Chapter 195: Returning to the Great Liang Dynasty
Distributing wages to an ancient employee was a whole abundance more troublesome than handing money to the villagers. Especially for a new employee like Shang Yue, who carried no idea how much his labor was worth and required Jian Xingxia’s assistance from the side.
The most painful part was that when Jian Xingxia tried to have Shang Yue carry back the mashed paste of buns and meat patties she and Lin Sanniang had hammered out, the system refused to let them exploit the loophole this time.
[Warning! The manor owner has been detected intentionally destroying and damaging supplies, causing a loss to manor property. A deduction of 1,000 yuan has been made from the manor funds!]
[Furthermore, damaged items shall not be delivered to employees as valueless residue. If carried away, they will be evaluated at their original price.]
Jian Xingxia: !!!
Her heart shattered completely! Why had it worked before, but now it didn’t?
Lin Sanniang carried no idea what the system had spoken, but she heard Shang Yue report back: “Benefactor, I carried no way to take this back. It says… it exceeds the wages I deserve.”
Jian Xingxia was still nursing her broken heart. “No, why?”
Lin Sanniang carefully offered a reminder: “Miss, could it be because… previously when we hammered the paste, we used unsold dishes and leftovers. Although there was plenty of meat, eggs, and rice, they were indeed leftovers. But today, we used perfectly good buns and meat patties to make the paste…”
Lin Sanniang actually let out a sigh of relief. Having lived through a brutal six-month famine in the Great Liang Dynasty, she truly couldn’t bear to see food ruined like that.
Jian Xingxia was helpless, feeling that this was highly likely the case. She just didn’t know if she had the plump auntie cook extra food in the future and used what was “left over” from sales, whether it would still count as leftovers. Left with no choice, she could only tell Shang Yue to eat as much as he possibly could on the spot.
Since there were no loopholes to exploit with zero-value materials, they had to rely entirely on his wages. For his wage materials, Shang Yue selected only the iron wire.
Lu Bo’s squad held a physician, and his retainers and private soldiers had also hidden supplies at the summit, so they weren’t particularly lacking in food, water, and medicine. After all, Shang Yue had already carried seven life-saving safety pills back; having used two, five remained, which was temporarily sufficient. He didn’t evaluate his choices based on this single shift’s wages; rather, he felt that having come three times, he had only built this single chicken pen while eating and using so much at his benefactor’s place, not to mention carrying quite a bit back. He already owed his benefactor far too much.
Since he harbored no other demands, Jian Xingxia could only work with Lin Sanniang to help him fill the quota.
Shang Yue’s wages for sixteen hours amounted to sixteen yuan. Two catties of iron wire only cost about six or seven yuan, leaving a remaining quota of nearly ten yuan.
Jian Xingxia pulled out the medical kit. “You still need to carry some medicine back. You all are going to fight, so wound medicine is indispensable. Previously we had no choice but to pack it into your gashes, and I reckon you didn’t carry much back. This time, we’ll wrap some up for you using rags and corn husks.”
The powder of Yunnan Baiyao was very light—four grams per bottle costing around a dozen yuan. Subtracting the safety pill, the remaining value was only a few yuan. Jian Xingxia directly poured an entire bottle out for him; used carefully, it was enough to coat a substantial area of external wounds. Shang Yue noted that they still had safety pills, so Jian Xingxia didn’t give him more; that stuff couldn’t be blindly eaten for no reason anyway.
Lin Sanniang stared at the pliers for a long time, feeling that Shang Yue likely required them. “Shang Yue, you’re carrying the iron wire back, but it’s not that easy to twist and snap by hand. You might as well carry this thing called pliers back together with it.”
Shang Yue shook his head. “Thank you for the pointer, Lady Lin, but I carry no way to take this object back.”
“You can take it,” Lin Sanniang smiled, bringing the pliers over to show Jian Xingxia. “Miss, I see these pliers are also forged from fine iron. It’s probably just the material on the handles that can’t be carried. I tried it, and it seems they can be stripped off.”
