Chapter 37: Money Makes the Beast Go Round

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Money Makes the Beast Go Round

And another thing.

While she didn’t know the meaning of the word "clown," she was certain it wasn’t anything good!

Feng Si disappeared from the window of the adjacent carriage. While Feng Si herself wasn’t angry, Bai Dan was so furious her chest ached. She clutched her heart, her hatred deepening with every beat.

’A clown, am I?’

"You look down on me? I’ll make you pay!" Bai Dan vowed, gritting her teeth.

Unmoved by Bai Dan’s threat, Feng Si soothed the bristling fur of the chubby little Mao Ge, then reached out to pat the annoyed Mao Qiu on the head. "Mm, I’ll be waiting," she replied coldly.

The brief unpleasantness passed, and Feng Si didn’t dwell on what Bai Dan might be planning.

Even without today’s exchange of insults, their prior enmity wouldn’t just disappear. And wasn’t worrying about things that hadn’t happened yet exactly what her enemies wanted to see?

She refused to punish herself by borrowing the anxiety and stress of a bad future. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

After returning home, Feng Si gathered her helper, her little helper, and two other workers for a huge lunch. They feasted on pickled cabbage stew, boiled green potatoes with honey, pan-fried pork belly cutlets, and garlic-stir-fried wild vegetables.

A single stir-fried dish was enough to make the helpers eat all their worries away. Once they were full, their minds were already fixated on when they could have their next meal like this.

With her helpers’ spirits lifted, Feng Si had another busy afternoon ahead of her: pickling cabbage and sun-drying green potatoes. She was so occupied that she nearly forgot who Bai Dan even was.

But while she was forgetting Bai Dan, Bai Dan was still holding a grudge against her. She sought out Bai Qi, who shared her hatred for Feng Si.

"Damn it! That sub-female Feng Si! The moment people lose interest in the things she’s selling, I’m going to beat her to a pulp," Bai Dan spat, her heart full of resentment as she grabbed Bai Qi’s hand.

Bai Qi sighed. "That could be a long wait. Even people from the North District are coming here to buy food from Feng Si..."

"What?" Bai Dan was about to say that was impossible when a thought struck her. The North District was the wealthy district, home to the powerful and influential. Feng Si’s food was priced so high... perhaps this was an opportunity to get some vicious revenge on her.

With that thought in mind, Bai Dan leaned in and whispered her plan into Bai Qi’s ear.

And so...

As the two suns began to set in the west and the sweltering heat lessened, Bai Dan and Bai Qi pooled their money. They spent several large coins on a jar of honey and, carrying the precious gift, knocked on the door of a friend they knew in the North District.

Their friend, like them, was a sub-female of the White Mouse Clan. Bai Sha had used her good looks to marry a male beast from the Nantong City Guard Team and currently worked at the City Lord Mansion.

Carrying the honey, Bai Dan and Bai Qi immediately grabbed Bai Sha’s hand and began to pour out their pitiful troubles.

They said they couldn’t earn any coins from their stall, that they hadn’t saved anything, and that they hadn’t bought any food or supplies for the coming cold season. They added that the male beasts in their families were very weak, and when the rainy season arrived, their whole families would either starve or freeze to death.

First, they played the victim. Then, they begged Bai Sha to help them find a job in the City Lord Mansion, saying they were willing to do any dirty or tiring work.

Bai Sha remembered that with the Little City Lord’s recent return, the City Lord Mansion was in dire need of sub-females to do work. She readily agreed and immediately took the honey, leading Bai Dan and Bai Qi to find the Steward of the City Lord Mansion.

The Steward accepted Bai Dan and Bai Qi’s honey and assigned them a good post: kitchen-helper sub-females in the Little City Lord’s courtyard, responsible for picking vegetables and assisting the head-cook sub-female with washing wild vegetables during meal prep.

The pay was eighty coins a day, and if they didn’t make any mistakes, the job would continue through the cold season.

Having achieved their goal, Bai Dan couldn’t contain her joy. She exchanged a look with Bai Qi, a sinister smile spreading across her face.

...

「Early morning.」

As was their habit, the Beastmen who loved a hearty bowl of meat in the morning gathered around Feng Si’s stall. Today, however, there were two sub-females in black veils among them.

Bai Sha had a black headscarf wrapped around her head. The black cloth wound from one ear to the other, draping over her shoulder and revealing a pair of beady black eyes.

Queuing at the back of the crowd, she whispered to her companion, "She’s never seen us before. We’re here to help Bai Dan get revenge... I mean, to buy fried meat and pickled cabbage."

Her sub-female companion: "..."

’Can you stop drooling?’

—After learning that Bai Dan and Bai Qi had been "bullied," they had immediately joined the small team to help their friends stand up for themselves.

Bai Dan and Bai Qi had given them 999 coins to buy these two items—pickled cabbage and fried meat—and bring them back to the City Lord Mansion.

Their thinking was as follows.

It didn’t matter that Feng Si had won the hearts of the Beastmen. If they couldn’t deal with her themselves, they could find more powerful Beastmen to suppress her.

Bai Sha swallowed hard, feeling an irresistible craving for food for the first time.

’I thought Bai Dan and the others were exaggerating, but I never expected Feng Si’s food to smell this good!’

Her sub-female companion was also staring greedily, but remembering the fifty coins she had received from Bai Dan, she reached out and tugged on Bai Sha’s sleeve. "It’s almost our turn."

Bai Sha wiped the corner of her mouth.

They held hands, squeezing tightly to remind each other to move forward together.

Feng Si looked up at the two sub-females with partially covered faces. Without prying, she asked, "Hello, what can I get for you?"

Bai Sha looked down at the various foods on the stall, her eyes green with envy. She traced a large circle over the countertop with her finger, encompassing everything. "This one, and this one... I want one of everything," she said excitedly.

Her sub-female companion: "..."

’You’re letting your personal desires get in the way!’

"One jar of pickled cabbage is 600, one portion of Green Potato is 28, the grilled meat is 399, and the new dish, pickled cabbage stew, is 499. The dipping sauce is complimentary. That’s a total of 1,526. I only accept cash coins, thank you." Feng Si deftly packed the customer’s food and handed it to them in a sturdy paper box.

’Right now, I only have a registered bank card, and the communicator on my wrist belongs to someone else, so I can’t link it to my identity. I can only accept cash coins and deposit them at a North District bank every seven days.’

’It’s a bit of a hassle, but at least my identity as a female won’t be exposed for now.’

’Females are treated quite well here, but I have eight wicked family members looking for me, and possibly an old Beastman from Cang City, too.’

’As I am now, penniless and powerless, if any one of those nine people were to show up, I’d be a fish on the chopping block.’

’So, my only way to get ahead is to make more money—lots and lots of coins. Then I can buy a piece of land, build a manor, and hire male beast fighters as guards.’

’Tempted by a high enough sum of coins, even Advanced Male Beasts would work for me. By then, whether it’s my family or some other powerful figure, none of those nine people will be able to force me to do anything I don’t want to do.’

’I want to have so much money that I can smash open a path for myself with coins, one that I actually want to walk.’

’After all, I believe...’

’...that money makes the beast go round.’

Clinging to this hope for the future, Feng Si’s eyes shone like stars in the night sky.

’With this stall, after deducting the 6,000-coin cost, I’m netting 75,000 coins a day. In just twenty days, I’ve already saved up a million in my unregistered card, and I have over 130,000 in cash coins, too.’