Chapter 28: The Trouble of Being a Safe

  Wang Kuang also considered whether to tell Sun Mingqian that he was a Wang Village person, although Wang Village was slaughtered by bandits, but the incident had passed for two years. According to Wang Kuang's pitiful historical knowledge, Zhenguan was a prosperous era, and Li Shimin was not a foolish ruler, now that he had stabilized his throne, the chaos of the Crown Prince should not have lasted long, otherwise how could he not have any impression? So he guessed that the imperial court would not pursue him and Wang Xian, two small children, relentlessly. Moreover, Sun Mingqian could be said to be sincere in treating him and Wang Xian well, telling him shouldn't be a problem. However, now was not the time to talk, it's better to take some time to go to the Sun Mansion to say something, also to eliminate Sun Mingqian's last bit of doubt.

  Sun Mingqian saw Wang Kuang nodding in agreement, and he also put his heart at ease. He turned around and immediately put on a smile, pulling Wang Kuang to one side: "Big brother, it's getting late now, don't you think it's time to make that real loach paste you were talking about?"

  Just now, Wang Kuang had almost forgotten about it, but was reminded by Sun Ming and suddenly remembered. He patted his head: "I was just confused earlier and almost forgot. I'll go do it now. It's actually very simple. Let Master Wang do it instead, I'll tell him how to do it."

  Ran to his own room, took out the package of dried chili peppers from under the wooden box behind the bed, carefully removed all the chili pepper seeds, and left the full ones. The dry and shriveled ones were put back into a pile with the chili pepper skins. He brought them to the kitchen and had Wang Shifu use a mortar and pestle to grind them into powder.

  "Master Wang, when we make the mud eel dish later, just add it in while steaming the eel and that's it. The rest of the method is the same. This is chili pepper powder, the flavor will be a bit different. Next year, when we grow our own chilies and make chili sauce, the flavor will be better."

  After Master Wang finished grinding, Wang Kuang dipped his finger in and tasted it, finding it acceptable, not too spicy, probably similar to the common chilies of later generations.

  At first glance, Wang Kuang thought the chilies were facing-heaven peppers, but then he remembered that the chilies of later generations were the result of years of breeding and selection, so the size of these chilies couldn't be compared to those of later times.

  After some thought, he added another instruction: "Everyone hasn't eaten chilies before, they might not be able to handle the strong flavor. You should start with a small amount, about half a spoonful is fine. Let everyone get used to the flavor first, if it's okay, we can add more next time. But be careful, we only have this much left for this year, if you add too much and everyone can't handle it, it'll be wasted, and when we want to eat it again, we'll have to wait until next year."

  "I know, this chili pepper hasn't been used up yet, so it's better for you to keep it, Xiao Dongjia. I'll ask for it again when I need it." He also knew that Wang Kuang had kept the chili peppers for over a year, and they must be a very precious seasoning, so it's better for Wang Kuang to keep them himself.

  Because the previous batch of loach taro was all given away to the guests in front of the hall, it's necessary to remake a pot now. Otherwise, when a large number of guests arrive for dinner, it will be too late. So Master Wang set up another stove, selling one pot and keeping one pot for himself, which also saves some trouble.

  After making arrangements, Wang felt that leaving the chili seeds in the box was not safe. Now everyone has not tasted the deliciousness of chili peppers, and naturally no one pays attention to them. If they are discovered later, someone might come after them. He decided to go to the iron shop to order a safe, with a lock using the self-locking device commonly used on mechanical devices in later generations. Without mechanical knowledge, it would be impossible to open it. Running to the small courtyard outside the kitchen, several geese were basking in the sun beside the cow and horse shed's hay pile. Now these geese had grown into the second generation of goslings since Wang came. During the spring when the goose was incubating eggs, Wang happened to be there on the day the goose hatched, taking Wang Rong to see the goose hatch eggs. As a result, two little goslings saw Wang and his brother as soon as they broke out of their shells. From then on, these two little goslings were particularly affectionate towards Wang Rong and Wang, flying over to follow them whenever they saw them, going wherever they went until they grew up a bit.

