Chapter 3: The Third Young Master's Trick

  The next morning, Zhuge Jun drove the old horse carriage from his home and went to Li Chang's house first. As soon as he arrived at the gate of Li Chang's house, he ran into Li Chang's wife. The fat woman glared at him and said, "I'm talking about the third son of the Zhuge family! When will your family repay the debt to my family?"

  Zhuge Jun accompanied by a smile said: "Auntie, I'm here to return the money." As he spoke, he handed over the purse in his hand. The woman's face immediately smiled like a flower. After taking it and counting it, her eyes lit up again, saying: "Just this amount of money, the interest is not right?"

  Zhuge Jun brought the money when he came, which was calculated by Huang Yueying. It should be just right. It seems that this woman wants to blackmail herself. So she asked: "How much do you think it should be?"

  The old woman said, "Still short of half a tael." This old woman was fierce, and when she got angry, it was terrible. Zhuge Jun was somewhat afraid of her and did not want to quarrel with her over this small amount of money, so he gave her another half tael. The old woman smiled again and said, "Little three is really sensible, next time you have something, just say it, and I'll help you." The horizontal meat on her face was shaking with laughter.

  "Good grief, this face changes faster than flipping through a book."

  Arriving at the town 5 miles away from the village, he came to the pharmacy on the east side and saw Li Old Lang. As soon as he saw him, he asked: "Little Sanzi, is your second brother's illness better? If I have time, I'll go see him again." This old man was a kind person, and Zhuge Jun hurriedly said: "Li BoBo, he has recovered, thank you!"

  He handed over the purse and said: "This is to repay your medical expenses." Li Langzhong did not take the purse, saying: "No hurry, if it's tight at home, let's talk about it later."

  Zhuge said: "Thank you, now our family is no longer anxious." Only then did he take the money bag.

  He drove the horse cart towards his sister's husband's house, walked for a while, and stopped. He thought to himself, after paying back all the money, there was still no use at home, he wanted to do some business but didn't have any capital. It would be better not to pay back his sister for now, anyway they didn't lack this bit of money, he could keep it as capital and return it to them later if he had more. Thinking of this, he turned the horse's head towards home.

  He arrived at the gate, jumped down from his horse-drawn carriage, and was about to enter the courtyard with his horse in tow when someone rushed out of the house and nearly collided with him.

  She was a young girl with a melon-seed-shaped face and fair skin. She had run so fast that her forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat. It turned out to be Little Sister Zhuge Ling, who was 14 years old this year.

  She hastily pulled him inside, saying: "Third Brother, Fu Bo and the other old workers are leaving. Your sister-in-law can't keep them, you go persuade them quickly."

  Originally, because Zhuge Liang's family was not well off, several old workers had the intention of leaving long ago. It was just that Zhuge Liang and his family were kind-hearted people, so they didn't dare to mention leaving. Now that Zhuge Liang is gone, Zhuge Jun is not capable, and the household relies solely on Huang Yueying, a woman, with no prospects in sight. So, after receiving their back pay, they decided to leave.

  In the past, Zhuge Jun was greedy for pleasure, but his temperament was kind and gentle, and he got along well with the servants at home. Huang Yueying couldn't persuade them to stay, so she called Zhuge Long to go and welcome Zhuge Jun, hoping that he could persuade them.

  Zhuge Jian walked into the courtyard, just as the long workers were walking out. He hurriedly stepped forward to intercept them and said: "Everyone, uncle and elder brother, I can understand that you all want to leave because we haven't done a good job with our family business. Now, I have a way to change the current situation. I implore you to stay for another month. If I still can't change things around, it's not too late for you to leave then."

  He said to Huang Yueying: "Sister, you can give everyone two months' salary now. If they still want to leave after a month, I will not persuade them to stay."

  After a while, Huang Yueying distributed the wages to everyone. They felt that Zhuge Jun was sincere, so they agreed. Then each went their separate ways.

