Chapter 48 Earning Money Seriously

Pan Hong slapped his outstretched hand away and said, "I will go mail it myself tomorrow."

However, that proved impossible soon enough. The bailiff came to their door with a notice, saying, "Tomorrow at the hour of Chen, the wheat harvesting starts at East Erli. All three of you father and sons have been conscripted. Do not be late."

He then singled out Pan Yue and Pan Yu, adding, "The Second Battalion wants you two to clean the stables. Hurry up, you must be there in a quarter of an hour."

Neither Pan Yue nor Pan Yu dared to speak. They lowered their heads and accepted the order.

Looking at his two sons, who were so thin they were practically unrecognisable, Pan Hong felt a pang in his chest. Catching the bailiff's greedy gaze as he eyed the rice, flour, grain, and oil they had just bought, Pan Hong knew his path ahead would not be easy.

Pan Hong said nothing more and acknowledged the order. As soon as the bailiff left, he divided the steamed buns they had bought and handed them to the two boys. "Eat your fill. You go on ahead first; I'll ask someone to help you in a little while."

Pan Yue pushed the bun back. "Father, we've already eaten. This is for you."

"I have no appetite. I'll boil some porridge later. You two just eat this."

Thinking of the money they had just retrieved, Pan Yue didn't refuse any longer. He took it and shared it with his younger brother.

Pan Yu followed his brother's lead. Seeing his elder brother eat, he ate as well. "Father, you don't need to worry. We're used to sweeping those stables. We don't need to ask anyone for favors."

He did not want his father to have to beg anyone.

Pan Hong smiled and said, "Don't worry, your old man won't let himself be wronged. This is mutual assistance. If they help us, we will naturally help them in the future."

Only, they had just arrived and were in poor health. Even if they had previously wished to seek allies, they lacked the capital to initiate and maintain relationships.

Those people kept a tight grip on things. The money sent by the second son and leaked to them was only barely enough to keep them alive here; they had no surplus capital to cultivate connections.

Jun'er's one hundred liang could be said to have resolved their most urgent need.

As soon as the two children left, Pan Hong put away the groceries they had bought, tucked one hundred cash into his sleeve, and went out.

This village was called Exile Village, though it was not truly a village. Its inhabitants were disgraced officials and their family members sentenced to military servitude, living near the army camp and awaiting orders.

Some people married and had children after arriving here. As the population grew and more houses were built, the guilty and the pardoned ended up living intermingled in one place. Over time, it became a village.

Though called a village, it was much larger than an ordinary settlement. With its massive population, it was practically a town.

They lived by the grace of the army camp, occupying a corner of the Datong border garrison. There were quite a few other exile villages like this in the northern border garrisons.

The laws of the current dynasty were severe. A single crime could implicate the entire family, or even the entire clan, and some offenses could even drag down friends. Thus, the exiled convicts included all sorts of people.

Pan Hong had been here for three months. While he wouldn't claim to have completely figured out the area, he at least had a general understanding of it.

Having started his career as an imperial censor, Pan Hong fancied himself a good judge of character. Tucking his money away, he set out to make visits and quickly made friends. When he stepped out again, he was flanked by two sturdy young men.

They walked arm in arm with Pan Hong toward the Second Battalion's stables. "Elder Brother Pan, rest assured. Our brothers may not have much else, but we have plenty of strength. Leave any rough work like this to us from now on."

Pan Hong gave a bitter smile and said, "How can I constantly trouble you? We just arrived and aren't used to the local climate and water. Afterwards, we still need to build up our skills, otherwise it will be hard to survive here."

"That's true. It's fine for now, but after a while, when the autumn harvest gets busy, and if we happen to encounter the Tatars from the north coming down, people like us will have to harvest the crops and transport supplies to the front lines. If your health isn't good, people die."

By the time they reached the stables, the evening sun was already painting the horizon, and the brothers Pan Yue and Pan Yu were dragging a large bundle of hay toward them.

The hay weighed over a hundred jin. Being young and lacking in strength, the two of them pulled on a single rope together.

Cleaning the stables wasn't just about clearing out horse manure and soiled dry grass; they also had to chop the hay to feed the horses.

The bailiff had chosen that exact time to deliver the notice precisely to force them to use their nighttime hours for labor. Those with little strength and slow speeds would likely not finish until dawn.

Yet, not long after dawn, they would have to set out for the fields to harvest wheat.

In just a few days, even a body of forged iron would be worn to death.

To escape this suffering, one either had to bribe the bailiff or find a backer higher up than the bailiff.

Pan Hong chose a third option.

He was going to change the bailiff.

With the help of the Jin brothers, the father and sons quickly finished the day's stable chores, snatched some sleep in the dark, and set out the next day to harvest wheat. It wasn't until the latter half of the afternoon work ended that Pan Hong returned from East Erli to the city and made a detour to mail his letter in person.

He did not use the private courier agency, choosing instead to send it through the official post station.

He had no idea how closely the people watching him in secret were paying attention, but to avoid bringing trouble to the private courier agencies, he decided to use the post.

