Yefutidaolu

Chapter 196 Making Money
In the Zuo family's ancestral hall.

The hall is richly decorated with pictures of clouds, colorful paintings of spirits, and magnificent splendor. Inside is a shrine, which is decorated with gold, silver, pearls and jade, and is solemn and brilliant.

Looking further into the temple, one can see... a huge 'Pantheon' with thirty-seven floors.

These are the gods and heroic spirits worshipped by the Zuo family, or in other words... driven by the Zuo family.

There are thirty-seven floors, with one thousand statues on each floor.

There are a total of 37,000 divine generals, which is the entire foundation of the Zuo family.

In the family ancestral hall, this hall is even larger than the ancestral hall itself.

In the square outside, there was a stone incense burner in the center, and on both sides were the gathered clan members, seven or eight hundred people standing in neat rows. These were all clan members whose names were in the ancestral hall.

All the people put on formal attire and came to the incense burner and put their hands together in greeting. They were divided into two groups. There were gold ingots, gifts, incense and other things on the incense burner. It seemed that the preliminary ceremony had been completed.

All the tribesmen are here.

Zuo An and Zuo Qing sat in the front row.

"I think you have all received what I wanted to inform you about today."

"Received it. They said they would cut the regular pay for all branches." At this time, an elder from the clan spoke up with a bad tone.

Zuo An didn't hesitate, but responded immediately: "Not only the branches, but also the direct lineage, even us, everyone, all the regular wages will be cut for three months."

"No! The alchemists I employ and the current research still need funding. If we lay off the staff at this time, I'm afraid all the people will run away, and all the initial investment will be wasted!" someone shouted from below.

And he's not the only one.

"My business has just acquired a batch of ships to sell to the East China Sea, and I need cash to make ends meet. If it's cut off right now, do you know how much I'll have to lose?!"

"The few water beasts I raised..."

"There are still two furnaces of pills left, and they will take 49 days to refine. You want me to stop?"

"My youngest son is still training his body and building his foundation, so he can't stop taking the pills every day!"

"I just recently received a batch from Baishan..."

"And I!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire Zuo family was in an uproar!

Regardless of whether these children from aristocratic families have real skills or whether their skills are cultivated through resources, they all have various places to spend money.

They seem wealthy and actually are wealthy, but this is all based on a steady flow of funds.

Normally, the Zuo family's annual expenditure would be over a million gold.

The Zuo family has been prosperous for two thousand years, no one would think that the Zuo family would be short of money.

It is said that a centipede will continue to grow even after death. The Zuo family's wealth comes from such a wide range of sources that there are many channels and roots every minute and every second, which continue to grow this centipede.

but……

That's it for now.

"Silence!" Zuo An clapped his hands suddenly, and saw the surrounding trees suddenly spread their branches, turned into ghost trees, and roared!

Countless vines of ghost trees were waving and showing their fangs and claws, and the whistling sound drowned out the crowd.

The others were not without cultivation, but when they saw the helmsman do this, they just kept quiet.

However, some of them were obviously dissatisfied and they all looked at Zuo Qing.

Zuo Qing did the same thing as Zuo An.

As soon as he stretched out his hand, he saw that the atmosphere around him gradually became oppressive, as if some special force was restricting the airflow here.

Then, Zuo Qing said, "Dear elders."

He only mentioned the elders of the tribe, because only the elders were qualified to question them, and as for the others, they had to obey.

"The family is in a bit of trouble right now, and this is the best outcome that Uncle Zuo An and I have come up with."

Zuo Qing also said this, and the entire Zuo family looked at each other in confusion.

"Besides, fellow clan uncles, whether you are elders or juniors, if you say you have no cash or savings, I don't think I will believe it."

"But I won't investigate this matter in detail. It's just that the New Year's Eve festival is coming soon, so please be patient and hold on for a while."

"Also, I have already issued instructions on what each household needs to do during the New Year's Eve ceremony. However, there is no public funding this time, so you will all handle the fundraising on your own. I just hope that there will be no more mistakes. You have received your regular allowance on weekdays, so when the family is in trouble, I hope you will remember your last name, Zuo."

