Chapter 110: Rex the Untouchable
Soon after the market on Martin Street ended, the sky gradually darkened.
The security team member on duty at the town gate yawned, stuck his head out of the window, and looked eagerly in the direction of the town's main avenue.
The weather in August was so hot that after a whole day of being huddled at the duty post and enduring the sweltering heat, it suddenly became cooler at dusk and people began to feel sleepy... This team member couldn't wait to get off work.
After waiting for a long time without seeing anyone in uniform coming over, the security guard complained: "Kelly and Sandy are always dragging their feet. Every time I have to wait for a long time to hand over to them, it's enough! Hey, Jimmy, why don't you find someone else to change shifts?"
Jimmy, who had just finished yawning, glanced at his partner and said, "Come on, who doesn't take a long time to change shifts here? We didn't come here in time at noon."
In the past, being on duty as the town gate guard was a popular job, especially during the afternoon to midnight period. People with insufficient qualifications could not even dream of getting a spot.
Now, no one wants to take the job of guarding the town gate...
They have to stay stupidly at the gate duty post for several hours in a boring manner, and are not allowed to walk around or leave their posts without permission, drink alcohol, hit or scold passers-by, or behave frivolously - what on earth are they regarded as, wooden stakes?
Although there are some disgusting rules when patrolling in the town, such as not drinking, not beating or scolding passers-by, not extorting shops and vendors, not eating and drinking for free, etc., but at least you can walk around and chat with acquaintances, and it is not as boring as here at the town gate.
Jimmy didn't like staying at the town gate either. When he and his partner didn't have to take the most uncomfortable shift, he liked to wander around the construction sites on the main avenue in the town... There was nothing more pleasurable than seeing with your own eyes the places you once hated being destroyed, eliminated, and changed beyond recognition bit by bit.
Occasionally, he would walk into the small streets and alleys of the residential area to admire how miserable and ugly the prostitutes were as they were being watched by the ghosts while cleaning the sewers.
Jimmy hated the red-light district, hated the prostitutes, and hated the clients even more.
When he was young and ignorant, his father took away the family's living expenses to buy a woman. He only hated his incompetent father for dragging down the family, causing the whole family to eat boiled potatoes without much salt for almost two months. When he grew up and knew what was going on, he felt sick even when he remembered that he and his father had used the same spoon.
"Oh! Oh oh oh!"
The partner who was leaning against the duty post and looking around suddenly pointed in the direction outside the town and shouted in surprise: "Look, Jimmy, isn't that Simon's gang?"
Jimmy quickly went to the duty window and looked out.
Sure enough, on the road outside the town, a large group of dusty people came walking. Who else could be leading them but Simon, Alan and those daring guys?
Yesterday, Jimmy and his partner were assigned the task of maintaining order and patrolling the main street in the town. When they wandered to the northern residential area, they saw the neighbors quarreling. After asking, they found out that Simon and his gang actually dared to do cloth business on credit with the new overlord. They were almost scared to death.
Most of the neighbors had similar reactions. Those who had a better relationship with Simon's family kindly advised them to take their children to apologize to Mr. Rex and return the cloth to avoid causing greater trouble.
When he got home from get off work in the evening, Jimmy heard from his wife that these families had asked many people for help and gathered a large group of people to transport the cloth away before noon. He also told his wife that he should be stricter with the children in the future to prevent the children from causing trouble for the family when they grow up.
How can business be so easy to do these days?
It would be fine if it was just local, but if you rashly bring valuable goods to other places, let alone make money, even if you can come back alive, it would have to be the blessing of the Lady of Gold Coin. Anyway, Jimmy doesn't think this will succeed at all.
But at this moment... Jimmy was surprised to find that Simon and others did not seem to have been robbed or attacked. Although the twenty or so people were all dusty and looked embarrassed, they all seemed to be in good spirits; when the little devil Benjamin saw him, he waved excitedly.
When they got closer to the town gate, Jimmy and his partner couldn't help but come out from their duty post and curiously looked at the two steel-framed tricycles they were protecting in the crowd...
The truck bed was filled with cloth, and all that was left was a loosely draped rainproof tarpaulin.
"You guys, sold them all?" Jimmy said in disbelief.
"Hey, yes, they're all sold out!" Simon, Alan, Caroline, and Benjamin approached, smiling so hard that only their big white teeth could be seen.
"No trouble? Those outsiders didn't make things difficult for you?" Jimmy's partner asked in surprise.
"Of course I did, but - ah, Dad, what?" Benjamin wanted to show off with great joy, but his father pulled him from behind at the critical moment and he changed the subject.
Simon glared at Benjamin and grinned at Jimmy: "We still have to go to the town hall. We'll talk later." Without giving Jimmy a chance to ask more questions, he hurriedly led the team into the town.
