Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 37

Volume 02 Chapter 37: The Silent Smiler Is The Real One

"It's simple. We will take only 4,000 mu of land. Even if they survey this area to be 10,000 mu, we will still only take 4,000 mu. Bring the map over, I need to decide how we're going to choose it."

Originally, Zhang Xiao'bao had come up with a plan already, but he didn't expect that the situation here was different from how he imagined it to be. The surveying method was too rudimentary. A land that was supposed to be 6,000 mu was surveyed to be just 5,000 mu.

More importantly, this place was covered with small mountains, so it was hard to obtain an accurate measurement. The people who surveyed the area weren't too keen. It was fine for those people to slack off, but Zhang Xiao'bao had to be more careful because he feared that the guy with the surname Li would come cause trouble.

When facing this situation, Zhang Xiao'bao had no choice but to come up with a new plan. He took the map from Wang Juan and inspected it carefully. He began to instruct the people around him and the people who were responsible for recording down the process.

"This mountain, and the next one needs to be enclosed. These areas will belong to the Zhang and Wang manors. Don't take that place, and that mountain valley. Take that mountain bridge. That's right, it's that place. Don't go down anymore."

Zhang Xiao'bao was carried around and when he arrived at certain areas, he asked people to record it down. Even by night time, he still wasn't done selecting the areas, so he had to wait until tomorrow to continue.

The crowd were confused because of Zhang Xiao'bao, and in the end they finally returned to the manor before it got dark.

How could the two children ride back home on a horse? It must be that the horse frequently runs to and from these two places. Otherwise, how could they possibly know the way home?

He wanted to find someone to ask questions, but the residents had long since dispersed, and the people in the inner courtyard told him that they didn't know anything. Usually when Li Cheng encountered this kind of incident, he would take out a bit of silver to bribe the servants of the inner courtyard. Just when he was about to hand the silver out he suddenly remembered that the people of Zhang and Wang's families couldn't be bribed with this little money. He put the silver pieces back into this robe, and continued to wait in this place.

Li Cheng did not mention that he came here to speak with the Zhang and Wang families, so the servants did not allow him inside the house. He came here to extract information from others, so he had to wait outside.

He knew that the Zhang and Wang families went out to choose land. He reasoned that the mastermind who was backing them up also went along with the team. He wanted to see what kind of person could be this powerful.

At dusk, Zhang Xiao'bao's team finally arrived back at the manor. Li Cheng originally wanted to come up close and ask; he even came up with an excuse already: to go congratulate them. However, he realized that he didn't bring anything with him other than a bit of silver. This gift would be too insignificant so he couldn't go over to them.

The only thing he can do is to observe each person carefully and try to find that mastermind. He looked at them one by one, and he found that none of these people looked like a mastermind. His way of thinking was relatively simple---a mastermind had to of course look like a mastermind.

First of all, the mastermind must be surrounded by people. He did see a group of people like this. Everyone stood around Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan. The two of them were sitting on a sedan chair and they were sleeping. Could they be the masterminds? Even a fool would know that this was impossible.

So the next thing he paid attention to was who the two manors' masters kept looking at and talking to. Yes, he knew the answer to this too. The two manors' masters kept looking at the two little children and the two masters talked to each other.

"Let me ask you, what do you think an expert would look like?" Li Cheng couldn't tell which one was the mastermind, so he asked the coachman beside him.

When the coachman heard Li Cheng's words, he was taken aback, and then he said, "I think if the person is an expert, then the person would be unwilling to talk. Also, the way the person would look like a servant. My Shi'fu was like that too. He was amazing at driving carriages, but when you look at him, it was hard to notice him among other people. Sir, how about you try looking among them for a person that is hiding behind other people and doesn't talk.

"That makes sense. Okay, go and feed the horse first, and then wait for me at the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant. I will go over there after I'm done observing them."

That is, among the four people who carried the sedan chair, there was a person standing at the back side that appeared afraid of being seen by others and only half of his face could be seen. The other three people who carried the sedan chair would occasionally talk to each other, but no one talked to him.

He followed the group back. Li Cheng felt that he was right. It must be the person standing at the back side. After they arrived outside of the yard, Li Cheng stared at the person intensively so that he could remember his appearance. He planned to find someone to draw out his face and show it to the Young Prince. Judging from the way that person carried the sedan chair, he didn't seem tired at all.

Only a mastermind that was talented like this could teach Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan how to win first place at the pasture.

Look at his eyes, I must look at his eyes.' Li Cheng stared at that person while walking on the side because he wanted to know what kind of expression that person had in his eyes.

