Wild Crimson Rose: Beloved Handyman Prince’s Courtesan Wife

'Ah, they remembered the drill for earthquakes. Good boys and girls, laying flat on the ground and covering their heads. Still have enough sense to keep looking around too. Oh? That one's comforting a girl that's crying... Well how nice. Hope that doesn't get him killed one day.' Shen Tianyu evaluated everyone and their situation as she looked around.

Some that were more alert and keen saw her holding an empty food box above her head and copied it themselves. The food boxes in this era were all made of wood and were quite sturdy, since many people that purchase it were on the go and could, therefore, end up throwing or banging them around. Not to mention, there was a lid as well as the bottom of the box. Though it wouldn't block a large rock, it is enough to keep the smaller debris and dust from covering one's head or smacking a sėnsɨtɨvė place. 

Due to the food boxes being made of wood, certain regulations were put in place. As wood comes from trees and trees are usually part of a forest, which many different kinds of demonic beasts can reside in. It would be detrimental to the regime's reputation if demonic beasts were to stampede out of the forest and attack civilians due to mass deforestation. Therefore, some countries that cared more, such as Rikui Kingdom put down a tax on food boxes. When purchasing food on the go, and the customer dėsɨrės a food box, they charge an extra amount for the box, similar to a bagging fee. After the customer finishes the food, they can return the food box to the restaurant they got it from to get a portion, up to half if the establishment was feeling generous, of the money spent purchasing said food box. In the case of chain restaurants, the customer can return it to another store in the same chain in another city and still get their refund. It is the establishment that decides the exact price but the law states that the price of the food box can not exceed ten percent of the sales tax of the nation. Currently, the sales tax throughout Rikui is twenty percent so the fees for the food boxes may not exceed two jiao1, or 0.2 yuan.

Well, the refunded amount is not much so many travelers don't really care about returning it. But because they paid for it, penny-pinchers reuse the food box at other establishments. They might get a few side-eyes for it but it is allowed by the law so they can go about their day regardless. The reason for the low ceiling is because most of the people in this world are not cultivators, and are, in fact, common people that work on farms or as laborers for merchants. Compared to tycoons and civil officials, they don't make much. If the prices of just food boxes got too high, it might deter them from frequenting a restaurant, which in turn can cause those workers at said restaurant to loose their job if it closes down. In fact, many common people do return their food boxes to the restaurant after the law was implemented. Other countries had varying degrees of care for this matter.

Nang Zhou, where Shen Tianyu was originally from in this world, had just recently started implementing this policy. Beforehand, people were not only not caring about the consequences of deforestation, they were even littering, throwing the food boxes at the side of the street or road since they took up too much space in the trash cans at home. Or at least, that was what was reported to her during her time at Yaodu. She also saw some of it when she was being ushered out of the city but she was too busy with other things on her mind so she didn't really notice. Xi Qi and Jing Qie of the Xi Jing continent had also implemented this a year or so ago. It's affects are starting to be seen... perhaps. If those two nations don't go to war before the policy fully sets in.

Tianan, despite it's militaristic approach and disdain of Rikui, has also implemented this policy, to the surprise of many. Though if one thought about it, it wasn't that surprising at all. Though it has the largest swath of land among the five nations of Dong Qi, half of it's land was barren. Therefore, there was even more incentive to protect the trees and fertile land that they did have. A portion of that land was flatlands so there hasn't been any deforestation issues. They were also aware enough that forests can provide just as much in terms of food than farmlands if you knew enough. In addition to the medicinal herbs it can provide.

Qianlu and Zhandi, on the other hand, are the ones who have no forest protection policy whatsoever. The internal working of Qianlu Kingdom was a mess so even if the emperor wanted to implement such a policy, the mercantile families and officials would never allow such a law, that was detrimental to their pockets, to pass. Meanwhile, Zhandi was basically having a civil war within it's borders. It's politics in complete shambles, no one being able to do anything, the government was basically at a deadlock, and people were growing dissatisfied with the government. One small spark is all it takes for the entire place to crumble down like a sandcastle.

Mingya Principality, unlike the others, implemented the policy right after Rikui did. It has been serving well so far and the effects are far more prominent. Perhaps because it is a small nation so almost everyone knew everyone else and the social pressure adds to conformity.

In any case, two jiao wasn't worth much to Shen Tianyu even with the amount of food boxes she did buy along with her food. Considering the size of her pocket money, it was bȧrėly a drop in the bucket. She thought about it some more and brought another empty food box out of her Cosmo Pouch, handing it to Rong Jian. Chinese version of dimes, the other coin subdivision is "fen" which would be pennies