Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 425 Ji Jiang's Predicament, True Sibling Bond, The Head-Slaying Ghost Strikes Again
In the ninth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, on the first day of the third month, just as dawn broke...
Hongmen South City, I remember the summer clothing workshop
It was daylight and the market was closed. As soon as Ji Jiang finished tidying up and closed the door, she immediately took a jar containing silver and went to the quiet room at the back.

"Ding ding ding..."

As soon as she sat down in the quiet room, Ji Jiang immediately poured all the loose silver coins from the jar onto the table. Then she took out a small scale and began to weigh and measure them one by one.

As the weighing process drew to a close, Ji Jiang's brows furrowed more and more. Only when everything was finally finished did she let out a soft sigh, her face full of worry.

"After deducting the cost of goods and the 30% commercial tax, the total profit in February was 8920 taels, only 580 taels more than in January."

The current exchange rate between the contribution value and silver of the Great Xia Military Supply Department is basically fixed at 1 to 10, that is, 1 tael of silver can be exchanged for 10 contribution points.

Earning 8920 taels a month translates to 89200 contribution points.

When they bought this summer clothing store, Zeng Rou paid the lion's share. Although Ji Jiang only contributed a quarter of the money, she was in charge of managing the store, so the two of them split the profits equally.

Based on this calculation, she earned 44600 points in February. In the vast Xia Dynasty, this is definitely a considerable income. At least 70% of the cold-resistant level members in the hunting team cannot earn that much.

Considering that the people in the hunting team have to brave the wind and frost to hunt cold beasts in the snowy forest every night, and are often injured or even in danger of death, while she only needs to stay in the shop to greet and see off customers, her income is all the more precious.

Unfortunately, people are hard to satisfy. Their first reaction after getting something is usually not satisfaction, but wanting more.

Ji Jiang is in this situation now.

"The shop opened on August 20th last year. The net income for four months of the year was 12820, 13720, 14220 and 15270 respectively, and it was on an upward trend. But it didn't work out after the New Year. In January, it was cut in half to 8340 taels. If it weren't for the purchase of some Northern Shuo silk and blood jade fox fur this month, and the production of a batch of new summer clothes that attracted some new customers, there would have been no hope of any increase. In the end, the total profit is estimated to be less than 7000 taels."

After pondering for a while, Ji Jiang frowned, her face showing even more worry.

"There are more and more shops selling summer clothes in the south of the city now, almost fifty in total, and the competition is getting fierce; in addition, the city is not very peaceful after the New Year, and there are obviously fewer new faces. It is normal for profits to decline rapidly. But I can't solve these problems. If I want to reverse the downward trend in profits, I can only try to find a solution to the problem of supply, just like last month..."

Currently, over 95% of all shops in Nancheng are operated by people from the Great Xia Dynasty, and without exception, the goods of these Great Xia shops come from the four workshops under the Xia City Craftsmen Department: forging, medicine making, summer clothing, and crafts.

This leads to a problem: shops of the same type sell extremely similar goods; in layman's terms, the products are almost identical.

Since the goods are all the same, when purchasing goods from the operations department, everyone naturally wants to choose the most sought-after items.

For example, the more than 50 shops selling summer clothes all source their goods from the summer clothes market. After several months of trial and error, everyone knows which types of summer clothes sell well, which have high profit margins, and which don't sell well. So when they buy goods, they will choose the good ones.

But this displeased the summer clothing store.

All summer clothes are sewn together using raw materials of various grades. Based on the rarity of the materials, the final summer clothes are naturally divided into four grades: low-end, mid-range, high-end, and top-end.

The resources of the Great Xia Dynasty are not inexhaustible, and the needs of Xia City must be prioritized. Therefore, the amount available for sale each month is limited. In order to balance the sales, a portion is naturally selected from each of the four specifications.

It's definitely not feasible for everyone to only order one type of product. In addition, Hongmen's business is still booming at the moment. Therefore, Xiafufang directly set a rule that all four types of products must be ordered in combination. Furthermore, the current output is limited, and Hongmen is in a state of supply falling short of demand. Therefore, the monthly purchase quota for more than fifty shops is directly distributed equally according to the total amount.

Actually, everyone can see that the marketing department's intention is to reduce competition among similar shops. Everyone sells the same types and quantities of goods. Moreover, since summer clothes are currently in short supply, shops usually clear out their stock by the end of each month. So, unless someone is willing to lower prices and reduce profits, everyone's business is actually about the same, and they earn the same amount.

