Chapter 104: Potatoes

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The vegetable greenhouses in the fields could not yet be dismantled. Though the chives could no longer be sold before the New Year, they would still produce another crop during the early spring chill after the New Year. By then, the farmers would naturally not yet have fresh vegetables of their own, and the Zhou family could sell some more and earn a little silver.

Thus, Old Zhou Tie was delighted to go to the vegetable greenhouses every day to watch over them. Yet when it came time to eat, he returned home without fail.

He had recently developed a new habit at mealtimes. Every day, he insisted that his wife, Madam He, fill a large bowl with yellow millet and pumpkin porridge, then cover it with a layer of pork stewed with cabbage. With a steamed bun made from fine white flour in hand, he would squat by the roadside to eat, no matter how cold the weather was.

He quickly finished the pumpkin porridge and cabbage, but the strips of fatty pork were always picked over and left behind. As for the white-flour bun, after taking one or two bites, he could no longer bear to eat it.

Whenever a neighbor happened to see Zhou Tie eating, he was beside himself with delight. If he squatted at the street corner for a long while without anyone noticing him, he became thoroughly dejected.

After Madam He had tried several times to persuade him to stop, to no avail, she simply let him be.

Zhou Zhi understood his father’s thoughts. After years of hardship, the family had finally begun to prosper, and he felt compelled to show off before everyone. It was only natural. Country folk seemed to suffer from this sort of twisted vanity.

Zhou Zhi thought to himself that the Zhou family’s good fortune would not end here. In time, they would become even wealthier. Heh. Everything would turn out well; it simply had to happen little by little.

After spending a cheerful New Year, Zhou Zhi went to the home of the old licentiate Wang Ding on the third day of the first lunar month to seek instruction in the eight-legged essay.

Wang Ding did not hold anything back. He began with the very basics, teaching Zhou Zhi how to break open a topic, establish its meaning, and so forth. Though he was merely an old licentiate, he had studied the eight-legged essay extensively.

Every day, Zhou Zhi gained much from Wang Ding’s instruction.

After a month of this, he had grasped several of the secrets of composing eight-legged essays. To speak on behalf of the sages, one had to understand their thoughts deeply and thoroughly, and truly write from the sages’ point of view.

In truth, the hardest part of an eight-legged essay was breaking open the topic. If the topic was handled well, the framework and thread of the entire essay would become clear. Zhou Zhi also combined these lessons with the techniques Xu Jing had taught him, integrating them into a whole. In this way, he gradually seemed to develop his own approach to breaking open a topic.

Seeing Zhou Zhi improve day by day, Wang Ding was even more delighted. After a month, he felt that he had almost nothing left to teach him. Of course, Zhou Zhi was still unable to produce an eight-legged essay that could truly pass muster. He would need to comprehend and ponder the art on his own, and read many more books.

In the second month, the village school reopened. Wang Ding went there to teach, and Zhou Zhi no longer visited his home for instruction.

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During the first lunar month, Old Zhou Tie went alone to the market town and sold chives for several days. Although the price was not as high as it had been before the New Year, he still managed to earn some silver.

Zhou Tie now placed excessive importance on Zhou Zhi’s studies. He scarcely allowed Zhou Zhi to take part in any labor, insisting that he devote himself entirely to reading.

As conditions at home improved, Zhou Zhi likewise put more of his mind toward his studies. His memory had long since become extraordinarily powerful, and the books he was reading now required little memorization. As a result, his reading speed grew faster and faster.

He visited Lu Xingchuan’s home once more and returned every book he had borrowed before. This time, he borrowed more collected commentaries, as well as works of history and the classics, including the Records of the Grand Historian. He had read it in a later age, so there was no harm in reading it once again as a review.

He also borrowed several collections of contemporary essays. Now that he had begun learning to compose eight-legged essays, he had to read many examples and master a wider range of techniques. It was much like studying composition in a later age, when one had to read a great many model essays for reference.

It was the eleventh day of the second lunar month. Zhou Zhi was at home reading and practicing his calligraphy when Wang Qi, the village headman, suddenly came to the door.

Ever since Zhou Zhi had given him a thorough beating, the man had stopped coming to the Zhou family every ten days to inspect the government horse. In any case, the Zhou family had the village chief’s protection. Even if something happened to the horse, there was nothing Wang Qi could do.