  Those two geese were marked by Wang Kuang with a red cloth sewn around their necks (it was a common practice in northern Fujian to sew a piece of cloth on the back of a goose's neck as a mark, or to paint a conspicuous mark). They were given very uncreative names: one was called Big White, with a larger piece of red cloth, and the other was called Little White, with a smaller piece. Whenever Wang Kuang approached, they would stand up, honk loudly, stretch their necks, and gently peck at his hands with their beaks.

  King Huan was stroking the big white goose, and the big white goose thought King Huan wanted to be intimate with it, so it rubbed its neck against King Huan's face. The little white goose saw this and didn't think it was right, so it squeezed over, trying hard to squeeze the big white goose away. The two geese were making a ruckus, but unexpectedly the big white goose suddenly felt a pain in its wing, got scared, and flapped its wings to run away. The little white goose thought it had succeeded, so it victoriously shouted "Ga Ga" at the big white goose.

  Wang Juan didn't have the energy to play with them, he just wanted to take a goose feather pen and draw out the self-locking device of the safe for the blacksmith to make. The safe was easy to handle, as long as it was said and demonstrated with one's hands, the blacksmith would understand, but the self-locking device had to be drawn out.

  He plucked the goose hair, cut the root into a small bevel shape, left a small hole, and the hole couldn't be too big. If it's too big, it can't hold ink, and with just a little force, the entire tube of ink might flow out and become a mess. He then found a needle and carefully pulled out the soft tendon from inside the goose hair tube. He loosely stuffed in a small ball of thread, leaving a very short end on the outside for convenience when the ink dried up and clogged it. With that, the goose hair brush was done. Just as he picked up some paper from the cabinet to start drawing, Sun Zhanggui looked on with great curiosity and asked Wang Kuang: "Young Dong, what are you trying to draw? Why use a goose hair brush? There are ready-made brushes in the cabinet, why not use those?"

  "Grandpa Sun, I'm preparing to do something. The brush is too thick. You also know that I didn't learn characters before, so I don't use a brush. Using a goose feather pen is very good."

  Sun the shopkeeper saw that Wang Kuang's goose feather brush painting had very fine lines, and he was very curious. He took it over and tried to write a few words with the goose feather brush, but he was used to holding a hairbrush, so holding the goose feather brush felt awkward. After writing a few words, he quickly returned it to Wang Kuang, saying "It's not good, it's not good! The characters written don't have any sharp edges, they really look ugly." Wang Kuang smiled and didn't explain, after all, this goose feather brush was something that Westerners were used to using in the future, and it was also suitable for writing letters that didn't require a sharp edge. But if you wanted to use it to write Chinese characters, without any basic skills in hard pen calligraphy, the characters written would definitely not look good. He hadn't thought of promoting this goose feather brush either, after all, cultures were different, and people who were used to writing with hairbrushes might not be much slower than those using a goose feather brush. Moreover, there were special fine hairbrushes for writing small characters, so the goose feather brush probably wouldn't have any market.

  After finishing the drawing and blowing it dry with his mouth, Wang Kuang called Gao San, who was idly chatting with guests in front of the hall, to go to the iron shop together.

  The blacksmith's owner naturally recognized Wang Kuang, a young man who spent his days wandering around Jian'an with nothing to do and always gathering where people were. After learning what Wang Kuang wanted to make, he was somewhat embarrassed. The reason was that, on the one hand, there wasn't much iron in his shop, and the safe Wang Kuang wanted to make weighed several hundred kilograms, while the iron in his shop only had a little over 100 kilograms, which could only be used to make farm tools at ordinary times. On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty's control over salt and iron was very strict, and every item made by the blacksmith's shop had to be registered with the government, especially weapons. Only people with official titles were allowed to carry swords, and even the guards of wealthy families' homes had their weapons registered with the government. It wasn't like in later generations where martial arts novels depicted anyone being able to carry weapons freely. Now that Wang Kuang wanted to make such a strange-looking box, the blacksmith didn't know what category it belonged to. If he said it was a weapon, it definitely wasn't one; if he said it was a farm tool, that wouldn't work either; and it had nothing to do with pots and pans used in kitchens.

  Wang Kuang had never cared about these things before, and now after listening to the shopkeeper's explanation, he was worried. What to do? Next to him, Gao San was also a clever person, who poked Wang Kuang and whispered: "Xiao Dongjia, that Lin Zhubu..."

