The large military iron pot had been burning for a day and night. When common people heard there was sour cabbage soup to drink, they were all willing to pay for it. Having hot soup to drink on such a day was absolutely the good life.
The sour cabbage soup was mainly broth with an excellent taste. Occasionally there were some sour cabbage shreds and frozen tofu, and if you were lucky, you could even get a piece of white meat.
Many people brought out large basins from home, wanting to buy several more bowls. When they ate it, they would stew in some wild vegetables, making it a delicious meal. Others followed suit. Now that firewood was expensive, buying soup was more cost-effective than making it themselves.
But business was too good. The bailiffs were afraid they would buy everything up, so they told each household they couldn’t exceed five bowls of sour cabbage soup. Otherwise, if they bought it all, others would have none.
They went back to get more supplies several times midway. Trapped on this street unable to get out, they could see many people wearing clothes that were too thin. While waiting to buy soup, people were shivering from the cold.
Most of the yamen runners had money. This was the first time they truly felt the disparity among the county town’s common people. They heard that the Gong and Xie families still had twenty dishes per meal, with all kinds of birds and beasts on their tables. But ordinary common people didn’t even have one winter coat for warmth. Occasionally those who had clothes were wearing cotton coats distributed by their snow-shoveling teams.
These clothes on the fellow villagers were treasured like precious things. If not for the sour cabbage soup’s aroma being too tempting, they absolutely wouldn’t have come out. The clothes they distributed had actually become life-saving items for the common people.
When they returned after selling the sour cabbage soup, other bailiffs took over their shift to continue selling on other streets. Although the bailiffs had thick clothing, staying out in the ice and snow for so long was also extremely cold.
After returning, they found He Zifeng, wanting to donate money for a batch of cotton clothes. Previously they had been high and mighty officials, but working with those sturdy men to build city walls and shovel snow had given them compassionate hearts.
He Zifeng said: “It’s good that you have this intention, but it’s not needed right now. The county is preparing to expand the tofu workshop.”
Tofu was a good thing. Beans were cheap, and the county’s granary had stockpiled many. Tofu could serve as both vegetable and grain. What couldn’t be eaten could be frozen, and stewing it with anything was delicious. Now two hundred boards a day weren’t enough to sell.
This both let these common people work and sold the tofu cheaply to them – income and expenses balanced. Don’t underestimate this action. The county magistrate calculated that this could save at least several thousand more lives.
Now the tofu workshop wasn’t sufficient. Yesterday the county magistrate borrowed a large courtyard from the employment agency boss, perfect for opening a tofu workshop. The employment agency boss readily agreed – he wasn’t doing it for nothing. The county magistrate said he’d reduce his taxes for two years.
For businesses like theirs, the silver passing through their hands annually was no less than ten thousand taels. Calculating this way saved them quite a lot. This made the chamber of commerce president and others all come to the government office to pledge loyalty, saying if there was anywhere they could be useful, they would definitely do their utmost.
When the bailiffs heard He Zifeng say this, they all became happy: “We knew his honor cares about the people.”
He Zifeng had them spread the word when they had nothing else to do – this time anyone entering the tofu workshop would get a full set of cotton clothing. Each month they’d also get one hundred coins. But they had to follow rules. If they didn’t follow rules and were dismissed, they’d get not a single coin and would have to return the clothes.
New employees’ cotton clothing was arranged, and naturally they couldn’t forget the old workers. They quickly supplemented them with a full set, from cotton clothes and pants to cotton shoes. The county specially made these for this snow disaster – even thicker than what could be bought outside.
If a family had several people working and didn’t lack cotton coats, they could even sell them – one set for three hundred coins. This was hard currency in the county.
Taking out so many cotton coats at once meant they had to hurry up making more clothes and shoes below. It was said that over five hundred people came to register, all coming for the money and cotton coats here.
This matter was handled by the bailiffs below. They also transferred over twenty skilled workers from the old tofu workshop to lead newcomers in making tofu. They selected about two hundred people, and several good cooks were chosen to be kitchen women. The other three hundred people still had no arrangement.
The county magistrate urgently called He Zifeng over and said: “These merchants really do have some good things.”
Fortunately he had used the tax exemption method to force others out. Among those who came to offer suggestions, there were really some useful things, like growing vegetables on fire kangs. Those wealthy people who could eat fresh things in winter all relied on these craftsmen using various methods to cultivate them.
So they asked the employment agency for an abandoned house and had those people grow vegetables daily beside fire kangs and fire walls. If this really worked, they could also have fresh vegetables to eat. This could transfer one hundred of the remaining three hundred idle people here, and they were divided into groups. Whichever group finally grew the best and most vegetables would receive rewards from the county magistrate.
The remaining two hundred people took turns grinding coarse grain flour. Everyone was getting tired of eating coarse grain rice every day. He Zifeng remembered the savory pancakes he had made before. They used coarse grain, but ground the grain into fine powder and sifted it. The pancakes baked afterward were chewy with the grain’s aroma, making people addicted to eating them.
Now that they could survive, they wanted to live better. Ever since the county magistrate had Captain Zhu and He Zifeng as two capable generals, whatever he wanted to do, when ordered down, could be done quite well. Don’t mention how satisfying and smooth it was.
However, Captain Zhu was a county person who could go home every day. He Zifeng’s family was in the countryside, and with government office matters constantly busy these days, he had been staying at the government office and looked somewhat tired.
The county magistrate said: “Zifeng, since you’ve trained all these subordinates, I’m giving you three days off to go back and rest. Go home and properly accompany your wife and child. Come back to work afterward.”
He Zifeng said: “Thank you for your consideration, your honor.”
Then he hired a horse cart and returned to the village. Although it had been snowing continuously these days, the roads had been cleared and weren’t difficult to travel. In the cold weather, the horse ran very fast.
Arriving at Chishui Village entrance, He Zifeng quickly paid the driver, then entered the village. All the households in the village had their doors tightly closed, with almost no one walking around outside. He Zifeng walked for a quarter hour before reaching his family’s courtyard. The courtyard wasn’t locked – it opened with a turn.
Then walking in the courtyard, he heard someone coming out from the inner room. The one opening the door was Qiu Yu. When he saw it was really He Zifeng, surprise showed in his eyes.
It was too cold outside, and Qiu Yu had only thrown on a cotton coat. He Zifeng said: “Go back inside.” Then he entered the room – it was like two different worlds, the inside being extremely warm.
He Zifeng wanted to dispel his body’s cold before entering the inner room, but who knew their little son ran over, saying: “Daddy.” After speaking, he was about to throw himself into his arms, but He Zifeng stopped him, saying: “Good child, go back to the room first. I’ll come in soon.”
Although little He Ran didn’t understand his intention, he obediently returned to the room.
