Chapter 315: Beggar (Part III)

At night, because they were afraid that sparks would fly and ignite the straw, the beggars curled up together and slept wrapped in straw after extinguishing the fire.

An Youyou occupied the best position, sleeping spread-eagled. After everyone was asleep and their breathing gradually became steady, she sat up abruptly with an unhappy face and looked at the bright moon through the basically non-existent roof.

Then she took out her precious cloth bag from her bosom, looked at the pound note carefully in the moonlight, held it, sighed deeply as if she had made some kind of determination, and wrapped the pound note up.

Finally, An Youyou lay down in a fit of pique, rolled around unhappily to make some noise, and finally looked angrily at Jiang Weiguo, who was a little distance away from her.

She got up, walked to Jiang Weiguo's side, and kicked him. He didn't wake up, just turned over. Only then did An Youyou feel relieved and go back to sleep.

Before closing her eyes, Qin Huai heard An Youyou's small sigh: "My money!"

Early the next morning, just as the sky was getting light, the beggars woke up one after another and went to the water's edge to dig for silt, waiting for An Youyou to wake up.

Actually, An Youyou had long been awake. Qin Huai had been squatting beside An Youyou and knew that her eyelids had moved since the first beggar woke up, and her breathing was no longer as steady as before. But perhaps for the dignity of the boss, An Youyou insisted on being the last to wake up, and she had to wake up leisurely.

When Little Ten sent the last handful of silt to the side of the ruined temple, An Youyou opened her eyes and sat up slowly.

"Boss, you're awake!" Little Ten excitedly ran to An Youyou with the silt. "Mud just dug from the river, I've picked out all the stones and branches inside!"

"Hmm," An Youyou nodded, grabbed a handful of mud, and smeared it on her hands.

After the mud on Little Ten's hands was smeared, An Youyou got up and walked to the place where the silt was piled, continuing to touch her face, then her neck, shoulders, and arms. Any exposed part had to be smeared, smeared thickly, and it couldn't be smeared too evenly, otherwise, it would be obvious that it was deliberately smeared on.

Finally, she didn't forget to grab a handful and smear it on her hair, making her hair even messier.

A beggar so dirty that no one dared to get within 5 meters was born.

Seeing An Youyou finish smearing, the other underlings began to smear mud on their bodies, learning from An Youyou's appearance and smearing messily. Clearly, the underlings weren't as professional as An Youyou, nor as skilled; where it should be thin, it wasn't thin, and where it should be thick, it wasn't thick.

For those who smeared particularly poorly, An Youyou had to personally guide them on smearing mud.

Professional guidance, trustworthy.

Soon, An Youyou's team became twelve beggars and one Jiang Weiguo.

An Youyou took the cloth bag and prepared to go to the city to beg. She turned her head and found Jiang Weiguo standing on the side, clean and tidy, and was immediately angry, her face full of "my underling actually betrayed the class."

"Why are you so clean?!" An Youyou said angrily, and then she reacted that Jiang Weiguo had already found a job and didn't need to beg, so her tone softened immediately, only carrying some unhappiness. "Oh, you don't need to smear."

Then An Youyou stared at Jiang Weiguo, trying to use her eyes to influence her underling to get some on his face to fit in.

Jiang Weiguo: "... Working as a handyman at Fu Ji, being clean is very important."

An Youyou then gave up.

Before setting off, An Youyou arranged partners and begging areas for the underlings, two by two, so that they could look after each other when begging and cooperate when acting.

"Go early and return early. When you see the sun is about to set, run back. Don't be like Little One before. Watch the road when you run; if you get hit by a car, there's no compensation."

"Okay, Boss!" the underlings answered in unison, carrying their rag bags to work in the city.

An Youyou led Jiang Weiguo and set off for the black market with great spirit. Before entering the city, An Youyou led the way in front.

As the boss, even if An Youyou didn't know the way, she had to lead the way in front.

After entering the city, it became Jiang Weiguo leading An Youyou. The black market was in a relatively remote place in the city. It was called a black market, but it was actually just a few shops on a street. There were thugs sitting at the entrance of the shops, and the words "exchange money" were written directly at the entrance of the shop that exchanged money, simple and clear.

