Eat white sugar, become a provincial graduate

When the summer harvest ended, Magistrate Li Yi sent someone to deliver ten strings of cash to the Gu Family.

This was burial compensation.

Under the Code of Laws, a killer sentenced to pay with his life was charged ten taels of silver in burial compensation. If he did not pay with his life, he was charged twenty taels.

Wang Fugui was in custody, and paying with his life was only a matter of time, so the Gu Family could receive only ten strings of cash. This was compensation for personal injury in the early years of the Great Ming.

If they waited until the Great Ming Code came out the following year, the Gu Family would not receive even those ten strings of cash, because this provision would be abolished. The reasoning was roughly, "A heavy fine means no beating; a heavy beating means no fine."

The white sugar compound was complete. It stood not far from the river, making it convenient to fetch yellow-clay water.

Inside its high walls stood thirty-two simple thatched huts, one for each of Dayan Village's thirty-two households.

Specially made funnel-shaped earthenware filters, dedicated stoves, wooden buckets, firewood-everything was ready.

A well had also been dug in the courtyard, and a stone table and stone stools installed.

Sun Bing sat on a stone stool and said to Gu Zhengchen, who approached after finishing his inspection, "Everything has been prepared as you instructed. Is there anything else wrong?"

"That tree was only just transplanted. Pick a few fewer apricots, will you?" Gu Zhengchen sat down, glanced at Liang Fengyang picking little apricots, then asked Sun Bing, "Have you arranged the black sugar supply?"

Sun Bing nodded slightly. "That's all settled."

Gu Zhengchen took a sheet of paper from inside his robe, laid it on the table, and pushed it toward Sun Bing. "This is the process for making white sugar. How far you can take it depends on your own abilities."

Liang Fengyang spat out an apricot pit and hurried over to read the "secret recipe" with Sun Bing.

The flesh on Sun Bing's face trembled slightly. "Candidate Gu, you aren't playing a joke on me, are you? Just pouring in yellow-clay water will make white sugar?"

Liang Fengyang watched Gu Zhengchen get up to wreak havoc on the apricot tree, then looked back at the paper and said to Sun Bing, "Whatever Candidate Gu says can't be wrong. We have nothing else to do today. Let's make a batch of white sugar ourselves."

Sun Bing stood up. "I'll light the fire. You fetch the yellow-clay water."

Liang Fengyang glared. "Why should I fetch the yellow-clay water?"

Sun Bing patted his big belly. "If I go, aren't you afraid we still won't see any white sugar next year?"

"..."

With no choice, Liang Fengyang left the compound.

Boil the black sugar, let the thick sugar paste settle, apply the Yellow-Clay Decolorization Method, and wait.

The process was not complicated. It simply took time.

After cadging a meal at the Gu Family's home, Sun Bing and Liang Fengyang returned to the white sugar compound and finally saw the white sugar. Only then were they completely reassured. The paper recording the method was fed into the fire beneath the pot and burned. With something like this, it was best to leave nothing in writing.

"How do you plan to sell the white sugar?"

Gu Zhengchen asked as he watched Sun Bing and Liang Fengyang eating it.

Liang Fengyang chuckled. "How else? Send it to the shops and wait for people to buy it. We picked good locations for all our shops. One in Rencheng, for instance, is just a street away from the prefectural offices. There are plenty of wealthy households nearby."

Sun Bing clapped his fleshy hands, shaking off the white sugar, and told Gu Zhengchen, "Brother Gu, don't trouble yourself over business. We're old hands at trading. We're certain to make a fortune this time."

Gu Zhengchen bit into an apricot and asked calmly, "Then how do you plan to create a sensation, so that everyone in Rencheng, Jining City, Qufu, and the other cities knows about it within three days, all of Shandong within a month, and the entire Great Ming within six months?"

"Huh?"

Sun Bing's eyes widened.

Liang Fengyang's lips trembled a little.

Six months, and the entire Great Ming would know?

Was that possible?

Gu Zhengchen looked at Sun Bing. "Aren't you an old hand at trading? Surely you have a way?"