Having stayed at the manor for a long time, Lin Sanniang was the most “modernized” ancient person, holding a relatively clear grasp of what could and couldn’t be carried. She could even perform some basic processing of items to help Jian Xingxia.
Sure enough, Jian Xingxia took the pliers and inspected them. The entire structure was stainless steel, with only a pair of rubber sleeves wrapped around the handles. Scoring them with a blade allowed the rubber sleeves to be peeled right off.
“Shang Yue, try it again.” Jian Xingxia handed the bare pliers over.
Shang Yue tried it and was thoroughly amazed. “It truly works!”
Now that he possessed the pliers, the utility of the iron wire would be a whole abundance greater. Not to mention the wire—just the pliers alone, a heavy piece of industrial iron, would be a highly formidable weapon.
Shang Yue immediately fell to his knees, kowtowing several times to Jian Xingxia and Lin Sanniang. “Thank you, Benefactor! Thank you, Lady Lin! You have saved my life and given my brothers a way to live!”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “Go on then. At five tomorrow morning, I will summon you over again. You can help me build a few more small huts properly.” With the guesthouse about to open officially, Jian Xingxia still hoped to arrange a comfortable resting place for the ancient employees as soon as possible. Otherwise, like now, the plump auntie would slip away the moment she finished cooking, and she felt too self-conscious to force the auntie to stay. Because of this, they were short one person who could learn characters.
Clutching his supplies, Shang Yue leaped straight into the deep pit on the ground and vanished on the spot.
Lin Sanniang also took her meals for the day, her two-yuan bonus takeaway meal, and the supplies within her six-hundred-yuan wage limit, returning to the Great Liang Dynasty.
Currently, the optical time of the Great Liang Dynasty had reached mid-June.
Ever since Lin Sanniang became a formal employee, regardless of whether she went to the manor or not, the time over in the Great Liang Dynasty flowed at the exact same pace as the manor. It would no longer skip a dozen days just because she didn’t visit for a single day.
Fortunately, by the end of May, the most difficult period of the famine had passed. The local government had set up porridge booths at the city gates. Although the crops in the town where Lin Sanniang’s family resided had not yet yielded a bumper harvest, the early rice in the south was already ripe. The spring corn in the north had also filled out significantly. The court’s relief officials had transported some grain over—it wasn’t a vast amount, but boiling a dozen vats of thin porridge every day at least allowed the common folk to hold out.
Taoya took her younger brother and sister to fetch porridge at the city gates every day, waiting to receive Lin Sanniang along the way.
The Temple of the Mountain Goddess sat on a small hill not far outside the city. The moment Lin Sanniang emerged from the hidden cave that others couldn’t spot, she could see the back door of the Goddess Temple.
Before leaving the house, Brother Shu had been a bit bewildered. “Eldest Sister, we can eat our fill every single day, so why do we still have to go fetch thin porridge?” Going to the city gates wasn’t close or far, requiring a full quarter of an hour’s walk.
Before Taoya could speak, Xing’er delivered a sharp rap to Brother Shu’s head, leaving his eyes completely swimming with tears.
“Are you stupid? Our family’s land has been given to Eldest Uncle’s family to cultivate. If we don’t go fetch thin porridge, won’t people realize our house possesses food?”
Brother Shu clutched his head in defiance, but he felt his second sister’s words made perfect sense, forcing his face to turn thoroughly flushed.
Taoya cast a glare at Xing’er—If you want to speak, just speak, why hit Brother Shu?
Taoya explained to Brother Shu, “Xing’er is right. Although Mother is currently working as a laborer at the manor and can bring food back every day so we won’t starve, we cannot let others find out. Currently, relief grain is being distributed at the city gates, and everyone goes to fetch it. If they see that we never go, won’t they realize we aren’t hungry and are hoarding grain at home? What if they track us to our house and plunder our food then?”
Upon hearing this, Brother Shu instantly felt as if facing a formidable enemy, his entire small face wrinkling up. “Eldest Sister, I want to fetch the relief grain! We cannot let others know our house possesses food!”
