"Don't worry, I was hired personally by Wealthy Song."
"As for that steward, he can bark at me a couple of times on a normal day, but he doesn't have the power to actually kick me out of the Song Estate."
"It’s just... I never expected Steward Wu to be so greedy, asking for such an exorbitant amount!"
Thinking of this, Shi Kang squatted down in frustration. For the past few days, he had been on pins and needles. To be precise, he was like this every month at this time. In a few days, Hu Mazi from the mountains would arrive at their settlement to collect the monthly tribute.
Hu Mazi was a tyrant of Qingniu Mountain. Everyone on the mountain had to pay him; if you didn't pay, you lost your head. The authorities never bothered to intervene. Every time Hu Mazi came, his men would consider killing his nephew, Shi Yi. Because Shi Yi was the son of Shi Batian.
*I killed your father, so what if you strike it rich one day and come back for revenge?*
It was only because Shi Kang emptied his life savings and paid the tribute that Shi Yi had managed to survive until now. A few days ago, he had heard rumors in town that Hu Mazi had been dreaming of his older brother, Shi Batian, coming for revenge every night. Because of this, Hu Mazi had set his heart on killing Shi Yi. This was the exact reason he had been so desperate to get Shi Yi into the Song Estate.
Seeing Shi Kang squatting there in silence, Shi Yi squatted down as well. "Third Uncle, what’s wrong?"
"Yi'er, why don't you take this money and run away with that girl?"
"Don't stay on Qingniu Mountain anymore."
Shi Kang felt a deep ache in his heart. He had always been close to his older brother since they were children. Since he only had a daughter of his own, he had always treated his brother's son as his own flesh and blood. The sudden thought of letting Shi Yi leave his side felt no different than losing his own child. It was a miserable feeling.
Shi Yi was puzzled and asked for an explanation. Seeing that he couldn't keep it hidden anymore, Shi Kang told him everything he had heard in town.
Shi Yi frowned. Dealing with a survival crisis was one thing, but he had just started earning a few coppers, and life was finally showing signs of improvement and hope. Now, a life-or-death crisis? It was depressing.
However, he still said, "I’m not leaving."
"Not leaving?" Shi Kang looked up, bewildered. "You have to understand, your Second Uncle won't help you..."
"I'll solve my own problems; I don't need his help." A cold look crossed Shi Yi's face as he thought of his second uncle.
"Then how do you plan to solve this?" Shi Kang asked, confused.
Shi Yi wasn't actually afraid. If Hu Mazi's men pushed him too far, he would go into the mountains. With a Zhuge Crossbow in hand, he didn't care how many men they had. Even if he had to take them down one by one, he would slaughter every last one of them! But that was a last resort.
He spoke up: "Third Uncle, I’ll find a way."
"But I’d like to ask, who else in this town deals in furs?"
"What are you planning to do?" Shi Kang looked at him, puzzled.
Shi Yi said, "Zhou Bapi’s prices are too low. I don’t want to sell to him anymore."
"I see." Shi Kang thought for a moment and said, "A new trading firm opened in town recently; you could go and ask them."
"However, the owners of that firm are outsiders, and they’ve been constantly squeezed out by several of the wealthy men in town."
"You could..."
"Shi Kang! Where are you? Get over here right now!"
As they were talking, Steward Wu, true to form, began berating Shi Kang from inside. "The master pays for your rice to work, not to sit around like a statue! Get in here and get to work this instant!"
Shi Kang didn't dare to be careless and quickly stood up. "Yi'er, Third Uncle has to get back to work."
"Try not to get involved with that trading firm. The wealthy men in town are all targeting them."
With that, Shi Kang didn't dare linger and hurried back into the Song Estate. Shi Yi watched his uncle’s retreating back with an indescribable sense of pain. His Third Uncle used to be a skilled warrior in the settlement, full of spirit and ambition. He was a man who never yielded. But after his father’s accident, the man lost every bit of that sharpness. He had saved Shi Yi’s life at the cost of his own arm. And after having a daughter, the man had changed completely.
Wasn't this the exact plight of middle-aged men in his own world? For the sake of their families, they had abandoned all their dignity, being treated like dogs. When faced with injustice and bullying, they simply swallowed it all. They gave the best things and the warmest smiles to their family, while bearing the coldness of the world all by themselves.
Thinking of this, Shi Yi felt an urgent desire to change his current situation! This era was infinitely harsher to survive in than his own world.
After leaving that place, he found the trading firm his uncle had mentioned. The owner of the firm, Wang Zhaoxing, offered a remarkably high price—three coppers per pelt. It couldn't be helped; for an outsider, surviving in this local market was difficult.
After Shi Yi left, Wang Zhaoxing stood at the shop entrance, watching him walk away.
"This kid... is he out of his mind?"
"He said he’d help me topple Wealthy Song?"
"What a delusional dream!"
He didn't take it seriously, but looking over at the merchants working for those local wealthy men, he felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of anger.
"Bah! What kind of men are they, ganging up to bully an outsider like me! If they have the guts, let’s have a fair fight!"
...
On Shi Yi's end, once he had the money, he immediately began procuring supplies in town. He bought ten pounds of rice, which cost fifty coppers. Then, seeing oil cakes being sold by the roadside, he bought a few of those as well. A single trip and half his coppers were gone. He didn't dare spend recklessly; he still needed to save capital.
On the way back, he kept planning. Hunting was not a long-term strategy, because the meaty game in the mountains was nearly hunted to extinction. Even with a Zhuge Crossbow, what could he do if there was nothing left to hunt?
While buying supplies in town during the day, he had noticed which businesses were doing the best. First, the grain shops—the struggling commoners bought rice by the ounce. The shopkeepers were practically selling it by the grain. In years of severe drought, grain was gold. Zhou Bapi monopolized the town's grain trade, and there was no breaking into that.
The second, however, was the pork market. In this world, people used lard for cooking. He carefully reviewed the memories of the original host; there was no such thing as vegetable oil! Grain and oil, no matter the era, were always the most essential commodities.
He had considered making modern household items like soap, but the town was full of people struggling to get by. Only the young ladies and gentlemen of the few wealthy households could afford such things. There was no profit in it.
So, after much thought, he realized that pressing vegetable oil was viable. If he remembered correctly, the mountains were covered with tea trees. People couldn't eat the seeds as a meal, so they grew wild and lush. Tea seeds could be used to extract oil using traditional methods! He would build his own wealth first, then expand slowly.
"Zhijiao, I’m back."
Around noon, Shi Yi returned, carrying a basket of supplies. However, just as he climbed up to the small wooden shack and reached the shallow creek by the house, he saw his second uncle, Shi Zhongyun.
He was sitting in front of a broken table, with his lackey, Liu Zhigao, standing beside him. Wang Zhijiao sat perfectly still across from them.