Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, the sun was already hanging halfway up the mountain. All the ingredients Jiang Miao had prepared were used up, and the money lay in his small drawer.
Looking at the drawer full of copper coins, Jiang Miao's mouth curled up wildly with joy, and the few distracting thoughts he had before had long been erased from his mind.
"Brother Danniu, have so many people come here every day for these three days?" Jiang Miao couldn't help asking when the two of them were carrying their loads back to their residence. If so, he would need to prepare more ingredients, as they were obviously not enough to sell today.
Daniu shook his head and said, "Not only that, most of the people who came today are powerful people. We ordinary people are afraid of causing trouble, so we will avoid them and come here to burn incense later. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will have the most people."
"But it seems that many people haven't come down the mountain yet?" Jiang Miao was a little confused. He noticed that there were many carriages coming in the morning, but less than half of them went down the mountain.
Da Niu looked at the passers-by around him, approached Jiang Miao and lowered his voice and said, "Those who are coming down the mountain today are those who have no confidence and no backing. The temple didn't even prepare a Zen courtyard for them to rest, so they are in a hurry to come down. Those who are really powerful will stay up there for three days before going back. They come here to burn incense on the first day, and play in the backyard in the next two days. Ordinary people like us can't get in." This is what Da Niu heard from the guests at the table when he was working as a waiter at Yingkelai.
Jiang Miao suddenly realized that it was no wonder that those people were carrying so many things when they went up the mountain this morning. It turned out that they had to stay there for two nights before leaving. With so many people staying, each family had to prepare a separate courtyard. How big must the Puling Temple be! However, what he didn't expect was that the monks in the temple had also learned to treat the guests differently according to their needs. They actually divided the guests into different levels. How could they be like monks who were free from all worries
After returning to his residence, Jiang Miao put down his things and was about to use the key to open the door when a man in his fifties walked out.
"You are the people brought by Brother Zhang, right?" the man asked.
"Exactly. My name is Jiang Miao, and this is Uncle Zhang's grandson, Daniu."
"I heard from my mother that you can have dinner at my house tonight. I wanted to treat you at noon, but unfortunately you didn't come back." Miao Dagen said. He and Brother Zhang haven't seen each other for a long time. He went to the fields early this morning and heard about this when he came back.
Jiang Miao felt a little embarrassed, but Miao Dagen was very enthusiastic, and they couldn't refuse, so they had to go.
The food on the table looked quite rich, with salted fish, bacon, and a plate of scrambled eggs with leeks. The fresh green color was rare in winter, and Jiang Miao couldn't help but move his chopsticks a few more times.
Miao Dagen noticed it and pushed the plate towards him, saying, "If you like this dish, Jiang Xiaoge, eat more. There's nothing delicious in the countryside, so don't be offended."
Jiang Miao was a little embarrassed: "Uncle Miao, what are you talking about? This big table of food is considered a festival in our place. Especially the chives, I have never seen them sold in the city."
Miao Dagen laughed twice and said with some pride: "You know what, there is really nothing to sell in the city now. These chives are put in a broken pot and kept in the kitchen. But it's cold and hot in there, so they can't grow well. I just cut them and treat you."
Isn't this the prototype of greenhouse cultivation? Jiang Miao's eyes lit up. Could it be that God sent him through time to develop agriculture and improve the food for the people of Daliang
"Uncle Miao, have you ever thought about building a house outside to keep the vegetable garden warm? That way we can eat vegetables from other seasons in the winter?" Jiang Miao suggested.
Miao Dagen laughed out loud, thinking this city dweller was hilarious. "With so many vegetable plots, how can we build all the houses? Besides, building so many houses is not cheap. If I had that much money, would I still be here working from morning till night?"
"We don't need bricks or tiles to build this house. All we need is a bamboo frame to support it and then cover it with tarpaulin to keep the temperature inside. Isn't that enough?" Jiang Miao still didn't give up.
"Is it worth going through so much trouble just to eat some vegetables? It would be better to stock up some dried vegetables in spring and autumn so that you can soak them and eat them fresh in winter." Miao Dagen didn't quite understand. In his opinion, this young man from the city who had never worked in the fields was not reliable.
Seeing that Miao Dagen was not interested in this, Jiang Miao had to change the subject. Indeed, for ordinary people like them, this is a little impractical, and most people don't have so many requirements for food.
"Uncle Miao, have you always lived around here? Uncle Zhang said earlier that this area is all the land of Puling Temple. Is that also the land you cultivate?"
"When you paid your rent, did you go to the back of Puling Temple?"
"Of course there isn't. Every year the rent is paid directly to the back. The back is so big that you can't get out without someone leading the way..." When asked about the place he was familiar with, Miao Dagen talked freely.
