Chapter 42: Robbery
From the interior decor, this candy shop seems to have been around for quite a while.
However, the owner sitting by the counter is quite a young lady.
Upon seeing Chu Jiu, the young lady warmly greeted him, “This sir, what would you like to buy?”
“We have excellent candied fruits here, apples and oranges, all with extra honey, especially sweet!”
Chu Jiu looked at a still life painting on the wall, its colors faded but clearly well-preserved, even with a special frame, and said, “I want candy like that in the painting.”
In the dimmed picture was a serving of colorful candies in some kind of transparent vessel.
Red, yellow, blue, green, as vibrant as gemstones.
Paired with a bowl underneath, made of what looked like crystal or glass and shaped like a seashell, it wasn’t hard to imagine how dazzling this painting must have been in its day.
The young lady was taken aback, then turned her head to look at the painting on the wall, shaking her head and smiling, “This is just a decorative painting!”
“The things in this picture, our shop – oh, not just our shop, the entire Sea Moon City, even the whole Carrot Continent, no one sells them anymore.”
Chu Jiu paused for a few seconds, then tentatively asked, “Then do you know what kind of candy is specifically in this painting, or how these candies were made?”
The young lady continued to shake her head, “I wouldn’t know about that. After all, this painting is from many years ago…”
Just then, a coughing sound came from the inner room, and someone slowly walked out, dragging their feet.
The person who came out was an old man with snow-white hair and beard.
As soon as the young lady saw him, she busied herself, “Grandpa! Grandpa, why did you get up? Shouldn’t you be resting in the back?”
The old man raised his hand to stop the young lady from helping him back to rest, looked at Chu Jiu, and said, “You’re asking how the candy in this painting was made?”
Chu Jiu: “Yes.”
The old man looked up at the painting and murmured:
“The candy in the painting was made with something hard, very sweet, like small pale yellow ice cubes, plus the colors of various fruits.”
“That pale yellow ice cube-like thing… is gone. Used up, all gone…”
“Our gemstones… are also gone…”
The young lady frowned and said:
“Alright, alright, you should go back and rest.”
“I’ll help you in.”
As the young lady helped the old man into the room, Chu Jiu faintly heard the old man still muttering, “No more gemstones… no gemstones, I can’t see my friends anymore…”
Chu Jiu’s heart skipped a few beats.
After a short while, the young lady came out hastily and said apologetically:
“That was my great-grandfather. He’s very old now and sometimes says strange things.”
“Please don’t take what the old man said seriously.”
“How could there be such a thing as sweet, pale-colored ice cubes? Our current candy is all made with honey, isn’t it?”
“Even if honey solidifies, it doesn’t take the shape of ice cubes.”
Chu Jiu tried asking the young lady if the old man had any special encounters when he was young, but the young lady shook her head, saying she had never heard of anything like that. Chu Jiu didn’t say anything more and bought a small box of date and honey candies from the shop for 50 copper coins, thinking he could take them back to share with the children in Douzi Village.
Walking out of the candy shop, Chu Jiu whispered to Little Can, “Little Can, it seems that if we want to see the little squirrel, we have to find a way to earn the ‘entrance fee’ ourselves.”
Little Can first meowed with confusion, then nervously meowed twice in succession – “Earn the entrance fee? How do you want to earn it?”
Chu Jiu smiled, “In any case, I’ve already figured out where the ‘gemstones’ came from.”
“To refine these gemstones, we first need to find ‘sugarcane’.”
“With sugarcane, we can make hard cane sugar, and then turn it into all sorts of colorful gemstones!”
He had only noticed before that most of the sweeteners in this world were honey, but he hadn’t considered that there was no cane sugar here at all now.
That’s right. Unlike ancient China, which had both honey and maltose, and later sugarcane, ancient Europe on Earth didn’t have sugarcane at all, so for a long time, they only had honey as a single natural sweetener.
It seems that in this world, people once discovered “cane sugar” and even used it to make various candies.
Unfortunately, due to the interruption of civilization, “cane sugar,” like many other things, has become a distant legend.
*
Chu Jiu ran into Marco with his young apprentice when he returned to the inn.
“A’Jiu!” Marco greeted him cheerfully.
Before Chu Jiu could ask, Marco beamed and stepped forward, “It’s done!”
