Chapter 101: Employ the Talented

101. Chapter 101: Employ the Talented

Zhao Jin could only smile bitterly. He had heard plenty of stories about people who studied bitterly for ten years and accomplished nothing. The person beside him, however, didn't care in the slightest — people's natural talent and comprehension truly were unequal.

"Brother Zhao, if I may be so bold — the government runners in the city and those rivers-and-lakes scoundrels are thick as thieves. Now that we've wiped out Bronze Head's gang, someone in the yamen is bound to make a move. Brother Zhao, you must be extremely careful. If need be, I will ask my father to step in; he still has plenty of connections in the yamen."

"No need to worry. Bronze Head's backers are only after money. I've already agreed to give them ten percent more than before. They'll certainly be willing."

"Giving away ten percent — won't we take a loss?"

"Bronze Head skimmed and withheld funds himself, and the men under him hid things and didn't report them. Who knows how many tricks there were with the income. Once we've investigated and cleared everything up, our revenue will surely increase greatly. When that happens, we'll still pay the old amount plus ten percent. How could we take a loss?"

Wang Zhaojing listened, thoroughly convinced and full of admiration, and silently followed along at a run.

After breakfast, before Zhao Jin could even speak, Mu Shulan had already changed her clothes and was ready to set out with them. Zhao Jin, helpless, smiled bitterly and tried to persuade the girl to stay behind.

The work he was doing outside involved blades and bloodshed — bringing a girl along was more than he could manage. But with his mother He Cuihua right there, he couldn't say any of this. In the end, Mu Shulan threw a huge tantrum, flung the door curtain aside, went into her room, and refused to come out. Zhao Jin then got a scolding from He Cuihua, who told him he had to be accommodating to Mu Shulan no matter what.

When he reached the courtyard, Zhao Jin saw that Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang had already arrived. Both wore relaxed smiles on their faces. Spotting Zhao Jin from a distance, they bowed in salute.

Zhao Jin could guess their mood and understood it well. Over the past few years, Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang had followed him in martial training and sparring, and their ambitions had unconsciously risen along with it. Yet even as their ambitions grew, they still went home every day to help their families with work. As they got older, they could already see their own futures — and those futures wouldn't be any different from the present.

But what Zhao Jin had done these past few days had shown the two of them a new future and new hope. If they could earn more silver, their families wouldn't force them to go back and help with the labor. They could follow Zhao Jin and work for him. To them, it truly felt like breaking free from a cage — the boundless sea and sky opening before them.

"Today, the two of you will sign the contract documents. Take them, along with the wages paid in advance, back home to show your parents. Let the elders feel at ease," Zhao Jin said considerately. Shi Manqiang and the other nodded repeatedly.

Before long, everyone had arrived. Zhao Jin paid no attention to the others and asked Chen Sheng alone, "Did your father say anything to you when he got home?"

"He didn't say much. Just told me to be careful," Chen Sheng said carelessly.

Just as he finished speaking, a familiar figure appeared at the intersection — it was Chen Sheng's younger brother, Chen Hong. Unlike the large, tall, and stout Chen Sheng, Chen Hong was of medium build with a fair, clean-cut look, much like a child from a scholarly family. He greeted them with a smile from afar.

"Our Er Hong is learning the trade business. I told him to come by and see if he can help out," Chen Sheng said with a grin.

After Chen Hong came over, he politely greeted everyone one by one, then walked up to Zhao Jin and said with a smile, "Brother Zhao, yesterday I heard my brother say you're opening a shop and hiring workers. There's something I wonder if you know — when shops hire workers nowadays, apprentices serve three years with only meals provided and no wages at all. Yet you're still offering over a thousand cash a year. That's far too costly."

This was the first time Zhao Jin had heard such a thing. Beside him, Sun Dalei scratched his head and said sheepishly, "No wonder it sounded off to me yesterday. So that's how it is."

Sun Dalei's family was also in business, yet he'd had no idea about this — no wonder he was embarrassed and ashamed. Zhao Jin pondered for a moment, then said, "Our main purpose is hiring people to fight, and they'll also have to train hard. So we need to be a bit more generous with the money."

Chen Hong nodded with a smile. He was only thirteen this year and didn't yet know how to go along with what others said. Hearing Zhao Jin reject his suggestion, he felt rather unconvinced. His eyes darted around, and he continued, "Brother Zhao, how about this — keep the hundred cash a month unchanged, but pay it once every three months. If anyone slacks off, that money gets docked and given to the others. That way, the workers won't dare to shirk or cut corners."

"That's a good idea!" Zhao Jin understood as soon as he thought it through. Since providing meals without pay was the norm in this era, and he had already promised wages, Chen Hong's idea was to turn that money into a bonus to motivate them. Once they were truly trained, switching back to monthly pay would be perfectly suitable.

Seeing that Zhao Jin's praise was genuine, Chen Hong's eyes nearly disappeared from smiling. Zhao Jin looked at the Chen Hong before him, thought for a moment, and asked with a smile, "Er Hong, my shop still needs an accountant. Would you be willing to come help?"

Before his words had even faded, Chen Hong was already saying repeatedly, "I'm willing, I'm willing!"

"Er Hong just helps out at home. Matters of accounts and business never fall to him to decide, so he's desperate for a chance. With you opening a shop, Brother Zhao, this is perfect for him," Chen Sheng teased. Everyone burst into laughter.

