If Zhu Hao's memory from this life is like that, there is a large pond covering an area of two to 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 given by the officials. It was converted from the official residence of ten thousand households in Xingzhongshu Province in Jiangbei, Henan and other places. It occupies a large area and has a magnificent layout.
The big pond was originally a lotus pond in the back garden. It had been neglected for a long time and had long been abandoned. After Zhu Hao's mother took it over, she simply cleaned it up and now it is just an ordinary reservoir.
As the officers carried bags of salt out of the storehouse and poured them into the pool in front of the people, Zhu Niang and Aunt Li's hearts were bleeding.
Zhu Hao specifically looked at the salt grains scattered on the ground. As expected, the color of official salt these days is just that, with many impurities, not to mention snow-white.
Even if others don't cause trouble with this kind of salt, it's only a matter of time before someone eats it and something goes wrong.
There were more than 200 pieces of rock salt left in the warehouse, and they were all poured into the pool. The water was filled with white salt flowers, and more than 40,000 kilograms of salt could not be completely dissolved for a while.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Wanjian immediately asked the official to put a stick into the pool water and stir it to speed up the dissolution of the salt.
Zhu Niang and Aunt Li sat slumped on the ground, looking at the pond full of salt flowers, wanting to cry but without tears.
Zhu Wanjian walked up to the two girls, with a somewhat smug expression on her face: "My two younger siblings, I am doing this for your own good! They say that women should not show up casually, especially my third younger sister. You are a wise woman, and you will always be my Zhu.
As a family member, every word and deed is related to the Zhu family's reputation, don't blame the elder brother for not helping... Everything is based on the interests of the family!"
Zhu Niang did not answer.
She no longer cared about this shameless second uncle.
The neighbors who sneaked into the backyard couldn't stand it anymore and commented: "When something happens to the shop, it's okay not to come forward to help. You also collude with the government to embarrass the orphans and widows of your brothers. How dare you say it's for the good of others?"
"Yeah, how can such a person be so thick-skinned?"
If the onlookers were relatively neutral and their emotions could easily be manipulated by others, the neighbors who had close contact with Zhu Niang knew who Zhu Niang was and supported the orphans and widowers in this courtyard at this time.
Zhu Wanjian lost face and shouted loudly: "Who are these people talking nonsense? When will it be your turn to gossip about Zhu's family affairs?"
Some people are angry and resentful.
"If the Zhu family takes back the shop, no matter what business I do in the future, I will never come to patronize it!"
"Yes, what kind of family is this kind of family that makes things difficult for orphans and widowed mothers? Stay away from it in the future..."
…
…
An hour later.
Outside the large manor five miles northeast of Changshou County, there are hundreds of acres of fertile farmland, with rice rippling like blue waves and lush trees on both sides of the road.
Under the shade of the trees, a carriage stopped in front of the Zhuqi gate. After getting off the carriage, Zhu Wanjian, surrounded by several servants, entered the gate with the plaque "Zhu Mansion" on it, and went straight to the inner hall of the middle courtyard.
The plaque of "loyalty, filial piety, justice" hangs in the front of the inner hall. Below it is a portrait of a military commander wearing armor and holding a spear. Beside the altar table, an old woman in her fifties is kneeling on a futon with her back to the door.
He was holding a necklace of Buddhist beads in his hand, twirling the beads with his eyes closed and muttering something in his mouth.
"Mom, I'm back."
Zhu Wanjian walked behind the old woman, the muscles on his face stretched, and his pride and excitement were evident.
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 has a graceful face, but the years have left traces on her face, and horizontal wrinkles appear on her face at the slightest change in expression.
She is the current de facto helmsman of the Zhu family, the Zhu Jia family.
"Both the shop and the salt were sealed successfully?"
Zhu Jia's face was calm, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.
Zhu Wanjian smiled and said: "It's not sealed, but all the salt in the warehouse has been poured into the backyard pond. There is no salt to sell in the shop, and the creditors will definitely come to collect money. Then we will instigate them again and let the court reward Laosan's house.
Debt repayment... is foolproof."
"Why was the good salt ruined?"
Zhu Jia's face was stern.
Zhu Wanjian originally wanted to take credit, but after listening to his mother's words, he hurriedly explained: "Mom, our goal is not to take back the shop and the third family's mansion, plus the dozens of acres of land the third family has outside the city? If the salt reaches the county government, what will the third daughter-in-law think?
What should we do if we can get it back? This plan is the result of a military strategist trying to get rid of the firepower..."
"okay!"
Zhu Jiashi stretched out her hand to interrupt her son's nonsense, "You and the government officials went to seal down the shop and no one commented?"
Zhu Wanjian was a little annoyed: "Why didn't anyone say anything? They were all talking about our Zhu family embarrassing orphans and widowed mothers. They also said that the third child in the family was a chaste woman bestowed by the imperial court. It was unkind and unjust for the family to do this...
"On the other hand, the third son's brain was not working well. He said that all the salt should be destroyed, so he agreed to do it by borrowing the donkey from Poxia. If it weren't for someone's irresponsible remarks, I would never have made such a bad decision."
"Um."
Zhu Jiashi nodded slightly and didn't care anymore.
Zhu Jia raised his head and looked at the general in the portrait with a gloomy expression: "If the third child had known about it, would he have been on my mother's side today?"
Zhu Wanjian said seriously: "The third child is filial and will definitely support my mother's decision. Besides, how could he, a rigid person like him, let his wife and concubines be exposed in public? If Quanxia knew about it, he would definitely shed tears of gratitude to my mother."
