Great Tang Idyll Volume 02 Chapter 38

Shout out to Yaro for commissioning this chapter!

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Volume 02 Chapter 38: It Was Hard to Find Any Holes In The Plan 

The moonlight was lingering, and the stars were shining. People whispered as they hurried down their path. 

In the middle of the night, Li Cheng wasn’t able to sit still anymore. He notified the coachman to prepare the carriage, and then they rushed back. He was scared that he would forget what the person looked like and thus, it would be difficult for him to get someone to draw the person out. 

The crisp sound of horse hooves sounded in the night, and a lantern hung in front of the carriage to light up the bumpy road.

The waiter that was on the night shift noticed this, so he waited until morning before he ran over to the Zhang Manor to report to Zhang Xiao'bao.

"Oh, I see. He might be wrong in the head. Don't worry about him. Tell the chef in the restaurant to cook some wild vegetables at noon today."

After listening to this, Zhang Xiao'bao spoke indifferently.

"Young Master, how could there still be wild vegetables? The wild vegetables are old now and can't be eaten." The waiter reminded him.

"Old? Oh, then make wild vegetable soup, and then scoop the wild vegetables out. I heard that wine is free at the restaurant. Add in a dish for them---red-braised pork. Make sure it’s extra fatty and don't cook it for so long. It has to be very greasy and heavy tasting. The chefs know how to make that, right?"

Zhang Xiao'bao changed the topic quickly. He ordered the waiter to give away a free dish.

The waiter nodded, "They know how to do it; I can also make it too. However, meat is quite costly."

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"Is meat expensive or wine expensive? After eating a few mouthfuls of meat, the person would feel so sick that they won’t be able to drink wine anymore. By giving out meat, we can save wine money. Tell them that the meat is made in a special way and that after eating it, the body will become stronger and healthier, and it’s beneficial for ‘night activities’. This way we don’t have to worry that they won’t eat it."

"Yes, I’ll follow my young master’s order." The waiter agreed and turned to leave. In his mind, he thought about how conniving the young master was for coming up with a plan like that.

After solving the problem of high wine consumption, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan began to climb the mountain with everyone again. While climbing, they also ordered people to pick some old wild vegetables and any tender ones that they could luckily find. 

Zhang Xiao'bao spent the entire morning repeating what he did yesterday. He directed people to record certain areas, and then he finally enclosed a total of 4,000 mu of land. From one side of the mountain to the other side of the mountain, the surrounding area was almost entirely enclosed except for some areas in the center. Those spots were the extra land.

"Xiao'bao, you're horrible. You only enclose the surrounding land, but even if you don’t use the land in the center, it won’t be easy for others to occupy it. Later, you would be able to secretly plant something there. Although it’s only 4,000 mu, all of the extra land is encircled in the center."

On the way back at noon, Wang Juan drew on the map the spots that Zhang Xiao'bao chose, and she found that the nearly 2,000 mu of land was actually surrounded by Zhang Xiao'bao’s chosen land.

The most important thing is that the 2,000 mu are almost all in the middle of the nearby hills. There was a large slope that took up a lot of space, and the valley below was not suitable for farming at all.

However, Zhang Xiao'bao disagreed with Wang Juan's statement, and corrected her, "Why am I horrible? Those valleys---I plan to let people dig deep pits in there and then raise some shrimps and crabs. If no one claims the land, then we will catch them, but if someone claims the land, then we will use nets to remove everything. Those are wild creatures--- we didn’t raise them."

"I see, but if we do this, aren’t you afraid that others would come to catch shrimps or crabs?" Wang Juan now understood that Zhang Xiao'bao didn't want those valleys because he had this idea in mind.

"If they come, then let them come. If they’re willing to catch shrimps or crabs, then let them catch shrimps or crabs. The surrounding areas belong to us, so why are outsiders able to come in? We will also raise shrimps and crabs in the valleys that we actually own, and if people go there, then they will have to pay a toll. The more they eat and the more they catch, then the more money we will charge.

If the person leaves without taking the initiative to pay, then we would say that the person stole something from us. All shrimps and crabs look about the same, so how could they prove that what they caught were from the valleys that don't belong to us? "

Zhang Xiao'bao explained further and he smiled. It was obvious that this was a child's innocent smile, but Wang Juan shivered when she saw his smile. 

"You are too cruel, I get it now. If someone claims that place, then they will have to pass through our place and they will also have to pay when they enter and leave, right?"

"Yes, that's the plan. If the person was a notable person, then we will charge them a bit less. Our goal is to let others know that money can be earned from raising shrimps and crabs in the valleys, and the earned amount is not a small amount. When someone claims the place, we will secretly put in carnivorous fishes, such as snakehead fish.

The fishes will eat everything inside and they will lose a ton of money. Then we can buy the land from them at a low price. We get to save a lot of trouble and a lot of money. Whoever comes here to seek benefits will be schemed against."

