Chapter 43 Golden Lotus

  Golden English

  Because Guo Jixiu accused Huang Jiala of being biased, Huang Jinshan originally wanted to reason with Guo Jixiu, but was chased by Yao Feng and had to say: "What can digging a well do? Now even the wells over ten feet deep are dry, and only the big households' farms have wells over twenty feet deep, but they also only have muddy water left. Brother Yao, how come you don't understand farming at all?"

  Yao Fangxin said you guys stop slandering me, I saw in 2011 the drought relief efforts in northern rural China, many of which used drilling anti-drought wells, with a design depth of at least 20 meters, or 60 feet. One well like this can irrigate over 40 mu (about 26.67 hectares) of drought-stricken land per day.

  In 2011, the northern provinces of China drilled wells to different depths according to their geographical conditions. Yao Fan knew that in Shandong's Yimeng Mountain area, the deepest wells were drilled for drought resistance, basically reaching 150-200 meters deep, directly into the underground water layer. Irrigation of arable land in water-scarce mountainous areas relied entirely on state-drilled drought-resistant wells, but such deep wells over 100 meters required specialized equipment and professional construction personnel.

  Huang Jinshan saw Yao Fan deep in thought and no longer paid attention to him, turning to Guo Jixiu: "Brother Zhou said it was originally a fact! A good river, you block the dam, what can the downstream Lan family use to irrigate? Now that there is a severe drought, we as local big families should help each other through the difficulties, don't fight in the nest!"

  Guo Jixiu indignantly said: "My Guo family has never treated you four families unfairly! Every year, we give 200 catties of salt to each of your two families. You're being so biased now, don't expect my Guo family to give you salt in the future!"

  Zhou Xiusheng sighed inwardly, thinking to himself that since the death of the old master, this new young master Guo was really unbearable. What's the big deal about a catty of coarse salt? It's worth only 50 or 60 cents at most. Even if he sends 200 catties a year, it's not enough for our estate to make pickled goods. It's just a trivial expense of ten or twenty taels of silver. Does Guo Jixiu think we're all poor devils who can't afford salt?

  Besides, your family has always been privately brewing and selling, this move is nothing but using salt to shut everyone's mouth. From now on, it's okay if you don't send any more, no need to trouble yourself for these small favors.

  Zhou Xiuxiang looked at Yao Fang again, thinking that people are compared to death. This Yao Fang is ten times stronger than Guo Jixiu. Just a gift of money, and the other party handed over 500 taels of silver! There were also watches, soap, and flower cloth as gifts, which made you, Guo Jixiu, look poor by a hundred times!

  Huang Jinshan snorted in disdain, saying: "So you've been waiting for us here? You're just a coarse salt, and you have the nerve to bring it up? From now on, don't bother having your family send any more. Even if they do send some, I'll have them all thrown into the sea. My Huang family's estate and business may not be large, with only a few tens of thousands of taels in annual income, but we're not lacking in this bit of salt."

  Lan Shunzheng even directly scolded Guo Jixiu: "Since you brought it up, I'll have someone come to my house to settle the account. The salt your family sent over in previous years will be calculated as money! Let's calculate it at the highest price of salt from two years ago. If you don't send someone to collect it, then you're a coward! And as for your family's Sixth Aunt, hurry up and take her back, so I won't have to see her and feel annoyed. The Lan family is now under my management, and I'm taking charge of this matter on behalf of our Seventh Master!"

  Actually, Guo Jixiu regretted what he said as soon as he finished speaking. Such a childish argument was really too much. However, when he heard Lan Shunzheng say that he should take his sixth aunt back home, Guo Jixiu immediately stood up and scolded: "Lan, don't be too presumptuous! My sixth aunt is your seventh uncle's legitimate wife, brought into the family through proper arrangements. She is your seventh aunt! Are you capable of divorcing her? You're being outrageous!"

  Lan Shun sneered and said, "Hmph, what's with the 'Seventh Master' and 'Seventh Madam'? You're just a pair of spoiled brats, daring to act arrogant in front of me. I'll definitely report you to the old master later and have you kicked out of the house!"

  Kuo Chi-hsiu was so enraged by these words that he almost choked with anger.

