Great Tang Idyll Volume 02 Chapter 99

Shout out to Yaro for commissioning this chapter!

Chapter 99: The New Magistrate Is Scouting The Place

In the early winter days, the first light snowfall entered the world from the sky, flying. As soon as they landed onto the ground, a puddle of water formed on the roof. The poultry on the manor trembled and did not want to leave their den, while the old yellow dog had gathered some old rags and hay from somewhere and made a little bed for itself. 

Apart from the evergreen trees, it seemed like not a single trace of green could be found in the entire world. The croaking of summer and autumn frogs and the chirping of the little swallows were absent. There were only mud puddles on the ground, but no fragrance of the mud.

The sericulturers boiled the silkworms. Some were going to be spun into silk, and some were just stored away. This year, the county did not need to hand in anything. Although the harvest was lower, life was better.

The people selling liang’pi in the county were no longer around, and it seemed like the savory crepe business became better. The people selling candied hawthorns also came out early and they stayed from dawn to night. The flakes of rock sugar would not melt too much. Compared to white sugar, it was a lot better. It tasted sweet and sour, and had a nice crunch to it.

The workers at the Little Luo’shui Wharf were busier than the previous days. Many merchants who wanted to earn money in the winter were working hard to transport the goods they received and export goods while the river had not frozen yet. 

Several large frame structures with ropes on the top and hooks below were set up there, thus making the terminal's throughput a lot faster. This made the business of the restaurants and shops next to the wharf go crazy for the last time.

The gifted scholars and beautiful ladies felt like there was nothing to write into poems during this season. Some of them stayed at home thinking about what to write when there was heavy snow in winter. The only place where there were still many talents willing to stay was at Between The Water And Clouds. 

Wang Juan deliberately used a line from a poem, which attracted many people before it snowed. "’Who said thin clothes are cold when the cicadas cease to sing, but say that the cool days make a good autumn.’”

Others didn’t know where this line came from, nor did they know that the actual first line was ‘Young people don’t know the flavors of sorrow.’ Many scholars interpreted these two lines as ‘when it was cold, peasants did not have clothing to wear, but there were still people praising this kind of scenery’. Literati always like to pin their emotions onto the scenery.

In addition, Between The Water and Clouds has introduced a new dish, which made more people willing to come here and taste it. People ate food while dwelling on their sentiments.

It was not the cicada's sound and silkworm at heart; the silk ends only when the autumn silkworm dies.

That was how the name of the dish came to be. To put it simply, it was three words, “The Silk Ends”.

Zhang Xiao’bao didn't put his brain on this aspect. Wang Juan came up with this idea herself. Judging by the number of customers that came, it seemed that the dish was quite good. 

Usually, after the silk is drawn from the silkworm pupae, normal people wouldn’t eat the silkworm. The residents would keep them for a few days and eat them. If they can’t finish them, then they would throw them away. Wang Juan specifically thought of this solution for them and she changed Li Shang’yin's line1.

That was how Wang Juan commented on Li Shang’yin: when reading his poems, it was more about sadness, such as ‘Brocade Zither’, which sounded nice but there was always a kind of poignant beauty to it. From the poem, Wang Juan liked the line, ‘At the boundless sea, the pearl like moon has tears’, while Zhang Xiao’bao loved listening to the line, ‘Zhuang Zhou knew that it was a dream; captivated by the butterfly2.’ 

After saying those two sentences, Wang Juan also asked Zhang Xiao'bao,  "How's it going? Did I put the two lines together very well?"

"Average. It’s not as good as what I heard from the three girls in the Chinese faculty. I didn’t understand anything at that time though. I was sitting on the train and they were talking about poems. They mentioned a poem that was very nice, especially these two lines, this passion can be treated as chasing a memory, but helplessly, the flower has withered 3. At that time, I was greatly shocked, and later..."

"Later you found out that these two lines are from two different poems?" Wang Juan asked with a smile.

Zhang Xiao’bao shook his head, "No, later I thought to myself, if Yan took over Li's body, would he be able to write ‘being sick during the autumn rain at Maoling, the west wind withered the green trees last night’ ?"

"Zhang Xiao'bao, can't you speak with some morality?" Wang Juan asked with a smile.