Sun Bing shook his head and hurriedly said, "That's impossible. No business could become known throughout the entire Great Ming. This is white sugar, a business, not a decree you can post on noticeboards to inform everyone."

Gu Zhengchen flicked the apricot pit into the air, then caught it in his palm. "Open a shop, wait for customers, and serve them passively. No advertising blanketing the skies and earth, no offline distribution and delivery-you don't even know to go door to door and pitch your goods. So this is the full extent of your business skills..."

Gulp.

Sun Bing was rather stunned. He did not understand what Gu Zhengchen was saying, but somehow it sounded profound.

Liang Fengyang looked at Gu Zhengchen and asked quietly, "Within six months, can you make the white sugar business known to everyone?"

The corner of Gu Zhengchen's mouth moved slightly. "Of course."

"Really?"

Sun Bing could hardly believe it.

Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly, his expression turning grave. "But before that, I must warn you: never be careless about anything involving the court. Whether it's land taxes or commercial taxes, there must not be the slightest shortfall. The court is currently implementing the grain steward system in Jiangnan, and it will surely spread elsewhere in the future. When that happens, you may well become Teng County's grain stewards. My advice is this: if you can avoid becoming a grain steward, then whatever you do, don't become one."

Sun Bing frowned slightly. "Why? Isn't it good to serve the court as a grain steward? I've heard that quite a few grain stewards in Jiangnan get to meet the emperor. That's an honor to last a lifetime."

Gu Zhengchen tapped the apricot pit against the table and said with a stern face, "Brother Sun, Brother Liang, there are some things I can't explain clearly. All I can say is, don't keep too much farmland in your families, and don't become grain stewards. For the next fifteen years, you must not forget these words!"

Sun Bing and Liang Fengyang exchanged a look. Although they did not understand Gu Zhengchen's intentions, they nodded in agreement.

Grain stewards were naturally chosen from wealthy households with extensive farmland. As long as they did not own much land, they would not become grain stewards.

If their families had money, they could buy more shops instead. Those would hold their value just as well.

Gu Zhengchen had no idea where Guo Huan, Guo Sanwan, was roaming about at that moment. Historical records of him were pitifully scarce, and their most somber passage concerned his death.

Many officials had died, taking wealthy grain-steward households along with them on the road to the grave.

Gu Zhengchen felt grateful to the Liang Family and the Sun Family. Naturally, he did not want them sunning themselves at the execution ground in the marketplace. Better to warn them early.

"Let these words rot in your bellies. Don't repeat them to outsiders."

Gu Zhengchen reminded them.

Sun Bing and Liang Fengyang naturally agreed.

Liang Fengyang asked, "Then how do we make the white sugar business known in every street and alley?"

Gu Zhengchen scooped up a little white sugar, then let it slip from his palm. He said softly, "That's simple. All you need is a name people will remember after hearing it once, and be willing to tell others. Listen-what do you think of this name...?"

Sun Bing and Liang Fengyang left full of admiration.

Large quantities of black sugar began arriving in Dayan Village. The villagers could make good use of their brief lull after the summer harvest. Considering white sugar's prospects, the Sun Family and the Liang Family also built white sugar workshops in their own courtyards.

The fifteenth day of the sixth month.

A product called "Juren White Sugar" appeared simultaneously in shops across five cities-Teng County, Zou County, Rencheng, Jining, and Qufu-accompanied by a gently moving tale:

In Teng County lived a scholar, poor and without support.

In a dream he learned to make white sugar, to honor his loving mother.

He ate white sugar before setting out, and returned a provincial graduate.

There was also a folk rhyme that children kept singing:

Eat white sugar, become a provincial graduate. Be recommended as Filial and Incorrupt, lift your spirits...

By linking white sugar to the Imperial Examinations, the Recommendation System, filial piety, and vitality, and catching the eye with the word "Juren," the product attracted wealthy households' attention the moment it appeared. They rushed to buy it. Seeing the wealthy lead the way, ordinary families scrimped on food and clothing, hoping to buy a little white sugar to display at home as a protective charm...