Miao Chu

Chapter 170 Evil Sect
Song Miao and her party stayed at the official post station, where tables and chairs were readily available.

She greeted the post station official and moved all the necessary items out of each person's room; that was enough.

Huazhou was a large prefecture and a vital transportation hub connecting waterways and land routes. Naturally, the official post station occupied a large area and was located in a suitable location, neither in a bustling city nor in a remote area.

Using Wu Gongshi's name as the head of the Water Conservancy Bureau, she managed to borrow a vacant lot next to the entrance. Not far from there was one of the usual places where the Huazhou government office posted notices. When the people of the prefecture passed by, they would often stop to take a look. Even if they couldn't read, they could still point and comment on the faces of the wanted criminals to relieve their boredom, join in the fun, and casually ask the post station staff if there was anything new.

Although the main task has been decided, Song Miao knows very well that recruiting people is never just about setting up a stall and registering names, especially given the large scale of this recruitment drive.

Besides tables and chairs, there are many other things needed. For example, we need to put up several large signs to make them eye-catching, borrow some wooden fences and arrange for people to maintain order, and we also need to figure out how to make a batch of things for people who have signed up to use as proof of their registration, and so on and so forth, a whole host of trivial matters.

Most importantly, you need to plan how to arrange the staff when you are recruiting.

For example, how many people are needed for which task, when and who should report for duty. Even if it can't be decided yet, there should be a plan on paper. Make a plan from the beginning, how many people are in a group, how many groups are in a team, and who will be the leader. The management responsibility must be broken down and cannot be done entirely by oneself.

Otherwise, it's fine for one person to face a few or a dozen people, but it becomes a bit difficult when facing dozens of people. If one person faces hundreds or thousands of people, even a god wouldn't have enough ears to listen to them all.

If the groundwork isn't laid properly at the beginning, or if order can't be maintained, or if the roster isn't neat enough, or if the numbered tickets aren't issued in time, or if the procedures for registration, assembly, etc., aren't explained properly, things will fall into chaos later.

If you're lucky, things will be chaotic, and it will take several times the manpower and effort to fix them later. If you're unlucky, there will be a stampede if there are many people and someone dies. Even if you do a lot of good deeds, you can't atone for the crime and it can't be made up for.

Song Miaoshou currently has manpower available.

She left half the people to continue cutting lettuce, and selected the other half to be assigned tasks one by one. They were divided into groups of three, with one group responsible for setting up the stall, purchasing items such as cloth and paper, finding sticks, and inquiring about where there were wooden fences—the patrol shops would definitely have them, and if they needed to borrow them, how could they do so, or many shops also had them, whether they could borrow them, and how.

One group went to inquire whether the recruitment booths of the government office had been set up, where they were located, how they were arranged, the number of people, the current situation, whether there were people queuing, and how long the queue was.

A set of dedicated vouchers.

With only one night to spare, Song Miao knew there wasn't enough time to do anything else important.

She instructed everyone to find several more seal engravers.

Although most of the recruited laborers came from poor backgrounds and were illiterate, they had little entertainment at the time. During the off-season and holidays, many of them would pass the time by playing cards. Even if they didn't play cards themselves, they had seen others do so.

Whether it's leaf tiles or large character tiles, most people can recognize the numbers from one to ten.

Besides the numbers, we also need to carve a special seal for recruiting people for river and canal affairs. The strokes on it should be simple, just a hoe and a few flowing ripples to represent river water, so that people can understand what it is at a glance, and that will be enough.

When the time comes, have the paper shop cut the paper into palm-sized pieces, and everyone will be in charge of stamping. Each piece of paper will be stamped with a special stamp, and the stamps will be placed in order of number from smallest to largest. Finally, some space will be left so that it can be used to stamp group stamps later.

When distributing the cards, each card number should be registered on the roster, and the person who applied should also sign their name on both the paper and the roster.

Of course, these are all just ideas. Fortunately, the costs are minimal, so we can prepare them in advance and discuss with Kong Fuyang whether or not to use them when he returns.

After all, what Song Miao thought and did was just to lay a foundation so that the person who would take over later could get started quickly and easily.

The group of laundry women who came today were all locals. They were all capable of handling both big and small matters at home and were familiar with everything. After Song Miao explained the matter in detail, they knew what to do without needing to be guided.

The man said, "My sister-in-law's brother works at a paper shop in the east alley. Let's go ask about the prices and see which shop he says is cheaper. We can compare prices and then buy from them. Every little bit helps!"

The man said, "The seal carvers charge high prices. My neighbor, the Zuo family, has an uncle who used to carve tombstones. I just heard from his nephew's wife that the old man has been free lately. I'll see if I can ask him to do it. He's very quick and lives close by, right on the street!"

The group worked together, talking as they ran quickly outside.

