I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1324: Side Story: Having the Whole World in View (1)

Editor: Atlas Studios

Not only was Little Leopard unfriendly to the Westerners, but even Baozhu wore a look of disdain.

This made Mu Yangling even more curious.

The boy-girl twins were born in Guangzhou, so it was not uncommon for them to meet Westerners. Although they were young at that time and could no longer remember, there were many Westerners in the capital because of the development of the Great Qi sea trade.

When the boy-girl twins went to Qianmen Street to play, they would occasionally encounter Westerners. The two children were mostly curious about why they looked so different from them and their food customs. They would never look down on someone just because they were of a different race.

But this time, just seven or eight days after they came to Guangzhou, the two children suddenly changed their attitude.

Little Leopard said righteously, “Mother, if you’ve been to the streets of Caucasian Square, you won’t like them either.”

Baozhu concurred with a disgusted expression, “Yes, yes, they’re so dirty. I’ll never go there again.”

Humans liked to meet their own kind. Just like how there were always Chinatowns in foreign countries in her previous life, the Westerners also had a Caucasian Square in Great Qi, where Westerners gathered together.

In the beginning when there were not many Westerners in Guangzhou, their residences were mainly distributed near the Chamber of Commerce. But in the past ten years, sea trade had developed rapidly, and many Westerners liked to come to Great Qi to do business. The number of Westerners here increased drastically, but there were very few among them who spoke Chinese.

It was not easy to live in a foreign country. Although these Westerners were not from the same country, they were from Europe. Perhaps their countries were even at war, but outside of Europe, they belonged to the same race, so they liked to hang out together.

As a result, the two streets behind the chamber of commerce were gradually bought or rented by Westerners. Because the people who came and went there were Westerners, this place became known as Caucasian Square.

There were many crew members and Westerners who came with the trading ships to sell Western items and gems. The Qi people liked to go there to search for treasures.

When Little Leopard and Baozhu, who had just arrived in Guangzhou, heard that there were treasures to be found in Caucasian Square, they took some money with them and went to join in the fun.

As they walked, they went from the market to their residential area. When they saw the feces and urine stains on the streets and alleys, Little Leopard and Baozhu almost vomited.

What the two children found most unacceptable was seeing a 15 or 16-year-old Westerner take off his pants on the street and squatting down to relieve himself then and there. The two children, who complained in their hearts that Westerners didn’t watch their children closely, were shocked.

Because of this shock, they didn’t leave immediately, so they saw more.

The Westerners on this street, regardless of whether they were adults, children, men, or women, actually urinated and defecated everywhere when nature called.

Little Leopard immediately shouted, “This, this is so uncultured. No, that’s not right. Don’t they have any sense of shame? The key is, don’t they feel that it stinks?”

Baozhu did not know if they were smelly or not. Anyway, she was about to die of disgust and did not want to stay for another minute. She grabbed her brother’s hand and ran out.

The two children ran to the government office indignantly to complain and ask the county office to clean up the streets. How could such a thing happen in their Guangzhou City?

There was no need for the county magistrate to do anything. A bailiff stopped the two children and said, “Alright, alright. We know about this. Hurry up and go home. Also, don’t go to Caucasian Square again if there’s nothing else. Be careful not to be caught and taken away by them.”

The bailiffs didn’t know the identities of the two children. When they saw that there were guards behind them and that they were dressed well, they thought that they were young masters and young ladies who had gone to Caucasian Square out of curiosity and dismissed them perfunctorily.

Instantly enraged, Little Leopard scolded, “You only eat and don’t work. Are you going to let the Westerners make our streets so dirty and messy?”

The bailiff immediately cried out in grievance. “Young Master, you’ve misunderstood us. Who said that we don’t care? But it has to be effective. All these years, we have to raid Caucasian Square two or three times a month. After the inspection, it will be kept clean for two days, but things will return to the same state after that. With only so much manpower, we can’t constantly keep an eye on that street to prevent the Westerners from urinating and defecating everywhere, right?”

