Mo Sang – CH 215

Chapter 215. Idle Talk

Lu Hepeng, accompanied by Lin Sa, had rented a small courtyard at the Sun family’s old shop as soon as they entered the city. Seeing Li Sangrou move in, knowing everything was going smoothly, he found an opportunity to inform Hei Ma. The three of them spent their days idly strolling and eavesdropping, waiting for Li Sangrou’s next move.

Li Sangrou returned to the inn from the teahouse across the street, changed into an indigo dress, and emerged from the main room, dressed like a busybody in the inn. She went directly to the kitchen, exited through a side door next to it, circled around, and entered the garrison commander’s residence.

She slept in the woodshed of the garrison commander’s residence until evening. Li Sangrou got up, cleaned herself, listened for a while, then left the woodshed and slipped towards the main courtyard.

At the entrance to the main courtyard, two servants stood with their hands at their sides.

Li Sangrou looked at the servants, her eyes narrowing slightly, quickened her pace, and circled around to the back courtyard.

Jumping over the low parapet, Li Sangrou found a new hiding place.

Inside the main room, General Yang, the garrison commander of Jiangzhou City, spoke in a loud and resonant voice, full of confidence.

“…As expected of my son! A perfect shot! No need for so much studying. From now on, come patrol the camp with me more often. When it comes to leading troops, you need to learn from your father properly! That’s the real business! Who has time for studying?

Hmm, this dish is good.

Prefect Fan’s wife is sick? Oh, it is good that she’s alright. I was saying that when he saw me the other day, he was extremely grateful. A few ginseng roots, and he’s already thanking me like that? What a poor official!

He bought some green rice again. I told you, if you have money, you can buy anything. I love this stuff!

He’s impeaching again. What did General Zhang do wrong? This is war! Not child’s play! Those pedantic scholars—not a single one of them is good. Let him go and recite his Tao Te Ching in front of Yangzhou City; see if he can manage to conquer Yangzhou!

What nonsense!

Alright, alright, stop with the nonsense! That’s how war is! People die! If you do not want people to die, then do not fight, just slit your own throats!”

…

General Yang’s voice remained loud and clear throughout. Li Sangrou listened for almost half an hour. Then, a series of soft noises arose from inside the room, mingling with the heavy footsteps of General Yang. The curtain was lifted, releasing a strong smell of alcohol.

General Yang was a robust man, his face ruddy, his steps steady. He did not seem to have drunk much. One hand was on his son’s shoulder, the other around Concubine Wu.

“Alright, stop seeing me off. What’s the point of these empty formalities? And all these greetings? I hate all this pretense! Alright, go back.”

General Yang, with one hand on each of them, said this without turning his head, crossed the courtyard, and headed straight out.

Lady Meng stood under the eaves, watching General Yang leave through the hanging flower gate, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Li Sangrou slipped into the room.

Lady Meng turned around, watching the maids lift the curtains, open the windows one by one, bring clean water to wash the room, and re-scent the incense.

The smell of alcohol quickly dissipated, replaced by a faint citrus scent wafting from the incense burner.

The maids closed the windows again and lowered the thick gauze curtains.

Lady Meng entered the room, and through the layers of curtains, she saw Li Sangrou smiling at her from behind them.

“Go and rest, everyone. Zhenzhu is watching outside. I want some peace and quiet,” Lady Meng ordered loudly.

“Yes,” a clear reply came from outside, and after a moment, silence fell from the inside out.

Li Sangrou emerged from behind the curtain. Seeing Lady Meng gesturing for her to sit on the couch, she pointed to the armchair in front of it and smiled. “I will sit here; taking off my shoes is too much trouble.”

“Is this the Boss’s habit?” Lady Meng sat down beside the couch, pulling the tea tray closer to wash and prepare the tea.

“Sort of, I guess. I can run as soon as I get up,” Li Sangrou replied with a smile.

“It’s not easy,” Lady Meng sighed.

“Everyone has their own difficulties.” Li Sangrou glanced at Lady Meng, who was focused on preparing tea, then at the slightly worn brocade cushion opposite the couch, before turning to survey the room’s furnishings.

“Does it still meet the Boss’s standards?” Lady Meng finished preparing the tea and handed a cup to Li Sangrou.

“Very opulent. Did Madam redesign this house, Madam?” Li Sangrou took the tea.

“Yes.”

“Are all those who design houses and gardens, men? Madam, have you ever seen a woman who can design a house?” Li Sangrou looked at Lady Meng and asked earnestly.

“No, this is not something women excel at,” Lady Meng said, sipping her tea.

“Skill or not depends on the person, not gender.

