Chang Zihan tugged at her sister's sleeve and whispered, "Isn't this too much?"
Di Baose laughed, "This little girl is fun!"
Guo Bing also felt that the little girl's eyes were clean.
If the Chang family is well-mannered and the woman is beautiful, she might become a phoenix in the palace.
The Pei family may seem to have taken a shortcut, but how many people raised in this way actually succeed? They don't necessarily receive divine favor.
Di Baose said to the little girl, "Feng Bo receives 1,800 taels of silver a year, not counting various rewards. That's about four or five taels of silver a day. For your whole family, wouldn't you want ten catties of meat?"
The young maidservant joked, "The stir-fries need meat, and they need to be braised, steamed, or stewed."
The turtle said it! Chang Ziyan is about to drool again.
Huan Yue said, "When people are hungry, they need to eat, and after eating, they need to work."
Chang Ziyan said, "I can do it! I can cultivate ten acres of land with ten pounds of meat!"
Chang Tzu-han is also an option, but she's too reluctant to eat the eggs.
Huan Yue said to her, "Isn't the reason why people work so hard to eat and sleep well? The more you eat, the more you work. In the future, you should learn to cook, do needlework, farm, and read and write."
Chang Zihan thought about it and decided she could.
Chang Ziyan had a tough time; he was slow-witted.
Huan Yue encouraged him: "Even a slow bird has to start flying early. You're not going to be the top scholar, so whatever you learn is yours. But you must not learn bad things. It takes a thousand days to learn good things, but a day to learn bad things. If you're not smart, don't listen to other people's nonsense. If you're so capable, let's farm together and see who farms better."
Di Baose asked, "You're not going to make them farm again?"
Huan Yue said, "Why is farming so precious that we can't do it anymore? Farming used to be tough. Now that you're not farming, don't you think about how tough it was before? You used to struggle to get enough to eat, but now you don't have to worry about food. If you farm a little more, others will suffer a little less."
He Shuiying carefully noted: "We have fifteen mu of land at home, which we can cultivate."
Huan Yue said solemnly, “People must not forget their roots! We were originally farmers. Now that we’ve turned our lives around and are no longer farmers, do we look down on our ancestors? If one man doesn’t plow, he will go hungry; if one woman doesn’t weave, she will go cold. Even if you grow enough to feed yourself, there will be fewer people who go hungry. After all, there’s no real job. It’s not necessarily a blessing to be waited on hand and foot.”
He Shuiying nodded.
Huan Yue further instructed: "The sage enfeoffed the Earl of Fumin because he wanted the country to be strong and the people to be rich. It is not good for your family to prosper while ten other families become poor. Since you don't have any other skills, you should control yourself and set a good example. Being able to eat well, dress well, and do more work is to be loyal to the court and contribute to the people."
He Shuiying nodded.
The Empress is kind-hearted.
She didn't think the Empress treated her badly. Being granted the title of Earl was already incredibly auspicious.
Huan Yue remembered a story about a wealthy marquis. However, Chang Shuigen was not yet qualified to be a marquis; even being a count would be a stretch.
However, everyone knew that the sage wanted to bestow titles, so no one tried to stop him.
The Marquis of Maternal Grace only needs the Emperor's favor.
Xie Zhou came over.
Why is Huan Yue looking at him?
Xie Zhou simply pulled his wife aside and sat down next to her.
He Shuiying hurriedly stood up, nervous!
Fortunately, she was a generation older, and Chang Zihan was too young, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to meet the Crown Prince.
Xie Zhou was quite polite: "Don't be nervous, make yourself at home."
Xie Zhou looked at Chang Zihan again: "She really looks like the Empress." Then, looking at his wife, he asked, "Will our daughter look like this in the future?"
Di Baose almost stood up and left, but then sat down and decided not to move, waiting for His Highness to provoke her.
Huan Yue didn't retort, but asked, "Where is the Earl of Fumin? Didn't he come to see Chang Chenghui?"
