xymnovel Chapter 29 Abacus
Chapter 29 Abacus
Pei Huan didn't have a surname, but after coming to the Shen family, she took the surname Shen.
The life I've been experiencing these past few days is something I've only ever experienced when my parents were still alive when I was a child.
Although both involve serving others, the difference between the Prince's mansion and here is stark. When she was a rough maid, she was often beaten and had to endure the cold words of others.
At the Shen family home, the old woman didn't seem to let them do much work. She did everything herself, even getting up earlier than them to fetch water from the well and fill the water vat...
This made her very upset. As a servant, not being needed meant that death was not far away.
From then on, a rule was established: every morning, the water tank in the house had to be completely filled, and all the chickens had to be fed, so that all the chores could be done early and the old woman would have nothing to do...
Shen Peihuan stood inside the door, glancing outwards every now and then. When the street-cleaning drum sounded, she became anxious. Her master had been summoned by the censor last night and hadn't returned all night. It was already dark and he still hadn't come back, which wasn't like him.
Only when the rapid sound of horses' hooves rang out did her soul return to its place.
Shen Ce dismounted and tossed the reins to a servant. He saw Pei Huan, who had been inside the inner quarters, standing at the door. He laughed and said, "I went to investigate a case, not to be arrested by that bastard."
Pei Huan covered her mouth and chuckled, "It was the old lady who was worried about you and told me to wait here. I'll go back and report right away." She turned and swayed as she went back to the second gate.
He had barely slept a wink the night before, and his mind had been strained these past two days. He was too exhausted to do anything more and quickly called out, "Tell Mother I'm tired. I'll go see her tomorrow."
After passing the screen wall, they saw the nonchalant Shen Wang. After giving him a death stare, Shen Wang obediently followed behind Shen Ce: "Kill all the roosters in the house tonight."
"Kill them all?"
"Here's another string of cash. Go buy all the roosters from the neighbor's house and kill them too."
"Is the eldest brother treating everyone?"
"Brother, I want to sleep. Keep an eye on Xiaoman. If you dare to wake me up, I'll arrange for you to sleep in the room next to Mother's."
The teenager was full of energy, and Shen Liushi nagged him incessantly all day long. There was no way to stop him, so he would go to the West Market whenever he had free time, and he wouldn't come home until the drums were blaring.
Hearing his elder brother use this to threaten him, he jumped three feet high and grabbed a servant beside him, heading towards the door. He couldn't tell the difference between male and female and was afraid of being deceived.
Lying on the bed, Shen Ce felt that things were too difficult. He had only been in the Tang Dynasty for a little over ten days, but he had experienced too many things and worked with legendary figures, none of whom were easy to get along with.
In his sleep, Wei Zheng grabbed his collar, spitting as he demanded, "Tell me, why does everyone favor you? What did you do at Xuanwu Gate?"
Just as he was about to spout nonsense, a soft "Brother" brought him back to reality: "Big brother, Mother is calling you for breakfast."
In the side room, a family of four...
Shen Wang was quite capable; all the roosters in the house were on the dining table, and even the servants could get a chicken leg.
Shen Ce looked at the sky outside the window and shook his head. During the meal, he couldn't help but persuade his mother, "Mother, your son has already become an official and has received rewards from the Crown Prince. Our family doesn't need to eat twice a day anymore."
"That's right, that's right," Shen Wang chimed in.
Madam Shen Liu snorted coldly, slammed her chopsticks on the bowl, and said to Shen Wang, "What? Can't you shut up even while eating chicken? Can you even write the character for 'chicken'? I'll find a teacher to test you in a bit."
In despair, Shen Wang quickly looked at Pei Huan, begging him to teach him.
When Shen Liu turned to Shen Ce, her expression changed, and she said softly, "There are so many servants in the family, and they are all on contract. It costs a lot of money every year. If we run out of money, how can we expect them to be well off if we let them go?"
He frowned and said, "When any family buys servants, it's a dead contract. They take their servants out to work and earn money for their masters to spend. But what we do is kill a chicken for our servants to eat."
Upon hearing this, the servants moved with lightning speed, quickly devouring the meat in their bowls, as if afraid their master might change his mind.
Still not satisfied, Madam Shen poked Shen Wang on the forehead with a finger: "You idiot, do you even know how to sell the chicken? Your brother said to kill it, so you've already killed it. You have no conscience at all."
Shen Ce understood what his mother meant. Having been poor before, he suddenly moved to the city and faced so many expenses every day. With no long-term source of income, he naturally had to plan for the future.
One cannot only think about the people; one must get rich first so that others can benefit from it. This is the so-called "the rich leading the poor."
Without further ado, he finished his meal in a few bites and then had Pei Huan gather the servants together.
Although the Tang Code forbade officials from entering the market, this only applied to the officials themselves. It was common for them to find a servant or steward to act as a front and do business for their masters. As long as they kept it discreet and didn't let the common people know, the emperor would turn a blind eye. After all, if they didn't make money through business, the nobles would focus their attention on the power they held. The emperor could tell which was more important.
Servants are forbidden from telling their masters anything. If something happens, they are told that the servant did it without the master's knowledge and that the master knew nothing about it. After the deed is done, the servant is beaten to death and a new person is put in charge. Servants are eager to be this kind of front man... This has been the case throughout history.
The servants in the household were all freed women from the palace, and most of them were redundant personnel around Li Yuan, including a few clerks.
Shen Ce didn't have Fang Xuanling's high official position, so he couldn't refuse the servants sent by Li Er. He could openly and honestly do business. Compared to other serious crimes, the great Crown Prince probably wouldn't care about something like doing business.
Shen Ce stood in front of the crowd and said loudly, "I am going to do some woodworking. Does anyone among you know how to carpent? If you are willing, step forward. I will not go outside to look for someone."
The servant standing at the very edge craned his neck to look to the side. Seeing that no one came out, he boldly took a step forward and whispered, "My lord, I used to work as a steward in the palace, responsible for repairing doors and windows. I wonder if you would consider these skills?"
Without a word, Shen Ce announced in front of everyone that the allowance would be doubled, "You're the one." He then turned around and selected a manager who had worked in purchasing from among the crowd, and called them to his study.
Without any prior preparation, Shen Ce picked up a charcoal pencil and began to draw: a hardwood square frame, 12 inches long, 5 inches wide, and 3 fen thick, with a horizontal beam in the upper middle. Nine small holes were drilled along the length of the frame, and copper skewers were inserted into them. The top and bottom ends were fixed to the two sides of the frame. Each skewer was threaded with seven flat beads, two on the beam and five below the beam.
That's right, it's an abacus.
A few days ago, I saw the clerks doing arithmetic, using small wooden sticks to arrange some random shapes on the table... that is, counting rods. That made me realize that the abacus did not exist in the Tang Dynasty.
The carpenter's eyes lit up as he looked at the pattern on the yellow paper, and he quickly said, "My lord, I can make this."
Shen Ce glanced at him: "Nonsense, you can do it after seeing it once, and any other carpenter can do it after seeing it once."
The steward in charge of procurement in the palace, who frequently dealt with numbers, looked at the illustration, pondered for a moment, and exclaimed in surprise, "Could this also be a counting rod?"