Others sending letters to him might use courier agencies, but if he were to send mail out through them as well, it might give those people an excuse to investigate the agencies.

Datong was different from other places. Being a border garrison, the local government acted with far greater arrogance.

Stepping out of the post station after mailing his letter, Pan Hong sighed, simply hoping that Jun'er would receive the letter safely.

Pan Hong had no way of knowing that hardly anyone was watching him anymore.

After all, he was merely a minor censor. Far too many officials in the court had offended Wang Zhen; there were countless people demoted and exiled. If the Brocade Guard kept watch on every single one of them, how could they possibly manage?

The only reason they had briefly tightened their surveillance recently was because a Brocade Guard named Wang Yong had gone missing in the capital.

He had visited the Pan household before his disappearance, which was why the Pan family had been singled out for renewed scrutiny.

However, the surveillance was primarily focused on Pan Tao, who had returned to Changzhou Prefecture. As for Pan Hong, they had merely checked in on him to confirm he was still honestly serving his military sentence in Datong and that his incoming and outgoing correspondence showed nothing unusual, after which the Brocade Guard lost interest.

Yet the watchers assigned to Pan Tao had not yet departed.

A covert sentry sat in a teahouse, watching Pan Tao being seen off at the door with a beaming smile. After carefully listening to their exchange, he jotted down on a small slip of paper: "On the fourth day, Pan Tao met with his acquaintance Meng Chun, scheduling to teach at Jintai Academy on the eighth day, with a monthly salary of eight liang of silver."

A monthly salary of eight liang was higher than what Pan Hong had earned as an imperial censor. Moreover, as a teacher, Pan Tao's income certainly wouldn't be limited to just that amount.

The sentry shook his head as he recorded the note. No wonder people said Pan Hong often needed his younger brother's financial support while serving as an official.

Indeed, the income was not limited to that. Upon returning home and taking a sip of water, Pan Tao reported to his mother and wife: "A monthly salary of eight liang, plus two sets of seasonal clothing and shoes every quarter. Festival gifts and pastries will not be lacking either. Most importantly, the academy does not restrict the teachers from composing essay pieces for imperial examinations."

Such model essays were the most difficult subjects for students to master. To teach their pupils, some tutors would write their own pieces for the students to imitate, alongside making them practice writing.

Consequently, high-quality examination essays commanded exorbitant prices. Sometimes, a single good essay could match a tutor's annual salary.

In the past, Pan Hong had frequently sold such essays under his younger brother's name to earn extra money.

Pan Tao's examination essays were not quite on par with Pan Hong's and could not fetch such high prices, but his supplementary income was still substantial. With these earnings, combined with the yield from their farmland, the family's livelihood quickly recovered.

Old Madame Pan let out a sigh of relief and said, "As for your elder brother's side, send small amounts of money first and save the rest. Once the weather improves a bit next year, have Changsheng go see him in person."

Pan Tao planned to do the same. Constantly sending silver and exchange drafts through the post station was not a viable long-term solution; only about a third of the funds ever reached his elder brother's hands.

Rather than improving his elder brother's situation much, it had merely whetted the appetites of those people.

Glancing at his wife, Pan Tao stepped forward to support Old Madame Pan. "Mother, let me help you back to your room to rest."

Old Madame Pan wanted to say she wasn't tired, but feeling Pan Tao press her arm, she obediently went with him.

Speaking in hushed tones, Pan Tao told her, "Mother, I received news today that Jun'er is safe and sound."

Old Madame Pan's eyes lit up, and she gripped his arm tightly. "Where is she now?"

Pan Tao shook his head. "My friend was only passing along a message and refused to say anything more, only mentioning that if the other party wishes to stay in touch, they will contact me in due course. Knowing Jun'er's extraordinary nature, I didn't press further. But judging by the tone, she is very safe and has companions with her.

"In a few years, when the heat dies down, she should contact us."

Old Madame Pan let out a deep sigh. "That's good. I used to say this child possessed divine traits, extraordinary from the moment she was born. Look at our other three children—the other three cried and made a fuss endlessly in their infancy. Not her; she slept when she was full and ate when she woke up, and even when she soiled her swaddling clothes, she only hummed twice, being exceptionally well-behaved.

"Indeed, she was blessed with divinity."

Pan Tao: "...... Is that so? How come I remember you always grumbling back then that the child never made a sound and you were afraid she might be simple-minded?"

Old Madame Pan shot him a sideways glance. "You remember wrongly."

Pan Tao laughed. "Yes, your son remembers wrongly."

With the news of Pan Wu's safety, Old Madame Pan and Pan Tao laid down a major burden in their hearts and began living earnestly and earning money diligently in their hometown.

Pan Wu was likewise earnestly pondering the matter of making money.

Ever since that night, she had not seen Master Pan again.

Having her master suddenly cease appearing in her dreams left Pan Wu feeling somewhat unaccustomed to it.

She was a person of her word; since she had promised to build him a temple, she naturally had to begin earnest preparations.