The Carrot and the Stick

For the rest of the evening the four time travellers had a very good time. The banquet set up by Master Gao Ju consisted of twelve dishes in total, including the Big Four.^[1]

The dishes were not very different from modern Cantonese cuisine. However, it was made from natural ingredients and cooked with great care. The result was fresh, sweet and rich dishes. Especially the Xishi abalone soup, which brought much praise from them.

Bei Wei thought that it was really great to be wealthy; such a life in the Ming Dynasty was really not available to people like them back in modern times. As he was thinking this, Gao Qing’s wife Gao Xian brought in the main course that she had just reheated. It was a plate filled with meatballs, each roughly the size of pigeon eggs, immersed in a shallow clear soup. The soft meatballs sparkled in the light. On top of them were sprinkled a fine layer of verdant green onions.

Wen Desi was the first to move. He used a spoon to pick a meatball up. When he bit into it, an explosion of fresh and umami flavours filled his mouth, leaving a slight aftertaste of spicy peppercorns. Chief Wen was someone who had been around for a while in this time period, and although he could not be described as someone who held feasts every other day, his culinary experience was one of the best among the travellers. Even still, he could not easily discern from this bite what the meatball was made from. Simultaneously, it tasted like chicken as well as seafood.

He asked: “What’s this made from?”

“This is a delicacy of the water and land.” Gao said softly. “It’s made from a mix of yellow-shell crab meat,^[2] big silver fish,^[3] chicken meat, frog^[4] and Chinese white shrimp.^[5] Do the masters like it?”

“Good, it tastes very good.”

“Yeah, it’s certainly tasty.”

“The rich certainly live in decadence.” Wang Luobin said this with some envy, obviously jealous of this life.

“Why are you so jealous of just a few meatballs!” Bei Wei curled his lips.

“But almost all of these dishes use peppercorns. It somewhat ruins the original taste.” Wen Desi shook his head, as if in regret. “The ingredients are so fresh and natural…”

“I think that’s a cooking habit in the Ming Dynasty. The Great Ming is an important market in the Southeast Asian spice trade.”

“But mostly as only a transit hub right?”

While talking, Gao Xian brought over another six small trays of smoked and cured snacks to accompany the wine. She also moved over to heat the wine, but saw that the jar of Jinhua wine was still untouched.^[6] She hesitated for a moment, before asking:

“Masters, do you not drink wine?”

“No, we don’t drink.” The reason for that was because they were afraid of getting drunk and causing trouble, and so they had agreed to not drink any wine while in the Ming Dynasty.

“Since the masters do not want to drink wine, would the masters like to try some floral syrup waterI made?”

“Floral syrup? Floral water?”

“Yes, I steamed it myself. However, I only had rice leaves and perilla.^[7] If the masters do not mind, please try it first.”

It turned out that floral syrup was a liquid essential oil distilled from plant leaves and flowers. The liquor distillation processes of the Ming Dynasty was a mature industry. In addition to making liquor, small distillation steamers had another important use in making flower syrups.

Mixing floral syrup with water yielded floral water, a drink with a unique and elegant taste.

Xiao Zishan became puzzled. Gao Xian was obviously the wife of a tenant farmer,^[8] and later a maid in the Gao residence. However, she knew how to make flower syrups and recipes for banquet dishes…He couldn’t help but carefully re-evaluate this woman. All her actions were graceful, much unlike her husband who was rather clumsy.

Wanting to investigate further, he stopped her and asked: “Sister Gao, have you worked as a servant in the inner residence?”^[9]

Gao Xian shuddered, and whispered, “Yes, I have always worked in the Gao household…”

“No way, you are just a lowly errand runner who does menial tasks in the Gao residence. How do you know the recipe to make such delicacies? Where did you learn to make floral water?”

Gao Xian became more and more flustered. She stammered: “It’s all taught by my sisters…sorry for making you laugh.”

“How old are you?”

“I am thirty years old.”

Xiao Zishan looked at her face, which had become slightly tanned but still vaguely showed the charms of her younger years. He thought of Gao Lujie’s appearance and the age difference between the husband and wife. He already understood most of the situation, and so there was no need to say it out loud at this moment.^[10]

He thought quietly for a bit and looked outside the room. There was no one in the courtyard, and Gao Qing was probably working in the back. So he ventured,

“Does Gao Qing often visit Master Gao these days?”

“...” Gao Xian was shocked, but didn’t say anything. Xiao Zishan knew that his suspicions were right: Master Gao must often ask Gao Qing about them.

“Then Manager Yan must also come frequently.” Xiao Zishan slowly said.

“He’s never come…umm…only occasionally…”

“Is it ‘never’, or ‘occasionally’?!”