Zhu Jiashi thought thoughtfully, "Why did the third child take the initiative to go to the north to suppress the rebellion, and ended up with no body left? Isn't it good to stay in Anlu and be a hundred households?
"Now that your father is bedridden, your brother is stranded in the capital and you don't want to make progress, and your younger brother is bent on taking the imperial examination, who will complete the mission of my Zhu family?"
Zhu Wanjian's eyes widened: "Mom, my father is a member of the Imperial Guard of thousands of households. Why do you want to move your family to a small place like Anlu when you are doing well in the capital? You have always talked about the family's mission. What kind of mission does our family have?"
Zhu Jiashi didn't answer.
"Mom, forget it if you don't tell me, why do you keep blaming me for not wanting to make progress? What's wrong with me? Aren't I the one taking care of the shop and farm at home? I earn more than a hundred taels of silver every month!"
Zhu Wanjian said proudly.
A sneer appeared on the corner of Zhu Jia's mouth: "One hundred taels per month, of which fifty or sixty taels are paid by tenants, and the other fifty taels are paid by the third daughter-in-law. Our Zhu family has more than a dozen shops in Anlu Prefecture City. Even if
If we rent it all out, it will cost more than 30 to 40 taels per month. Don’t wait until the third shop is taken back, and even the 50 taels of income will be lost.”
"Who said that? It's because the imperial court gave Laosan's shop good feng shui. It is located in the commercial center of the south of the city, and there are many wealthy families around it, so it can make huge profits... She can turn in fifty taels to her family every month. Who believes that she won't?
Hidden privately?”
"Moreover, why don't you say that your eldest grandson is living and drinking outside? Not only one hundred taels but seventy or eighty taels are leaked from his hands every month, right? Why are you so used to it? I have five bastards, and the total monthly expenses are
It’s less than his change.”
Zhu Wanjian shouted in retort.
Zhu Jia said angrily: "Your eldest brother is in the capital, he..."
She was about to say something, but Zhu Jiashi stopped abruptly when her words reached her lips.
Zhu Wanjian said disdainfully: "My elder brother is in the capital, but he is also the deputy of Qianhu, Jinyiwei. In the future, he will inherit the position of Jinyiwei, Qianhu, so you will be the eldest grandson, right?"
"Forget it, I will complete the task you entrusted me to, and I won't be in your way here...Mother, please continue to worship the Buddha, and I will leave!"
Zhu Wanjian left straight away with anger.
Zhu Jiashi looked at her son's back, with a sadness in her eyes that she hated that iron could not become steel.
…
…
Rice paved backyard.
The crowd has dispersed.
Zhu Niang and Aunt Li were holding shovels and trying to fish out the undissolved salt from the pool. Their sister Zhu Ting was helping to tie the shovels to the long bamboo poles.
Zhu Hao stood on the rockery in the spacious backyard, silently observing the topography below and judging the direction of elevation.
"Xiao Hao, come quickly and get some salt."
When Zhu Niang saw her son standing there in a daze, she couldn't help but urge him.
At this time, Zhu Hao had used two questions to learn from his mother the situation he would face after his new life.
In May of the ninth year of Zhengde!
Anluzhou!
Anlu is where the Naixing Prince's Palace is located. In the ninth year of Zhengde, the future Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong, was the same age as himself, seven years old at the time.
With this information, he suddenly understood the direction of his efforts.
But the most urgent thing right now is to solve the current crisis in the courtyard.
Zhu Hao walked to the large pond and took a look. There was indeed a lot of salt at the bottom that had not yet been dissolved, but the salt had been mixed with a lot of silt. Even if it was fished out, it would be difficult to remove the impurities.
"Mom, with this method of fishing, even if you can fish out 10% or 20% of the salt, it's not clean... Who will sell this salt full of impurities? If someone eats it and something goes wrong, I'm afraid the money from selling the salt won't be enough to compensate for the loss.
How much does it cost for soup and medicine?”
The question raised by Zhu Hao disillusioned Zhu Niang's last hope.
As my son said, fishing for salt and selling it will not help the foreign debt, and may even lead to a greater crisis.
Aunt Li approached: "Master Hao, if you know this, why do you still have people pour salt into the pool?"
Zhu Hao said: "Mom, aunt, if you believe me, just listen to me, find someone to renovate the backyard, find a way to refine the salt, and ensure that the new salt is whiter and purer than before..."
Zhu Niang looked at her son in surprise: "Xiao Hao, what are you talking about?"
The five-year-old Zhu Ting next to her looked at Zhu Hao with admiration, "Brother, is this really okay?"
"Mom, I saw a method in an ancient book that can purify salt..."
"Where did you read the ancient book? How can you read without enlightenment?"
"...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. Now we are treating a dead horse as a living horse doctor."
"But...refining salt requires firewood and tools, and we can't afford them."
"We don't need those for the time being, so we will expose them to the hot sun... It is midsummer now, and the salt will crystallize in a few days. However, we need to find someone to divide the backyard into three large pools and twelve small pools, and use diversion troughs for each other.
Lian Lian, go and call Uncle Zhong and Yu Sanlai now..."
In Zhu Hao's incomplete memory, this shop actually had helpers who helped carry grain and salt bags and do some chores on weekdays, and were paid according to their work.
Uncle Zhong and Yu Sanben were dock laborers and came to the grain store from time to time to help out. They had a good relationship with Zhu Hao's family.
"Madam, look..."
Aunt Li had no idea and could only look at Zhu Niang.
Zhu Niang looked solemn and nodded slowly: "Salting in the sun is indeed the last resort. Even if the salt produced by the sun has impurities, it is still stronger than the salt that is fished out. If it doesn't work, we will take it to the city and sell it to farmers in the mountains..."