Jimmy's partner was so curious that he chased him for a few steps and wanted to ask, but was pulled back by Jimmy.
"I just asked them how they solved the problem. Can't you even tell me this? You're too petty!" said the partner unconvinced.
"Come on, it's clear that she doesn't want to say it, so don't go and make yourself annoying." Jimmy waved his hand.
Everyone knows that the undead cloth that the new lord sells to everyone can be sold for a good price outside, but why does no one think of reselling it? Are everyone else stupid?
Since Simon and his friends have found a way to sell the cloth safely, they certainly wouldn't want to tell anyone else.
On the other hand, the four families who were forced to join the "short-distance caravan" and their relatives and friends did not rush to separate after entering the town, nor did they talk much to the curious neighbors they met on the road, and hurried to the town hall.
Rex, who had just returned to the town hall, had no time to catch his breath when he heard Simon and others coming to pay for the goods, so he hurried out of the office.
Seeing the more than 20 townspeople standing in the courtyard, covered in dust, many of whose faces were barely visible, Rex didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Did you just come back? There's no need to be so anxious, go home and rest, and come back tomorrow."
The four young men smiled embarrassedly and didn't respond... None of them had ever come into contact with so much money before, and they didn't feel safe leaving it with anyone. They were all afraid that the money would be lost and that they would not be able to pay back the goods. Since they started walking back, they didn't even dare to take their eyes off the two tricycles for more than ten hours, even when they were peeing.
Seeing that they were all very nervous, Rex quickly waved to two clerks to come over to count the money and settle the accounts - the bottom of the cargo boxes of the two tricycles were full of copper coins, and they knew to casually cover them with tarpaulins to pretend that there was nothing in the cargo boxes; but a group of people surrounded the two vehicles tightly, and if they were seen by experienced thieves, something bad would happen.
The two carts of cloth that Rex sold on credit to the four young men contained thirty rolls of sixty meters each.
Because these rolls of cloth are hand-cut and sold by the meter, there will be some errors in the cutting process, so each roll of Blakes is only calculated at 59 meters.
The four young men and their families, relatives and friends worked hard for two days and one night, and exchanged the thirty rolls of cloth for more than 35,600 copper coins.
The copper coins circulating in the market have complex sources, including private minting by nobles and churches, so their weight is not stable. It is usually around ten to thirteen grams. They are not pure copper, but always contain 20 to 30 percent of other metals.
Even so, this is more than 300 kilograms of copper coins...
With more than twenty ordinary town residents escorting so many copper coins, it was no wonder that they didn't even dare to go home after entering the town and headed straight to the town hall...
The two clerks, Rex, counted the more than 300 kilograms of copper coins themselves using a coin counting box (a special tool for counting coins that allows the coins to slide down the track inside the box and be stacked into piles of ten or twenty). Rex, who knew arithmetic, took pen and paper and made calculations. He worked until it was completely dark and only when he lit lanterns for illumination did he divide the copper coins into two piles.
Rex pointed to the pile of money on the left and said, "Thirty rolls of cloth, 59 meters each, total 1,770 meters. I'll sell you ten coppers per meter on credit, so the total is 17,700 coppers. This pile of money is used to pay off the outstanding balance."
More than twenty townspeople nodded in unison.
Rex pointed to the pile of money on the right and said, "The remaining money is your profit. The amount of this pile of money is 17,862 coppers."
More than twenty townspeople stared at Rex blankly.
The amount of money was too huge for them to cope with.
"One, seventeen thousand or more..." Caroline muttered blankly, as if she were dreaming. "If it's changed into silver coins, it's more than one hundred and seventy... If it's changed into gold coins, it's seventeen gold coins - Ms. Gold Coin, did we earn seventeen gold coins?"
"Yes." Rex nodded and said approvingly, "This is all the result of your hard work. You did a great job."
Caroline looked dazed, and Alan, who was standing next to her, suddenly fell down...
Rex quickly reached out and grabbed Alan's arm, and lifted the dizzy young man to sit in the tricycle. He said with a smile: "Okay, don't be too happy too soon. Have you forgotten that I, the lord, am still here? If your monthly income exceeds 1,800 copper coins, you have to pay high-income income tax. Don't say you are trying to evade taxes in front of me, right?"
The four young men were startled and shook their heads to show that they dared not.
At this moment, Caroline suddenly cried out "Ah" and raised her hand to cover her mouth.
"What's wrong?" Rex looked over.
"Nothing... nothing." Caroline had a strange expression on her face, as if she wanted to laugh wildly with excitement, but was also a little amused and helpless.
A few days ago, Caroline told her mother that few people would have to pay taxes at such a high tax rate. She never expected that she would have to consider paying taxes now...
