Chapter 24: Master Has Been Possessed
Jian Xingxia emerged from the house carrying a platter laden with sweet potatoes, corn, and two eggs. In her other hand, she held a massive porcelain bowl. Coldly, she addressed Da Hei, “This is your dinner. From now on, you will use this platter and this bowl. When you’re finished eating, wash them clean yourself and leave them by the kitchen door.”
It wasn’t that she was being elitist, but Da Hei looked like someone who had never bathed or brushed his teeth in his life. Eating sweet potatoes, corn, and eggs over the past two days was fine since those didn’t require dishes or utensils, but drinking water required them, and eating proper meals in the future would too.
Jian Xingxia had decided to implement a personal tableware system with separate portions. From now on, any temporary worker who came to labor at her estate would use their own dedicated utensils. Fortunately, modern manufacturing was highly advanced and tableware was incredibly cheap; a complete individual dining set—bowl, plate, chopsticks, and spoon—could be bought for a mere ten yuan.
Jian Xingxia’s tone was clipped and cold, but the moment Da Hei saw the massive platter piled high with sweet potatoes, corn, and even eggs, he understood instantly.
His new master’s temperament was a bit peculiar. Sometimes he felt she was wonderfully kind to him, yet in the next instant she would drive him away. Sometimes she barked at him sharply, but a moment later she would present him with a massive platter of fresh food. It wasn’t scraps, it wasn’t spoiled leftovers—it was crisp, freshly prepared food.
He even had his very own bowl and platter!
Good heavens! Back at his late master’s estate, the low-ranking slaves shared everything. Forget dedicated bowls and chopsticks; even their clothes were worn interchangeably. When a slave fell ill, died, was sold, or was driven away, their clothes had to be left behind for other slaves to keep wearing. At night, they slept on a communal platform bed where the only bedding was straw mats, and only the physically strongest could claim a spot shielded from the wind. Only the overseers were allowed a fixed bed and their own personal bowls.
But now! On only his second day with his new master, he possessed his own bowl and chopsticks!
Da Hei didn’t feel the slightest bit offended; he merely believed that because he had labored diligently today, he had earned extra favor from his master. He completely cast the memory of her barking at him to the back of his mind.
Having patrolled the mountains all day, Jian Xingxia’s legs were aching and swollen, so she simply sat beneath the eaves to munch on an ear of corn. She didn’t have the stomach for sweet potatoes; eating too many gave her acid reflux. Especially watching the way Da Hei inhaled them whole, skin and all, made her chest feel even tighter, though she felt a trace of envy. “What an incredible appetite!” There was simply nothing Da Hei couldn’t swallow.
Once she recovered a bit of her stamina, Jian Xingxia took the wild vegetables from yesterday, blanched them in boiling water, tossed them with salt and soy sauce, and gave them to Da Hei.
Ecstatic, Da Hei polished off another two platters in a series of hearty gulps.
Jian Xingxia didn’t dare boil any more, terrified that his stomach might burst. Seeing that his “clock-out time” was fast approaching, she asked Da Hei if he had any requirements for his wages.
His status as a Kunlun Slave made things rather difficult; he performed the most grueling physical labor, yet his standard hourly wage was a mere one yuan. It truly didn’t treat a human like a human. Jian Xingxia couldn’t fault him for eating too much; given his wages and workload, she wouldn’t object even if his appetite were twice as large.
Sure enough, Da Hei was completely oblivious to the concept of wages. Chewing his wild vegetables, he lifted his head blankly and said, “Kunlun Slaves do not ask for wages. There are no wages.”
Jian Xingxia signaled for him to swallow his food before speaking. “From now on, when you labor for me, your wages will be one yuan per hour… which means every half a shichen.”
Seeing his bewilderment, Jian Xingxia lined up sweet potatoes of varying sizes and an egg on the ground to demonstrate. “For half a shichen, your wages are one yuan, which can buy a sweet potato the size of my fist.”
“It can also buy two eggs.”
“For a full shichen, your wages are two yuan, which can buy a sweet potato the size of your fist.”
“Or four eggs.”
Da Hei’s gaze darted back and forth between the sweet potatoes and the eggs, looking rather perplexed. He stared with his large, starkly black-and-white eyes, feeling that Jian Xingxia’s pricing was a bit chaotic. “An egg… is three copper coins.”