“We got a big order! From the wealthiest and most reputable merchant in Sea Moon City!”
“Their shops aren’t just on one street in Sea Moon City, they have many in other cities too!”
Then, Marco pulled Chu Jiu to a quieter place and whispered the amount of Bahart’s order to Chu Jiu: 100 portions of honey, a full 150 silver coins.
That’s 15,000 copper coins.
According to the previously agreed profit sharing, Marco would earn 3,000, and Chu Jiu and Grandpa Du would each get 6,000.
6,000 copper coins would be enough for Grandpa Du to live comfortably for a whole year, and he could also renovate the wooden house he had lived in for many years and add some furniture and utensils to his home.
Not only did Marco speak with great excitement, but Chu Jiu also smiled brightly as he listened, repeatedly saying how wonderful it was.
However, the young apprentice beside Marco looked worried and hesitant to speak.
When Marco excitedly said that they should wait for Reg to come back and then go out for a good meal to celebrate, the young apprentice finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears with a “wah” sound.
Chu Jiu was taken aback and quickly asked what was wrong.
The young apprentice sobbed, “Master Marco… Master Marco… actually bet everything he had on this!”
It turned out that the merchant named Bahart, although full of praise for the two jars of honey Marco had brought, still couldn’t believe that Marco could stably supply 100 portions of honey within a year.
Moreover, Marco had never done business with the major merchants in Sea Moon City before, which made his words even less convincing.
For Bahart, a full 100 portions of high-quality honey definitely required advance arrangements for channels and retailers, and a portion had to be reserved for “important customers.”
If Marco couldn’t guarantee the supply, or even couldn’t find the honey at the last minute, it would mean that Bahart had made a mistake in judgment, enough to be laughed at by his peers for three whole years.
This kind of major matter concerning reputation and credibility couldn’t be solved simply by “not paying a deposit in advance” or “paying upon delivery.”
In the end, Marco was able to secure the agreement because he found witnesses on the spot and used his shop and carriage as collateral. If he breached the contract, Marco would be ruined.
Hearing this, Chu Jiu was somewhat stunned: Marco had gone to such lengths for this order? Wasn’t he afraid that something unexpected might happen in the meantime?
The young apprentice also cried, saying that Master Marco was going too far for this order from Bean Village, being too reckless.
Marco first scolded the young apprentice a few times, then said to Chu Jiu:
“A’Jiu, I’ve seen the honey from our village. We’ve already saved up 30 portions. Saving up 100 portions within a year shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Actually, when I was standing in Bahart’s mansion this morning waiting, I suddenly remembered—”
“When I first came to Sea Moon City many years ago, I also worked hard, wanting to become one of those famous traveling merchants who could do business with these big merchants.”
“Later, after being turned down once or twice, I told myself, forget it, I can’t do it, I should just do some small business peacefully.”
“Plus… I really do like doing business with small villages. Seeing everyone happily exchanging for rice, flour, oil, and salt makes me happy too.”
“Over time, I told myself that I only came to Sea Moon City to see the excitement.”
“I guess I’m just meant to run small businesses around Emerald Town for the rest of my life.”
“But occasionally… very occasionally…”
“Like when you brought me tofu before, I still thought, this kind of good stuff must fascinate the merchants in Sea Moon City.”
“At that time, they would say, this is a product of Bean Village, sold by Marco from Emerald Town.”
“I… I always couldn’t help but imagine such a scene.”
“I guess I’ve never completely given up on this… this ‘dream’ of ‘I want to be a famous traveling merchant’.”
When he said the word “dream,” Marco’s voice became particularly low, as if he were saying something embarrassing.
Even his whole posture became unnatural, filled with a shyness rarely seen in someone his age.
He coughed lightly and added, “Anyway, this is something I decided to do myself, not for ‘Bean Village’.”
“Look, just a few trips like this, and I can earn 3,000 copper coins. In the future, there will be opportunities to continue working with merchants of Bahart’s level. This is simply a pie falling from the sky!”
In fact, Marco’s words were quite incoherent.
But Chu Jiu still understood.
He nodded very seriously, “Marco, thank you.”
“On behalf of the villagers of Bean Village, thank you.”
He paused for a moment, then said very sincerely, “I think your dream is amazing. To make yourself a renowned traveling merchant, to let the people of Carrot Continent know your name, and to promote the unique products of various places – that’s really amazing!”
