Chapter 87 Everyone is all smiles
A long queue had already formed outside the alcohol factory.
Niuwa, panting heavily, consciously joined the end of the line. The Imperial Guards and the city's soldiers patrolled around menacingly. Niuwa hissed as he recalled the burning pain on his arm from being struck with a stick.
Back when the houses were being built... everything was fine with hiring, the food was plentiful, the houses were well-built, and even the supervisors didn't beat people. They just put a lot of thought into some strange requirements, like having to line up for meals and to use the restroom, men on the left and women on the right, and anyone who made a fuss would be dragged away, or even dismissed for serious offenses.
Niuwa racked his brains for a long time but still couldn't figure it out. With so many people close to the large cooking pot, who was in the queue from? He often got yelled at by the constables to move to the side and join the queue. Those who were too close to the side or too noisy and crowded would get a few whacks.
After that, Niuwa—and his neighbors who worked with him—slowly learned how to line up in a straight line.
"Niuwa, what are you doing here?" A sharp-eyed young man in the long line next to him called out, "Aren't you buying a toilet? Why are you queuing for the alcohol factory?"
Niuwa looked up and saw that next to the alcohol factory, which was originally a large wasteland, now stood several craftsmen with calloused hands. Several children, no more than ten years old, stood at the front table, earnestly using pen and ink to write down names and collect money. Behind them were wooden toilets.
There weren't many guards on duty in that line, but few people dared to queue haphazardly. They were all very careful when handing over their tickets, speaking in hushed tones. Even Da Liu, the neighbor who usually went swimming with Niuwa to catch snails, spoke to him furtively.
"I've come to buy alcohol for Brother Zhang..." Niuwa chuckled, his voice lowering, "Toilets are too expensive, they're useless. Brother Daliu, what are you buying this for? Aren't you going to buy grain instead?"
Perhaps because alcohol wasn't very useful among ordinary people, Niuwa queued for a long time without seeing a single acquaintance, so he felt a sense of familiarity when he saw Brother Daliu. If alcohol hadn't been something Niuwa longed for, he probably would have gone to the grain store with his ration coupons.
Da Liu's face lit up when she mentioned this, her eyebrows and the corners of her mouth rising in all directions: "My mother arranged a marriage for me! Her father is educated, and his ancestors even held high-ranking official positions!"
These were the descendants of officials exiled to Liuzhou, and they were quite common. The Liu family were honest, ordinary people, and theoretically, they should be of higher status than the Liu family, but whether or not one was literate was very important... In daily life, people would still unconsciously have more respect for those who had studied.
Putting aside everything else, their ancestors were once wealthy, so there is a possibility of them rising again, especially now that the prince likes scholars.
The Da Liu family felt it was a blessing to be related to such a family through marriage. Once Da Liu's child was born, they could finally dream of taking the imperial examinations! Even if they couldn't pass due to their crimes, the Da Liu family wouldn't look down on them; they would be content—it would be even better if they could succeed in their studies and work for the prince!
Their family had nothing, and they had originally planned to hold the wedding in a simple, ordinary way, like ordinary people. Da Liu always felt indebted. Who knew that the prince's policy would come so timely?! He had never dared to dream of those expensive and luxurious things before. This time, he went to various restaurants and bought a batch of tofu and soy milk as usual. He received less money, but he gained five or six more vouchers.
Whether you use ration coupons to buy grain or small items like needles and thread, it works, as long as you go to designated shops. But you can now buy many luxury items that are normally unaffordable or impossible to obtain!
Da Liu and his mother discussed it briefly before heading out to buy a 'toilet'!
Don't let its wooden appearance fool you; it's made from the cheapest material. We'll display it in the middle of the neighborhood on the wedding day so everyone can see it. The Liu family will be praised and remembered for over a decade! She... she probably won't forget that day either, so it wasn't exactly a hardship for her.
Thinking about this, Da Liu could barely lift her head, and her neck turned bright red.
"Brother Da Liu, are you sick?" Niuwa asked in a panic.
This clueless fellow looked around a couple of times, eager to find a member of the Imperial Guard for help. Da Liu stretched out her hand, grabbed his head, and rubbed it: "It's alright, I'm fine! Niuwa, you should be more careful! How about we ask Aunt Zhang to find you a marriage partner someday?"
The procession moved slowly forward. Niuwa wanted to answer, but he was pushed forward by the crowd. Even this usually carefree boy was now staring blankly at the voucher in his hand: "My marriage..."
Before, Niuwa struggled to survive, relying entirely on the neighbors for help, and he always volunteered to lend a hand. After the disaster, Niuwa was even busier than before, but things are different now... There are jobs everywhere in Liuzhou, and land everywhere waiting to be cultivated. As long as you have strength or brains, this place is like gold lying around, ready to be picked up at will.
If he can even buy something as rare as 'alcohol', what will he buy next month after he gets his wages and ration coupons, and saves up the coupons again?
New foods, soaps, bronze mirrors? Or toilets?
I've only ever heard of the head of the household buying these things for his own family. When he has the money and the ration coupons, will he enjoy them all by himself?
Niuwa belatedly realized... it seemed that he really should get married.
...
The huge city of Liuzhou was bustling with activity, just like during the Chinese New Year.
Long queues formed everywhere. If the artisans living near Prince Rui's Mansion hadn't noticed the sheer number of people buying wooden barrels and crowding the street where they lived, they would have blocked the entire road. Artisan Zhao, now more experienced, realized the situation was dire and led his men to a vacant lot in the suburbs, which finally managed to accommodate the throngs of people.