Although his wife didn't respond, Xie Zhoude continued: "Chang Ruiqin was granted the title of Juren, and the Earl of Fumin will go together. We plan to return to Changhe County in three days."
Chang Ziyan exclaimed in surprise: "Grandpa Rui has been granted the title of Juren? Isn't that even more impressive than Scholar Bai?"
Huan Yue said, "The title of Juren is not bestowed upon you because of your scholarship but because of your character. You should study hard and be a good person; those empty titles are not important."
Chang Ziyan listened obediently.
He Shuiying assured them, "I will teach them well."
Huan Yue smiled and said, "There's no need to teach it to be less and less like the real thing. Let it take its natural course."
He Shuiying understood. There was no need to act like Chang Ziyu.
Guo Bing said, "The Second Miss is just fine like this."
Chang Zihan blushed. If you didn't look at her and just called her "Second Miss," she wouldn't even know you were addressing her.
Xie Zhou asked his wife, "Would I grant you another hundred acres of land?"
Huan Yue said, "You could work his whole family to death and they still couldn't cultivate a hundred acres. Hiring people to cultivate them is pointless; it's better to return them to those who need them. The Chang family isn't short of money; cultivating a few acres of land isn't too strenuous. They can use their free time to read books and drink tea."
He Shuiying replied, "That's enough."
Huan Yue pulled Chang Zihan aside and gave her instructions: "As for those relatives, didn't the Emperor bestow them upon us? Those who are honest and dutiful will receive them, while those who are cunning and deceitful will not. Anyone who uses the name of the Crown Prince will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane if discovered. If you can't bring yourself to do it, I'll do it myself and see if I can skin them alive!"
Chang Zihan was delighted: "They're so naughty. They deserve a good lesson."
Huan Yue said, "If you can't get rid of the habit of bullying others after you've been bullied, then you should just die. If you're really wronged, go to the yamen if you have a valid reason, and the law of Zhao will decide."
He Shuiying listened attentively.
Huan Yue was ruthless: "In this peaceful and prosperous era, the common people are doing well. They should rely on their own hard work instead of just dreaming."
He Shuiying nodded: "Life is pretty good in the Baishi Village area."
Otherwise, not so many people would be willing to quit their jobs and come to Sheng'an to have fun.
You need money to go out; you can't just beg for food the whole way.
They all dressed up, just wanting to take advantage of the Empress's power and bully others.
Huan Yue said, "We should help our fellow villagers, but only in times of emergency, not in times of poverty. If you don't have any money to lend, then beat up those who want to cause trouble. Don't just burn incense. If the wealthy man has money he can't use, he can use it to repair roads and build schools."
Chaoyun was speechless.
How much silver could a wealthy commoner have? The Empress has arranged everything so clearly.
Wealthy families like Sheng'an have other sources of income.
However, once the money is spent, it will be gone when someone comes knocking again.
Building roads is both a good deed and a way to build a good reputation.
He Shuiying could understand.
Anyway, she used all the imperial gifts, except for the ten catties of meat she received each day, to accumulate good fortune for her daughter.
Ten catties of meat a day, even with other expenses, would cost a considerable amount of silver.
Normally, she wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing. But since the Empress had given her instructions, He Shuiying was to take good care of Chang Ziyan and Chang Zihan.
Huan Yue also instructed: "Besides not being able to afford food, poor people also can't afford medicine. We can provide for a few doctors, and also grow or stockpile some medicinal herbs. Most of the villagers who come to us with these kinds of requests are probably for these kinds of things, so it's not good to ignore them."
He Shuiying immediately understood.
They won't give money, but they can give medicine.
If you take the medicine and then resell it, you'll get less. Besides, even if you have money, you might not be able to hire a doctor.
Huan Yue said, "A doctor's character is paramount, and so is his medical skill. A quack doctor harming people is still a matter of character. If someone can't cure a patient and deliberately causes trouble, we'll beat them up first. We also need to be careful about who they treat for free. That's complicated. Chang Rui should be able to do it."
He Shuiying understood.
Everything in Baishi Village was arranged perfectly.
If you give them work, they'll get paid.
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