Chapter 2: Courtyard Crisis
Just as Zhu Hao remembered in this life, there was a large pond covering two or three acres in the backyard.
This house is located in the south of Anlu City, adjacent to the Han River. It is a large house with three courtyards and shops granted by the government. It was transformed from the official residence of Wanhu of the Xingzhongshu Province in Henan, Jiangbei and other places in the previous dynasty. It covers a large area and has a magnificent layout. The large pond was originally a lotus pond in the back garden. It had been abandoned for a long time because no one had taken care of it. After Zhu Hao's mother took over, she simply tidied it up, and now it is just an ordinary reservoir.
As the officials carried bags of salt out of the warehouse and poured them into the pond in front of the people, Zhu Niang and Aunt Li's hearts were bleeding.
Zhu Hao took a special look at the salt grains scattered on the ground. Just as he expected, the quality of official salt these days was just so-so, with many impurities, and it was by no means snow-white.
Even if no one else , it's only a matter of time before people get into trouble after eating it.
There were more than 200 stones of salt left in the warehouse, all of which were poured into the pool. White salt flowers appeared in the water, and more than 40,000 kilograms of salt could not be completely dissolved at once.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Wanjian immediately ordered the officers to use sticks to stir the water in the pond to speed up the dissolution of the salt.
Zhu Niang and Aunt Li sat slumped on the ground, looking at the salt flowers in the pond, wanting to cry but without tears.
Zhu Wanjian walked up to the two girls, with a somewhat smug look on his face: "My two sisters-in-law, I am doing this for your own good! It is said that women should not show their faces in public casually, especially my third sister-in-law. You are a chaste woman and have been a member of the Zhu family all your life. Your every word and action involves the reputation of the Zhu family. Don't blame me as your brother for not helping you... Everything is based on the interests of the family!"
Zhu Niang did not answer.
She no longer had the heart to pay attention to this shameless second uncle.
The neighbors who sneaked into the backyard couldn't stand it anymore and said, "When the shop got into trouble, it would be fine if they didn't come out to help, but they colluded with the government to make things difficult for the orphans and widows of their brothers' families. How dare they say that they are doing it for their own good?"
"Yeah, how can such a person be so shameless?"
Although the onlookers were relatively neutral and their emotions were easily manipulated, the neighbors who had close contacts with Zhu Niang and knew her character well supported the orphans and widows in the yard.
Zhu Wanjian couldn't hold back his pride and shouted, "Who are the people gossiping and talking nonsense? When will it be your turn to talk about Zhu's family affairs?"
Some people are still indignant.
"If the shop is taken back by the Zhu family, no matter what business it does in the future, I will not patronize it!"
"Yes, how can a family that makes things difficult for an orphan and a widow be considered a good family? Stay away from them from now on..."
…
…
An hour later.
Outside the large manor five miles northeast of Changshou County, there are hundreds of acres of fertile fields, rice fields are like rippling green waves, and there are lush trees on both sides of the road.
Under the shade of trees, a carriage stopped in front of the vermilion lacquered gate. After Zhu Wanjian got off the carriage, he was surrounded by several servants and entered the gate with a plaque reading "Zhu Mansion" and went straight to the inner hall of the central courtyard.
A plaque with the words "loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness" hangs on the main ceiling of the inner hall, and below it is a portrait of a military general wearing armor and holding a spear. Beside the altar, an old woman in her fifties is kneeling on a cushion with her back to the door, holding a Buddhist bead chain in her hand, and she is muttering something while twisting the beads with her eyes closed.
"Mom, I'm back."
Zhu Wanjian walked behind the old woman, his face relaxed, his pride and excitement evident in his expressions.
The old woman opened her eyes, stopped what she was doing, stood up and bowed respectfully to the portrait, then turned to look at her son.
The old woman had a graceful face, but time had left its mark on her face, and the slightest change in expression would cause wrinkles to appear on her face.
She is the de facto leader of the Zhu family today, Zhu Jia.
"The shop and the salt were successfully sealed?"
Zhu Jia's face was calm, as if it had nothing to do with her.
Zhu Wanjian smiled and said, "It's not sealed, but the salt in the warehouse has been poured into the pond in the backyard. The store has no salt to sell, and the creditors will come to demand payment. Then we can instigate them to use the house awarded to the third brother by the court to pay off the debt... It's a sure win."
"Why is the good salt ruined?"
Zhu Jia had a stern look on her face.
Zhu Wanjian wanted to take credit for it, but after hearing what his mother said, he hurriedly explained, "Mom, isn't our goal to take back the shop and the three-story mansion, as well as the dozens of acres of land outside the city owned by the third son? If the salt reaches the county government, what if the third son's wife tries to get it back? This plan is like cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron..."
"okay!"
Zhu Jia interrupted her son's nonsense with her hand, "You and the government officials went to seal up the shop, and no one said anything?"
Zhu Wanjian was a little annoyed: "Why didn't anyone say anything? They are all talking about our Zhu family making things difficult for the orphan and the widow, and they also said that the third wife was a chaste woman bestowed by the court, and that our family is being unkind and unjust by doing this...
"It's the third son who's not very smart. He said to destroy all the salt, so I took advantage of the situation and agreed. If it weren't for people saying something, I would never have resorted to such a bad idea."
"Um."
Zhu Jia nodded slightly and didn't care about it anymore.
Zhu Jia looked up at the general in the portrait with a gloomy expression: "If the third brother knew about what happened today, would he stand on my side?"
Zhu Wanjian said sternly, "The third son is filial and will definitely support mother's decision. Besides, how could a rigid person like him allow his wives and concubines to show up in public? If he knew about this in the afterlife, he would definitely be grateful to mother."
