Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 54

The market by the small bridge finally opened in the evening, and the people who couldn't fall asleep despite working for the entire day came over to have a look. In this season, most of the sales were completed between the stall owners since the residents did not have that much time.

Housekeeper Zhang did not go directly to discuss with the people in the market, but found Er'gou instead. After giving out some orders, Er'gou went to work immediately.

After completing the affairs with Er'gou, Housekeeper Zhang arranged for someone to find the twelve people who came today. Soon, the news came back. The twelve people were staying at the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant. Housekeeper Zhang breathed a sigh of relief and led the manor's doctors to each house to ask if anyone was feeling unwell and give them treatment.

Er'gou was ordered to adjust some of the prices in the market for the next few days. For example, the prices of tea. Normally, a random object could be given to pay for tea, but from now until the end of the autumn harvest, no matter who came to drink tea, it would cost 50 coins for a bowl of tea. For twenty coins, a small steamed bun with a bit of meat could be bought.

It didn't matter if they couldn't sell it out. When it was time to close in the evening, the grocery store would pay for the difference compared to the average money earned back then. All of the food was bought at the usual price. If other people wanted to buy items, then it had to be bought at the set price. This was the advantage of being able to set the prices.

Even Er'gou didn't understand why this arrangement was made, but he was only responsible for executing the orders, so he didn't have to worry about anything else.

*

At the second class courtyard in the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant, a group of people had a very expensive dinner and sat together to discuss matters.

"Boss, don't you know the government officials in the Capital? I heard that there's a sixth-ranked one. How about you ask him to come over and buy the grains here at a low price. Then we can plant our own grains. The crop yield is four piculs per mu. "

Lai'zi stood on the side and belched as he tried to persuade his boss. The two other people beside them also nodded in agreement.

The boss' facial expression was somber and he remained silent. He had just heard the news that the Zhang and Wang manors were selling their seeds for 100 coins a catty. The weight of the hulls was also included. This price was abnormally high, but when he thought about the crop yield, he felt like it was worth it.

But if he really bought it at such a high price, others would see him as a fool, and this was too embarrassing.

Just when he kept a sunken expression and remained silent, a person next to him, who always squinted his eyes, spoke up, "Would it even be effective for a sixth-ranked official to come here? When we deliberately found a spot on the first floor to eat, did you not hear what others said? The two manors have an official that is a proper seventh rank, and another official that is a sub-seventh rank.

An official that is higher by a rank can only oppress their subordinates. It won't work on just anyone. If he does coerce them, can't they just impeach him? Just now I heard that it was the Imperial Court that granted their titles. Two auspicious omens appeared at their place, and they helped with the disaster relief at the He'nan Division. Don't even mention a sixth-rank official, which are as plentiful as the furs on a cow at the Capital, even a third-rank official won't do. They can be impeached just as easily too. "

"Why?" Lai'zi didn't understand why a third-rank official was no match for two insignificant seventh-rank officials from the two manors.

"Stupid. You came here to lower their sale price. It's fine if you don't buy it, but if you keep trying to force them to lower the price, then they can say that you're oppressing the auspicious land. If it was not an auspicious land, would the crop yield be that high? If it was not auspicious, then why was the yield not lowered by the drought, but instead increased? Forcing the place with auspicious omens to lower their prices would mean that you want to suppress the fortune line of the Imperial Court.

"Is it that complicated? That wretched manor can't be touched at all?" Lai'zi was a little disappointed. He didn't expect that a manor that seemed so ordinary could not be easily challenged without taking all of these factors into consideration.

"We can't take them on like this, but we can use other methods." The squinting man continued again.

Lai'zi knew that this person was the boss' wisdom bank. Once he heard that there were other methods, he quickly said, "I see. I heard that the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant belonged to those three manors. Tomorrow, I'll pretend to get sick from eating their food, and then, hehe ...."

"Heh. Heh, this is the only skill you have. How about you try doing that tomorrow? Get sick? Even if you die from eating their food, do you think they would be affected at all? Don't bring up insignificant ideas that can't even touch their foundation." The man sneered. He really looked down on Lai'zi. If it weren't for his older sister's relationship with the boss, how could someone like him follow the boss out to do things?

A person next to Lai'zi pondered for a while and said, "That's right, it's pointless to die from eating their food. Besides, Lai'zi can't just die like that. We need to come up with a well-rounded plan. How about we help them spread the news that the Zhang and Wang manors are auspicious places, so their products are better than the items produced around the Capital. More can be said to make people believe that the place where auspicious omens appear is a place where a new emperor is found."

When he said that, the people around him thought this was a feasible idea. This would really kill both the Zhang and Wang manors in one blow. Was it that easy to become the emperor?

