Volume 9: Home Chapter 274: Making the Best Use of Talents
Early in the morning of that day, Ted Zhongzhang, who lived in a shared dormitory, was the first to wake up.
It gets light late in winter. Ted sat up in the dark, took the clothes beside the pillow and put them on, then got up from the kang, walked to the big stove at the head of the kang in his thick wooden-soled indoor slippers (actually clogs), squatted down and used tongs to remove the coal ash that blocked the stove mouth, and stuffed a few coal balls into the dim stove fire.
The coal mines in the new hilly area use high-quality coal blocks and coal powder for iron smelting and gas engines, while low-quality coal powder and coal slag are made into coal briquettes and supplied for heating. The resettlement sites use such coal briquettes, which have a strong and pungent smell when burned, but as long as the houses are well ventilated when built, there is no problem in using them.
In any case, cinder balls are always more durable than firewood... If we rely on burning firewood to keep warm, the trees on the grassland will not be able to withstand the disaster for many years.
After adding coal to the stove, Ted stood up, picked up a wooden bucket, lifted the thick door curtain, went out to get snow, and brought it back to pour into the iron pot to boil water.
The stove burned brighter and brighter, and when the water was almost boiled, the dozen or so tigers and cats who were sleeping on the big kang were almost awake.
Someone rubbed his eyes, opened the curtains, looked at the snow outside through the double-layer laminated glass, and screamed: "It's snowing so heavily again? It's piled up to the window!"
"Did it snow last night?"
"How soundly did you sleep? The roof was rustling in the middle of the night."
Those who spoke and gathered around the window were from the cat clan. Although some people from the tiger clan were surprised that they didn't feel cold in the snow, they didn't say anything and quietly got dressed and got off the bed.
Ted opened the cabinet next to the big stove and took out his toiletries (a glass with bubbles, a pig-bristle toothbrush, a bag of salt for brushing teeth, a gray square towel, and a small plastic basin as big as his head). He filled half the basin with hot water, went out and grabbed a few handfuls of snow and threw it in the basin. Then he squatted silently in the underground pipe drain reserved in front of each dormitory to brush his teeth.
All the tigers filled their tanks with hot water and went out to wash. Only then did the chattering cats walk to the cupboard and get their own toiletries.
When brushing their teeth, these big cats don’t like to squat with the tigers, and all squeeze into the drain of the dormitory next door...
Each dormitory has a dormitory head, who is responsible for getting up first, boiling water, and going to the canteen to get breakfast and dinner for the roommates (lunch is usually a work lunch). Other dormitories have rotations, but in the dormitory where the tigers and cats live together, since Ted Zhongzhang took over the position of dormitory head, the big cats seem to be unaware that the dormitory head should be rotated, and they completely ignore it...
Ted quickly washed up in the tent, put away his personal belongings, went out silently, and went to the cafeteria alone.
The Fire Department believes in equal rights to survival and labor, and more importantly, more work, more pay, and no work, no pay. Based on the basic principle of distribution according to work, new cats who have never worked or contributed to the collective cannot enjoy the welfare benefits of "formal" workers. This is particularly evident in meals... The big cats who have farmed on the farm can have an extra dish for breakfast and dinner, and they also get snacks at lunch, but the new cats don't have this treatment.
"Dormitories 9-13, right?" The chef at the cafeteria window glanced at the menu card held up by Ted in the middle of the tent, and quickly handed out their breakfast. "Twenty-nine meat patties and vegetarian patties, a bucket of soy milk, and a pot of vegetable stew. The sugar is already in the soy milk bucket, just take it away." He pointed to the clock hanging on the wall next to the window (from the Dwarf Kingdom), "Remember to return the tableware before nine o'clock, don't forget."
Ted nodded, put the basket of wheat cakes on his wrist, picked up the soy milk and the pot, turned around and walked out.
The person standing behind him was the dormitory head of the farm. When the chef gave this "official" employee breakfast, he gave him an extra pot of braised dishes with pork, rabbit meat, tofu, bean curd and tofu skin...
Among the food provided by the cafeteria every day, this extra "treatment meal" is often the best, such as the small hot pot at dinner yesterday, the pickled fish slices at breakfast yesterday...
