Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

"Queue up to register!"

The peach branches and willow leaves no longer whispered as usual.

The two men stood with their hands on their hips, shouting at the top of their lungs to maintain order in the group.

"One at a time! Everyone gets a turn! Anyone who cuts in line will be disqualified!"

In an instant, a long queue, seemingly endless, formed in front of Gu Mingyue's small square table.

The disaster victims were incredibly enthusiastic.

The number of applicants exceeded 1,500 in just two hours, and it continues to surge.

Not just disaster victims.

The news somehow reached Kyoto.

Beggars, vagrants, odd-job laborers, and even some downtrodden thugs from the city all flocked there after hearing the news.

A burly, bald man with a face full of scars squeezed to the front of the table and slammed his hand on it.

"Boss! I heard you're hiring, paying 150 coins a day?"

Taozhi was startled: "You...you're a disaster victim?"

The bald man grinned, revealing a mouthful of big white teeth.

"I'm not a disaster victim, I'm Zhao Dazhu from the southern part of Kyoto! I used to work as a porter at the dock, but the dock closed down and I lost my livelihood."

"Then you don't meet the recruitment requirements. We only recruit refugees."

"Wait." Gu Mingyue raised her hand to break the peach branch, then looked at Zhao Dazhu, "What can you do?"

Zhao Dazhu scratched his bald head and chuckled, "I can do everything! Carry bags, move bricks, dig, chop down trees! I'm incredibly strong!"

Peach Blossom asked curiously, "With all your strength, why hasn't anyone kept you employed?"

Zhao Dazhu blushed and lowered his head.

"Well, I just... have a big appetite. I can eat eight bowls of rice in one meal!"

"Eight bowls in one meal?" Gu Mingyue's eyes lit up slightly.

They're eating so well! The more they eat, the more they spend! Their food expenses are skyrocketing!

"Confessed. Next."

Peach Blossom: "Miss???"

"remember!"

Taozhi wrote down the name with a speechless expression.

This time it was a skinny boy.

He was about eighteen years old, quite thin, but with a clever look. He always greeted people with a smile, and when he spoke, he revealed two bright white tiger teeth. He looked both roguish and endearing.

He called himself "Yan Xiaoliu" and was a local bully in the western part of Kyoto.

"Boss! I may not have any real skills, but I have a wide network of connections! I have brothers and acquaintances all over the surrounding area, even the stray dogs in every alley know me!"

Gu Mingyue calmly asked, "What did you do before?"

Yan Xiaoliu chuckled: "Running errands, relaying messages, keeping watch... and occasionally setting up a roadside stall to sell some small items."

What are you selling?

"Sell...uh..."

Yan Xiaoliu's eyes began to wander.

"Fake antiques. Business is tough these days..."

Tao Zhi was furious: "Even a liar is applying for a job?!"

"She confessed." Gu Mingyue remained expressionless.

"Huh?!" Tao Zhi and Yan Xiaoliu's eyes widened at the same time.

Gu Mingyue had already written Yan Xiaoliu's name on the roster.

"Being able to sell fake antiques shows you're quick-witted and have good communication skills. You'll be assigned to be a purchasing agent, specifically responsible for buying things at high prices in the market."

Yan Xiaoliu was so excited that tears almost welled up in her eyes: "Master! You are the first person in my life who appreciates me!"

However, what truly caught Gu Mingyue's eye was the 1,473rd applicant.

As this person slowly walked up from the end of the queue, the people around him unconsciously moved aside.

This man was in his early twenties, with a handsome face and even a somewhat scholarly air.

He was wearing a faded but clean and tidy gray short-sleeved shirt.

But he was shrouded in an indescribable... ominous aura.

It wasn't some kind of ominous sign like demons or monsters.

Rather, it is a metaphysical constitution that leaves "nothing growing where this person has walked."

He had just walked to the table when a stone under his feet suddenly came loose and knocked the table leg askew with a "crack".

