Chapter 361: The Brochure

“Actually, you are not at a disadvantage. Consider this: without a reliable and capable manager, how can land be an easy matter?” Li Xiaopeng said. “As for the expenses, they are all invested in your own land. In the future, if you wish to sell, the price will not be that of the barren land you buy now—so you are not at a disadvantage.”

“And the partial package?”

Li Xiaopeng explained that the partial package meant all farming expenses were invested by the landlord. Improvements to soil and water, and the construction of water conservancy projects, were all at the landlord’s discretion. The landlord was also responsible for paying taxes. The Tiandihui was only responsible for production and management, collecting a service fee, and did not participate in profit sharing.

If the landlord had a large amount of capital to invest, the partial package was more cost-effective. If financial resources were insufficient, then even with the Tiandihui’s help, production levels would not rise quickly.

In addition to the packages, there were also individual services, with a fee paid for each use: pest control, mechanized irrigation, mechanized plowing and harvesting—any agricultural need could be purchased as a single service.

Some were still not reconciled, asking if they could buy land to build their own houses, and if it was difficult to recruit tenants. Li Xiaopeng reiterated the policies: Australian law did not prohibit this, but it was very difficult to do.

However, many were still skeptical. Li Xiaopeng did not swear an oath, but said that if they were willing, they could try it themselves:

“Our Li family is in business. As the saying goes, even if a deal falls through, goodwill remains. If you have other ideas, you can give it a try. If there is anything you don’t understand, as long as we know, we will tell you everything we know.”

Next, Li Xiaopeng answered many more questions from the wealthy families, covering all aspects of buying a house, acquiring property, and living in Lingao. It was a testament to his vast knowledge and strong memory that he was able to answer almost every question, and he did so in a straightforward and capable manner, displaying the style of a shrewd and competent businessman.

Zhuo Yifan was not here to buy land and property, but this was his first time attending such a briefing. He was curious to see what clever tricks the short-hairs had up their sleeves to entice both the poor and the rich to Lingao.

However, after listening, he only felt that the rich masters must have lost their minds to come to Lingao—a place with such harsh laws and constant risk of offense, no different from the tyrannical Qin dynasty. Even building a house had all sorts of trivial rules! Not to mention the various “taxes.” He had heard that the short-hairs were “extravagant,” but he had not expected them to be so ruthless in their exploitation of the people! They were so unscrupulous even with the gentry. Their cruelty towards the common people must be even more extreme—but this was completely different from what he had seen along the way.

Zhuo Yifan was puzzled. Seeing that the briefing was over, he followed the crowd out of the flower hall and returned to the courtyard.

That evening, Li Xiaoliu personally delivered several large, thick books. He said, “Please, masters and mistresses, take your time to look through them. If you like any, make a list, and we can arrange for a viewing starting tomorrow.”

The books were bound in the Australian style, with covers made of fine sheepskin. They were heavy, about twice the size of a normal book.

Opening them, he found exquisite, thick paper inside, filled with drawings of various houses, gardens, and courtyards. Each drawing was accompanied by a floor plan, with small notes and explanations.

This was not in itself rare. Ancient Chinese builders also had floor plans and renderings—not for common people’s houses, but essential for building for officials, nobles, or the emperor. There were many such drawings in the Qing court archives and the archives of the Lei family of architects.

However, the drawings in these books were not only drawn in a style unlike that of the Chinese, but the beauty of the patterns, the richness of the colors, and the exquisiteness of the details were breathtaking.

Zhuo Yifan, from a family of officials and the first disciple of the White Stone Daoist, had traveled extensively and seen a great deal, but he had never seen anything so exquisite. He carefully examined a few pages and realized that this was a development by the Li Family Slope Real Estate Company—Li Xiaopeng’s family business.

These houses were all built in a place called “Bigui Garden.” Zhuo Yifan had never heard of it, but it didn’t matter; he had no intention of buying a house.

At a glance, the houses were not much different from those in the Great Ming in terms of layout and style. But as he turned the pages, his eyes lit up.

The following pages were all interior renderings, something absolutely non-existent in 17th-century China. At that time, interior decoration and furnishings were mostly described in writing in the form of “furnishing accounts.” But the renderings of the Australians showed a style that was completely unfamiliar.

Large glass windows made the rooms bright; bamboo and wood floors were clean and tidy; ceramic floor and wall tiles with various colors and patterns were both beautiful and shiny; luxurious crystal glass chandeliers cast a soft light… all paired with various beautiful and practical furniture and supplies, which greatly subverted Zhuo Yifan’s understanding of “luxury.” If they had not already experienced the Zimin Building in Guangzhou, they would have thought these were just fanciful drawings.