Rex was willing to see smart and brave young people make money, but no matter how much he liked the young people, he would not be lenient when it came to collecting taxes. He had no intention of letting these four upstart young people go, and he caught them on the spot and paid the taxes first...
The new tax order of the Westram Territory stipulates that personal income tax will be levied on monthly income exceeding 1,800 copper coins, with a high-income income tax rate of 6%.
If monthly income or single income exceeds 3,000 copper coins, the tax rate will be raised to 12%.
If monthly income or single income exceeds 10,000 copper coins, the tax rate is 14%.
Four young people made more than 17,000 yuan from their business, which was definitely the second tier of personal tax, requiring them to pay 12% of the profit. Rex took away 2,143 copper coins without mercy...
Looking at the four young men and their families, whose faces turned pale as if they were suffering from the pain of being torn out of their hearts, Rex half-jokingly asked, "Are you beginning to regret bringing all your income here? You should have hidden some of it earlier."
"No, no." Caroline said reluctantly.
Rex smiled slightly: "The goods are from me. You can tell how much they can be sold for by just doing the math. If the difference in the accounts is too outrageous, the clerk at the town hall will come to you and ask for a reconciliation."
The four young men were startled and became much more obedient... Isn't it true that they can be better than Mr. Rex in calculating and settling accounts?
"After paying taxes, this money is your legal income. You can discuss and distribute it among yourselves." After scaring them a little, Rex said, "I believe you know that doing business is risky after this trip. Money is not so easy to make. Don't spend the money you have worked hard to earn easily. Always keep some capital. You won't get the goods first and pay later next time."
"Got it." The four young men nodded obediently.
"Everyone, go back and have some rest." Rex waved his hand. "Take a few days off and think seriously about what to do in the future. Shirley, get them some bags to put the money in."
A group of people walked out of the town hall carrying several bags of coins. The cool evening breeze blew on their faces. The people who had just felt sorry for having more than 2,000 copper coins taken away from them were once again filled with joy...
"Mr. Rex is such a good man. He actually gave us cloth on credit and allowed us to make so much money." Benjamin, the youngest student, couldn't contain his excitement.
"There won't be a next time. If we want to do this business again, we have to come up with the capital ourselves." Caroline said.
"I say, why don't we just not divide the money and do business together, how about that?" Alan, his face flushed with excitement, suggested.
The family members had different expressions. Some agreed, while others felt uneasy that their children did not get any money. However, no one spoke up to interfere with the decision of the four young people.
The reactions of these family members and friends are not surprising - when the younger generation shows abilities far superior to those of the older generation, especially in terms of making money, the more money they make, the more respectful the elders become towards the younger generation.
Not only did the four young men dare to do business with the lord by buying cloth on credit, they actually succeeded and earned more money than they could earn in ten years. Even though these relatives, friends and elders had contributed in the process, they would subconsciously adjust the status of both parties and put themselves on the side that obeyed orders.
This is a very normal phenomenon, and the lower the level, the more so.
The idea that sons and daughters who make a lot of money are played around by their elders either only exists in novels, or the sons and daughters who make a lot of money actually have no ability and rely on luck or the dividends of the times - people who can excel in a certain field and turn their abilities into money will never be so weak as to obey the orders of backward-thinking elders.
When Benjamin almost exposed the business philosophy that the four of them had figured out, his father stopped him by simply pulling his clothes instead of yelling at him in front of outsiders. This was enough to prove the reversal of the strong relationship between them.
"We still have to divide the money." Simon thought for a moment and said, "Let's first pay the relatives who came to help us, and then divide the money equally. After the division, we can discuss a capital that everyone can accept, take out the same amount, and continue to do this business."
"Okay, I support that." Caroline said immediately, "Next time I suggest that we don't go to the village we went to before. Everyone there has bought cloth, and they won't be able to come up with much money if we go again. We should go to another place to sell cloth."
"I think so too." Benjamin nodded vigorously. "This time we went to the village south of Innadri. Next time, shall we go a little further and go to the north?"
Alan's eyes lit up and he said, "It just so happens that I know a man from a village north of Innadri. He should be working odd jobs and running . We can ask Posa to deliver a letter to him and hire him for three days. When we are going to the village in the north, we can let him lead the way."
"Is this person reliable?" Caroline asked.
"Unreliable, but he's not very smart...very stupid. Let's just not let him know our purpose."
More than 20 people were walking on Westham Street at night, relying on the lights of the residents to hurry to the northern residential area; along the way, there was only the sound of four young people discussing in a low voice, and their family members and friends were just following them quietly.
Allen's house was the most spacious, so they decided to go to Allen's house first to divide the money.
On the way, a ghost saw them and came over silently to escort them for a while until they entered Allen's house and then left.
Caroline looked back at the undead who left silently, and said with regret: "It would be great if there were undead souls to go with us to sell cloth. With them, we don't know how much trouble we could save."