Zhu Jia was thoughtful, "Why did the third brother volunteer to go to the north to quell the rebellion, and end up with nothing left? Wouldn't it be better for him to stay in Anlu and be a centurion?
"Now your father is bedridden, your brother is stranded in the capital, you have no ambition to make progress, and your younger brother is determined to take the imperial examination. Who will complete the mission of our Zhu family?"
Zhu Wanjian's eyes widened. "Mom, Dad is a captain of the Imperial Guard. Why did he move his family to a small place like Anlu when he was doing well in the capital? You have been talking about the family mission. What exactly is the mission of our family?"
Zhu Jia did not answer.
"Mother, if you don't want to say anything, then forget it. Why do you always blame me for not making progress? What's wrong with me? Don't I manage the shop and farm at home? I earn more than a hundred taels of silver every month!"
Zhu Wanjian said proudly.
Zhu Jia's mouth showed a sneer: "One hundred taels a month, of which fifty or sixty taels are rent paid by tenants, and another fifty taels are paid by the third son's wife. Our Zhu family has more than a dozen shops in Anlu Prefecture. Even if we rent them all out , it will be more than thirty or forty taels a month. Don't wait until we take back the third son's shop, and even the fifty taels of income will be gone."
"Who said that? The imperial court gave the third brother's shop a good feng shui. It is located in the commercial center of the south city, surrounded by many wealthy families, so it has huge profits... She can hand over fifty taels of silver to the family every month. Who would believe that she would not hide it?"
"Besides, why don't you say that your eldest grandson is living a life of luxury? If not a hundred taels, at least seventy or eighty taels go out of his hands every month? Why do you indulge him? The five bastards in my family spend less than a fraction of what he does every month."
Zhu Wanjian shouted in retort.
Zhu Jia said angrily: "Your elder brother is in the capital, he..."
Zhu Jia was about to say something, but stopped abruptly when the words came to her lips.
Zhu Wanjian said disdainfully: "Brother is at least a deputy commander of the Imperial Guard in the capital, and he will inherit my father's position as a commander of the Imperial Guard in the future, so you are supporting the eldest grandson, right?
"Well, I'll finish the task you entrusted to me, and I won't be a bother to you here anymore... Mother, you continue to worship Buddha, and I'll take my leave!"
Zhu Wanjian left angrily.
Zhu Jia looked at her son's back, with a look of sadness in her eyes.
…
…
Rice shop backyard.
The crowd has dispersed.
Zhu Niang and Aunt Li were holding shovels, trying to scoop out the undissolved salt in the pond. Her sister Zhu Ting was helping to tie the shovels to a long bamboo pole.
Zhu Hao stood on the rockery in the spacious backyard, silently observing the terrain below and judging the height and direction.
"Xiaohao, come and get the salt."
Seeing her son standing there stupidly, Zhu Niang couldn't help but urge him.
At this time, Zhu Hao had used two questions to learn from his mother about the situation he faced after his new life.
May of the ninth year of Zhengde!
Anlu Prefecture!
Anlu is the location of Prince Xing's Palace. In the ninth year of Zhengde, the future Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houzhao, was the same age as himself, seven years old.
With this information, he suddenly understood the direction of his efforts.
However, the most urgent thing right now is to resolve the current crisis in the courtyard.
Zhu Hao walked to the big pond and took a look. There was indeed a lot of salt at the bottom of the water that had not yet dissolved, but the salt had been mixed with a lot of silt, and it would be difficult to remove the impurities even if it was fished out.
"Mom, if we fish it out this way, even if we can get 10% or 20% of the salt, it won't be clean... Who would we sell this salt full of impurities to? If someone gets sick after eating it, the money from selling the salt won't be enough to cover the cost of the medicine, right?"
The question raised by Zhu Hao shattered Zhu Niang's last hope.
As his son said, collecting salt and selling it will not help with foreign debt and may even lead to a greater crisis.
Aunt Li came forward and said, "Master Hao, if you knew this, why did you let people pour salt into the pond?"
Zhu Hao said: "Mother, aunt, if you believe me, just listen to me and find someone to renovate the backyard and find a way to extract the salt. I guarantee that the new salt will be whiter and purer than before..."
Zhu Niang looked at her son in surprise: "Xiaohao, what are you talking about?"
The five-year-old Zhu Ting next to him looked at Zhu Hao with admiration, "Brother, is this really possible?"
"Mom, I saw a method in an ancient book that can purify salt..."
"Where did you read those ancient books? How can you read without any education?"
"…It's like this, the book is full of pictures, describing the salt-making process in detail, you can understand it at a glance… Mom, don't worry about the details, we are just trying to save the situation now."
"But... refining salt requires firewood and tools, which we can't afford."
"We won't need those for now. We can just expose it to the sun... It's midsummer now, and salt will crystallize in a few days. But we need to find someone to divide the backyard into three large pools and twelve small pools, connecting them with diversion channels. Let's go get Uncle Zhong and Yu San now..."
In Zhu Hao's incomplete memory, this shop actually had helpers who helped carry bags of grain and salt, as well as doing odd jobs, and were paid according to their work.
Uncle Zhong and Yu San were originally porters at the dock. They would come to the grain store to help out from time to time and had a good relationship with Zhu Hao's family.
"Ma'am, look..."
Aunt Li had no idea and could only look at Aunt Zhu.
Zhu Niang looked solemn and nodded slowly: "Sun-drying salt is indeed the last resort. Even if the salt from the sun has impurities, it is better than the salt that is fished out. If it doesn't work, we can take it out of the city and sell it to farmers in the mountains..."