Of course, although they couldn't have the "treatment meal", the new cats were very respectful of the meals provided by the Fire Department. When Ted Zhongzhang brought breakfast back to the dormitory, the big cats who usually ignored their tiger tribe immediately surrounded them.
"The ones with chopped green onions on the crust are vegetarian patties, and the ones without are meat patties, don't get the wrong ones!"
"Who doesn't like meat pie? Exchange it with me for vegetarian pie."
"Only a fool would trade with you!"
"Where's my soup bowl? Who took my soup bowl away?"
"Who would take your bowl? It's obvious that you didn't wash it, and it's still under the cupboard!"
"Haha, idiot, go wash up!"
The tigers were as quiet as chickens. They took their own portions and squatted aside to eat slowly.
The tigers could only eat half full with the just right breakfast and dinner portions for the big cats. However, neither the cats living together nor the people in the cafeteria seemed to notice that the tigers could not eat enough. No one mentioned this for almost a month.
Ted broke his vegetarian pie in half and gave half to the two youngest guys in the dormitory. He took the remaining meat pie and ate it slowly with a large bowl of vegetable stew.
Although it is called a vegetable stew, there is also a lot of rabbit meat in it. The rabbit meat with bones smashed and cut into pieces and stir-fried is fragrant and crispy when chewed, and is countless times more delicious than the barbecued meat that the tiger tribe is used to eating. The wheat cakes made of wheat flour and bean dregs flour (not bean powder, but the product of oil extraction) taste worse than pure wheat cakes. Fortunately, the sufficient filling and a layer of lard brushed on the wheat cakes can cover up this minor defect.
Although the portion was not enough, the tigers were very satisfied with the meal.
After breakfast, everyone washed their own dishes. Ted Zhongzhang, who was the dormitory head, had to wash the baskets, barrels and pots in the cafeteria.
After delivering the tableware from the cafeteria, Ted Zhongzhang returned to the dormitory and took all the tribesmen with him to the work place.
The cats took up all the light work, such as sweeping snow, weaving bamboo baskets, dustpans, taking care of the small number of vegetable greenhouses, knitting sweaters for the woolen mill, etc. The tigers had to do the most tiring work related to kiln firing. About 600 meters south of the resettlement site, several rows of simple earth kilns were emitting smoke from morning to night every day, either firing bricks, cement, tiles, various types of pottery jars, ceramic water pipes, etc., which were simple building materials needed for next year's expansion.
"Today you go to the hilly new district to transport coal!" The local cat in charge of assigning the work, as usual, threw the most troublesome tasks on the heads of these tiger-headed people.
Ted Zhongzhang silently took his tribesmen to get the sleds, and pulled a long convoy of sleds to the hilly new area.
They had to travel hundreds of miles in the wind and rain, and load and unload the coal themselves. Even if the tiger tribe had the same physical strength as the snow wolf tribe, it would still take a whole day to pull the coal...
The only thing that made life a little easier for these tiger-headed people was that they could get lunch at the Hilly New District. The lunch was usually unlimited, so the tigers could eat their fill. The food in the Hilly New District cafeteria was richer than that in Farm No. 1. After all, there were only a dozen or so people in the Snow Wolf Clan at Farm No. 1 (the cafeteria had been expanded), but there were more than a hundred people in the Hilly New District.
By the time the coal was pulled back and unloaded, it was already dark.
The local cat who was in charge of assigning the work did not leave work earlier than the workers. It was a rule of the Fire Department that workers could not leave any workplace before they had gone through the management. This local cat, who had been rude to the tiger tribe, checked the sled and the coal storage before letting the tigers go home.
The exhausted tigers mustered their energy and went to the public bathroom next to the resettlement site to wash the coal powder off their heads and hands, and then returned to their dormitories... The local cats would conduct surprise hygiene checks from time to time, and anyone who was found to be sloppy would be criticized by name. No one could stand this kind of humiliation.
Dinner was, as usual, the big cats' portions. After getting half full, the tiger-headed ones rubbed their bellies and headed to the dormitory that served as a classroom to start their evening classes.
"Today, we are going to learn how to use parallel sentences."