Wan Lifeng and the others standing beside him were also engrossed in the pictures. For a moment, the room was silent.

“No wonder the wealthy flock to it like moths to a flame,” Wan Lifeng sighed after a long time. “It’s too luxurious! Even the emperor probably doesn’t have this.”

“The emperor is dedicated to governing the country, how can he indulge in pleasure?” Zhuo Yifan deeply agreed. He knew a little about the imperial palace. Though the luxuries in the palace were not comparable to those of ordinary gentry families, compared to the pictures in this brochure, they did seem a bit “rustic.”

He picked up another book and flipped through it. The one they had just been looking at was a real estate brochure; this one was a household goods brochure. Though the Li family’s company did not produce or sell these “Australian household goods” itself, as an important supporting facility, it had also specially made a brochure to promote them in order to earn greater profits.

Though they were called “Australian household goods,” a considerable part of them were actually selected products imported from Southeast Asia, Europe, Persia, India, Japan, and Korea. It was a collection of all kinds of “exotic and ingenious” goods. Even Zhuo Yifan, who had many foreign goods at home, was dazzled. He had never seen many of these things before.

The content of the brochure was too tempting. Gradually, everyone in the room gathered around, clicking their tongues in amazement. They all felt that their horizons had been broadened.

“The short-hairs are so extravagant and debauched. The gentry and common people of Hainan must be suffering greatly at their hands!” Zhuo Yifan closed the book and sighed. “We can only do our best to eliminate this great scourge for the court and the people!” With that, he tossed the brochure aside.

The heroes and heroines all expressed their firm support for the court and their determination to fight the short-hairs to the end. However, the brochure became a hot topic. They all vied to look at it, pointing and discussing it endlessly, like children who had seen a Toys “R” Us catalog: even if they couldn’t have it, it was good to look.

Today, Sima Qiudao, as usual, got off the urban rail train from Bopu, ending a day of running around.

His job today was to go to the coastal area of northern Lingao to inspect samples and check the progress of production: the Native Products Company had signed a purchase contract with the local fishermen. After getting off the train in Bopu, Sima Qiudao had been on his feet all day.

Getting off the train, he was sore and tired, and could barely lift his legs. This short-hair’s rice was really not easy to eat.

Though Sima Qiudao was still wearing “old-style” clothes, his body already bore the marks of “Australian-style” or “new-style” clothing. He carried a canvas satchel over his shoulder, with the shop’s name embroidered on it. The bag was stuffed with notebooks, inkwells, sample books, and blank agreements and contracts. There were two pockets on the left and right of the bag, one for a bamboo water bottle and the other for a lunch box, which was very in line with his identity as a purchasing agent.

He also carried a “Russian-style” toilet bag on his back, which contained samples of local products he had collected from near Bopu.

Sima Qiudao followed the crowd out of the station and bought a copy of the day’s “Lingao Times” from a newspaper vendor at the entrance.

He bought a newspaper every day because the “Notes on Pacifying the short-hairs” had told them that reading the newspaper could provide a lot of important information. It not only contained the movements of the short-hairs, but also, if something happened to Zhuo Yifan or Huang Zhen, there would be news in the newspaper.

Today’s newspaper was still peaceful. Sima Qiudao folded the newspaper and put it in his canvas satchel.

For the past few days, Sima Qiudao had been checking the designated location for a safety signal every day after work, anxiously waiting for news of Zhuo Yifan and his group.

Last night, he had finally seen the long-awaited signal of their safe arrival at the designated location.

This finally put his anxious heart at ease.

In this operation, the various groups acted separately. Though they knew roughly what they were going to do, the specific details would only be conveyed after they had all entered Lingao and settled down. Though Sima Qiudao was only Huang Zhen’s deputy, he served as the general liaison.

Therefore, as soon as Huang Zhen and his group settled down in Nanbao, Sima Qiudao immediately left Nanbao for East Gate Market and went into hiding to await new instructions.

So far, he had been receiving new information from Seventh Master—through a prostitute or a post office letter—which not only provided the latest internal information of the short-hairs, but also provided various conveniences for their activities in Lingao, which played a great role in their safe settlement and hiding in Lingao.

But Sima Qiudao did not know the specific content of the operation.

Though it was said at the time of departure that Zhuo Yifan knew, Sima Qiudao knew that this was a lie: neither Zhuo Yifan nor Huang Zhen knew the specific details of the mission.

From Shi Weng’s extreme caution, Sima Qiudao vaguely felt a sense of worry.