[The village’s current population is 1,000 people. Please complete the census and issue identity documents.]
The population count in Zhao Baihui’s system had gotten stuck.
It had reached one thousand and simply refused to increase any further.
It was his first time using a system, so it was only natural that he would overlook a few things.
“Sir, did you call for me?”
“Come on. Come with me.”
Zhao Baihui took Jinyuan by carriage to the security post.
Once there, he found a spacious room and, with a casual wave of his hand, suddenly made a machine appear.
“Jinyuan, I have a job for you. From now on, you’ll be responsible for keeping track of the villagers and issuing an identity document to every person.”
“You’ll also need to verify the identity of every newcomer. The evaluation period will be different for each person. I’ll explain the details to you later.”
“Find a few people and put them in charge of this registration work exclusively. It’s very important!”
“Yes, sir.”
The system had established an evaluation period precisely to prevent Zhao Baihui from cheating.
Otherwise, he could simply go to a prosperous city, stand at the entrance, and shout:
“From now on, this place is my territory! All of you are my people!”
How was the system supposed to count them then?
And if it didn’t count them, he could simply spend a little money hiring a few people to pretend to go along with him.
Or he could find someone and have them shout, “My lord!” in exchange for a copper coin.
For someone to be counted as one of his people, they had to genuinely believe in him, work for him, and accept his authority on a stable basis.
Jinyuan was very intelligent and learned quickly.
It didn’t take her long to figure out how to operate the machine.
“Come on, take my picture.”
Zhao Baihui stood in the designated spot.
When Jinyuan pressed the button, the machine went click, and a card came out through a small opening on the side.
One side showed a full-body photograph of him.
There was even a scale beside it indicating his height.
The other side displayed his name, date of birth, and identification number.
At the bottom were the words: “Taoyuan Village Household Registration.”
“Sir, is this the identity document? How interesting! Everything is so clear.”
“I want one too!”
“All right. Stand there and I’ll take your picture.”
Click!
Another card came out of the machine.
Over the next few days, people lined up every day to have their photographs taken and receive their identity documents.
A notice on the bulletin board explained that the identity document was extremely important.
For example, in the future, people would be required to present it in order to receive their wages.
Even newborn babies had to come and get one as soon as possible.
The population count in the system finally started increasing again.
Only people with identity documents were counted, and the total had already surpassed 1,100.
From then on, every newcomer would have to have their photograph taken and receive an identity document.
The only difference was the color: newcomers would receive a temporary identity document.
Their evaluation periods would also differ from person to person.
For example, an ordinary person would have to work and live there for a month before receiving normal resident status.
That was the evaluation period established by the system.
Otherwise, Zhao Baihui could spend all day hiring people, have them come to Taoyuan Village for a free one-day vacation—with food, lodging, and even eggs included.
Wouldn’t he be able to gather tens of thousands of people in the blink of an eye?
…
The autumn wind was cold and bleak.
Overnight, the trees covering the landscape had taken on a yellowish hue.
Although Taoyuan Village was located relatively far south, it still had a winter.
It was simply a short season, and it wasn’t particularly cold either.
Around this time, the farmers from the surrounding villages had already finished their work and could finally rest.
There wasn’t much left to do in the fields.
But Taoyuan Village remained as lively as ever.
The liquor factory couldn’t stop.
The construction projects were still going on as well.
Only those whose main occupation was farming had stopped working.
Some of them went to the construction sites to earn a daily wage.
Although this kind of temporary work paid slightly less and didn’t include the meals provided to permanent workers, one thing remained the same: after working all day, they could still eat their fill and have a little money left over.
For most people who had suffered through poverty, being able to fill their stomachs through honest work was already a form of happiness.
There was no longer just one liquor shop on Commercial Street.
Little by little, people were becoming more willing to spend money, and their purchasing power was steadily increasing.
After all, in Taoyuan Village, a family of five or six could earn more than ten wen a day without too much difficulty.
