Volume 7: Doing Business with the World Chapter 231: The Manul's Hospitality
"Those who make the rules break them... What a difficult question!"
It was already late at night, but Aldoni couldn't fall asleep.
Not wanting to disturb his disciples, he put on a cloak and sat on the walkway outside the house under the stars and the moon.
There was a lantern on the windowsill next to him. Aldoni was holding a book in his hand, but the book was closed... He had no intention of reading it.
The wise man Ayun shared the grassland tribes' successful experiences with them without reservation; but the more he learned, the more uneasy Aldoni felt.
"Can humans accept what the orcs can accept?"
This is Aldoni's biggest dilemma.
He could sense the direction of the wise man Ayun. Ayun hoped that they, "J", could reorganize into a group with clear political demands, no longer expecting to rely on other forces or pin their hopes on others, but instead step out from behind the scenes and do what the royal family did when they started out.
Such a future...To be honest, Aldoni is looking forward to it.
There is no one who would not like to create a country that meets their ideal pursuits, and there is no one who does not desire to be the master of a country or a city - intelligent creatures have an instinctive pursuit of power, and spellcasters are no exception.
It is precisely because of his full expectations that Aldoni is anxious.
Because he knew very well that those who were qualified to make rules must regard themselves as special beings beyond the rules!
Not to mention the royal family, the nobility, and the bureaucrats, how many of the "house rules" set by parents in small families and those parents everywhere are not aimed at their children but at themselves?
The rule makers are transcendent and different because they can make rules. A weirdo like Ayun... Aldoni has never seen one before!
Well... if Xiao Yun knew what Aldoni was thinking, he would probably just laugh: Logically speaking, the powerful people in this world can trample on their own kind to show their superiority and don't care about human rights and humanitarianism. How can their material and spiritual enjoyment compare to what he had in his previous life?
I don’t know how many hundreds of years I have to live to realize this simple wish of lying on the sofa and playing mobile games…
After sighing for a long time, his heart still couldn't calm down. Aldoni simply stood up, picked up the lantern (glass lampshade + candle) on the windowsill, and walked aimlessly into the darkness.
The grassland people all have night vision, and the lanterns are prepared for the human race. When Aldoni walked out of the dormitory area with a lantern, he heard faint voices coming from the dark welfare department.
"Will you add too much oil to Taiga?"
"It's okay. This biscuit is not for grinding teeth. The main point is to make sure you are full... Stop it! Who told you to add all the lard?"
"Huh?"
"Lard is so expensive, idiot. Just add some other oil to make up the number. Only lard can make up 20% or 30%."
"Wouldn't that be as fragrant as pure lard?"
"Why worry about it? Ayun just asked that it not be unpalatable, but he didn't ask for it to be delicious. Besides, don't you know Ayun? As long as the cost is low enough and the quality is up to standard, he will be very happy."
"……All right."
"Add more cheap things like pickled vegetables and dried radishes, etc. Don't get the ratio of starch to flour wrong..."
Aldoni silently looked towards the dark preparation room of the Welfare Department. Under normal circumstances, it would be more polite for him to go in and say hello and exchange a few words, but they didn't light any candles and worked in the dark, which gave people the feeling that they didn't welcome guests...
"Let's not disturb them." Aldoni thought for a moment and walked in another direction.
During the days since he came to the Fire Department, Aldoni's range of activities was not very large, mainly because he overdrew his mental strength almost every day and had no energy to walk around; so as he walked, he subconsciously came to the place he went to most often besides the flour mill - the cafeteria.
The chefs in the cafeteria were not asleep either. As soon as Aldoni walked to the edge of the square in front of the cafeteria, he heard a series of "bang, bang" sounds.
When Aldoni looked inside out of curiosity, his body suddenly trembled.