At this point, the bailiffs were also very helpless. “What can we do if Westerners like to urinate and defecate everywhere? For this matter, our county magistrate even printed hundreds of copies of ’The Analects’ and ’Book of Rites’ to give to the foreigners. However, they don’t even know how to speak the Great Qi language, let alone read in Great Qi language. It’s useless even if we set rules against that. The county magistrate can’t punish them with a fine, right? That way, the officials of the Tributary Affairs Bureau and the Imperial Censorate will come looking for us.”

“That’s right, that’s right. What a waste of those hundreds of books. What a waste of our county office’s funds.”

Little Leopard and Baozhu asked in shock, “Why do they have such hobbies?”

When the bailiffs saw the shocked expressions of the two children, they knew that they were disgusted by what they saw. Those bailiffs, too, felt the same disgust the first time they saw the entire street filled with defecation.

Able to empathize, the bailiffs explained, “That’s nothing really. There’s only one such street in our Guangzhou City. According to the Westerners, their entire country is like this. There’s really no need to be surprised.”

After a moment of silence, Little Leopard asked, “Aren’t there public toilets in the city?”

“Yes, but they just don’t like to go to the public toilet.” Speaking of this, the bailiffs were also very vexed.

These bailiffs had all guided the Westerners to go to the public toilet if they needed to relieve themselves. However, they just liked to relieve themselves wherever and whenever, regardless of how many times they were advised against the practice.

It was only at this moment that the bailiffs began to miss the taxes of the previous dynasty and the fines that extended from that.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, carriages and horses had to pay carriage taxes to enter the city. Not only did this include the cost of traveling via carriage on the road, but it also included the cost of cleaning the poop on the road.

During Xiaozong’s era in the previous dynasty, they began to collect fines and donations. A fine was imposed on any livestock or human who urinated and defecated in the streets. Imposed on humans, it was fine since a human could control themselves. However, livestock could not be controlled in this regard. Therefore, in the former dynasty, most people would leave their cows and horses at the city gate. After the establishment of the current dynasty, such taxes were abolished in an attempt to lessen the tax burden on the people. Not only was the fine abolished, but even the carriage tax was gone.

The bailiff said, “If we collect taxes according to the taxes of the previous dynasty, these Westerners would correct their bad habits no matter how ingrained they are.”

Baozhu puffed up her cheeks and said, “Is there no way to correct their behavior? They’re dirtying the streets of Great Qi.”

The bailiff said nonchalantly, “They’ll probably change their ways after a sage emerges in the Western world.”

Seeing that the two young masters were still pacing back and forth angrily and unwilling to leave, the guards hurriedly went forward and persuaded in a low voice, “Not all foreigners are like this. After all, Young Master and Young Miss only saw a small number of them. Why don’t we go back and discuss with Master first? Considering he has a good relationship with the merchants, perhaps there’s a way?”

Little Leopard and Baozhu went back to look for their father angrily.

Qi Haoran widened his eyes and asked, “Why are you so concerned about these trivial matters?”

In his opinion, it was fine as long as the two countries cooperated for benefits. It was not like they were staying in Great Qi and never leaving. There was no need to interfere with their living habits.

However, Baozhu insisted, “They will lead other children astray. If the children of Great Qi learn from them and can’t correct this bad habit when they grow up, won’t Guangzhou become a stinky city if this habit is passed down from generation to generation?”

“Furthermore, other cities will also be affected by Guangzhou. When the time comes, this bad habit will spread from person to person, and from city to city. In the end, our Great Qi will become a smelly country. What should we do then?” Little Leopard looked at his father eagerly and said, “Daddy, you must think of a way to make them correct this bad habit.”

Qi Haoran held his forehead and said with a headache, “Father indeed doesn’t have a good idea. Why don’t you think about it? If you come up with a good idea, tell me and I’ll get someone to carry it out.”

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