The local golden cat who served as the tiger tribe's literacy teacher was quite fat, and his eyes were squeezed into thin lines by the flesh on his face. Ted Zhongzhang once thought that this must be the fattest cat tribe, but he accidentally heard someone say that there was a pair of golden cat brothers in the Fire Department who were twice as fat as him. At that time, Ted Zhongzhang was stunned for several seconds...
"When writing short essays, parallel sentences can make up for the strong emotions and momentum of ordinary narrative sentences. Most importantly, they can be used to make up the word count... The graduation exam for the literacy class requires writing a 200-word short essay with coherent content and a clear theme. If what you want to write is too simple and can't make up for 200 words, you can try to write more parallel sentences..."
If Xiao Yun heard about the teaching method of this local golden cat, he might not know whether to laugh or cry... His original intention was to hope that everyone could learn to read and understand, but obviously, under the threat of frequent exam questions, the natives of this world naturally learned to specialize in studying ways to cope with exams.
After the two-hour class, the golden cat teacher handed out a set of simple test papers with only five questions written by himself, so that the tiger-headed students could get used to the test atmosphere in advance. The style of the Fire Department was to either do it or not, or if they decided to do something, they would require everyone to do their best. Although the big cats were only given the simplest literacy education, when designing the links, the managers of the Fire Department also subconsciously came up with incentive links such as "the ranking of each study group in the first term final exam" and "the prize pool for the selection of excellent literacy teachers"...
A bunch of idiots finished the random test with great difficulty. After collecting the test papers, Teacher Golden Cat did not let everyone go back to rest. Instead, he smiled and invited Taide Zhongzhang to come up: "Ted Zhongzhang, there are sixteen people in our study group, including you, who have made good progress in learning. The scores in arithmetic and literacy classes are all above the standard. This literacy course is over. Are you interested in signing up to continue studying the second phase?"
"Phase two?" Ted was stunned.
"Yes, for the first phase of arithmetic literacy, you only need to learn three-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and recognize and use 200 words. For the second phase, you need to start learning simple arithmetic formulas and recognize and use 500 words flexibly." Teacher Jinmao explained with a smile, "If you only do ordinary work, the knowledge of one phase of literacy is enough, but if you want to do better, it is better to continue learning."
Ted nodded vigorously without hesitation: "Okay!"
The Tiger Tribe's reaction was transferred to Chief Arthur, who was busy writing a request report for the expansion of the "OEM" project at the resettlement site. He was not surprised at all...
Things that are too easy to get are often not cherished. If the same object requires people to work hard to obtain, its value will inevitably increase exponentially regardless of whether it has actual value or not - this is what Ayun said without hesitation when teaching everyone how to discipline others.
Chief Arthur, who was able to easily deal with the cat tribe, made good use of the knowledge points taught by Xiao Yun in his treatment of the tiger tribe: without forcing the tiger tribe to overturn the table, he made the tiger tribe suffer a certain degree of unfair treatment.
The result is obvious. The tiger tribe, who are treated less favorably than other big cats but can still get by, unknowingly begin to crave for "fair treatment" - the literacy teachers don't have to tell them directly that those who work harder will get more, as long as they hint that they can live a better life by following the footsteps of the Fire Department, these tiger-headed people will take the initiative...
"There is still half a month left for the first phase of literacy campaign. If we don't quickly respond to the enthusiasm of the Tiger Tribe, all the previous work will be in vain." Chief Arthur put down his charcoal pencil and pinched his chin to think, "But if we give them 'fair treatment' too quickly, it will seem that our distribution model is just a joke... Well, we still have to wait!"
Patriarch Arthur took out a notebook, wrote a few paragraphs on it, and then continued to write his report.
After that, Farm No. 1 "endured" the tiger for another week...
Before the end of the first literacy campaign, the two local cats in charge of literacy for the tiger tribe happily informed the tiger-headed group that their request for "some tribesmen to continue the second literacy campaign" had been approved. In order to encourage the tiger tribe's enthusiasm for learning, the Fire Tribe decided to arrange a vermicelli production line and hand it over to the tiger tribe.
