Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 188 For the Children
Use a knife to pry open the seal of the fruit can (burned white clay), unscrew the bottle cap, pick up the sweet and sour fruit pulp in the bottle, and hand it to the crystal ball.
"This is a piece of the flesh of the Amit Red Heart Fruit, a specialty of the Elf Forest. It matures from July to September every year and can be eaten after peeling the skin. The flesh is pink and slightly sour. The forest elves like to cut it into pieces and dip it in sugar. It can be stored in a low temperature environment for half a month to twenty days, after which it will dehydrate, deteriorate, and rot."
Austin: “???”
Xiao Yun stuffed the canned fruit pulp into his mouth and continued, "But if you cut it into pieces with the skin on, soak it in boiled and cooled berry juice, and vacuum seal it, in about ten days, the sour taste of the Amit Red Heart Fruit will interact with the berry juice, and the sour taste will fade, fermenting into a mellow fruity sweetness, and the storage period will be extended to ten months."
"What do you want to say?" Auston said with a dark face, trying hard to hold back his saliva.
"If you don't eat the Amit Red Heart Fruit you picked from the tree, it will definitely go bad." Xiao Yun put another piece of fruit flesh into his mouth and chewed it happily. "If it's not processed, it will go bad in twenty days. Processing the flesh will extend the storage period to ten months. The longer it can be stored, the longer it can be eaten."
"Keep it simple! Speak in a simple way!" Austin couldn't help but kick the crystal wall.
"Haven't I made it clear enough? The Amit Red Heart Fruit, which will definitely go bad, can be eaten before it goes bad." Xiao Yun said calmly, "Partners or subordinates, they will go bad just like the Amit Red Heart Fruit, and will betray you sooner or later, either trying to steal your corner or stabbing you in the back. But before it goes bad, are you going to say that since it can't be eaten after being kept for a long time, why not just throw it away?"
Auston's mouth dropped open.
"It's not practical for intelligent creatures to say they will always be loyal and never betray each other. It's not uncommon for people of the same race to stab each other, let alone different species." Xiao Yun chewed the fruit, and the rich and sweet juice dripped down the corners of his mouth. "Since we are going to use people, why bother about whether they will deteriorate sooner or later? We can just extend the storage period and use them as much as possible within the shelf life."
“(o言o)…” Auston swallowed his saliva, and suddenly came back to his senses. He angrily slapped the crystal wall with his hands and feet, “Then why don’t you just say it directly?! You deliberately found an opportunity to eat it for me to see!!”
"Yes~ah~" Xiao Yun smiled and stretched out his tone. He took a knife and put a piece of fruit pulp into his mouth. "Amit Red Heart Fruit Can is the most expensive fruit product in our tribe. The management has a quota of only ten cans per month. Your son Balk stole five cans from me last time. I had to eat the remaining five cans in front of you... No, I ate them with you."
"You just said what you really think, you bastard!!"
"You heard wrong."
"Talk with your eyes!!"
After yelling a few times, Auston sat back angrily, crossed his arms across his chest, and glared at Xiao Yun, saying, "It's up to you how you want to use people, but you can't be so shameless as to kidnap my son. When that illusionist's lifespan runs out, I won't let it go so easily."
"Kidnap? Haha..." Xiao Yun laughed and looked at Austin meaningfully: "If your father, Lord Aldrich, treated you like you treated Balk, how grateful would you be to your father?"
"That's different, Balke is only over a thousand years old!" Austin shouted immediately.
"Okay." Xiao Yun spread his hands . "Balke has lived with you for more than a thousand years, and has only been in our tribe for four years. Look for yourself. Does Balke smile more and feel more relaxed when he's with us, or when he's with you?"
Auston was choked and said stubbornly: "That's between us father and son, it's the dragon clan's business, what do you care about it?"
"As an outsider, I really have no right to interfere in the dispute between you and Balk, Lord Austin." Xiao Yun smiled, "But Balk is your son, a member of the dragon clan, and a friend of our Snow Wolf Clan. It's not too much to help a friend and respect his free will, right?"
"Whatever Balke wants, it's you who has bewitched him!" Austin slapped his thigh with his short hands. "Are you trying to say that making vermicelli for you is something Balke did voluntarily? Don't be ridiculous!"