It was dark in the cafeteria. The light from the large stoves in front of the kitchen provided a light source that was not sufficient but at least enough to see things. So Aldoni saw... a row of Snow Wolf chefs standing in front of the counter, beating the meat on the chopping board with wooden hammers in an orderly manner.
Aldoni: “…”
Aldoni: “…”
After a few seconds, Aldoni realized what these chefs were doing - they were processing rabbit meat.
The "genuine" cold-eaten rabbit produced by the Snow Wolf Tribe is only sold in winter (mainly to extend the shelf life), some of it is sold to the Elves Tribe and some of it is sold to Valentine.
Aldoni had also seen this so-called "authentic" cold-eaten rabbit in the Kingdom of Osmon... Of course, the price was almost ten times higher than the original selling price, and he definitely couldn't afford it given his financial situation.
After arriving at the Fire Department, I was able to enjoy the privilege of eating whatever I wanted...
The plump rabbits, four to five months old, were slaughtered and their bones were manually crushed and the meat was diced. This is the authentic way of eating rabbit cold - well, it was mainly because deboning was too troublesome. Anyway, authentic hunters eat rabbits like squirrels, crushing their bones, so it didn't make a difference - Aldoni had only seen them processing it during the day before, and he didn't think it was a big deal, but now it feels so weird.
"If I had seen this situation on the first day, I might have misunderstood these snow wolves as performing some strange ritual." Aldoni shook his head and turned away.
In the past, Aldoni might have thought this cooking method was cruel; now... eating rabbit cold is really delicious.
"Mr. Aldoni?"
As he turned around, a pair of strange pupils flashing with faint light suddenly appeared in front of him, which scared Aldoni.
"It's...Qiuqiu." Aldoni relaxed after seeing the other person clearly - cats walk without making any sound, which is okay at normal times, but it's very scary at this time.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to take a rest?" Qiu asked curiously while carrying a sack of wool.
"I... couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk." Aldoni said, "What are you doing now?"
"I'll deliver the wool the female workers want. I won't have time tomorrow during the day, so I'll deliver it now." Qiu said.
His eyes drifted towards the sack that Qiu was carrying, and Aldoni's thoughts drifted away in an instant.
The woolen mill business was not as conspicuous as the flour mill, but it was also a major source of income for the grassland tribes. According to Carlyle's greeting letter, at least 40% of St. Bridge's citizens' demand for clothing, quilts and blankets was supplied by the Qiuqiu Woolen Mill.
This phenomenon did have an impact on St. Bridges. A large amount of cheap woolen fabrics and yarns from the grasslands directly impacted the white cotton cloth-related industries in St. Bridges, causing complaints from those who made a living in this industry.
The price of white cotton clothes is actually similar to that of woolen clothes, but the key is that wool yarn is too cheap: half a pound of fine wool yarn can be used to weave a shirt, and the cost of the wool yarn plus the labor cost is only more than 30 copper coins in total. How can white cotton cloth compete with wool sweaters in price? (In a world/era with low productivity, it is not possible to buy clothes casually. Most people are happy to have a change of clothes. The earth entered the era of textile surplus after the development of synthetic fiber technology.)
At the critical moment, the wise and intelligent Prince Carlisle took action again and sent people to buy domestically produced white cotton cloth at a price slightly lower than the market price and sell it to other countries, gaining fame, wealth and people's hearts...
For a country with weak mobilization ability, slow response speed, and no control over the grassroots, if an industry is hit by foreign dumped goods, it will definitely be a disaster - the damage to local farmers caused by foreign rice entering the Chinese market during the Nationalist government period is an example. (See Ye Shengtao's "Three or Five More Bushels")
But on the other hand, if official power is used to intervene in the private market that is in urgent need of rescue under certain conditions, it would be tantamount to extending one's own power tentacles into places that were previously unreachable - after this incident, at least those engaged in the white cotton cloth industry in St. Bridges will inevitably follow Carlisle's lead, after all... people need to eat!
