The crowd fell silent as the oxcart bumped along the road. Suddenly, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from behind, and everyone turned to look.
A dozen or so warhorses galloped towards them, each carried by a knight in full armor.
They roared past the oxcart and disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only the rolling dust of the world.
This was the first time Zhao Xian had ever seen ancient soldiers on horseback. He had seen cavalry on TV in his previous life, but those were just acting and not real. The dozen or so cavalrymen who had just passed by him were far too powerful.
If those people were bandits who attacked the people on the oxcart, I would be finished very quickly. All my time-traveling cheat codes would be useless.
"What's going on? Why are there cavalry? Is another war about to break out?" someone asked in alarm.
"It's not a war. It seems that the newly appointed prefect is mobilizing troops to quell the bandits on Qianniu Mountain."
"Were they the bandits who robbed Wangba Village a few days ago?"
"Probably. These bandits come out to rob every few days, and have become a serious bandit problem. The prefect has just taken office and is already cracking down on the bandits of Qianniu Mountain."
"Do you know that the prefect is about to quell the bandits on Qianniu Mountain as soon as he takes office? You should know that these bandits have been entrenched on Qianniu Mountain for decades."
The government had previously tried to suppress the bandits, but without success. However, the newly appointed prefect, upon taking office, immediately decided to suppress them.
"It's probably for political achievements."
"It's definitely not for political achievements. The prefect must know the risks of suppressing bandits. If the suppression fails and there are heavy losses, he will be punished."
"If that's the case, then why did he still go to suppress bandits? Is there some other hidden reason?"
"I heard that when the prefect took office, he was robbed by bandits near Qianniu Mountain. Not only were his carriage and travel expenses stolen, but even his imperial edict and official document were taken from him. You should know that without these two items, a prefect cannot take office."
Fortunately, the former prefect and the new prefect were close friends, which allowed the new prefect to take office. However, the imperial edict and official document were issued by the court and could not be lost; they had to be retrieved as soon as possible.
"So that's how it is. How did these bandits manage to rob the prefect? Aren't they courting death? The prefect will stop at nothing to obtain the imperial edict and official appointment."
As everyone chattered amongst themselves, Zhao Xian suddenly remembered meeting three people in town a few days ago. They claimed to be merchants who had been robbed by bandits, who had stolen their carriage and travel expenses. He wondered if they were the prefect and his entourage.
He vaguely remembered that the man had told him his name was Shen Yong. Was that man the newly appointed prefect?
Thinking of this, he asked.
"What is the new prefect's surname?"
"His surname seems to be Shen, he's in his forties, and very learned."
Oh, what a coincidence! I even lent him a tael of silver when we bumped into each other last time. I never imagined he would turn out to be the newly appointed prefect.
If this were told to others, no one would believe it.
Just as I was thinking about these things, the oxcart had already entered the village.
Everyone in the family is pickling vegetables. Grandma Zhao is still here and is helping out.
Zhao Xian knew that Old Lady Zhao had to dehydrate 300 catties of beef offal every day, which was a lot of work. The reason she hadn't left was because she hadn't received her money.
Zhao Xian asked Zhao Xiaoshan to take the money pouch off his waist and hand it to Old Madam Zhao.
"Grandma, take the money. We've hired three helpers at home, so things aren't too busy anymore."
The old lady took the money bag and put it in her bosom. She looked at Zhao Xian with a strange look in her eyes.
"Zhao Xian, come here for a moment, Grandma has something to ask you." After saying that, the old lady pulled Zhao Xian aside.
"Zhao Xian, you no longer need to remove the alkali from the bok choy. You only need to pickle 300 catties of vegetables a day, which the whole family can manage. Why did you hire three more helpers? How much money will that cost?" The old lady was clearly unhappy when she said this.
It seems the family didn't tell the old lady about making sugar, so I'll tell her myself.
"Grandma, come here for a moment, I need to show you something."
"What are you looking at? I'm asking you a question," the old lady said irritably.
“Grandma, once you see this, you’ll understand why I hired these three helpers,” Zhao Xian replied with a smile.
The old lady stopped talking and followed Zhao Xian to a room. He asked her to sit down and then brought out a small wooden box and placed it in front of her.
Zhao Xian opened the wooden box, inside were seven or eight packages wrapped in oil paper, emitting the aroma of pastries.
"What's this? Is it pastries?" the old lady asked curiously.
Zhao Xian didn't say anything. He smiled and opened the oil paper package, revealing a snow-white powder inside.
The old lady's eyes widened; she had never seen anything like it before, and it looked somewhat like the refined salt sold in salt shops.
"Grandma, this is white sugar. We made it yesterday. Why don't you try it and see how it tastes?"
After Zhao Xian finished speaking, he took a spoonful of white sugar and handed it to the old lady.
The old lady took the spoon and examined it carefully.
She knew about granulated sugar and brown sugar, but she had never seen white sugar before. However, she had just heard Zhao Xian say that white sugar was something they made.
Not knowing what white sugar tastes like, the old lady poured a little white sugar into her mouth and tasted it.
"It's so sweet! This is really the white sugar you made. It's so delicious!" the old lady exclaimed with delight.
"Grandma, do you know why I hired three helpers? The main reason I hired them is to help me produce white sugar."
The old lady finally understood why Zhao Xian had hired helpers; it turned out they knew how to make white sugar.
"Is white sugar expensive? I know that brown sugar costs 300 coins per pound, but I don't know how much white sugar costs per pound."
After the old lady finished speaking, she poured the rest of the white sugar into her mouth.
"There is no white sugar on the market yet. It is estimated that once it is on the market, the price will be at least five taels of silver per catty."
The old lady shuddered suddenly and coughed violently, spraying sugar from her mouth everywhere.
Zhao Xian was terrified. He quickly patted the old lady on the back and poured her a bowl of water.
It took the old lady a long time to recover.
"Zhao Xian, you just said that this white sugar costs five taels of silver per catty. Is it really that expensive?"
"Of course it's expensive. This is the wholesale price. The retail price could be tens of taels of silver per catty. I plan to make more white sugar in the next few days and go to the county to promote it in two days."
"Oh, what a pity! I spat out that mouthful of sugar just now, and I lost at least several dozen copper coins." The old lady was heartbroken.
Zhao Xian almost burst out laughing; Grandma was too funny.
He rewrapped the opened packet of sugar and handed it to the old lady.
"Take this bag of sugar home and eat it, but please don't tell anyone about this."
The old lady was taken aback. This bag of white sugar was worth several taels of silver; how could she afford to eat it?
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