Having just arrived in this place, the first things Zhao Baihui did were sell rice, rent a house, and buy three skinny girls, each of them as thin as a bean sprout.
His true objective was to cheat the System out of its subsidies.
[Team Level: 1; Current Team Members: 1; Daily Subsidy per Person: 10 yuan.]
[People Under Evaluation: 3; Deployment available to view details.]
[Next Level: Village Level; Promotion Requirement 1: 1,000 members; Requirement 2: Own a village with an area of no less than…]
[A Team-Level Draw Chance has been obtained.]
Zhao Baihui lightly tapped his fingers against the table, and the dry cloth sack sitting on it immediately bulged outward.
Another ten jin of rice had appeared inside.
“Only ten yuan a day. Without a doubt, buying rice is the most profitable option.”
“Rice costs two yuan per jin, so the daily subsidy is enough to buy only five jin.”
“If I sell it to the grain shop owner, I can get a hundred wen, but that doesn’t seem like enough.”
If only the three girls could finish their evaluation period soon.
Then the daily subsidy would increase to forty yuan, and things would become much easier.
“Jinyi, Jinyi.”
“Sir, I’m here.”
A thin, skinny girl entered the room.
Her coarse-cloth clothes were not only old and covered in patches, but also visibly too small for her.
They were so tight in some places that they looked ready to burst.
Still, they had been washed carefully, and she looked clean.
Zhao Baihui slapped his forehead.
“Sorry, that was my oversight. I’ll save some money over the next few days and buy you some new clothes. These are already too small for you. You can’t keep wearing them.”
Zhao Jinyi quickly shook her head.
“There’s no need, Master. I can still wear these. I’ll fix them myself later. Don’t waste money on me.”
“Master, the food is ready. It’s time to eat.”
“Hey, you. Why do you never listen to me? Didn’t I tell you to call me ‘Big Brother’? What’s with all this ‘sir, sir’ nonsense? Do I really look that old? I’m only thirty-three.”
Zhao Jinyi lowered her head without saying anything.
Thirty-three years old… At this time, many people were already grandparents by that age.
“All right, all right. Let’s leave it at that. Let’s eat.”
Zhao Baihui had rented this house for two hundred wen a month, which was equivalent to ten jin of rice, or twenty yuan—two days’ worth of subsidies.
The Team-Level System offered very few things, basically everyday necessities such as food and clothing, and many of those items were inconvenient to display in public.
After doing the math, the most convenient option was to resell rice: one yuan could be exchanged for ten wen.
He would have liked to obtain something rare that people here would value, but unfortunately, the Team-Level System only provided ordinary goods.
The house wasn’t large.
It had only two bedrooms, one on each side, with a central room that also served as the dining room.
Behind it was the kitchen, and the adjoining courtyard wasn’t small either, measuring more than one hundred square meters.
In Qingniu Village, someone living in a courtyard like this was usually not a farmer who worked the land.
After all, two hundred wen in monthly rent was enough for a peasant family to live on for an entire month.
During this period, silver had purchasing power similar to that of the Tang and Song dynasties.
Its value was extremely high.
A peasant family would usually spend only two or three liang of silver a year.
This was unlike the Qing Dynasty, when so much silver entered circulation that its value declined, to the point that a story about “thirty-three liang of silver” circulates online, although no one knows whether it is actually true.
When he arrived in the dining room, Jinxiu, eleven, and Jinwen, ten, were bringing the food to the table.
The meal had been prepared by Jinyi, who was thirteen.
Zhao Baihui had bought all three girls a few days earlier from a human trafficker in the village, intending to increase the number of team members and thus obtain a larger subsidy.
Population was money.
Zhao Baihui had thought their previous names were too ugly, so he simply gave them new ones: Zhao Jinyi, Zhao Jinxiu, and Zhao Jinwen, all sharing his surname.
After all, they had already been sold to him.
From now on, they would be his family.
There were four bowls on the table.
One large bowl contained thick rice porridge with an egg in it.
The other three small bowls contained much thinner porridge.
The only side dish was a small bowl of pickled vegetables.
Zhao Baihui said helplessly, “Jinyi, I’ve told you several times already. Don’t make this distinction. It’s not like I’m short of money for a few bowls of porridge.”
Zhao Jinyi replied with a smile, “Sir, the porridge we have is already very good.”
“All right, do whatever you want.”
Zhao Baihui didn’t insist any further because, deep down, Jinyi was right.