Xiao Yun's face turned serious: "Does Lord Austin look down on Balk's career?"
"What kind of business is making vermicelli? Do you look down on the great dragon race?!" Auston roared.
"That's totally wrong." Xiao Yun slapped the lid of the can and sat down seriously. "So far this year, Balk's flour mill has consumed 80 million kilograms of sweet potatoes and produced more than 15 million kilograms of vermicelli. Do you know what this means? Take the human race as an example. Assuming that a poor human can only afford vermicelli, twice a day, a kilogram of flour is enough to feed a city of 100,000 people for 300 days, almost a year. If this is an army of 100,000 people, it is equivalent to Balk's military rations for this army for more than half a year. Lord Austin, can you withstand the siege of a human army of 100,000 people for more than half a year?"
"...Wait, that's not right. That's not how it's calculated. How can an army go to war just with rations?" Austin was almost fooled, but luckily he reacted in time.
The old dragon who had lived for a long time was not so easily fooled by the substitution of concepts. Xiao Yun simply changed his statement: "Balke can feed tens of thousands of mouths by working for five months. This is always true. If Balke calls himself the 'great dragon clan' and is unwilling to do such a job that you think is not up to the standard, then I would like to ask the great Lord Austin, what kind of work should your son do to create valuable output equivalent to the flour mill? Robbing gold mines? Or squatting in the dragon's nest and sleeping and dreaming?"
"Uh..." This time, Austin was really choked. He had previously seized a gold mine from the Elf King, which only produced a thousand gold coins each year, which was really not as good as the value created by Balk.
"And Balk didn't just make vermicelli. The 80 million kilograms of sweet potatoes consumed by his flour mill were the agricultural output of the Fire Department. When he completed the task of making flour, he brought revenue benefits to the agricultural practitioners of the Fire Department and provided jobs for more than 500 workers in the flour mill."
"Part of the vermicelli produced was sold to the forest elves of Ananas. Ananas used part of the vermicelli for internal consumption to ensure food security for the residents of Ananas, and sold part of it to other cities and even the Dwarf Kingdom, creating economic benefits and profiting from it."
Austin's eyes darted around and his belly kept rising and falling. Xiao Yun waited for him to savor it for a while before smiling: "The Ananas elves made money from vermicelli, so they should accept Balk's favor. If, I mean if, you and Balk fell out and fought to the death, do you think the more than a thousand elf warriors on Ananas' side would sit back and watch the fun, or would they take the initiative to come to Balk's help?"
Austin suddenly felt his scalp tingling. He couldn't handle even a hundred elf warriors, let alone more than a thousand...
"Last year, the forest elves purchased five million catties of vermicelli produced by Balk. This year, the total annual transaction amount we have agreed on is 20 million catties." Xiao Yun smiled, "Let's assume that the forest elves only earn two copper coins as a transfer fee for each catty of vermicelli. With the help of Balk, the forest elves can earn eight thousand gold coins from the vermicelli transaction alone. This is not a one-time windfall, but a stable income every year. Tell me... Will the forest elves allow this unbreakable friendship established on the premise of a stable alliance of interests to be destroyed?"
"Can the face of your old neighbor, the forest elf, be greater than the income of at least eight thousand gold coins per year?"
Auston was completely silent, and the whole dragon was wilting... At this moment, he finally saw clearly that his son had completely broken free from the control of his old father and flew away with flapping wings.
The cooperation between Ananas's forest elves and the Fire Department made most of their profits from soy sauce. But vermicelli was indeed a source of income that the forest elves valued. Who would dislike having too much money? Evelyn, that little girl, used to bicker with Balk every day last year, but now she is willing to show some leniency to Balk - in the face of interests, any problem is not a problem!
"This year, we expect the vermicelli factory to produce 30 million kilograms. The final selling price of each kilogram of vermicelli is up to ten copper coins. In other words, Balke's hard work for a year directly and indirectly affects the flow of 60,000 gold coins." Xiao Yun's face straightened, and he said seriously, "It's not just our Snow Wolf Clan that gets a share of these 60,000 gold coins. The entire production line and sales line are all dependent on Balke. This is the economic value created by Balke's work in the Fire Department. Lord Austin, do you still want to say that Balke is engaged in a worthless business?"
