Chapter 282: Niu Youdao Has Arrived

Zha Hu suddenly understood what Huyan Wuhen meant. If those two disabled veterans had gone around proclaiming that they were men of the Black Wind Cavalry after retiring from service, the Huyan household would never have learned the truth only now. The fact that they had only just discovered it meant the two had never spoken of their past after returning. That silence carried its own meaning.

"They truly don't need anyone's pity," Zha Hu said with a nod. "Thinking of helping them only now seems rather late. Their prospects and future are already gone. An Taiping hiring them and letting them support themselves by their own labor is probably the best outcome."

"An Taiping... how can peace be attained?" Huyan Wuhen sighed softly. "I thought every one of them had died. I didn't expect there would still be survivors."

"Old Tiger, go through the Black Wind Cavalry's old military rolls and investigate the men scattered across the various regions. See whether there are any similar survivors. If there are, arrange matters for all of them the same way An Taiping did. Do it quietly."

"Yes!" Zha Hu answered.

He also understood what Huyan Wuhen meant by doing it quietly. The General had no need to use such a thing to embellish his own reputation...

The next day, all three hundred and two newly hired workers arrived at the renovated compound at the appointed time. On their first day, no one dared be late. Many were both excited and nervous as they gathered in groups and waited.

Yuan Gang was nothing like Huyan Wei. He was absolutely punctual and did not leave everyone standing around. Before long, he appeared in front of the crowd. He wasted no words and went straight to the point.

"We'll divide the work now. Anyone with a family, stand over there."

He pointed toward an open patch of ground to one side. The crowd stirred and separated. A little over forty men moved to the indicated area.

"Since you have families, forcing you to live here would be unreasonable. You may return home after work. Put these men at the storefront and arrange their duties yourself," Yuan Gang said, turning his head.

Shopkeeper Gao nodded. "All right."

Yuan Gang asked, "Will that be enough people for the front? If not, I'll assign you a few more."

"Enough, enough!" Shopkeeper Gao hurriedly replied.

Truthfully, he thought hiring three hundred people was far too much. One hundred would have been sufficient. Hiring this many people was practically ignoring labor costs altogether. What kind of business was run like this?

Yuan Gang walked among the remaining workers and pointed people out one after another, selecting every man he had his eye on. On the surface, they were simply young men who looked energetic and capable. In reality, every one of them was a member of his own team.

"These young fellows look fairly capable. I'll arrange their work myself," Yuan Gang said.

Shopkeeper Gao nodded faintly. He had to admit it was true. This group of young men looked impressive standing together. Third Young Master might be rather unserious as a person, but his eye for choosing workers had not been wrong.

After the personnel had been divided, Shopkeeper Gao sidled up to Yuan Gang and lowered his voice. "Proprietor, how are you planning to arrange the two men missing an arm and a leg? You did promise they wouldn't work inside the shop."

Yuan Gang looked toward the two old men and beckoned them over. Both came somewhat nervously. What lay inside a man never truly vanished, but outwardly they had spent all these years as two humble, insignificant figures.

"The work I have for you may not look very respectable. Can you do it?" Yuan Gang asked.

The two exchanged a glance.

Yuan Dahu smiled. "As long as it isn't something shameful, we'll do it."

Gu Younian nodded in agreement. He was a man of few words.

"Good!" Yuan Gang immediately turned to Shopkeeper Gao. "Didn't you say the two selling positions at the entrance weren't enough and you wanted to expand them?"

Shopkeeper Gao nodded, waiting to hear where this was going.

Yuan Gang said, "If the line gets too long, disorder can break out easily. I won't have these two work inside the shop. Have them maintain order in the queues outside."

"..."

Shopkeeper Gao was speechless. So this was what Yuan Gang meant by not letting them work inside. Third Young Master cared about face, yet Yuan Gang was going to plant the two men directly outside where they would be even more conspicuous.

"Proprietor, Third Young Master..."

"If Third Young Master has an opinion, tell him to come find me."

One sentence shut Shopkeeper Gao's mouth.

Yuan Gang turned back to the two old men. "Besides that, take responsibility for keeping our stretch of the road in front of the shop clean. If you see anyone throw rubbish, pick it up and clear it away. Keep the outside neat and tidy."

"We sell food. Letting people see a clean and orderly frontage can only be a good thing."

"I simply don't know whether your injuries will make that kind of work difficult."

Yuan Dahu hurriedly shook his head. "Not difficult, not difficult. We can do it. We can. We'll make sure the road outside the shop stays spotless."

Gu Younian nodded too.

Yuan Gang looked over their clothes. "Missing an arm or a leg doesn't matter. But things that can be changed should still be changed."

"Your clothing is too worn. People will think there are two beggars standing outside the Tofu House."

"Shopkeeper Gao, the shop is having matching clothes made for the workers. Give these two two sets each so they have something to change into. If they're standing outside, they're part of our storefront."

The two old men looked somewhat embarrassed. The words were blunt, but they were not wrong. There was no circling around the matter, no pretending not to notice. By speaking plainly, Yuan Gang actually put them more at ease.

"Yes!" Shopkeeper Gao answered.

He sighed inwardly. There was nothing he could do with Yuan Gang. Even having Third Young Master behind him was useless. Yuan Gang did not care about that kind of pressure and would still dare fire him.

Yuan Gang said to the two veterans, "Maintaining order outside means you'll inevitably meet people who refuse to follow the rules."

"We have several hundred people here. If someone is unreasonable, you don't need to swallow your anger. Come back and call people. Whatever the other side wants to do, we'll accompany them to the end."

