Chapter 161: Chapter 160: A Few Too Many People

Gong You watched Si Shuo finish a bowl of chicken noodle soup, gnaw on a cob of corn, eat an egg, and drink a glass of milk. Only then did she shoo him and Hang He out the door to go check on the various Martial Arts Halls in the western district.

At that moment, Ji Liang raised an eyebrow and asked, “Little Shushu, there are over twenty Three-tailed Blue Fox Clan Members outside. How do you want to handle them?”

Si Shuo had just been wondering. ’The terms I offered are pretty good, so why haven’t even Xiao Yuan and the other two from yesterday shown up?’

It turned out there were too many of them, and they were all waiting outside the fence!

She stood at the door, gazing at the row of blue-haired, fox-eyed males. For a moment, she thought, ’This isn’t a hiring call, it’s a casting call!’

However, she also realized that providing meals for everyone might be a bit unrealistic. She smiled and asked, “None of you have eaten yet, have you?

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize so many friends would be coming today.

Are you all here to help my Xiao Cheng?”

Si Shuo considered it. Aside from Ji Liang, her other Beast Husbands worked one day on, one day off, so they couldn’t always be hovering around her.

Take Xiao Cheng, for example. He wanted to support his clansmen, so it was the perfect opportunity for her to teach him the work of papermaking.

Xiao Yuan, standing at the very front, said a little embarrassedly, “Mrs. Si, Xiao Cheng told us there was a lot of work at home and that we should come help if we had time.

Did… did a few too many of us come?”

Each person was supposed to get fifty Crystal Stones a month. With twenty-five of them, plus two meals a day, wouldn’t that completely drain the Yin Squad’s monthly salary?

Si Shuo smiled and nodded. “It is a few more than expected.” The faces of the crowd changed slightly. The Beastmen who had arrived later, in particular, were so mortified they nearly buried their heads in their chests, their toes digging into the ground.

But then her tone shifted. “We probably can’t prepare meals for this many people at home. So, how about this: I can either give you Crystal Stones to buy your own ingredients and cook for yourselves, or I can give each of you an extra twenty Crystal Stones a month as a food allowance. What do you think?”

Everyone was stunned for a moment. The sudden, pleasant reversal left them momentarily speechless.

They looked eagerly at Xiao Yuan, who, with a flush on his cheeks, stammered a confirmation, “Mrs. Si, you… you mean you’re still covering our two meals, just in a different way?”

“That’s right. Our home is only so big, and my Beast Husbands already work hard enough when they’re on duty. I can’t bear to make them cook so much extra food.

So, discuss it among yourselves and choose which option you prefer.”

The second option, of course! They didn’t even have to think about it, let alone discuss it; everyone chose the second option. They would be able to get seventy Level 6 Crystal Stones every month. The thought alone was already making them excited.

They didn’t live far away, so they had enough time to go home and eat during their breaks. Twenty Level 6 Crystal Stones was more than enough for them and the young females at home to eat their fill!

Si Shuo smiled and nodded, then glanced sideways at Ji Liang.

He understood immediately. He handed each of them twenty Crystal Stones and said with a smile, “Since this is for food, it’s only natural that we give it to you in advance. After you’ve worked for a month, if we’re all satisfied with each other, you’ll receive seventy Crystal Stones: fifty for your monthly salary, and the other twenty for next month’s food allowance.”

He only said “if,” which naturally implied the possibility of another outcome.

Cradling handfuls of Crystal Stones, the men’s eyes were filled with the dazzling light refracting off the gems, their joy seeming to burst forth.

They solemnly placed the Crystal Stones into the Beast Skin Bags they carried, having already made up their minds. They would work themselves to the bone to keep this job. At the very least, they couldn’t be the ones to get fired for making a mistake.

But since it was the first day, they had obviously come over eagerly, expecting to be fed before they started working.

Ji Liang called over their neighbor, Kouba, slipped him some Crystal Stones, and asked him to go buy some food from the street to fill everyone’s stomachs.

Si Shuo watched him busily arrange things for her, standing to the side with a gentle smile. But when she thought about how he would often be away on business in the future, a touch of reluctance bloomed in her heart.

The males ate quickly. After two large buckets of wild vegetable noodle dough soup, they were all energized, straightening their backs and ready to work.

Si Shuo had them enter the adjacent small courtyard through the shop, while she walked over from the corridor by the eastern wing.

The moment she stepped into the next yard, however, she jumped in fright!

Xiao Cheng must have been up all night again. He had somehow found out who nearby had a Wood Element Ability, sought them out one by one, and given them Crystal Stones to accelerate the growth of seeds.

The courtyard was piled high with all sorts of plants and wood, leaving almost no room to stand. ’He really is an impatient one,’ Si Shuo thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

But it was also clear how badly he wanted to change the situation for his clan members. She was willing to help him fulfill that sincere desire.

“Kitty, just tell us what you need done. It’s too cluttered here, don’t want you to get bumped or bruised,” Zhi Le said with a light chuckle, draping an arm around her shoulders.

Zhi Qi, on her other side, curled his lips into a smile. “So the paper we usually write on is made from this stuff?” He couldn’t imagine it at all.

Si Shuo nodded, took out the papermaking method she had transcribed in Beast Text, and handed it over, lowering her voice. “Papermaking is actually quite simple. You just boil and beat these woods into a pulp, then scoop it out with a fine mesh screen and let it dry.

As for whether it successfully becomes paper and the quality of the final product, there are a few little tricks. As long as we control those, we don’t have to worry about them stealing our techniques.”

The males listened with solemn, serious expressions and nodded heavily.

In the Southern Continent, there were almost no secret formulas that couldn’t be shared among Beastmen. Every tribe knew roughly the same things; at most, the skill of individual Beastmen differed.

But in the Central Continent, Beastmen placed immense value on techniques and secret formulas, even treating them as a clan’s primary source of Crystal Stones.

They too began to take the Secret Technique seriously. They couldn’t let outsiders learn their family’s methods.

They quickly looked over the papermaking instructions, asking her about anything they didn’t understand. Once they had grasped it all, they had her stand aside and watch.

Zhi Le assigned tasks according to each Beastman’s different superpower.

Each Beastman’s role was clearly defined. They worked diligently, afraid they would be fired for any mistake and lose such a high-paying job.

The removed branches and roots from the trees were used as firewood. The bark and trunk were separated, allowing for the production of several different grades of paper.

After being chopped up, the bark, trunks, and grass stems were steamed simultaneously in six specially made furnaces, using different ratios and combinations.

The steaming process took a relatively long time, so they could work on other things, like processing the numerous furs that Ji Liang and Xu Chi had harvested the previous night.

Making ink brushes was an even more delicate and meticulous task. It required selecting hairs with suitable tips from the furs. A single bundle of hair had to be combed back and forth in their hands thousands of times!

The processes for making ink—refining the soot, mixing the binder, and pounding the mixture—were all tasks that required both strength and skill. They were also time-consuming and had to be started at the same time.

The males were all incredibly busy. Each was responsible for two or three different steps, leaving them with almost no idle time…

While Zhi Qi and Ji Liang supervised the work in the western courtyard, Si Shuo was in the eastern courtyard, taking a slow walk with Zhi Le’s arm around her waist.

She had a small frame, so her belly, now blown up like a balloon, looked especially alarming. Even she felt a little anxious about it and made sure to get a certain amount of exercise every day to make the delivery, due in a little over ten days, easier.

“Zhi Le, have you and Zhi Qi thought about what you want to do?” Si Shuo asked curiously, tilting her head.

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