Song Miao hurriedly called the people back, gave them money according to the number of people, and explained that it was a meal allowance. If they missed their meal time, they could take this to eat on the way to fill their stomachs. She also said that today was a trial day, and no matter whether they were used in the end or not, they would be given a full allowance. If they were late tonight, they would be given an extra twelve coins for each hour.

Huazhou is not like the capital; twelve coins can buy quite a lot of things here.

Everyone was eager to get some work done when they heard that not only was there money, but there was also a meal allowance and an extra twelve coins. They were overjoyed and wished they could stay longer. Their legs seemed to have more strength when they ran around.

After arranging all the external matters, it was already quite late.

Song Miao then turned back to the drying ground to look at the lettuce.

We bought quite a lot of lettuce, but many hands make light work. The women and aunties were efficient, and in just one day, they had already processed it. They peeled and washed it clean, some of which had been cut into sections and dried for half a day, while the rest had been sliced ​​and were being dried, still a little damp.

The new jar had just arrived and had been washed and dried. Song Miao directed everyone to put the cut strips into the jar, making a pickling jar, and also took some to make pickled lettuce.

After the place was almost tidied up, it was already late morning. She checked it over and found that Aunt Ma had not boasted. The people she had chosen were all quick and efficient and had done a good job.

She didn't keep them in suspense, only telling them to come back the next morning, as there were other things to arrange then.

Everyone here was overjoyed, but someone mustered up their courage and said, "Miss Song, next time you can arrange for me to do those overtime jobs!"

Song Miao glanced at the other person, recognized her, and said, "Madam Liao, are you busy? You have three children, one of whom is only a year old. Don't you need to go home and take care of them?"

Lady Liao was somewhat moved upon hearing this, never expecting that the person opposite her not only remembered her surname, but also her family situation.

She immediately replied, "His older brother is taking care of him. A seven-year-old can manage the household; how could he not take care of his younger siblings? Besides, my mother-in-law and husband will be home tonight, so they'll take care of them. My priority is to work hard and earn money outside!"

It was only then that the others realized why they couldn't earn that extra hour and twelve coins—it turned out that they all had young children at home—and they rushed forward, one saying that their family didn't need care, another saying that they could work overtime just the same and didn't need to worry too much.

However, there were three or four who didn't dare to speak up because their children were too young and there was no one to help take care of them, so they had to go back on time.

Song Miao wrote down everyone's names, confirmed their identities, and then said, "I understand. I'll make arrangements accordingly." Just then, the people who had gone out on business returned one after another, and most of them had arrived.

Song Miao gathered everyone together and said that she wanted to recruit people to build sheds outside the city. She would set up a point outside the official post station the next morning and asked everyone to go back and spread the word to their relatives, friends and neighbors. Because there were many people needed and time was tight, she would pay people who could help introduce others. The amount was ten coins per person, just as Han Li had mentioned before.

Everyone jumped up and down immediately, not caring about any further delay, and said goodbye to go home.

Because there were too many complicated matters, by the time Song Miaoteng made his move after seeing off the group of women, it was already much later than before.

Having received a report from a courier that he had seen the students walking in from the alleyway and that they would likely be back soon, Song Miaoyuan, who had promised to cook one or two dishes for everyone each day, quickly washed her hands and went to check on the kitchen's menu for tonight, as time was running out.

It was almost lunchtime, and Chef Zhang and his apprentices had already prepared the food in the kitchen. The dishes included braised goose and pickled duck, stewed fish and braised lamb. Almost every dish was either heavily seasoned with dogwood or had a lot of soy sauce. Although there were two vegetarian dishes, they were also very oily and dark in soy sauce, quite different from usual.

Song Miao found it strange and couldn't help but ask.

The cook, overwhelmed with complaints, sighed, "Don't even mention it. You've been so busy these past few days, I doubt you've seen it, and I haven't had a chance to complain to you—the other day a group of people came to the official post station. The leader was a deputy transport commissioner, and he had quite a few subordinates. I don't know why, but they have such strong palates. They've been nitpicking at me for several meals in a row, saying the food isn't flavorful enough or the meat has a fishy smell. Their superiors can't eat a single bite and have asked me to find a way to suppress it..."

Song Miao found it even stranger and said, "I've eaten the food cooked by Chef Zhang these past two days, and I didn't find anything lacking in flavor, much less so fishy and pungent that I couldn't eat it."

Upon hearing Song Miao's words, Chef Zhang was almost in tears, exclaiming excitedly, "With a palate like yours and skills like yours, you didn't think there was anything wrong with the taste of my dishes, did you?!"

He sighed deeply and said, "At noon, the postmaster specifically called me over and told me to be careful and not to offend my superior—this time, the one is the deputy commissioner of the Jianghuai Transportation Office, a high-ranking official, and quite powerful..."