The roster on the table slipped to the floor with a "whoosh".

Ink splashed onto the table with a "plop".

"I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry!!"

The young man quickly squatted down to pick up the roster.

As a result, the back of his head hit the edge of the table the moment he squatted down.

A muffled thud.

The abacus on the table was knocked away.

"Ouch!!"

The young man held the back of his head, his face full of pain and apology, and stammered an apology.

"I...I was just being unlucky...I'm only a scholar. I'm so sorry! It wasn't intentional!"

Taozhi covered the flower roster and took three steps back, looking at him with the eyes of someone looking at a plague god.

"You! You're a jinx descended from heaven, aren't you?!"

Shi Buji lowered his head, his ears turning bright red.

"No... I'm not a jinx... I'm just... unlucky."

His voice grew softer and softer as he spoke, until he finished recounting his "glorious resume" in a voice barely audible.

"I was originally from Jiangzhou. I passed the imperial examination at the county level in my early years, but due to my family's poverty, I gave up my studies to make a living and became an apprentice in a cloth shop in the city."

"The fabrics in the shop were always piled up in dark places, which made them prone to dampness and mold. I suggested that we hang the fabrics by color in a bright spot facing the street, which would allow for ventilation and also serve as a signboard to attract customers. But the shopkeeper said I was just messing around. In less than three months, all the fabrics were damp and smelly, and we couldn't sell them. We lost everything."

"Later, I went to work as a helper at a grain shop. The rice granary was always being gnawed by rats and was prone to insects. I suggested that we bury dried mugwort in the corners of the granary walls and open a few small ventilation windows in the roof to keep out both rats and moisture. The shopkeeper scolded me for meddling. As a result, two months later, not only was the bottom of the granary gnawed through by rats, but all the rice inside had become moldy, and the grain shop had to close down."

"Later, I went to work as a waiter in a restaurant. I noticed that customers always had to wait too long for their food and were prone to causing trouble by rushing to order. So I suggested that we prepare the frequently ordered side dishes in advance, plate them, and serve them as soon as the customers sat down, while the main courses could be prepared slowly. But the manager said I was being lazy and slacking off, saying that freshly made dishes are the freshest, and he scolded me and rejected my suggestion. After that, the restaurant was constantly complained about by customers, and business got worse and worse. The manager kicked me out and even called me a jinx."

"And then..."

"Stop." Taozhi raised her hand. "Just how many shops have you destroyed?"

Shi Buji paused for a moment.

A hand was extended.

"...Five fingers or...five families?" Taozhi asked nervously.

Shi Buji was a little embarrassed.

"Fifty."

Tao Zhi gasped.

"Fifty stores?! You single-handedly took down fifty stores?!"

"It's not entirely my fault!"

Shi Buji explained calmly.

"Several of them were already on the verge of going out of business."

"I gave them suggestions for improvement, but they didn't listen. So I just... sped things up a bit."

An eerie silence fell over the entire job interview.

People in line moved further away, afraid of getting any bad luck.

However, just when everyone thought this "shop killer" would definitely be turned away,

Gu Mingyue's clear voice came from behind the table.

With a hint of something that was hard to hide...

excited.

"You're saying that whichever store you go to loses money?"

Shi Buji nodded pitifully.

"Was the loss significant?"

"...Quite a lot. The cloth shop burned down half a street that time, and they lost three thousand taels in compensation."

Gu Mingyue suddenly stood up.

The chair was pushed back, making a sharp scraping sound.

She braced her hands on the ink-stained tabletop, leaned forward, and stared intently at Shi Buji.

That look in his eyes was just like that of a gold prospector who suddenly spotted a natural diamond the size of a pigeon's egg in a riverbed.

"You! You're a truly remarkable person whose life has been filled with hardship!"

Shi Buji was so frightened that he took a step back.

"I?"

"A thoughtful person! Unafraid of difficulties! A talent capable of single-handedly taking down fifty shops!!"