However, where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure. Since the Ministry of Supply couldn't produce enough summer clothes, and the demand from outsiders in Hongmen was still high, the shops below naturally had to find more sources of goods. Fortunately, Hongmen not only sold but also bought, so the more resourceful shops started to acquire other raw materials that could be woven into cloth, then made their own garments and sold them.

The Hongmen Supply Department already knew about the situation and did not make any obstruction, as long as the shops could hand over 30% of their profits on time each month.

Of course, this involves issues of cost and technology, which depends on the capabilities of each individual shop.

Ji Jiang's talent in clothing is definitely not low. She herself was one of the earliest tailors in the summer clothing workshop. Coupled with her keen sense of fashion trends and her unique vision for the evolution and improvement of clothing styles, among the more than fifty shops selling summer clothes on this street, it can be said that if she dares to claim second place, no one dares to claim first place.

For example, when she was buying goods at the end of January, the Xiafu Shop released the Blood Jade Fox Fur for the first time. She immediately realized that this kind of clothing would be very popular. As soon as she finished buying the goods, she immediately began to buy Blood Jade Fox pelts in the city. Then, she and her shop assistants worked day and night to produce more than 300 pieces. This alone brought her at least 1500 taels of profit.

"Relying solely on acquisitions doesn't yield enough profit margins. It seems I'll need to make time to go hunting. Submitting the meat will earn me contribution points, I can keep the hides to make clothes and replenish my shop, and I can sell the bones and other odds and ends in the city for some money..."

Ji Jiang sat in the chair, head down, pondering, and soon came up with an idea.

At the beginning of this year, the Department of Supply issued new regulations, stating that from now on, individuals in the Great Xia Dynasty will not have to hand over all of their hunting earnings. For low-level cold beasts, only the meat needs to be handed over; for mid- to high-level cold beasts, only the meat, blood, and bones need to be handed over. Other parts can be handed over in exchange for contribution points, or kept for personal use, entirely up to the individual.

"That's it. My hunting experience is too limited, so I won't touch the mid-to-high-level cold beasts for now. Hunting some low-level cold beasts on the outskirts of Beining Mountain should be no problem. I can also collect some dyeing materials in the mountains, which will reduce my clothing production costs. I can't change the desolate situation in the city, so I can only try to reduce costs and increase profit margins. I hope to raise my income to over ten thousand taels next month!"

Ji Jiang is at the mid-stage of the Cold-resistant level, with the strength of a Seven-Mane Beast. If others knew that she only used this strength to hunt low-level cold beasts, they would probably be completely dumbfounded.

This brings us to her brother's love and care for her!
When their parents passed away ten years ago, Ji Jiang was only nine years old and Ji Hong was fourteen. Neither of them were adults, so they didn't need to go out. When Ji Hong turned fifteen and officially came of age in the first year of the Great Xia Dynasty, he took over almost everything in the family. The food, clothing, and daily necessities for the two siblings, including their cultivation resources, were all earned by Ji Hong in the hunting team.

In the fifth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, Ji Jiang finally turned fifteen. She was quite talented and originally wanted to join the hunting team that Ji Hong was in, but Ji Hong rejected her without even thinking about it. He also strictly forbade her from going out hunting and sent her directly to the supply department. Later, she showed her remarkable clothing making skills and was finally able to enter the summer clothing workshop of the craftsmen department.

Two years ago, Ji Jiang broke through to the Cold Resistance level. She couldn't hold back any longer and said that even though she had broken through to the Cold Resistance level, she had never even seen what a Cold Beast looked like. She begged Ji Hong for a long time before he finally took her into Redwood Ridge three times so that she could actually experience what it was like to hunt a Cold Beast.

When she first broke through to the Cold Resistance level, her strength was already 2.6, so she could easily deal with low-level cold beasts. However, she knew that the Cold Resistance level members in the camp could normally team up to hunt high-level cold beasts. So, after hunting two low-level cold beasts, she suggested that she try hunting mid-level cold beasts.

She was quite famous in the inner city, often beating up her younger brothers Zou Ping, Liu Peng, Lu Dong, and Zhao Yuankong. Moreover, she had considerable talent in cultivation, so even though she had never actually hunted before, she was confident in her abilities and felt that a mid-level cold beast would be a piece of cake for her.

However, with her strength of 2.6, she was helpless against a mid-level Snowmane in a one-on-one fight. In fact, if her brother hadn't intervened in time, she would have been seriously injured in the Snowmane's desperate fight.

It was at that moment that Ji Jiang realized how much her brother had suffered all these years in order to take care of her;

Of course, that disgraceful performance earned her a stern warning from Ji Hong, who clearly told her that in the future, when she was alone, she could only hunt low-level cold beasts at most.