The smile on Zhang Xiao'bao’s face became more and more charming. Wang Juan looked at him and sighed, "Why do you always come up with such deceptive ideas? What if they send someone to stay there? When you send someone to release fish, the person will definitely be caught. If that person was the emperor's kin, then you’re in big trouble."

"That’s impossible. What kind of fool would go there to put in snakehead fish? Doesn’t it rain in that place all the time? Once it rains, the water on the mountain will pool together and flow down. It will definitely flow to the place where they raise shrimps and crabs. We’ll find some juvenile fishes and release them in our area. They will be carried by the water to their place. We can’t be caught then, right?

Even if they use nets to catch the juvenile fishes and they don’t care about wasting manpower, we can make use of the rain water to flush out rotten shrimps and crabs. Those shrimps and crabs have a lot of bacteria on them and will definitely cause all of their shrimps and crabs to die. We need to remember to use lime water to sterilize our area."

When Zhang Xiao'bao talked about bad ideas, the ideas were always linked together in chains, and he thought about every single aspect. Listening to this, Wang Juan was speechless for a while. She had no idea who would squirm their way in and who could be blamed?

While the two of them muttered amongst themselves, their family members, who were next to them, did not know what the two of them were doing. They also had no clue that Zhang Xiao'bao was making plans to trick other people in the future. Their families just thought that the two of them were close to each other and this made both of their families extremely happy.

The Zhang family thought of Wang Juan as a good daughter-in-law. She was sensible, she always stayed with Xiao'bao, and other girls can’t be compared to her. The Wang family’s thoughts were even simpler. With Zhang Xiao'bao’s money-making ability, their lives would become better in the future.

The two families rushed back, and the wild vegetables were sent to the restaurant. Right afterwards, they began drafting the document. The San’shui County’s bailiffs have been waiting here for the past two days. In their opinion, nothing was more important than this. 

After the document was complete and their fingerprints were imprinted, it was considered that the two families had enclosed the land. It was definitely less than 4,000 mu, and it was impossible to be more. Now they were not afraid of others coming to cause trouble.

*

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Li Cheng, who was in a rush to get back, had already arrived at the place at this time. He went to Li Xun’s side, who was still competing with others, and said to him, "Young Prince, I now know that the Zhang Manor really has a mastermind. It’s hard for others to tell, but I know who the person is. It’s the person who never talks but always keeps a smile on his face.

Can you guess where he hid? He actually stepped down from his high status and helped carry Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan on a sedan chair. If I didn’t look carefully, I would have been deceived by him. The other three people were talking and laughing, but he kept silent. The people from the Zhang and Wang families always kept their eyes on Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan.

I now understand that they are not looking at the two children, but the one behind them. Think about it, during a time of such happiness, why does that one person never talk and keep on smiling? When I came closer to look, he pretended to be a fool and smiled at me. "

"Is that true?" Li Xun was now first place. He found a litter of small mice, so he didn’t need to worry about lunch. Although it was a bit disgusting, it was better than not eating. Besides, everyone else was able to eat it. This time, he brought some vegetable oil, which was sold by the Zhang Manor. He planned to deep-fry them at noon.

Because of this, he saved a lot of time when moving forward. In fact, he knew that the litter of mice he found was found in advance by his subordinates, and they left a marking for him to find. In order to get the first place, he had to cheat.

He was happy right now, and after hearing what Li Cheng said, he asked his question with satisfaction. 

Li Cheng wanted to pound his chest to emphasize his certainty. He replied to the Young Prince, "Young Prince, what I saw is absolutely correct. They went to that mountain area to enclose the land. As soon as the map comes out, I will know if they took all of the land. If you need me to, I’ll go find their fault. 

Young Prince, think about it. If it weren’t for choosing the land, would that silent person go? All masterminds are like this. Usually, they are unwilling to talk, and they will only speak up during critical moments. Young Prince, if there is nothing else to do here, then I’ll follow your original instructions and go over there to meet that mastermind."

"Meet him? Hmm, that’s good. Oh right, immediately open a restaurant. It doesn’t matter if it is in Luo’chuan County or San’shui County. After the survival training ends here and next time when we go to the desert area, try to find a way to give the desert area the same name as the restaurant.

Humph! Their Zhang manor made such good calculations, but I'm not bad either. They found fourteen stores but none of them provide places, right? We will give that place our name. I don’t have a lot of money, so any amount earned is a good amount. "

While Li Xun was happy, he didn’t forget about his plans. This time, the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant benefited a lot. He thought about which aspects of the training was under his control because he wanted to find ways to benefit himself.

"The Young Prince is truly amazing, no words of praise are fitting of the Young Prince. I’ll go arrange this right now. Young Prince, please be assured. I’ll definitely bring that mastermind to our side. If the Zhang and Wang families are unwilling to let him go, then I will threaten them with the matter about their land enclosure."

Li Cheng praised Li Xun. He did not dare to continue slowing down the Young Prince’s progress so he turned and left. After he buys a restaurant, he was going to go find that silent person. 

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