Chapter 60 Deducting Wages: That's Power
Xiao Liu tried to help the farmers thresh the grain, but he couldn't even touch the edge of the flail.
Farmers have a reverence for grain, especially since this is sacred wheat meant to be saved for seed.
Little children like Xiao Liu shouldn't even touch the edges of the grain.
Little Liu stood on tiptoe, his small hands straining to reach the flail in the farmer's hand. The rough wooden handle was thicker than his arm, and the heavy flail head gleamed oily in the sunlight.
“Let me teach the young master!” An old farmer with a missing front tooth chuckled and squatted down, subtly concealing his yoke behind his back. His cracked hands gently brushed across the wheat ears, as if caressing a precious treasure: “This wheat seed is incredibly valuable; one grain can yield ten…”
The little boy with his hair in a topknot suddenly interjected, "Grandpa said that if a novice touches wheat seeds, it will sprout next year, which is a bad omen!"
Liu Ju pouted, looking aggrieved. His apricot-yellow cloth sleeves were already covered with wheat awns. But he had come to help, and just as he was about to explain, the old farmer shoved a small willow cage into his hand: "Young master, why don't you take a stroll along the eastern edge of the field? There are plenty of field mouse burrows there!"
"Really?" The little prince's eyes lit up like stars—he didn't have to memorize the Book of Documents, and he could even catch field mice to play with!
Yay!
He was about to run away with the small cage in his hand when he was suddenly gently pulled by the back of his collar.
Zhuge Liang appeared behind him unnoticed, a gentle breeze rising as he lightly waved his feather fan. "Your Highness, please wait." He bent down and picked up a fallen ear of wheat, rubbing it gently in his palm. "Do you know why farmers don't let novices touch wheat seeds?"
Xiao Liu shook his head, and the ears of wheat on his straw hat swayed.
“Look at these wheat awns,” Zhuge Liang said, picking up a sharp one. “The direction they point upwards protects the grains from rain.” He then suddenly turned the wheat stalk upside down. “If a novice didn’t know their own strength…”
A few plump grains of wheat fell softly to the dust. The surrounding farmers sighed with heartache.
The old farmer quickly caught the remaining wheat grains with his rough hands, then picked up the grains from the ground, and whispered, "Please don't be offended, sir, but... these wheat seeds are crucial to the entire village's food supply next year."
Zhuge Liang smiled reassuringly, and then gently placed Liu Ju's small hand on the old farmer's palm: "Your Highness, feel this wheat grain. Is there anything special about it?"
Liu Ju was surprised to find that the wheat grains in the old farmer's palm were rounder and plumper than those in the palace, and still warm from the sun. He suddenly understood something, and looked up at the farmer with his little face: "Sir, I don't want to catch field mice anymore, I want to learn how to protect the wheat seeds!"
Zhuge Liang smiled with satisfaction. He took out a small, homemade winnowing basket from his sleeve: "How about this old minister teaches Your Highness how to sift wheat? This is a wheat sifting tool from Songyang County, convenient for farmers to sift wheat..."
In the distance, under the shade of a tree, Huo Qubing stood with his arms crossed. He watched as the young prince, under Zhuge Liang's guidance, earnestly imitated winnowing wheat, the grains drawing golden streaks in the sunlight. A breeze blew by, carrying some chaff, which landed on Liu Ju's earnest, furrowed face, like a sprinkle of gold dust.
"Raise your wrist another three inches." Zhuge Liang's voice drifted on the summer breeze. "Yes, just like that—"
The little prince's excited cheers rang out immediately afterward: "Look, sir! The wheat grains and husks have separated!"
Huo Qubing unconsciously curled the corners of his mouth. This Zhuge Liang, who was always so serious, was exceptionally patient when teaching children. He thought of Liu Ju's teachers who would punish children with a ruler at the drop of a hat, and couldn't help but shake his head.
"What? You still don't believe Prime Minister Zhuge?"
A cheerful voice suddenly rang in his ears. Huo Qubing turned around abruptly and found Jiang Ge standing behind him. Jiang Ge was dressed smartly today, with a few awns of wheat still clinging to the ends of his hair, clearly having just finished working in the experimental fields.
