Great Tang Idyll

Book 1: Chapter 88

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Zhou Kong and Father Zhang had finished talking about the business, and when they were about to chat, Zhou Xi'hu hurried back. Zhou Xi'hu was just about to speak, but he saw Father Zhang sitting by the side and he remembered that they were in someone else's house. So, he had to swallow down the words he wanted to say, and he politely stayed seated beside his uncle. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating, and fortunately, the food was not cold yet.

After having that conversation, Zhou Kong did not stand on ceremony anymore. He asked his nephew, "Little Hu, did you see that everyone in the Zhang family's yard was eating?"

"Hmm, wait." Zhou Xi'hu was eating quickly; he immediately took a sip of soy milk and swallowed his food before he spoke, "I saw them, I saw them all. Except for those who had work in the morning, they were all eating. They had lesser types of pickled veggies than us, but as for the others, not a single dish is missing. They could eat whatever they wanted.

I saw a strong man eat one entire big steamed bun in just three bites. In just a short while, he finished eating four steamed buns. Was he not afraid of choking on it? Uncle Zhang, this place is really much better than other places because of this. I'm going to say something offensive. If you do this, the people in the yard will only remember your benevolence. If the authorities came, no, even if the Emperor came here himself, the people in the yard will still protect you. "

"Little, Hu what nonsense are you talking about? Isn't your Uncle Zhang helping the Emperor treat the people in the yard better? How come you're speaking like he's raising a private army?" Zhou Kong frowned and lectured his nephew.

Zhou Kong felt that his heart was deeply moved. The Zhang Manor actually gave breakfast to their servants and midnight snacks to those on night duty. Theamount of money needed and the degree of loyalty the people in the yard have towards their master can be guessed. Four meals. Even in his own mansion, even he and others did not eat like this, but over at this manor, arrangements like this were made for their servants.

It was also no wonder that the faces of the people at the Ge Manor were full of envy when they talked about the Zhang and Wang families. The two Zhang and Wang families have managed their entire Manor as strong and stable as solid iron plates. Why did those two children dare to play outside while only being accompanied by a single maid? All they had to do was yell out a word, then as soon as the residents on the Zhang and Wang Manor heard it, they will immediately rush over. Having money in the family does not equate to being capable, but having true skills are necessary to make the surrounding people all care about the family.

"Uncle, I wonder how you slept last night. I noticed that there were people walking back and forth in the middle of the night. When I got up at night to relieve myself, I found that many rooms were still lit."

Zhou Xi'hu was truly frightened. He was frightened by the Zhang Manor's method. He disregarded that the Master of their manor was sitting beside him and he spoke to his uncle again.

"There's also this matter? Brother Yong'cheng, how did you arrange the matters in the yard? Could it be that you did this for us?" Zhou Kong was also surprised, thinking that this was not a manor, but more similar to a palace. Although he has never been there at night, he has heard that there were always people patrolling the palace at night.

Seeing that they had asked, and they were considered to be on close terms with the Manor, Father Zhang did not lie and said, "This only started last year during autumn and the Wang Manor also followed suit. We recruited a few more people; not a lot of money was spent. With people walking around at night, the people in the yard would feel at ease and didn't have to worry as much.

It's nothing more than using some lamp oil. The people in the yard could sleep more well and when they got up early to do work, they're able to work better than before. It's worth it. I don't care about that little amount of money. Maids in particular don't dare to get up at night, but now that there are always people, lesser fuss is made. Servants are also human. "

"Okay, after I go back, I will do the same. No wonder when I arrived at your manor, I felt that this place was different from other places. Every single servant is working very hard. Brother Yong'cheng, was this your madam's idea? "

Zhou Kong was indeed touched. He originally thought that the servants were so serious when they worked because the yard was strictly governed. Only now did he realize that it was because they treated their servants well. It's just a favor returned with a favor. Although it looks simple, in reality it was not.

What else can Father Zhang say? He couldn't rat out his child, so he nodded and admitted to that. The money was earned by his son and daughter-in-law, and was not under his control at all. He was busy studying things all day. The people in the yard treated his son and daughter-in-law with more respect than they did towards him.

"Uncle Zhang, are these leftovers really going to be fried for the servants to eat? It should be fine to just heat it up, right?"

"Of course heating it up also works. Many other people don't even bother heating it up. However, there is usually more work to do in the afternoon and adding on the amount of work that had to be done in the morning, the servants would be tired out, so they need to recover properly. If it was fried in oil, it would be richer in fats, and will taste better, so they will eat more.