Hearing Chu Jiu’s words, Marco became even more flustered.
“Oh dear,” he scratched his head and said softly, “At my age, what am I still talking about dreams and fantasies for? I myself find it funny.”
Chu Jiu shook his head, “What’s so funny about that?”
“Besides, what does age have to do with it? Even at seventy or eighty, you can still have dreams.”
Saying this, Chu Jiu couldn’t think of any other words, so he could only honestly say, “For example – I know an old woman who started painting at seventy and paints very well. Many people come to see her paintings.”
Chu Jiu wasn’t a particularly eloquent person. But these simple and sincere words gradually relaxed the embarrassed Marco.
The middle-aged man laughed, “Heh, then I’m even more impressive. I’m not even forty yet.”
He patted the sulking young apprentice and said, “Don’t worry yourselves silly. I’ll definitely deliver on time and won’t bankrupt the shop or cost you your jobs.”
At this moment, a prompt popped up from the system:
[Dynamic notification from “Honor Region – Bean Village”: The “Artificial Bee Farm” has received its first order!]
[Host can extract 300 Pioneering Points from this!]
[Note: If the order is successfully completed, the host can extract another 500 Pioneering Points. If the order ultimately fails, the system will deduct 600 Pioneering Points from the host.]
…Which meant that if the order wasn’t completed, he would even lose Pioneering Points.
Just as he was thinking that this reward was different from before, the system popped up another prompt:
[Host has triggered the hidden condition of “A Merchant’s Little Dream”!]
[Merchant Marco’s bargaining power with individuals other than the host and Bean Village will be improved!]
[Merchant Marco’s favorability towards the host has greatly increased!]
[Note: If Bean Village’s bee farm fails to deliver on time for any reason, “A Merchant’s Little Dream” will be shattered, and Marco’s career as a merchant will end prematurely.]
[Note: The Bean Village bee farm must complete the delivery with its own produce. No substitutes may be used, including but not limited to honey collected by the host from outside Bean Village.]
…Such strict conditions.
In that case, he had to ensure delivery no matter what, otherwise not only would he lose Pioneering Points, but it would also affect Marco’s fate and the hard-earned market in Bean Village.
However, this “greatly increased favorability” didn’t come with corresponding Pioneering Points?
Just as he was curious, the system’s prompt arrived:
[The “A Merchant’s Little Dream” triggered by the host this time is one of a series of related events.]
[Each related event has a corresponding reward. The host can claim the reward immediately after triggering an event, or accumulate all rewards until all related events are triggered.]
[If the host chooses to accumulate the rewards, the value of the rewards that can be claimed at that time will be equivalent to twice the host’s total unclaimed Pioneering Points.]
[The host can obtain 300 Pioneering Points for this event.]
[For this reward, does the host choose to claim it immediately, or accumulate it?]
Ah, there was such a reward mechanism?
Chu Jiu calculated slightly in his mind and chose “accumulate” without hesitation.
*
Having figured out what the “gemstones” actually were and successfully sold the “honey,”
Chu Jiu wasn’t in a hurry to return to Bean Village.
He remembered another thing Lu Qingyan had instructed him to do, and he still had to take care of it.
This matter, Chu Jiu initially thought wouldn’t be difficult.
Lu Qingyan asked him to find books related to tax laws and wasteland development regulations in the city and study them thoroughly.
However, when he actually started looking, Chu Jiu realized that he couldn’t find such books in the bookstores at all. Sea Moon City, a city known for its abundant goods, only had two bookstores in the entire city, and the books sold inside were all about religious doctrines, royal legends, and association miracles.
It wasn’t until he asked Marco that he learned that in earlier years, bookstores also had scrolls such as “Kingdom Decrees” or “Compilation of Decrees,”and occasionally story collections written by the common people like “Folk Tales.” But gradually, these books disappeared.
Marco guessed that this was because books were particularly expensive – after all, parchment itself was rare, and copying was very laborious. A thick scroll of “Decrees” would cost at least 100 silver coins, who could afford that?
Therefore, now only the royal family and the church, as well as emerging organizations like associations, would spend a lot of money to make parchment books and place them in bookstores.
In this way, wouldn’t the bookstores only have books promoting doctrines, praising the royal family, and lauding the associations left?
