Great Tang Idyll

hose days, he learned a lot from other children.

 

“Actually, the leeches will naturally shrivel away if you sprinkle some salt on them.” Wang Juan felt that this method of slapping their legs would be painful for the children, so she told them this while staying on the sides.
Her actual intention was to get Zhang Xiao’bao to order people to bring salt over.

 

Zhang Xiao’bao didn’t move at all.
“Even if you brought salt, they would still slap with their hands.
Not because they think that salt is expensive, but they think the most reassuring way to kill the leeches is with their hands.
This is the offensive mentality; the desire for control also plays a part.”

 

“For example?” Wang Juan asked.

 

posted on dramantics.blogspot.com

 

“From a young age, children have always liked to play with guns.
If there were no guns, they would play with knives.
If guns and knives were placed together, most children would choose guns.
Guns have a sense of security and can be shot from a remote distance.
The same goes for remote-controlled cars.
One type is wired and the other type is wireless; most will choose wireless even if the wired one has a 100 meter distance and the wireless one only has up to 50 meters.

 

This is because the wireless one is more flexible to control and has no attachments to it.
This is the safest, and this sense of security is controlled by the player themselves.
If they wanted to attack, then they attacked, and if they wanted to retreat, they retreated.
“

 

Zhang Xiao’bao gave an example.

 

“Now that you have said that, I understand it.
For example, when I went to school, the boys liked to play a game called “land, sea and sky”.
Two big concentric circles were drawn; the innermost circle was land, the outer ring was water, and the remaining space outside was the sky.
They played rock-paper-and-scissor to decide who got to choose first.
Most children chose the sky.
The sea was the least popular choice because they had to face enemies from two sides and there was no sense of security.

 

It occurred to me, it was like this too when we arranged people to do night patrols and kept the lights on.
However, I don’t think this is enough.
In the future, when there are more male servants, I will divide them into over, covert, fixed, and mobile guard posts.
This way, the whole farm will be more peaceful; the farmers can sleep more well and the guards will feel more safe.”

 

Wang Juan was talking and then started to discuss the future for security control work.
At this time, the children were pretty much done with catching loaches.
They climbed up one after another, and skewered the loaches that were thrown on the shore with tree branches.
After placing the skewers in front of Zhang Xiao’bao and Wang Juan, everyone began to report how many loaches they had caught.

 

Zhang Xiao’bao and Wang Juan didn’t count them over.
They instructed people to go back to retrieve tofu and vegetable oil.
With so many loaches, they could make a few different dishes and eat for two or three days.
After the children received their ingredients, they happily ran back to their homes.
Once they put it away, the children came back and jumped down into the pond again.
This time, it was so that their own families could eat Loaches With Tofu. 

posted on dramantics.blogspot.com

 

Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao’bao started to walk back.
It was a given that other people carried the loaches for them.
Even if they were able to carry them, no one would let them.

 

As soon as the two entered the yard, they saw Song Jing’gong waiting there even though he shouldn't be back today yet. 

 

“Young Master, it is not good.
Someone is buying a large amount of soybeans.
Today, after I got my share of money from Zhou Xi’hu, I intended to buy some soybeans.
But even after going to several grain shops, they said that they were all sold out.
I didn't believe it so I went to have a look, and it turned out to be actually empty.

 

The salesclerk told me that some people came to the store and directly asked how much soybeans there were in stock.
As long as there were soybeans, regardless of how much, they bought all of it.
I went shopping for half a day and I still didn’t manage to buy even half a kilogram of soybeans.
Our vegetable oil depends on soybeans though.

 

The soybeans in the entire county have been bought by those people.
By the time more is transported here, the price won’t be as low as it is now.
I think someone has discovered that our vegetable oil is made from soybeans.
“

 

As soon as Song Jing’gong saw Zhang Xiao’bao, he informed him of the situation with an anxious expression on his face.

 

Zhang Xiao’bao thought for a while, “Vegetable oil has a beany taste and we keep buying soybeans so it won’t be hard for others know.
I think these people are targeting us.
But we have been selling vegetable oil for so long already, so why are they only making a move now? Could it be because of the drought?”

 

“Maybe.
They want to stockpile and after waiting for the price of soybeans to rise, they will try to sell the soybeans to us.
That way, they will make a lot of money.
However, I keep having a feeling that it’s not that simple.
This is my intuition.” Wang Juan stood on the side and tried to help analyze the situation.

 

posted on dramantics.blogspot.com

 

“What have we been doing recently? Let’s not rush.
Let’s go back into the house, and make a list to see what our main income sources and new outputs are during this period.
Then, we can make a judgment.”

 

For the time being, Zhang Xiao’bao couldn't figure out these people’s intentions.
So be it that they acquired the soybeans; at most, they will stop selling soybean oil.
They don't know how to make soybean oil from the soybeans anyway.
Most rapeseed oil was extracted with the use of heat; it was the same when rendering lard too. 

 

Song Jing’gong went to find a place to rest, while Zhang Xiao’bao and Wang Juan went back to the house and began to calculate the main source of income during this period.

 

After doing some calculations, they found that there weren’t significant differences compared to before.
Then, what remained was to look at their new outputs.

 

Translator's Notes

 

 

Loaches With Tofu 泥鳅钻豆腐

The name of the dish literally means “loaches buried into tofu”.
It is made by forcing loachs to dig and bury their heads into a large piece of tofu.
This was done by placing the loaches and a piece of tofu in a wok, and slowly increasing the temperature.
The loaches will then try to hide in the tofu to avoid the high temperature.
Afterwards, soup stock and other flavoring ingredients are added, and it is steamed all together.

 

Liang 两

A unit for weight measurement.
16 liang makes up one catty, while one catty has been standardized to be 500 g.
It has now been standardized that one liang is 50 grams.