When Ayun used the unsalable white cotton cloth incident in St. Bridget as an example to explain the influence of economy on politics, Aldoni was extremely shocked!
"Mr. Aldoni?"
Aldoni was a little dazed, and only came back to his senses after Qiu called him twice: "Huh?"
"Are...are you okay? Should I take you back to the dormitory first?" Qiu frowned.
"I'm fine. You go ahead and do your thing, I'll just take a look around and be back soon." Aldoni said quickly, feeling a little embarrassed.
Qiu was a little worried, and after a moment of hesitation, he said, "If you don't have a specific place to go, why don't you come with me? We can just take a walk."
"No need for that. Aren't you going to the female workers' living area? It's not appropriate for me to go." Aldoni waved his hands quickly.
"It's okay. Ayun's rule prohibits human males from going there, meaning they can just sneak over there. It's okay if someone follows you as long as you don't enter the female workers' dormitory." Qiu said.
Aldoni: "..." The more I listen to this, the more wrong it seems. Do you beastmen regard human men as dangerous or harmful substances? !
"Come together." Qiu invited again.
"...Okay." Aldoni couldn't refuse again, so he had to agree.
After walking in silence for a while, Aldoni, feeling awkward, tried to find something to talk about: "How heavy is this bag of wool? Doesn't it feel heavy?"
This was actually the question he wanted to ask from the beginning, because the sack Qiu was carrying was so incredibly large.
"It's not bad, just 300 kilograms." Qiu said indifferently. Although he looked cute, he was still a warrior of the cat tribe, so carrying this weight was nothing. "The female workers pooled their money to buy fine wool, and planned to weave clothes for their families before winter and take them back."
"That's right. I've also heard that your workers will return to Valentine to spend the winter." Aldoni nodded. After a while, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "It's so troublesome to take a boat across the inland sea every year. Haven't you thought about letting the workers bring their families to live on the grassland?"
"Someone has mentioned it before," Qiu said, "but after discussing it, we decided to put this issue aside for now."
Aldoni has not had the opportunity to sit in on the Fire Tribe's work meetings, but he has heard about this "parliament"-like work meeting many times and knows that these orcs have a very sophisticated way of resolving conflicts - when managers have different opinions and disputes arise, and it is difficult to determine the right or wrong of an event for a while, the controversial issues will be shelved first and dealt with when the time is right or the situation changes.
They don't judge the pros and cons of something or characterize people or things based on anyone's subjective opinion. Instead, they must have conclusive evidence that can convince most people before they can make a final conclusion. This is also what Aldoni envied the orcs for...
In the human world , many people do not think it is wrong to jump to conclusions at all.
Well... the pragmatic style of the Orcs, who would not release the eagle until they saw the rabbit, made Xiao Yun happy and painful, very painful.
"...Why?" Aldoni tried to hold back, but couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
"Because the human race is not like us, the grassland natives, or the snakes, goblins, and gray dwarves who have no way out and must unite to live a good life." Qiu said frankly, "I have never seen what the human cities look like. I only heard from people who have been there that the human cities are better than ours. If the workers bring their families here, and these people cannot adapt to the environment on the grassland, or do not receive ideal treatment, then they are very likely to choose to return to the human cities."
Aldoni: “…”
"We are willing to unite all races who are willing to live a good life with us, but this kind of unity can never be forced at any time, otherwise it will not last long."
Qiu is in charge of more than 600 human workers and more than 100 cat workers. No matter how cute he looks, he is actually a calm and pragmatic person. He patiently analyzed with Aldoni: "What we need is human workers who are willing to work for us for a long time, so we try our best to provide treatment that matches their labor results, so that they can feel stable and at ease."
"If we rush to achieve results and ask them to bring their families over, and then things turn out badly, the workers themselves will certainly feel bad, and they might lose interest in their work, or other problems might arise."