  After the workers left, Huang Yueying said worriedly: "I've paid them their wages in advance, and now there's even less money at home. I'd better go back to my parents' house to borrow some." Zhuge Jun said it wasn't necessary, he had a way. Huang Yueying asked him what his plan was, but he told her to wait until tomorrow to tell her, and to set her mind at ease. But Huang Yueying couldn't really put her mind at rest.

  On the second morning, after washing up, he habitually thought of eating something and only then remembered that in the late Eastern Han dynasty, people had two meals a day. 10 am and 5 pm. This arrangement was mainly related to the social productive forces at that time. Since the appearance of human beings, food has never been fully satisfied. Eating three meals a day can only be a luxury for people.

  Zhuge was very unaccustomed to this lifestyle, especially at night, his stomach would start to protest and he couldn't sleep well. Moreover, the time arrangement was not good, work efficiency was low. He decided to change this way of life.

  After waiting for a while in his own room, he estimated that Huang Yueying had finished dressing up and came to her door.

  After knocking on the door and entering, Huang Yueying was already busy keeping accounts. Seeing him come in, she greeted him: "Xiao Jun, sit down first, I'll talk to you after I finish this entry."

  Ling'er was also there, she had to follow her sister-in-law every day to learn poetry and articles. Probably seeing something important, she just smiled at him and continued looking down.

  He had nothing to do, so he got up and poked at the charcoal fire, adding a few more pieces of wood. Then he sat down opposite Huang Yueying and watched her keep accounts. The ancient method of keeping accounts was to record the flow of money with large written numbers, which was cumbersome and unscientific.

  Huang Yueying finished writing an entry in her account book, looked up and asked him: "Xiao Jun, you speak."

  The whole family now has Huang Yueying, Zhuge Jun and Zhuge Liang. The servants include Huang Yueying's maid Axiu, the cook Lee, and 4 long workers.

  There are 42 mu of fertile land, 23 mu of barren land, two oxen, one lame horse, one two-wheeled cart, and eleven rooms in the house. The total value of all the money at home is only seven taels of gold. There are only twelve dan of stored grain left. This is their entire family property.

  He said, "Our family can only make a living with these tens of acres of land. In the next year or two, we can't count on my second brother's side either. Prices are getting higher and higher, I want to do some business."

  Huang Yueying hadn't seen any particular talent in him, and he was fond of having fun on ordinary days, but he didn't go overboard. He asked, "What kind of business do you plan to do, and how much money do you need?"

  "He confidently said: 'I've already thought of a way, no need for money.'"

  Huang Yueying saw his confident appearance and didn't know what method he had either, half believing and half doubting.

  Zhuge Jun ordered Huang Yueying's maid Axiu to call everyone into the living room, saying that there was something to be said.

  This is the inaugural speech of the new homeowner, and all staff are gathered in the living room.

  Zhuge said, "My brother has left, from now on, my sister-in-law and I will be in charge of the family. Everyone is an old member of the family, today there are a few things that need to be discussed with everyone."

  Zhuge Liang was very lenient to the servants in his household and they loved him dearly. But now that the master of the house had changed, they didn't know what Zhuge Jun thought about managing the household, so they all stared at him.

  Zhuge said, "Firstly, the current world is not very peaceful, and everyone's life is very difficult. You have followed the Zhuge family for so many years, but you haven't had a good day yet. I want to compensate everyone a bit. From today on, everyone's salary will be doubled, and it will increase again next year."

  Seeing everyone's happy appearance, he continued to say: "Secondly, from tomorrow on, two meals a day will be changed to three meals, at the time of Chen, Wu, and You. I only have one request for you all, which is that any family matters must be kept confidential. I hope you take an oath."

  Ancient people valued promises. Although they were all trustworthy old men, since the matter was of great importance, Zhuge Dan still had them take an oath.

  The Third Master took office and brought good news to everyone. The request was just that much, and everyone hurriedly made a solemn oath.

