Great Tang Idyll

the work they do is fresh and new.

Shi’liu, Xiao’hong and Ying’tao were exceptions.
They have already regarded their job as an honor, and they love their jobs from the bottom of their hearts.
If their job was changed, they would think that we have found them unsuitable for the job.

Get these people to pick mountain vegetables for another two days, then let them work on the lotus flowers.
Weren’t the lotus flowers that Magistrate Cheng found were all placed into the pond? Let them work on this first, and then after two days, let them raise shrimps and crabs.
Don’t let them get too familiar with the jobs.
Swap them out with a different group of people and assign them a new job every two days. 

The disadvantage of this is that we cannot expect the things we raise will have a high yield, and they will die easily.
The advantage is that when they encounter something they are not familiar with, and if they want to satisfy their masters, they must learn from others, and others have to learn from them.”

“I see, in the process of teaching others, they will get a sense of satisfaction in return.
This will also strengthen their intercommunication, and at the same time, they are forced to take everything seriously, otherwise they will not be able to answer the questions other people ask them.
It would be embarrassing if they were called out by another person.”

After Zhang Xiao’bao said this, Wang Juan realized that they had to use their own money to train these people.
If a person developed a habit to do work seriously, then the person will keep the habit when the person works on a different job.
In order to be better at teaching others, the person had to learn seriously, and then think hard to summarize their experience.

The two of them wrote a few more lines, and then Wang Juan spoke again, “In fact, not much money will be lost.
The so-called loss is actually the difference between the expected output and the actual yield.
The transplanted lotus does not cost money.
We have ponds already; we can ask the shrimp and crab sellers for the baby shrimps and baby crabs.

I think this will work.
Other than some vegetables in the backyard, there should be some plants that can be grafted, like fruit trees.
There will always be new job waiting for them.
Let’s continue writing, and then sleep after a while.
“

Unknowingly, the Dragon Boat Festival will be here soon.
The Spring Tillage ended several days ago.
The crops were looked after, and everyone was waiting for the harvesting season to come.
The wheat has already been cut once already, and the second cutting will be done later.

At the same time, construction of the restaurant at the Manor was completed.
The supply of MSG to the three restaurants in the county seat has always been very minimal, and it was reserved to be used in their own business.
Of course, the names behind these businesses were not the Zhang and Wang families.
The Zhang and Wang families have always been pure farmers.
The Zhang family's ancestors have a bit of political credit, so they can be regarded as patriotic descendants.

As for business matters, they had no connections with the merchants.
It was other people who occupied the Zhang and Wang family’s space to do business.
Even the mountain near the Little Luo’shui River was simply bought by the master of the Zhang family to be rented out to people.
As for what business they conducted, it had nothing to do with the Zhang family. 

Construction at the Little Luo’shui River was not complete yet.
The river still needs to be dug, and the levee needs to be repaired.
The buildings need to be built according to building codes and standards, and the wharf also needs to be built.
These projects were carried out simultaneously and it solved the problem of having many unemployed laborers in the county.
The small road and pavilions on the mountain and the man-made lake at the bottom of the lake can only start after the other projects are complete. 

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, those who collected wormwood, collected wormwood and other medicinal herbs.
During this time, they collected everything that could be foraged.
The two Zhang and Wang Manors also purchased a lot of medicinal herbs during this time, and it was Zhang Xiao’bao who paid for these.
The supply at the apothecary was going to be low eventually, so they stocked up on these items too. 

It was finally the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Zhang and Wang Manors began to give out bamboo leaf rice dumplings2 to their residents again.
The restaurant was also opened on the same day.
Strings after strings of firecrackers were ignited as if they did not cost money.
Magistrate Cheng brought some people from the administrative office over to congratulate them.
Zhou Kong did not lie; he also called people from the prefecture to come join him to eat and drink for free.

Song Jing’gong’s name was well-known, and he has attracted many friends to come here to support the restaurant.
These people knew about the opening two days beforehand, and they all raced to write poems at home while they still had the time so that they could attract the spotlight on the day of the opening.

Even a remote place like the Tu’qiao Village became more lively because of the opening of the restaurant, which made all the residents in the three manors happy.

It was impossible for Zhang Xiao’bao and Wang Juan to participate, let alone stand at the entrance to welcome customers.
The adults in the family all left, leaving behind only the two of them to play in the yard.

“Xiao’bao, are there any bamboo rice dumplings that children can eat? Children like us.” Wang Juan looked at others steaming or boiling the bamboo rice dumplings.
She was craving it, but she was also worried that it would be difficult to digest.
She asked Zhang Xiao’bao boredly.

“There should be? I was thinking about using rice that was not so glutinous like normal rice, and then add some minced meat and other fillings inside.
Wrap it all up, and then steam it, then it can be eaten.” Zhang Xiaobao analyzed.

“Stop talking.
How is that still a bamboo rice dumpling? Zhou Kong might come over to ask things again, and we have had to answer him.” Wang Juan laid on the chair, and then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Translator’s Notes

Grinding inkstick 

An inkstick is a form of solid ink.
To produce ink, the inkstick is grinded against an inkstone with a bit of water. 

Bamboo leaf rice dumplings 粽子 (zong’zi)

This is made by wrapping glutinous rice in bamboo leaves, and it is usually wrapped to be shaped like a tetrahedron.
It can be be plain without any fillings, or have a sweet filling like red bean paste, or a savory filling with pork, Chinese sausage, salted duck egg, etc. 

This rice dumpling is eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate the death of a famous patriotic poet named Qu Yuan.
The story goes that Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River, and in hopes that the fishes won’t consume Qu Yuan’s corpse, the people threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fishes.