The moment Wang Qi saw Zhou Zhi, his face took on an ingratiating expression.

“Brother Zhou Zhi,” he said with a smile, “I haven’t come today to inspect the government horse. I have something to convey to your family.”

After addressing Zhou Zhi as “brother,” Wang Qi’s heart began to pound. Only the village chief and Zhou Zhi normally called each other brothers. A lowly village headman like him was clearly flattering himself by using the same form of address. Yet if he did not call Zhou Zhi that, he truly had no idea what else to call him.

Zhou Zhi obviously did not mind. He smiled faintly. “Please speak, Headman Wang.”

He had already taught Wang Qi a lesson and made him understand his own strength, so there was no need to treat him coldly anymore.

Seeing the smile on Zhou Zhi’s face, Wang Qi was overjoyed and hurriedly said, “Brother Zhou Zhi, it is like this. The imperial court sympathizes with the many hardships of the people’s labor and has their welfare at heart. It has introduced something called the potato from the Jiangnan region and is now distributing it among the villages. Every ten acres of farmland must receive five pounds to plant.

“The court is taking this matter very seriously. The authorities have been ordered to deliver potatoes to every village and notify every household. That is why I am going from door to door.

“I originally intended to bring your family’s share here, Brother Zhou Zhi, but the yamen runners would not allow it. I must therefore trouble you to go to Gaochang Town and collect it yourself.”

Zhou Zhi paused in surprise. Potatoes had finally appeared. He had not expected them to arrive at precisely this moment, just after his transmigration. They were an excellent crop—useful both as food and as something to fill one’s belly.

He immediately nodded. “All right! I’ll go collect them now!”

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Wang Qi nodded repeatedly, bowing and scraping as he smiled at Zhou Zhi once more. Only then did he take his leave.

As soon as Wang Qi had departed, Old Zhou Tie returned home from the vegetable greenhouses in the fields. The moment he saw Zhou Zhi, he hurriedly asked, “Little Zhi, what sort of thing is this potato? Why is the government forcing us to plant it?”

He had clearly come to regard Zhou Zhi as someone who knew everything under the sun.

Zhou Zhi was naturally well aware of the potato’s importance, but it was not yet convenient to tell his father too much. Thus he said, “Since the government is ordering us to plant it, it must surely be a good thing. Father, I’ll go collect it now!”

With that, Zhou Zhi strode out of the courtyard.

Behind him, Zhou Tie shouted, “Little Zhi, how can you go? Your father should handle this sort of thing. You ought to stay home and study!”

“A trip to town won’t delay me for long!” Zhou Zhi called back, already some distance away.

Many families in White Peak Village had already received Wang Qi’s notification. At that moment, groups of villagers were leaving the settlement amid lively discussion, streaming along the straight official road toward Gaochang Town.

Because potatoes had already been successfully cultivated on a large scale in the south, the Hongzhi Emperor attached great importance to promoting their cultivation in the north. Grand Secretary Xu Pu and Minister of Revenue Ye Qi had taken personal charge of the matter, issuing strict orders that every prefecture and county in the north distribute potatoes into the hands of ordinary households.

With the imperial court taking the matter so seriously, the Qingdu County government naturally dared not be negligent. It transported more than ten thousand pounds of potatoes to Gaochang Town.

Zhou Zhi soon reached Gaochang Town with the others. By then, village headmen, village chiefs, clan elders, and other local officials from every direction were already distributing the potatoes according to each household’s acreage. Even Lu Xingchuan, who was generally none too enthusiastic about matters concerning the village, was among them.

Zhou Zhi stepped forward and greeted Lu Xingchuan. With Lu Xingchuan’s assistance, he quickly received the potatoes allotted to his family.

The Zhou family had eight acres of farmland, so they could receive only four pounds of potatoes.

As he weighed the cloth sack filled with potatoes in his hand, Zhou Zhi watched the villagers eagerly claim theirs and thought to himself: If these potatoes are planted now, they can be harvested in the sixth month. If another crop is planted in the eighth month, it can be harvested again in the eleventh. By that reckoning, two crops can be grown in a single year. Though the amount of seed distributed now is small, by the eleventh month the potatoes produced throughout Qingdu County will probably be abundant beyond measure.

At the thought, a pleased smile unconsciously touched Zhou Zhi’s lips, and his eyes shone ever more brightly.

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