By allowing them to eat more, their bodies can recover well and they would be able to do more work. If they die from exhaustion, buying more servants is simple, but there is no guarantee on their loyalty. For servants like the ones in this yard, if the Master family tells them secrets, and they were caught by others, even if they were skinned alive, they would absolutely not reveal the secret. What loss is there to treating them better? "

Father Zhang had deep reflections on this matter. Sometimes when he encountered Ying'tao, Shi'liu, Xiao'hong, Huzi, Erniu, and others, he wanted to ask how his son was, but these people didn't even say a word even though doing so could have warranted being whipped to death.

In particular, when Er'niu, who has served by his side in the past, was at a loss as to how to answer, he would say, Master, even if you beat me to death, I will not say anything. The Young Master has given orders to not speak.'

At that time, he was jealous. His son was able to control his own servants like that. He heard that even when the Madam asked Er'niu, he gave her the same response. A person as clever as him had actually dared to refuse answering the questions of the Masters of the household. Regardless of what his wife asked his surrounding servants,they would directly give the answer. There was no way to make comparisons.

Of course, Father Zhang didn't know that a power called faith exists. Those people who followed Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan had already regarded them as deities. Even if Wang Juan made a bomb, they would take it with them and rush to the enemy and detonate it.

Zhou Kong didn't know that in such a short period of time, Father Zhang would have so many thoughts. Seeing that the porridge was getting cold, he quickly took a couple of sips. Just as he was about to speak, the noise of disorganized footsteps suddenly sounded outside.

Father Zhang didn't know what was going on either, so he turned his head and looked at the door, waiting for someone to come over and explain.

After a while, a person appeared at the door and said to him, "Master, just a quarter of an hour ago, Zhang Qing's cow accidentally rolled down the mountain, and Zhang Qing's seven-year-old child also fell. The yard has already sent two doctors; it is estimated that they will be there in half a quarter of an hour. Other people have also followed along to go help."

"I understand now. Hurry, go settle them down. Get people to bring the things they need to bring. Don't make any delays." When Father Zhang heard this, he was also anxious. After all, it was a human life. It doesn't matter if the cow is dead; they would just have to report to the government and spend some money. If something happens to the child, then that would be difficult to deal with. If his own son fell, he would not even dare think how it was going to be like.

The servant responded and took his leave. Zhou Kong was curious again, "Brother Yong'cheng, I wonder where the person fell from?"

"Where else can it be? There is only one dangerous place on the Manor. Later, I will order the people to dig that place flat. After a rain, a lot of mud and rocks slipped down from the mountain, and that place became steep. If I knew that this would happen, I would have ordered people to level that place out. It's all because we were so busy in the spring."

Father Zhang's face wasn't very good-looking but he had bear with it and spoke in a hurry.

"Oh, I wonder how far that place is from here?" Zhou Yu asked again.

"It's not far; it won't take more than a quarter of an hour to get there. Oh, I know what Brother Miao'ran wants to ask. This is because the people over there have found out late, otherwise they would have sent out people a long time ago. There are two doctors on the manor. One is in charge of caring for livestock, and the other is in charge of treating people. If there are any illnesses, they will go out. When Brother Miao'ran came, you must have seen some rack-like structures that were set up on the manor, right?"

"I did. Does it have something to do with this?"

"There are some strings made from fine silk that are connected to the structures. Each resident's houses in the Zhang and Wang Manors are connected to two strings; one is connected to a bell, and the other is connected to bamboo tubes on both ends. When there is an emergency, that thing is used. It usually doesn't take more than a dozen calls to notify the people here, and someone will respond immediately."

Zhou Kong was dumbfounded after hearing this. He did see those structures, but he never thought that the Masters of the manor had set that up for the residents on the Manor to call for help. When something happened there, the people here could be sent out. His own mansion was not even as good as a manor; if something happened somewhere in his mansion, it took an hour to receive news from a far location.

"Brother Yong'cheng, can you take me to see it?" The more Zhou Kong thought about it, the more he felt that it was incredible, so he couldn't help but propose this.

"Alright, let's go and see. I wonder what happened to Zhang Qing's child? Hopefully, nothing goes wrong. His family only has one precious baby."

Father Zhang didn't want to eat anymore, so he agreed. He got up first, and walked outside.

Zhou Xi'hu and his uncle also put down their chopsticks and walked out behind Father Zhang. They wanted to see if this matter was true or false. Words that are heard with the ear must be taken as false, and only what is seen with the eyes can be deemed as true.

By the time the three of them got there by carriage, there was a child crying there, and an adult was constantly scolding the child for being careless. If the child hadn't been injured, the adult might have hit him a couple times.

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