Killing should not be a woman’s forte. My killing skills are excellent. Doing business is not a woman’s forte either, and Madam’s business acumen is quite rare, is it not? Logically, the kitchen is a woman’s domain, yet all the head chefs are men.

Shunfeng has two head managers, one male and one female. And in Shunfeng’s various post stations, there are more and more women working as horseshoeers.

There must be women who design mansions and gardens; we just have not met them yet,” Li Sangrou said, also sipping her tea.

“Did the Boss not find an excellent one? Too expensive? Are you hiring women because they are cheaper?” Lady Meng glanced sideways at Li Sangrou.

“My designer is from a family surnamed Zhou, Zhou Shen’an. He himself is not expensive; it is the mansions and gardens he designs that are expensive.

It’s not that I think it is too expensive; it is just that houses built under a patriarchal system always have some areas unsuitable for the inner quarters.

For example, the kitchens are always small and low, isolated on all sides. If it rains or is windy, cooking, carrying the food into the main room, going back and forth, eating, and then cleaning up again—all of it is really inconvenient.”

“Yes, that’s true for small households.” Lady Meng nodded.

“Why can we not build a spacious, high-ceilinged kitchen with bluestone or brick floors and a well inside, a place to drain wastewater, connecting to the outside, like your kitchen?

The stove should be higher; the cutting board should be higher too, ideally matching the height of the madam. One half for cooking, the other half for a table to eat on—how wonderful!” Li Sangrou said.

“It’s quite good,” Lady Meng thought for a moment, a slight smile appearing on her face. “The Boss has a good idea.”

“I’ve already had Zhou Shen’an arrange the kitchen in the middle-class mansions like this. I will have to go to Yangzhou to take a look when I have time.” Li Sangrou gestured with her chin.

“What will the Boss do with the mansions in Yangzhou? Are you going to sell them?” Lady Meng asked, looking at Li Sangrou.

“Of course,” Li Sangrou sighed. “After Yangzhou was retaken, the city and its surrounding areas were in ruins. I’ve acquired quite a few mansions, more than half, maybe even seventy percent. They are all mine. How can I not sell them?”

“A middle-class family’s mansion is only about three or four mu of land. They have elderly parents and young children. Where would they find the space to build a kitchen like the Boss’s?

If the Boss builds a kitchen like this, a mansion like this, people will look down on it,” Lady Meng scoffed.

“I plan to build kitchens like this in all the medium-sized houses in Yangzhou,” Li Sangrou said with a smile.

Lady Meng raised an eyebrow, looked at Li Sangrou, and, after a moment, chuckled, “Whatever makes the Boss happy.”

“There are many lakes, large and small, outside Yangzhou, and the moat outside the city is extremely beautiful.” Li Sangrou paused for a moment before continuing, “The moat is clogged with corpses and is still being cleared. Once it is cleared, I plan to plant magnolias along the moat.”

“The entire magnolia plant can be used in medicine,” Lady Meng added after a moment of silence.

“Yes, outside Yangzhou, almost everyone is dead. I bought all the unclaimed wasteland, and I also bought the owned fields that they were willing to sell. It is a real pity they are all lying fallow now.

I’ve invited the head monk of the Daxiangguo Temple to build a Daxiangguo Temple in Yangzhou,” Li Sangrou said casually.

“The Boss has high hopes for Yangzhou,” Lady Meng smiled slightly.

“What a wonderful place. Hmm, I also want to establish a few academies in Yangzhou and hold two literary gatherings every year, and we cannot skimp on female entertainers either,” Li Sangrou said with a laugh.

Lady Meng chuckled.

“I have many things I want to do,” Li Sangrou sighed. “You know, there’s a kind of cotton, this big of a boll, filled entirely with pure white cotton fibers. I heard it came from the South.”

Li Sangrou gestured.

Lady Meng nodded. “I know, for a while, it was very fashionable in Hangzhou to use cotton bolls to display in vases.”

“It’s a pity to use them in vases. This kind of cotton, one plant can produce many bolls, and each boll can yield a large amount of cotton fibers. These fibers, with a little pulling and twisting, can be woven into strong cotton thread. This cotton fiber is very warm.

This was shown to me by an older sister from Nanzhao County, about the same age as you, Madam. It is really good stuff.

I found her a lot of seeds from Mizhou and found her a farm near Yangwu County, by the Bian River, for her to try planting them.

If they grow well, next year we will plant several hundred or even a thousand mu and then find someone to make spinning machines to spin the thread and weave cloth.

Now, weaving cloth and silk is mostly done by individual households. Even if there are workshops, they are very small. First, the quality varies, and second, the output is too small. I am thinking of having hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of looms lined up in Yangzhou—how wonderful that would be!” Li Sangrou squinted, sighing longingly.

