Miao Chu

Chapter 142 Hand Oil
Since Cen Dezhang had agreed, Han Li didn't say anything more in person. He simply cupped his hands in greeting and asked politely, "But I wonder what the grace period is until? And what will the situation be like then?"

"Is it enough to just finalize the list, or can we determine the reporting dates for the laborers? I wonder if the county governments can allocate manpower to inspect, register, and remove the laborers from service?"

He added, "Although it's a bit troublesome, all subsequent supplies need to be arranged according to this, so I'll have to trouble Manager Qian to give me confirmation."

Qian Zhongming frowned briefly, then smiled and said, "So that Han Xuesheng may know that although I am the one relaying the message, I really cannot control the progress of the various counties below."

He paused, then looked at Cen Dezhang and said respectfully, "But if the prefect wants a definite answer, I will try to ask him—but I cannot guarantee it."

He sighed again, “It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but that I really can’t! The prefect knows that everyone has their own ideas. We minor officials are in the state, but we have no power. All we can do is urge them. If we urge them too hard, there will always be cunning people who take this opportunity to exploit the people and then shift the blame to the state, causing the people to curse us. I beg you, Young Master Han, to be a little more patient. I will do my best to follow up.”

After saying this, he excused himself, saying he was busy, and hurriedly left.

Han Li did not insist on keeping him, but turned to look at Cen Dezhang. He did not criticize Qian Kongmu's actions, but said, "Time is already tight. If we wait too long, it will be even more late. I wonder what the Prefect thinks?"

Cen Dezhang sighed and said, “Zhengyan, I know you think I’m not strict with my subordinates, but I can’t push them too hard. The cunning of corrupt officials can not only ruin things, but also harm people. Do you know how the previous prefect got what he deserved? It was because he kept pushing his subordinates to pay the autumn tax, and then he added pressure and exploited them at every level, which led to a rebellion in the village. When the provincial judicial commissioner came to inspect, several cases didn’t match up, and he was ranked last in the evaluation. In the end, he was reprimanded and demoted.”

"If you want to get things done, you still have to weigh the two sides and proceed slowly. If things go wrong, those below will still be the clerks, while we officials will have to clean up the mess..."

Han Li nodded and asked, "But this matter is urgent. If I can't wait for him to finish, can I find some people to do it myself?"

Cen Dezhang was taken aback and asked, "Where are you going to find manpower?"

Han Li said, "This time it's not a regular levy of laborers or forced levies. The imperial court has allocated silver and grain, and now that disasters are happening everywhere, we can find people to do the work."

Cen Dezhang looked surprised and laughed, "Zhengyan, you... sigh, you are still too young. When it comes to water affairs, you have followed Mr. Fu for many years, and your vision and ability are naturally far beyond what others can match. However, this kind of manpower mobilization and management is easier said than done."

“Managing thirty or fifty people is easy, and managing three or five hundred people is also a stretch, but how do you manage three or five thousand people? Even now, with the lower-level clerks leading the village heads, who are familiar with manpower allocation and know the origins of the lower-level laborers, it is still difficult. Let alone you, who are new here and may not even know the way.”

Han Li said, "Those who are familiar with the origins of the laborers are not just the clerks."

He added, "Words alone are not enough. I will draw up a plan first, and then speak after the magistrate has reviewed it. I wonder if this is appropriate?"

It's just a preliminary outline. Cen Dezhang isn't stupid, so naturally he wouldn't disagree. After nodding, he added, "Don't rush. Wait two more days, and I'll urge Qian Zhongming to finalize this matter. He's not stupid either; he won't dare to drag it out for too long."

After the students reported to the prefectural government, Han Li arranged for each of them to lead a group of people and assign them to different sections of the river to conduct hydrological measurements. He also ordered people to retrieve local county gazetteers and old documents, and instructed them to start searching through old files from that day forward. Although there were many omissions, they could still be used for comparison.

After making arrangements and working for half a day, it was almost time to leave. None of the students who stayed behind to search through the old files returned to the official post station. They were still busy in the yamen with a pile of old papers.

Han Li then urged, "Go back and eat first. Take advantage of this little bit of free time to rest well. You'll have a lot of tough times ahead of you."

Because he chased them away, the group had no choice but to slowly leave together.

Han Li sent the others away, but he himself stayed and continued to work in the government office.

Seeing that he wasn't leaving, Kong Fuyang didn't leave either, and stayed behind with him.

Everyone had seen it all and was used to it. Once they were outside, they couldn't help but whisper among themselves, sighing that being a leader wasn't easy.

