Chapter 29: Selling the Shower Pipes for Money
The squat toilet and shower were both very useful, but the dark red, coarse ceramic glaze was not as aesthetically pleasing as white porcelain glaze. However, Zhao An no longer cared about such minor details.
He returned from training the villagers, took a wonderful shower, and while drying his hair, said to Qin Tong, “Do you want to take a shower too?”
Qin Tong said with anticipation, “Can I?”
“Of course you can. Go ahead,” Zhao An said with a wave of his hand. “Boil more hot water. Hai Bo will definitely want to take a shower later.”
Qin Tong readily agreed, “Okay.”
Water boiled quickly in the summer. In half a ke, a large pot of water was boiling. After adjusting the water temperature, Qin Tong carried a bucket to the bathing area, tied the bucket to a pulley system, and with two ropes, easily pulled it up to the water tank on the roof. By releasing the horizontal rope, the water from the bucket poured into the tank.
This semi-automatic shower was still very primitive for Zhao An, but Qin Tong found it novel and fun. He carried three buckets of water back and forth, sweat beading on his forehead, but his face was still full of smiles.
By the time Qin Tong came out of the shower, Zhao An’s hair was already half-dry from the summer heat. As he combed his hair, he thought about going to the city later to find Feng Shaoping and then to the bookstore to ask about Hu Sheng.
Qin Tong suddenly said, “Little Tang, Foreman Tang’s son, told me that he also wants to make a shower set for his own use. I don’t know if the Young Master will allow them to do private work.”
In fact, Qin Tong had already boasted to Little Tang that the Young Master was always magnanimous and would definitely not blame them. But when Qin Tong brought up the matter, he was still apprehensive.
“Besides the set I’m taking to the city today to give to the Feng family, there are five other sets of shower pipes. Let them install one for their own use first,” Zhao An said. Besides the short-term laborers who went home, there were a total of nine workers living at the kiln. One shower was really not enough. It wasn’t that Zhao An was stingy; he wanted to sell these shower pipes before things got chaotic. When they fired up the kiln again in the future, they could keep them for their own use.
Zhao An thought he was being stingy, but Qin Tong was already overjoyed. “Little Tang will be so happy to hear this news. I’ll go tell him right now.” After saying this, he smiled sheepishly at Zhao An, then tied up his dripping hair with a headscarf and ran out.
Qin Tong was unfamiliar with the place after coming to Zhaojia Village. He used to like going with the village children to gather firewood and cut pig feed. But ever since he was almost taken away and sold by Zhao Tongming’s family, and no one in the village helped, his relationship with the village children had become distant. When he learned that there was a boy of twelve or thirteen among the craftsmen who had come to the kiln, the two outsiders liked to play together all day.
Zhao An watched the lively and cheerful Qin Tong run off, shaking his head with a smile. It’s so good to be a carefree child.
Hai Bo, who had just come in from delivering meat to the kiln, shouted at Qin Tong’s back, telling him to run slower. He turned and saw Zhao An with scissors, about to prune the grapes, and wanted to help. Zhao An waved his hand. “We’re going to the city together later. You should go take a shower.”
Liu Hu’s ox-cart was loaded with the shower pipes and squatting pans, as well as two baskets of succulent grapes. There was no room for Zhao An and Hai Bo to sit, so they could only walk quickly alongside the cart.
Liu Hu had been going with Hai Bo and Liu Huan to buy grain for the past few days, making dozens of trips. He was tanned a shade darker and had become familiar with Hai Bo. He was a talkative person by nature, and as they walked, he started chatting with Hai Bo. “You know, our village has been buying grain in a high-profile manner for the past two days. If there’s really a famine, will we be targeted by other villages?”
Hai Bo broke off a banana leaf and fanned himself with it. He looked at Zhao An and said proudly, “That’s why the Eldest Young Master is so farsighted. He started training the militia early. No matter who comes, we won’t be afraid.”
