With Li Tuan’s tacit approval, Wen Yan stood up.
If you were going to talk business, you had to look the part.
What else could his little assistant, Bai Shanshan, do but stand up as well?
“Li Tuan, the higher-ups don’t have enough fertilized eggs to distribute to us, but we can trade for our own.”
“I’ve looked at the map.”
Wen Yan held out her hand, and Bai Shanshan promptly took a map from her bag and passed it over.
“Take a look, Li Tuan.
I’ve analyzed the surrounding topography.
The villages of Er Guo, San Guo, and Ma Wopeng are all on high ground with no rivers passing through.
I suspect they mostly raise chickens and pigs.
The farmers have to turn over a portion of their livestock as public grain, which doesn’t leave them much to eat.
But they must crave some meat at least once in a while throughout the year.
That’s our opportunity.”
Li Tuan’s gaze followed Wen Yan’s finger as it traced a path across the map.
Finally, he asked, “What opportunity?”
Wen Yan tapped the map with a fingertip, her voice as confident as a general securing his domain.
“A trade!”
“We have fish.
A lot of fish.”
Wen Yan held out her hand again, and Bai Shanshan passed her a notebook filled with data Wen Yan had gathered from the mess hall.
“Look.
Last year, the Reclamation Team ate fish for three hundred and sixty days.
We even dynamited the ice three times in the winter, hauling in twenty-seven tons of fish.”
“It’s more than we can eat, and those villages can’t get any.
This is a mutually beneficial exchange.”
Li Tuan’s fingers stroked the map.
He knew Wen Yan had a point, but…
“We can’t.
There are regulations from above.
We’re not allowed to do that.”
Wen Yan had anticipated this.
She held out her hand again, and Bai Shanshan produced another item.
Li Tuan shot her a look.
‘Just how much can that bag hold?
Is she ever going to run out of things to pull out of it?!’
“Li Tuan, I’ve read through the entire rulebook.
There are no explicit regulations that prohibit the Reclamation Team from conducting an equal exchange with a collective unit, such as a village.”
Li Tuan stared, dumbfounded, at the policy manual in Wen Yan’s hands.
He looked up at her, down at the manual, up at her, and down at the manual again.
“You’ve read all of this?”
Wen Yan nodded.
“I’ve memorized it from cover to cover.
Rest assured, I plan on making a good life here, and I certainly won’t do anything to give our Reclamation Team a bad name.”
“And I guarantee we won’t take so much as a needle or a thread from the common people.
In fact, not only will we not take anything, we can even provide them with some support.”
“You see, besides my theory that they’re short on meat and that trading fish is viable, these villages have another thing in common: they’re all close to the mountains.
Spring is here, so the wild boars will be active.
We could have the soldiers form a hunting party.
We wouldn’t even need to keep the boars we hunt—we could give them all to the villagers.”
To his annoyance, Li Tuan felt a flicker of excitement.
But was it really feasible?
“Wen Yan, this is all just your speculation.
You don’t have any hard evidence.”
Wen Yan smiled, confident of her victory.
“I know.
That’s why I’m asking for your permission to survey these villages.
I’ll talk with the villagers and record all the data.
When I get back, I’ll compile it into a feasibility report.
Then you can take that to the higher-ups to get approval.
How does that sound?”
How does that sound?
Li Tuan’s fists clenched.
He desperately wanted to improve his soldiers’ standard of living.
They’d been eating fish year-round until they were sick of the taste.
And how were they supposed to work hard if they weren’t eating properly?
It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to get more for them, but resources were limited.
The order from above was always the same: “Utilize proactive initiative to independently resolve difficulties.”
“Dammit, let’s do it!”
As Wen Yan and Bai Shanshan left the office, Bai Shanshan saw Li Tuan order a young soldier to go gather some men.
They could go to the villages, but it wouldn’t be safe for two women like Wen Yan and Bai Shanshan to go alone.
He had to arrange an escort.
In any case, for the first time, Bai Shanshan felt a sense of admiration.
She stole a glance at Wen Yan.
‘She really is something else!’
Wen Yan suddenly turned around.
Bai Shanshan instantly looked up at the sky, her attempt to look casual comically obvious.
“Wow!
What a beautiful day!”
Wen Yan glanced at the sky.
It was gray and overcast.
‘Some people just enjoy a gloomy day, I suppose,’ Wen Yan thought.
‘I should respect her preferences.’
“Bai Shanshan, go back and pack your things.