Song Miao then said to him, "Actually, it may not be that your food is bad. Perhaps that official has other thoughts and his mind is not on food, which is why he has no appetite for anything."

Ultimately, this was not something she could control. Seeing that time was running out, Song Miao comforted Chef Zhang for a few moments before rushing off to prepare the dishes.

She fried shrimp balls today, and now she's in a hurry. Since she sees that Chef Zhang's dishes are very strong in flavor, she thinks she might as well make the opposite.

I took a walk around the kitchen and found that there were quite a few ingredients left over today.

Dabing explained to her, "They said that a new deputy envoy for shipping arrived the other day, and the group wanted to order a midnight snack in the middle of the night. As a result, the kitchen didn't prepare anything last night, and Chef Zhang went home. They gave them a hard time today, and because they were afraid that they would be in a hurry tonight, Chef Zhang and the others specially reserved a lot of ingredients."

Upon hearing this, Song Miao stopped taking Zhang's good meat and vegetables, lest he be unable to cook a meal without rice that night.

She first asked Dabing to wash the scallions, while she took out a large piece of pork foreleg meat, cut it into slices, chopped it lightly a couple of times, added salt, soy sauce, peppercorns and a little water, mixed the half-cooked and half-sliced ​​foreleg meat well, and set it aside to marinate.

She marinated the meat, cracked about ten eggs, and seeing that Dabing had washed the scallions, she started the stove to light the fire.

This time she plans to make a very simple dish called Poached Egg with Meat.

Although this dish uses simple ingredients—mainly pork and eggs—and is easy to prepare—it can be cooked in less than 15 minutes—the taste is anything but perfunctory. The soup is fresh and delicious, perfect with rice, and won't upset your stomach.

Such dishes, though not amazing, are ones that people often crave and want to eat again and again.

Song Miao used clear oil for this dish, and only after the oil started to smoke did she gently slide the eggs into it.

The pan was hot and there was plenty of oil. As soon as the eggs were placed in, they were crowded and hot, bubbling and sizzling.

The aroma of fried eggs wafted from the pan—more than a dozen eggs inside, being both fried and deep-fried, how could it not smell delicious?

Fry the egg on only half of its side. Once you can smell the aroma and estimate that the bottom is half-burnt, use a spatula to break it up and chop it into small pieces. Add salt and then boil it in boiling water.

Boiling water hits the oil, and the white soup thickens almost instantly. While waiting, add the half-cooked, half-sliced ​​pork leg meat, shrimp balls, a little salt for seasoning, and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

This dish has soup, but not too much soup, otherwise it will lose its rich flavor. However, it shouldn't be too little either, because the soup is the essence, especially sweet and delicious. It's good for mixing with rice or eating on its own.

The sweetness comes from the savory flavor of fresh pork soup and the sweet aroma of eggs. These two flavors alone are enough. Today, we also added shrimp balls, a wonderful addition of freshly fried river delicacies. You can imagine how delicious they are.

Just as the food was about to be taken out of the pot, Da Bing, who was sitting on a small stool tending the fire, couldn't help but look up frequently, and even half-stood up to look at the food in the pot.

Sure enough, as soon as the dishes were served, the courier came in again to report that many of the students had returned.

The pot filled two large bowls. Song Miao and Da Bing each took a bowl out, but they saw that several students were sitting listlessly at the table in the outer hall, not even picking up their chopsticks. It was clearly late, but none of them seemed to have an appetite.

She stepped forward and put the dishes down. Looking around, she didn't see Kong Fuyang, so she asked about everyone's situation that day.

When the students heard Song Miao's question, they didn't exactly sigh, but they looked at each other for a while before one of them finally spoke up: "Don't even mention it! We set up our stall for half a day, clearly seven or eight stalls, making a big fuss, and even said there was a grand prize, but we only managed to attract about ten people—it's really weird!"

He added, "Right now we've come back to eat. After we finish eating, we'll still have to go back."

—They're really going to stay up until midnight!
When the group of aunts and wives returned to report the news, Song Miao already knew that the situation at the stall was not good. Since no one had taken the initiative to inquire about it for half a day, she was not surprised by this outcome.

She said, "Everything is difficult at the beginning, but we can find a way. We can't work on an empty stomach, can we? Let's eat first."

They then asked where Kong Fuyang was.

Someone replied, "He's still at his stall, refusing to come back. He just says he's not hungry and will come back later."

Song Miao thought for a moment, asked for the exact location of the stall, took the food box, packed a meal separately, and since she heard that two other people were still on their way back, she also left two portions of meat and egg stew and the rest of the meat and vegetables in the pot to keep warm. While it was still relatively bright, she took the food box and went out to find Kong Fuyang.

(End of this chapter)