Chapter 273: The Reward Silver

Li Xuemei said, “You know how our village folks are. If no one takes the lead, who dares to touch anything from the Northern Rong? Go explain it to them clearly. If it happens again, they’ll know what’s coming.”

“As for why no one’s taking the corpses to claim the reward, I have an idea.”

Yan Lao’er and Yan Yu both turned to look at her.

“Our family’s donkey was brought back. Just the cheapest one, but Village Chief Luo personally delivered it.”

“Once someone took the first step, the rest followed. In just two days, all the mules and donkeys in the village were taken home.”

Li Xuemei turned to Yan Yu. “You Young Scouts won’t be tending to the livestock anymore. That new shed you just built? It’s already been cleared out.”

Yan Yu’s first reaction was, “Then what about our work points…”

“Don’t worry, you won’t lose out. Village Chief Luo said you, as the team leader, should go settle accounts with him once you’re back. He’ll make sure you all get paid.”

Yan Lao’er smacked his lips. “Didn’t everyone say they weren’t buying? How come they all brought them home so fast?”

Li Xuemei just smiled without answering.

What else could it be? The power of example.

Once the Yan family bought a donkey, everyone started thinking about following suit.

Having a beast of burden wasn’t just about hauling loads. What really tempted people was the daily output—manure. It could fertilize the fields…

Now, only one donkey in the village hadn’t been sold.

It was the one Yan Huaiwen and Liang Manshan had taken to Crouching Tiger City while on duty.

The two of them were still stuck in Crouching Tiger, and the donkey’s life had been elevated along with theirs. It was currently being kept in the government office’s stable, living and eating alongside a group of horses a head taller than it.

“Before, the carts belonged to the village, so folks were reluctant. Now that the animals are theirs, they’re even less willing to use them to haul a few Northern Rong corpses…”

Li Xuemei laid it out plainly.

It was that simple.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want the reward silver—they just didn’t want to haul corpses. Especially not Northern Rong corpses. Everyone thought it was bad luck.

Just then, a braying mule sounded from the Qi family next door.

Followed by Madam Qi Da’s scolding.

Before the father and daughter could ask, Li Xuemei explained on her own, “The mule the Qi family brought back has a nasty temper. Good thing it ended up with them. If it had gone to another household, they might not have been able to handle it.”

Not long after, Qi Wu shouted something, and the mule immediately quieted down.

Yan Lao’er perked up his ears. “What happened? Is it scared of Qi Wu?”

Li Xuemei’s expression turned a bit strange. “It’s scared of all three brothers.”

Yan Lao’er chuckled in understanding. “Animals are just like people. They’ve all got their own temperaments. This one’s clearly a bully that fears the strong and picks on the weak. It knows who it can mess with and who it can’t. Must’ve learned its lesson the hard way, ha!”

With fists like the Qi brothers’, anyone on the receiving end would feel it.

A mule’s made of flesh and blood too. Of course it hurts. Of course it’s scared!

Li Xuemei added, “Now that folks in the village have carts, they don’t dare go far. They bundle up tightly and just make a round trip to Xiqiao Town. They didn’t buy much, but they did ask around about prices.”

“Other than meat being expensive, everything else is reasonable.”

“They also found out that on the tenth of every month, there’s a Grand Market in town. Villagers from all around come, and sometimes even people from Gufeng show up to join the crowd.”

“Grand Market!” Yan Yu’s eyes lit up. “Then let’s go too!”

Li Xuemei nodded. “It’s in the next couple of days. We should get ready and see what we can bring to trade. At the village and town markets, you can use copper coins, but bartering is still more common.”

The villagers, upon hearing this news, were all fired up. Just looking at how her family’s fish haul had hit a new high these past two days showed how eager everyone was.

Yan Lao’er’s mind kicked into gear immediately.

He felt his hair was no longer dripping, and without caring about appearances, he ran out of the courtyard with his hair still wet and loose, heading straight into the Qi family’s house.

…

Yan Lao’er wasn’t sure if he was imagining things, but it seemed like Master Lu and the others had gotten a bit chubbier.

His house was nearly finished, and Master Lu had told him they’d be moving over to the Qi family to eat and stay once their work here was done.

But after thinking it over, Yan Lao’er decided to keep them at his place.

With Granny Rong helping out, things were much easier to manage. If they moved to the Qi family, just cooking for all those people would be a headache.

Old Mother Qi had poor eyesight. The only ones who could cook were Madam Qi Da and the two Qi girls.

The three of them would be run ragged.

Given how close he was with the Qi brothers, there was no need to draw lines.

Let them eat here.

Master Lu was more than happy to stay. With meals this good at the Yan house, they didn’t mind even if they got paid a little less.

Seeing that Yan Lao’er was sincere about hosting them, Master Lu agreed readily.

