Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 79

Wang Juan appeared very impressive when she said this. If an adult said the very same words, other people would probably think that the speaker was trying to pretend to be impressive. However, when these words came from a child, people would only think that the child was taught well by their family. Her smiling and calm appearance made others who were eating, feel envious and sentimental.

"Husband, come and take a look, there is something good here." Just when the man was put on the spot, the woman who came with him suddenly spoke up.

The man smiled apologetically at Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, returned to his original seat , and asked the woman, "My wife, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, husband, look at this, the meat turns from red to white as soon as it is placed on the grill, isn't that rather amusing?" The woman really didn't know what to say. She called back her husband so that he would not embarrass himself. She didn't expect that he would be so oblivious towards the situation.

"Oh, it really did change. Ha ha, let's eat first." The man finally understood the expression in his wife's glaring eyes, and he laughed and agreed.

The people at the surrounding tables either looked at him with envy, or looked at his wife. Having a good woman in the family could really save a man from making a lot of mistakes.

"Xiao'bao, that woman is amazing. I heard her analysis from earlier, and now, she was able to help her husband suffer less embarrassment. It's a pity that the man doesn't know how to behave himself in public, otherwise what he could achieve would be greater than what he has now. "

Wang Juan chewed the fish in her mouth and whispered to Zhang Xiao'bao next to her.

For men, the untalented ones will think that their pride will be hurt, but those that truly understand logic and truth will position themselves in the correct spot within the family hierarchy. I think my dad is good. My mom is in charge of the whole household, but my dad never intervenes and only concentrates on studying. Who dares say that he is not competent? Can someone who is incompetent find a wife that is as good as my mom?

I present myself as quite controlling in the household, right? However, my dad never said anything about that. This is what it means to be a true man. If there is danger, I believe he would stand in front of my mother and me, even if he isn't that powerful. Look at the people in the inner courtyard---who dares to belittle my dad? When a man gives in to his family, that is not losing dignity, that is showing tolerance.

The green mountains do not rejoice or grieve when the flowers bloom or leaves fall. The sea is not saddened by the rise or fall of tides. The sky does not experience sorrow because of the curling or spreading of clouds. "

"Then, do you listen to my words?" Wang Juan picked up a piece of Zhang Xiao'bao's grilled garlic with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth.

"I do. When you told me to get off the couch, didn't I also roll down first? It was so high, and I had a minor concussion. Did you not notice that I'm a lot dumber now?" Zhang Xiao'bao also chewed on a piece of garlic, and he replied.

"Who's fault is it that you're so amazing? You can be 15 meters up high and jump down without getting hurt. You can even climb up a nine-meter high wall with your bare hands. That couch wasn't even that high."

"I practiced that back then, okay? If you make me jump from a height of fifteen meters now, I'll be just like this slice of grilled fish. Besides, I didn't jump down vertically. There was horizontal motion too, and when I landed, I carried out a series of shock absorption actions.

The limit of human beings is not at 15 meters. Someone accidentally fell from the fourth floor, but did not hurt themselves. It was around twelve or three meters, and they fell straight down, vertically. This shows that humans can have more latent abilities. I don't have natural talent for that, so I obtained that skill by using countless injuries as an exchange. "

Zhang Xiao'bao was not arrogant of his ability, since he understood the bitterness and pain of it.

Wang Juan thought for a moment. "Yes, I heard that more than a hundred years ago, not long after liberation, there were thieves who were able to escape by jumping off the fourth floor. My department has been studying one thing."

"What thing? Jumping off buildings?" Zhang Xiao'bao asked curiously.

"Huh, jumping off what building? It's studying sleepwalking. During sleepwalking, humans can usually push their bodies to the limits. For example, for a person who takes six minutes to run a kilometer, he would be able to go from the tenth floor to the ground by climbing down the water pipes.

Think about it, the long jump record is more than nine meters, so that means a normal person can jump six or seven meters with a running start. But, in our internal records, there was a sleepwalker, who was able to jump back and forth between two buildings that were 8.5 meters apart, and that was done without any jump starts.

Of course, when he was checked later, it was found that he was severely injured, but regardless, he made the jump. Why, though? It's because he pushed his body to its limits during that process and activated his latent abilities. His muscles and bones, and even his oxygen consumption, were perfect at that moment.

If soldiers can do this during war, then even the special forces would have to stand to the side. In my department, we have research projects like that. We wanted to arrest you because one, we want to get the money, and two, we want to study your body. It was a pity though. I wonder if it was because you were so incredible that your physical body became wasted so you became severely ill, or you just have bad luck, and brought me here. "

Wang Juan finally told him the thoughts that she had never talked about before, and this made her feel relieved.

