Ch. 461..465: The Princess of Northern Land Chapter 461-465

Chapter 461: Chapter 461 Loss (3)_1

What shocked and perplexed the Ma Family more was that the speed of the Lin Family’s shopkeeper and the children was faster than theirs. From time to time, they could faintly hear the villagers discussing their rapid accounting.

Some of the villagers whom he looked down upon as bumpkins were actually faster than Ma Dala.

After two rounds of calculations, Ma Dala’s confidence began to waver.

In the first two competitions, although Ma Dala was a bit slow, his accuracy was relatively high. However, the third one made him break out in a cold sweat.

Because the problems posed by the visiting merchants were far more complex and involved calculations of taxes, compound interest, and various counts of inflow and outflow at different prices. Very quickly, Ma Dala’s head was spinning from all these intricate calculations.

Although he is a deputy store manager in the city, the shop is not that large and there are superiors like the store manager and the owner above him. He didn’t have the opportunity to deal with complicated matters.

The Lin Family was different. Not to mention formidable shopkeepers like Jue Yuan and Yu Shaohui, who had to deal with large and small transactions every day, even the children in the school learned modern arithmetic, vertical calculations, mental calculations, and practical operations taught by Lin Ziyin. They are much more advanced than Ma Dala, who relies on self-learned and accumulated experience.

Especially for the calculation of goods in and out, the Lin family uses a statistical table method, while Ma Dala uses an old-fashioned and complicated way of bookkeeping. It would be weird if he didn’t lose.

The crucial point is that Ma Dala doesn’t understand.

"No, you definitely had some secret collaboration." In the end, Ma Dala, sweating profusely, threw his pen away and started to play dirty when he couldn’t figure it out.

"Collaborate?" Lin Ziyin looked at him with amusement, "You, worthy?"

This statement was even more embarrassing for Ma Dala than losing the bet.

"No way, I can’t believe that the child could solve such a complex problem." Ma Dala sobered up a bit after encountering Lin Ziyin’s sarcastic gaze, but he didn’t back down, and started to complain loudly, "They have only been studying for a short time."

"With such limited capability, you still dare to be a shopkeeper in the city, forget about it." Some people jeered.

"Exactly, even we are faster than him." Some teenagers also laughed and ridiculed him. Normally, everyone is from the same village and generally there would be some sort of respectful address between each other. However, since the Ma family had done many shady things, everyone began to mock them.

As for the address, everyone started to skip it, after all, they were not of the same surname, there was no need to be that particular.

"What do you want?" Lou Zheng asked with a serious face. If it wasn’t for letting Ma Dala give up, he wouldn’t bother to continue.

"I’ll propose questions for them to solve." Ma Dala quickly calmed down and came up with a solution

Hei Yi’s face turned cold when he saw his insatiable greed.

Lin Ziyin waved his hand and agreed to his request, "Alright, three questions."

Everyone nodded in agreement, who would want to waste time with the idler Ma Dala’s family when it was almost time to go to work. Besides, everyone had seen Ma Dala’s ability and didn’t bother to stay. Everyone was worried that if such a person was let in to manage the accounts in the workshop, their monthly wages and bonuses would be reduced.

When Ma Dala saw her agree, he thought for a moment and brought out three difficult questions he had encountered in the shop. The accounting in and out in the three questions was complex and trivial.

Back then, he and the store manager had spent more than a day sorting them out.

When the questions were released, the looks on the faces of the visiting merchants towards Ma Dala took on additional significance.

 

Chapter 462: Chapter 462: Losses (4)_1

Ma Dalang took these gazes as an approval of him, and inevitably, a pleased expression showed on his face.

However, Ma Zhicai had a bad feeling in his heart. Sure enough, in less than the time it would take for half an incense stick to burn, the shopkeepers and children of the Lin family all came up with their answers.

"How is it possible?" Ma Dalang nearly collapsed to the ground when he saw the answers. They didn’t make a single mistake.

"If we didn’t need to make you understand, our speed would’ve been even faster." Yu Shaohui coldly glanced at him and said.

"That’s right, this counting method is not as fast as ours." The few youngsters were young and lively. After winning the contest, they playfully stuck out their tongues at Ma Dalang. "Such a question would stump even the children in the nursey school. It’s too simple."

The so-called nursery school refers to a preschool, where the children are all between three to five years old.

The villagers broke into laughter.

"Good boy, I am proud of you." Gao Shan gave a good-natured pat on his second son’s head and said with a laugh.

"Girl, we will have an extra dish for dinner tonight." Yang Shitou also happily announced as he looked at his daughter.

"Impossible, it can’t be." Ma Dalang was still checking the answers, his face growing red.

"Let’s get back to work," called Yu Shaohui, and the villagers laughed and left in groups, paying no further attention to the Ma family.

