Edited by: acutebird
Langlang snorted and said, “There are two questions: First, how do we calculate food and accommodation during the period of help? Second, how much do we need to do to repay those cows, sheep, fish, and vegetables? You need to explain clearly. If your demands are unacceptable to us, then I would rather go to war.”
“Is it possible that your talk of repayment was just talk? When you said you would repay us, I acknowledged that you accepted the deal. Don’t think that a few combs can be taken as repayment; the Jiuyuan tribe is kind but not fools who can be teased by you.” Yan Mo’s expression quickly changed.
“My tribe has also risked a great deal to help you, and you, as guests, as the ones being helped, have obviously received such a great favor from us, yet you move to talk about going to war with us. Isn’t it because you see that our tribe is relatively small in number? And have you ever thought of the cost and effort it took for our tribe, with only sixty or so people, to bear the food and lodging of more than two hundred of you?”
Yan Mo hit the table and angrily said, “Do you want to go to war? Alright, I’ll help you!”
“Hold on!” Kathi shouted.
“Who wants to go to war?” The door curtain was lifted, and a tall and majestic man walked in with a fierce aura.
Langlang and Kathi turned around when they heard the voice and instinctively grasped the weapons at their waists. They couldn’t understand the language, but they could feel the murderous aura emanating from him.
“Are these the little dwarves?” Yuan Zhan walked up to Yan Mo and pulled out his stone ax, pointing to Langlang and Kathi.
Langlang shouted loudly, “I’m not afraid of you!”
Kathi roared even louder than him, “Shut up!”
Kathi chose to let go of her weapon and sincerely said to Yan Mo, “Venerable Priest, we are sincerely seeking to repay you, and we have always remembered your kindness. However, these huge numbers are temporarily unacceptable to our clan leader, who is just as worried about his own people as you are. Although our Worwo tribe is strong in body, they are not good at hunting. If you ask us to do things beyond our ability or for a long time, then we cannot accept everything without complaint.”
“What is this dwarf talking about? Don’t pay attention to them; as I said a long time ago, there’s no need to be so polite to them. We wasted so much food, and you even blessed them. But now you want to go to war with us? They’re what you call white-eyed wolves. Just kill them and consume their pickled meat!” Yuan Zhan’s killing intent surged.
Langlang grunted and stood on the chair with his arms crossed, seemingly disdainful of Yuan Zhan’s attitude, but, if carefully watched, it could be seen that he had been secretly observing Yuan Zhan’s expression and movements.
Kathi also stared at Yan Mo fixedly.
Yan Mo let out a sigh, calming Yuan Zhan down a bit. He turned his head and said to Kathi, “Ancestral Shaman, if I led my tribe to your place to eat and drink for a while, and said that I would repay you – yet after I turned my head and wiped my mouth, I refused to pay anything and even said that I want to go to war with you, what would you think?”
“Hmm?”
“I apologize for my tribe leader’s rudeness. Although he’s been clamoring for war, he actually treats everyone, including our brother tribe, like this.” Kathi seemed unsure of what words to use to describe her tribe’s leader.
Yan Mo smiled in his heart. These were really a pair of smart dwarves; just like he and Yuan Zhan singing double reed, they were also cooperating in battle.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Yan Mo didn’t answer immediately but looked at Langlang.
Langlang was standing on the chair, staring fiercely at Yuan Zhan.
Yuan Zhan gave a cold smile in response.
Suddenly! Langlang, Kathi, and others in the room, looked behind Yuan Zhan in shock.
Behind Yuan Zhan, there used to be nothing but stones quickly piled up flat, forming a large stone chair.
The stone chair and Yan Mo’s wooden chair were arranged side by side.
Yuan Zhan sat down on the stone chair then leaned back, an elbow supporting the armrest of the chair as one hand played with the stone ax while the other rested on his leg.
Langlang’s eyes were filled with envy. There was no divine blood warrior among the Worwo tribe, and their warriors only reached level three at the highest level. However, the giant in front of them had both combat power and divine ability, having reached level four.
