Great Tang Idyll

Chapter 116 Childhood Never Stays

"Er'niu, put that bundle of straw here. Put it on the snow." Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao'bao directed Er'niu and Xiao'hong to do things.

The job was to move the straw. Originally, the two of them also wanted to help, but the frightened Er'niu and Xiao'hong disagreed. What if the straw piles fell over?

There were four people: two of them moved their mouths, and two of them worked hard. While working, residents who were clearing the snow saw them and ten or so people rushed over. The people first respectfully said to Zhang Xiao'bao, "Young Master, what are you trying to do? Let us help you."

"Okay. We're making something that children will like playing with. Move the straw down. Follow our instructions." Zhang Xiao'bao said, pointing to the straw stacks.

With the participation of these people, the pace of the project Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan designed was accelerated. After two hours, a whole two mu of land was covered with a layer of straw, and on top of that were pairs of straw bales propped against each to form a triangular space with the ground.

These triangular spaces are lined up like a labyrinth. There are countless forks, and bundles of straw were deliberately placed beside some paths to create houses. On the side of other paths, there was a small space formed by four bales of straw.

The adults now understood that the Young Master and Young Miss wanted to crawl through the area. They did this when they were young too, but it was not so big and was only a few meters long.

"Good. Once the children are done with class, they can come here to play." Zhang Xiao'bao clapped both hands together and said happily.

Standing next to him, Wang Juan also admired this masterpiece and she thanked the residents. First she crawled through an entrance and she sat on the straws inside. She said to Zhang Xiao'bao across the 'wall':

"Xiao'bao, can we add some more fun things? Let's think, what do we like?"

Zhang Xiao'bao knew that Wang Juan meant to ask what they liked doing when they were younger. He stood there thinking for a while, "Go to the grocery store and grab some of the gadgets that we collected and put them in various passages, and let them find them. If they find them, they can keep them. Today is Little New Year, let them be happy."

"Okay, we should also get some food and wrap it in oiled paper. It is enough to just put a little bit in each package. Also, let Er'niu get some more straw bales later, and then bring over the small shovels that we made." Wang Juan added in.

At this time, Hu'zi, who went to find a dog, also came back. Zhang Xiao'bao explained how to prepare each part of the meat. Then, he also crawled through the straw and gauged the size of the space. He found that children would be able to crawl through the space, and finally felt satisfied.

"Xiao'bao, it's almost New Year. Would the Han family and the Yuan family make a move before this? Last time, the one named Han Wang'zhu didn't even tell the Magistrate what method they planned to use on us. If we could find out about it earlier, we could be more prepared. What should we do if they make a move in these few days?"

Looking outside, Wang Juan picked at the straw and asked Zhang Xiao'bao.

"Do they dare to? If they make a move in the days before and after the New Year, I will make them regret being born into this world. If they don't let me have a good New Year, I will make their days unliveable."

Zhang Xiao'bao found that the most annoying thing was people causing trouble during the New Year. Those who are looking for trouble at this time are the most immoral, and they don't want others to enjoy peace and quiet at the end of the year.

"Just give him a catty of fungus. Didn't someone give him money? Apart from giving him money, he won't appreciate us no matter what gifts we give him. He even asked people to look at the wharf today. The water there is already frozen, right? After the New Year, let's get people to start shaving the ice."

Zhang Xiao'bao was still very clear about this kind of human nature, otherwise he would not be able to scheme against him and make him fall into the water.

"It's frozen. It's been frozen from early on; much earlier than here. It's not that cold this year, but it's a bit windy. Did you forget that the ice at the wharf has been cleared a few times already? It's good enough that we have persisted for this long. We should stop. Clearing the ice has led to several boats breaking. It snowed last night, so probably no boats will come today, since they would fear being trapped by the ice and unable to go back."

Wang Juan spoke on the side. They just had to wait for two more days and they would be able to use the ice from the pool to make ice lanterns. The same could be done using the ice in the pond.

"Hmm, I forgot. It's a trivial thing, so I didn't think about it. For the past few days, I've been thinking about how to plot against others. They could live their days well, yet they chose to cause troubles for us. These people." Zhang Xiao'bao sighed.

Wang Juan suddenly laughed, "Now you find them troubling? When you conned others, why didn't you think that others planned to live a good life? Comrade Zhang Xiao'bao, double standards are not allowed. Who's fault is it that our life is too good, and others want their lives to be better, so they could only take from us.