Auston lay motionless at the bottom of the crystal ball, too lazy to pay attention to Xiao Yun, just pretending not to hear...
Xiao Yun picked up the can of fruit, unscrewed the lid, and leisurely took a sip of the sweet juice.
The pride, identity, and status of the dragon clan are nothing in Xiao Yun's eyes - sleeping soundly in the dragon's nest, grabbing slaves to tinker with jewelry, and showing off their power all over the continent - what's the use of that?
The value of any intelligent creature must and can only be based on labor. The value created by labor is the true value of an intelligent creature!
A dragon is slaughtered and sold for money. How much can dragon blood, dragon skin, dragon scales, and dragon bones be sold by the pound? Working hard is the right thing to do!
The tribesmen rowed hard and drifted upstream for more than ten minutes. Xiao Yun felt that Austin's depression had not lasted long enough, so he put down the can, patted the crystal ball, and said kindly: "Lord Austin, we have been together for a while. I can see that you care about Balk. Although I don't agree with your approach, I can't deny that you are indeed a good father. A great dragon like you who is long-lived and wise, of course you don't think that whether your son is well-behaved and obedient is more important than whether his son can be happy, right?"
Auston was lazy and ignored everyone.
Xiao Yun increased the dosage: "Those stupid, short-sighted, short-lived species, well, for example, the human race, some human parents care more about their children's obedience to them than their children's happiness. As long as the children are obedient and well-behaved, they can get supreme pleasure and spiritual satisfaction. Why? Because these short-sighted, stupid and poor creatures live extremely humble lives and cannot gain confidence from the outside world. They can only find confidence and satisfaction in their own cubs. They tie the cubs tightly in their short lives and do not allow the only cubs that can provide them with satisfaction to escape... Of course, the dragon race will not be like this, right, Lord Austin?"
Auston's body stiffened, and he raised his head with a grin and said, "Of course not! The great dragon race is not such a shallow creature!"
Xiao Yun nodded with a smile: "I said it, how could the dragon race have such shallow thoughts? For example, now that you know about Balk's achievements and his recognition by countless different races, Lord Austin is of course extremely happy. You are so happy that you can't speak, and you cry on the ground, feeling overwhelmed and deeply moved... You are excited that your son has finally grown up and doesn't need you to keep protecting him from the wind and rain. At the same time, you feel a little disappointed, thinking that your son no longer needs you. As an old father, you have very complicated feelings... Right?"
"..."Auston was so impressed by this devilish youngster's ability to lie that he was trembling all over... But he couldn't refute it... He gritted his teeth and said with a crooked mouth and squinting eyes, "No, that's right, that's it!"
Xiao Yun smiled and said, "As a friend of Balke, I am deeply saddened to see that Balke has become estranged from his father, Lord Austin..."
Auston: “…” Your expression betrays your words, asshole!
"So, I have a suggestion that is completely well-intentioned." Xiao Yun's face turned gloomy in an instant, "Which father doesn't want to see respect and admiration in his children's eyes forever? Balke, who is only over a thousand years old, can create an economic value of 60,000 gold coins every year. Lord Austin, if you devote yourself to the fan-making business, you will definitely do better than Balke. Of course, this is not to undermine the child's self-confidence, but to show Balke your charm as a father. Even if Balke has grown up, you are still his eternal role model, someone worthy of learning and respect."
"..." Auston raised his little short hand and pointed at Xiao Yun, expressionless, "The expression you used when you said this paragraph is the opposite of the previous one."
"Don't worry about these details~" Xiao Yun said shamelessly, "In order to set an example for his children, the honorable Lord Austin did not hesitate to devote himself to the powder-making business, bringing an endless supply of cheap and high-quality staple food to the people of Bloomfield Continent, creating economic benefits of tens of thousands of gold coins for all races every year. The presence of you and your son will be unique and outstanding in the entire dragon clan. The people of the entire continent may not know who the patriarch of the dragon clan is, but they will definitely know your names-"
"Shut up, devil! Do you think the great Austin will be bewitched by your words? You are just trying to trick me into working for you like you fooled that stupid boy Balke! You underestimate me too much!" Austin couldn't stand it anymore and slapped the crystal wall with his hands, feet and tail.
"You misunderstood me so deeply. This is clearly for the child~~"
"How dare a brat who has only lived for a few decades call Balk a child!"
