A broad street, wide enough for six carriages to travel side by side.
Two rows of two-story buildings stood along either side, with more than a hundred shops of various sizes lining each side, ranging from three to ten meters in width.
The street stretched from the entrance of the valley all the way to the vicinity of the lake.
Construction had taken four months.
By then, the construction crew had grown to more than two hundred people.
More than a hundred of them had been recruited gradually from the surrounding areas of Qingniu.
Zhao Baihui walked from one end of the street to the other, accompanied by the four main girls and several servants.
Jinyi carried her little notebook and reported on the situation as they walked.
“There are more than two hundred shops, but for now, only a dozen or so merchant families have moved in. There’s a liquor shop, a grain shop, a cloth shop… Though, technically speaking, they’re all our businesses.”
“Yes. There aren’t that many of us yet. We’ve only just passed eight hundred people. We’re basically a small Qingniu at this point. Our purchasing power is still weak, so it’s only natural that we haven’t been able to attract merchants.”
“But there’s no need to worry. Our numbers will keep growing, and our wages are high. It’s practically as if we have more than two hundred well-off households living here.”
“The only problem is that most of them come from poor families and aren’t used to spending money. We’ll have to gradually teach them how to spend.”
“Money is like flowing water. As long as it keeps moving, it’s less likely to stagnate, and it stays full of life.”
Baihui nodded.
Then he suddenly remembered something.
“By the way, have any tax collectors or anyone like that come around?”
“Not yet.”
“Heh. The efficiency of these people…”
“Go on.”
“Leaving all the shops empty wouldn’t be good either, so for now I’ve arranged for some people to stay in them. Once the houses we’re building are finished, we’ll gradually move them out.”
“Good. Remember this: the houses here are for rent only. They’re not for sale. In the future, both these houses and this land will be extremely valuable.”
“If we sell them now, it’ll be a huge hassle to rebuild or make any changes later.”
“Understood, Lord.”
“By the way, how much does Immortal’s Liquor sell for now?”
“It’s no longer being sold through the village liquor shops. We’re supplying it directly to a few major merchants with enough financial clout.”
“The selling price is five hundred wen per jin.”
One hundred jin of liquor a day.
That meant fifty liang of silver.
And that was without even counting the cut that an intermediary might take.
The costs were practically negligible.
It was an absurdly profitable business.
“Jinyi, that’s too much money. Sooner or later, someone with bad intentions is going to set their sights on us. We need to prepare in advance.”
“I understand, Lord. As soon as I get back, I’ll start selecting young men from respectable families and form an army.”
“Cough, cough! Don’t talk nonsense! It’ll just be a local militia!”
Ever since he’d revealed some of his secrets to her the last time, Baihui had felt that this girl was starting to get a little crazy.
She had never said it outright, but he could sense it.
That girl was dead set on pushing him onto the emperor’s throne.
And that was starting to make him a little uneasy.
Zhao Baihui thought about it for a moment.
In the end, he sighed and waved his hand, causing a book to appear directly in Jinyi’s arms.
He had a feeling that this girl was probably going to cause some enormous trouble in the future.
But no matter how much trouble she caused, as long as he had soldiers at his disposal, he would feel much more at ease.
“Don’t show this to anyone!”
Jinyi nodded.
She looked down at the book in her arms.
Training Manual for New Recruits.
“Everyone needs to understand why they’re serving as soldiers. They need to know who provides them with their food and drink. They have to take pride in being part of this. That way, we won’t have to worry about rebellions or anything like that.”
“Only soldiers trained this way will truly be fit for the job. They must have no fear of death and no selfish thoughts. If any commander dares to rebel, he won’t even make it out of the camp alive.”
Baihui remembered some news he’d heard a few days earlier.
In the north, a general had rebelled and allowed the barbarians to breach the border.
The emperor in the capital was probably having a very rough time.
Baihui didn’t want the people he fed to one day force their way into this place and tear everything apart.
Jinyi’s eyes lit up.
I knew I wasn’t wrong.
The Lord really does have that intention.
If that’s the case…
I, Zhao Jinyi, will do everything in my power to help the Lord sit upon that throne.
Even if I have to risk everything, even if I end up torn to pieces, I won’t regret it.
If Zhao Baihui could read her thoughts, he probably would’ve vomited blood on the spot.
“Ah, right. The sweet potatoes should be ready for harvest in a few days. Get ready. During that time, have everyone go out and harvest them. It doesn’t matter if we put the construction work on hold for a few days.”