Someone said, "Sometimes I feel like Chief Han doesn't need to sleep—the last time I got up in the middle of the night, when I came out, I saw that the window of his and Kong Fuyang's room was open. It was only a little past dawn, and he was already checking the numbers."

"If I had that kind of energy, I'm afraid I could have entered the Imperial Academy, and maybe even the Inner Academy!"

"Come on, do you think wasting time will do any good? Last time he glanced at it and found a mistake in my calculation. If it were Old Lu, he would have to calculate it twice with yarrow stalks. Even Kong Fuyang would have to check it properly."

"So there's a reason behind the ranking at the Imperial Academy. No wonder he's ranked first, right?"

“What’s not important at the Imperial Academy? You don’t know, I was chatting with Kong Fuyang the other day and I found out that that Miss Song used to sell breakfast at a stall in the back alley of the Imperial Academy. She sold glutinous rice, steamed dumplings, soup, and all sorts of other food every day. With all these good things to eat every day, how could the students at the Imperial Academy not study well!”

"No way?! We're all students, so why are the students from the Imperial Academy so lucky? Why doesn't our academy have a breakfast stall like this at the entrance?"

After a group of people sighed, someone lamented, "Alas, the meals we eat at the official post station these days are just to fill our stomachs. I'm not even in a hurry to go back anymore. Before, as soon as it was time to go back, I would be thinking about it constantly, wishing I had two more legs!"

Someone replied, "That's right. Now we have a place to stay and three meals a day at regular times. Unlike before, when we didn't know what tomorrow would bring, I actually want to go back to the road to Huazhou. Every day, I have good food cooked by Miss Song. All I have to do is measure and check, and I don't have to deal with those troublesome clerks in the government office."

"Yes! I want to too!"

"Why don't we go back and tell Miss Song to add another dish?"

"That's not a good idea. Leader Han invited her here not to take care of our meals..."

"Sneak it out. She definitely won't accept money. How about we send her something instead?"

After these words were spoken, the others remained silent, exchanging glances and then idly scanning the road.

Someone coughed and pointed to another side road, saying, "When I ate at the front last time, I saw a cosmetics shop there."

Then someone else said, "Since we're already here, why don't we go and take a look?"

"Exactly, it's on the way!"

After following the path for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the group finally found the cosmetics shop. They studied it for half a day, but instead of buying rouge and face powder, they pooled their money to buy a box of hand cream and went next door to buy several headscarves.

The student who suggested buying headscarves said, "I've noticed that Miss Song usually wraps her head with a cloth when she cooks. Now that she has these, she won't have to worry about the headscarves not drying even if it rains a lot!"

On the way back, seeing someone selling fruit by the roadside, someone said, "Buy some fruit! My sisters and mother all love fruit, and I'm sure Miss Song will love it too!"

So the group went up and selected several bags of fresh seasonal fruits, and happily returned to the official post station. Just as they were about to look for Song Miao, they found her gone.

Upon inquiry, they learned from the courier that Song Miao had gone out to work again with flatbread after noon and had not yet returned. Everyone was dejected and had no choice but to eat the food provided by the official post station. They then took turns going back to wash up, insisting on leaving someone outside to keep watch.

When Song Miaotong and Dabing returned, they entered the main hall of the official post station and saw two students sitting at a table. They were standing up when they heard the noise, waving their arms anxiously and calling out, "Young Lady Song!"

She walked up to him and greeted him.

The two then told Song Miao that they wanted to ask her to help prepare some dishes for the next day, and asked, "I wonder if this is alright, and if it will be too much trouble for you, young lady?"

Song Miao laughed and said, "It's nothing, I want to eat too, what's there to say if it's okay or not!"

Then they asked what I wanted to eat.

Both of them said, "Let's do whichever is more convenient!"

They busied themselves taking out the money they had collected and the gifts.

After receiving the money for the vegetables, Song Miao was slightly surprised to see the small package of gifts. She said, "There are only a few of us left at the post station now. The rest have all gone down to various counties and townships. I'm only cooking one or two dishes to add to the meal. How much time will that take? There's no need to send these things!"

One of them said, "Leader Han had already instructed us that the reason for inviting Miss Song this time was to manage people and affairs, and to take charge of the meals for the laborers. He said we didn't need to pay attention to us. There was just an accident on the way, and we had no choice but to do this. He told us not to bother him."

Another person chimed in, "We've eaten so well along the way, and Madam Song has taken such good care of us. Even if we hadn't had to cook today, we would have wanted to give her some gifts, but we didn't know what to give. None of us are wealthy, and we can't afford anything fancy. We only have these few humble gifts, so please accept them, Madam Song!"