"I'm being serious. Do you eat that black thing in silkworms?" Zhang Xiao'bao said solemnly.

"No. Who would eat the internal organs? Have you ever seen what the silkworm pupa looks like after growing up if the silk is not taken away from it?" Wang Juan asked.

Zhang Xiao'bao nodded, "Hmm, when I was younger, someone gave us more than 50 catties of cocoon pupae. A woman in her thirties wanted to adopt a girl, but unfortunately, she couldn’t. I always felt like she was the most beautiful one. When we were eating, one of the pupae fell to the ground. When spring started, it turned into a moth that was this big, and it was white. I cooked it with fire and ate it. 

"Aiya, if I knew about this earlier, I would have saved some for roasting. As long as you say that it is something brave people would only eat, then a lot of men would eat it, especially when beautiful women are present." Wang Juan looked regretful.

*

How could one not know the day is cold? Yet complain that winter is late. Single-robed, staying near the red charcoal, asking who wants roasted flatbread. 

"Father, it's here. Look, it's cold, but the water did not freeze yet. They are sweaty from working. Quite a bit of money is earned during every trip. Father, a few days ago, I heard people say that the Zhang family has sent over many plants bearing cucumbers to the Administrative Office and they have been planted in the backyard.

They are trying to please you, father. Why don't we take advantage of this opportunity to say that the Zhang family falsely reported about the auspicious omen. Otherwise how could there be another one this year? We could also send people to sneak into their manor to learn how to grow cucumbers in winter. "

At the wharf, Jia Wei’ran, who had just bought a flatbread with meat filling for two coins at the head of the bridge, spoke to the man, who had the physique of a wealthy person, next to him.

The two of them didn't bring any servants with them, and the clothes they wore were not luxurious. They walked slowly here, and snowflakes fell from time to time, but they didn't care about it. It was as if they were no different from the ordinary people.

The person who was called father by Jia Wei’ran was the new county magistrate. For some reason, he decided to discreetly scout the area. There were still a few more days until he was supposed to come into office, so he went to the San’shui County.

After Jia Wei’ran went back to report the news last time, he returned here immediately. He did not meet up with his former friends, instead he only watched and listened at the wharf. At this time, he finally did not let his efforts go to waste. He explained the situation here in detail to his father. 

Magistrate Jia glanced at his son, then at the lively scene on the wharf, and said, "Too late. A few days ago, someone had already handed in the instructions for growing cucumbers during winter. Now, a lot of people know about Zhang Yong’cheng. We can’t go forth with that idea, it will lead fire onto ourselves."

"Ah? It has been submitted already? Could it be that his Zhang family is stupid? Now that everyone knows about it, why did they send cucumber plants to the Administrative Office? Do they think we can't afford cucumbers?"

Jia Wei’ran didn't expect that the idea he spent a few days working on became useless before he had a chance to use it. Thinking about the cucumbers delivered to the Administrative Office, he felt like he couldn’t swallow down his anger at this moment. 

Magistrate Jia said to his son, “They reported it. If other people want to plant it elsewhere, they would have to wait for some time before the plant bears cucumbers. Not only can this instruction  be used to grow cucumbers, but also for some other vegetables. It's not easy to do. You would need to keep the plants with bees and butterflies before they die. 

The Zhang family is not stupid. By giving up this portion of money, they will have less trouble to deal with. How much can cucumbers be sold for during winter? What is the value of the wharf at Little Luo’shui? Even a prince, let alone two manors, would not dare to keep this method of growing vegetables in winter to themselves. If they do, what does that say about how much they care about the people? "

Magistrate Jia thought about this more extensively than his son. Before he came, he knew that this place is not easy to stay at. The previous magistrate finished doing almost all of the philanthropic tasks. After Magistrate Jia comes into office, he can only follow the previous magistrate’s steps, otherwise, the people would protest. This place was not the same as the others. The prince was the governor of the state and this place was close to the capital. If something went wrong, it would be impossible to hide it. Furthermore, the two seven-rank officials of the Zhang and Wang Family would be able to send in reports to the Imperial court. 

"We can’t make a move that casually. We can't." Magistrate Jia mumbled as he thought about it.