An Youyou wanted to go in by herself, but Jiang Weiguo was afraid that An Youyou would really see money and get greedy, and be bold enough to let An Youyou give him the pound note, and he would go in to exchange it. An Youyou hesitated for five or six seconds, and finally decided to trust her underling and gave the money to Jiang Weiguo.

Perhaps because Jiang Weiguo's clothes were relatively clean and he looked like an ordinary poor person, the thugs at the entrance didn't stop him and let him in.

Qin Huai followed in and took a look, finding that it was a shop similar to a pawnshop, where not only could money be exchanged but various things could also be pawned. In front of Jiang Weiguo, someone was pawning antique jewelry and was bargaining with the shopkeeper. Jiang Weiguo also had the insight not to crowd to the front but stood at the back and waited in line silently, and no one in the shop cared about him.

Qin Huai took two looks and went out. As soon as he went out, he found An Youyou was working.

Working at the street corner.

She had already started begging for food from a wealthy young master.

The wealthy young master targeted by An Youyou was clearly a naive, sweet person, completely at a loss when faced with An Youyou's wailing.

Due to the young master's kindness and An Youyou's excellent acting skills, and her understanding of the principle that one shouldn't disturb the audience when performing, the range of her rolling was always at a very safe distance. This caused the bodyguards around the young master to not know what to do for a while, and the two sides were deadlocked like this.

Finally, it ended with the young master throwing down two silver dollars and fleeing in a hurry. When he left, he even asked the bodyguard very guiltily if he had thrown too little money, saying if he had known, he would have brought more money when going out this time.

An Youyou was so moved that she almost shed real tears, wishing she could follow the young master to see where he lived, so she could beg at his door in the future.

By the time Jiang Weiguo came out after exchanging money, An Youyou had already begged for food three times.

She had gained two silver dollars, two large pancakes, and a round of insults, as well as a beating that someone wanted to throw punches and kicks at her but didn't land.

Seeing Jiang Weiguo come out, An Youyou patted the dust off her clothes, gave up on the fourth wealthy young lady she had clearly targeted, and ran toward Jiang Weiguo.

"How much did you exchange?" An Youyou's words were full of unstoppable excitement.

"Twenty-three silver dollars," Jiang Weiguo whispered.

An Youyou was ecstatic. "I'm rich!"

Jiang Weiguo stuffed the silver dollars to An Youyou. "Don't beg today, run away quickly so you don't get targeted. Circle around outside the city a few more times, and remember to look at houses."

"I know," An Youyou tucked away the silver dollars. "This place is really good, everyone passing by is rich, I'll beg here in the future!"

Jiang Weiguo looked at An Youyou speechlessly, and then looked at the thugs at the entrance of several shops. "Better not. You might be okay staying at this entrance for a while, but it definitely won't work for a long time."

An Youyou just wanted to say that her evasion points were high and she wasn't afraid of being beaten, but Jiang Weiguo added, "They all have guns."

An Youyou shut up.

After separating from Jiang Weiguo, Qin Huai found that someone had indeed followed An Youyou. At this time, the advantage of the spirit's super-strong physical fitness was reflected. The person following originally wanted to rob her, but then found that they couldn't keep up at all.

An Youyou might not be able to beat 8 adults, but she was definitely fast at running away. And having begged in the city for so long, she knew the map very well. She knew all the dark alleys and corners, and she knew where it was easy to climb over walls.

After a wonderful parkour, An Youyou shook off all the little tails behind her, and cautiously circled around two more times before she started looking at houses.

An Youyou was looking at houses outside the city.

Although it was outside the city, there were differences in location. The closer to the city, the better the houses. An Youyou didn't even look at those brick-and-tile houses that were clearly built with bluestone bricks. The older wooden houses and earthen houses, or houses with bricks and tiles but clearly of great age, were her first choices.

Because she didn't know which house was for rent, An Youyou chose the stupidest way, asking one by one, and basically all she got was driving away and disgust.

A beggar wanting to rent a house—this matter sounded absurd and ridiculous just by hearing it.

Eating closed doors for an entire morning and noon made An Youyou, who originally didn't have such a strong desire to rent a house, angry. She didn't even want to beg for food anymore and started asking wildly regardless of anything.

And then she really asked it.

