Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 66

"Xiao'bao, come here quickly and help me carry something." On the mountain, Wang Juan seemed to have found something interesting. She called out to Zhang Xiao'bao and waited for him to come over. It turned out to be some red mountain berries. They were smaller than hawthorn, but they were equally sour tasting.

"Here, put these in your pocket. I'm going to pick some more, there are so many, I'm drooling just by looking at them." Wang Juan struggled to pull down a tree branch and she grasped it tightly, relying on her body weight to keep the branch from springing back up. As she pulled berries off of the branch, she stuffed them into Zhang Xiao'bao's pocket.

The two guards who followed them immediately came to help. After a while, Zhang Xiao'bao's shirt and trouser pockets were completely filled. The other two people also stored some in their own pockets.

"Okay, what a bountiful harvest. When we get there, tell them to pick some more and bring them to our home when they return back, and we will give them other things in exchange." Wang Juan clapped her hands and walked to the front.

Zhang Xiao'bao looked at the bulging pockets on his body, and then at Wang Juan's flat empty pockets. He walked two steps quickly and caught up with Wang Juan and then he said, "Juan'juan, you love eating this, eat them while walking. Here, I'll give you some."

"No, we'll eat them together when we get back. I don't want to eat them by myself. Xiao'bao, don't tug on me. You're a man, so you have to do more work." Wang Juan covered her pocket with her hand to not let Zhang Xiao'bao pull it open. She broke free of Zhang Xiao'bao and ran ahead with a smile.

The guards who followed behind them looked at each other. This was their first time seeing their two little masters so happy, and they showed a happy look too and then they sped up their pace.

After over two hours of walking, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan finally arrived at the construction site. Hundreds of residents were busy digging out large pits in the middle of the mountains that did not belong to their manors. The dugged up soil was piled on two lower hills. They were preparing to build a dam now.

The people who were responsible for cooking for them were now picking firewood, and from time to time they found some edible wild fruits. They either collected them, or rubbed the fruit against their sleeves and put it in their mouths to chew it.

"Yes, that's right. On paper, it's not our land, but in reality, the land will be used by us. Put some fish, shrimp and crab in it. There's no need to take care of them; whatever manages to survive will get to stay. The yield in the mountains will be small, but the taste is good."

Zhang Xiao'bao used a slingshot to knock down two wild fruits, and he gave one to Wang Juan. They also ate the fruit without washing it. They simply rubbed it and ate it. The spots that were completely ripened were nice and soft. After one bite, the juice inside flowed down the corner of their mouth. As they ate, they talked about the situation here.

"Yeah, it would be better to have a few more people coming here to claim the land. We'll scoop out everything from here, and then collect tolls for crossing through our land."

Wang Juan licked the corner of her mouth with her tongue and happily agreed.

"Young Master, Young Miss, this place is dusty because of the work we're doing. How about you go over there, there's a small pond formed by a spring. That place is better than here."

While Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were watching, a person from the inner courtyard, who was supervising this place, came over to them and pointed to a mountain to persuade them.

"Really? That's great. Let's go, Xiao'bao. Let's go and see if there's spring water. It would be best if it's warm; that way we can come soak in it during winter."

Hearing about this piqued Wang Juan's interest. She pulled Zhang Xiao'bao and walked over there. Zhang Xiao'bao looked over there. It did not look like a hot spring at all. "Don't dream, how could there be a hot spring? If there was a hot spring, we would have discovered it last time. Maybe it just formed and it's connected to the underground river."

"Even so, I still want to see it. Hurry up." Wang Juan pulled Zhang Xiao'bao to speed up, and the two guards behind them also began jogging.

*

Mulberries in the forest, river water trickling. The sunlight was dispersed by the leaves. The grass was withered yellow, while the wild fruits were fragrant. The mountains were on the sides, and water was in the center.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan stood on the top of the mountain, feeling the air of the surroundings and looking at the dreamlike scenery in front of them. They took in a long breath, and then slowly exhaled. An indescribable joy lingered in their hearts.

"It's so beautiful, Xiao'bao, we didn't claim this place back then, did we?" Wang Juan squinted her eyes and looked at the clear water in the surrounding mountains. She inhaled through her nose, and asked.

"Then what? We can't let other people have this place. I want it. I want to come here to play in the future. Hurry up and think of a way. It's spring water." Wang Juan was anxious. She wanted to have such a beautiful place in possession.

"Then think of a way. Once someone takes this place, we could buy it from them. It seems that this piece of land cannot be obtained from the government. Look at the surrounding mulberry trees, there is produce here."

Zhang Xiao'bao originally planned to buy this place, but he noticed that the surrounding trees were mulberry trees. Now he understood that the land here cannot be bought that easily as it was a forest farm. It could be granted to others, but it could not be purchased like that barren place they bought last time.

