Chapter 256: The Road to High Office 56 (Error Correction)

Chapter 256: The Road to High Office 56 (Error Correction)

Mrs. Cao Zhou's heart pounded as she realized the opportunity had arrived.

"Lord Xu, I'm just like this white chess piece—clueless about chess or embroidery, my thoughts as shallow as the piece itself. The only thing I can rely on is to survive by sticking close to the black piece." Mrs. Cao Zhou steadied her mind, picked up a white piece from the chess bowl in front of her, and placed it next to the black piece. She tried her best to keep her voice steady: "If you are willing to teach me the craft of embroidery, I will follow your lead!"

It must be said, Mrs. Cao Zhou is indeed a very smart woman.

She clearly understood what Cheng Ge Er was looking for from her. She was already past the suitable age to learn embroidery, but she still said this, naturally to retreat in order to advance, letting Cheng Ge Er, the high-ranking person, bring up the matter of cooperation.

Moreover, her words also expressed her loyalty to Cheng Ge Er.

Cheng Ge Er is a smart person; he also likes to deal with smart people.

After placing several more chess pieces, the white piece's steps always followed the black piece, its humble position clearly showing it was subordinate to the black piece.

Cheng Ge Er smiled, tilting his head to look at Mrs. Cao Zhou: "Mrs. Cao, if in the future I need a woman to be the vanguard for me to climb up the social ladder by attaching to the powerful, what would you do?"

Mrs. Cao Zhou's pupils shrank, her hand trembling as she placed a chess piece. The white piece fell onto the chessboard.

She understood Lord Xu's implication—that a man could only have two children in his lifetime, and they were naturally precious treasures... and what he wanted was for her to offer her own child, to become a chess piece in his hand.

Mrs. Cao Zhou suddenly stood up from the couch and bowed: "Then Lord Xu, we walk different paths and cannot collaborate."

Mrs. Cao Zhou is smart and also scheming, but she cannot sell her daughter for glory.

With that, Mrs. Cao Zhou made to leave.

"Very well said, but Mrs. Cao, don't be in a hurry to leave. Haven't you finished listening to my answer?" Cheng Ge Er grabbed Mrs. Cao Zhou's wrist, smiling as he said: "I also appreciate smart people who have principles."

Mrs. Cao Zhou suddenly turned her head, meeting Cheng Ge Er's clear eyes. She realized Lord Xu was testing where her bottom line was.

"I overreacted just now," Mrs. Cao Zhou said, somewhat embarrassed. She sat back down, shyly lowering her eyelids.

"No harm done," Cheng Ge Er said leisurely, picking up the black piece from the chessboard and placing it back into the chess bowl. He gently added: "I am the same as Mrs. Cao—family is my untouchable bottom line."

With that, the two of them opened up to each other, and the conversation naturally turned to the main topic.

Cheng Ge Er clapped his hands, and Xia Tian handed over the business proposal he had prepared earlier.

Cheng Ge Er placed the document in front of Mrs. Cao Zhou. "Mrs. Cao, I want to cooperate with you on this embroidery workshop business. What do you think of this plan?"

The document detailed the construction of the embroidery workshop and the profit sharing. They would jointly invest to establish it, with twenty percent of the profits allocated to establish a children's charity foundation. The remaining eighty percent would be split fifty-fifty between them—she would get five, and Cheng Ge Er would get three.

That is to say, Lord Xu took out twenty percent of his own profits to donate to the children of Lingbei.

There was also a detailed plan for the charity foundation, to be managed by a good person voted by the children of Lingbei. If the foundation's money exceeded one hundred taels a year, one outstanding child would be sponsored to study; if it exceeded two hundred taels, two children would be sponsored; and so on... up to one thousand taels.

If the foundation's money exceeded one thousand taels a year, a children's foundation private school would be established, hiring a teacher to teach children willing to study.

If the foundation's money was less than one hundred taels a year, two to four distributions would be made each month to feed the children who did not have enough to eat.

After reviewing the plans, Mrs. Cao Zhou was deeply impressed by Lord Xu's vision. She said: "Lord Xu, since it is for the construction of our Lingbei, naturally we cannot let you bear the majority. So, the remaining eighty percent of the profits, we will split forty-forty."

After sending off Town Head Cao and the others, it was almost noon.

Xu Zeping knew that Cheng Ge Er had invited Mrs. Cao Zhou to admire the plum blossoms today, so he had lunch at the government office with County Deputy Yang and the others.

The treatment of officials in the Great Jing Dynasty is still quite good—as long as they are on duty, lunch is provided.

Affluent government offices have dedicated cooks, while less prosperous ones, like Lingbei County... well, they have their constables also handle kitchen duties.

After all, these two constables have nothing better to do; assigning them to kitchen duties keeps them occupied.

Xu Zeping bit into the overly salty lean meat and immediately gulped down a large mouthful of the plain porridge in front of him. The cooking could use some work!

Seeing Xu Zeping's animated reaction, Old Wang from the constables shamelessly said, "Sir, how's the food? Don't worry, there's more in the kitchen. If you'd like more, I can get you another bowl."

Old Li from the constables chimed in, "Sir, eat more of the fatty meat. It's good for building strength. The lean meat isn't worth eating."

As he spoke, Old Li tried to pick up a piece and put it in Xu Zeping's bowl.

Xu Zeping quickly waved his hands, "I'll serve myself."

Chen Ling, seeing this, tried not to laugh and quietly continued eating.

When he first arrived, Uncle Wang and the others had acted the same way.

After the meal, Xu Zeping took a big sip of tea to cleanse his palate—it was indeed unbearably salty.