“You say that, old man. If someone comes to rob us, of course we’re not afraid. But in the surrounding villages, everyone is related in some way. If they come to us for help, what should we do?” Liu Hu was originally smiling, but by the end, his face had turned bitter.
This was his own personal experience. Because his wife was from another village, his brother-in-law had come to his door the day before yesterday with his three-year-old daughter. He had waited from early morning until he returned home in the evening, just to borrow money and grain. The daughter had caught a cold, and her hands were cold even in the summer. The brother-in-law also said that his family was in difficulty, and half of the rice seedlings had been scorched to death. He didn’t know how they would survive the second half of the year. The big man had even shed tears.
Seeing his brother-in-law in such a pitiful state, and mainly because he had some spare cash recently, he had lent him three strings of cash to take his daughter to see a doctor. He also told him to pay it back when he had the money, which was basically giving him the money.
Thinking about it afterward, he felt regret on one hand, but on the other hand, he felt proud that he had the ability to help his relatives. His emotions were very complicated.
He brought it up during their idle chat to see Zhao An’s attitude, so his gaze was always on Zhao An.
Zhao An remained silent, but Hai Bo’s tone became firm. “Of course, each family takes care of its own relatives. If anyone lets the wolf into the house, the whole village will drive him and the person he brought in out together.”
Liu Hu was startled by Hai Bo’s suddenly stern tone. He thought to himself, This little old man is worthy of having been a servant in the Prime Minister’s residence. He speaks with such authority.
Just then, he heard Zhao An say, “If there’s a famine, our village will take out half of our stored grain and set up a congee shed on the outskirts of the county town. On one hand, it can help most of the famine victims. On the other hand, it can also lead the victims to the county town. The county town has the magistrate, yamen runners, and the county commandant has soldiers. As long as there’s still a bite to eat, there won’t be chaos.”
Zhao An said the same thing to Feng Shaoping. Seeing Feng Shaoping’s unhappy expression, he continued, “Don’t think I’m trying to divert the disaster. Relieving the famine is what the government should do in the first place.”
Because of his relationship with Hu Sheng, Zhao An knew Feng Shaoping well enough. He was the illegitimate son of County Magistrate Feng. The magistrate only let him manage some business matters and was very against him practicing martial arts, not knowing how formidable his son was. So Feng Shaoping didn’t have much respect for his father. For Hu Sheng’s sake, as long as he didn’t harm the county magistrate’s life, Feng Shaoping could be his ally.
Feng Shaoping nodded. “I definitely won’t let the county magistrate conceal the existence of the disaster victims for the sake of his political achievements. Besides, this time there’s not only a drought but also a military conflict. I’ll have people prepare in advance. You can rest assured.”
Feng Shaoping did not consider himself to be like Zhao Nanyu, who would treat the lives of hundreds of thousands of people as a game for the sake of promotion. He had actually wanted to go with Hu Sheng to ambush Zhao Nanyu, but for the sake of stability near Changxi town, he had chosen to stay. He naturally would not oppose Zhao An’s idea of relieving the disaster victims. Even if Zhao An was doing this to reduce the burden on Zhaojia Village, he still had to praise Zhao An for his profound righteousness, because disaster relief was originally the responsibility of the government.
Neither the famine victims nor the rogue soldiers had arrived yet. Feng Shaoping chatted casually with Zhao An for a few sentences. After the shower and squat toilet were installed, he immediately ran to try them out.
But Feng Shaoping’s experience was, “This shower of yours is still not practical. Families with servants don’t need it at all; a bathtub is very comfortable. For families without servants, this price is too expensive. But this squat toilet is not bad. It can flush away the filth at any time, much better than a chamber pot.”
This was the complete opposite of Zhao An’s feeling. He felt that the shower was quite good to use, at least cleaner than a bathtub. The squat toilet was far inferior to a flush toilet, but a flush toilet was much more complicated than a squat toilet and couldn’t be made for the time being.