He went back and told the rest of the crew, and everyone was so pleased they polished off an extra bowl of rice each.

Dinner was a big pot of braised fish with mixed grain rice.

Yan Yu could tell—her family really had been catching a lot of fish lately.

The courtyard was lined with them, drying in the sun.

“Are we eating fish every day now?” Yan Yu whispered to her eldest sister.

Daya nodded and whispered back, “The day before yesterday was fish hotpot, yesterday was fish ball soup.”

Even though it was all fish, Granny Rong’s variety of cooking methods kept it interesting. They could eat it for several more days without getting tired of it.

Once everyone was seated, Yan Yu dug into her meal.

The braised fish had a hint of spice—not quite chili, but something that lingered and teased the palate. Her small mouth was stuffed full.

Her bowl overflowed with love from her parents, Big Brother, and Eldest Sister.

Chunks of tender fish, already deboned.

All she had to do was eat.

After the meal, Yan Yu grabbed Big Brother and Eldest Sister, and even called over the Fengnian boy from across the way.

Time to study the account books.

She believed bookkeeping was too important to ignore. No one in her family should be clueless about managing money.

As for little Fengnian, he needed this skill even more.

Teaching Arabic numerals was out of the question.

Their current written language would do just fine.

Traditional characters were a bit of a hassle though, so Yan Yu “simplified” them a little—leaving out strokes and radicals here and there, turning them into the simplified script she was most comfortable with.

They started with basic addition and subtraction. She showed them how to carry numbers, how to use small symbols, how to write vertical equations. At first, just two-digit problems. Once they got the hang of it, she added more digits and complexity.

All three of them picked it up quickly, and were amazed to find that with just a few tweaks in method, arithmetic became so intuitive and easy to grasp.

Yan Yu assigned them some practice problems.

Class dismissed, said the little teacher.

When Li Xuemei saw her humming some unknown tune on her way back, she asked, “How did the lesson go?”

“Just basic addition and subtraction. Not hard. Tomorrow I’ll teach them multiplication and division. With more practice, they’ll get the hang of it in no time.

Big Brother and Fengnian both memorized the multiplication table, but somehow still can’t calculate properly. I don’t get it,” Yan Yu said, shaking her head.

Li Xuemei thought for a moment. “Maybe they’re just not used to doing math on paper. They’ve always done it in their heads.”

Yan Yu’s eyes lit up. “That must be it.”

As they chatted, Yan Lao’er came back from outside.

“Daughter, did you have those kids make the cement bricks?”

Yan Yu nodded. “Yeah! I figured we’d need them later, so I told them to make a few every day. A little at a time adds up.”

Cement bricks need to be aired out and dried thoroughly before use. Making them on the spot wouldn’t cut it.

Yan Yu wanted to be prepared in advance.

She was especially invested in the idea of building a wall around the village.

“Do you know how many those kids have made?” Yan Lao’er asked.

Yan Yu blinked. “A lot?”

Yan Lao’er told her, “A whole lot. Way more than I expected.”

Who knows what she told them, but those kids took it way too seriously.

Making cement bricks was simple. Just pour mixed cement into a mold of standard size. To save materials and increase strength, Yan Yu had them mix in some stones too.

At first, the Qi Family’s three brothers helped with the mixing. Their house was under construction and they used cement daily, so they just made a bit extra for the kids to play with.

But after a few days, the kids stopped showing up.

Maybe their families told them not to bother the Qi Family anymore.

So they started mixing it themselves.

Truth be told, there wasn’t much technical skill involved. The kids had played with mud since they were little. Mixing cement wasn’t all that different.

Before long, they had the technique down and were making bricks that looked pretty legit.

The Yan family’s plot near the woods had become their base of operations.

Yan Lao’er had just finished settling the medicine accounts with the villagers and went to check on their land. That’s when he saw the towering wall of cement bricks…

Yan Yu was dying to go see it for herself.

But Li Xuemei pulled her back. “Don’t make a fuss now. You can go tomorrow.”

“Dad, how many did they make exactly?” Yan Yu asked, itching with curiosity.

Yan Lao’er thought for a moment. “Enough to build half the wall around our courtyard…”

That was no small feat.

Yan Yu began calculating in her head. At this rate, the plan to wall in the entire village might not be as impossible as it seemed.

…

Outside Crouching Tiger City.

Once again, the caravan from Xiao’an Village had arrived.

The city guards were already used to it.

They greeted them cheerfully.

“Hey! I thought you looked familiar. It’s Second Brother Yan! You’re back?” the guards called out warmly.

Yan Lao’er responded with a grin. “Back again! You guys have been working hard. We caught some fish in the river near our village—take some and have a taste.”

