Chapter 46: Clean Up for the New Year

On the 27th day of the 12th lunar month, the sound of a gong startled the men and women of the village. Changsheng, the top lackey of the Divine Doctor, was banging the gong and shouting, "The master has ordered that one person from each household come to discuss matters."

The Divine Doctor's invitation naturally meant that the representatives from each household were the heads of the families. Dozens of people quickly gathered under the old locust tree in front of the large house. There used to be a Zhang family millstone under the tree, where people would grind sorghum for a fee. Now, with the Divine Doctor in charge, the fee was waived, and he even provided animals to pull the millstone for free.

Most of the people who came were elderly, many of them holding smoking pipes. From a distance, they could see the tall and sturdy Wang Qianian, who would take out cigarettes from an iron can and offer them to everyone with a stern face, "Smoke up!"

Wang Qianian was quite generous. These canned cigarettes were only affordable for the gentry in Dengzhou, costing two taels of silver per can. If you thought they were expensive, you could choose not to smoke, but even if you had the money, you couldn't buy them. More precious was the lighter in his hand, which required a special oil to work, and he didn't know if it could be refilled. Oh, this was also a gift from the master.

Wang Qianian's wife's wounds had started to heal, and her leg and life were saved. Now, the couple had transformed from refugees to the core members of the new master's household. Wang Qianian was promoted to the head of the security guards, though for now, he was the only one in the team, and he would recruit new members after the New Year.

Wang Qianian was impressed by the preparations. The dagger made of fine steel could cut through iron like butter. The boots he wore were also special, light and comfortable, and made no sound when walking. The belt around his waist was also useful; it hurt a lot when used to hit someone. He also had a crossbow, which he had tested and found to be able to penetrate armor at sixty paces, with a triangular arrowhead that looked deadly. Now, he just needed a sword and a suit of armor, which the master promised he would get.

The Divine Doctor was late, but everyone waited patiently. The cigarettes were good, but each person only got one. Then the man from Liaodong stopped giving them out, looking quite stingy! Under the many disapproving gazes, Wang Qianian calmly returned to the main gate, standing straight by the side door.

"The master has arrived!" Changsheng shouted, and Chen Xie appeared without any sense of incongruity. He walked out of the side door, smiling, and approached the crowd, then stood on the millstone and bowed to everyone.

"Apologies, apologies. I had some last-minute matters to handle, making everyone wait. I'm very sorry." He was very polite, but the villagers didn't dare to accept it, all standing up, with the oldest man, Old Ge, leading the way to kneel, followed by the rest: "We welcome the Divine Doctor, Master."

"Oh, please get up!" Chen Xie quickly came down and helped Old Ge, the oldest man in the village, to his feet. He didn't want the old man to kneel while speaking. Chen Xie was already numb to the kneeling culture of the Ming Dynasty, knowing it was too difficult to change.

"I called everyone here to discuss a few things. The New Year is coming, and everyone is cleaning their homes to prepare. However, the ground in the village is so dirty that it's hard to walk on. I've been told that the coal ash from the brick kiln in the west is just piled up and unused. I'm thinking that before the New Year, each household should send a few people to clean up the village. Then, we can use small carts to transport the coal ash and spread it on the roads. Even if it rains or snows, you won't get mud on your feet. Don't worry, I won't make you work for free. For a strong laborer, a man will get one pound of white flour per day, a woman half a pound, and children over fourteen will count as half a strong woman. Younger children can't come, as they would just be in the way."

The villagers' thoughts were simple. This wasn't about making them work; it was clearly about ensuring they had enough white flour for the New Year's dumplings. The villagers already knew the master well; if he asked you to work, he would definitely pay you, and you couldn't work for free even if you wanted to.

"Master, is this too much? Giving us white flour? Perhaps we could just get some sorghum instead. We're just using some strength, and farmers don't lack that," Old Ge, the oldest, spoke up.

Chen Xie smiled, "This isn't a small matter. If the ground is too dirty, it can produce toxic gases, which can make people sick. By the way, I almost forgot. I'll have the women in my household find Yuwan and give each family one pound of salt for the New Year. That's a gift from me. That's all. In half an hour, everyone should gather here."

Chen Xie waved and walked away, leaving the villagers with looks of surprise. Despite Dengzhou being by the sea, salt wasn't easy to come by. If you tried to make salt yourself, the government would catch you and punish you. Salt was a state monopoly, and salt permits were a significant source of revenue for the Ming government.

Even in modern times, there's a salt company, and all salt must come from there. Salt and grain are matters of national security, and no dynasty has ever neglected them.

The grand cleaning campaign in Zhang Village began. Under the Divine Doctor's persuasion, men, women, and children from the village all joined in, cleaning every corner. Whether the toxic gases were real or not, no one cared. What they cared about was the white flour, ensuring they had enough for the New Year's dumplings.