Yan Mo remained silent, but in fact, he was extremely surprised. This person seemed to be more proficient at manipulating and using his abilities.
“Clan Leader Langlang, everyone has sat down. Can you also sit down and speak?” Yan Mo gave Langlang a way out.
Langlang was very sensible and praised Yuan Zhan while sitting down, saying, “Your leader is very powerful.”
The topic was reopened.
The chiefs and spiritual figures of both sides were present; this time Langlang didn’t move to shout for war. He had already shown that the Worwo tribe wouldn’t be willing to be exploited, so the rest was up to the Jiuyuan tribe to see if they could accept the offer.
“Clan Leader Langlang just raised two questions, so let’s start with the second one. The simplest way is for you to participate in hunting and collect the same amount of food, and your debts will be paid off. If you don’t want to hunt, you can exchange all that food for red salt. Our tribe has just been established, and there are many things to do. You can freely choose what you want to do and then convert it into red salt based on the rewards given by our tribe. Regarding the conversion of red salt, there is no need to worry that we will deceive you because those rewards will be made public, and the people in our tribe will receive the same rewards as yours.”
“We don’t quite understand the conversion of the red salt currency yet.” Kathi said hesitantly.
“I can provide a specific explanation. I believe you have seen the notice I published in the tribe about the conversion between food and red salt. For example, a cow is worth 800-1200 qián of red salt based on weight and health, a sheep is worth 80 qían of red salt, and a grass carp is worth around 5 qián of red salt. Helping with making stone bricks earns a reward of 10 qián for 200 pieces of stone bricks; building walls and other things also receive corresponding rewards.”
Langlang’s mouth opened wide in surprise and he said, “How long would we be doing it?”
“It wouldn’t be long. For example, if you help the tribal residents build a 100-square meter stone brick house, it will take about 150000 to 160000 pieces of stone bricks. You can receive red salt in compensation, which is equivalent to about 8 adult cows. Your people had 1037 cows, 490 goats, 2420 fatty fish, and 3135 wild vegetables. You only need to build more than 130 small houses to fully repay your debts.”
The numbers of thousands and thousands suddenly turned into more than 130, and Langlang and Kathi suddenly felt that the venerable white-headed priest across from them had become much cuter.
Langlang continued arguing, “Over 130 houses? How many people do you have? Do you need that many houses?”
“There are not just a few people in the Jiuyuan tribe; there are also others who are undergoing the tests of our ancestors’ gods in other places. We will only pick them up when they pass. Moreover, after the houses are built, it’ll be convenient for guests to come and stay.”
Langlang’s eyes lit up, and he said, “We are also guests. If we build these houses, will we still be charged for accommodation if we choose to move in?”
Upon hearing the familiar discussion of being charged, Yan Mo inexplicably wanted to laugh, but he kept a puzzled expression, deliberately looking at Yuan Zhan and repeating Langlang’s request. Yuan Zhan shook his head decisively.
Langlang hurriedly added, “But, it’ll be useless if all your houses are empty!”
Yan Mo turned his head and said, “I’ll discuss this with the leader again, but even if accommodation is waived, you must still handle your own food. If you don’t want to go hunting, you can help our tribe people with their work in exchange for food. Clean water can be used freely, and you can exchange dry firewood and other supplies with the tribe people yourself.”
Langlang and Kathi gathered together and muttered for a while. Now, they felt that these conditions were acceptable.
“We have one, no, two last requests,” Langlang said cheekily, “First, the house will be given to us when it is built. Second, we can’t be charged for accommodation before and after the house is built.”
“You are truly the greediest and most unreasonable guests.” Yan Mo smiled helplessly. “I cannot give you an answer now. Tomorrow, I will discuss with the leader and elders before telling you the final decision.”
“Okay!” Langlang and Kathi looked at each other. Kathi thought it was fine, and Langlang’s eyes were filled with the joy of victory.
