Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 218 Past and Present
"Shan Nong Daily! Shan Nong members need to be certified. From now on, Han Chinese and non-Han Chinese can also become Shan Nong members!"

"498 shouted loudly."

I only shouted once before stopping because so many people were lining up to buy newspapers.

How to become a Shan Nong citizen has always been a topic of concern for the people of Shan Nong Kingdom.

Si Jiuba and Wu Yue were busy from morning till night, only managing to relax for a short while around noon.

I had just rested for a while when I saw three beautiful women walk to the window together.

"Excuse me, do you need a female reporter to help out here?"

The speaker was a beautiful woman in her thirties with a gentle and elegant appearance.

Looking at this elegant woman with her hair up in a bun, wearing a dress with gold and white thread, who was very well-maintained and knew how to dress, Si Jiuba felt that she was even more beautiful than Beijiwu's wife.

The Arctic Warrior is an emperor!

Si Jiuba was stunned and felt extremely inferior. When she saw the woman next to her who was also more beautiful than her, she suddenly felt that she was not pretty at all.

“You…” 498 looked the beautiful woman up and down again, “You don’t look like someone who does manual labor.”

The woman laughed and said, "I don't look like someone who does manual labor. I've been watching you for a while now. It's just selling newspapers, making change, and doing accounting. I can definitely do that. Even a child can do it, so of course I can too."

Wu Yue glanced at the women, then quickly reached into her side pocket, took out a dried date, and popped it into her mouth.

What happens outside has nothing to do with children.

Beside the beautiful woman were two other beautiful women who had met 498 before.

Li Tangqing's daughter-in-law, Wang Li, said with a smile, "Sijiuba, I see you're too busy here. Do you want us to come and help you? You can decide on the wages."

Chai Boshi's daughter, Chai Yuzi, also laughed and said, "It's fine if you don't give it to us. We're just doing nothing and looking for something to do."

Si Jiuba glanced at the two people, then looked at the beautiful woman in the middle.

“You’re not short of money, so why are you coming here to help? I encounter all sorts of shady characters here every day, and I’m afraid you’ll run into trouble. I’d better not.”

Si Jiuba wanted to refuse, her first impression being that these three women didn't seem like capable housewives.

Chai Yuzi smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about that. My father is the prison warden in the capital. Do you know this person next to me?"

498 looked at the elegant woman with a smile on her face and quickly shook his head.

The woman smiled and said, "My husband is a clerk in the capital. He used to come here often to buy newspapers. Last month, the officials from the capital went to manage Tibet. I am too weak to go to a place like Tibet, so I stayed behind."

"I'm home alone and have nothing to do. I heard you're hiring, so I thought I'd come and find something to do. I'll pay you the regular wage, just enough to keep me occupied and read the newspaper. How does that sound?"

Wu Yue frowned. "Then what's your name? I still don't know your name. You're talking so much, but I can't understand a word you're saying."

Despite her rude speech, none of the three women dared to underestimate this ill-mannered little girl.

This is the daughter of King Wu. Anyone who dares to call her a little beast will be exiled to Southeast Asia, which is the least of their worries.

Whether they are public residents or family members of high-ranking officials, no one can expect to dance on the front lines.

If you're not careful, this kind of thing can bring disaster to your whole family.

"My name is Chen Xianzhi." Chen Xianzhi introduced herself with a smile, and also said with a smile, "Indeed, we should follow the customs of the mountain farmers and speak directly if there is anything."

Chai Yuzi smiled and greeted the little girl who was eating snacks with her cheeks puffed out.

"This humble woman greets Your Highness the Princess!"

Si Jiu Ba said with a smile, "No need to be so polite. We can just call Wu Yue by her name. Wu Yue doesn't like people calling her princess."

Wu Yue took out a jujube and stuffed the dried jujube into her mouth, which was losing her baby teeth, with her small palm.

This girl seems ill-mannered, not very smart, and impolite.

Wang Li asked, "Do you need more people here? I can tell you're really too busy. We know each other well, and we're both women. I see your shop in the back is almost finished, and two people definitely won't be enough then."

498 originally intended to just hire a few people casually.

Chen Xianzhi saw that Si Jiuba was in a dilemma. "We are all women. Although this is the first time we have met, I have known about you for eight or nine years. Now that we have the opportunity to work together, you may speak frankly about any difficulties you are facing. We can help you in any way we can."