Puling Temple was originally a small temple. After more than a hundred years of development, it has gradually grown to its current size. It contains almost all the buildings of different styles over the past hundred years, and has a high ornamental value. According to Miao Dagen, Puling Temple has a total of more than 13,000 acres of land under its jurisdiction, starting from the place where they turned the corner to the entire Luohua Mountain behind, all of which belong to Puling Temple.
In addition to the eight or nine main halls in the front temple that are open to the public and enshrine the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, there are dozens of other small halls, which enshrine the tablets of the meritorious officials who have made great contributions to the establishment of Daliang. The main tablet of each small hall is either the general who led the troops to fight or the counselor who made suggestions in the back. The ancestors of Daliang placed them here to let all the people of Daliang know that those who have made contributions to the country will definitely remain in people's hearts forever. Later, the capable ministers and generals were also proud to have their tablets enshrined in Puling Temple after their death.
Because of this, these small halls in Puling Temple are also called "Heroic Officials' Temple" by some people. Almost all the powerful people in Liangjing today are descendants of these people, so even the most arrogant and unreasonable dandies dare not act recklessly here, as they will be punished to kneel down and doubt their lives!
Of course, in addition to the small hall that enshrines their tablets, Puling Temple also has a forest of high towers, built between the mountains and rivers, surrounded by green pines and cypresses. These towers contain the bones of the soldiers who were hastily buried when they returned to their hometown after they established Daliang. Because these bones were separated by too much time, they could no longer help them find their hometown and relatives. The ancestors of Daliang let them stay in the forest of towers together, standing at the highest position, looking at the prosperous Liangjing City that they once fought for.
Behind the temple is the courtyard where only people of status and prestige can live. According to statistics from those who are interested, there are two to three hundred courtyards of various sizes in Puling Temple, and the number of monks in it has also increased from a dozen monks at the beginning to one to two thousand monks.
Every year, the rich and powerful would give money to the temple. With this money, Puling Temple would go to disaster-stricken areas to provide porridge and charity, help the elderly and children, and help build bridges and roads in places where roads are blocked. In a sense, it can be regarded as accumulating virtue for those people. Of course, accumulating virtue also benefits the working people, killing two birds with one stone.
After hearing so much, Jiang Miao's impression of Puling Temple changed greatly. When he heard Daniu talk about the courtyard, he thought Puling Temple was a place that looked down on people and was snobbish. He didn't expect that they really achieved the compassion that Buddhists should have. Now that he thinks about it, even if the temple prepared courtyards for those families with low status, it is estimated that not many people would dare to live there, right
When he returned to the room, it was already completely dark. He took out the small drawer from his shoulder pole and poured the copper coins onto the end of the unmade bed, stacking them ten at a time, and began to count them carefully.
This money-grubber-like behavior made Da Niu very envious. He and Brother Jiang were about the same age, and Brother Jiang had become a small boss by selling steamed buns, but he was kicked out of the restaurant because he didn't know the ways of the world, and his future livelihood was uncertain.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little self-reproachful. If only he hadn't gone in at that time.
Jiang Miao counted the money he earned today and turned around with satisfaction, only to see Da Niu sitting there with a sad face and a depressed look on his face.
"Brother Daniu, what's wrong with you? By the way, this is today's wages, please keep it first." Jiang Miao counted out fifty copper coins and handed them over.
"Brother Jiang, it seems you gave me too much?" Although Daniu hadn't counted the coins yet, he realized as soon as he took the coins in his hand that this seemed to be more than a dozen more than the agreed upon wages.
"The extra is today's bonus." Jiang Miao said generously. He just did a rough calculation and found that today's net profit alone could cover the round-trip fare, stall fees and housing rent. The rest would be more than enough to buy food for the next few days.
In other words, starting from tomorrow, all the money he earns will be pure profit. How can he not be happy
Of course, it was also true that he and Daniu had been working almost all day. He saw Daniu's attitude towards work, so he naturally paid him more than what was agreed.
"Bonus?" Daniu was a little confused, but after thinking about it, he thought it was probably something like a reward. He was tongue-tied and had never received a bonus in the six months he had been at Yingkelai. He didn't expect to get one on his first day working for Brother Jiang!
"Thank you, Brother Jiang. I will do my best!" Flames instantly ignited in the honest man's eyes, and all the emotions that had just arisen were thrown behind his mind.
Jiang Miao was very puzzled to see him suddenly become so motivated again, but he soon felt relieved. After all, the charm of money was so great that it was hard for ordinary people like them to resist the happiness it brought.
(End of this chapter)