The dwarves left, and Yan Mo nodded to signal that both the guards and patrol warriors could leave. He then leaned back in his chair and slowly exhaled.
The warriors bowed to the two and walked out of the door, while the guards stood outside and kindly lowered the door curtain.
Yuan Zhan raised his hand to touch the other man, but, in the end, he silently placed his hand on the back of his chair.
Yan Mo rubbed his forehead.
It was too difficult for a doctor to become a businessman. Especially for the conversion of red salt, he spent a lot of time calculating, considering not only rationality but also the fact that food was more important than anything else at the moment – and also considering the future development of the tribe.
Using red salt as a currency conversion method not only required highlighting the value of red salt; it was also necessary because many things were not calculated clearly during transactions. It was okay when dealing with a small number of people in one’s own tribe, but when dealing with the mer clan, some things were too vague and would inevitably leave countless unclear points in the future.
As for the red salt being accurate to money, as long as there was a scale, it could be. It was kind of funny not to use the concept of gram; after all, money was a word he had been familiar with and accustomed to. Thinking of people in the future asking, “How much is this thing?” He was secretly happy.
It was easy to make a scale; the lever, the weigher, the lifting hook, the weighing hook or plate, and the lifting rope were first prepared. Under the condition that the weighing plate was empty, the center of gravity of the lifting hook and the zero scale line could be accurately found, then a standard object could be found as the reference weight, and then it would be equally divided between the reference weight scale line and the zero scale line.
However, it was easier said than done. In order to make a more reliable scale, Ye Xing and Sa Yu racked their brains, repeatedly making dozens of scales before they finally figured out the trick. Making a scale was one of the introductory tests that Yan Mo gave them.
As long as you got the hang of it, it wasn’t difficult to make scales with different scales of size and weight.
At present, although the scale hadn’t been widely used within the tribe, everyone already knew that there was such a thing. Through the dissemination of his students, everyone had become familiar with the weight units of the decimal system, such as jīn, liǎng, qián, fēn, and lí.
Many people even took things to Ye Xing and his team to weigh them when they had nothing to do. However, unfortunately, due to limitations in weighing materials and arm strength, the largest scale could only measure up to 200 jīn, while the smallest scale could only handle a fraction of that.
He didn’t know how to make a scale that could weigh heavier items, even if he had all the materials. The process of making a pole scale was taught in physics and handicraft classes, but he only casually observed. Later on, when making traditional Chinese medicine, he used smaller scales, which made him forget even more.
Speaking of which, he also considered using red salt as an intermediary or directly substituting the concept of currency. But currency needed to have reached a certain level of social development in order to reflect its true value. Before that, salt, cloth, and grain were truly hard currencies. After thinking about it, he didn’t use the concept of currency but decided to use red salt as a substitute.
These extra thoughts were pushed aside, and Yan Mo murmured softly, “What a difficult dwarf.”
“Mermaids are even more difficult to deal with.” Yuan Zhan patted the armrest. “They are helpful to us, but they are also the biggest threat.”
Yan Mo slightly raised the corner of his mouth and said, “It’s better to have a threat.”
Yuan Zhan raised an eyebrow as he looked at him.
TN:
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Hiiiii, I picked this novel up, lessss go 🥳.
I read the novel, so I’ll try to stick to the previous translator’s style to keep it more comfortable for ya.
Updates will be sporadic till the end of next week, that’ll be enough time for me to get used to this again.
Feel free to tag me in the discord channel for questions, suggestions etc.
I’m sooo excited ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧
Oh my god, I’m so happy you picked this novel up! Thank you so much, and great job with this chapter!
OH MY GOD! I did a double take when I saw this had updated! Thanks so much for picking it up!
Right? I just saw the update of this today for the next chapter!
Oh😍😍 thank you for picking up this novel❤️❤️❤️❤️
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Thank you SO MUCH for picking this story <3
Ahhhh how did I miss this? For two weeks!? I’m so happy this is getting translated again! Thank you for picking it up! 💖💖💖