Ted Zhongzhang, who had already deeply understood how powerful the vermicelli industry of the Fire Tribe was in the past month and a half, excitedly waved his fist when he heard this - even if there were only a hundred or so members left, the Tiger Tribe could still prove themselves!
A few more days passed, and a group of centaurs pulled a convoy of sleds and brought the vermicelli production line that the Fire Tribe "loaned" to the Tiger Tribe to the resettlement site of Farm No. 1.
Ted Zhongzhang, who was in charge of the production line handover procedures, was so embarrassed that his face almost cracked when he saw the Centaurs with unfriendly and resentful expressions...
Like the big cats, the Centaur transport team did not provoke or use harsh words to vent their emotions, but just the ugly faces, irritable tone, and impatient body language were enough to make these tiger-headed people feel ashamed...
Ted finished the handover with a drooping face, and then he slipped away in disgrace from the gazes of a group of centaurs...
After sending the vermicelli production line to the factory building assigned to them (actually an empty warehouse), Ted Zhongzhang suppressed his boiling emotions and comforted himself firmly: at least with this job, the tribesmen can have a full meal every time - Chief Arthur said in front of all the tribesmen that anyone who is capable of being responsible for a certain production can advance that month's salary on the day of joining the company.
——But it’s still so embarrassing ahhhhhhhh!!
Ted squatted down in the middle of the tent and put his paws on his head.
None of the other tiger tribe members cared to comfort Ted in the tent. Some of them rolled on the ground, some huddled in the corner pretending to be mushrooms, and some looked up at the sky with empty faces...
No matter how embarrassing it was, life still had to go on. It was freezing cold, and no matter how arrogant Ted Zhongzhang was, he couldn't let his people abandon the delicious food they could eat on time every day and the warm kang and follow him to a distant land...especially now that they had finally proved themselves and were the first to obtain exclusive production projects.
After learning how to produce vermicelli under the guidance of the instructor sent by the Fire Tribe, receiving an advance on their salary, and being able to spend their own money to buy more food to fill their stomachs, the tiger-headed people no longer had the intention of running away for the sake of their dignity - after all, the centaurs, cats, and snow wolves, although not close to them, no one pointed at them in the face and scolded them.
This is not something that Xiao Yun or Chief Arthur had warned behind their backs, but no matter how poor the Tiger Tribe was, they still had the intimidating size and personal strength. If they went forward to provoke them without knowing the consequences, they might be able to force these tiger-headed guys away, but the person who ended up getting hurt would either die or be crippled... Most importantly, they would also offend Chief Ali, who had made a special effort to bring the Tiger Tribe back!
The tribes making a living on the grassland do not have the conditions to raise idiots who think that "all the people in the world are my parents and someone will cover me no matter what happens."
In the third month after winter, the first batch of vermicelli produced by the Tiger Tribe was delivered to the Fire Tribe.
Xiao Yun personally checked the quality of this batch of vermicelli and was very satisfied when he confirmed that it was within the required standards: "This is the correct way to open the tiger tribe. It would be a waste if we don't use the natural affinity for the wind element to make vermicelli!"
Mr. Sean and Mr. Hodgson who came to watch the fun: "..."
The Centaur Cel, who didn't want to come but couldn't help but follow: "..."
Xiao Yun did not ignore the emotions of the old employee. He turned around and patted the shoulder of Selma who had returned for the winter. "You went to the vermicelli production line to deliver the vermicelli to the tiger tribe in person, and you also saw how miserable the tiger tribe left on the grassland is. I won't say anything nice to ask everyone to put aside their grudges and accept them. They work for us, and to some extent, they are also contributing to our cause of building a grassland home. So let's just treat them as strangers in the same camp, what do you think?"
Sayre was silent for a while, then nodded slowly.
Disabled snow wolves like Ayi and Amo also have a deep hatred with the tiger tribe, so they all choose to ignore the tiger tribe. As a centaur, Searle naturally cannot make excessive demands.
Besides... although Sayre didn't express it frankly, the centaurs in the Cursed Land are now living a better life than the once glorious tiger tribe. Sayre is secretly happy in his heart~
He knew that the Tiger Tribe had been living half-starved and half-full at the resettlement site of Farm No. 1 for nearly two months. In comparison, the Centaurs who arrived at the Fire Tribe and immediately received the same treatment as the Snow Wolf Tribe were simply heaven and earth apart!
