Chapter 20: Is it true that some people are born knowing this?
Taoist Yu Ji was holding a banner and carrying a bag as he walked quickly on the smooth street.
"Is this the market in Pingxiang? It's really lively."
Yu Ji looked at the hawkers hawking their wares everywhere. If they were in other places, these low-level hawkers would mostly be pale and skinny, but the hawkers here all had rosy complexions and were strong and healthy.
After walking a few steps, Yu Ji saw a house with steam rising from it. Curious, he pulled a passerby aside and asked, "What's going on with this house? Why is there so much steam?"
The passerby was a little impatient when he was stopped, but when he saw the Taoist robe on Yu Ji, his attitude changed instantly. He explained, "This is the water room."
"What is the water room?" Yu Ji asked curiously.
"A hot water room is a shop that sells hot water. With just a few cents, you can get a large pot of hot water to take home. It is very convenient for eating, drinking and washing." The passerby explained patiently.
"A few cents? So expensive? It's just boiled water, a no-cost business, why is it so expensive?" Yu Ji couldn't believe it.
"What's this? It's a flat place, every inch of land is worth a lot of money, many outsiders yearn for it, any business is easy to make money, even running a water room can make a lot of money." The passerby said nonchalantly.
Yu Ji was enlightened and a little surprised: "Are you all buying boiled water? This business seems to be pretty good."
"Most people boil water at home, but they run out of firewood or don't have time to boil water, so they come here to buy water. Hey, you are a Taoist priest after all, how come you don't know this and that?" The passerby said, shaking his head.
"What does the fact that I'm a Taoist priest have to do with whether I understand or not?" Yu Ji was both amused and helpless.
"Because this is the rule of the Taiping Dao. The Taiping Dao advises everyone not to drink raw water. At first everyone was not used to it, but later gradually no one drank raw water anymore." The passerby said with a smile.
"Why are we not allowed to drink raw water?" Yu Ji asked subconsciously.
"Because the teachings of the Taiping Dao say that illness comes from the mouth, and many illnesses are caused by raw water. Whether you drink well water or river water, you must boil it before drinking it. This way you will get sick less often. Don't tell me, it's really true." The passerby said with emotion: "After everyone stopped drinking raw water, their health has improved a lot! They rarely get sick!"
"That does make sense." Yu Ji nodded.
"I see you are from another place, so I will accompany you for a walk." The passerby said with a smile, "There are many outsiders coming to Pingxiang these days, and many unscrupulous merchants are using the name of Pingxiang to deceive people. You should be careful not to be fooled."
"Thank you very much, sir. May I know what your name should be?" Yu Ji bowed quickly to express his gratitude.
"I don't dare to be called sir. My name is Zhao Er. You can just call me by my name." Zhao Er said with a smile.
"Thank you." Yu Ji was very interested in this place and wanted to learn more about it.
After walking and chatting all the way, Yu Ji suddenly saw a strange shop. People were coming and going, carrying bags of things. The smell of those things made people feel uncomfortable.
Yu Ji looked at Zhao Er and asked, "What are they selling over there? Why does it smell so bad?"
Zhao Er replied: "It's a fat store."
"Fertilizer shop?" Yu Ji was curious: "Does it sell fertilizer?"
"Yes!" Zhao Er nodded and asked with some pride: "Do you know how many kinds of fertilizers there are in Pingxiang?"
"How many?"
"I counted them once before, and there are as many as 140 or 150 kinds."
“How could there be so many?” Yu Ji naturally didn’t believe it. Fertilizer can fertilize the land, and farmers will produce more. Its importance is self-evident. But after counting, there are only a dozen or so kinds of fertilizers. How could there be one hundred and forty or fifty kinds?
"Haha, I didn't believe there were so many kinds of fertilizers at first, just like you." Zhao Er said with a smile: "In the beginning, people's fertilizers were human feces and urine, domestic animal feces and urine, weeds, plant ash, and..."
"There are also manure, silkworm feces, pupa juice, bone juice, bean pods, and river mud, but what else is there besides these?" Yu Ji asked hurriedly.