Qin Huai followed An Youyou to look at houses for a day and saw very clearly why An Youyou couldn't rent a house.

Disgusting beggars was one aspect, and disgusting 13 beggars plus a handyman was another.

An Youyou had many people here, so it was impossible to rent only one room. The best way was to rent an independent courtyard, the kind with a bungalow and a courtyard. But this kind of house, even in the suburbs, belonged to a good house, and basically, they were two-story with a courtyard, and the normal monthly rent wouldn't be lower than three silver dollars.

Some landlords might be willing to rent for money, but because they disliked An Youyou being a group of beggars, they would deliberately increase the price to 4-5 silver dollars. This price was too expensive and not within An Youyou's consideration.

If she didn't rent this kind of independent courtyard, she could only rent with others. This kind of thing of sharing a rental also existed in the Republic of China, with several families sharing a courtyard or the same well. This way of renting was cheap but at the same time had other contradictions.

No one was willing to live with beggars.

Even if everyone was at the bottom of society and everyone was poor, civilians still had a higher status than beggars. And beggars in this era were definitely not positive characters, usually associated with cheating and kidnapping, basically equivalent to thieves.

An Youyou originally thought she could rent a house at will by spending 1-2 silver dollars a month, but reality gave her a heavy blow. Let alone spending one or two silver dollars, she couldn't rent the house she wanted even if she spent three silver dollars.

An Youyou rushed around until sunset, her stomach empty, and didn't find a house she liked.

Seeing the sun was about to set, An Youyou could only walk to the ruined temple sadly. On the way, she met someone selling salted fish and bought 2 pieces of salted fish, and also bought a lot of rice. Perhaps because she was particularly sad and wanted to spend money, An Youyou also spent a huge amount of money to buy 6 pancakes.

These things together didn't cost half a silver dollar, which showed the purchasing power of the silver dollar.

When An Youyou returned to the ruined temple, all the underlings except Jiang Weiguo had returned. Little Nine was waiting for An Youyou by the river like yesterday, and when he saw An Youyou bring back so many things, he cheered.

"Wow, Boss, you're too amazing!"

"Boss, I begged for three copper coins, a piece of osmanthus cake, 3 large sweet potatoes, and a bowl of black bean rice today. I was too hungry in the afternoon and ate the black bean rice, this is the money, the osmanthus cake is in the temple, do you want to eat it now, Boss?" Little Nine handed the money to An Youyou and asked.

An Youyou, seeing the money return, felt a little better. She nodded, gave all the food to Little Nine, let him take it first, and squatted by the river to wash clean before returning to the ruined temple.

The underlings didn't dare to start a fire until the boss returned.

"Is Thirteen not back yet?" An Youyou asked.

"Boss, Brother Thirteen said he can only come back after dark from now on, Fu Ji has to work very late," Little Nine explained.

"What's so good about being a handyman, having to come back after dark," An Youyou muttered, signaling Little Nine to give her the pancakes.

Little Nine hurriedly handed over the pancakes. An Youyou took out three and pointed to the remaining three. "These are yours, leave a little for Thirteen."

"Wait for Thirteen to come back to cook the rest of the things, you all don't cook as well as him."

The underlings nodded obediently.

An Youyou used matches to light the fire first, ate the osmanthus cake, and then gnawed on the pancakes.

After eating the three pancakes, Jiang Weiguo still hadn't returned. An Youyou threw a sweet potato into the fire to roast it messily. She didn't know how long she roasted it before Jiang Weiguo came back carrying a cloth bag.

An Youyou stared at Jiang Weiguo extremely unhappily. "You came back so late, I won't be able to eat until this time every day in the future, right?"

Jiang Weiguo didn't speak, silently opened the cloth bag, and inside were a few vegetable buns.

Same old rule, the boss eats half. An Youyou enjoyed 2 alone, and Jiang Weiguo didn't eat the remaining 2, distributing them to the others. Each person got a small bite, some ate the skin, some ate the filling. Little Ten tasted the filling and tasted the oil, felt she hadn't eaten enough, and even ate a piece of straw.

With the taste of the vegetable bun in her mouth, this piece of straw could also be considered to have the taste of a vegetable bun.