Sai Er, who showed his pride, swung his tail and went to play with his tribesmen. Xiao Yun and the two magicians went to Mr. Sean's laboratory. On the way, Hodgson said with emotion: "With the hatred between the tiger tribe and the snow wolf tribe, you can put aside the past and give the remaining tribesmen a way out after the tiger tribe fell into poverty. Not many nobles can have such a broad mind, even if they are respectable."
Xiao Yun smiled reservedly and was about to show off, but Mr. Sean exposed him bluntly: "No, no, Mr. Hodgson, you haven't seen through Ayun. He even uses the cat claws of caracal cubs and drives goblin cubs to mine, so how could he let go of the tiger claws of the tiger tribe? With such a high output of vermicelli in just half a month of operation, the tiger tribe should not be considering whether they have a way out, but whether they can still be free in this life."
Hodgson: “…”
Xiao Yun: “…”
"'People lying in sickbeds can at least hold knitting needles, and hooligans who can only steal, rob, kidnap and do bad things may not be unable to farm.' This is the most impressive sentence in the letter that Ayun wrote to his eldest disciple Carlisle." Mr. Sean did not give Xiao Yun any face and continued, "Under the earnest teaching of this devilish teacher, Prince Carlisle organized pregnant women, the elderly, young children and the disabled to take manual work from the royal factory home to do, increasing production while saving the cost of expanding the factory. He also concentrated all the prisoners in the prison and sent them to the northwest wasteland of St. Bridge to open up wasteland, built a number of 'labor reform farms', and caused a scandal that there were not enough prisoners and the local sheriff arbitrarily arrested people and framed them... The bard of the southern kingdom in "Travels on the Continent" called him the 'Prince Overseer', and this is all thanks to Ayun!"
Hodgson: “…”
Xiao Yun: “…”
"Of course, I'm not saying anything bad about Ayun. The economy of St. Bridges has not been shaken at all by the Civil War in the past few years. Ayun's guidance and Carlisle's iron fist have made great contributions." Mr. Sean looked at Ayun with a smile, as if he was not being harsh but praising Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun: “…” You’ve said everything, what else can I say?
Hodgson silently turned his gaze to the other end of the square, looking at the snow wolf and cat cubs (average age four to six) who were working hard to clear the snow.
The Moon of Revenge vaguely envied Ayun for being born on the grassland, and felt a little sympathetic towards these grassland people...
At this moment, Xiao Yun accidentally glanced at the snow-clearing team, and immediately frowned and pointed his finger at them: "Ruhua! I told you to clear the snow, not to play in the snow!"
The little girl with pigtails hurriedly pushed down the snowman she had just built...
Hodgson: “…”
Xiao Yun didn't notice the slight twitching of Hodgson's mouth, and continued to shout at the kids, "If you need to comb your hair after work, go find the female workers to do it. Don't leave the hair somewhere else. Got it?"
"Got it~" the kids answered in unison obediently.
Xiao Yun nodded and let them go. He turned around and complained to Mr. Sean, "I forgot to tell Aisha to take the pups to the female workers' dormitory to comb their hair. As a result, all the hair that the pups shed was wasted. Now Aisha remembers to take the pups under his care to comb their hair on time. These half-grown pups have become the main source of waste."
Mr. Sean chuckled and responded, "Aisha is Aldoni's favorite disciple after all. How long do you plan to let her take care of the child?" He glanced at Hodgson with a half-smile.
Hodgson: “…”
Instantly, the great magician, the Moon of Vengeance, felt a sense of powerlessness...
"Let the kitten who was born last year out when he is three years old. Anyway, they still have to study together as master and apprentice for at least five years. There is plenty of time for him to show his talents..." Xiao Yun, who gradually no longer needed to conceal his true nature and became more and more direct in recent years, did not notice Hodgson's abnormality and walked forward on his own.
Hodgson, who was following numbly, suddenly thought of something and looked abruptly at Sean who had a calm expression.
Just... such an Ayun is actually willing to pay you such a large sum of money to ask me to reincarnate your soul. Sean, you - you are probably in the trap too!
