An instant noodle chain

Damn it! Should he open an instant noodle chain in another world?

Back in the Great Eastern Republic, an extra-large tub of Master Li Braised Beef Noodles cost three or four yuan at most wholesale, five yuan in an ordinary shop, and fifteen at the airport.

One tael of silver could buy fifty or sixty tubs wholesale, which worked out to twenty copper coins a tub.

Here, he could easily charge a tenth of a tael of silver. Five or six times the cost-a killing...

Gulp!

As he was thinking, a strange sound came from Zhan Dongwen, as though he were swallowing saliva. Tang Wen paused, then asked with a smile, "Do you want some too?"

"No, no, no. I don't, I don't." Zhan Dongwen clearly said one thing and meant another. Even as he spoke, his mouth was full of saliva.

"There are five people in your family. Take five packets." Tang Wen took out another five packets.

"No, no, I couldn't." Zhan Dongwen protested, but his hands were much more honest and accepted them.

"Haha, why stand on ceremony with me? Dongwen, your sister is my personal maid, but I've never really treated her as a servant. And I, Tang Wen, consider you a brother," Tang Wen said with a laugh.

"You think highly of my sister, Master. It's her good fortune to serve you. You saved my father and gave us clothes and food. You're our family's benefactor," Zhan Dongwen said, his face full of gratitude.

"All right, enough about that.

"Zhan Dong, send another two or three people to Yanling Commandery to ask about the war in the northwest.

"They should also find out about horse prices, grain and fodder prices, and things like that in Yanling Commandery," Tang Wen said.

"Why do you want to know all that, Master?" Zhan Dongwen asked, puzzled.

"We need to keep abreast of useful information. It'll help us. Just send someone to do it. Give him some silver to stay at an inn and make acquaintances," Tang Wen said.

"Isn't that spying?" Zhan Dongwen blurted out.

"They're scouts, not enemy spies! Why do you think the imperial court has its own secret agents? That's what they're for," Tang Wen said.

By a little after three that afternoon, several hundred tree trunks had been carried back.

Tang Wen personally directed the work, having the trunks sawed into five-meter lengths.

They stripped off the bark, poured cement into the holes they had dug, and set the trunks into the cement.

The trunks were all as thick as washbasins, with one set every five meters.

They worked until evening, setting every trunk into its hole. Once the cement dried tomorrow, they could attach the wire fencing.

They had not recruited a single worker that day, and Zhan Dongwen and the others were growing anxious.

Tang Wen was not anxious in the slightest. He was betting that the refugees could not hold out for more than a few days.

He paid the casual laborers who made up half of that day's workforce, but they exchanged all their wages for rice and went home carrying it, overjoyed.

At dusk, Zhan Junru led Tang Wen into a tent with a beaming smile.

One look inside left him stunned.

More than twenty women were busy making clothes, and his mother, Liu Qingmei, was working among them.

Zhan Junru's mother, Li Lanyue, was in charge of cutting the fabric. She had already cut a great pile of material, while the other women handled the sewing.

"I never expected your mother to be a tailor. She's very skilled," Tang Wen said with a smile.

"My mother used to work as a tailor. She was a master at it, too.

"More than half these twenty-odd women already knew how to make clothes at home.

"I'm teaching the few who don't. I'm sure they'll pick it up in just a few days," Zhan Junru said, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Master, the scissors you gave me are so useful. Otherwise, I could never have cut this much in a day," Li Lanyue said, raising the large scissors Tang Wen had given her. Naturally, the Great Chu Dynasty's metalworking techniques could not produce scissors of such quality.

"Mother, stop working. Don't wear yourself out," Tang Wen said, walking over to her.

"Nonsense. They're all working, so how could I sit idle? Wen'er, go attend to your proper business. Leave the clothes to us women," Liu Qingmei said.

"Master, we tried to stop the old madam from working, but she insisted on helping. Still, she's given us plenty of suggestions. The robes she suggested look much better," Zhan Junru said with a smile.

Of course. Just look at her background-a noble lady...

Tang Wen felt a little smug, then said, "From now on, Junru will be in charge of making clothes.

"After a while, we'll set up a clothing workshop. We won't just make clothes for ourselves.

"We'll sell them to others to earn money, too. Just follow her instructions."

"Thank you, Master." Zhan Junru immediately smiled and curtsied. This was practically Tang Wen granting her an official post.

"Junru, your most important duty is to make sure the master is comfortable.