"We really can't buy it? Don't you have a way to kill the tree? From the root to the top? If the tree is dead, then we should be able to buy it." Wang Juan suggested.

"Am I stupid? These trees belong to our family. We can still use them for sericulture. Let the land be granted to someone else. Then, we can secretly trade lands with them. The way we claimed the plots of land was very sly already, we can't be too greedy. Who should be granted this land though? I know. There's one person who is most suitable."

Zhang Xiao'bao refused Wang Juan's proposal without even thinking about it. He had no choice but to resort to using others.

"Who? Could the person be that boy, Li Xun? If he takes it, would he trade land with us? He's constantly thinking about annexing us."

The first person Wang Juan thought of was Li Xun. After all, he was the Emperor's nephew. If he wanted to be granted land, as long as it was not too big, it was not a problem.

Zhang Xiao'bao shook his head and said, "No, not him. I'm trying my best to keep him away, how could I give him a chance? It's the county magistrate. Not Magistrate Cheng though. He is going to leave soon, so he won't be granted land. The new county magistrate. As long as we get some political achievements for him, not only will we develop a good relationship with him, but he might get a reward. Let's get him to ask for a place here, and then we will trade land from somewhere else with him.

It's not possible that the new county magistrate would leave after coming here for a few days. He would at least stay here for half a year to a year. It is necessary to build a good relationship with him. It would be the most ideal if the new magistrate was a local, but this is unlikely. "

"What if the county magistrate doesn't listen to us? There are many people who are like this. They just want to make money after being sent down to their new post. Are you going to help him become corrupted?"

Wang Juan was a little worried about the next county magistrate. She had watched a lot of movies, and they all acted like that, especially in places near Hang'zhou and Zhe'jiang. In almost every dynasty, those places were the richest. The officials who were sent there all became so fat that they looked greasy. The place she and Zhang Xiao'bao came from was like this too, not to mention movies. Otherwise, why was she betrayed?

Zhang Xiao'bao also knew that it would be difficult to deal with a corrupt official, so he sighed, "Let's talk about it when the time comes. I wonder how Housekeeper Zhang's discussion is going? I hope things are being handled properly."

"Yeah, there shouldn't be any problems. Let's go down. I want to know if the water is cold or warm." Wang Juan didn't worry about Housekeeper Zhang, and she pulled Zhang Xiao'bao down with her.

*

Housekeeper Zhang was still talking to the group of merchants. Just now, the masters of the Zhang and Wang families have both arrived, and the broker also followed them here. Originally, there weren't brokers here, but after the Between The Water And Clouds opened here and many carriages carried various people from the Little Luo'shui to here, the brokers had to find a place nearby for their brokers to work here and be on standby.

Of course, it was impossible for these owners to sell 10,000 picul of every type of grain to the Zhang and Wang family. They wouldn't be able to make any money that way. Even if these people were jointly responsible for 10,000 picul, each shop will have to provide nearly a thousand picul.

After some discussions, these bosses sold 5,000 picul of each of the three main grain types to the Zhang and Wang manors at a very low price. In addition to this, two more items that were less important were purchased at the wholesale price. One item was soybeans, which they bought 2, 000 picul of, and the other was sorghum, which they bought 1,500 picul of. This made these shop owners feel distressed.

After signing the paperwork, they left, and then the discussion about the seeds began. When they heard Housekeeper Zhang's offer, the merchants shook their heads.

"Housekeeper Zhang, the price is still too high. To be honest, we didn't make any profit when we sold those grains to you, and we only received enough to cover half of the shipping cost and we had to pay the rest out of our own pockets. This won't work, you can't make us lose money all the time, right? We will meet frequently in the future. When we have time, we will take the opportunity to check out the shops and come here."

Boss Jin spoke depressingly to Housekeeper Zhang. He really didn't want to give up on such good seeds. The main reason was that he planned to buy it once, even at a higher price, so he would not need to buy it again in the future since he could just keep his own crops as seeds.

Housekeeper Zhang hesitated when he heard this. He wanted to continue to pressure them a bit more, but e was really worried that they would work together to increase the price of grains here. He also knew that the Young Master's plan was to support the new county magistrate. He had to take into consideration if the commoners were able to afford to eat or not.

After thinking for a while, Housekeeper Zhang gave in a little bit and said, "Then 80 coins, what do you think?"

"This..80 coins? Housekeeper Zhang, we want to buy more, we want to buy more than half of what you have here. Do you think you can drop it a bit more?"

Another boss still found it expensive. The Zhang Manor had grown a lot of rice. If they wanted to buy more, it was difficult to gather so much money in such a short time.

"Actually, there is another way for it to be cheaper. Seventy wen would be enough, but you can't pay with money. You have to pay with a shop--- a small shop in the capital. We want shops from any kind of business. As long as you can give out the shops, it is fine even if we earn a bit less."

Housekeeper Zhang felt that it was about time, and he finally told them about this matter.