  After everyone took the oath, Zhuge Jun ordered Fu Bo and Wang Chuan to be in charge of purchasing materials. Zhao Hongshan and Li Si were responsible for building the workshop, and he handed over the details and gave them the purchase list. Huang Yueying saw that they had to spend money again, and she was so anxious that she sweated, but it wasn't convenient to say anything in front of the servants, so she stared straight at Zhuge Jun with her eyes.

  Zhuge Jun took out money from his pocket. The crowd received the money from him and dispersed in a hurry.

  He returned to Huang Yueying's room, looked at her expression, and knew she had questions to ask. He smiled and said: "As for the matter of increasing the wages of the lower people, I didn't discuss it with you, so don't worry, there's no problem. As for what I want to do, wait until they buy back the materials, and you'll know. And the money in my hand is from my elder sister and others." He expressed his thoughts once.

  Huang Yueying thought and could only do so.

  "Now, I want to tell you something else."

  He took out a piece of paper, drew a table, wrote down debit, credit and balance, and handed it to her.

  Huang Yueying was a person who was as intelligent and wise as Zhuge Liang. It is said that the wooden oxen and flowing horses were taught to Zhuge Liang by her. She immediately clapped her hands in surprise and delight, saying: "Xiao Jun, how did you think of this? Using this to keep accounts is simple and clear-cut, income and expenses are clearly visible, what a good method!"

  Just as Zhuge Jun was about to speak, a snow-white and tender melon-shaped face appeared, but it was actually Zhuge Ling who was reading beside him. She blinked her almond eyes, opened her pink small mouth, and curiously asked: "What's the good method? Let me take a look."

  Huang Yueying smiled and gently patted Ling'er's back with her white jade-like hand, saying: "Don't be naughty, listen to Xiao Jun."

  Ling'er stuck out her small tongue and stopped talking, holding her fragrant cheek as she looked at Zhuge Jun.

  Zhuge Jun took up his pen and wrote on the paper: 1, 2...10. He showed it to the two men and said, "Look at this. These are the corresponding numbers for one to ten. One hundred and fifty-five can be written as 15, one thousand two hundred thirty-six can be written as 1236..." He gave a detailed explanation of the origin and use of Arabic numerals.

  Huang Yueying stared at him with her beautiful phoenix eyes, looking somewhat puzzled: "Xiao Jun, this is indeed a good thing, very practical. Where did you learn it from?"

  Zhuge Jian couldn't say that he was a man from the future, so he made up an excuse and said that one day he went out and met a Taoist priest, who taught him many things.

  Huang Yueying was half-believing and half-doubting, but she didn't pursue it further. She stared at those numbers and studied them, occasionally discussing with him.

  In the afternoon, Li Si had already bought back the materials, and Zhao Hongshan also fixed the shed in the corner of the yard. Zhuge Jun went inside to tinker with it.

  Suddenly, the door behind him creaked open and someone came in. He had ordered that no one was to disturb him, and he couldn't help but frown, just about to scold, when he saw that it was Ling'er. He wiped his sweat with his hand and said, "It's too dirty here, hurry up and get out."

  "Others are curious, aren't they? Third Brother, what are you doing?" Suddenly she burst out laughing and pointed at his face, saying: "Look at your face, it's like a flower cat! Come here, let me wipe it for you." As she spoke, she pulled out a small handkerchief.

  Zhuge Jun walked over, lowered his head and let her wipe his face. He said: "I'm preparing to change the magic trick for you, wait until it's done, I'll show you."

  She took a glance and said: "It's filthy, you deal with it slowly." And then she walked out.

  He worked hard, even having dinner delivered, and finally had satisfactory results at dusk.

  After washing his face and changing his clothes, he called up Ling'er and came to Huang Yueying's room, humming happily: "I'll show you a magic trick. Open your eyes wide and wait quietly, I'm transforming, I'm transforming, I'm transforming." As he spoke, he took out two things of different colors from his pocket and presented them in front of the two people.