He then introduced the hand cream, saying, "Miss Song uses knives and water every day. The waiter said this is made of mutton fat. Using it to rub your hands will keep them moisturized for a long time!"

The student in front had already laid out seven or eight headscarves on the table, each with a different pattern. Although they were made of conventional materials, there were so many that the table looked quite full.

Seeing how much effort everyone had put in, Song Miao quickly thanked them and said with a smile, "It's both practical and beautiful!"

As she spoke, she took a bamboo stick and scooped out a little hand oil in front of the two of them. She dabbed some on the back of her hand, gently spread it, and tried it out before praising, "It's so moisturizing!"

The two students breathed a sigh of relief, gave the flatbread a turban and a small box of hand oil, and then happily said goodbye and left.

Song Miao returned to her room, and naturally had to consider what dishes to add to the menu for tomorrow.

Thinking that the steamed buns and mantou made at the official post station these past two days were not good, especially the rice which was dry and hard, I thought it would be better to make something with soup.

Just as they were starting to make progress, they suddenly heard someone give their name and knock on the door.

Hearing that it was Han Li, she found it very strange and hurriedly went to answer the door.

Han Li stood outside, his tone quite apologetic, and said, "It's so late at night, I'm really sorry to bother you—but the official Wu who was sent by the Water Conservancy Bureau to handle water affairs in Huazhou has already arrived. He and his two subordinates came in a hurry and were in a rush to get on their way, so they haven't had dinner yet. Unfortunately, the cook at the official post station is busy and not available for the time being..."

Song Miao smiled and said, "I thought you were too generous, but now you're being too polite."

Han Li was taken aback, then smiled and said, "I'll lead the way for stall owner Song."

It wasn't too late yet, but when they heard that three people had arrived and hadn't eaten dinner, Song Miao simply asked Dabing to bring out some useful seasonings. She then followed Han Li ahead of her. Instead of going to the front hall, the two went directly to the kitchen.

Three people were walking around in the kitchen with the lights on.

Song Miao heard voices inside.

A voice said, "It's official business. Zheng Yan said he went to find someone. Why don't we wait? There's only half a pot of rice, and it's dry and cold. We can't eat it!"

"What are you waiting for? So what if it's cold? Isn't it food? At times like this, it's good enough to fill your stomach. Where are you going to find a cook in the middle of the night?" This was another voice, clearly older.

The old voice continued, “You are still young and naive. I have been traveling for many years and know these inn cooks very well. They say they are on night duty, but they all have families to support. Most of them run off after making dinner. Unless it is an emergency, and you and I are not high-ranking officials, we can’t call them no matter what.”

He added, "Besides, we've searched all this time, and there's not even a single vegetable leaf in the house. What good would it do if the cook came? If you wait, you'll just be waiting in vain until tomorrow morning!"

As he spoke, he instructed the two men, "See, doesn't it soften after soaking in hot water? It's a pity the cabinet is locked, otherwise we could soak it in some sugar, which would be delicious. If there's no sugar, salt, or even two pickled vegetables, would be enough!"

As he spoke, the sound of shoveling rice into his mouth filled the air.

Han Li hurriedly went in first, saying, "Official business is too urgent. I've already brought Miss Song with me..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wu Gongshi wiped his mouth, gleamed at the bottom of his bowl, and said, "There's no meat or vegetables here. Even the most skilled person couldn't make anything. It's alright, I've already eaten a bowl of rice soaked in hot water. I'm about five or six tenths full. I'll eat another half bowl and I'll be full."

Song Miao followed her inside. Seeing the situation, she didn't waste any time. She first asked how many people were in the house, and then went to lift the lid of the pot.

There was only half a pot of leftover rice in the pot, which had already been soaked in hot water, so there was no way to make fried rice. All the other things in the cupboards were locked, and there was no meat or vegetables outside.

Fortunately, the courier heard the news and rushed over. However, he did not have the key to the cabinet where the food was kept. He unlocked the two jars in the corner, and inside, apart from rice and flour, there was only a small basket of eggs.

Seeing that there were only eggs, and considering that she had brought a lot of dried goods, it would take a while to soak them, and they might not be able to wait on an empty stomach, Song Miao asked the three of them, "There are still some eggs left. I'll use them to make a side dish with rice. Do you all prefer sweet and sour or savory?"

"You can make sweet and sour dishes with eggs?"

"Whatever you like, please, young lady, do it as quickly as possible!"

The two younger ones spoke up almost simultaneously, while the older one said, "It's a pity there's no oil. If there were, just frying an egg for me would be enough!"

As they were talking, Dabing came in with a basket of oil, salt, sugar, vinegar, and other condiments.

(End of this chapter)