“Besides, there are so many shops here that we won’t have to worry about finding somewhere to store the grain.”
Jinyi nodded.
Except for the Lord, everyone was growing sweet potatoes for the first time.
No one had any experience with them.
All they could do was wait for the Lord to announce that it was time to harvest before they started digging them up.
As for how much they would actually yield, Jinyi had no idea.
But then again, the Lord was an immortal.
If he said they could get two or three thousand jin per mu, then even if he was wrong, surely he couldn’t be off by much.
More than two hundred mu of land…
How much could they harvest?
Would it be enough to feed the more than eight hundred people they had now for an entire year?
That Jinxiu girl was such a glutton.
Every few days, she would ask the Lord to bring out some more sweet potatoes so they could roast them, steam them, or make porridge with them.
They had long since gotten over the novelty of sweet potatoes, but they still liked them quite a bit.
Oh, and they could be used for cooking too.
Especially those candied sweet potatoes that Jinwen loved so much.
She had a real sweet tooth.
“Come on, let’s head back.”
After walking down the entire commercial street, from the entrance of the valley to the very end, Zhao Baihui was quite satisfied.
He climbed into the carriage and began the journey back.
The scenery along the way was completely different now.
Once they returned to the residence, Jinyi stayed there for a while before heading out again.
This time, she was carrying a book.
She arrived at a large courtyard several hundred meters away.
At the entrance, a somewhat older boy hurried over to greet her.
“Sister Jinyi, you’re here.”
“Zhao Yi, has everyone behaved themselves today? No one’s gotten into a fight or anything, right?”
“No one’s fought. Everyone’s been very well-behaved.”
Now they had food, drink, and a place to live.
Only an idiot would get into trouble and start fighting with the others.
“Good. Then let’s go inside.”
The moment Jinyi entered, the children came running toward her and began calling out:
“Sister! Sister!”
There were more than twenty boys there.
The oldest were around thirteen or fourteen, while the youngest were barely five or six.
They were all orphans Jinyi had gathered.
All of them had healthy arms and legs.
Those with disabilities were given simple jobs that were enough to support themselves.
Jinyi had this figured out very clearly: these orphans had no families tying them down.
If they were educated properly, they would become the most loyal people of all.
“Has everyone eaten their fill?”
“Yes! Auntie’s cooking is really good.”
“If you’re all full, then we’ll start class. Everyone, take your seats in the classroom.”
As Jinyi took on more responsibilities and those responsibilities became increasingly important, she came to understand the importance of knowledge more and more.
She devoted time and effort to this not only because she wanted to raise a group of loyal men who would be willing to lay down their lives for her, but also because she wanted to cultivate people capable of helping her handle matters that truly mattered.
When the lesson was over, Jinyi encouraged them once again.
“Work hard. Whoever stands out the most, I’ll ask the Lord to give him a name. Only then will you truly become part of the Lord’s family.”
“Does everyone understand?”
“Yes!”
“Sister Jinyi, I’ll work hard! I’ll be the best!”
“Sister, I’ll be the best!”
Jinyi smiled.
It was a genuinely happy smile.
But when she stepped out of the classroom, she saw Zhao Baihui leaning against the wall beside the door.
The unexpected presence of the Lord startled her.
Zhao Baihui looked at the girl who was barely thirteen with a complicated expression.
For a moment, he felt as though he were looking at one of those women from the television dramas he’d watched, the kind who eventually made their way onto the throne.
“Jinyi… Jinyi… What exactly are you trying to do?”
Jinyi lowered her head.
But when she heard his words, she raised it again and looked at him stubbornly without saying a word.
The two stared at each other for more than a minute.
In the end, Zhao Baihui sighed once again.
Once again, he was the one who gave in.
“All right. From now on, I’ll handle the lessons. I guarantee I’ll teach better than you.”
“You just need to take good care of our household.”
When she saw that Zhao Baihui had relented, Jinyi’s eyes reddened.
She knew Zhao Baihui wasn’t giving in because he was afraid of her.
He was doing it because he indulged her.
He knew she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to control her own fate.
He knew how badly she craved the sense of security that power could give her.
That was why he spoiled her and let her do whatever she wanted.
“Brother, thank you.”
“You little brat, come on. Let’s go back and eat. No matter how big the world is, eating is still the most important thing!”