Chapter 44: News Brought by Uncle Mao

Chen Chuxue.

In Quanzi Village, she was undoubtedly an outlier.

In Li Yuanjing’s memory, Chen Chuxue was only about sixteen or seventeen years old. Her background seemed quite respectable—she came from a prominent family in the city.

Yet, for reasons unknown, she had been branded as “inauspicious.”

Apparently, she had once been abducted by bandits from the mountains but was later released. Moreover, it seemed her family suffered utter ruin and destruction because of her.

In the end, she had no choice but to seek refuge with a relative in Quanzi Village.

But perhaps fate was simply unkind. Chen Chuxue’s reputation as a harbinger of misfortune was once again confirmed. She had been in Quanzi Village less than half a year when, during last year’s New Year’s festivities, her entire host family was slaughtered by robbers on their way to visit relatives—every one of the six perished.

After that, she understood that she was unwelcome. She rarely left the house, eking out a living by spinning thread at home and doing needlework for others.

Li Yuanjing remembered seeing her only once.

She was a petite, upright young woman, but her hair was a tangled mess, and her face was so dark and dirty that no one would spare her a second glance.

Li Yuanjing was genuinely surprised to learn that Daya was friends with Chen Chuxue...

“Brother Yuanjing, are you... is it inconvenient for you...?”

Seeing Li Yuanjing’s clear discomfort, Daya realized she had gone too far. After all, Li Yuanjing had already done so much for their family. He had pulled them back from the brink of ruin. Now, her elder brother Zhang Kun was Li Yuanjing’s right-hand man, and her mother was the night shift leader at the workshop.

How could she ask for even more?

“Brother Yuanjing, it’s all my fault—I’m causing you trouble...” Daya, in her distress, burst into tears, falling to her knees and bowing her head repeatedly in apology.

Li Yuanjing finally came to his senses. Smiling wryly, he quickly pulled Daya up and said,

“Daya, what are you crying for? I know Chen Chuxue. Since she’s your friend, have her come for an interview tomorrow. It just so happens that Old Zhao’s new loom will be ready by then. If she passes, she can start work tomorrow!”

“Ah?”

“Brother Yuanjing, you—you really mean it? Thank you, thank you so much!”

It took Daya a moment to react, and she was so overwhelmed with excitement that she could hardly speak.

Li Yuanjing could only shake his head and laugh, patting her slender waist absent-mindedly.

“What’s there to thank? All right, girl, go home and get some rest.”

However, only after he spoke did Li Yuanjing realize what he had just done...

—

The girl before him, Daya, was frozen stiff, her small body trembling as if struck by lightning...

“Ahem, ahem...” Li Yuanjing was an old hand at dealing with such situations, his skin thicker than a city wall. He coughed and said,

“Daya, your second brother should be feeling much better by now, right? And Erya can take care of things at home? How about this—tomorrow you come and help Chen Chunyan, start by cooking. Five big coins a day. It’s settled; be here early tomorrow morning.”

Having said this, Li Yuanjing left without looking back, leaving the dazed Daya in the room, lost in confusion...

—

These days, Li Yuanjing had been evaluating several new recruits, so he no longer needed to fish at night himself; the task had been handed over to Zhang Kun, Zhuzi, and a straightforward man named Kuei.

Zhuzi was only seventeen this year, a year younger than Li Yuanjing, and belonged to the old village chief’s clan. His sister worked as a weaver in the workshop, so hiring him as a long-term worker posed no issue.

Kuei, two years older than Zhang Kun and already thirty, had just married this year, and his wife was newly pregnant. His father and Li Yuanjing’s father, Honest Li, had once been colleagues, so there was some old friendship there. Li Yuanjing felt reassured employing him as a long-term worker.

Compared to Zhang Kun and Zhao Zengjin, however, Zhuzi and Kuei’s wages were considerably less—just two hundred big coins a month. Even so, in Quanzi Village, this was a high salary.

—

The next morning.

Li Yuanjing went to inspect the newly finished fishpond beside the courtyard and was quite pleased. In the small pond, barely twenty square meters, there were more than twenty large fish, each about the length of a hand, and fifty or sixty smaller ones. Clearly, Zhang Kun and the others had worked hard the previous night.

After all, the pool in Quanzi Village was not large, and after so much fishing, the fish had grown wary and were not so easily caught now.

This haul was already substantial.

This got Li Yuanjing thinking about how to resolve the issue of basic sustenance.

Relying on buying grain was unsustainable. The situation in Qizhou was still relatively stable, so grain prices were normal for the time being. But at the rate things were going, the collapse of the Da Qian regime seemed imminent.

When that time came, who could say if you could buy grain at all? Even a tael of gold might not buy you a single jin.

In the end, one must rely on oneself.

The core issue had to be resolved internally and as independently as possible!

—

“Master.”

“Master...”

As Li Yuanjing made his rounds, the women workers were arriving for their shifts, all greeting him with respect. He was long accustomed to this, nodding to them before returning inside to have breakfast with Yuniang.

Still, though things seemed to be going well and everything was falling into place, Li Yuanjing felt a bit restless and helpless during breakfast.

There was nothing for it. His family now had two or three mu of land, which seemed substantial. Yet, for various reasons, all his enterprises were built around his own household.

On the one hand, this was safe—there were night watchmen every night—but if he wanted to be intimate with Yuniang, things became awkward...

Especially since Yuniang was shy, always afraid someone would overhear them...

After breakfast, he patted Yuniang’s slender waist and told her to go outside and supervise, urging her to get used to her role as the boss’s wife.

Li Yuanjing was just about to settle down and draft a plan for future development when he suddenly heard Zhang Kun’s anxious voice outside:

“Master, are you there?”

Li Yuanjing perked up and called Zhang Kun inside, lowering his voice:

“What’s wrong, Brother Zhang? Did something happen?”

Zhang Kun’s expression grew more grave as he whispered,

“Master, it’s not us; trouble has come to the neighboring Yicheng County! There’s been unrest there, and many have died already...”

“Uncle Mao and Fugui woke up this morning and told me about it. Their family fled here from Yicheng County. Perhaps you should speak to them yourself...”

“What?”

“There’s unrest in Yicheng County?”

Li Yuanjing’s brow furrowed tightly, his back straight as a rod.

Though Yicheng County town was more than a hundred li away, its border was quite close to Quanzi Village—just a few villages apart.

The surging Yi River flowed nearby. To the north was their own Fengcheng County, the territory of Iron Ox Town, and to the south, Yicheng County’s domain.

He quickly said,

“Come on, Brother Zhang, let’s go find Uncle Fugui at once!”