"You are such a dreamer, Caroline!" Benjamin laughed.
The European sturgeon walked away, crossing his arms and thinking.
Why can't Westram's NPC trigger the hidden mission no matter what?
Late at night, Caroline returned to her home under the protection of an uncle, two cousins and an aunt. As soon as she entered the yard, Ms. Winnie, who had been waiting for a long time, excitedly ran out of the house and hugged her daughter tightly.
After welcoming all the relatives into the house, Caroline's second aunt saw her child and said to Winnie with emotion: "Winnie, Caroline has grown up and is very capable. Caroline is the most capable in our family. Her uncles and cousins are not as good as her."
Caroline's uncle and two cousins nodded happily, agreeing with their aunt's praise for Caroline.
Caroline's uncle said with pride, "You didn't see it with your own eyes, Winnie. Caroline dared to talk to Mr. Rex face to face. No wonder a few young people dared to buy cloth on credit from Mr. Rex. Caroline is really amazing."
"Stop talking like that. She's not even married yet. She's still a child." Ms. Winnie covered her chest and said, "I haven't felt at ease for a moment since yesterday. These children are really worrying... Caroline, you have to stay away from Simon and the others in the future. How are you going to get married if you keep fooling around with them?"
Caroline did not argue with her mother. She simply put the bag she was carrying on the table, opened the bag, and let her mother see the copper coins inside.
Winnie's chattering came to an abrupt end.
After a long pause, Winnie reached out to touch the coins in the bag with a trembling hand...
"How, how can there be so much money?" Ms. Winnie, who has been a housewife all her life, turned pale with fright and looked at her daughter in horror.
"I earned it, Mom. How could I have picked it up?" Caroline was very proud. "We sold the cloth to many villages south of Innadri, and also made business with the servants in the manor. We have settled the payment for Mr. Rex, paid the taxes, and divided the wages of my aunt and others. All this money belongs to me alone!"
Ms. Winnie couldn't help but turn her inquiring gaze to Caroline's uncle, her own brother.
Caroline's uncle nodded vigorously and said with a smile, "It's true, Winnie. The cloth was sold smoothly and turned into money. Each of us got two hundred copper coins, two hundred!" As he said that, he opened his shirt and showed Winnie the heavy inner pocket of his shirt.
Ms. Winnie covered her mouth with her hand.
After just following along for two days, each person can get 200 copper coins, which is indeed a very generous reward, equivalent to what others would work for a week - provided that they can find work.
"Uncle, aunt, I'm sorry that I can only give you this much right now, because we have to use the money we get as capital." Caroline tied the bag tightly and said apologetically, "Mr. Rex will no longer give us cloth on credit. Next time we need to pay for the purchase ourselves. We need to get more cloth to make a profit."
My uncle quickly said, "I know, we all know Caroline, we are already very satisfied to get so much, how could we think it is too little."
"Yes, how can we be picky? It was you who bought the cloth on credit from Mr. Rex, and it was you who managed to avoid danger and sell the cloth safely. If it weren't for you, we would never have the chance to encounter such a good thing." Aunt said earnestly, "Next time if your uncle comes back, let him go with you. It's better than me going with you."
Ms. Winnie noticed that her brothers and sisters-in-law were very respectful to their daughter in both their attitude and words, and she covered her mouth with her hands in disbelief.
When she looked at her daughter again, Winnie suddenly realized that her daughter was indeed different from before... She was so confident, calm, and determined, and even a blanket of dust could not conceal her spirit.
Winnie took two steps forward and hugged her daughter tightly again.
Her little angel had grown up so big without her noticing.
Simon's family was the poorest among the four friends. When his father renovated the old house, he could not afford to buy bricks and wood. He asked his country relatives to help build the adobe walls for the courtyard wall and the expanded bungalow, and the roof was only made of bamboo and thatch.
Simon came back with a bag of money, and the whole family was waiting for him in the yard like they were welcoming a hero.
After celebrating for a long time with tears and laughter, Simon's mother sent off the relatives who came to help and closed the door. Then she asked with concern: "After you left, I heard people on the street say that there were frequent robberies of passers-by in the distant village. I was really worried... Did you have a smooth journey?"
Simon smiled calmly and said honestly, "It's true that we encountered some problems, Mom, but don't worry. We have worked in Innadelli for so many years and have heard a lot of such things. Of course, we are not unprepared."
"We don't bring all the goods into the village to sell, because if we do that, the villagers will gather together to grab them. We always hide the carts and cloth outside first, select a few people to go into the village, and find those families with elderly people and children, and ask them privately if they want to buy cheap and good cloth. The quantity is not large, so if you want to buy, you have to hurry, otherwise we will have to ask the next family..."