Huo Qubing pursed his lips, his gaze returning to the two people in the field: "It's not that I don't believe it..." He paused, "It's just that I didn't expect a strategist who could devise plans to teach children like this..."
"So down-to-earth?" Jiang Ge chimed in, handing him a glass of water. "Try this, it's some freshly made barley tea."
Huo Qubing took the bamboo cup, and a sweet aroma wafted towards him. He took a sip, and found it sweet with a slight caramelized flavor, far more mellow than the honey water in the palace.
"Prime Minister Zhuge has always been devoted to A Dou." Jiang Ge's eyes also turned to Prime Minister Zhuge. The system could only detect which emperors would have an impact on time and space, but it did not detect that these young heirs would affect the foundation of the dynasty.
For example, Fusu of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Ju of the Han Dynasty, and Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty.
“Indeed…” Huo Qubing stroked the patterns on the bamboo cup and finally said softly, “He is a good teacher.”
Django smiled but remained silent.
Looking at the old man and the young boy in the field, Huo Qubing suddenly understood the deeper meaning behind Zhuge Liang's insistence on bringing the crown prince to experience farming.
Huo Qubing tilted his head back and drank the barley tea in one gulp. The sweet taste was accompanied by the aroma of sun-baked barley. He let out a satisfied sigh and handed the bamboo cup back to Jiang Ge.
"Thank you," he said casually.
Django took the bamboo cup, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.
"Magistrate Jiang, what are you laughing at?" Huo Qubing finally couldn't help but ask.
Jiang Ge fiddled with the diabolo cup, then suddenly lowered her voice: "General Huo, it's working hours now." She pointed to the high sun. "According to Songyang County's regulations, this is proper working hours."
Huo Qubing was stunned and hadn't reacted yet when Jiang Ge continued:
“You just now—” she held up a finger, “first, you left your post without permission; second, you drank unnecessary beverages in the workplace; third…” she suddenly pulled a watch from her sleeve, “and openly slacked off for more than thirty minutes.”
"I'll deduct half a day's wages from your pay."
ah? !
I didn't catch the gibberish about Huo Qubing at the beginning, but I did hear the last part: Deduct half a day's salary!!
He did spend lavishly—he bought lychees.
I had just realized the value of money when my salary was docked—a bolt from the blue.
After punishing Huo Qubing, Django wandered off to the brick kiln.
The brick kilns in Songyang County have been incredibly busy these past few days. Smoke billows from the kilns day and night; the more than twenty kilns lined up in a row look like a giant dragon breathing out clouds from afar. Kiln workers shuttle back and forth, and the newly fired bricks, still steaming, are snapped up by waiting caravans.
"Manager Wang, the 30,000 bricks you requested will take at least five more days!" Zheng He said with a slight bow and a smile.
You can't hit someone who's smiling at you.
The merchant was so anxious he was stamping his feet: "Manager Zheng, this batch of goods is for repairing my tavern! It's about to open, could you please make an exception..."
Before he could finish speaking, a burly man with a Shandong accent squeezed through the crowd: "I was here first! The city walls of Jinan are waiting for my bricks!"
This lively scene was all thanks to the vigorous promotion by that wealthy Zhao. Ever since this traveling merchant escaped bandits in Songyang County, he has been boasting to everyone he meets: "Songyang bricks are as hard as iron! What's even more remarkable is that they have the divine protection of Huo Qubing and Qin Shubao!"
However, that's not entirely untrue.
That day, bandits attacked. Huo Qubing cut down several bandits with a single stroke, while Qin Shubao swept his double maces, causing the bandits to flee in terror. Zhao, the wealthy man, hid behind Qin Shubao and witnessed everything clearly. When he returned, he embellished the story, turning the two generals into "heavenly soldiers and generals descended to earth."
"You didn't see it!" Master Zhao often slammed his fist on the table in the tavern, recounting, "General Huo's knife, with a clang—" he gestured, "cut down the bandit right in one fell swoop!"
After the story spread, orders for brick kilns in Songyang County poured in like snowflakes. Merchants from all over came not only for the quality of the bricks but also to share in the "divine blessing." As a result, inns and taverns in the county town were overflowing with customers, and the owners couldn't stop smiling.