Zuo Qing said, waving his hand.

Then a group of managers came forward and started distributing some books, which recorded what was to be done during this New Year's Eve ceremony.

In fact, everything is the same as in previous years. This is the New Year's Eve ceremony process that has been continued by the Zuo family for hundreds of years. It is also one of the Zuo family's heritage. If other forces want to host the New Year's Eve ceremony, they have to reorganize and create such a thing themselves.

If I sell this thing, a million gold wouldn't be enough.

This is one-tenth of the details and technical manual of the grand sacrifice of the Qiyun Divine Dynasty. It is top-level confidential content, involving many advanced methods and rules that have been tested with countless money, manpower, material resources and even human lives.

For example, if you want to test out any sentence above, such as "do not use red", these five words may require dozens of deaths before they can be tested out.

"Well, let's get started. I don't want to hear any objections. If there are any, wait three months."

"If you can't even endure three months, then leave the ancestral hall. I will allow your branch to develop independently and leave Cangzhou as a branch family to fight outside. I will not touch your property, so as to preserve some dignity for the family."

"After all, this is a matter of sharing hardships. If you can't even tell this apart, it's better for you to leave. It's good for you and the family."

Zuo Qing's tone was very calm, even a little gentle, but his words were very impolite.

But it was precisely because of this impoliteness that everyone realized that this time they were serious.

No one, including the elders, raised any objections or complained anymore. Everyone began to take on their own tasks seriously.

The Zuo family's ancestral hall suddenly became quiet.

----------

Two days later, in the outer city of Cangzhou.

The outer city has been...not very peaceful these days.

The peace of the past has been broken. In recent years, everyone has been increasing their income. The bigwigs in the inner city have suddenly started to levy heavy taxes in the city...

In a small workshop in the outer city——

This is a leather workshop, and the leather maker here is named Ma Xisheng.

Ma Xisheng is the only leather maker on this street. The reason why he is the only one is that he has driven away all the others. There can only be one on a street and he cannot steal the business.

As a craftsman, he apprenticed to his master for more than twenty years. He finally became a master when he was in his thirties and reached a certain level of cultivation. Now he is in his fifties and has an apprentice under him.

One is enough; more than one will lead to arguments. But there are more than one person doing the work.

Because leatherworking is hard work, young labor is needed. And they cannot need formal apprentices or assistants, but cheap labor.

Some of the work in this industry is very backbreaking, such as scraping the meat from rotting hides with a knife, mixing toxic dyes for tanning, and refining various highly corrosive potions in front of pots.

He and his apprentice cannot do these things alone.

This kind of work is life-threatening and can cause disability or illness. Any master who is responsible for his apprentice will not let his apprentice do this kind of work.

So Ma Xisheng would gather those poor people who had no money, unemployed paupers, vagrants who had just arrived in Cangzhou and had no place to eat, or orphans without anyone to do this kind of thing.

No one cares about these people, and no one asks if something goes wrong.

"If you work overtime tonight, I will give you 50% more pay. Everyone should stay up late. By the way, we will also provide meals tonight. There will be meat, meat! Plenty of oil and water." Ma Xisheng walked into the workshop and said so.

A strong stench was blowing, and above the turbid water surface, greasy and smelly sewage was being continuously discharged into the tributaries of the Baishan River.

The rivers in the living area are basically black, which is closely related to these workshops.

Ma Xisheng was wearing a leather apron and dirt-resistant linen.

This leather workshop can bring him an income of more than ten gold coins a year. He has handed over most of the work to his apprentices, and he will only do those high-quality products himself.

But today, he rarely came to this place and made a promise to these people.

"Boss... what do you want to do next?" A little girl came up. She looked only ten years old. You could see that her fingers, which she had hidden intentionally or unintentionally, were swollen and purple, with many wrinkles.

This leather workshop has many processes for processing animal skins, animal hair or textiles. Among these processes, there is a simple but tedious preliminary preparation, which is to put the animal hair or animal skin into a basin of boiling water and stir it, then take it out and brush off the impurities. Children can only do this kind of work. The wages are extremely low and it is very tiring. When stirring, the boiling water splashes and it is easy to get burned. The blisters from the burns can only be solved by themselves.