“Yes…it’s occasionally, but only cursory visits…” Gao Xian lied stiffly. She was panicked by this chain of questions. Master Xiao’s words seemed to imply that he already knew everything, even her own past. How could that be possible? As she was hesitating, she saw Xiao Zishan’s face gradually turn pale. She knew that her master had caught on, and so she kneeled down in front of the table with a plop.

“This servant deserves to die, I should not have lied to my master…”

Bei Wei was once a revolutionary soldier fighting under the Red Flag, so he really couldn’t stand this sight. But just as he was about to speak out, he was stopped by Wen Desi. Although Xiao Zishan’s questioning was rather direct, it was all part of their plan to win the loyalty of Gao Qing’s family.

“He has probably been here quite a few times right? I’m afraid that he’s even looked around the courtyard where we live.”

“No, no.” Gao Xian was so scared even her face paled.

“Has he even promised you that he would take you back into the Gao household if one day we leave for Australia. Has he?!”

Gao Xian trembled all over–the masters knew everything! She couldn’t help but resent her husband for not being decisive enough. Every time she was approached and threatened by Manager Yan she had to let him in to search the residence. Although he found out nothing important, it was still a high crime of betrayal of her new masters!

“This servant deserves to die. It’s all my husband’s fault…” Gao Xian was frightened by Xiao Zishan’s words and fell to the ground pleading. She confessed everything that had happened, and even what Manager Yan had said while they were away.

“My husband is indecisive and hesitant. He listened to the non-sense of other people, and…” Gao Xiao, as she was speaking, had begun sobbing, “Please, master, consider his old age and ill health. I am willing to take double the punishment in his place!”

What they heard was more or less what they had expected. Seeing her pleading for her husband, they could not help but feel sympathetic. Without visiting the world of the past, it’s really hard to contextualise how good life in modern society was.

Xiao Zishan deliberately let her plead for a long while, before sighing.

“Mrs. Gao, after your family came under our name, have we ever let you down?”

“Masters have always been so kind to me. My whole family is eternally grateful for the masters’ kindness.”

“Your family didn’t have enough food, so we gave you a monthly rice allowance. You didn’t have enough money to raise your children, so we gave them an extra monthly salary. We don’t need your gratitude. All we need from you is to have a safe place to rest after our travels. We don’t want people spying on us.”

Gao Xian didn’t answer, but only kowtowed repeatedly while sobbing.

“Get up.”

“This lowly one dares not. Please punish me according to the family rules.”

Xiao Zishan thought that this woman must really have quite the background, definitely not just an ordinary farmer’s wife.

“There is no justice if we have no rules. Although you and Gao Qing are wrong in this matter, we did not set any rules beforehand; you did not know, so you are not guilty. Get up.”

“Thank you master for your grace!” Gao Xian heard that the master had changed his tone, and would probably not be driving them away. She was not afraid of being beaten but rather being cast out if she angered the masters. Even if Master Gao was willing to take them in again, they would definitely not have a good time in the future.

“Do you know what needs to happen in the future?”

“Yes, I know.”

“I know you are not from such a humble background, and you are also much more sensible than Gao Qing. You must teach him well in the future, to let him know what is right to do and what is wrong!”

“I know, I know.” Gao Xian nodded repeatedly.

“As long as you work hard and serve us with loyalty, we will definitely not let you down. No matter if we return to Australia or not. Go do your best!”

“Thank you…” Gao Xian was about to kneel down to thank him again, but Xiao Zishan stopped her. It was better for the master to show off his status in front of everyone, “Go and call Gao Di.”

After Gao Xian left the room, Xiao Zishan turned around and said to everyone: “So. How was my acting?”

He was eager to change the atmosphere in the hall. He didn’t want everyone to think that he was such a domineering person. Acting, of course, he was just acting.

Wen Desi opened his mouth wide: “Zishan, are your ancestors really just peasants?”

“Of course.”

“You must be a Golden Horse winner.”^[11] Wang Luobin also praised him.

“You scared the poor woman to death. You went too far.” Bei Wei felt a little uncomfortable.

“Slightly overboard, but the minimum needed to employ the carrot and the stick.”^[12] Xiao Zishan nodded. “We are surrounded by eyes. If we don’t do something to disguise ourselves we won’t be able to carry out our work in the future.”

Wen Desi said: “The benefits we gave them in the past was the ‘carrot’, and now it is time to show them the ‘stick’.”

“That’s right.” Xiao Zishan explained that since they couldn’t remove these ‘eyes’ yet, the only way was to divert their focus onto something else.

“Have we done enough so far?”