Zheng He was also extremely busy.
Jiang Ge stood at the entrance of the brick kiln, clutching the account book, for what seemed like half an incense stick's time, yet Zheng He didn't notice her at all. Meanwhile, the eunuch Sanbao was surrounded by a dozen merchants, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead in the sunlight.
"Lord Zheng! Our Wang family will place an additional order of 50,000 yuan!"
"Register me first! Our orders from Youzhou have been waiting for half a month!"
"Make way! We were here first!"
Zheng He, his left hand on the order book and his right hand on the abacus, was so busy that his collar was askew. He had just looked up to catch his breath when a merchant tugged at his sleeve: "Lord Zheng, about that batch of carved bricks we agreed on..."
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" Zheng He raised his voice, "According to the order of the orders..." Before he could finish speaking, he was drowned out by the cacophony of bargaining.
Jiang Ge coughed lightly, a sound that, though soft, instantly silenced the noisy crowd. The merchants all turned around, and upon seeing that it was the county magistrate, immediately made way for him.
"Sanbao, it seems we'll have to recruit again." Jiang Ge said with a smile, indicating that it was time to put recruitment on the agenda again.
Zheng He felt as if he had been granted a pardon, wiping the sweat from his brow: "That's exactly right. The brick kiln has been operating in three shifts these past few days, but still..."
Too busy.
Django knew this without even needing to be told.
"Then I'll have to put up with it for the next few days."
——
Jiang Ge finished writing the job postings at the brick kiln and, when she went to check on Yuchi Jingde and Qin Shubao at work, asked them to inform the people entering and leaving the city. She wanted as many people in Songyang County as possible, whether they were from the city or the countryside, to know about the job openings.
She carefully rolled up the still-wet job posting and walked towards the city gate.
At the city gate, Yuchi Jingde was dozing off, leaning on his spear, his towering figure casting shadows over half of the gate. Qin Shubao, on the other hand, was full of energy, sharpening his pair of bronze maces on a whetstone, the sound of metal scraping against metal startling the mules and horses of passing caravans.
"Generals—" Jiang Ge waved the notice in his hand, "Could you do me a favor?"
Yuchi Jingde snapped out of his daze, blinking his large, round eyes: "Are the bandits causing trouble again?" He reached for the steel whip at his waist.
His steel whip was itching for action.
It's been far too long since I've tasted fresh blood.
Hehehehe!
“It’s more important than bandits.” Jiang Ge smiled and unfolded the recruitment notice. “The brick kiln is short-handed. Please inform the people coming in and out of the city.”
Qin Shubao took the notice, glanced at it, and suddenly laughed loudly, "Great job! Ten coins a day plus meals!" His voice was so loud that it made the sparrows on the city wall flutter away, and several porters who were about to enter the city immediately surrounded him.
"Is it really all-you-can-eat?" a shirtless man asked, wiping his sweat.
Yuchi Jingde snatched the notice, his voice booming: "It's written in black and white!!" He slammed his fist, as big as a copper hammer, against the wall. "I saw the food at the kiln with my own eyes—yesterday at noon, they ate stewed radishes!"
Although stewed radish isn't a very good dish, it still has some oil and is served with flatbread.
This shout caused quite a stir; the merchants and porters queuing outside the city gate all crowded around. A foreign merchant leading a camel, though he couldn't understand, curiously pushed his way into the crowd.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang Ge jumped onto the stone mill by the city wall and unfurled another notice: "Learnable villagers can take a look themselves—the brick kiln urgently needs thirty strong laborers, and five more who can do accounting!"
"I'll read it! I'll read it!" A traveling doctor carrying a book box squeezed to the front and began to read, swaying his head. When he read the sentence "You'll get a raise after working for half a year," his voice trembled.
Qin Shubao pulled out a copper gong from somewhere and banged it loudly: "Listen carefully! This is the imperial brick kiln personally supervised by Huo Qubing!" - In fact, Huo Qubing had only been there once, but his words had an immediate effect, and the crowd immediately erupted in excitement.
