Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 139 Become famous
The teahouse was packed with people.

Liu Si Niang finally managed to squeeze into the teahouse with her second brother, and was then placed in a small suite.

A moment later, Liu Erlang secretly brought over hot tea and a small clay stove. The Liu family servant placed persimmons, chestnuts, and a few small red fruits on the table.

Liu Si Niang often went out with her second brother, but this was the first time she had come to such a lively place.

"Don't go out," Liu Erlang said. "I'll come and take you home when I'm done with my work."

Liu Si Niang nodded.

Even with the suite door closed, you could still hear the lively sounds outside.

Suddenly, something called a tabloid appeared in Daming Prefecture. Scholars, needless to say, bought a copy to read, while illiterate people listened to the water sellers talking about it in the streets and alleys.

The water sellers would walk a short distance and talk a bit, and soon a group of teenagers would follow them. Some even volunteered to help sell water in order to hear the stories written in the tabloids.

"The most interesting thing is that I watched several children pushing a cart in front of him, while the water vendor was behind him reading a newspaper. He probably didn't recognize many of the words, so he just pretended to know them."

“But the children wouldn’t let him go and kept telling him until he finished speaking.”

"This is only because it's a tabloid distributed by Shuntongshuipu; otherwise, it wouldn't sell so quickly."

“That’s right, the tabloid has already been taken out of Daming Prefecture.”

"How so? Tell me quickly."

"Those people who sell the face wash soup also sell the tabloids to passing customers and merchants."

They were having a great time talking when someone called for a waiter.

"Add a few pieces of charcoal."

The shop assistant was running around and was even stopped by someone who asked, "Is this the charcoal from Shuntong Water Shop?"

“Yes,” the shopkeeper laughed, “besides his shop, there’s no other shop in Daming Prefecture that sells lotus root charcoal… Buddhist charcoal.”

"The articles in this tabloid are quite interesting."

Liu Si Niang listened to the conversation at the table outside. The people at the table were all her second brother's friends. There were seven or eight people at the table, and six of them were studying at the prefectural school.

"I heard that Liu Erlang already knew about this matter?"

Liu Erlang smiled and said, "I saw it at Brother Tong's place before. I thought it was a good idea and helped read a few articles, but I wasn't of much help."

"Brother Tianjue is too modest. We didn't hear a word about it before the tabloids came out, but Brother Tong was able to invite Brother Tianjue to come and help. This shows that he recognizes Brother Tianjue's great talent."

Who was Tong Zixu? He was exceptionally talented and arrogant, preferring to stay in seclusion and teach a group of children rather than accept a recommendation for an official position. Just the fact that he could freely enter and leave the Prince's residence was something that others could not match.

"Brother Tianjue, tell me again, who wrote this masthead?"

Liu Erlang shook his head repeatedly: "I don't know about this, it was all brought by Brother Tong."

Everyone fell silent for a moment, and the group looked at each other.

Finally, someone who couldn't figure out what was going on asked, "What kind of riddle are you playing?"

Liu Erlang waved his hand: "Let's not talk about things we don't understand. Let's have some tea." Some people and some things shouldn't be easily involved. Besides, he also felt that it was just a small newspaper, and Tong Zixu shouldn't have that much influence to invite Wang Yan to personally write an inscription.

As they were talking, the storyteller from the teahouse arrived. This time, he didn't say anything else; what he was holding in his hand was today's tabloid.

We've all gathered here to hear the storyteller tell this story.

Seeing it yourself is one thing, but hearing it from someone else is another. And those who haven't read the whole tabloid are also gathered here to hear it all clearly.

The storyteller on the other side talked for a while.

The people at Liu Erlang's table started whispering again: "Have you seen the news about the hired workers?"

"One hundred coins a day."

"Just for this reason, we should go and see Baode Temple. Baode Temple's method of providing Buddhist charcoal makes it worthy of being the number one temple in Daming Prefecture."

Liu Erlang nodded in agreement: "We have to thank Madam Xie for this matter. When the main hall of Baode Temple caught fire and there was no money to rebuild it, Madam Xie made the matter of the burning of Buddhist charcoal public."