Alright, it's him. He has a mysterious hazy look in his eyes, and he keeps a slight smile with the corners of his mouth. Who would be able to do that other than a mastermind? '

Through the observations, Li Cheng was finally able to analyze the situation. He committed the details of the person's appearance to his memory. He did not dare to make any further delays and he walked directly to the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant. Everyone had already entered the yard, so he could not continue to follow them.

He planned that after he arrived at the restaurant, he would allow the coachman and his horse to take a break for a while and then rush back overnight so that he could share this important information with the Young Prince.

"Da'ya, I told you during lunch today to not drink so much. What if you injure the Young Master and Young Miss? Even paying with your own life would not be enough. Alright, you should go back soon. If I knew that you would act like this after drinking, I wouldn't have let you help carry the sedan chair.

Here's something to eat. Grab some for Xiao'ya before you leave. I heard from Doctor Pang that your son Xiao'ya could be cured. Do more things in the future and the Master will provide the money for the medical treatment. So pitiful."

After the group of people entered the courtyard, Housekeeper Zhang ordered the sedan chair carrier, who was also the person Li Cheng thought was the mastermind.

"Ah, ah ah." Da'ya smiled more dopely after hearing Housekeeper Zhang's words. His opened-mouth spat out a few monotonic grunts and he waves his arms around.

"No need to thank me. As a resident of the manor, you deserve it. Keep working hard. Go on now." Housekeeper Zhang waved his arm to gesture to Da'ya to leave. At the same time, he sighed. Da'ya had been mute since he was a child, but he was a likeable person that smiled at everyone he saw. Later on, when he had a child of his own, the child was also a mute.

Fortunately, Doctor Pang said that this disease may be cured, and the Master had agreed to pay for everything. It was a pity that Da'ya loved to drink. He doesn't need to drink too much to get tipsy. He can't talk, so when he drinks a bit, he would smile. This gave him a mysterious, inscrutable appearance, but later people got used to seeing this so whenever they saw him smile like that, they would know that he had a few drinks.

*

"Xiao'bao, look at how round the moon is. Chang'e and the Jade Rabbit are on it." Wang Juan looked at the moon outside through the open window and said to Zhang Xiao'bao.

"Yes, and there's Wu Gang1 chopping a tree up there too. If you ask me, that person is an idiot. After he hacks at the tree with his ax, why doesn't he put something at the cut notch so that the tree can't grow back? What a fool he is." Zhang Xiao'bao replied.

"I think he drank too much. The alcohol content of the sweet-scented osmanthus wine must be too high. He keeps on drinking it, so of course he couldn't think of placing something inside the cut notch. Or perhaps there was nothing to be used." Wang Juan tried to speak up for Wu Gang.

Zhang Xiao'bao shook his head and disapproved of this kind of reasoning. "How could there be nothing to put inside? Can't the tools the Jade Rabbit used to grind medicine be used? Even if that's not enough, there are medicinal materials, such as Szechuan peppercorns, which is also a kind of medicine. As long as he makes a hole in the tree, he should stuff peppercorns in it.

Then the tree will die, and it will die from the root upwards. He should make the holes smaller so that it would be difficult for others to find out how the tree died. Before the tree dies, the small holes will be grown over. I tried this before and it was extremely effective. "

"Really? Whose tree did you try this on?" Wang Juan asked curiously.

"Trees on the mountain behind the orphanage. Originally, we were allowed to go anywhere in that area. There were a lot of wild fruits on that mountain. Later, that place was bought by someone and they planted a lot of fruit trees. We wanted to pick some mountain hawthorns from the mountains; we didn't even think about stealing their fruits, but they still wouldn't let us pick the hawthorns.

He enclosed the whole mountain, and there is only one path. We didn't think so much. We picked some mushrooms so that we can sell them and then use the earned money to buy things. He led two dogs and blocked us at the bottom of the mountain. He snatched away the mushrooms that we worked really hard to find. He said that we stole it "

When Zhang Xiao'bao was speaking, he felt that there was no pulsing sensation in his legs. This meant that no pus was coming out and he felt relieved.

"Oh, they bought the mountain, so the place belongs to them. What happened later?" Wang Juan asked again.

"Later? Later on we brought a small awl and some peppercorns with us and sneaked our way into that mountain. We poked small holes in the fruit trees, put the peppercorns inside, and then covered the holes up with mud. Who told him to snatch our mushrooms?" Zhang Xiao'bao spoke aggrievedly.

"You guys are so wicked. What you guys did was illegal. It was not easy for them to buy a mountain."

"But he didn't spend any money. He is the nephew of the district mayor there. Go to sleep, there is no Chang'e."

"That's not true; you just didn't see her. She's a goddess. How else do you think we ended up here?"

Translator's Notes

1. Wu Gang

As a punishment, Wu Gang has to chop down a self-healing osmanthus tree on the Moon. Since the tree can heal itself, this task can never be completed.