Chapter 2572 - 2546: Enlightenment

The small road going out from the East City Gate has already been completed and was officially opened for use two days ago, but it’s the first time Manbao and the others are taking it.

Once they exit the East City Gate, they head north, exactly the opposite direction of the Royal Villa. After a while, a very narrow path extends, formed by people and livestock walking between the ridges of fields, with a strip of green grass in the middle and muddy, uneven ground on either side, and beyond that are the ridges of fields.

Unless walking, riding a horse, or donkey, very few people take this route. Manbao and her companions have only taken it three times, and each time they try not to sit in the carriage, otherwise it could jostle you out pretty badly.

But now this road has been leveled and widened considerably. The ridges on both sides have been flattened, then filled with stones, and finally compacted with soil.

There are two lanes on either side, smaller than the official road, but it appears smooth and flat, very much soothing.

Manbao sits on the horse, feeling even more content as the breeze hits her, and she becomes more satisfied with this road, "Building the road was the right decision."

Bai Shan nods and gestures for her to look ahead, seeing farmers by the roadside with carrying poles, containing quite a few vegetables. Upon seeing the convoy, they are a bit scared and dare not move further, standing sideways at the edge of the road to wait for them to pass.

Today is the third day since the road opened, direct road construction forbids people and livestock from walking on it.

But they traveled it yesterday after they heard that entering the city through the East City Gate from here is particularly quick; after entering, it’s just past two districts to reach the East Market, where you can get a spot for two coins, and vegetables might sell for eighty to ninety coins.

If luck permits, they wouldn’t need to go to the East Market but wander through the two districts, selling to the Eastern and Xi Families bit by bit, not even needing to pay those two coins to sell all their vegetables.

Importantly, there’s no tax on vegetables entering through the East City Gate.

Of course, there’s no tax on vegetables entering the East City Gate; not only vegetables, fish, eggs, chickens, and ducks, too, there’s no taxation here. This is a recent order from County Magistrate Guo to attract more people through the East City Gate.

At least people from his Guo County must use the East City Gate.

As the County Magistrate of Guo, he has this little bit of authority.

No choice, Chang’an County is too bully. Obviously, both Guo County and Chang’an County are counties in the capital city, but because the Imperial City is assigned to Chang’an County, despite them being of the same rank, Tang He holds a slight advantage over him.

It’s especially annoying that not only does Chang’an County own the West City Gate, but also the South City Gate fully belongs to them, yet the territory inside the city is almost evenly split; why does Chang’an County get an entire extra section at the city gate?

Merchants prefer using the South City Gate.

The East City Gate is seldom used.

Now it’s better, he added a road, by any means he must attract more people, so County Magistrate Guo early on asked the Chief to spread the word in the villages, encouraging everyone to send chickens, ducks, fish, vegetables, fruits, and greens into the capital.

He wants his county’s people to be a bit braver, but they rarely see such nobility, such a convoy, suddenly encountering them on a deserted road, still freshly opened, they’re a bit timid.

After stopping, they hesitated whether to kneel or not.

Manbao curiously looked at them, and upon reaching them, she checked their carrying poles and asked, "Are these cherries grown at home or wild, are they sweet?"

The farmer was momentarily stunned and forgot to ponder whether to kneel or not, replying, "In response to the lady, these are from the fruit tree in our backyard, I can’t say they’re sweet, but certainly not excessively sour."

He dared not claim they were very sweet.

Upon hearing this, Manbao immediately asked, "How much for a pound?"

When it comes to pricing, the farmer didn’t seem as nervous, grinned and said, "Fifteen coins per pound."

More expensive than meat, huh.

Manbao took a glance, still found them quite appealing, and said, "Give me... can I taste one first, if they’re delicious, I’ll buy them all."

The farmer immediately picked a large, vibrant red one for her, looking at her with anticipation.

Manbao bit into it, found it a bit sour, but much better than the wild cherries from their village’s mountain, so she waved a big hand and said, "I’ll buy them all."

Anyway, there are plenty of people today, not worried about not finishing them.

Hearing this, the farmer was very happy, immediately put down the pole and borrowed a weight scale from the people nearby to weigh.

Indeed, they shared a single scale, and it wasn’t even theirs, borrowed from the village head, and every time they borrowed it, they gave him two eggs.

After measuring, he quickly reported the weight, "Three pounds and nine ounces..."

He smiled simplistically at Manbao, "Lady, I’ll round off one ounce for you, let’s just count it as three and a half pounds."

That’s how they deal with vegetables, halves simplify calculation, more or less becomes complicated, so they round down if excess, and add if short.

Then he took out a large leaf to wrap the cherries for Manbao and squatted down to calculate how much three and a half pounds would cost by counting on his fingers.

Manbao stood there waiting.

After waiting for a long time, she found that after calculating the third pound he got stuck, wiping some sweat from his brow and continued calculating, even pulling in people around.

Indeed, they were in a bind.

They seldom sell things, if it weren’t for the Chief repeatedly saying that spring is here, vegetables grow fast in the field, people in the city lack vegetables, and now the fields are temporarily drought-stricken, unable to plant, plus the East City Gate now doesn’t charge for bringing veggies into the city, otherwise, they wouldn’t dare boldly send vegetables to the city.

But a pound of vegetables is two to three coins, rarely does anyone buy more than ten coins’ worth; for these cherries, people buy one or two ounces, and suddenly someone wants a whole batch, the farmer feels anxious.

Seeing he couldn’t figure it out, Manbao squatted down to help him count, "One pound is fifteen coins, then two pounds are thirty coins, three pounds are forty-five coins..."

The farmer looked at her blankly.

Manbao then took out a string of coins, split it open, counted fifteen coins, and placed them in his hand, "This is one pound."

Counted another fifteen coins and put them in his hand, "This is one pound..."

Everyone gathered around to watch, even Changyu and Mingda couldn’t resist getting off the carriage to join in observing.

Manbao counted another fifteen coins and placed them in his hand, "This is one pound."

The farmer said, "That’s three pounds."

Manbao nodded.

Then she counted another fifteen coins and placed them in his other hand, saying, "This is the fourth pound, but you only have half a pound, so the money needs to be split in half, you get one, I get one..."

Manbao placed one coin in another person’s hand, then put one in her own hand, stopping at the eighth coin, exactly in the other person’s hand.

She smiled, "This is half."

The other person squinted a bit, "Lady, how come you didn’t give the eighth coin?"

Manbao smiled, "Half of fifteen coins is seven and a half coins, you gave me one ounce, I am giving you half a coin, overall you actually gave me more."

The farmer was momentarily stunned, collected the money, respectfully saluted Zhou Man, and retreated with others to the side, waiting for them to leave before carrying his pole away.

Manbao handed the cherries to Mingda, smiling, "This stuff is sweet and tangy, refreshing, you can have some."

Mingda nodded with a smile and handed them to Changyu, who hugged them happily, getting onto the carriage together.

Manbao mounted her horse and said to Bai Shan, "County Magistrate Guo might teach the Chiefs to show villagers how to count a bit."

Bai Shan also nodded, "Education shouldn’t be limited to morals."