Zhang Xiao'bao was stunned for a moment, "So, did you create any type of drugs? Ones that can temporarily enhance a person's performance?"

"Mmm, yes. There were always drugs like that, otherwise athletes wouldn't have to have urine checks. But our research department found that the human body can secrete that particular hormone and we have been looking for such a person---looking for you. Who would have thought that we would have to declare this as a failure in the end? No one had expected that you would be so kind, that you were willing to take the spot of a child. What you did at that time was considered to be kind, but it would still be a light punishment for you to be executed ten times over because of the crimes you have committed."

"That's so far away, it's just a story now. Let's think about what is in front of us right now. Before the new magistrate comes, I plan to invest 5,000 taels of silver into the San'shui County. Help me think about how to use the money. We need to give everyone the impression that we are very down to earth and caring towards the people."

Zhang Xiao'bao didn't want to talk about the original topic anymore; he could only treat the memory as a dream. What has passed, has passed, and when he wakes up, it was like just another morning.

"Why don't we send some oil to each family? There would still be some money left over if each family was given a few catties. This won't work, this won't work. How about we repair their houses? That would cost less. We will repair, not rebuild. Or give them some fireworks and firecrackers. If they hold onto them until Chinese New Year, would it get wet in the meantime?"

Wang Juan came up with ideas, but she rejected them right after mentioning them. Eventually, she ran out of ideas, so she decided to stop thinking. She placed a shrimp on the grill and grilled it.

Zhang Xiao'bao was also thinking hard. He wanted to kick the manor's reputation up by another notch before the new county magistrate arrived. He pondered for a while and said, "Let's collect manure, not human manure though, we'll collect only animal manure. Let others dry the manure, and we will collect them. The price can be slightly higher. In addition to this, we can collect other things like rotten fish and shrimps."

"You want to make fodder?" Wang Juan asked suspiciously.

"Impossible. The smell is so unpleasant. We will use it in our households only. Don't we have medium and low quality fields? Next year, we will do some crop rotation and let the fields rest for a year and convert all of the fields into top quality ones. The rest can be used to feed the chickens and we can save money that way. Not a lot of money will be needed and the remaining amount can be used for them to build heatable brick beds. That should be able to use up all of the money."

Zhang Xiao'bao thought for a while and came up with such an idea. He was not afraid that others would say that they were being silly anymore. Every time the Zhang Manor did something, people didn't understand and would say that they were stupid. He believed that these people would have changed by now.

"Alright, let's do that. We should be done with eating, let's go change our clothes." Wang Juan didn't grill much, so leftovers didn't have to be thrown away. She ate the shrimp, and pulled Zhang Xiao'bao out the door.

The bailiffs also left. The other four people looked at each other and dispersed again, following behind Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan from a far distance.

Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao'bao, who had changed their clothes, sat at the door while watching the heavy rain outside and chatting.

Zhang Xiao'bao's eyes were fixed on the rain and fog, and after hearing her words, he replied, "Mmm, you reminded me. We should fix it. Not only should we repair it well, we should also add a resting area for those who want to submit a lawsuit. While the new county magistrate has not arrived yet, we need the people to get used to this change."

"You are so bad. Are you waiting for the new county magistrate to arrive, and then abolishthis rule because it is out of compliance, resulting in him being scolded by the people? Then his prestige will be lowered by a lot. Should the people report their lawsuit directly to patrolling bailiffs instead of going to the Administrative Office?"

Wang Juan understood Zhang Xiao'bao's meaning, and followed along with the idea and added more to it.

Zhang Xiao'bao nodded vigorously. "Good, good idea. This way, things in the Administrative Office will become more cumbersome. If he is a competent official, there is absolutely no problem with this. However, if he is someone who secured the position by other means, then he will suffer."

"But I heard that this year's selection of county magistrates was done by Li Long'ji himself. Could something go wrong?" Wang Juan asked again.

"He is also a human, not some sophisticated machine. If he is a human, then he will make mistakes. If he is actually that incredible, then who assigned the governor with the surname An? Who assigned the prime ministers with the surname Li and Zhang? Oh right, what is that kid, Li Xun, up to lately? I haven't seen him for a long time, so I quite miss him."

As Zhang Xiao'bao was talking, he suddenly remembered that there was a nephew's neighbor next to them.