If we want a stable life, then it's simple. We just need to hand over all of our methods, sell the wharf, and they won't cause us any trouble. You've been thinking about this for so many days, have you figured out how to plot against them? We can't always defend ourselves passively, we have to take the initiative to attack. "

"Didn't you say you won't let me con others? You're supporting me this time?"

"I won't let you deliberately con the common people, but they don't count. You can't con good people, but it's fine to con bad people. They're knocking on our door already. If we don't show them our true power, then it's a waste of your abilities."

Wang Juan directly labeled them as bad people.

Zhang Xiao'bao looked at Wang Juan's angry face and he laughed. He laid down on the grass, and said, "I came up with a few plans a long time ago. Some of them cannot be used though; the plans are too lethal, which is against the rules of the heavens. Originally, I planned to prepare an event for them during the New Years. But then I thought about it again. We should be more benevolent. Grievances should not be resolved during the New Year."

"Hmm, that's right. They are not on the same level as you at all. This is the power of knowledge accumulation. Then let's just watch them. If they don't do anything, then let's wait until after the New Year. We have great things to do. We shouldn't care about them right now. Petty people are not true gentlemen, and it's unmanly to be unbenevolent."

Wang Juan was most at ease with Zhang Xiao'bao in this regard. Zhang Xiao'bao's head was filled with all kinds of bad ideas. Not only was he a bad person, he was also a professional bad person. Only until they encounter some high-ranking officials from the Imperial Court, may they have real opponents.

The two chatted back and forth, changing positions from time to time. Otherwise, if they stayed in one place for a long time, the straw would become warm and the snow below would melt away.

Time passed without them realizing it, and the children finally got off school. Today was Little New Year, and there was no class in the afternoon. The children originally wanted to go home directly, but they were greeted by Xiao'hong and told to go to the field.

The children's minds were simple; they could be happy for the entire day with a little fun. When they came to the field, they saw the houses made of straw and the passages. They rushed over with loud hollars. From the side, Xiao'hong shouted,

"Don't rush, I still have something else to say. The Young Master and Young Miss are also inside. Be careful, don't hurt them. The master has prepared a lot of small things for you today; there's also food. They're all placed there. Go find it yourself. Whoever finds it gets to keep it. and these little shovels and baskets are also for you to play with."

As soon as the children heard that there were that many other good items, they shouted even louder. They ran over to get some small shovels and the like, and then got inside. There were four entrances. When looking at it from the outside, it was hard to tell how to navigate the passages. After getting in, it was dark inside, and only a slight bit of light could enter from the outside, making it more difficult for children to judge the direction.

This kind of mystery was also well liked by children. While crawling inside, they encountered a fork in the path. They could only see other people who were crawling from other places, and they would laugh or scare others when they met.

Some children hid on purpose, just so that others can't find them. There were fun items and food in there, making them feel that they can spend the night here, or even live in there forever.

Two or three little girls gathered together. Holding those small buckets and other things, they found a 'small house' next to them, and played in the house. Normally, when they played, they didn't have such "professional" tools, let alone really edible food. Now that they had ingredients, they were able to eat it after they were done with "cooking".

"It's good. Let's keep this place for a while. Wait until spring plowing comes before we demolish it. In fact, not only children, but adults are also willing to play this hide-and-seek like game. It's actually the mysterious intrigue of an unknown place, otherwise not many people would go on adventures.

This year, I must dig out various tunnels below. It can be used as cellars, and can also go from one place to another without being seen by outsiders. We can perhaps connect the manor to the Between The Water And Clouds? "

Seeing the children playing happily, Wang Juan also became interested. She hid at a fork in the passage and frightened the two other children. She laughed, and talked to Zhang Xiao'bao.

Zhang Xiao'bao recalled playing hide-and-seek with many of his brothers and sisters when the day began to turn a bit dark. He smiled and said, "Who knows how deep we would have to dig? The amount of work that needs to be done is not little. When those emperors died, the mausoleums that were build should be quite deep. We can ask others how these were dug, and then we will learn from them.

Wang Juan nodded, and headed forward, humming a tune. Zhang Xiao'bao composed the lyrics "On the snow by the pond, the child is hollering winter..."

Wang Juan crawled faster and seemed like she wanted to get away from Zhang Xiao'bao.