"Okay." Xiao Yun sat back, picked up the can and continued to taste it. "I sincerely hope that the relationship between you two can be eased, and you can have a common language to cultivate the father-son relationship again. Since Lord Austin doesn't appreciate it, I have nothing to say... Oh, the flesh of this red heart fruit is really delicious!"
"Do you have any interest in this thing?!" Auston said angrily.
After returning to the tribe, Xiao Yun immediately went to the flour mill with the Austin ball to find Balk. When he saw him, he patted his shoulder and said in a sad tone: "Balk, I tried to make your father understand how great and valuable your career is, but unfortunately, Lord Austin does not agree with our philosophy. He even questioned your career many times and believed that your behavior tarnished the greatness of the dragon race..."
Austin, who was lying on the crystal wall watching his son, looked up in shock and looked at Xiao Yun in disbelief.
Balk expressionlessly took off the Austin ball from Xiao Yun's waist and held it high to the workers in the workshop: "Whose cub is missing a toy?"
Austin pointed at Xiao Yun in anger and grief: "Are you a devil——!"
Xiao Yun smiled and waved to Austin.
There were also child laborers in the flour mill (…). Several Snow Wolf cubs who were washing sweet potatoes ran happily towards Balke, stretching out their paws dripping with mud.
Seeing that he was about to fall into the clutches of the cub, Auston had to let go of his reserve, slapped the crystal wall and shouted: "Wait, I agree, you evil devil, take me back now!"
"Agree to what?" Balk looked back in confusion.
"I'll help you build fans." Xiao Yun said with a smile.
"Ah..." Balk showed a disgusted expression and stuffed the Auston ball into the hands of a cub, "Forget it, he will only cause trouble."
Auston: "(o言o)... Wait! I'm serious! Balk, you little bastard, I'm your father!!"
Xiao Yunchong shrugged at Austin and gave him a helpless and sympathetic look.
“Aa ...
The next moment, the cubs were slapping the crystal ball containing the talking dragon and running out of the workshop to play.
Xiao Yun put his hands on his forehead and watched Austin wailing away, smiling happily.
In fact, from the moment Austin took the initiative to mention that the snake elders were unreliable, Xiao Yun was able to confirm that this old dragon could be used.
The reason is simple. All intelligent species will only be curious about things that interest them. This curiosity will go a step further and turn into caring about the other person's situation or even considering the other person's position.
For example, in a loving couple, the husband would never describe his wife as "a woman's heart is as unfathomable as the sea"... He has no interest in understanding her, let alone putting himself in her shoes. Naturally, he will get annoyed and dissatisfied when her thoughts and actions do not meet his expectations.
It is extremely difficult for an old dragon like Auston, who has lived for thousands of years, to get through with just his mouth. The only possibility of making use of this old monster for one's own benefit is that he himself has such an idea and is willing to be half-pushed and half-led in this direction.
Apart from anything else, this old arrogant guy who cares about his son but is extremely awkward, actually took the initiative to bring up the topic of making fans~!
Austin had long been curious about Balk's career, and was also interested in the Fire Department's operating model. Xiao Yun's verbal attacks were just a way for him to step down, such as stating that the Fire Department dared to employ people, that the platform provided by the Fire Department was actually very impressive, and that we were all doing this for the children, etc.
Even so, he was still arrogant and waited for Xiao Yun to kneel down and beg him for approval... This was just out of line and out of his mind! Who was Xiao Yun? He had seen through his cards, but he still indulged you with this bad habit?
Not very capable!
What is needed to train a tsundere is patience, which Xiao Yun has in abundance~!
After being tossed around for quite a while, and his entire dragon head was about to explode, Auston finally waited for Xiao Yun to rescue him...
In the activity room.
The spellcasters Sean, Evelyn, Balk and Xiao Yun sat around the table with an Austin ball in the middle.
"Letting Lord Austin out... to be honest, it's quite dangerous." Mr. Sean frowned and said, "Lord Austin is a dragon that has lived for more than three thousand years. If he hadn't landed on the ground to fight Balk last time, we would have had to pay a heavy price in terms of combat damage to control him."
"Don't let it go." Balke said expressionlessly.
"Balke, I'm your father!" Austin jumped up.
