CHAPTER 459: CHAPTER 453: SUGAR FIGURINE

Zhao Hanzhang quickly climbed to the top and, together with a young man, grabbed the rope to lift the beam. The people below were astonished to see her actually lifting the wood like a man.

Silently, they turned to look at Fu Tinghan. No wonder Fu Dalang listened to Third Sister Zhao so well; with such a tigress at home, who wouldn’t?

Fu Tinghan didn’t know what they were thinking. When his gaze swept across them, they immediately averted their eyes guiltily.

Zhao Hanzhang pulled the beam up and secured it as the craftsman taught. She then quickly slid down with a piece of wood, clapped her hands, and said, "Not difficult at all. Now I know how to build a house. But how do you put the tiles on?"

"What tiles? Where do you find so many tiles?" An elderly man said, "We use straw thatch."

Fu Tinghan nodded, "The straw is ready. The day after tomorrow, when we come to work, we’ll get the straw. After working for another day and a half, this house should be finished."

Once this house is finished, they can start the next one until Yushan Hall is completed.

Fu Tinghan calculated the progress. By February, they should be done. In this era, building a regular house was indeed that fast.

But actually, the speed was even faster than Fu Tinghan calculated. Once the drums sounded, everyone rushed to grab their wages. However, small managers like the dark-faced young man couldn’t rest yet; they still had to report the project progress to the supervisors.

In the crowd, Fu Tinghan squeezed in front of the dark-faced young man. The young man glanced at him and tossed him a cloth bag, "This is the wages for your team."

Fu Tinghan opened it and counted; the amount was correct, so he signed and stamped before leaving.

As he moved, the people behind him followed. After walking a bit, they surrounded him.

Fu Tinghan was used to it; they didn’t like lining up, despite repeated emphasis. They just wouldn’t queue.

He didn’t force them. He directly opened the bag and started calling names, "Fang San Ni, your ten cents..."

He distributed the wages to the women first, then the elderly, and lastly, the young and middle-aged men.

Nobody noticed; they were just eagerly waiting for their name to be called. A young man had been waiting with his hand outstretched from the start but wasn’t called until the very end.

His face was gloomy, yet he didn’t dare to complain. Their team never lost out on wages, and everyone said it was because Fu Tinghan was literate.

Not many laborers were literate. Those who were got promoted to team leaders.

But some team leaders weren’t literate. They would miscount, leading to discrepancies with the overall count, resulting in them never receiving their full wages.

Some would withhold team members’ wages because they were the leader. This only lasted for the first couple of days because, for some reason, the higher-ups suddenly got furious and removed those leaders.

Fu Tinghan was different. Although everyone felt that, as a man, he shouldn’t be weaker than his fiancée, but...

They were unwilling to have a different leader.

He was excellent at counting, never making mistakes, and continued working without withholding their wages.

The biggest problem was always helping that Third Sister Zhao bully them and always distributing their wages last.

Aside from these two points, this team leader was fine.

After receiving their wages, everyone stuffed the money into their pockets and asked Fu Tinghan, "Fu Dalang, should we still gather at the same place next year?"

Fu Tinghan nodded slowly.

Only then did everyone leave, happily rushing back to the county. They still needed to buy some food.

The Governor Mansion had opened a grain point; they could buy cheap grain and cloth with the wooden token!

Everyone rushed to the grain point. Soon, the copper coins they had just received found their way back to the Governor Mansion in various ways.

Besides the grain point, some gritted their teeth to buy other things from different stalls and shops, like meat, or sugar...

After all, today was New Year’s Day.

With over two thousand people, even if only two hundred were willing to spend money on other things, the city became lively.

The whole city bustled, finally showing some New Year’s cheer.

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan mingled with the crowd, not in a hurry to return, drifting along with the flow of people to see the earthly bustle.

Zhao Hanzhang led Fu Tinghan to sidestep someone coming toward them and happened upon a stall. Curiously, she lowered her head to see.

Fu Tinghan was about to continue forward, but noticing her slowing down, he turned back, seeing her fixated on the sugar animals at the stall.

These were made from malt sugar, sweet but not cloying. He recalled that every winter there was an old man making sugar animals not far from the school gate, and she would walk over from the opposite side to buy one. She had tried all the Zodiac and commonly seen animal shapes.

Turning, Fu Tinghan stood by the stall and asked, "How much for a sugar figurine?"

The vendor replied happily, "Two cents each. The young master and young lady can choose any shape you like."

Fu Tinghan pulled out four cents to buy one and then picked a rabbit-shaped one from the stall, "What kind do you want?"

Zhao Hanzhang just wanted to eat and didn’t care about its shape, but she seriously picked one, selecting a phoenix-shaped sugar figure, then promptly bit off its head.

This sugar figure looked the largest, using the most malt sugar.

Fu Tinghan watched with a smile. After she finished eating, he handed her the rabbit, "Want another?"

Zhao Hanzhang took a look, took a bite, then handed it back, "You should try it; malt sugar is delicious."

Fu Tinghan took a bite, contentedly eating when a hesitant voice called from behind, "Master?"

Turning to the voice, they saw Wang Nai and Xie Shi leading horses. Fu Tinghan’s smile slightly diminished and nodded at them before stepping aside.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at the travel-worn pair, her eyebrows raised slightly, "You two arrived quickly. Let’s go back to the Governor Mansion to chat."

Wang Nai and Xie Shi, puzzled, looked at the two in their tattered clothes, their minds filled with questions.

Silently, they followed with their attendants.

Entering through the back gate of the Governor Mansion, they saw the doorman respectfully welcoming the two inside. Wang Nai and Xie Shi sighed in relief. Truthfully, meeting Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan in patched clothes on the street, they were quite frightened.

They even thought Nanyang Country had undergone a political upheaval.

Once inside, Zhao Hanzhang summoned a servant, "Mr. Wang and Mr. Xie have arrived. Take them to wash and rest."

Zhao Hanzhang turned to them, "You’re travel-worn; let’s freshen up and meet in the front hall later."

"Yes." Wang Nai and Xie Shi bowed and waited for the two to leave before asking the servant leading them, "Why are the Governor and the young master dressed like this?"

The servant replied, "I don’t know."

Even if he did, he wouldn’t dare say.

Dare to gossip about the lady; Sister Ting He would scold them to death.