Marketplace offerings were good, Zhu Mo bought a few more small dishes and walked to the small courtyard on foot.
As soon as he reached the fork, he immediately sensed something was wrong—
Around the small courtyard, both far and near, more vendors of unknown origin had appeared.
Everyone was as before, doing what they should be doing. Ordinary people wouldn't notice anything amiss. But if one looked closely, they would discover that these people were subtly different from ordinary citizens.
Zhu Mo was extremely familiar with this feeling, and it carried a strange sense of closeness.
...
With a creak,
The long-lost small courtyard opened.
A familiar, home-like aroma wafted towards him.
But at the same time,
Zhu Mo's vision blurred, and he saw two people already seated at the stone table.
"Haha, Young Master Zhu, Scholar Zhu, we've finally been waiting for you..."
The old Daoist from Feixuan Palace, with his weathered and stern face, was filled with sincere smiles, which immediately stirred a sense of gratitude in Zhu Mo—
These two friends, separated by age, had truly come to see him at the earliest opportunity!
Having journeyed a long way and weathered great storms,
Zhu Mo felt somewhat tired and a little frightened. Returning to his own small abode, his heart was at its most vulnerable. And at this moment, reliable friends appeared! A stream of warmth surged within him...
"Old Daoist, Old Li, have you been waiting long? You didn't say anything beforehand, so I could prepare..."
Li San said with a smile, "Well, we've been waiting since noon until now... And you, don't bother preparing, we're not going to be polite with you! Hehehe..."
Hahaha,
The three of them laughed together, each forgetting all their worries.
In the small courtyard,
The atmosphere suddenly became extraordinarily warm and deeply moving.
...
Zhu Mo, as usual, roasted fish and stir-fried three bowls of spinach with fermented black beans.
The difference was that this time he used salt from his own salt fields.
The old Daoist was particularly relaxed in the small courtyard. After taking three mouthfuls of fried rice and a bite of roasted fish, he froze after chewing a few times.
Li San, seeing this, also found it strange. He then licked his lips and also felt that the small dishes today were a bit different.
The old Daoist suddenly said to Li San, "Is it the salt?"
"Mm, it's the salt..."
"Why is it so flavorful?"
"Yes, why is it so flavorful?! And it's especially uniform, with no杂味 (záwèi - miscellaneous tastes) in the mouth..."
As the two looked at each other, they simultaneously thought—
Even the tribute rock salt from the palace did not have such a taste!
Zhu Mo laughed and said, "My two elder brothers, my trip to Jiangnan was not in vain. Look, I've prepared gifts for you! Here, it's this, salt!"
With a snap,
Zhu Mo placed two bags of salt on the table, each weighing three catties.
"Take them back and try them. As people age, appetite is most important. With this, you can eat a few more mouthfuls, right?"
Mm-hmm,
Mm,
The two saw the fine white uniform particles flashing with a white light, and they couldn't help but nod together.
Such quality truly overshadowed all three kinds of tribute salt.
Li San laughed, "This gift is wonderful! Truly wonderful! It's rare that Young Master still remembers us two old fellows..."
"Yes, rare, so rare..."
The old Daoist seemed deeply touched, but he hesitated to speak further.
Zhu Mo was used to it and served the two some stir-fried broad beans. He himself was also hungry and, after a few quick bites, finished a small bowl.
This meal, with the new salt, was incredibly appetizing. It was the first time he had eaten heartily since arriving in the Great Ming. He couldn't help but wipe his mouth and sigh:
"If only everyone in the world could eat this salt... This trip to Jiangnan, I didn't gain anything else, but I did get this little goal..."
The old Daoist and Li San were immediately startled—
This?
A small goal?
You call this a small, small goal?
Although the aspiration is good,
How could it be achieved?
Such high-quality produce, even wealthy families would probably have to eat it sparingly. Ordinary people wouldn't even have a chance. At best, they'd be fortunate to have coarse salt.
One must know,
The salt market in the Great Ming was rife with problems, with countless links driving up the price of salt. The imperial court, for the sake of fiscal revenue, had always been helpless in this regard. The common people had to spend a considerable amount each year to eat salt, and the poor could only take a tiny bit, enough to taste. If it weren't for this, how could Yan Maoqing have made so much money from just one salt inspection?
Therefore, upon hearing these words,
The old Daoist sighed profoundly and said, "Indeed... Originally, the Great Way prevails, and the world belongs to all. But who knows why the world has become so cruel and self-serving... A tiny grain of salt holds the crux of the world!"
"Heh, who can say it isn't so? Laozi also said that the Way of Heaven reduces the surplus to supplement the deficiency, and the Way of Man reduces the deficiency to supplement the surplus... To let all people have enough to eat, a house to live in, land to farm, and salt to eat... for thousands of years, who has been able to achieve it?"
Having said that, he genuinely shook his head in disappointment.
However,
Where did Zhu Mo come from?
Were these things unattainable?
It was merely a matter of the method being incorrect!
He couldn't help but say, "My two elder brothers, I have a way to let everyone in the world eat this salt! Do you believe me?"
Oh?
Li San said, "There is a way! For example, the imperial court could buy it up and sell it to every household at a low price... But how much money would that cost? It's not cost-effective for the court to do this, so no one has ever done it... By the way, this method was also mentioned by Grand Tutor Zhang..."
"Heh, Grand Tutor Zhang only knows one aspect and not the other. If the method is wrong, the effort is in vain! For everyone in the world to eat this salt, there is only one way, and that is to let all the salt shops in the world sell this salt. And at a price similar to coarse salt. In this way, coarse salt will become extremely cheap, and even the poorest people will be able to have savory meals every day!"
Let all the salt shops in the world sell this?
At a price the same as coarse salt?
Who would do such a foolish thing?
Both of them, having seen the ways of the world their entire lives, could not believe such a thing was possible. They couldn't help but shake their heads, thinking that this young man had gone to Jiangnan, accomplished a few things, and now he was getting carried away?
Unexpectedly,
Zhu Mo laughed and said, "Do you think this is a losing business?"
Li San scoffed, "Isn't that obvious?"
"Heh, Old Li, let me tell you, don't you dare not believe it. I've already calculated it. The Great Ming has a population of 100 million. Each person eats 50 catties of coarse salt per year, which adds up to 5 billion catties. If we switch to this fine salt, each person only needs to eat 5 catties per year for sufficient salt content, totaling 500 million catties... Heh, think about it, even if I occupy one-fifth of the Great Ming's market, that's still 100 million catties...
What does 100 million catties represent? If I earn just one fen of silver per catty, that's still a million taels of income per year. With such exorbitant profits, do you still think it's a losing business? Then I can only scoff..."