Ji Jiang naturally kept her brother's words in mind, so even though she now had the strength of a 7-mane beast, she still only thought about hunting low-level cold beasts.

"At the very least, we need to accumulate some hunting experience first. If we rashly confront a mid-level cold beast and get injured, we'll waste money on healing pills and worry our brother. There's no need for that!"

After a moment of contemplation, Ji Jiang stood up and prepared to collect all the loose silver on the table. However, she had only collected half of it when a voice came from outside.

"Shopkeeper, why don't you have a single piece of clothing in the shop?"

Upon hearing the sound, Ji Jiang was startled at first, but then her face lit up with surprise. She immediately dropped the jar in her hand and ran outside.

Ji Jiang hurried to the outer room, where she saw a handsome young man in a black summer outfit looking at her with doting eyes in the middle of the shop. Who else could it be but her beloved brother, Ji Hong!
Wow... Bro, it really is you!

When Ji Jiang saw Ji Hong, she couldn't help but cry out in surprise and rushed forward to throw herself into her brother's arms.

"Alright, alright, you're a grown woman now, why are you still acting like a child?"

Ji Hong's face was full of doting smiles as he patted his sister's head. Considering that the two of them were no longer children, he still put on his elder brother's authority.

After Ji Jiang stood up, she pouted and said in a tearful voice, "Brother, you haven't come to see me for almost five months. If you hadn't told me in your letter not to leave the city, I would have wanted to go to Ba Shang to find you several times."

Seeing his sister's eyes redden, Ji Hong's expression softened instantly, and he said gently, "I just joined the Dragon Martial Army and am only a reserve. I'm usually very busy at the Ba Shang military camp, and I don't have time to spend with you when you come over. Look, I come to see you as soon as I have time now."

Ji Jiang realized she had shed tears and felt a little embarrassed. She rubbed her eyes and suddenly noticed the silver token on Ji Hong's waist. She immediately picked it up to examine it.

The token has only the three characters "Longwu Army" on the front and the seven characters "Ji Hong, Fifth Scout Battalion" on the back.

After looking at the token, Ji Jiang looked up at her brother with an uncertain expression.

Ji Hong said with a smug look on his face, "Haha, the scout battalion was short-staffed last month, and you, brother, have become a formal member of the Dragon Martial Army's scout battalion."

"Great!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Jiang was overjoyed, her face beaming with pride.

For ordinary Cold-resistant level individuals in the Great Xia Dynasty, apart from the officials of the Eight Ministries, the best way out is to join the army. Not only do they receive a fixed military salary, but they can also keep half of the spoils from hunting in the army and from the battlefield. This alone makes them better than 70-80% of the Cold-resistant level individuals in the camp.

Not to mention that the Dragon Martial Army, where my brother is stationed, is one of the strongest among the fifteen armies of the Great Xia Dynasty. Whether it is the current treatment or the future prospects, it is definitely the best.

Seeing her brother's smug face, Ji Jiang suddenly remembered something and asked with a smile, "Brother, you've broken through to the mid-stage of the Cold Resistance realm, right? How strong are you now?"

Ji Hong nodded, a confident look on his face, and said, "I broke through two months ago, and I now have the strength of the 9th level."

Even though she knew her brother had definitely surpassed her, Ji Jiang couldn't help but show a look of surprise when she heard about Jiu Zong's strength.

Although my elder brother has top-tier battle physique aptitude, he only broke through to the Cold Resistance level last September. It's only been a little over five months since then, yet his strength has increased by 6 points, which is equivalent to 1 point per month. This speed is probably among the best in the entire Great Xia Dynasty.

"Hmph, isn't it all thanks to the Yang Yuan Pills that your little sister sent you!"

Upon hearing his sister's words, Ji Hong immediately wiped the smile off his face, looked down at Ji Jiang, and his expression turned serious.

Seeing her brother's serious expression, Ji Jiang's heart skipped a beat.

Ji Hong took out three small porcelain bottles from his pocket and said in a deep voice, "Ah Jiang, your brother is now a formal member of the Dragon Martial Army. You will never lack cultivation resources in the future. You are not allowed to send me anything anymore. Keep all your contribution points for your own use, understand?"

After speaking, he handed all three porcelain bottles to Ji Jiang.

Ji Jiang picked up the small porcelain bottle, opened it one by one, and found that the 30 Yang Yuan Pills she had put inside were still in the same state as before. Her pretty face immediately turned angry.

But when she looked up at her brother, she found that he was still very serious, and she dared not say anything more. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and her eyes gradually reddened. After a while, she turned her head away and began to silently shed tears.