“Aiyo! Always bringing something. We’re starting to feel guilty, you know.”

“Come on, we’re all friends here. And it’s not like it’s anything valuable. Just some fish flopping around in the river.”

“Still, fish is fish—even with bones, it’s meat. What matters is that you thought of us. We appreciate it, really!”

“If you want to thank me, help me find my big brother. Haven’t seen him in days—I’ve been worried.”

“Haha, we know how close you two are. Already sent someone to look for him.”

“Oh, and you guys heard about our village joining the Northern Rong campaign, right? No need to trouble yourselves—we brought those Northern Rong bodies over ourselves.”

He stepped aside, revealing the tightly wrapped straw mats on the ox cart.

The guards stared, stunned.

“Those are Northern Rong corpses? Why’d you wrap them up like that?”

Yan Lao’er chuckled. “Well, they were getting pretty creepy to keep around. Better to deliver them early. Besides, there’s a reward, right? Two taels of silver per head—not a small sum. Everyone in the village is counting on it!”

The guards exchanged glances, looking uneasy.

“The reward… yeah, that’s the policy, but…”

One of them hesitated, unsure how to continue.

Yan Lao’er felt a jolt of unease.

What now? They’re not thinking of stiffing us, are they?

No way. Master Tian didn’t seem like the type to pocket a few taels of silver.

Besides, this wasn’t just any silver.

It was bounty money for killing Northern Rong.

That silver, we’ve got to get it no matter what. Otherwise, how are we supposed to raise men in Guanzhou with real backbone?

“We’ve known each other for a while now, haven’t we? I won’t treat you like outsiders, so you don’t need to beat around the bush either. Just give it to me straight so I know where things stand,” Yan Lao’er said in a low voice.

“Those two taels of silver—that’s how they do it in Yongning. But things work differently here on the border.”

“The bounty money doesn’t come from the local yamen. It’s paid out by the Garrison. Right now, the one in charge over there is Commander Xue. You don’t know him? That guy only cares about what comes in, not what goes out. Stingy as hell. As for the reward…”

Yan Lao’er grew anxious. “What? He’s not paying?”

“It’s not that he’s not paying. It’s just… half.” The constable gave him a blunt answer.

The smile slowly faded from Yan Lao’er’s face.

That outcome… was a bit hard to swallow.

If they hadn’t known the bounty was supposed to be two taels, they might’ve been perfectly happy with one. But now that they knew, it just felt frustrating.

He hadn’t taken part in the fight himself, but from what everyone had said afterward, he knew how dangerous it had been.

They’d gone up against six Northern Rong warriors, fully armed with blades and bows, while they themselves had nothing but bare hands. One wrong move…

He didn’t even want to imagine it.

“Well, it’s not exactly half,” another constable added. “To be precise, it’s one string of copper coins per head.”

The first constable quickly followed up, “Right, here in Crouching Tiger, we don’t pay in silver. It’s copper. One head, one string of coins.”

Yan Lao’er’s face was now completely blank.

No silver, just copper? Fine.

But it wasn’t even exchanged at market rate.

They were losing two hundred wen per head, just like that.

Suddenly, he remembered the day they first arrived in Guanzhou. That Commander Xue—yes, him—had said something like this back then.

It had only been a passing comment, and he hadn’t paid much attention at the time. But now, putting it all together, it came back to him clearly.

That’s right. Back then, Commander Xue had shouted it out: “One head, one string of coins!”

He lowered his head slightly, lost in thought.

Yan Huaiwen came hurrying over. When he saw his younger brother ahead, he quickened his pace.

The constables, seeing him approach, tactfully stepped aside to give the brothers some privacy.

As he drew near, Yan Huaiwen immediately sensed something was wrong.

“Tian You? What happened?” He didn’t even realize how anxious he sounded.

“Brother!” Yan Lao’er looked up at him, and for some reason, a wave of grievance welled up inside him.

Yan Huaiwen softened his tone even further. “Tell me. What happened?”

Yan Lao’er recounted everything, just as it had happened.

But by the time he finished, he realized something wasn’t right. What was the point of telling his brother all this? What could he do about it? This was clearly Commander Xue’s doing. After all the trouble they’d gone through to reunite, they should be happy, not weighed down by complaints.

Yan Lao’er caught himself immediately.

He quickly said, “It’s nothing, really. We didn’t kill those Northern Rong for the bounty. Even without the money, we still would’ve fought. They came into our village—what, were we supposed to let them walk out alive?

I’ll talk to the folks back home. They’ll understand. That was Yongning City’s order, not Crouching Tiger’s. Every place has its own rules. We’re registered here now, so we follow their system.

If everyone else is getting one string of coins per head, then so do we.

Six heads, six strings—that’s not nothing. That’ll buy plenty of meat.”

(End of chapter)