"Since the risks are relatively large and uncontrollable, we should naturally seek stability first and maintain the status quo for the time being. When workers have an urgent desire to move their families to the grasslands, it will be much better for us to make arrangements."
Aldoni: “…”
Aldoni didn't think that the orcs were rude and brutal like those ordinary people who had never seen the world. He knew many orcs, some of whom were his long-time friends.
For example, there is a gold medal hunter in the Hunter Association, a white lion orc from the Bradrick continent. He has known him for more than ten years and has given him several jars of liquor from the Golden Grassland.
But the way the manul warrior Qiu spoke, which was as fluent and natural as drinking water, still made him a little uncomfortable. To be honest, if it weren't for Qiu's rather young face, Aldoni would have thought he was talking to a steady person of the same age...
Everything he said was about seeking stability and putting stability first. This doesn't sound like something an orc who has only lived for thirty or forty years would say!
Aldoni couldn't help but think of the first grassland tribe he encountered, the centaur named Saier.
The Centaur boy seemed to be less than 40 years old, about the same age as the caracal in front of him...
Ah Yun's influence on the grassland tribes is so terrifying...
While chatting, the two came to the living area of the female workers.
This is not a special area. It is just 40-odd dormitories where more than 600 female workers live. At the back is the family housing area for the snow wolves, next to the goblin dormitory on the left, and in front is the cat dormitory. The "kindergarten" where the wolf cubs live together is also in this area.
The lights in most of the female workers' dormitories had been turned off, but there was a window in the row of houses closest to the cat tribe's dormitory that still had light coming through.
Qiu walked up with the sack on his shoulder and knocked on the door: "Sheldah, I brought the yarn."
"Please wait a moment!"
A shout was heard from inside the door, and after a moment, a slightly hurried jogging sound was heard.
With a creaky sound, a woman in a headscarf opened the door and apologized: "I just went to bed, it took me a while to get up."
"It's all right. I'll help you carry the yarn in. Is the space cleared?"
"It's cleaned, please put it here."
"Hey, all right."
"Thank you so much... I should have told you about this earlier, so that everyone can get their share back once they have collected enough money, and you don't have to make this trip."
"It's nothing, it's just on the way. I'm leaving now, you should go to bed early and don't delay going to work tomorrow morning."
Aldoni, who was waiting outside the house: "..."
If it weren't for the last sentence added by the caracal, he almost thought that some interracial love affair was about to take place in front of him... The director of the woolen mill specially delivered wool yarn to the female workers of the woolen mill late at night. No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem right!
"Oh, mainly because I'm busy taking inventory of the warehouse and sealing up the full warehouse so that I can settle the accounts when the goods are shipped. They want this little change so that I can settle the money and goods quickly, so that I don't have to record more accounts."
Qiu said goodbye and walked out with Aldoni. When the other party tried to test him in a roundabout way, he told him the truth straightforwardly.
Aldoni: “…”
This caracal is indeed a member of the grassland tribe. He really thinks too much.
Qiu didn't know what Aldoni was thinking about. This cute man was a very responsible person. He took care of Aldoni as if he were the same kind as Mr. Sean. "Mr. Aldoni, I see that you don't seem to be in a good mood. If you don't mind, why don't you stay overnight in our dormitory? A change of environment may help you adjust your mood."
Aldoni: “???”
They are all the same dormitory, how can changing the bed to sleep on be called changing the environment?!
As if seeing Aldoni's confusion, Qiu smiled and said, "It's hard for me to understand myself... But Ayun will come to us when she's in a bad mood, and when the female workers miss their hometown, they will feel much better if they stay with my people for a while."
Aldoni: “???”
"Let's take a look first, maybe it will work." Qiu advised.
It's not without benefits to stay with a large group of human women for a long time. Qiu, who was originally quite meticulous, is now more careful than Yu Gu; although Aldoni didn't complain, Qiu could see that this human was in a very low mood.
"...Okay." Aldoni couldn't refuse and nodded reluctantly.