"Look, he's already so bad-tempered while still locked up. Wouldn't it be even more troublesome if he were let out?" Balk spread his hands.
Xiao Yun seemed to sympathize: "Lord Austin, for the sake of the children, let's be patient."
Balk: “???”
Mr. Sean looked at Xiao Yun strangely.
Auston sat back in frustration.
"Hmm... maybe we can consider using the method of our forest elves." Evelyn flipped through the magic scrolls for a long time and unfolded one of them. "Some of the little elves controlled by our tribe have bad natures. They need to be restrained by blocking their flying ability. If we restrict Lord Austin's wind control ability and dragon breath magic, he will not be able to fly into the air to destroy the tribe's property..."
"Is it the same magic that the snow elves used to seal the snowbird?" Mr. Sean asked in surprise.
Evelyn nodded: "Yes, this is a sealing technique that evolved from the ancient magic of the high elves. Balk, if the dragons restrict the wind control ability and dragon breath magic, will it affect the recovery of mental strength?"
"No." Balk said, "But if he shows his true form, he will still have troublesome destructive power."
"So we have to restrict the original body as well?" Mr. Sean thought for a moment and said, "I have an idea. Why not continue to seal Austin's original body in the barrier and only allow him to release his mental power to form a clone with less destructive power..."
Auston looked at the guys surrounding him with horror, and finally cast his gaze towards Xiao Yun. Long's face was full of fear - if you make friends with the devil, will you eventually become a devil? !
Xiao Yun met Austin's gaze and smiled: "What do you think, Lord Austin? The mandatory nature of the 'Law of Language' contract violates the Fire Department's principle of fair, equal, friendly and harmonious cooperation. Although it is inconvenient to only use clones, we do need some time to cultivate trust. When the three of you all agree on your contribution to the Fire Department and your trustworthiness, we will completely lift the restrictions on you. Do you agree with this way of cooperation?"
Auston was silent for a moment, then said aggrievedly: "...Okay."
Anyway, it can't be worse than being trapped in a ball and being treated as a toy!
Since Austin himself agreed, the subsequent unsealing process was naturally extremely smooth... Austin's affinity for the wind element and dragon breath magic were suppressed to the lowest level using the forest elves' sealing magic. Mr. Sean then opened the sealing ball and released Austin's spiritual body. There was a zigzag of light and shadow in the activity room, and the dragon's huge spiritual power escaped from the seal, condensed, and gathered, eventually forming a miniature dragon the size of a palm, a circle smaller than when it was in the ball.
After escaping from the crystal ball, Austin immediately cast a fiery gaze towards Xiao Yun, took a deep breath, raised his little head, his neck became thicker, and his cheeks puffed up.
Xiao Yun stretched out his hand and embraced Balke, pressing Balke's face against his own, and looked at Austin with a smile.
When Balk untied the rope, he sprayed my face with dragon breath. I don’t know what style you green dragons are... If you have the guts, spray your son too.
Balk : “???”
Austin: “…” He swallowed Long Yan back in frustration and choked and coughed.
When Chief Arthur came to the tribe to report on his work again, he was extremely surprised to see a palm-sized dragon flying around Balk, shouting words like "rebellious son" and "little bastard".
Balk lost his patience and slapped him, but Xiaolong was able to dodge very swiftly...
"Ayun, look!" Balke shouted at Xiao Yun angrily.
"Since we are talking about work, you should be patient when talking to your father." Xiao Yun comforted him, "Once the branch factory is built, he will have his own things to do, and you will have some peace and quiet."
"He eats my food and drinks my drinks, yet he catches me and calls me a traitor every day!" Balke was not convinced.
"He's spending your money temporarily because he has no income now. He will pay you back in the future. Just let him order the food himself~" Xiao Yun practiced Tai Ping and drank soup at the same time, and gave Austin a soothing look that said, "I understand you, we are all doing this for the children."
Balk had no choice but to stand up with a gloomy face and accompany Austin to the window to get him another dish.
Patriarch Arthur swallowed the braised pork in his mouth and whispered, "Is that Balk's father, Auston? Has he been released?"
"We are short of manpower for fan creation, so we have to borrow Lao Long who is in custody." Xiao Yun said calmly.
Patriarch Arthur: “…”