“No, I think we’re just getting started. Loyalty can’t be earned with just a few words alone. It’ll be hard to recruit these people.”

To gain loyalty the first prerequisite is power–no one would ever be loyal to a weak individual or organisation. The second is to have benefits, as only with benefits can there be motivation. In the past they had shown the benefits of working for them, and now the next step was to flex their power. At a certain point everything would naturally fall into place.

“The time travellers I’ve read about had it way too easy. All the little people would bow down to them just after a few words.”

“It’s just because we don’t have that main-character aura right?”

“You can be one, I’d rather not…”^[13]

The atmosphere at the dinner table became lively again. Xiao Zishan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, he wasn’t confident in how this confrontation would turn out, taking advantage of the woman’s fear of the past.

After talking for a while, Gao Di arrived in the room. Although he was still young, he was very sharp. Seeing his mother’s red eyes, he knew that something was wrong, so quickly brought the account book over to the masters.

Wen Desi casually asked about the current situation of the family, and looked through the book again. This account book was nothing but a statement listing all the transactions, and because the household didn’t have many dealings, it wasn’t long before he’d gone through it all. He praised Gao Di a few more times, and after Gao Di’s uneasiness faded, he asked:

“Recently, have people of the Gao family come often?”

“Yes!” The boy nodded vigorously, and didn’t hide anything. “That Yan Xiaomao comes here often, and when he comes he always talks to dad.”

“Yan Xiaomao?” Wen Desi was stunned for a moment, before he realised that Gao Di was talking about Manager Yan, who frequently wore a Xiaomao.^[14]

“What did Manager Yan say to your dad?”

Gao Di hesitated. Xiao Zishan interjected, “Just tell us, we can deal with the rest.”

“I think that Yan Xiaomao always just asks for news about you masters.” Gao Di said, “but my dad doesn’t let me listen in.”

“Are the people of the Gao household good to you?”

“Good?” Gao Di didn’t understand this question. “I don’t know if they are good to me or not. I…have never worked for the Gao household. But the teachers in the accounting office treat me well, and there are also a few other children there that I often play with.”

“Are the children also part of the Gao household?”

“Yes, some are children born to maids in the inner residence,^[15] and some are children like me.”

“Are there any children among your friends that are particularly good at doing things?”

“There are quite a few, like Xiao Li, Xiao Qian, and the two brothers from the Wang family…”

“Okay then. Come to the study later and make a list.” Wen Desi ordered.

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1. I’m not 100% certain here original also says “大四件” in addition to (as part of?) the 12. Literally meaning ‘four main items’, presumably referring to red-braised pork, Yuxiang pork strips, Kung Pao chicken, and sweet and sour pork. But I’m not sure of the historicity of this. ↩︎

2. I think this is another name for mud crabs of the Scylla genus. ↩︎

3. See Protosalanx ↩︎

4. More specifically, the Chinese edible frog or East Asian bullfrog. ↩︎

5. Refer to the Exopalaemon genus, which roughly includes 10 species found in Korea/China. ↩︎

6. A type of wine manufactured in Jinhua City (and surroundings), several famous wines came from this area throughout history. Sort of like how Bordeaux or Champagne are types of wines. ↩︎

7. Perilla is a type of mint. See wiki. ↩︎

8. Not a serf; tenant farmers rent land from a landowner. They are not bound to the land like serfs are. ↩︎

9. Not sure about this: “你在府里当过差吗?” ↩︎

10. I think implying that she fell out of favour in the inner residence, and so ended up being married off to a lowly servant (Gao Qing) as punishment. ↩︎

11. The most prestigious film and tv awards in the chinese language world. Sort of equivalent to the Oscars. ↩︎

12. 恩威并重, a saying from the Three Kingdoms, same as the chapter title. Literally means ‘kindness and severity in equal parts’, usually rendered as ‘carrot and stick’. ↩︎

13. ‘Protagonist aura’ (王八之气）in the original is one of those net-slang words that just don’t translate well. It’s a phrase that pops up all the time in Qidian novels. It developed from 王霸之气 (lit. the spirit of a domineering tyrant), used to refer to those MC heroes who easily beat any antagonists and conquer all the female romantic interests. The English conceptual equivalent is the Mary Sue archetype. This phrase eventually morphed into 王八之气 (homophones, it’s a play on words), which lit. means ‘spirit of a bastard’, which pokes fun at the above stereotypical overpowered MC type characters. I can’t come up with an easy way of translating this pun. ↩︎

14. A type of hat called 六合一统帽, which is also called ‘xiaomao’, meaning literally ‘little hat’. See this pic. ↩︎

15. Technically this is ‘家生子’, referring to kids born to 奴婢. ↩︎