  Zhou Xiusheng saw the two of them talking, and it was getting more and more awkward. He thought to himself, "I'm really having a streak of bad luck, first I had to mediate between Yao Feng and Guo Jixiu, now I have to mediate between you two."

  "That's enough! The more you talk, the less sense it makes! Whoever mentions grabbing water again will be asked to leave!" Zhou Xiuzhen issued her final warning.

  Guo Jixiu and Lan Shunzheng seemed to have found a way out of the awkward situation, stopped quarreling, and sulkily drank their wine.

  Yao Fan watched this live play and had a plan in mind.

  Yao Feng said to Huang Jinshan: "So our Qing dynasty's well is so shallow!"

  I, Yao Fang, am not unfamiliar with farming, but I see that the Westerners' method of resisting drought is different. They drill deep wells, and in ordinary plains areas, they can reach water at a depth of 60 feet. One well can irrigate nearly 300 mu (Chinese acres) per day. However, foreigners calculate in public mu, while we Qing people calculate in market mu; roughly one market mu equals six-point-six foreign mu, which means that one well can irrigate over 40 mu of land!

  Huang Jinshan listened to Yao Fang's words and said with a mixture of trust and doubt, "60 feet? Brother Yao is joking, right? Just one 20-foot-deep well alone, not to mention digging the soil and building walls, would take at least two months. You know that the deeper you dig, the more laborious it becomes. The iron-plated wooden shovel will be worn out after six or seven uses, let alone if we encounter rocks. How can we expect to finish in two months?"

  Yao Fan saw everyone looking at him, smiled and shook his head: "Foreigners don't need manual digging, foreigners have drilling machines. With the machine on, a 60-foot deep well can be dug in one day."

  Huang Jinshan saw Yao Fan and said with emotion, "That foreigner's machine is actually so powerful? I've only heard that Governor Ding wants to set up a machinery bureau, but I didn't know that the foreigner's machine was already this formidable."

  Zhou Xiusheng, however, caught the drift and asked Yao Fang, "Brother Yao, do you have any way to buy that foreigner's well-drilling machine? If we can get it, my farm has 5,000 mu of land, and if we drill over a hundred wells, we can irrigate all of it."

  Yao Fandao said, "It's possible to buy it, but the machine for drilling wells consumes a special kind of foreign oil. Drilling one well doesn't include other losses, and just the oil alone will cost 300 catties. If you calculate everything, building a 60-foot-deep well costs 1,000 taels of silver."

  Zhou Xiu Song was startled and hastily waved his hand, saying: "This is still acceptable, for 40 mu of land, spending 1,000 taels of silver! This money can be used to buy land, it's enough to buy 50 mu of good irrigated land! When the drought gets severe, the land price will become even cheaper."

  Yao Fan knew that the price was frightening and smiled: "But a well can be used for hundreds of years, and this silver spread out doesn't seem so expensive."

  Zhou Xiuzong furrowed his brow and asked: "Is that foreigner so rich? Can he afford to dig such an expensive well?"

  Yao Wengdao said: "As long as business is booming, every year there will naturally be tens of millions of taels of silver flowing out. With the foreigners' wealth rolling in, what can't be built?"

  Zhou Xiu-song sighed and said: "The Qing Empire can't defeat foreigners in a day, this opium is something that can't be banned in a day either."

  "But it's not a good thing to go on like this, I'll ask my family to send a drilling machine over in a few days and drill a few wells, which will help alleviate the urgent need."

  "Just a few words of resistance, what's the use?" Zhou Xiusong muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Let's not talk about this anymore," he said. "It's rare for everyone to gather together today, so I'd rather advise everyone to turn their animosity into friendship and resolve past grievances. Why don't we each recite a poem, enjoy the atmosphere, and have a pleasant time?"

  Then Zhou Xiusong started talking to himself and said:

  "A new phrase is passed on in a roundabout way"

  Singing loudly with sleeves waving in front of the pavilion.

  The sky is blue and the water is clear, with the wind blowing gently.

  "The hall is filled with distinguished guests."