"Remember this. Do not think that because you're missing an arm or a leg, finding work is difficult and therefore you have to endure humiliation to keep the job."

"If that's how you intend to live, then leave now. I don't want people like that, because I am not that kind of man."

With his team members now in place, Niu Lin, Yuan Huo, and Niu Shan were finally freed from making tofu themselves.

After a full day of preparation, the following morning, while the sky was still barely beginning to lighten, Yuan Dahu and Gu Younian got up early. Carrying buckets, they went to the lakeside for water and began washing the road outside the shop. The day before, they had been allowed to eat their fill at every meal and had been given clean lodging. The two clearly treasured this work immensely.

They did even more than Yuan Gang had asked. Rather than simply sweeping, they got up before dawn and washed the entire stretch of street so the cleaning would not inconvenience customers later. A dense thunder of footsteps suddenly poured out of the alley. The two men stopped and stared. More than two hundred young men came running out under Niu Lin and the others. The veterans had no idea where they were going or what they were doing. Yuan Gang was the last to emerge from the alley.

He watched the group run off, cast only a calm glance at the two men working, then turned and went back inside. Only afterward did the two veterans understand. The more than two hundred young men were running laps around Ming Lake. They had come out to run before dawn.

After the group finished its run and returned to eat, they pushed handcarts out one after another, each loaded with barrels of tofu pudding, and headed toward sales points throughout the capital. From that day onward, tofu suddenly became available everywhere in the Qi capital.

The novelty made the first day's sales exceptionally brisk. Many people who had heard of it but never tasted it could not resist trying some when they happened to pass a stall. The two disabled old men outside the Tofu House became a novelty themselves. Customers also noticed with surprise that the stone-paved ground in front of the shop was remarkably clean. The streets before other businesses were dusty and gray. Only the stretch outside the Tofu House stood out as spotless. After nightfall, business gradually quieted.

Then the same group of young men went down to the lakeshore, stripped off their clothes, jumped into the water, and began racing one another in a night swim. The two veterans looked at each other. Could the proprietor truly mean what he had said about training these men? He did. Even after reaching the Qi capital, Yuan Gang had not allowed them to slacken. He continued drilling them. He had openly brought this entire group into the capital of Qi and was training them right under everyone's eyes.

As far as Yuan Gang was concerned, he had already done what needed doing. If anyone thought there was a problem with the way he operated, then they could come say it to his face. If no one thought there was a problem, he would simply continue. There was no point sneaking around. That was his style. The men themselves almost began to feel that this was not so different from Qingshan Commandery after all. It did not seem nearly as dangerous as they had imagined.

They had simply changed locations and continued training. What they did not know was how much groundwork Yuan Gang and the others had laid in advance to make this possible. Sitting in the shop and watching the scene outside, Shopkeeper Gao was somewhat dumbfounded...

Inside the study at the Huyan residence, Huyan Wuhen and Zha Hu, one seated and one standing, stared at each other.

"What is he trying to do?" Huyan Wuhen asked.

Zha Hu smiled bitterly. "I can't make sense of it. Personally, I get the feeling he's dissatisfied with the court and has decided to build up and drill his own force. This man really might do something like that."

Huyan Wuhen was speechless for a moment.

Then he slowly said, "As long as he doesn't start using blades and weapons. If he's frustrated and wants to amuse himself, let him. But warn him not to cross the line."

"If he ends up accused of drilling private troops in the capital, no one will be able to protect him."

Zha Hu nodded, then shook his head with a rueful smile. "He certainly keeps finding novel things to do. I imagine most people will simply watch it as entertainment."

"With so few men, he can't create much trouble in the capital anyway. Everything is right out in the open. Probably no one will take it seriously."

Golden sunlight from the rising sun shone across the city gates as they opened. By midmorning, Niu Youdao's party entered the capital. Galloping horses through the city was inappropriate, so the group rode at an easy pace, looking around from horseback. A familiar fragrance drifted past. Niu Youdao's eyes showed a trace of puzzlement as he searched left and right. He noticed a small crowd gathered at a street corner, buying something. The fragrance was far too familiar. Niu Youdao tried to see clearly.

Then he caught sight of the face of the man selling the food and froze. One of Monkey's team members? Someone carrying away a freshly purchased bowl passed nearby. Niu Youdao glanced into it. This time, he was truly stunned.

Tofu pudding?

Monkey had brought his people all the way here to sell tofu pudding? Niu Youdao's mood sank slightly. Selling something this conspicuous—were they afraid he might not be exposed otherwise?

Still, he knew Yuan Gang was not a man who acted recklessly. That knowledge kept him calm, and he did not rush to do anything. The seller was already accustomed to scanning his surroundings from time to time. He noticed Niu Youdao as well. Delight flashed through his eyes, then vanished almost instantly. Black Peony recognized the seller too. She turned her head slightly to observe Niu Youdao's reaction.

"What are they selling there? I don't remember seeing this the last time I came." Linghu Qiu had noticed the commotion too and could not help asking curiously.

At Among the White Clouds, Qin Mian hurried down a corridor, knocked open Su Zhao's door, and entered with an urgent report.

"Proprietress, Niu Youdao has arrived. He's already entered the city!"

Su Zhao, seated cross-legged in meditation on the couch, slowly opened her eyes. An expression of long-awaited anticipation appeared on her face.

"I've heard his great name for a long time, but we've never met. I've wanted to test him personally for quite a while."

"This time, I'd like to see for myself whether the man who dares enter this dragon's pool and tiger's den truly has three heads and six arms!"

[End of Chapter 282]