On this day, Qi Chengming led his men to the foot of a mountain on the outskirts of the city, gazing at the bustling city of Liuzhou from a distance. From here, the scenery was unobstructed, and anyone with decent eyesight could see the vast, dark mass of people inside and outside the city.
“That’s the incense factory over there…that’s the fertilizer factory over there.” “Huh, what are they selling over there? There are so many people there?” Qi Chengming squinted as he identified them one by one.
Without needing to cheat with infrastructure maps, he can guess what people prefer to buy just by combining the general location of factories.
“That street sells food.” Wen Er thought for a moment and came up with the answer. He held the ticket in his hand and twirled it twice like a fan, saying with a smile, “Pastries, cane sugar, bean cakes, cured meat, dried vegetables… of course, these are more popular.”
Not every family can easily afford to buy big-ticket items with a high salary and ration coupons, nor does anyone suddenly need those luxury goods. Most ordinary people's daily lives revolve around food, drink, clothing, and daily necessities.
"It sounds like you don't care at all where the prescriptions you brought from the palace end up," Wen Zhongnan said thoughtfully, lifting his eyelids to give him a once-over.
"Don't even mention it..." Qi Chengming instinctively shivered and frowned. "Seeing it reminds me of when I was practicing calligraphy, so I let them take care of everything."
If his time travel didn't have an infrastructure system, and he could only keep one of the book rewards, Qi Chengming would choose "The Friend of Dual-Use Talents" without hesitation. Just this one book alone is enough to make the most of everything, from the stems, leaves, cores, and oil lamps of each crop, covering everything from food cultivation and processing to the processing of by-products.
The downside was that Qi Chengming practiced calligraphy every day after arriving in Liuzhou. Apart from copying whatever materials he needed, he would give the recipes he copied to Aunt Fang and Bai Family Restaurant in his spare time so that they could cook the dishes to satisfy his appetite.
But what about the other ingredients in the recipe?
Qi Chengming was so overwhelmed with work that he didn't want to deal with it at all. He just dumped everything on Song Gu and Bai Xuan—let them handle it however they wanted, as long as the accounts were settled in the end. He wanted to be a hands-off manager!
I never expected that... these grocery stores would still be the most popular.
With the increase in new crops and foods, and the corresponding complete industrial chain, he has the solutions. Well, this is what he should do.
Qi Chengming shook his head and tried to relax his furrowed brows.
Wen Zhongnan burst into gloating laughter: "Practicing calligraphy... Pfft, practicing calligraphy, hahaha!"
No wonder he felt that Wuyou's handwriting in this life was slightly better than when he sent messages in the previous life; it turns out he practiced by copying prescriptions!
He forced a straight face and earnestly comforted her, "Your writing has improved a lot compared to before, right? It's all thanks to hard work. You've gained good handwriting, and the people have another way to make a living, hmm... that's good!"
If it weren't for the fact that Young Master Wen couldn't hold back his hearty laughter, Qi Chengming would have really thought he was praising someone.
"...Fine, as a prince, my handwriting doesn't need to be particularly beautiful, so don't hold back." Qi Chengming rolled his eyes with a dark face, trying to comfort himself.
His handwriting can at best be described as neat and tidy; his next goal is to write characters with beautiful shapes. As for any essence or inspiration, he has none of that, and Qi Chengming has stopped striving for it.
“Wuyou, aren’t you afraid that someone will counterfeit this kind of voucher you prepared?” Wen Zhongnan unfolded the voucher representing one tael of silver in his palm, held it up to the sky and quietly observed it, his brows furrowing. “I can’t see anything special about this paper.”
It was an ordinary piece of white paper, densely covered with several red seals, including the seals of the prefecture, county government, county magistrate, prince, and money shop. Upon closer inspection, one could see black ink used to draw patterns of flowers, insects, fish, and pebbles around the edges. In the center, the value of the silver taels was written in a crooked manner, below which were smaller characters reading "Wang's Money Shop" and a statement about anti-counterfeiting measures, promising accountability for counterfeiters.
Wen Er was somewhat worried.
At first glance, this ticket looks similar to the silver notes issued by the government.
However, the official banknotes used silver-plated imperial mulberry paper, a special material, so the first step in counterfeiting them was finding the right material. They also had various official seals and intricate patterns, and the ink used for each was very special; counterfeiting them also required finding the right material.
Wen Er didn't think Wuyou was such a stupid person; he must have his own ways of dealing with things, but... but this ticket felt rather ordinary to the touch.
"Take a closer look?" Qi Chengming smiled without saying a word. "There must be a reason why I'm taking so long."
Acquiring a money exchange and finding a manager shouldn't take that long, so why did he only open for business and start issuing new vouchers almost a week later? Wen Er doesn't think he spent all that time frantically drawing new vouchers, does he?
Ancient people were meticulous in making these kinds of things, and each one probably required a great deal of effort. Qi Chengming didn't have that kind of time, nor did he need to put in that kind of arduous work.
Modern people's knowledge is the greatest treasure trove; he could produce hundreds or even thousands of new types of tickets in a week.
Wen Zhongnan: "...?"
Although he still didn't understand, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Wen Zhongnan was engaged in war in the latter part of his previous life and hadn't paid attention to these things. He also only had a superficial understanding of what had happened in the court, knowing only the general outline:
Not long ago, he was worried about how Wuyou would deal with the upcoming "silver note case" because he hadn't yet set off to join the army. Last time, he almost let it slip after drinking, which scared him quite a bit afterwards.
Now it seems... we can rest assured? Wuyou has her own plans.
The question is, how is this done?
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Author's Note: First update of the day!
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