Chapter 83: Establishment
Editor: Gustav
TL: Delivery Man; Crimson-Iris
Hearing Yue Zhong’s words, Lei Yuqing’s face changed, yet it showed no resistance. “Don’t disobey the strong” was one of the first Z-age laws she learned. Those women that disobeyed and resisted Tiger were tortured to no longer look human. Unable to survive and unable to die.
Yue Zhong brought people from all around to work in Always Bright Village. They would search for materials, keep the peace, look for more recruits, delegate new responsibilities, and the like all day. Yue Zhong had finally made Always Bright Village return to its former tranquility.
That night, inside Tiger’s former villa, several big banquet tables were put out.
At the banquet, Yue Zhong sat with survivors of Lei Jiang city who he brought to the Always Bright village, and planned to recruit several subordinates for promotion.
The banquet was held privately in the courtyard inside the villa. Gathered were Yue Zhong, Wang Shuang, Lu wen, Chi yang, Ji Qing Wu, Dagouzi, Lu yan, Xiao Ming. Whereas, Guo Yu was standing behind Yue Zhong to act as Yue’s exclusive waitress.
Dagouzi, Liu Yan, and Xiao Ming were promoted by Yue Zhong to squad leader. Each squad leader would manage two militants. Wang Shuang was also appointed as a squad leader by Yue, giving him two militants as his subordinates. Whereas, Chi Yang was a commander-in-chief with 5 militants as his subordinates.
In the villa banquet, delicious baiqieji, fried chicken with river snails, broth steamed grass carp, stir-fried river shrimps, sauteed wild herbs, white steamed buns, and cooked white rice were arranged.
[TL note: baiqieji is Cantonese poached chicken. Grass carp is a type of fish.]
Prior to Z-age, these vegetable and meats were common and ordinary. Now, though, this feast was regarded as extremely sumptuous. It could have even exceed the decadence of Abalone and edible bird’s nests before Z-age.
[TL: It’s a thing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_bird%27s_nest]
There weren’t many chickens and ducks in Always Bright Village; no more than twenty. In other words, even Yue Zhong couldn’t eat this type of feast every day.
Everyone was wolfing down food in the Banquet room without stopping to speak. Ji Qingwu and Chen Yao, the two woman who accompanied Yue Zhong taking risks and fighting alongside him, were normally reserved, but this was their first time eating non-canned meat after Z-age. They both lost a little restraint and took big mouthfuls.
Needless to say Da Gouzi, Liu Yan, and Xiaoming all knew how hard chicken and fish were to come by in Z-age. They all took this opportunity to gorge themselves. They feared there would be few opportunities to eat like this again anytime soon.
In the courtyard banquet there was only rice and fried vegetables. Everyone’s bowl also had a piece of lunchmeat and a slice of chicken.
Zhang Xin fiddled with her bowl of rice. Unhappily she said “Why are they able to eat Baiqieji, while we get lunch meat. And only a single piece!”
Wang Fang’s brows wrinkled, and sarcastically said: “Go be barefoot! The people sitting over there all have the strength of zombies. We are privileged to have this meat. Could it be you still want to go eat that corn gruel and wild herbs?”
When Wang Fang said “corn gruel and wild herbs,” every person couldn’t help but look towards the last seat of the banquet.
Li Manni sat at that position. She was bathed clean, and wearing clean clothes, but still looked a bit haggered.
She had her head down, and didn’t respond to the other’s glances. She looked at the grains of rice in her bowl, and she had no more of the arrogance from before when she criticized Yue Zhong’s haughtiness. Some things, when lost, feel that much more precious. That bowl of rice, at that moment, was delicious.
Zhang Xin fiddled with her bowl of rice. She spoke begrudgingly, “Even if that’s the case, I’m not happy about it. Lu Wen and Chen Yao don’t have any great abilities. Why do they get to eat and drink all they want while we are stuck here eating this?” She motioned to her rice.
Zhang Xin knew their plight was much better than the people of Always Bright Village, but not many people shared that opinion. Compared with Lu Wen and Chen Yao, their quality of life was a level below.
Yuan Ying stared at Zhang Xin, and smiled coldly. “Lu Wen is Yue Zhong’s woman. Chen Yao and Ji Qingwu are covered because of their aptitude. Originally, everything under heaven wasn’t fair. Do you think that before Z-age everything was fair?”
Yuan Ying had no way of entering the inner banquet, and her heart ached, but she hated Zhang Xin even more. She wanted to refute Everything Zhang Xin said.
Zhang Li advised: “Silence is sometimes the better option.”
Zhang Li was much more sensible than the pampered Zhang Xin and Yuan Ying. She didn’t want everyone to talk privately about Yue Zhong like he was a felon. In today’s battle, Yue Zhong killed several people. Everyone changes. Yue Zhong could turn into a tyrant like Tiger.
Under Zhang Li’s advice, the two women gave eachother a glance, not saying anything else.
Zhang Xuan ate and silently stared in the direction of the dining hall, seeking Yue Zhong’s image.
Yue Zhong ate and quietly considered future plans.
In the past, Yue Zhong had never been the head boss. He deftly disposed of the four Always Bright Village chiefs, and in a short time had accumulated great influence here. His success was also a burden, though. The future of Always Bright Village’s citizens rode on his shoulders.
To speak of nothing else, the problem of feeding hundreds of people was the central pressing matter on Yue Zhong’s mind.
Always Bright Village’s previous four chiefs had always gathered up quite a bit of supplies. They were able to gather so much that if dozens of people feasted for several years they wouldn’t run out of food. But now, if hundreds of people ate, they would only last a few months.
For this reason, Tiger fed himself and his henchmen well, and only gave moldy food to the survivors.
The land in this area was also infertile, and that only compounded the food supply problem.
Yue Zhong thought to himself and shook his head. “It isn’t so great being the Boss. Being a good boss is even more difficult. I wonder if being a tyrant might be a little easier.”
If he acted like a tyrant, inconsiderate of the lives and future of other people, he would be able to live comfortably. These thoughts, however, were inconsistent with his nature.
After everyone had eaten their fill, three beautiful women walked over from the side and gathered up all the leftovers and cleared the table.
“Good!” began Yue Zhong, “Today we discuss our future. First, I have decided that our troops will be split into three different groups and rankings. Official team members on top, preliminary team members next, and outside personnel last. Wages for these teams will also be split into three levels.
“Official team members will receive twenty five grams of rice in wages per day. Preliminary members will receive sixteen grams. Outside personnel will receive six grams of rice. As for the other Always Bright Village personnel, twice a day provide them with enough gruel to keep them alive. We will use rice to pay for the services of Always Bright Villagers. If they want to live better, they must work hard and contribute.”
Right then, food was the most valuable thing in Always Bright Village. Yue Zhong figured that he could use the rice and other goods he found in the houses of the four chiefs as payment for other goods and services.