One of the people at the table couldn't help but ask, "This is a good thing, so why is the abbot of Baode Temple unwilling to say it?"

Liu Erlang drew a circle on the table. At first, no one understood, but after looking closely and exchanging glances, someone silently uttered a single word: "Earth."

In recent years, Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries have acquired a great deal of land.

Especially famous ancient temples expand year after year, and the monks' waists get thicker and thicker as a result.

"I see."

"Madam Xie persuaded the abbot to sell the broken coal from the back mountain. This would allow the people to earn some wages and support the monks in the temple. If they didn't have enough money, the monks could work in the mines."

“There are dozens of refugees in the temple who are doing this now. They will pay anyone who is willing to work hard.”

Upon hearing this, someone exclaimed, "Wonderful! Isn't this exactly what Fan Zhongyan meant when he said: 'Summon the people to serve, and then provide relief'? If Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries can do this, it must be a great act of merit."

"Who says it isn't?"

"We can go to the temple tomorrow to donate incense money and buy some more charcoal."

"Incense money is fine, but charcoal for Buddha... is not necessarily available," Liu Erlang pointed outside, "Today, the Shuntong Water Shop is packed with people, all buying charcoal for Buddha."

When the tabloid came out, people who had never paid attention to lotus root charcoal before heard that it was called Buddha charcoal and wanted to buy it to take a look.

It doesn't matter if you look at it.

The more people gather, the more people gather.

No one expected that, two days before New Year's Day, the best-selling item in Daming Prefecture would be Buddhist charcoal.

"The price of Buddhist charcoal is so high..."

"Three coins per pound."

"Still three coins a pound?" someone exclaimed. "This Madam Xie is truly a heroine among women."

This woman's life story is also quite extraordinary.

If she weren't a woman, they would definitely have invited her out to get to know her better.

In the corner of the table, a man in worn-out clothes sighed.

"Brother Shangying, why do you sigh?"

Zuo Shangying came from a poor family and knew about the Buddha Charcoal earlier than others.

"To be honest, if it weren't for someone selling lotus root charcoal this year, I probably wouldn't have made it through the winter," Zuo Shangying said. "When someone was selling lotus root charcoal, I was desperate and thought of buying it to try. Charcoal in the city is really too expensive, and the straw and firewood at home are almost gone."

"Everyone says that crushed stone charcoal is poisonous, but I don't care anymore. I didn't expect that lotus root charcoal would be so useful. It is thanks to this lotus root charcoal that I was able to continue reading and writing."

Liu Erlang said, "Since lotus root charcoal has such benefits, and everyone uses it now, why is Brother Shangying so worried? Are you afraid that the price of lotus root charcoal will rise?"

Zuo Shangying shook her head: "I'm afraid... if something is too good, it will attract unwanted attention. Madam Xie is very thoughtful about the lotus root charcoal, but she may not be a match for those people."

Zuo Shangying coughed twice as he spoke. Everyone was talking about the tabloids, hearing about the famous Fotan coal mine, and seeing only the good things. They didn't know that the Yang family and the Xie family had recently gotten into a case over the purchase of a coal mine.

Can those merchants and wealthy gentry in Daming Prefecture really stay out of it?
These words silenced everyone.

Liu Erlang frowned and said, "It shouldn't be."

Zuo Shangying said, "I hope so too."

Just then, the storyteller got to the exciting part of the story, which was the story of "The Buddhist Master's Journey to the West" from the tabloid.

Liu Si Niang sat back down in her chair and took a sip of tea. What that person said earlier was right; it seemed that obtaining this "scripture" wouldn't be so easy.

……

The patrol and inspection office.

Chen Ju looked anxiously at He Tan and Wang Hechun inside the room.

"My lords, please think of a solution quickly. The county government will send the official document to Yong'an Ward first thing tomorrow morning."

"They say it's for the people of Daming Prefecture, but this is just blatant robbery."

(End of this chapter)