So that’s how it was.
It sounded like the scarcity of books was due to the high cost of parchment.
Listening to Marco’s explanation, Chu Jiu felt that it made sense on the one hand, but on the other hand, he vaguely felt that this matter was probably not just because the “raw materials were too expensive.”
But Chu Jiu couldn’t think of any other reasons for the moment.
He just thought of another question and asked directly, “Then how does everyone know how much tax they should pay each year?”
He had chatted with the old village chief and knew that Bean Village was a tax-exempt village granted by the kingdom, and the villagers didn’t need to pay taxes. But Emerald Town couldn’t be tax-exempt.
People living in Emerald Town, if they were engaged in different industries, should pay different taxes. If such knowledge couldn’t be disseminated through “books,” how would everyone know?
Marco shrugged, “Taxes, that’s a complicated thing. You say those of us who do business and can read can at least calculate it. There are still many illiterate people, and they just pay whatever the tax official tells them to pay, they can’t figure it out at all.”
He thought for a moment and smiled, “However, there are people in this city who have collected many early books, and even rare compilations of kingdom decrees. If you want to understand taxes and land reclamation, this old gentleman should be able to help you.”
In this way, Marco introduced Chu Jiu to an old scholar.
This old gentleman, whose surname was He, lived alone in a lighthouse by the sea. It was said that he had a peculiar temper and rarely saw outsiders.
After Chu Jiu slipped Marco’s letter of introduction through the crack in the door, he waited for a long time before the door creaked open.
But there was no one behind the door, only a letter and two parchment books.
The letter said that Chu Jiu could find what he wanted to know by reading these two books.
He could take these two books away, but he had to return them within six months.
Chu Jiu looked at the two books: thick and heavy, bound in dark red velvet, with gemstones inlaid on the covers.
Just from the gemstones on the covers, he could tell that these two books were definitely invaluable.
Such expensive books, and Mr. He was actually willing to just let him take them?
Chu Jiu thought for a moment, then took out two jars of honey from his backpack and placed them on the stairs at the entrance, also leaving a letter saying that these were some of their local specialties, and he hoped the old gentleman would like them.
When he came out of the lighthouse, Chu Jiu, who had been busy for the past two days, finally had time to take Little Can to see the sea.
It was already late autumn, and the blue-black seawater repeatedly crashed against the gravelly shore, stirring up bursts of white foam.
Chu Jiu patted Little Can on the shoulder, “When summer comes, we’ll go for walks on the beach and build you a sandcastle to play with.”
Little Can’s ice-blue eyes reflected the deep blue sea, and it softly “meowed.”
Chu Jiu gazed at the distant sea and whispered, “I used to really want to see the sea… I didn’t expect to actually see it here.”
And with his beloved little kitty!
Thinking of this, Chu Jiu couldn’t help but smile, and he stroked Little Can’s fluffy head again.
Little Can rubbed its face against his and said, “Really wanted to see the sea’ – is that your ‘dream’? Like Marco wanting to be a famous traveling merchant?”
Chu Jiu didn’t expect Little Can to ask such a question.
He stood still and thought for a moment, then said, “Hmm… perhaps it’s part of a dream.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had any grand ambitions.”
“When I was studying, I just wanted to pay off my student loans as soon as possible, be able to support myself, and then have a clean and comfortable little home, and raise a cute little cat.”
“When I didn’t have to work, I could take the cat to see the clouds and the flowers, and that would be great.”
Saying this, Chu Jiu laughed, “Ha, my thoughts are too ordinary. Instead of calling them ‘dreams,’ maybe ‘wishes’ or ‘things I want to do’ is better.”
Little Can’s paw patted Chu Jiu’s shoulder firmly, “Not ordinary.”
Not ordinary at all. I like listening to it.
Chu Jiu looked at Little Can’s serious expression and asked jokingly, “What about you? What are some things you want to do?”
Let’s see, what big dreams does a little kitty have?
This time, Little Can’s clear eyes became misty.
It was stunned for several seconds before whispering, “I… I remember I wanted to kill bugs… the other things… I don’t remember.”
For some reason, Little Can’s bewildered look made Chu Jiu feel a little uncomfortable.
He quickly said, “It’s okay, it’s okay. If you can’t remember, don’t rush to think about it. Let’s not stay here in the wind, let’s go back.”