"Miss Lin, what kind of calculation method is this?" All the business owners gathered around. They dealt with the Lin family often and only knew that the Lin family processed goods quickly, but they didn’t expect that the Lin family also had their unique counting method.

"We used the Arabic calculation method, which is a bit simpler than the traditional method," Lin Ziyin replied with a smile.

"Can we take a look?" Someone asked eagerly.

"Sure, you can ask Jue Yuan or Yu Shaohui," Lin Ziyin didn’t hesitate to share.

"It can’t be, it just can’t be," Ma Dalang, who was still severely shaken, hadn’t woken up from his defeat.

"Father, let’s go home." Compared to the lively group of business owners, the Ma family looked significantly forlorn.

Ma Zhicai saw that Ma Dalang was unmoving, so he squeezed out a cold expression and forcefully pulled him out of the canteen. Yan’s wife, biting her lip, left with them with the help of Huang.

Ma Xincai wanted to explain something to Lin Ziyin, but he was always a man of few words. He opened his mouth but could not utter a word and eventually left with his head down.

"Let’s go to the workshop." All of those who should leave had left, and Lin Ziyin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ziyin, about today’s events..." He Fuxing came over with his wife, intending to clarify something with tears in his eyes.

"Uncle, everything will get better," Ziyin interrupted him with a smile.

"Okay." He Fuxing nodded vigorously, everything unspoken.

"The method of making Kun Noodles is actually quite simple, but it’s hard to master the strength when rolling out the dough," said Lin Ziyin.

She was relatively weak and not that strong, so she couldn’t demonstrate to these men. She could only guide them from the side.

Rolled noodles might appear to be a simple dish, but to roll out noodles with a good texture, one needed substantial arm strength.

Luckily, the people who came were all muscular men. Under Lin Ziyin’s guidance, they kneaded the dough with all their strength. The workers chosen by the Lin family were also muscular men. The two groups had a good relationship but belonged to different camps. Hence, from the start, both sides started a friendly competition.

Meanwhile, Lin Ziyin attempted mechanical production of noodles.

Chapter 463: Chapter 463: Losses (5)_1

There was no electricity, everything relied on steam. Fortunately, the power needed for the noodle-hanging machine wasn’t too much. In no time at all, the first batch of neat and orderly noodles were made.

"The cuts are so even," said Cui Da with satisfaction as he looked at the hanging noodles.

"Dry these noodles in the sun," instructed Lin Ziyin.

"Yes, Miss." Cui Da summoned several women to tidy up.

"Miss, why have them learn to make Kun Noodles if we have this type of machine?" Hei Er asked Lin Ziyin with a puzzled expression.

"Hanging noodles fall apart in the pot, and with a large amount of people in the barracks, eating them occasionally is okay. However, if we use them during a march or battle, the soldiers would only have noodle soup left to eat by the time they got to it," answered Lin Ziyin. "Kun Noodles are different, they’re firm and even when boiled for a long time after being air-dried, they won’t disintegrate. Most importantly, they aren’t easily digested afterward, making one less prone to hunger."

So that’s how it was! Hei Er and Hei Yi gratefully watched her, and the men learning to make noodles also paid closer attention.

"Tomorrow, we’ll bring people to the forest to look for herds of deer. There’s still a significant number of them in the area," said Hei Yi.

"If possible, help me find some forest frogs. If the quantity is sufficient, I’d like to try raising them," Lin Ziyin said.

"Those things are easy to lose. Raising them might not be feasible," Hei Yi answered in surprise.

No wonder he was surprised. Forest frogs were common in the Beidi Mountain forests. However, forest frogs were small so even the poorest people had no interest in catching them for food.

"Miss, forest frogs are too small. I wonder why you want to raise them?" Hei Er was also puzzled by her suggestion.

"You may only see forest frogs as insignificant little creatures, but in my eyes, they’re treasures. Without them in the forests, pests would surely wreak havoc. A single frog can catch as many as thirty thousand pests in a year," answered Lin Ziyin.

"So they’re capable of that, alright. If Miss is concerned about the number of pests in the forest, we’ll catch some more for you," Hei Yi replied with a smile.

"However, I’m not raising them to catch pests. Forest frogs can be turned into Hasma. It’s a valuable item, comparable to bird’s nest soup and ginseng," Lin Ziyin added with a laugh.

"Really?" Both Hei Yi and Hei Er were startled by her statement.

"Of course it’s true. Otherwise, what’s the point of raising forest frogs?" Lin Ziyin answered slowly. "Although, the Officialdom should issue a regulation forbidding commoners from buying and selling forest frogs privately in the future."

Upon hearing this, Hei Yi and Hei Er understood her intentions.

"Yes, upon my return, I will report to the Prince," Hei Yi promised, secretly vowing to find all the deer and frogs that Lin Ziyin required.