It's a simple job. Boil water, throw the animal skin in, boil it for a while, take it out, brush the fur clean, and then pass it to the next person.

But once the measurement is taken, each of them has to work for eight or even nine hours, so wounds will naturally appear. There will always be times when they accidentally touch the boiling water and it will splash on their bodies.

"Yes, now the money from above has been pushed down. You should work overtime. I have also bought medicine for you." Ma Xisheng smiled and patted the little girl's shoulder: "You are short of money recently, right? I have brought cash."

As he spoke, Ma Xisheng took out a bag, shook it, and the sound of copper coins came from inside.

He shouted, "Come over first and divide the money!"

Then, I saw dozens of children and a dozen adults.

Some are responsible for potions, some are responsible for tanning, and some are responsible for boiling water, carrying firewood and so on. These dozens of people are the labor force of this workshop.

Behind Ma Xisheng was a well-dressed young man. He was his apprentice, son-in-law, and the future heir of the workshop. He was watching his master handle these matters.

Ma Xisheng has only one daughter, so these things will definitely be handed over to him in the future. And now he is about to break through to a new level, and then he will be qualified to become a master and inherit this workshop.

The lifeless workshop became more lively because of the distribution of money and meat.

But the apprentice couldn't laugh.

When Ma Xisheng had distributed the money and meat and was leaving, the apprentice finally spoke.

"Dad." He shouted naturally, "The boss didn't pay me..."

"So what? If the higher-ups don't pay, we won't pay them either?" Ma Xisheng shook his head. "Besides, the higher-ups are from the inner city, so it'll probably be paid in a few days. They spend more than this on a meal, so how could they possibly miss out on ours? We have to do this work every New Year's Eve, and we've been doing it for decades. It's not a big deal."

Yes, I suddenly have to work overtime because of this reason.

Ma Xisheng and more than one hundred leather craftsmen in the outer city of Cangzhou have to provide some leather for the New Year's Eve festival every year. These leathers have high requirements and they have to do it themselves. It is considered the largest order of the year.

But although the order is large, it is also very busy.

This year's list is a little different from previous ones.

This year, the bigwigs in the inner city did not give any cash.

Ma Xisheng felt a little strange, but he took the order as usual, paid the money himself, collected the leather, paid the workers, and prepared to start working as usual.

Everything is still functioning normally——

Until nine days later.

Nine days later, Ma Xisheng delivered the leather.

At the same time, he was also seriously injured and thrown out from the side door of a shop of the Zuo family.

"You dare to ask for money? You are really courting death! Drag him out!" A manager of the Zuo family said with some displeasure and asked the servants to drag the man out.

The one who hit him was at the second level, and with just one blow, Ma Xisheng swallowed back all the words.

Ma Xisheng could no longer speak, because that blow had already ended his life. Even if he was dragged back to see a doctor, he would not live long.

The Zuo family didn’t give any money.

It wasn't just his family that didn't give it.

No one gave it to anyone!

why?
The reason is unknown.

But everyone can see that the people of the Zuo family are still well-dressed, and they are still generous with their food, clothing, and practice.

They just saved some money in the outer cities.

Those with discerning eyes have already seen that the Zuo family is short of money...

So they decided to make money.

This is a very simple truth.

Money is not made from those who have the most money, but from those who are easiest to bully.

Of course the Zuo family has savings, but these savings are not for casual use, at least not for you.

In the past, when we had enough money, it didn’t matter.

But this year, it is impossible to get the money for the goods needed for the end-of-year festival.

Ma Xisheng's apprentice dragged him back home crying, and then went to find a doctor. However, after several doctors examined him, they all shook their heads and said that there was no hope for him.

Such things happened frequently in the outer city of Cangzhou.

The crying seemed to be everywhere.

But within a day...

Someone suddenly came to visit Ma Xisheng's house and took out a pill.

It was a young man who came straight to the point: "Master Ma, right? This is a golden wound medicine that can save your life."

"By the way, don't be afraid, we are here to help you get the money."

(End of this chapter)