During breakfast, as he ate the thicker porridge, Zhao Baihui felt that it wasn’t anything special.
Meanwhile, the three girls, who had lived miserable lives before, were already happy simply to have a bowl of watery porridge.
At first, none of the three had been willing to sit at the same table and eat with him, nor had they been willing to prepare porridge for themselves.
The fact that they were doing this now could already be considered progress.
Some things could only be changed little by little with time.
Forcing them to change all at once would only frighten the three girls.
“After we finish eating, I’ll go take a look around the street. You three stay home.”
Jinyi spoke up.
“Sir, the three of us were thinking of tidying up the courtyard and planting some vegetables. That way, in two months, we could eat vegetables from our own garden and save quite a bit of money.”
“No need. We probably won’t be living here for very long.”
As soon as Zhao Baihui said this, he saw the girls’ faces fill with fear and unease, so he immediately explained himself.
“What I mean is this: in a few days, I’ll buy some land in the countryside, build a courtyard, and plant a few mu of crops around it.”
The girls’ fear came from not knowing what the future held for them.
Once they learned what his plans were, their fear disappeared.
They even began excitedly discussing what they would plant later on.
Although Zhao Baihui didn’t join their conversation, he also felt considerably happier.
After eating, he returned to his room and took out the sack of rice.
Between yesterday’s and today’s subsidies, he had twenty yuan, exactly enough to buy ten jin of rice.
“Jinyi, here are ten jin of rice. Take it to the grain shop owned by Old Man Zhou later and use the money to buy some vegetables. Keep whatever is left.”
“By the way, how much money have we saved so far?”
“Three hundred and forty-six wen.”
Jinyi counted the money several times a day together with her two younger sisters.
She had never been responsible for so much money in her entire life, and she was afraid of making even a single-wen mistake.
“Bring me three hundred wen.”
Jinyi went to the bedroom, took out a box, and pulled out two pieces of silver the size of fingernails.
The pieces of silver had been polished into an oval shape, each about the size of a fingernail.
Each one was worth one qian of silver, or one hundred wen.
She then counted another hundred copper coins.
A hundred copper coins weighed nearly one jin, so they had to be kept in a small cloth pouch and carried hidden inside the inner lining of one’s clothes, close to the chest.
Zhao Baihui went outside and walked down the street.
The village street wasn’t long, and he had walked its entire length within a few minutes.
When he entered the human trafficker’s shop, before he could say anything, the owner, Chen, who had a thin mustache, was already approaching him with a lecherous smile.
“Master Zhao, what a pleasure to see you! I happen to have some top-quality merchandise today. I’m sure you’ll love her.”
Seeing the obscene smile on Old Man Chen’s face, Zhao Baihui felt an urge to punch him straight in the face.
Damn it!
My reputation has been ruined because of this old bastard.
Apparently, there was already a rumor going around that a foreign grain merchant had arrived in the village who was fond of little girls, had already harmed three young girls, and visited the human trafficker’s shop every day.
If it turns out that this shopkeeper wasn’t the one who spread the rumor, I’ll stand on my head and shit myself.
Of course, since he didn’t want to get into trouble, he could only think it.
He couldn’t actually hit the man.
“Bring her out so I can take a look.”
Zhao Baihui didn’t want to exchange another word with that dog.
Owner Chen sent one of the shop’s young workers to fetch someone, while he himself stayed behind to keep Zhao Baihui company and served him a cup of tea.
Not long afterward, an older woman entered, accompanying a girl who looked extremely young.
Zhao Baihui suddenly broke into a delighted and surprised smile.
Jinyi’s evaluation period has just ended!
From now on, I’ll have another ten yuan added to my daily subsidy.
That gives me considerably more breathing room!
Besides, Jinxiu and Jinwen had been bought on the same day, so they would also complete their evaluation periods that afternoon.
With that, his daily income would increase from ten to forty yuan.
He would have much more financial freedom.
How could I not be happy?
His joy was so great that he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
But Owner Chen assumed that Zhao Baihui was simply delighted at the sight of the little girl.
His smile became even more lecherous.
Originally, this girl was far too young.
She’s barely eight years old, so I wasn’t even sure whether this deal could go through.
But judging from things now, it’s clear that it will.
Perhaps I can even raise the price a little.
That merchant Zhao, who came from another region, really is a beast!
He always chooses little girls!
This girl barely comes up to his waist!
But then again, a beast is a beast.
What does that have to do with me?
I’m not the one selling my daughter.
As long as this deal goes through, everything will be perfect!