"Ah Jiang, why are you crying? Don't cry!" "I just wanted you to save more contribution points for yourself, I didn't blame you."

"Don't cry, okay, Ah Jiang..."

Upon hearing his sister cry, Ji Hong immediately softened and quickly offered words of comfort.

Ji Jiang was clearly very angry, turning her head away from him repeatedly. After a long while, her emotions calmed down a bit, and she said in a choked voice, "Brother, you've been supporting me for almost ten years. Now that I can finally earn some contribution points, I was thinking of buying some cultivation resources for you."

These 30 Yang Yuan Pills were bought after I saved up for three months. Unlike me, who is in the city every day, you in the Dragon Martial Army often have to fight against cold beasts, which must be very dangerous. I thought that if you improve your strength as soon as possible, it will be less dangerous, and I can feel more at ease.

You didn't use a single one, not a single one..."

Ji Jiang became increasingly angry as she spoke, and choked up at this point. She continued, "You rely on yourself for everything, and I rely on you too. Your cultivation speed has already been slowed down by me. Brother Xu An is only two years older than you. In the early years, your strengths were actually very close. Now the difference is so great because of me. Do you want me to feel guilty for the rest of my life?"

"Brother never thought of it this way, Ah Jiang, you shouldn't..."

"Besides, if you could improve your strength faster, wouldn't you be able to protect me better?"

Interrupted, Ji Hong was speechless upon hearing his sister's question.

Ji Jiang seemed to have gotten angry as well, and directly raised the three small porcelain bottles in her hand, angrily saying, "If you don't use these 30 Yang Yuan Pills, it means you want to sever ties with me. I might as well just throw them away, and from now on I will never want your contribution points again."

Seeing that his sister had actually thrown the porcelain bottle away, Ji Hong immediately jumped up and caught it, saying helplessly, "Fine, fine, I'll use it."

Seeing her brother put the porcelain bottle back into his arms, Ji Jiang's expression changed instantly. Her anger vanished in an instant, replaced by a smile. She stepped forward and took Ji Hong's arm, her eyes full of cunning.

"That's more like it! Hahaha..."

"I can't beat you, I can't beat you!"

Ji Hong rubbed his younger sister's head. Although his face was full of helplessness, there was still a hint of relief in his eyes.

The two siblings grew up together. He knew Ji Jiang's personality all too well. How could her acting skills possibly fool him, her older brother?

Choosing to compromise was nothing more than a deliberate act!

"By the way, something seems off about your shop."

When Ji Hong saw that there were no clothes in the store, he wanted to ask about it. Now that he had settled the matter of Yang Yuan Dan with his sister, he couldn't help but ask directly.

As Ji Jiang explained in detail, Ji Hong finally understood the situation of the shop.

"Something seems off about Hongmen City lately. Five days ago, Yuwen Sizheng transferred the Dragon-Slaying Army here. He and Yuan Sizheng seem to have come as well. I heard that strange things have been happening in the city, causing considerable losses..."

Ji Hong paused here, turned to look at his sister, and hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

He returned this time because he heard about the strange occurrences at Hongmen.

His original intention was to have his sister leave Hongmen and return to Xiacheng.

But after that incident, and given her sister's radiant demeanor when talking about the shop, it was clearly impossible to ask her to leave Hongmen at this moment.

Since that's the case, it's better not to mention it.

"So, your shop is currently in dire need of rare animal hides and precious clothing materials. Once you can solve this problem, you'll have a source of goods, be able to offer more items to sell, and your profits will be higher, right?"

Ji Hong was quick-witted and immediately grasped the key point in Ji Jiang's words, pointing out the predicament she was facing in running her shop.

"That's right! I don't have enough financial resources to just acquire from others, and the costs are a bit high, so the profits will be much lower."

Snapped……

Ji Hong immediately slapped his thigh and shook his head, saying, "If I had known, I wouldn't have handed over all the animal hides and collected clothing materials to the Supply Department..."

Seeing the confusion on Ji Jiang's face, Ji Hong immediately continued to explain.

The military system currently implemented in the Great Xia Dynasty is called the integration of military and hunting.

The term "combining military and hunting" refers to the fact that soldiers fight during wartime, but in peacetime they undertake even more important hunting tasks.

The Longwu Army is stationed in Ba Shang. In the absence of war, they often go out hunting. However, unlike hunting teams, they go out in battalion-sized units at least. They also occasionally use small torches to create beast tides for training purposes.