“A sweet potato…” He picked up the large one and said, “Is two copper coins.”
A sweet potato couldn’t even trade for a single egg, so why did Jian Xingxia say one sweet potato could trade for four eggs? Da Hei was baffled. Raising chickens was so difficult; you had to feed them for months before they started laying eggs, and you had to keep providing feed, whereas sweet potatoes were far easier to grow.
However, sweet potatoes weren’t always cheap either. His true homeland didn’t produce sweet potatoes, and many people starved to death every year, which was exactly why he had been trafficked by human merchants to the Central Plains to become a Kunlun Slave. The Central Plains produced sweet potatoes, so at the very least, one wouldn’t starve to death. Thus, even though a slave’s life was cheap, they could only survive by being sold as Kunlun Slaves.
Da Hei voiced his thoughts to Jian Xingxia.
A heavy silence fell over Jian Xingxia. Slaves… Her country had abolished that system less than a century ago, but for her generation, the word “slave” had completely vanished from daily life. She had never experienced it, nor could she fathom a slave’s life. She had no way to explain to Da Hei that with the backing of modern industrialized agriculture, the cost of producing an egg wasn’t necessarily higher than producing a sweet potato.
In the end, she could only pat Da Hei’s arm. “At my place, we follow my rules. Half a shichen is one sweet potato or two eggs.”
Da Hei didn’t fret over the disparity of eras; his grandest dream was merely to fill his belly. Since his master felt this arrangement wasn’t a loss, he had no further objections. His eyes flickered back and forth between the sweet potatoes and the eggs. Eggs were delicious and counted as meat, but sweet potatoes filled the belly…
“I want sweet potatoes,” Da Hei looked up, making his decision quickly.
Jian Xingxia smiled. “Alright, then I’ll give you all sweet potatoes.”
She had employed Da Hei for twelve hours today, from eight in the morning until eight at night. He hadn’t labored for a full twelve hours, but she could still issue twelve hours’ worth of wages. Jian Xingxia decisively picked out six jin of sweet potatoes for Da Hei, confirming once more, “Are you full? If not, I can boil a bit more for you.”
Da Hei patted his slightly distended stomach, thoroughly content. “I am full!” He had consumed at least ten jin of sweet potatoes today, along with two eggs, four or five jin of wild vegetables, and four or five jin of wild fruit. This was the fullest his belly had been since his late master passed away.
Seeing this, Jian Xingxia let out a small cough. “Well, since you’re full, when you go back and rate the work today, could you possibly give me a slightly higher score? For instance, something like 95 points…”
Da Hei stared at his master, his face a mask of absolute gravity.
What was happening? Was he deaf? Why was his master merely moving her mouth without making a sound? That couldn’t be right; he could clearly hear the frogs croaking outside, which proved his ears were perfectly fine. Then why couldn’t he hear his master speak?
Da Hei’s eyes bulged, wishing he could peer straight down Jian Xingxia’s throat.
Jian Xingxia also processed what was happening at that moment. She clutched her throat, utterly stunned. What is going on? Why can’t I make a sound?
—”My throat feels fine.” The voice came out normally.
—”Give me a 95-point rating.” No sound. Highly abnormal.
“95 points.” No sound.
“Rating.” No sound.
Jian Xingxia was fit to faint from pure exasperation. This system had flagged her for cheating!
Helplessly, Jian Xingxia turned back to Da Hei. “Are you dissatisfied with this work?”
Da Hei peeked at Jian Xingxia cautiously. The way she had behaved just now looked suspiciously like she had been possessed by an evil spirit. He replied prudently, “I am very satisfied.”
“Then why did you only give me sixty points yesterday?” —Still, no sound came out.
Jian Xingxia: “……”
This time she wasn’t just metaphorically speechless; she was literally struck dumb.
She waved her hand coordinates exhaustedly. “Forget it, everything is up to fate. Darkness has fallen, so head back quickly and get some proper rest. If nothing goes awry, I will look for you to labor again tomorrow.”
This sentence came out loud and clear.
Cradling his pile of sweet potatoes, Da Hei stole looks back at her with every three steps like a thief, terrified that an evil spirit might possess Jian Xingxia and chase after him. Doggedly and surreptitiously, he vanished into the depths of the wild grass.