Little Can rubbed its face against Chu Jiu’s again and softly “meowed,” “When we get back to Bean Village…”
Chu Jiu: “Hmm?”
Little Can: “I want to ask what Rawr Rawr Rabbit and the others want to do…”
Chu Jiu: “Okay. We’ll ask when we get back.”
*
As they were about to reach the entrance of the inn, Chu Jiu saw from afar a group of people wearing black cloaks file out and board the carriage parked at the door.
Chu Jiu had heard Marco and the others say that this was the usual attire of the association members.
Then, what were the association people doing at this inn?
Hadn’t they booked another place?
…Could it be…?
A bad premonition suddenly arose in Chu Jiu’s heart.
He ran back to the room in a few steps and indeed saw Marco sitting in a chair with an angry expression, Reg standing by the window with a gloomy face, and Marco’s young apprentice cowering to the side, looking like he was about to cry again out of fear.
It turned out that the association people had really come looking for Marco.
Their purpose was also very simple – to get Marco to break his contract and sell the honey to them.
As for the price, since it was to be sold to the association that served the true god, it naturally couldn’t be at the market price, but only at 50 copper coins per portion.
Of course, as a reward for Marco, they were willing to introduce him to join the association.
Marco actually laughed angrily when he got to this point:
“Ha, do they really think their damn membership is a treasure? Robbery can be so blatant now?!”
“Even if my brain was slammed in a door, I wouldn’t agree to such conditions!”
The young apprentice said worriedly and fearfully, “But, sir, I heard the association… has a lot of power…”
Reg said, “The association wouldn’t resort to outright robbery, but they will definitely engage in underhanded tactics.”
“In any case, if everyone has finished what they need to do, we’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning to avoid any accidents.”
*
The next day.
Chu Jiu yawned, with dark circles under his eyes, and climbed onto the carriage.
Reg couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw this, “A’Jiu, what’s wrong with you? I’ve never seen you this tired.”
Chu Jiu leaned against the carriage wall and yawned again, “Nothing… just reading…”
As he spoke, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. The carriage had just started moving when he fell asleep with the little cat in his pocket.
After a day of galloping, the carriage returned to Bean Village at nightfall.
Chu Jiu had slept for most of the day and was much more awake.
As soon as he jumped off the carriage, he saw Aman and Mary rushing over, “Brother Chu Jiu! You’re finally back!”
Aman was panting, his eyes red, “Some black-robed people found Grandpa and said they were going to confiscate all of our ‘honey’!”
…Black-robed people? Confiscate?
Chu Jiu immediately reacted, “People from the association?”
Aman couldn’t distinguish between associations or anything else, but Mary, who lived in Emerald Town for a long time, kept nodding, “Yes! Yes! Yes! The people from the association that Mom and Dad hate the most!”
Marco, who was behind Chu Jiu, naturally heard what Aman and the others said.
But Marco was also confused and only said, “Confiscate? What right does the association have to confiscate?”
At this moment, Irene, who had followed the two children, also arrived at the village entrance.
Hearing Marco’s question, her face was filled with sadness and disgust, and she explained in detail, suppressing her anger.
It turned out that these people from the association had actually gotten the association president to sign a “Special Confiscation Permit” overnight.
According to the content of the permit, the association could choose a type of product and confiscate it without compensation in the name of “serving the true god.”
It was said that this was a special power granted to the association by the royal family this year.
In this way, once they disobeyed this “Permit,” it wouldn’t be a commercial dispute with the association, but an open defiance of the kingdom’s laws.
After listening to Irene’s explanation, Marco, who had been in high spirits on the way back, instantly turned pale, and he almost collapsed on the carriage, “Confiscate? Confiscate? They… they, for this honey, actually have such means?”
The middle-aged man’s eyes turned red, “This… this… no one can resist this…”
“My, my… order…”
“My… my shop, carriage…”
Chu Jiu bit his lip and didn’t speak.
In his mind, he kept replaying Irene’s words.
“Once disobeyed, it’s an open defiance of the kingdom’s laws…”
Kingdom laws…
Laws…
Got it!
He slapped his forehead and said to Aman, “Where are those black-robed people now? Take me there!”
It won’t be so easy to openly rob our honey!
I hope they’re able to get the honey back