“There are quite a few weaving workshops in Hangzhou, like the ones the Boss mentioned, some with hundreds of looms.” Lady Meng paused, then sighed.

“Right now, these weaving workshops are struggling.

Hundreds are too few; we need tens of thousands,” Li Sangrou said with a smile. “Tens of thousands of looms—that’s twenty or thirty thousand people. The Boss really has wild ideas,” Lady Meng said, somewhat speechless, looking at Li Sangrou.

“Only twenty or thirty thousand people. What’s so unthinkable about that?” Li Sangrou replied cheerfully.

“That’s true, only twenty or thirty thousand. What does the Boss do with all that money?” Lady Meng looked Li Sangrou up and down.

“First, we will establish girls’ schools, not in places like Yangzhou, but in small counties and remote villages, teaching girls to read, write, do handicrafts, learn a little medicine, and some astronomy and geography,” Li Sangrou spoke slowly.

“Girls’ schools? Only for girls? That’s rare.” Lady Meng listened intently.

“Yes, only for girls. If we admit both boys and girls, in the end, it will all be men. There are plenty of free schools that admit men; one more will not make a difference.” Li Sangrou leaned back in her chair.

Lady Meng slowly hummed in agreement.

“Let’s set up an orphanage, only accepting girls. Raise them and send them to girls’ schools to teach handicrafts or weaving. They can earn enough for their dowries and then marry, or not marry at all—the latter is more comfortable,” Li Sangrou continued.

“Only girls,” Lady Meng chuckled softly.

“Everyone suffers, but women suffer even more,” Li Sangrou sighed.

“I think that in a family, if you help the man, he will mostly take care of himself first and only give to the family if he has any left over. If you help the woman, she almost always takes care of the children, the elderly, and her husband first, often only thinking of herself last.

Moreover, when a man has a little extra money, the first thing he will get excited about is his sex life. Before his wife and children are even fed, he will be running off to brothels, even considering taking a mistress. Women do not do that when they have money, right?”

Lady Meng chuckled, nodding as she laughed. “No, women do not have anywhere to go to places like brothels. The Boss has grand ambitions.” “It’s a grand vision. If girls could all read a few words, have a few opportunities, and support themselves, then marriage would not be the only way to make a living. Would not that be wonderful?” Li Sangrou sighed softly.

“The Boss has a good idea, but how easily can things change?” Lady Meng sighed deeply.

“Whether things change or not, I have not thought that much about it. Does Madam know how to play Weiqi?” Li Sangrou asked abruptly.

Lady Meng nodded; she was a Weiqi master.

“I do not like playing Weiqi. With each move, there are several possible responses from the opponent, and how should I respond? There are too many variations and too much to think about. Eventually, I get so frustrated I want to smash the board.”

“When I do things, I do what I feel is right. As for the consequences, what changes might occur, I have not thought about that,” Li Sangrou chuckled.

Lady Meng remained silent for a long time, then sighed, “Indeed, the world is ever-changing. There’s nothing we can foresee, nothing we can guard against. It is better to close our eyes and just move forward.”

“Too much thinking easily leads to stagnation. I think less, so I do what I say I will,” Li Sangrou said with a smile.

“The Boss thinks quite a lot,” Lady Meng sighed after a moment of silence. “A woman’s difficulties are not about money; sometimes, money is a greater burden.”

“Are you referring to yourself, Madam?” Li Sangrou asked directly.

Lady Meng glanced at her but did not answer.

“Compared to those without money, Madam is much more carefree, is she not? If Madam were not wealthy and good at making money, I am afraid you would not have a life like this today, would you?” Li Sangrou looked at Lady Meng and asked with a smile.

Lady Meng lowered her eyelids and, after a long while, gave a vague “hmm.” “Money is very important.”

“For country girls and common women, having a dowry or not makes a huge difference from the moment of marriage. A generous dowry gives them confidence, and if they can earn money themselves, life is usually quite good.

But for poor families, even a silver hairpin is considered part of the dowry. Poor families lack experience and skills, alas.” Li Sangrou sighed.

“The Boss is kind-hearted,” Lady Meng sighed as well.

“I came from such a poor family. This tea is good, with a sweet aftertaste, Mansong?” Li Sangrou said, taking a sip.

“Yes. The Boss is very knowledgeable,” Lady Meng smiled.

“I should go now.” Li Sangrou stood up. “I will go to the mountains to see the scenery tomorrow and come back to talk to you again at night, Madam.”

“Take care, Boss.” Lady Meng remained seated, watching Li Sangrou open the window and jump out.