"County Deputy Yang, don't you think the dishes are a bit too salty?"

"Sir, your background must be quite decent, right?" County Deputy Yang pondered for a moment before tactfully replying, "Your family likely prefers milder flavors."

Xu Zeping paused, teacup in hand, and instantly understood the issue.

In ancient times, salt was indeed expensive, but in resource-scarce regions, people tended to favor stronger flavors... because it made the food more palatable.

This habit, over time, made them accustomed to heavy seasoning.

If it's too salty, they just drink more water. Meat dishes are rare, so they stretch them over several meals.

No wonder County Deputy Yang, Chen Ling, and the others could eat the dishes and porridge without a second thought.

"County Deputy Yang, let's rest for a bit. We'll head to Zhang the Craftsman's place this afternoon."

County Deputy Yang thought for a moment—today was the 29th of November—and nodded, "Yes!"

During the lunch break, Xu Zeping sketched out the design for a couple's toothbrush.

He drew Donald Duck and his girlfriend Daisy, and also included a design for matching toothbrush cups, of course, featuring Donald and Daisy's images.

After all, there's no America here, so no need to worry about copyright infringement.

At 1:45 in the afternoon, Xu Zeping and County Deputy Yang arrived at the suburban estate by carriage.

Xu Zeping handed the design to Zhang the Craftsman.

He wanted to pay a service fee, but Zhang refused.

Zhang Changhu glared with his fierce eyes, "This is such a small matter, Minister Xu. You're being too polite—it feels like you're treating me as an outsider!"

Seeing Zhang's reaction, Xu Zeping didn't insist.

After retrieving the completed toothbrushes, they placed them in luxurious brocade boxes and returned to the government office by carriage.

Back at the office, Xu Zeping quickly drew up the instructions for using the toothbrushes.

Then he began drafting a report, placing it along with the instructions in the brocade box.

The next day, Xu Zeping placed the brocade box in Officer Zhou's bag, instructing him to carry it with him at all times.

Officer Zhou also understood the importance of this small brocade box and assured Xu Zeping that he would guard it with his life.

After seeing Officer Zhou and his team off, Xu Zeping breathed a sigh of relief and began preparing for the next trip to the countryside...

However, as soon as he returned to the yamen, Clerk Yuan came looking for him: "Sir."

"What is it?"

Clerk Yuan scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Sir, this year's grain might not be sufficient."

"Come with me to the office."

Clerk Yuan followed Xu Zeping's steps, and the two of them strode into the office.

"Explain in detail."

"Sir, we currently have about 7,500 shi of grain in our granary. According to past practices, we need to distribute 3,000 shi of grain to the villagers."

A normal adult can consume 10-20 jin of grain in 30 days, but the distribution isn't based on normal grain consumption rates. Instead, it is calculated based on porridge, so the grain consumed is halved. That's five jin per person.

Three thousand shi of grain equals 360,000 jin of grain.

The toughest months in Lingbei County are the first two months of the year, due to both the cold and hunger.

Many poor villagers only have enough grain to last them until the end of winter. After the new year begins, they must rely on luck to get by.

If the government does not distribute grain, many struggling villagers will go into the mountains to search for food and end up freezing to death there.

The 360,000 jin of grain that Clerk Yuan mentioned is precisely for distributing to these villagers during the first two months of the year.

Calculating that each person consumes 10 jin of grain over two months, 360,000 jin of grain can ensure the survival of 36,000 villagers...

And Lingbei County has nearly 100,000 villagers.

After spring arrives, they will also need to prepare 500 shi of grain to lend to the villagers for seeds for planting...

After the summer harvest, these villagers will return the borrowed grain.

After setting aside these essential grain allocations, they still have 4,000 shi of grain available for use.

Xu Zeping's annual salary is 84 shi, which breaks down to 7 shi per month. Starting from December this year to September next year, 63 shi need to be set aside for him.

County Deputy Yang's annual salary is 75 shi, which breaks down to 6.25 shi per month, totaling 56 shi by next September.

Clerk Chen's annual salary is 70 shi, which breaks down to 5.83 shi per month, totaling 52 shi by next September.

The remaining nine people—himself, two constables, four bailiffs, and two strongmen—will require 100 shi over nine months.

Then there are seven Town Heads, who will require 50 shi over nine months.

After deducting all these, there are still 3,679 shi left.

When Xu Zeping heard this calculation, he thought it was manageable and they could still cope, with some grain reserved for disaster relief.

Then Clerk Chen delivered a heavy blow, "Sir, our city walls need repairs. Last year, Zhang the Craftsman and his team proposed the wall repair project, but the former county magistrate thought it wasn't worth spending over 5,000 taels of silver, so the matter was shelved."

"Sir, as you know, our city walls are eroding during the rain, and this issue can't be put off much longer."

Xu Zeping rubbed his temples. Less than four thousand dan (a traditional Chinese unit of measure, approximately 60 kilograms per dan) of grain could fetch at most 1,500 taels of silver, which was still far from the cost of repairing the city walls.

Regarding the city walls, he had another plan in mind. He wanted to develop cement and directly turn the rammed earth walls into cement walls.

"How much longer can they last?"

"Four months." Today, while seeing off Officer Zhou and his team, Yuan Shuli noticed that the city walls were already on the verge of collapse. He just tapped lightly, and a large chunk of soil fell off.

"Then let's start a work-for-relief program!"

Xu Zeping had to put his cement idea on hold. "When we calculated the cost at five thousand taels of silver, did that cover just the materials, or both labor and materials?"