Carts, wheelbarrows, shoulder poles, and bamboo baskets were used. The elderly led the children in cleaning the ground, while the young and strong went to the brick kiln to transport the coal ash. With hundreds of people working, it was hard for the efficiency to be low. After two days of hard work, the village was cleaned up, the roads were covered with coal ash, and drainage ditches were dug on both sides to prevent water accumulation. Even though the road was only four feet wide, the appearance of the village was completely transformed. It was clean and flat, making everyone feel comfortable. Even better, dozens of skilled women, under the direction of Yuzhu, had made new clothes for the children.

Changsheng picked up the gong again, walking on the road covered with coal ash, and shouted, "The master says the children's clothes are ready. Come and get your new clothes."

In Zhang Village, there were 78 children between the ages of 6 and 14. Making new clothes for each of them didn't cost much. However, the impact of these recent events on the villagers was profound. Now, if anyone in the village said anything bad about the Divine Doctor, they might not be killed, but they would definitely be beaten, and the whole village would join in.

Some rascal had even composed a children's song, which all the children could sing: "Zhang Village is good, Zhang Village is good, the children in Zhang Village have food and clothes for the New Year. New clothes, new shoes, the Divine Doctor is a living Buddha." (The melody is similar to "Socialism is Good.")

On the 28th day of the 12th lunar month, Chen Xie finally appeared in Dengzhou City. When he entered the Zhang family's house, he was intercepted by Zhou Shi at the back gate, who scolded him, "You child, you've been back for so many days, and you haven't even come to see us. I know you're busy, but is it so hard to come for a day?"

Zhou Shi had a reason to be upset. The recent matchmaking efforts had been a failure. Several prominent families had sent matchmakers to propose marriage to Chen Xie. While this was a good thing, Zhou Shi was unhappy after hearing the matchmakers' proposals. She felt that these prominent families looked down on Chen Xie, offering only daughters from secondary wives, not a single one from the main wife. The most outrageous was a family that wanted to marry their maid's daughter, who was only ten years old, to Chen Xie.

Feeling that Chen Xie was being looked down upon was the same as feeling that she was being looked down upon. Zhou Shi, of course, was unhappy. She had good self-control and didn't lose her temper on the spot, but she broke several teacups afterward and called in the shopkeeper Liu to provide a blacklist. She indicated that if these families wanted goods, they would be told they were out of stock. If they dared to look down on Si Hua, she wouldn't look down on them either.

Liu, the shopkeeper, would definitely inform Chen Xie of other matters, but he didn't relay this one. He directly ordered that if any of these families came for goods, they would be told they were out of stock. With the New Year approaching, the joint merchant association was still shipping large quantities of goods daily. In the region governed by the Denglai Inspector, no prominent family was without some new goods from America, and it would be embarrassing to go out without them.

The young ladies of Dengzhou City gathered to discuss the various new and exotic jewelry and fabrics that appeared at the exhibition. The problem was that these items were not available on the market. In Dengzhou City, unless you had a family member who was a fifth-rank official or higher, you couldn't even hope to see these items. The merchants were clear: these fabrics and jewelry were extremely rare, coming from America, where they were already scarce.

Moreover, the availability of these items was tied to one's rank. A fifth-rank official might receive a few bolts of patterned fabric as a gift, a fourth-rank official might get a piece of jewelry, and at the Inspector's residence, all the rare items would be available.

In the Denglai region, the Denglai Inspector was the highest authority, on par with the Shandong Inspector. The Shandong Inspector's word didn't carry much weight here. Many merchants, drooling, could only get a few bolts of patterned fabric from Liu, the shopkeeper. If they wanted black pearls, purple gems, or those shiny white pieces of jewelry, they could forget it! Even Liu's family hadn't used them, and he hadn't been allowed to sleep with his wife for days.

In this context, the status of the three top courtesans at Chunxiang Tower soared. Why? The Divine Doctor had given them all kinds of jewelry. Could they be any less valuable? Even if your wife put on jewelry, she might not be able to compare with them. People are strange, and Chunxiang Tower's business was booming. The smart Yingniang directly put up a "No Service" sign for the top three courtesans, allowing them to sing, play chess, and drink tea, but not to stay overnight. Want to stay overnight? Save your money, the girls are not feeling well.

The richer people became even more crazy. Wan Yu was out of the question; she was a pure courtesan who had announced that she wouldn't agree to be married off to anyone except the Divine Doctor, even if a mountain of gold was offered. The overnight fees for Zi Yu and Lu Yu had risen to a thousand taels, and no one had been able to stay overnight with them since the exhibition. Despite this, the prominent families still flocked to them!