Yuchi Jingde went even further, directly pasting the notice on the back of his armor and standing in the center of the city gate, looking like a human billboard. People entering and leaving the city couldn't help but see it; one peasant woman picking vegetables even wanted to enroll her son on the spot.
Huo Qubing had a natural star effect.
The crowd at the foot of the city wall was making a great commotion when suddenly a muffled thud came from the top of the wall. The sound wasn't loud, but it cut through all the noise like a blunt knife – "Bang!"
Qin Shubao instantly held his bronze mace horizontally in front of his chest and rushed forward. Amidst the rising dust, a dusty figure could be seen huddled against the wall, looking like a tattered sack that had been thrown down.
"Who goes there!" Yuchi Jingde's spear was already pressed against the man's throat.
Qin Shubao used the tip of his mace to pry open the other man's disheveled hair, revealing a face stained with blood. Jiang Ge suddenly froze—
"Wu Shifu!"
"How could it be you?"
In fact, Django had already forgotten this old friend of the original owner.
Her life began in Songyang County.
Those past events have been buried in the river of memory with the passing of the original body.
However, he could recognize the person immediately. Jiang Ge squatted down and carefully examined Wu Shifu, who was curled up on the ground.
This despicable man, who had once boasted arrogantly in front of the Songyang County government office and utterly humiliated the yamen runners, now lay pathetically before her. His face was deathly pale, large beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and each breath was accompanied by painful spasms; clearly, his ribs were broken.
"Cough...cough cough..." Wu Shifu struggled to lift his head, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, his eyes cloudy and unfocused. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but could only let out hoarse gasps.
Django looked at him quietly, his heart unmoved.
She was no longer the original person; those so-called old friendships were nothing but distant memories to her. The person before her was nothing more than a bully from the streets, and his current predicament was entirely his own fault.
She reached out and pulled aside Wu Shifu's disheveled clothes, discovering that his chest was covered in bruises and his ribs were caved in, clearly indicating that he had been brutally attacked. The attacker showed no mercy and may even have intended to kill him.
"Who did it?" Django asked calmly.
Wu Shifu coughed up a mouthful of blood, grinned, revealing bloodstained teeth, and smiled a hideous yet desolate smile: "Doesn't Magistrate Jiang know?" He gasped for breath, his voice hoarse, "This is all thanks to you..."
There's no need to spell things out too clearly.
Jiang Ge looked down at him, understanding dawning on his mind.
Ever since she was no longer the neglected, powerless magistrate, ever since she gained power, money, and fame, people have always tried to curry favor with her. But no one expected that this time they would beat someone up like this and dump them in front of her—without even showing their face, how cautious!
Wu Shifu seemed to see through her thoughts, tilted his head, and said with a smirk, "It was my father who did it." He coughed twice, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "The one who threw me out was the servant who accompanied me to Songyang County back then... cough cough, now that I think about it, it's not a good thing that the servant was too strong."
"oh."
Jiang Ge responded indifferently, her expression unchanged. Whether it was Wu Shifu's father trying to curry favor with her, or anyone else, it made no difference to her. She had seen too many of these sycophantic tactics.
Wu Shifu stared at her calm face and suddenly felt a tightness in his chest—pain worse than a broken rib. He hadn't cried when he was beaten, nor when he was thrown out, but now, looking at Jiang Ge's indifferent expression, his eyes inexplicably welled up with tears.
On what grounds? Why?
Why was he abandoned by his own father like trash? Why can Django stand here so calmly, not even offering a shred of pity?
Jiang Ge looked down at Wu Shifu. She didn't even need to think; she knew exactly what Wu Shifu was thinking. She spoke slowly, "You want to know why?"
"That's power."
This is the taste of power; it can make a father abandon his son, and a son resent his father—it's truly exhilarating.
Even though she did nothing, some people guessed her intentions and pandered to her preferences.
That's great!
No wonder so many people throughout history have fought for power.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Django: "Deduct my salary! Excuse me for slacking off at work!"
Huo Qubing: "Huh??"
Work hard, work hard, work hard! Strive, strive, strive, strive! I'm going to charge forward! [Dog head holding a rose] There will be an extra update tomorrow, so it might be updated at night, not at 9 pm. Don't come back empty-handed.
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