When walking in the wild in the world of spiritual energy revival, the conditions were very harsh. Not to mention washing and hygiene, it was possible to not have a hot meal for ten days or half a month. But as long as one returned to the New City Base, the standard of living could almost return to before the cataclysm of spiritual energy revival.
So Zhao An had enjoyed modern technological products and could also endure hardship. It was just that no one would be willing to suffer if they had the choice. So, after he had money, he immediately had someone make a shower and a squat toilet. But the ancient people actually felt that manual labor was cheaper and better.
He thought about it and felt that it was still a problem of the ruling class. Ordinary people would definitely find his things useful, but they just didn’t have the money to enjoy them. So it seemed that selling this thing to the gentry and wealthy households was not yet feasible.
But Zhao An quickly thought of people who would be willing to buy these things. He looked up at Feng Shaoping and said, “What do you think about installing showers and squat toilets in Ruyi House?”
Besides the storefronts facing the street, Ruyi House also had a large backyard that could provide accommodation for passing merchants. Hu Sheng’s horse was kept in the stables that Ruyi House provided for its guests.
Changxi County had no waterway or dock, so there were not many passing merchants. However, it was close to the border of Jiaozhou, and the horse caravans traveling between Shuzhou and Jiaozhou would still come into the city to rest. The ordinary horsemen in the caravans could only sleep in large dormitories, but the managers would go to Ruyi House to take a comfortable bath and get a good night’s sleep.
Thinking of this, Feng Shaoping also felt that Zhao An’s idea was very good. “This shower of yours is indeed very suitable for an inn. How many sets do you have left?”
“Including the squatting pans, there are four sets of pipes left.” Speaking of business, Zhao An said to Feng Shaoping, “Excluding the several hundred liang of silver spent on building the kiln, the food, lodging, and wages for the workers cost me more than ten liang a month. And I’ve only managed to fire a few sets of shower pipes. If you want to buy them, the price for each set of shower and squatting pan cannot be less than fifteen liang of silver.”
Feng Shaoping clearly didn’t care about these dozens of liang of silver. He nodded readily. “I’ll go to Ruyi House with you and have a word with the manager. You just deliver the goods, and he’ll give you the money.”
When Manager Feng of Ruyi House heard Zhao An’s description of the shower and squat toilet, he also felt that it would be a good idea to install a special bathing and toilet area in the backyard. The guests would surely like it, and it could attract repeat customers. With Feng Shaoping’s endorsement, he directly gave Zhao An a deposit of thirty liang of silver in advance. He also had the two baskets of grapes weighed, which came out to one liang and two qian of silver for Zhao An.
Feng Shaoping saw the two baskets of succulent grapes, picked one, and put it in his mouth. The sweet taste had a slight sourness, and the flavor was very rich, better than any grape he had ever eaten before.
He couldn’t help but exclaim again, “The fruit grown in Young Master Zhao’s house is just better than that of ordinary people. I think we shouldn’t sell all of these grapes. Let’s keep one basket to make wine. It will surely make top-grade wine.”
When Manager Feng heard this, his expression immediately changed. Seeing that Zhao An was present, he didn’t dare to give Feng Shaoping too many hints and could only give him a look, indicating that Ruyi House had already thought of making wine.
In fact, from the basket of grapes Zhao An had brought over a month ago, they had selected the best ones to make wine. Now, over a month had passed, and the first jar of wine was already ready to drink. The bright red liquid in the white porcelain cup was stunning just by its color, not to mention the rich aroma and pure, sweet taste, which could captivate any wine lover.
Manager Feng had already decided to sell those wines at a high price. Even if they couldn’t be sold in Changxi County, he could transport them to the prefectural city or the capital to sell. So he didn’t want Zhao An to raise the price of the grapes because of this.
Zhao An had actually seen Manager Feng’s look. Because fruit wine was not under regulation, he had already kept a small portion of the grapes to make wine.
He knew that this high-quality wine could be sold at a high price, so he planned to give Manager Feng a little taste of sweetness first. After his own wine was sold out, he would privately discuss selling wine with him. At that time, he could ask for a good price.
