Chapter 167: You Just Don’t Know Good from Bad
“They want to work, earn money, and buy things, so I let them dig a pond in the vegetable field, giving them an opportunity.”
“Xiao Luo, how can you do this? These people have no relation to you, so why are you giving them a chance to make money? And what if they have bad intentions? Aren’t you afraid they’ll bring trouble to everyone?”
At times like these, the Bai and Liu families never dared to voice any objections.
Even if they had opinions, they would keep them to themselves rather than upset the Yu family.
Perhaps because they were grateful to have survived and now lived a stable life, they felt indebted to the Yu family.
With that gratitude, who would have the nerve to complain?
So the only people who dared to criticize the Yu family repeatedly were their own relatives.
Hearing Liu Lan speak, Yu Luo rolled her eyes at her.
“It’s my family’s silver, and I can let whoever I want earn it. Are you meddling too much?”
Yu Luo’s words immediately shut Liu Lan up. Remembering her husband’s previous warnings and Yu Luo’s sharp tongue—along with her complete disregard for so-called family seniority—Liu Lan didn’t dare voice her dissatisfaction anymore.
Thinking about how much she still relied on the Yu family, Liu Lan swallowed her anger and quickly forced a few ingratiating smiles.
“No, no, Xiao Luo, you’ve misunderstood your aunt’s intentions.”
“Then what do you mean?”
Yu Luo smirked playfully, pretending not to understand and deliberately teasing her.
She knew that many others probably shared Liu Lan’s thoughts but didn’t dare speak up due to her family’s current standing.
She deliberately dragged out the conversation with Liu Lan to make sure everyone clearly understood their position and to prevent any moral coercion.
Giving them a chance to earn money didn’t mean they had to be endlessly grateful, but Yu Luo at least didn’t want them to think they were entitled to it.
“Aunt means that these people have an unknown background. If there’s work, our own people should do it. If we let them in and they get familiar with the place, what if they wait for you to let your guard down and then rob you?
You know that lately, everyone has been working outside, and there are barely any men left at home. They have so many men, while it’s just you and your mother here…”
“Oh, so that’s what you’re worried about? Haha, there’s no need. My father will be back in the afternoon, and besides, if the three of us can’t handle these few people, we wouldn’t dare sell our supplies so openly in the first place. So, you can keep your worries to yourself—I appreciate your concern, though.”
Liu Lan: …
“Fine, you just don’t know good from bad!”
With that, Liu Lan finally lost her temper, dropped her expression, and stormed back to her own cave.
“Does anyone else have objections?”
Yu Luo turned her gaze to the other women still frozen in place and asked with a deliberately inquisitive look.
“N-no! Xiao Luo, it’s your family’s money, so whoever you hire is your decision. But Liu Lan isn’t wrong; these people are different from us. We’ve gone through hardships together, so you should still keep an eye on them.”
Bai You’s wife, Madam Xiang, spoke earnestly. Her words were sincere—she genuinely didn’t want anything bad to happen to Yu Luo’s family.
After all, none of the Bai family members knew martial arts. If people like the ones from the Wanli Gang showed up, they would still rely on Yu Luo’s family and Yu Zhengqing for protection.
“Mmm, I understand. You’re here to cook, right? Make more food. Your men are doing physical labor—they’ll probably be hungry again by mid-afternoon. As for food, you can always buy more from me with silver, but health comes first.”
“Yes, yes, Xiao Luo, you’re right! We’ll make a few extra pancakes to bring along so they can have something to snack on later.”
After the women left, Yu Haojie took Yu Luo back to the cave. After some discussion, Yu Haojie’s furrowed brows slowly relaxed.
“If these people are willing to work, we’ll observe them first. Anyway, we need manpower. I calculated that based on ancient farming yields, one mu (666.5 square metres) of land produces about 300 jin (150 kg) of grain. If we cultivate 100 mu, we’ll only get 30,000 jin of grain.
The more people in the stone house, the better. If we can cultivate 1,000 mu, we can produce 300,000 jin of grain!
300,000 jin of grain—just think about it. In this wilderness, that’s an amount that would make people envious and jealous!”
Seeing the excitement in her father’s eyes, Yu Luo smiled and shook her head.
“That’s a nice dream. But if we really produce 300,000 jin of grain annually, wouldn’t the powerful factions in the sealed city just send troops to seize our farmland?
By then, losing the land wouldn’t even be the worst part—we might even lose our lives.”
Hearing this, Yu Haojie’s cheerful expression stiffened.
“You’re right… Sigh, but what can we do? Manpower is our biggest weakness. We don’t dare spend silver hiring skilled fighters to guard us either—what if they turn against us?”
[Ding-dong! The system kindly reminds the host that this is something your mother can actually solve.]
The system’s message made Yu Luo instinctively glance at Ye Jiamei, who was serving rice, in surprise.
Ye Jiamei put down the bowl, looked up, and met Yu Luo’s scrutinizing gaze. Pursing her lips, she rolled her eyes at her daughter.
“Why are you looking at me like that? What do you mean? You and your father can dream about being landlords all you want, but I don’t have such grand ambitions. My dream is to save lives, but with so few people around, there’s no one for me to save.”
“Mom, the system says you have a way to prevent guards from turning against us after we hire them?”
Ye Jiamei: …
After a moment of surprise, Ye Jiamei chuckled awkwardly.
“Your system is really something—it even knows about that.”
Hearing her words, the father and daughter duo became restless.
“Come on, honey, don’t keep us guessing. What is it?”
“It’s nothing special—just some poisons that can control people. But I think what we need is to cultivate loyal followers, not control people with poison. Over time, those we poison will only grow more resentful. People who had no ill intentions might be forced into rebellion.”