"The official sees the Prince." Inside the Wang Residence, Mei Hanqing and the others finally met Chu Suifeng.

"Rise." Chu Suifeng didn’t show any sign of joy, but looked at Mei Hanqing and Shao Liufeng gently. "You’ve had a hard journey. Your residences have already been prepared by this Prince. There will be someone to escort you back to check when you return."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Mei Hanqing and the rest thanked him with bows.

"I should be on duty as soon as possible. I heard that you had dismissed a number of people, Your Highness. Your government offices are in need of manpower," Yuan Yanzhao said respectfully.

"There’s no rush. There are replacements in each government office for the time being, and it’s manageable," Chu Suifeng was genuinely in high spirits and was very patient with them. "I wish to establish an institution in the Northern Land similar to the Hanlin Academy and hope that you, Master Mei, and the rest can put more thought into it."

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Chapter 464: Chapter 464: Losses (6)_1

"Your Highness, this official will not let you down," Mei Hanqing repeatedly assured. They’d just arrived from the Capital City and hadn’t yet had a chance to fulfill their duties for Prince Ling, which made them grateful for all the preparations he had already made for them.

"Your Highness, the Imperial Court cut off the supply to the Northern Land. May I ask about your plan with Master Situ?" Mei Hanqing asked, voicing his doubt. They were willing to give up their wealth and honor in Capital City to come to the Northern Land, obviously not for a comfortable life. If the Imperial Court hadn’t replaced military supplies and wages with taxes, they wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to come here.

Even if they had indeed decided to migrate, they should have stayed in the Capital City for a few more years, planning for Chu Suifeng.

Indeed, several officials sent by the Imperial Court were those secretly cultivated by Chu Suifeng. Both the young civil and military scholar-officials, as well as the noble and unworldly Mei Hanqing, were his trusted allies.

"Thank you for your support over the years, sir," Chu Suifeng gratefully thanked Mei Hanqing with sincerity.

"Her Majesty was kind to me and the Mei Family. I once swore to Her Majesty that I would dedicate my life to following the Prince. You don’t need to worry about the matters of Hanlin Academy. Before long, a new batch of young people, who Yanzhao and Liu Feng have repeatedly tested, will come to the Northern Land. And these people, they are all passionate. They will definitely be able to support the county governments in the Northern Land," Mei Hanqing said with respect in his eyes looking at Chu Suifeng.

"Also, I will gradually open some tuition-free academies in the Northern Land where students must study both literature and martial arts," Chu Suifeng promised. "And sir Mei will manage the affairs of the academy."

"Yes, Your Highness," Mei Hanqing answered respectfully.

"You don’t need to worry about the matter of military grain. This year, wheat, corn, and rice have been grown in my estate. Next year, these crops can be promoted throughout the Northern Land, so there will be no shortage of grain," Chu Suifeng added.

"Really, Your Highness?" All those present, including Mei Hanqing, exchanged surprised and joyful glances.

What was the Northern Land most in need of? Of course, it was grains. Since the Prince was not worried, there must be a way to secure grains supply.

They were indeed worrying unnecessarily. Yes, with the Prince and Situ Gong in the Northern Land, how could they be thwarted by the Imperial Court’s conspiracy?

"Speaking of grains, on my way here, I met a group of merchants who seemed to be from the Marquis Residence," Wu Jie revealed his doubts without any hesitation.

Chu Suifeng fell silent for a moment and the room was somewhat suffocating.

Mei Hanqing and the others weren’t embarrassed, knowing that Chu Suifeng was contemplating the grain trading affairs of the Marquis Residence.

In the Northern Land, the only family worth the title of Marquis was the Li Family.

The Li Family wasn’t just simply a Marquis Residence; it also represented Prince Ling’s in-laws, who were supposed to be staunch supporters of the Prince.

However, the Prince’s reaction suggested that he was unaware of the Li Family’s grain trading activities.

"With the loss of support from several major Aristocratic Families, the trade of grain indeed has become urgent. However, Li Family’s involvement is not part of my solutions," Chu Suifeng admitted to those trusted allies without any reservations.

"Judging from the caravan, the Li Family seemed to have a large stock of grain," Yuan Yanzhao explained.

"No matter the quantity, they should have a lawful source. I allow anyone to do business, but I do not tolerate anyone using their status for illegal dealings," Chu Suifeng responded with a murderous tint in his voice.

Mei Hanqing and the others nodded subtly, their faces breaking into smiles. Food sustains the masses, grain was not only the lifeline of the people but also what those in power needed to control the most. The Li Family, as Prince’s in-laws and supporters, were even trafficking grain on such a large scale, they deserved to be punished!

Chapter 465: Chapter 465: Losses (7)_1

The words of King Ling in the Northern Land were like imperial edicts. On the second day, Feng City’s streets and alleyways were plastered with notices from the authorities.