"Father, what the kid said last time won’t work? They were granted four thousand mu of land, but that piece of land they claimed is more than six thousand mu. They secretly occupied 2,000 mu. The crime is not light, right?" Jia Wei’ran still didn't want to give up. He kept thinking about how he was embarrassed at the restaurant that day. Even if it was two children, he still had to hold those two children’s family accountable.

Magistrate Jia continued to remain calm. "You need to go back and look at the documents in the Administrative Office. If it was really occupied, then it would be easy to deal with. I am afraid that they did not occupy it. There is a wharf at Little Luo’shui, and taxes are also paid, so they aren’t tight for money. They would be afraid of others causing trouble for them over this."

Jia Weiran didn’t know what to say at this time. He took a bite of the flatbread in his hand, chewed it for a while and swallowed it. Suddenly, he said, “Father, this flatbread is really good. There is another seller up ahead, I’ll buy one for you to try later."

"Hmm. These days are cold now, but there are still people doing business here. It's better than going hungry. If not, it would be hard to complete the assessment next year. Magistrate Cheng was indeed somewhat capable." Magistrate Jia wanted to have a more comprehensive understanding of the situation. If the local people lived a better life, it would be easier for him too. 

Jia Wei’ran pursed his lips, "Father, how is it that Magistrate Cheng is the one who is the capable? There is a special seasoning from the Zhang manor in this flatbread. I don't know how they make it. It seems that the seasoning is a bit different for the same dish. I asked someone to taste it. They can guess what some of it is, but not if there are a lotit with someone, maybe a few can be tasted, but if there are more, it won't work.”

"Why is that?" Magistrate Jia truly didn't understand.

"I asked someone to smell the seasoning but they kept sneezing while smelling it. I asked someone to taste it, and they were able to tell a few of the ingredients in it, but when they had a taste of it again, their mouth went numb. I got people to cook a few dishes with those ingredients. If enough was not used, the taste was not right, but if more was added, it was hard to describe how the taste was wrong, or it would cause diarrhea or discomfort. I heard a professional say that herbs have certain side effects if used in particular combinations."

Jia Wei’ran was depressed when he talked about this. The seasoning for fish was absolutely different from that for meat. The flatbread was also different. There were also special ones used for fillings and used for soups. I wonder how the manor was able to come up with some many methods. 

When Magistrate Jia heard this, he felt that this was right. He pointed to a place where savory crepes were sold. "Go there and buy a savory crepe. Before coming here, I heard people say it was delicious."

"How is it delicious? It's nothing more than just having sauce that is more salty and having more chopped green onions. Poor people find everything to be tasty." Jia Weiran muttered and walked over in that direction.

"Isn't this brother Jia? I haven't seen you for a few days, what have you been busy with, Brother Jia?" Before Jia Wei’ran had gotten to the place, a sudden voice next to him called out.

Translator’s Notes 

1. Li Shang’yin

This poet’s original poem is “The silk ends when the spring silkworm dies.” The word “silk” is a homonym for “pining”. 

2. ‘Zhuang Zhou knew that it was a dream; captivated by the butterfly.’

This line in the poem ‘Brocade Zither’ is a reference to Zhuang Zhou’s story, Butterfly Dream. In this story, Zhuang Zhou speaks of being a butterfly in his dream, and when he wakes up, he ponders if he is actually a butterfly dreaming of being a human. In the poem, the poet comments that Zhuang Zhou is actually just envious of how carefree a butterfly is.

3. ‘this passion can be treated as chasing a memory, but helplessly, the flower has withered’

The first line is from ‘Brocade Zither’ by Li Shang’yin, while the second line is from ‘Washing River Sand’ by Yan Shu. 

4. ‘being sick during the autumn rain at Maoling, the west wind withered the green trees last night’

The first line is from the poem ‘Writing To Officer Ling’hu’ by Li Shang’yin and the second line is from the poem ‘Butterfly Loves The Flower’ by Yan Shu. The first poem was written by Li Shang’yin to his old friend Ling’hu Tao and he laments on his misfortune, while the second poem is about pining for love. With that said, it should be obvious why Wang Juan reacted like that XD.  

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