Chapter 19: Personal Maid

( ) Chapter 19: Personal Maid

Li Bucai handed the package to the wandering merchant and said, "I only sell 1,000 units."

"Alright, 1,000 is fine. If there are more, I don't have that much manpower here." The wandering merchant was just about to take the package when a hand suddenly snatched it away.

Qing'er shouted, "Five copper? Look, this is the freshest Lulu Meat. Lulu Meat is a second‑grade food among beasts. Not to mention that even Sky City can't even get first‑grade food now, and you only offer five silver for such a rare second‑grade food? We'd be better off waiting a month and selling it in Sky City; keeping it in the package won't affect its freshness. Even after a month, it can fetch a price of 13 copper in Sky City. Considering you brought people here from a thousand miles away, we can't let you lose out; we could consider selling it to you for 11 copper. You won't get this meat for a copper less."

Li Bucai thought to himself, "Truly, every merchant is scheming. Fortunately Qing'er arrived in time; otherwise I'd have taken a big loss today."

The wandering merchant, exposed in public, said awkwardly, "Hehe, this person is old, his eyes don't obey him, it's all dark and blurry; I couldn't see clearly, couldn't judge, feared you might have slipped some other meat in, so I gave such a low price…"

Li Bucai said, "Alright, alright, first let me see your people."

The wandering merchant, while pointing at the meat, opened the carriage door, and from the huge carriage compartment four rows of young men and women stepped out, about eighty people in total, half civil, half martial. After the personnel were arranged, the wandering merchant had already counted 1,000 units of meat and returned the remainder to Li Bucai.

"We were just worried about having no one to build the camp; now it seems we need to recruit some first‑rate ones. What do you think, do you have any suggestions?" Li Bucai asked the group of girls for their opinions.

Wu Zhuoran said, "Regarding the construction of the camp, we know very little; Qing'er knows more about this, what does Qing'er think?"

Qing'er thought to herself: I'm not really one of you, and I joined midway, so if I speak it might not be good. She then said, "Better ask Yan Qiu; she knows more than I do."

"Yan Qiu?" Li Bucai called out.

Yan Qiu had just gone back to brew tea; hearing the call, she hurried out with a teapot. "I'm here…"

"We now have a little over 1 gold of spare money, and we want to find a few people who can help build the camp. What kind of people should we recruit?"

"Oh, I see…" Yan Qiu asked the wandering merchant, "What are their prices?"

The wandering merchant replied, "Civil types 8 silver, martial types 18 silver."

"So expensive…" Yan Qiu scanned the crowd, frowned, and said to Li Bucai, "If it's for Jianmu Village, it would be best to have two lumberjacks, one builder, one carpenter; the master likes fish, so perhaps recruit two fishermen and one gatherer as well."

"Got it." Li Bucai responded and moved into the crowd.

The girls saw Li Bucai's gaze constantly lingering on that row of youths, exchanged glances, and Rui Tong nodded at Xianghong, pushing her to the front.

Xianghong had to steel herself and said, "Master, you can't possibly be looking for men…"

"Yes, chopping trees and building houses are labor‑intensive tasks, so of course we need men. What's the matter?"

Xianghong pursed her lips and said, "But we are all girls, we only have four tents; if they come, where will we live?"

Li Bucai scratched his head, "That's indeed a problem, but never mind, let them squeeze in with me for now."

"You are the master; how can you crowd with servants? Can't we just recruit all girls?"

"Having girls do such rough work isn't ideal, and they're so delicate; how could I…"

Yan Qiu said, "Master, you're worried they can't handle it; perhaps you don't know that although they're all girls, everyone doing heavy labor here has practiced the Qi‑gathering method, not brute force, so men and women are the same. Master, we should still recruit some women."

"I see. Fine, since you say so, we'll recruit women." This matched Li Bucai's wishes.

All of them were top‑class beauties, no need to pick the plump or the thin; Li Bucai casually selected eight people from the crowd according to their professions.

At this moment, Yan Qiu pointed to two gentle‑as‑water girls in the crowd and asked, "Could we let those two stay as well?"

Since they already knew each other and there was plenty of spare money, he found them two more partners; thus Li Bucai pulled those two girls out of the crowd. They had no tools and their occupations were unclear, but Li Bucai didn't inquire.

After finishing the selection, the wandering merchant gave Li Bucai the extra 30 silver, then hurried the carriage toward the White Horse River South Bank.

…

Finally they had first‑rate manpower, no longer needing to worry about building the camp. Li Bucai arranged lodging for everyone, returned to his tent, and prepared to sleep.

Just as he was about to light a lamp, the curtain fluttered, and two tall figures entered the tent—exactly the two Yan Qiu had just designated.

Upon entering, the two bowed and said in unison, "We, the servants, have come by command to attend to the master's rest."

"Sent by Yan Qiu?" Li Bucai thought, "Attend to the master's rest? Huh, they can't be here to keep me company while I sleep."

The two nodded, "We are the master's personal maids, of course we must serve the master at all times."

Personal maids… Yan Qiu really knows how to arrange things; so she chose those two specifically to serve me.

Li Bucai said, "Let's call it a day. You've traveled all day; you must be exhausted. Go back and rest."

"Hmm… Master Yan Qiu instructed us; as the master's personal maids, we must wait until the master has gone to sleep before we dare rest, and besides, there are no beds left over there."

"No beds left? In that case, will you sleep here with me for the night?"

The two girls smiled sweetly, "If the master permits."

Li Bucai's eyes lit up, and he quickly said, "Of course, you may."

"We thank the master."

Li Bucai stood up, intending to give them his bed.

The two girls hurried, "Where does the master intend to go?"

"There's only one bed. If you all sleep here, where am I supposed to go? Could it really…"

Li Bucai said, "Let me think how the three of us can share this single bed—should we spread it into three parts, or just keep it as is?"

The two girls' faces flushed bright red, shyly saying, "Of course the master sleeps alone on the bed; we will stand guard beside you. It's getting late, we will first help the master loosen his clothing."

"You stand guard beside me? How can that be, um…"

The two girls giggled, already unfastening his belt; their slender jade‑like fingers brushed his body, instantly feeling a tingling, as if a current of Lightning passed through.

The two positioned one in front of the other; as the front girl lowered her head, Li Bucai quietly slipped his hand toward the other's peach.