to the Young Prince by the people in the palace. Later when he gave it out to the restaurant, he thought that he would get something out of it; for example, pay less money to them.

However, when he arrived, he found out the waiters told everyone they encountered that the childe at the Li Manor was kind and righteous, and he used his own money to help the poor and weak. They mentioned that the Between the Water and Clouds was not as good as the Young Childe Li; after taking his money, all they had to do was arrange a place for the family to stay at and give that breast-feeding mother half a pig's knuckle everyday. What they did was nothing compared to the benevolence and righteousness of the Young Childe Li.

Li Cheng remembered that he was baffled during that moment. They told everyone about this, so how could he dare to give them less money? If he didn't give enough money, then he would be labelling his Young Prince as an unrighteous person. Not only did he not get any money, he also had to pay the full amount and give more money later on. He even rewarded the waiters some money too.

How could he gain anything from a place like this and from a person like him? He could only dream on. A few days ago, Housekeeper Zhang went to their place and offered to be responsible for everything in the survival game. He hesitated about this at first and then he thought that Housekeeper Zhang was a good person. However, today he found out that what Housekeeper Zhang offered to give was much lesser than what other people offered to give.

Thinking of all the past events, when he heard Housekeeper Zhang agreeing so readily now, he felt a gust of cold air rise from under his feet and couldn't feel the heat of the beaming sun anymore.

"Mister Li? Mister Li? Say something. Do you agree to allow the Between the Water and Clouds to help?" Housekeeper Zhang waited for a while, but after seeing Li Cheng spacing out, he asked him again.

"Huh? Oh, this thing. Housekeeper Zhang, I can't make the decision. Why don't you wait for me to ask the childe, and then I'll come find you. That contract..." Li Cheng didn't dare make any agreement. Who knows what will happen this time? It was better to go back and discuss this. As he spoke, he stretched out his hand for the contract.

"Oh no, Mister Li, my memory is so bad. That thing is left at home. It's right on the table in my master's study room. How about you go back and discuss it first, while I go get it now?"

Housekeeper Zhang was not a fool. How could he give back the contract before settling the matters? What can be done to them if they change their mind after taking back the contract?

"Alright, then I'll trouble Housekeeper Zhang to that. I'll leave now to go ask." Li Cheng had no choice but to turn around and run to the roof floor of the building. He repeated the conversation he had just had with Housekeeper Zhang.

"Shi'fu, what do you think?" Li Xun was also a little afraid of this place. The people here did not act according to normal logic. There was no way to guess what they were going to do. He really wanted to use his identity to suppress them, but he didn't dare to. How could he dare mess with the auspicious omen? The Court Supervisor2 wasn't going to go easy on him; he could be impeached if necessary.

"This...?" The middle-aged man also felt unsettled about this. He also had no idea what the Between the Water and Clouds actually wanted. The Zhang manor's response was too prompt. They were just thinking of changing their mind and just after they sent someone to discuss this, the Zhang Manor immediately agreed and mentioned adding another condition to the contract. No matter how he looked at this condition, it didn't seem like it would cause any harm to the Li Manor.

But, was this possible? It seems that the Between the Water and Clouds has never suffered a loss before. The Zhang Manor was really good.

After thinking for a while, the middle-aged man only came up with one thing, and he said to Li Cheng, "Go back and tell Housekeeper Zhang that as long as the items and money those businesses have agreed to give us are not reduced, then let him take care of it. Make sure contracts are made, then get him to come over."

Translator's Notes

1. Only the person who tied the bell can remove the bell

This is a Chinese proverb that describes the person who created the problem is the only one that can resolve the problem. I kept the literal translation here since I found it interesting.

2. Court Supervisor

This is the government official that is responsible for supervising what goes on in the Imperial Court, and give his opinion or offer suggestions to the Emperor.