  Wang Kuang was overjoyed: "Alright, you're still clever in the third year of high school. How could I have forgotten this? Okay, it should be time for the students to finish school now. Go to the entrance of the provincial academy and wait there. When you see Lin Xiao Lang Jun, invite him to come to the inn and tell him that the Rich Come Inn has new dishes tonight and we'd like to invite Lin Xiao Lang Jun to try them out."

  Here is the translation:

  Gao San responded with a "yes" and was about to run off, but was caught by Wang Kuang who pulled him back: "Wait, you go to Xiao Lang Jun, he may not necessarily recognize you, take this token." Wang Kuang then took out a copper token from his pocket, which looked the same as the one Lin Xiang had. With it, Lin Xiang should come. It's just an insurance policy, not a weapon, Lin Xiang should be able to handle it. Besides, if he rashly goes to find Lin Zhu Bo without any prior direct contact, who knows if he'll be chased away? It's better to take a detour. As for the iron shortage in the blacksmith shop, that's easily solved too. Believe it or not, as long as Lin Xiang is willing to help, it's just a matter of one sentence, and those bookkeepers will scurry around to get things done?

  It's not necessary to involve the Lin family in this matter, but it's an opportunity to get closer to them, so Wang naturally wouldn't let it go. As for whether the young lady of the Lin family is also a time-traveler, it can be set aside for now. The fact that he made a safe is his own secret, and as long as he doesn't say anything, who would know what he's done? Moreover, the young lady is far away in Chang'an and shouldn't know about this matter. Even if we assume that the young lady of the Lin family really is a time-traveler and heard about him making a safe, he can just get an ordinary iron box with a normal lock and put it in his room when the time comes. It's unlikely she would guess that he made a safe, right?

  Since he couldn't crack the safe for the time being, Wang Kuang could only turn around and head back to the inn. As he passed by the butcher shop, he was stopped again by the butcher. Nowadays, everyone in Jian'an calls Wang Kuang "Young Master Dong". The butcher also did the same, pulling Wang Kuang: "Young Master Dong, can you please go back and tell Butcher Sun that I still have four pig's feet left, but no matter what, they won't sell. If your inn wants them, I'll sell them to you at half price, how about it? It's really helpless, selling one pig's foot for a whole day only earns three or five cents, if these four pig's feet can't be sold, then my hard work today will be in vain." Generally speaking, people back then considered eating meat a luxury, so when buying meat, they usually bought fatty pork or leg meat. Nobody bought bones or pig's feet, as they were considered to have too many bones and not worth the money.

  This is also why Wang Kuangping always smiles and talks nicely, someone makes a joke about him and he never gets annoyed. If it were someone else from the Fuli Inn, they wouldn't be so easy to talk to. The Fuli Inn isn't what it used to be two years ago. When the people of the inn go out on the street, they are all flushed with excitement, looking up at the sky. Although when they meet scholars and officials, they still have to bow their heads and give way, those scholars and officials also smile when they see the people from the inn. What? If they don't smile, what can you do about it? Isn't that a waste of words? Everyone wants to get a share of the mud eel yam, even if they get some, they hope their portion is bigger, right? If they maintain good relations, then they have a chance to get a head start on others, or maybe they'll find a few more eels in their own bowl. What? You say use the power in your hands? Isn't that nonsense? We haven't become shameless yet, besides, you know Lin Zhonglu's young master and Fuli Inn have a good relationship, don't you? The copper plaque on Lin Xiaolong's body is the only one in Jian'an that can be discounted! Who knows what their relationship is, I wouldn't dare offend this person.

  When Wang saw the four pig's feet, he was moved in his heart and thought of his old father. His father didn't like to talk to him much, but his care for him was expressed through actions. Wang had loved eating pig's feet since childhood, especially during his junior high school days. He remembered that once when he and his father had a conflict, he ran back to the county town middle school before National Day was over. The next day, his mother specially sent dishes to the county town and took out a large tea jar of pig's feet, saying: "Your brother said you love eating pig's feet, and last night he stewed them until midnight, and they were all stewed rotten." From then on, Wang especially loved eating stewed pig's feet.

  Division

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