"What? No unauthorized price hikes? Grain must be sold strictly at the prices set by the officials?" After hearing the servant’s report, Li Jiesong was so frightened that the cup he was holding fell from his hand.

"How could this be?" he stood up anxiously, pacing back and forth in the room.

The attendant who delivered the news was too intimidated to utter a word, keeping his head lowered.

"Go, see what the You Residence has to say." In his anxiety, Li Jiesong suddenly thought of a solution.

"Yes, young master." The servant by his side, upon hearing the order, quickly rushed out.

"All of you return and watch over the warehouses, don’t touch anything for now." Li Jiesong paced anxiously in the room before he realized that the messenger hadn’t left yet, and he irritably issued the order immediately.

"Yes, young master." The messenger received the order and respectfully retreated. Entering the courtyard, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. My goodness, what a fright. He was terrified that the young master would lose his temper and he might have to pay with his life in the Marquis Residence.

"Stop, who are you?" Just when the servant tried to catch his breath, a sharp reproach came from behind him.

As the servant turned around, he saw the wrath on Li Yanran’s face. Despite being a servant often out and about, he still recognized Li Yanran’s identity.

"This humble one is giving respects to the young miss." As servants of the Li Residence, everyone knew that the Li’s eldest daughter had a temperamental nature and was hard to serve. Faced with Li Yanran’s wrath, the servant felt like dying.

Today was his miserable fate brought him to the Li Residence to deliver the message. Had he known earlier, he would have found an excuse to avoid this altogether.

"What are you up to with your wily shifty eyes? I don’t recognize you!" Li Yanran asked, her eyes flashing with anger.

"This humble one works for the young madam’s shop. I came today to inform the young master about a minor issue." The servant explained with a forced smile on his face. "Due to my rush, I did not see the young miss. It’s my fault. Please punish me, young miss."

"So, you’re from my sister-in-law’s shop?" Li Yanran’s tone softened slightly.

The servant immediately nodded in response, "Yes, this humble one is always at young madam’s shop doing miscellaneous tasks."

"Next time when you enter the Residence, be more composed. With your clumsy and panicky disposition, I’m sure you must have embarrassed the young madam out there." Li Yanran put on the airs of a mistress

to lecture the servant.

The servant kept nodding in agreement, just hoping that Li Yanran would finish her tirade soon and let him go.

"Hurry up and leave." The maid beside Li Yanran rolled her eyes at the servant as soon as she finished speaking.

Hearing this, the servant gratefully bowed to Li Yanran and left.

"Why can’t my sister-in-law ever be found these days?" Li Yanran grumbled, pouting.

"It’s said that the old lady of the You Residence is unwell lately. It’s only natural for the young madam to be concerned and often go to look after her," replied her maid.

Li Yanran pouted and remained silent.

Hmph, they’re mother and daughter, so what? Do the daughters-in-law at the Marquis Residence really have to serve a merchant’s wife?

Indeed, Madam You was at her maternal home, running herself ragged.

"Sister, we only bought such an enormous quantity of grain based on your suggestion. If we sell at the prices posted by the prince, not only will we not earn any Silver, but we will also have to pay out a lot. You know how difficult it has been to do business in our household in recent years. If this batch of grain doesn’t get sold, our entire family might starve." The first wife of the You Residence held onto Madam You’s hand, crying and sobbing.

"Sister, we are all counting on you now," pleaded the second wife.

"M’Lady You, go back and ask the Marquis for some advice. We can’t let this business opportunity slip through our fingers." Old Mr. You directly gave the order.

"Fine, you all can stop crying. I know. I’ll return and think of a way." Madam You, unable to tolerate the hassles from her relatives any longer, left for home with her maids without even eating lunch.

On her way back, she ran into the servant who had been sent to inquire. Upon hearing his reason for coming, she sent him away immediately.

"They are actually putting the blame on us." Back at the residence, upon hearing Madam You’s words, Li Jiesong immediately stood up, his face rigid.

"Who would have thought that the prince would pull such a trick out of his sleeve?" Madam You was both physically and emotionally exhausted. Her relatives and husband blamed each other, and she was caught in the middle. Did anyone ever consider her feelings?

"We invested all our silver into this grain business, not to mention we’ve borrowed at high interest from Mr. Hei’s gambling den." Li Jiesong, in a flurry of panic like an ant on a hot pot, paced back and forth in the room. "What can we use to repay the debt in half a year’s time? Weren’t you the one who said we would be able to unload it quickly?"

"I did this to make a bit of silver on the side, who would have expected the prince to pull such a move?" Madam You’s face turned pale. Useless man. When he heard that there was silver to be made, he was more eager than anyone else. But when trouble arose, they pushed it all onto her. Why should she be held responsible?

"Make silver? Now we’re at such a loss, we might have to sell the shop." Li Jiesong roared.