  As soon as Yao heard this poem, he knew that Zhou was boasting about himself. He couldn't help but be surprised by Zhou's extraordinary talent. Although he didn't dare say that it was a seven-step poem, the fact that he could come up with something like this so effortlessly showed that his literary skills were quite profound.

  Mr. Yang had been eating without saying a word for half the day, but now that he was asked to compose a poem, he scratched his head and said, "I haven't done this in a long time, I'll just improvise something to show my clumsiness."

  "Long hair tangled with chaos, great wilderness"

  The sea and sky are filled with melancholy thoughts.

  Come and listen to your song together

  "Break through the wall after forgetting one's body."

  Yao Fan saw that his focus was on political and social reality, worrying about the severe drought, and he also admired him.

  Lan Shun Zheng saw him and thought for a moment before saying:

  "A newborn baby doesn't need to recognize words"

  Boiling salt is better than reading books.

  Iron pot boils through thousands of gold

  Wealth and glory are in the furnace.

  Yao Feng almost laughed out loud, thinking that Lan Shun's mouth was really vicious. He scolded people without using dirty words, and in the end, he even cursed them to be wealthy and glorious in the fiery depths of hell.

  Kuang Jixiu was furious as soon as he heard it and immediately said:

  "A dog barks at whom does he know?"

  The Song of the Tattered Clothes and the Beggar.

  A thief is one who steals by taking advantage of an opportunity.

  "When presenting at the government office, cut it finely!"

  Yao Fan heard him scolding so viciously, it seemed that he not only scolded himself for singing on stage earlier, but also embedded Lan Shunzheng's name in it, scolding him as a thief, really being quite despicable.

  Lan Shun Zheng didn't get angry, but instead let out a cold hum, and slowly picked up his cup to take a sip.

  Huang Jinshan frowned and thought to himself, "This poem recitation has turned into a street brawl. What's the point of continuing? Moreover, I've been following my father on business trips since childhood, and my poetry skills are extremely rusty. It's not like I can learn from Guo Jixiu and Lan Shunzheng how to curse."

  Just then, the bamboo curtain at the door was lifted, and Yao Fan turned his head to look, only to see that the little servant who had been brought by Huang Jinshan before had come in.

  All he saw was the fake girl nodding her head and saying, "I am Huang Jinying, the younger brother of Jinshan. My elder brother is not good at poetry, so I will help him with this poem."

  Apart from Yao Fang and Huang Jinshan, everyone else was puzzled. This younger brother of Huang Jinshan had never been seen before?

  Huang Jinshan hastily said: "Exactly so, let this younger cousin of mine compose a poem on my behalf."

  Everyone knew the inside story of Huang Jinshan, so they didn't deliberately make things difficult for him. But that little fellow just stared at Yao Feng with wide eyes and said:

  "Ten thousand trees wither and want to die, but you have a deep root and live alone."

  In the garden, under the fluttering flags, a single branch bursts into bloom.

  The wind carries the fragrance out, and the swans come in admiration of its beauty.

  Next year, according to the law, first send the golden stage.

  Yao Fan thought to himself, this dead shemale started off pretty well, using the drought as a backdrop and the technique of substitution to boast about his own singing being like a solitary flower in a pile of withered wood. Damn it, but then it turned into a rhythm for seeking a mate! And he even dared to call himself a swan... I'm speechless! What self-love!

  His name contains the word "gold", and in ancient times, people would address each other as "brother" or "sister", but this "Golden Stage" is clearly a veiled insult! The poem omitted the English letter in his name, but actually, he was referring to himself as Ying Tai. What the... You're just a freak and you dare to compare yourself to Zhu Yingtai? Screw you! If you dare to lay a hand on me, I'll slap you into a pig's head!

  Yao Weng furrowed his brow and stared at Huang Jin Ying, solemnly stating his position, and recited a poem:

  "The sky is falling, hold it up"

  The world is full of deceit and flattery; I hold on to integrity.

  The rooster crows and unfurls the red flag

  Qian Kun Chi Bian Dong Fang Bai

  Yao Fanzhen said, do you understand? I'm a straightforward man, not bent at all! My ambition is to raise the red flag, of course, you won't understand what the red flag is for, and even if I wanted to teach you, it's a secret, hehe...