Even the boss was a little tempted, but the squinting man shook his head again. "This method could be used if someone else was the governor, but with this place under the governance of Prince Li Cheng'yi, this method cannot be used. As soon as that news comes out, the Prince will have to go to the Capital to ask for punishment.

Then the Emperor will send people to thoroughly investigate this matter. Whoever spread this news would be guilty of trying to ruin the relationship between him and his brothers. If it is said that a new emperor will be found in a prince's place, then it's the same as saying that the prince wants to be the emperor. Who would even consider thinking that a manor's resident would become the new emperor?"

"Huh? This doesn't work either? What luck they have for having their manor in a prefecture with a prince as the governor. What else can we do? We can't possibly buy rice with hulls at the price of 100 coins per catty, right?" Lai'zi was the most impatient person among them. Once he heard that this idea was rejected, he became anxious again.

"Shut up and listen to Brother Liu." The boss was also frustrated, and he became even more annoyed when he heard Lai'zi speak.

"Boss, you don't need to worry, there is still a way. I will find a few people tomorrow and get them to execute our plan. I doubt that the Zhang and Wang manors won't come looking for us to negotiate." The squinting man smiled maliciously. He got the people who shouldn't hear about the plan to leave, and then he told the remaining three people inside the room about his plan.

*

During the autumn harvest season, the residents were all busy. With Xiao'hong and Ying'tao back on the manor, the poultries had to be fed, but since the adults were busy, the task was given to the little children who were supposed to go to school. Any of the households that raised poultry had a lot of chickens, ducks and geese.

The little children got up early, released the poultry in the place designated by the manor, and then came to the master's house with empty pouches to receive what the poultry will eat for the day. Except for the live earthworms, everything else was grinded into crumbs by the master household. Each trip they carried around ten catties, and they had to make several trips back and forth to collect the complete amount.

They didn't have to pay for the feed as it was provided by the master for free. They were actually just helping the master household take care of the poultry. The calculation will be made at the end, and the master household will take 80% of the income, and the residents will take the remaining 20%. This 20% was almost given to them for free. It was better than raising the poultry themselves because they didn't have to feed the poultry with their own food.

The income did not come from just the eggs, but also the money earned from selling the slaughtered chickens. The master household even included selling the chicken feathers, duck feathers and goose feathers as a source of income.

The residents didn't know how these poultry feathers could be used to earn money. How could items that people won't even take when offered for free be sold for money?

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were also figuring this out because they wanted to maximize their profits.

"What would you do if I gave you a catty of chicken feathers?" Zhang Xiao'bao got up early in the morning and discussed this problem with Wang Juan.

"Throw it away." Wang Juan replied very simply.

"How about ten catties?" Zhang Xiao'bao asked again.

"I'll continue to throw it to the place where I threw the previous one catty." Wang Juan replied with the same answer.

"What about ten tons of chicken feathers?" Zhang Xiao'bao asked again.

"Well, this thing can be used as some sort of material, right? It can be used to make down jackets. Worse comes to worse, I'll mass produce feather dusters. That's too many feathers to throw away."

Wang Juan's answer this time was different from her previous answers. There were too many feathers this time. When the amount of seemingly useless things reaches a certain amount, it is impossible to continue to treat them as useless things, even if the things were stones or furnace ash.

Zhang Xiao'bao did not continue to ask more questions. He pointed to the outside and said, "We have more than 30,000 poultry on the manor, and we will ultimately kill all of them, unless someone else specifies that they want live poultries. We will sell all parts of the poultry and standardize the sales. We will be the ones that will slaughter the poultries, and we will end up with a lot of feathers. There would be tens of thousands of catties of feathers.

"Think of what kind of plan? We can't possibly make down jackets, right? You have chicken feathers, but what about the other materials? The quality of the material that can normally be bought from the market is a bit low and the feathers will keep falling out. The exterior of down jackets are made of what kind of material? Fabric? Even if it's just cotton fabric, we don't have it. We only have silk and linen. With the current weaving technology, how can we make the exterior layer? Stop dreaming."

Wang Juan rejected the idea of making down jackets. It was okay to use cotton to make cotton jackets, but the feather processing technology was unavailable right now, so how could they place the feathers inside the jacket?

"Who said I want to make clothing? I can build a house with two layers of wooden boards, or two layers of walls, with a mixture of slaked lime and chicken feathers in the middle. It would be a good insulator, wouldn't it be? A boat can be made by using glue to stick the selected feathers together in a specific order.

At that time, all the cruise ships near Little Luo'shui can be made using these feathers. Once people see how well it works, people will copy us and then we can sell our feathers to them. What do you think? Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future. "

Zhang Xiao'bao told Wang Juan about his plans for the future.