Make sure you bundle up, and also…”
“Also what?”
It was rare for Wen Yan not to be direct.
Bai Shanshan’s eyes lit up with curiosity, and she pressed, “Also what?
Come on, tell me!”
“And bring feminine hygiene products.
We might be gone for a while.”
Bai Shanshan instantly regretted asking.
She mumbled an awkward acknowledgment, thankful that at least Wen Yan had spoken quietly.
The two parted ways at the door, and Wen Yan went back to pack her own things.
Two changes of underwear, an extra set of outer clothes, and plenty of sugar cubes.
Thankfully, because she had made the plow, the system had rewarded her with three pounds of candy, three rolls of toilet paper, and the era’s equivalent of sanitary pads.
They were long strips of pure cotton cloth with attached strings for tying around the waist.
To use one, you’d line the cloth’s inner layer with toilet paper or plant ash, and they had to be washed after use.
As for more advanced pads, they didn’t exist yet; the system wouldn’t reward her with items that were ahead of their time.
She rolled up her cotton quilt into a bedroll.
It was rare for farmer families to have spare bedding to lend out.
Before leaving, Wen Yan patted the small wooden box on her kang bed.
“You be good and watch the house now.”
「An hour later.」
Xiao Zhao was driving the horse-drawn cart with Wen Yan and Bai Shanshan as passengers, accompanied by two other soldiers.
The group of five introduced themselves.
One of the soldiers was a smiling, slightly chubby local who knew the roads well.
Xiao Zhao called him Fatty Wang.
The other was thin and dark-skinned.
His surname was Hou, but Xiao Zhao called him Brother Monkey.
Both were soldiers from the Second Battalion, and they politely greeted Wen Yan as “Sister-in-law” when they met her.
Before they set off, Wen Yan gave a motivational speech of a very practical nature.
“Our mission is to trade for chicks.
Those chicks will grow into big chickens, and those big chickens will become glistening scrambled eggs, wobbly steamed egg custards, fragrant chicken and mushroom stew, and super-tasty spicy fried chicken that you can’t stop eating…”
“Sister-in-law!
Stop, please!”
Xiao Zhao cut her off, swallowing hard.
Fatty Wang was fired up with fighting spirit, Monkey’s eyes were full of determination, and Bai Shanshan was already imagining the one hundred and eight ways to butcher a chicken.
The small team’s spirit had begun to form.
The cart swayed as it moved.
Wen Yan turned her back to the wind, bundling herself up as tightly as possible.
Wordlessly, Bai Shanshan shifted her own body to block a small gap where the wind was getting through to Wen Yan.
But her words were as prickly as ever.
“You’re obviously freezing to death, yet you insist on making all this trouble for yourself.
Can’t you just sit still for once?”
“What’s the point of it all!”
Wen Yan huddled deeper into her scarf, her voice muffled.
“The point is to eat well, drink well, and live well.
Besides, I get antsy when I’m idle.
I just don’t feel right.”
Bai Shanshan rolled her eyes.
“You’ve got the looks of a pampered young lady, but you haven’t the first clue how to enjoy a comfortable life.
What a waste.”
Wen Yan’s eyes crinkled in a grin, her tone full of cheerful sincerity.
“You’re always complimenting my looks.”
Bai Shanshan was speechless.
“…”
She turned her head away in a huff, only to see one of Xiao Zhao’s ears peeking out from under his hat.
He was grinning so wide his canine teeth were showing.
‘Isn’t he afraid of his teeth freezing?’
“Hey!
Eavesdropper!
Put those teeth away.”
Xiao Zhao snuck a peek at Wen Yan.
Seeing that she didn’t seem to mind, he shot a glare back at the meddlesome Bai Shanshan.
“Who’s eavesdropping?
You were talking so loud it was impossible not to hear.”
“Oh—you’re full of excuses, aren’t you!”
The two bickered like a pair of childish chicks, chirping and pecking at each other.
Wen Yan didn’t say a word.
She just glanced to her left, then to her right.
Xiao Zhao and Bai Shanshan immediately fell silent.
‘She’s our future hope for eating eggs!’ Xiao Zhao thought.
‘Is she going to dock my pay again?’ Bai Shanshan worried.
The horse couldn’t pull the cart nonstop, so Wen Yan and Bai Shanshan would occasionally get off and walk to lighten the load.
In these times, a draft animal was far more valuable than a person.
「Eight hours later」
As dusk began to fall, they finally arrived at their first destination: Er Guo Village.