They didn't practice martial arts in the courtyard at noon that day. Instead, everyone went together to the freight yard. The abandoned warehouses and freight depots beside the yard had long since been bought up cheap by Sun Dalei's family. Sun Dalei had brought the keys this time as well.

By the time they reached the freight yard, it was already late. They had expected a crowd of people waiting eagerly, but there were fewer than twenty youths of fifteen or sixteen, all looking around uncertainly.

Zhao Jin frowned and watched for a while, then said to Chen Hong, "Looks like we can't save on the first month's pay after all!"

Over on the other side, Sun Dalei opened the gate to one of the freight depots. Zhao Jin called out to stop Shi Manqiang and said, "Shitou, take ten taels of silver and go with Er Hong to exchange it for good-quality copper cash. Be quick about it."

Shi Manqiang and Chen Hong hurried off. Everyone else entered the freight depot. Inside, every door and window was tightly shut, and the place was completely empty — except for two sets of discarded tables and chairs, already dilapidated beyond recognition. Zhao Jin and the others dusted them off and carried the tables out onto the freight yard.

Once all the preparations were done, Zhao Jin patted the table and said, "Everything is ready — we're just waiting for the copper cash."

The children, young and old, playing on the freight yard had long since noticed them, but they watched from a distance and didn't dare approach. They weren't as enthusiastic as they'd been the day before. Everyone found this strange. Ji Xiang spoke up first: "What on earth happened? Should I go ask?"

Ji Xiang did have a knack for getting familiar with strangers. He ran back before long, his expression carrying a hint of pride. Back with the group, he lowered his voice and said, "They're all scared of us. Word's going around outside that yesterday, Brother Zhao led us all in a big battle against Cheng Bronze Head's gang. They're saying the Temple of Wealth ran red with rivers of blood, and that every one of us killed several people — that sort of thing."

Everyone was first stunned, then chuckled to themselves. For these martial youths, being able to make a name that frightened people was deeply satisfying.

Zhao Jin also smiled bitterly, thinking to himself: no wonder so few people came, no wonder no one dared come close. He patted the tabletop and said with a smile, "Brothers, we're going to have to learn a thing or two from the street performers of the rivers and lakes."

The children playing on the freight yard had all watched Zhao Jin and the others spar before — some had even watched for a year or two. Normally, they saw Zhao Jin and his group as heroes, with great martial skill and plenty of clever ideas. They both admired them and felt close to them. But over the past few days, all sorts of rumors had been spreading, saying that they had first killed the monks of Cloud Mountain Temple, and then slaughtered the hooligans at the Temple of Wealth until rivers of blood flowed.

Beating someone until they bled was already terrifying enough to them, let alone killing. Before even going out to play, the elders at home had warned them to be careful. Some children had been locked inside their homes outright. The ones who could come were all the bold ones, and even they watched Zhao Jin and the others from a distance, not daring to draw near.

Just then, they suddenly saw Chen Sheng — the second-best fighter — step forward, holding a real blade in his hand. Someone beside him laughingly tossed a radish into the air. All they saw was a flash of the blade, and the radish had been sliced into several pieces. At that moment, Dong Bingfeng, who often rode over from Xuzhou Guard, shook his long spear and skewered the radish pieces in midair onto the spear tip.

A few pieces of radish hadn't been caught. Just as they were about to hit the ground, a sword gleam flashed, and they were all pierced onto the sword.

Another radish was tossed into the air. A thunderous shout rang out, and a giant hammer smashed into it, pulverizing the radish.

Fear aside, the children playing on the freight yard all drifted over out of curiosity. Over on that side, Chen Sheng had already set his stance and begun a blade dance — the blade gleamed and flashed, coiling dragon and darting serpent, extraordinarily imposing.

More and more children gathered around to watch. Even adults passing by stopped to look.

"Good thing a radish seller came by!" Zhao Jin said with a laugh to Ji Xiang beside him. Just then, he spotted Shi Manqiang walking toward them carrying a cloth bundle.

Once Chen Sheng finished his blade routine, Dong Bingfeng entered the field with his long spear. Before coming to the freight yard, the martial skills he'd learned had been quite flashy — now they were perfect for putting on a show. The onlookers watching the excitement couldn't tell the difference between killing moves and showmanship. They only knew whether it looked impressive or not, and some even shouted out loud praise.

Shi Manqiang placed the bundle on the table. Zhao Jin untied it, and string after string of decent-quality copper cash immediately spread across the entire tabletop.

"Exchanging on such short notice — no household had this many new coins. We had to settle for roughly similar quality. That family probably got about a tael's worth of advantage out of us," Chen Hong said with a sullen expression, clearly feeling he hadn't handled the matter well.

Zhao Jin said with a smile, "We needed it urgently and couldn't afford to be picky. You did fine!"

With this praise, Chen Hong's expression brightened considerably. Zhao Jin raised his head to check the sky, then looked toward the intersection. The timing was just right — he saw a middle-aged man in a long gown, accompanied by two black-robed yamen runners, walking toward them.

Zhao Jin hurried forward to greet them. Before reaching them, he first bowed deeply and said, "Your nephew Zhao Jin — I've troubled you uncles to make this trip."

The two black-robed runners were clearly dressed as unofficial yamen assistants, each carrying a cloth bundle. The middle-aged man's long gown was also black — black was the lowest color — indicating that these three held no high position in the yamen. Their expressions as they arrived were none too pleasant either. No doubt they felt they'd been ordered to help with children's business and had lost face, yet the request from Zhao Zhentang's side was not something they could easily refuse.