Over the course of a year, that amounted to five or six liang of silver.
Even a well-off family that owned ten mu of good farmland could barely keep a similar amount after paying their taxes.
With that level of income, they could eat their fill of coarse grains every day and occasionally improve their meals a little.
Those who were slightly worse off could barely stay above the subsistence level and could only occasionally eat their fill.
There were very few people at that level.
Most were still below it, struggling simply to survive.
They worked all year long, yet even a minor setback could leave them starving to death.
“Boss! Give me half a jin of liquor and a plate of beans.”
A man entered the liquor shop.
Seeing that almost every table was occupied, he spotted an acquaintance sitting alone at a table for four and walked over.
“Old Ma! You came for a drink too?”
“Yeah. My wife and kids were driving me crazy, so I came out to clear my head.”
The shopkeeper’s daughter came over with a bowl of liquor and a small plate of beans.
She also placed a small wooden abacus on the table.
“Uncle, the liquor is five-tenths of a yuan, and the beans are one-tenth. Six-tenths in total.”
The eight- or nine-year-old girl spoke with complete seriousness.
“Here.”
Old Wang took a red banknote from his pocket and handed it to her.
“Here’s your four-tenths change.”
The girl quickly went and came back with his change.
Old Wang poured himself some liquor, took a small sip, and let out an appreciative “Ah!”
He quickly picked up a bean and popped it into his mouth before saying:
“I never even dared to imagine living a life like this before. Six-tenths! That’s six wen. Back then, that was enough to cover my entire family’s food for a whole day.”
Old Ma nodded.
“Liquor used to be incredibly expensive. Only landlords and wealthy families could afford to drink it regularly. Things are different now. After working for a while, I can come here and have a drink.”
By now, everyone was accustomed to calling ten days a “work period,” because that was the rule in Taoyuan Village: wages were settled every ten days.
Merchants doing business there had to follow the same rule as well.
Otherwise, they would be fined, and in serious cases, they could even be expelled.
Doing business there also required obtaining a Taoyuan identity document.
With an identity document, it was impossible for someone to simply disappear without a trace!
Of course, they could also put a local villager down as the business owner.
But then they had to be careful not to cause any trouble, lest the business actually end up belonging to that person.
“By the way, Old Ma, your eldest son must be old enough by now, right? Have you found him a wife yet?”
At the mention of his son, Old Ma smiled with a simple, proud expression.
“That boy is already seventeen. He’s strong and hardworking, and he earns one wen more than I do.”
“We’ve already found a girl for him. She’s the daughter of a family from my old village. They’ll be getting married before the New Year. Don’t forget to come drink with us.”
“Of course I will! Now that I’ve got money in my pockets, getting married is a major celebration. Even if every one of my relatives and friends got married, I’d still be happy to give them wedding gifts.”
“By the way, now that the winter break has arrived, I heard the village is going to start several new projects so we can earn money during the winter too. Are you going?”
“Of course! I’ve suffered enough from being poor. As long as there’s work, I’ll go. I don’t care what kind of work it is.”
“I heard they’re going to build a brick factory. The village uses too many bricks, and the surrounding areas can’t supply enough anymore. They say they’ll be hiring quite a few people.”
“There’ll also be two other facilities: a pig farm and a chicken farm. I heard they’re going to raise pigs and chickens ‘scientifically.’ Apparently, they’ll eat less, grow faster, and produce more meat.”
“They say they’re going to be pretty big operations. If they really build them, the price of meat should drop quite a bit. Maybe next year we’ll be able to eat meat once in a while.”
“Meat?”
Old Wang’s eyes lit up.
Although everyone was earning much more than before, they still didn’t dare talk too much about eating meat.
After all, meat was still far too expensive.
Pork, chicken, and other similar meats easily cost five or six yuan per jin—that was fifty or sixty wen.
Who among ordinary people could afford that?
Beef and mutton were even more expensive.
But now that Taoyuan Village was improving more and more, everyone was beginning to have something to look forward to.