"I'll take care of things here. You don't need to stay here all day.

"If we run short of fabric, I'll come ask you for more. Hurry along with the master," Li Lanyue said.

"Yes, Junru, just stay with the master. With your mother here, there's nothing to worry about. Come by for a look now and then," Liu Qingmei said.

"Old madam, I understand. I'll make the master feel good," Zhan Junru blurted out.

At once, quite a few women turned to look at her, their gazes rather odd.

Seeing their expressions, Zhan Junru suddenly realized what she had said, and her face flushed crimson.

Damn it, stop letting your minds run wild! I haven't done a thing! Seeing those looks, Tang Wen decided this was no place to linger and hurried away.

"It's almost dinnertime. I'll go attend to the master." Zhan Junru's face burned, and she hurried away too.

In a good mood that evening, Tang Wen drank half a jin of Erguotou.

Slightly tipsy, he called Zhan Dongwen, Zhao Du, and a few others to join him for a stroll along the lakeshore.

"Dongwen, look. How big was Crouching Dragon Lake originally?" Tang Wen asked, pointing at the remaining water, which covered only about a li.

"The places with water marks show its old boundaries. About seven or eight li, probably no more than ten at its largest," Zhan Dongwen said after looking around.

"Tell me, if we raised the dam downstream a little, wouldn't the lake become much bigger?" Tang Wen asked.

"Of course. The Tang family compound is still eight or nine meters above the lake's old high-water mark. We could raise the dam five or six meters, and the lake would cover fifteen or sixteen li," Zhan Dongwen said with a nod.

"No, no, no. We need to raise it higher.

"A height difference of about one meter between the Tang family compound and the lake will be enough.

"Once it's finished, Crouching Dragon Lake will stretch nearly twenty li, and we'll live right beside it.

"We'll stock it with fish. Every day, we can gaze at the clear water and watch the fish swim.

"Then we'll plant lotus roots and watch the lotus blossoms sway. How lovely that would be," Tang Wen said.

"If we raise it another ten meters, wouldn't the dam be over twenty meters high?

"Building something that tall out of stone won't be easy.

"It could collapse if we're not careful, and it'll be prone to leaks. That's far too difficult.

"We couldn't do it without several hundred thousand taels of silver. Where would we get that much money?" Zhao Du interjected.

"None of that is a problem. We'll take it slowly. Once we have enough workers, we'll start building the dam. This will be our biggest project on Su Mei Island," Tang Wen said with a smile.

As they spoke, Sun Ping quietly approached. "Master, I've learned some more information."

"What did you hear?" Tang Ling asked.

"A refugee named Liu Mu told me a few things. He said their mistress is called Gu Hanyan. Nobody knows where she came from, but she brought thirty or forty people with her.

"After choosing a place, she hired people to reclaim the abandoned fields and farm them.

"She's been here nearly a year. Later, others saw that she treated people well and joined the Gu Family.

"That brought their numbers to nearly two hundred.

"But they've suffered pirate attacks too.

"People get injured from time to time, and over thirty have died in the past six months.

"Recently, Gu Hanyan fell ill. She's very sick and seems close to death.

"The Gu Family has fallen into chaos, and the people under her are frightened and unsettled.

"Lately, they heard that a Master Tang had arrived, and quite a few wanted to come over to him.

"But some people have been speaking ill of Master Tang.

"They say Master Tang requires people to sell themselves into servitude, and that he'll seize their wives and daughters afterward. They also say he's buying people's loyalty.

"He'll give you a few sweet treats at first, then grow worse and worse until you're living a fate worse than death, and so on...

"For a while, the people the Gu Family recruited have been at sixes and sevens, with no idea what to do," Sun Ping said.

"They have more people than we do. This could be difficult," Zhan Dongwen said, knitting his brows.

"What's there to fear? Leave it to me. I'll take some men and crush the Gu Family," Zhao Du declared imperiously.

"Wait a little longer. Keep handing out porridge for a few more days, and add meat tomorrow!

"Once we've put up our wire fencing, we'll have a fortified camp and be safe.

"We'll be living comfortably. I'd like to see how many days the people the Gu Family recruited can hold out," Tang Wen said with a cold laugh.

"Yes. Once someone is willing to come over, the first will bring a second.

"The more people come over from the Gu Family, the fewer she'll have left.

"Then we can go to them and settle the matter of the fields," Zhan Dongwen said with a nod.

At half past eight that evening, Tang Wen returned to his tent, still tipsy.