Jiang Weiguo began to cook the salted fish porridge and hodgepodge silently, and An Youyou sat by the fire counting money. Jiang Weiguo glanced at it and was surprised to find that An Youyou hadn't even spent one silver dollar.

"I thought you would go to a restaurant in the city to eat," Jiang Weiguo said.

An Youyou opened her eyes wide. "Restaurants are so expensive, if I eat a good meal, half of this money will be gone. Isn't this cutting my flesh and sucking my blood?"

"Then what is this money for?" Jiang Weiguo asked. "Not renting a house, not eating and drinking, not buying clothes and cotton quilts, what do you plan to save it for?"

"Of course, to save it!" An Youyou said. "Money is for saving, not for spending!"

"If it weren't for people being so fragile, I would have saved a lot of money. Before I picked you up, every time I finally saved a little money, it would be spent because of all kinds of things. I haven't saved money for a long time."

Jiang Weiguo:...

Jiang Weiguo clearly didn't understand this brain circuit of being a miser while being a beggar. He was silent for a while and asked, "Didn't find a house."

Speaking of this, An Youyou was angry, and besides being angry, she was a little frustrated. "No."

"Those landlords all have something wrong with their brains. Seeing that I'm a beggar, they don't want to rent the house to me. What's wrong with being a beggar? Isn't begging a job? What they earn might not be as much as me."

"It's not that they don't want to rent, it's that they want to increase the price. Renting to anyone is renting, I wash the mud off my face and body every day after begging. Besides, my clothes are dirty, but are the clothes of those people very clean? Don't they all fear that washing clothes too much will wash the clothes rotten? Whose clothes aren't sour, who doesn't have an unpleasant smell on them, why do they dislike us beggars?"

"Is being a beggar something very shameful? Being a beggar is much better than them!"

Jiang Weiguo: "... People are all like this, respecting clothes first and then respecting people."

"What clothes?"

"Not important."

An Youyou sighed, used a wooden stick to rake the sweet potato out of the fire, and found that this sweet potato was half-raw and half-burnt while being roasted by her. She could only throw the sweet potato to Jiang Weiguo, and Jiang Weiguo threw the sweet potato directly into the hodgepodge.

Looking up at the moon, An Youyou asked, "Then am I not going to be able to rent a house?"

"I heard about one," Jiang Weiguo said. "A farmer who delivers vegetables to Fu Ji moved from Shu at the beginning of this year and is said to know a big shot. To please this big shot, Fu Ji buys his family's vegetables at a price 30% higher than other farmers."

"The house his family lives in now is in the suburbs, and it was also given by that big shot. The house is very big and has a courtyard. This farmer wants to send his eldest son to the city to go to school and is very short of money, so he wants to rent out half of the house."

"But because they are new here and don't have trust, and there are no other strong men in the family, only his wife and three children, they are very cautious when choosing tenants."

"I work as a handyman at Fu Ji, so for him, it can barely be considered knowing the roots and the bottom. He doesn't dislike beggars, as long as the character is upright. It's just that the monthly rent is a bit expensive, three silver dollars a month."

"If you think it's expensive, you can have all my monthly wages now, and when I become a chopping chef in the future, I'll give you two silver dollars a month."

Just as Jiang Weiguo finished speaking, An Youyou's eyes lit up.

"What kind of house is their family?" An Youyou asked.

"Bluestone brick and tile house."

"Just rent this! Just rent this!"

"I was so angry today, and someone laughed at me, a beggar wanting to rent a house is simply wishful thinking. I want to let them see, not only do I want to rent a house, but I also want to rent a bluestone brick and tile house!"

"Moving in tomorrow!"

"By then, buy four cotton quilts, I'll cover two, and you all cover two!"

"Buy 10 more pancakes, I'll eat 5, and you all eat 5!"

"Buy 20 more buns, I'll eat 10, and you all eat 10!"

Seeing that the underlings didn't react, An Youyou said loudly, "What are you still stunned for, don't you know that you have to applaud when giving speeches and watching performances in the city? Applaud!"

The underlings hurriedly applauded, and the applause was thunderous.

In the loud applause, Jiang Weiguo couldn't help but complain, "Can you finish so many buns and pancakes?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm the boss, I can finish it!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 316 =====