"Why do you ask in such detail? I only know the general idea. I know about residue fertilizer, cake fertilizer, soil fertilizer, green manure, and inorganic fertilizer. There are dozens of each of these, which add up to more than a hundred kinds. And this fertilizer company's business is inorganic fertilizer." Zhao Er said.
"What is inorganic fertilizer?" Yu Ji was a little confused. He found himself in a new world where he didn't understand this or that.
Zhao Er patiently explained: "Inorganic is a word created by the Taiping Dao, which means things without life. Inorganic fertilizers include lime, gypsum, brine, sulfur, arsenic, black alum, snail ash, oyster ash, clam ash, and oyster ash."
"I see." Yu Ji nodded and asked, "Is this what this store sells?"
"Yes and no. This fertilizer shop sells specially processed inorganic fertilizers, which are much better than ordinary inorganic fertilizers and many times more fertile than other fertilizers. Although it is more expensive, when mixed with other fertilizers, the effect of fertilizing the land is simply amazing , so the business is very good." Zhao Er said.
"So that's how it is. No wonder some people would spend money to buy these." Yu Ji nodded and carefully kept them in mind.
Walking a little closer, Yu Ji couldn't help but read out the strange name of the store: "Jin Ke La Fertilizer Store... This store name is so strange."
"Haha, this is the name given by the leader of Taiping Taoism himself. He said that this thing is as precious as gold and can feed people!" Zhao Er laughed.
"I see." Yu Ji couldn't help but sighed: "The founder of the Taiping Dao must be a great man. He knows so much. He is really a rare talent in the world!"
"That's right. Everyone respectfully calls him the Great Sage Master. Pingxiang was not what it is now a few years ago. At that time, I couldn't even get enough food to eat. Thanks to the Great Sage Master and the Taiping Dao, they came and here is peaceful." Speaking of the leader of the Taiping Dao, Zhao Er's face was full of reverence.
"Great and virtuous teacher, great and virtuous teacher..." Yu Ji read the name and said with admiration: "The name really suits the person!"
After a tour, Yu Ji was completely shocked by the prosperity of the place.
Many things were far beyond Yu Ji's imagination, and the level of cultural and intellectual enlightenment was also very high.
Yu Ji came from the next county, a distance of only about a hundred miles, but the changes were so great that he couldn't believe it.
This made him even more curious about the great and virtuous teacher.
Afterwards, he asked along the way and found the Taiping Taoist Temple. He told his name to the Taoist boy at the door and asked to see the great virtuous master.
His name Yu Ji was still very well-known in Taoism, and he was indeed received by the great and virtuous master.
In the side hall, Yu Ji was waiting anxiously. After a while, a young man in Taoist robes came. It was Su Che.
Su Che strode to Yu Ji's side, bowed and said, "Are you Taoist Yu Ji?"
"That's right." Yu Ji quickly stood up and returned the greeting. He looked at Su Che's handsome face and asked curiously, "Master Great Sage, don't you have time to see me today?"
"Not really." Su Che shook his head.
"Then why..." Yu Ji hesitated.
"I am the great and wise teacher." Su Che said directly.
Yu Ji: “?”
Yu Ji stared at Su Che blankly, his eyes filled with confusion for a moment.
This look probably means: Are you kidding me?
"Little brother, stop joking..." Yu Ji was speechless.
"I'm not kidding." Su Che shook his head.
I still remember that in the first week, Su Che begged and pestered Yu Ji and finally became his disciple. He had the opportunity to learn from him and thus changed his fate.
However, in this second playthrough, he comes to see Yu Ji as the lord of Pingxiang, with the title of the famous great and virtuous teacher.
But Su Che was so young that Yu Ji naturally couldn't believe it. He stared at Su Che and noticed that this man had an extraordinary demeanor and the Taoist charm that he revealed inadvertently was something that an ordinary Taoist child could not possess.
"Could it be that... there are people who are born knowing this?"
Yu Ji couldn't believe it and couldn't help muttering to himself.