Therefore, in peacetime, the number of cold beasts hunted by the army is far greater than that of the hunting teams. In addition, soldiers only need to hand over half of their hunting spoils, so the hunting income after joining the army is much higher than when they were in the hunting teams.

“I hunted a lot of cold beasts in the Dragon Martial Army in the past few months, and there were quite a few high-grade animal hides among them. I basically packed them all up and handed them over. If I had known you were so short of animal hides, I would have kept them and given them all to you.”

Hearing her brother's words, Ji Jiang's face was naturally full of regret.

"But it's alright. From now on, I'll keep any decent animal hides from the game I hunt in Ba Shang and send them to you when I have time. Oh, and the other brothers in the army, like me, also pack up their animal hides and hand them over to the Ba Shang Supply Depot. I'll buy them from them at a slightly higher price and then give them to you. How about that?"

Ji Jiang's eyes lit up immediately, and she nodded, saying, "That's great!"

Of the spoils of hunting in the army, only half needs to be handed over. The other half can be handled by everyone themselves. They can buy and sell privately, and the supply department will not interfere. As long as the purchase price is properly controlled, and the spoils are made into clothes and sold, the profit margin will definitely be considerable.

"By the way, brother, how long will you be staying this time?"

Ji Hong smiled and said, "It just so happens that it's my turn to rest. I have seven days off. Aren't you short of animal hides? I'll accompany you to Beining Mountain for these seven days. I can't guarantee we'll be able to hunt high-level cold beasts, but we can definitely hunt mid-level cold beasts. I'll stock up on animal hides for you so your shop won't be empty."

Since his younger sister was so concerned about the shop, Ji Hong naturally wanted to do his best to help her solve the problem. With his current strength, he could easily hunt down high-level cold beasts with just two or three people working together, and mid-level cold beasts would be a piece of cake.

"Brother, it's so great to have you!"

Hearing that her brother was willing to go hunting in the mountains with her, Ji Jiang was overjoyed. In her excitement, she couldn't help but tighten her grip on his arm.

The two siblings, having been separated for so long, naturally chatted for quite a while after their reunion.

Ji Jiang remembered that her brother had just returned from Ba Shang and hadn't had much rest yet, so she quickly closed the shop and took him to his residence in the north of the city. She was ready to cook a meal to reward him and let him get some rest as well.

…………

The daytime lasted only two hours, and it passed quickly.

As night gradually fell, the empty streets of the southern city began to come alive. Many vendors started hawking their wares, and various shops along the street gradually opened for business. The number of pedestrians on the streets also increased.

At the same time, the lights in the city buildings quickly lit up, and as the patrolling soldiers took their positions in the south of the city, the coal stoves, torches, and bonfires hanging in various places along the main street were also lit.

Just over an hour after nightfall, the southern city seemed to have completely come alive, losing all trace of the daytime silence and tranquility. People were coming into the city, leaving the city, going out, and those who had just arrived... the crowds were bustling and lively.

Of course, it is a large city with a total area of ​​25 square kilometers. No matter how bustling the southern part of the city is, there are still shadows in some corners, especially on both sides of the main street of the southern city, that is, in the two residential areas on the east and west, there are still many dark alleys with faint lights.

Some people, for the sake of convenience, also like to take the dark alleys.

On the west side of the main street, a young man in white with a ruddy complexion walked out of the restaurant, staggering along the street for dozens of meters. He was clearly a little dizzy. He stood still for a moment, then suddenly turned his head to look at a dark alley on his left.

"This...this...this way...closer..."

After uttering a few drunken words, the young man in white disappeared into the alley without a second thought.

Although the firelight in the alley was extremely dim, it was enough to illuminate the shadow of the young man in white. However, he was so drunk that his unsteady gait caused his shadow to sway from side to side, making it extremely unstable.

Soon, he walked into the depths of the alley, about a hundred meters away from the main street. By this time, there were not many torches left on both sides, and the main light source was basically the houses on both sides.

call…………

A gust of cold wind blew by, and the young man shivered. He turned his head to look behind him, then glanced to both sides. Hearing voices coming from inside the house, his tense expression relaxed slightly, and he shook his head with a smile.

"Hehe, I'm not afraid to fight a cold beast to the death, so why would I be afraid of a little bit of cold wind?"

After laughing, he continued walking forward.

"Jie Jie Jie Jie..."

He hadn't taken two steps when an incredibly eerie laugh suddenly came from beneath him.

The young man in white froze instantly, his expression turning completely to one side.

After three or four breaths, he dared to slowly lower his head and look at the ground.

Upon seeing this, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his face was covered in cold sweat.

(End of this chapter)