Under Chen Xianzhi's "persuasion," Si Jiuba reluctantly revealed the truth. "I think it's such a waste that you're all so beautiful, selling newspapers with me. I feel you're even more beautiful than King Wu's concubines!"

Chen Xianzhi and the other two were immediately overjoyed.

Wang Li laughed and said, "How could that be... His Majesty's concubines must be stunning beauties, how can we compare?"

Si Jiuba looked serious, but he had absolutely no knowledge of the subject.

Beijiwu wouldn't let his wife dress up in a glamorous way and go out in public all the time.

Either you quietly do some simple work, or if you want to dress up and be vain, you can stay quietly in the palace or your own courtyard, and dress up however you like behind closed doors.

Whether you wear it or not doesn't matter.

Fortunately, there was a worldly girl here.

Wu Yue interjected earnestly, "My father has plenty of beautiful women around him, many, many more beautiful than them. Even those who dance and mop the floor are more beautiful than those three."

Wu Yue casually spoke the truth, then continued to feel around in her pocket, pulled out the last date, and stuffed it into her mouth to eat as a snack.

498 exclaimed in shock, "Really? Your father has so many beautiful women?"

Wu Yue looked down on the woman, her face full of disdain. "What nonsense are you talking about? At its peak, my father's palace housed 700,000 palace maids. Those who weren't pretty were driven away long ago. It's said that there are still more than 70,000 palace maids now, as well as women sent from all over the world."

“In my father’s household, pretty girls get higher salaries. I heard from my aunt that my father would choose a few pretty palace maids from more than a hundred to warm his bed every night before going to sleep.”

Si Jiuba never expected that Beijiwu's life was so corrupt. He said with a sense of loss, "I thought your father was a man who was not interested in women."

Wu Yue realized this woman was too foolish. "He's not interested in women, so how did I get here? I'm not talking to you anymore, give me money, I'm going to buy some food!"

Wu Yue reached out and asked for money.

Si Jiu Ba didn't refuse; he's only able to earn so much money now because of his daughter's father's influence.

"Go order the food. The five of us will eat together at the restaurant in the back. Keep an eye on things, and I'll pay the bill later."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yue put on the small shoes and casually picked up a newspaper to use as pocket money to buy snacks.

After Wu Yue ran away, Si Jiu Ba closed the newsstand and went to the back shop with three beautiful women to talk.

The four women soon started eating and drinking together in the store, chatting idly for two or three hours.

After eating and drinking her fill, Wu Yue lay down in the house and took a nap, completely ignoring the idle chatter outside.

As the event was about to end, Si Jiu Ba still had to say a few words.

"This is a good idea, and we can do it the way you want. But let me tell you something unpleasant beforehand: if anyone says something unpleasant because you're pretty, don't be angry. I'll help you scold them."

Chen Xianzhi nodded gently, "The difficulty for women in finding jobs lies in this: going out in public always brings gossip and harassment, which is why I came here."

Si Jiuba hurriedly said, "I can't guarantee that. I've been selling newspapers here since I was a child, and I've encountered a lot of annoying things. You guys are different; I'm used to it."

Chai Yuzi quickly asked, "Has anything like this happened in the past year?"

Si Jiu Ba thought for a moment and quickly shook his head, "No, it seems that after Wu Yue and her family came to the capital, there were no more hooligans causing trouble."

Chai Yuzi and Wang Li exchanged a glance.

Chen Xianzhi smiled and said, "I do know some of the details. I remember one year a Han Chinese merchant cheated a mountain farmer's child and was beaten to death in the street. Since then, no one has dared to harass the public household registration system."

“In a place like yours, you could have easily killed those scoundrels and no one would have made a fuss. Besides, His Majesty has arranged this large shop for you, and the princess is here to help you.”

"Let alone Han or Hu people, even mountain farmers wouldn't dare to act recklessly here."

Si Jiuba suddenly remembered something that happened when he was a child. He had encountered the three Mu Lin brothers who were being bullied, and he stood up for them and killed the couple who sold fried dough sticks.

After that, I got to know the three Mu Lin brothers, as well as the Arctic children and women, including Arctic Hydrogen.

"Oh... I see..."

Si Jiuba was in a daze for a moment before realizing that several years had already passed.

(End of this chapter)