After entering the dormitory where the caracals lived, Aldoni finally understood what Qiu meant...
There were nearly ten cats of varying sizes lying on the kang, the big one was about two meters long, the small one was about one meter long, they were furry, fat and round!
Everyone sleeps very relaxedly, in all kinds of sleeping positions!
The two of them walked in one after the other. The one curled up on the kang opened his sleepy eyes and rubbed his eyes with his paws: "You're back, Qiuqiu. Hmm? Good night, Mr. Aldoni."
"Good night." Aldoni replied mechanically.
"Ayun took Tuan Tuan away, Evelyn took Xiao Jiu away, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... huh..." The sleepy caracal yawned loudly, and fell asleep again halfway through stretching.
Its sleeping posture is... very bad, with its head leaning on its front paws and its tongue not even retracted.
"This guy is really..." Qiu walked forward, pinched the chin of the caracal and stuffed his tongue back, then turned to Aldoni and said, "Mr. Aldoni, hang your cloak over there and find a place to sleep."
Aldoni: “…”
Aldoni: “…”
Now that I'm here, it seems a bit awkward to refuse - Aldoni made this excuse for himself and nodded readily.
A standard dormitory bunk bed can accommodate more than a dozen werewolves, so it is not a problem to fit a few more people with so many caracals of all sizes. Aldoni looked around and was not thick-skinned enough... He chose a relatively open position and climbed up.
When it is hot, the caracals sleep on mats, after all, their fur is too long and thick, and they are more afraid of heat. Now it is late autumn, so blankets are naturally laid out. In addition to blankets and pillows made of wheat bran and reed fluff, there are some strange things on the kang where the caracals sleep...
When Aldoni was adjusting the pillow, he found this thing. He was stunned for a moment, then reached out to pick it up and looked at Qiu who was taking off his clothes in confusion: "What is this?"
"Ayun asked the female workers to help make pillows for our cubs." Qiu said.
"I know it's a pillow, but this weird thing... uh, is it a face? Why is it such a weird... face?" Aldoni looked confused.
"Hmm... Actually, I don't understand it either." Qiu tilted his head and said, "Ayun said this is a 'funny pillow'. It is made of fabric that is specially dyed bright yellow. The pattern on it is sewn with black fabric. Ayun said it is an 'emoticon package'."
Aldoni: “???”
"The little guy next to you has another one under his belly. It's the 'contempt pillow'." Qiu said so much that he even laughed. "Ayun is really something. He even has to give his pillow a name."
Aldoni reached out and pulled out another bright yellow thick round cushion that was being pressed by the sleeping caracal cub. When he saw the "expression" made up of lines sewn with black cloth on it, his face turned red with embarrassment.
It’s hard to understand why it’s funny, but the contempt is too obvious... white cloth is specially sewn on the whites of the eyes!
"Ayun once said he wanted to sell this pillow, but all the tribe leaders tried their best to stop him, so he failed." Qiu said with a smile, "He refused to give up and asked Evelyn if the forest elves would like this pillow... Evelyn's reaction at that time was so funny. She pretended not to see him and ran away. Hahaha..."
Aldoni: “…”
He was skeptical that if someone else mocked the aesthetics of the forest elves in front of them, would Evelyn be angry and beat him up? (Evelyn: I want to beat him up more than once or twice!!)
Just as he was about to say something, Aldoni discovered that Qiu had taken off all her clothes, exposing her little bird, and was climbing onto the kang in a rather undignified posture, and... her target seemed to be in his direction.
Aldoni felt all the hairs on his body stand up in an instant.
Qiu crawled to Aldoni's side, stretched out on all fours on the kang, and in the process of stretching, he transformed from a pretty (……) cat-eared boy (uh) into a furry, round, chubby two-meter-tall cat.
After saying good night casually, Qiu kicked his front paws and fell asleep with a snore .
Aldoni: “…”
