Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Wolf Spirit of the Culture

At dawn the next morning, Qin Zhen opened the window and saw that the courtyard below was already packed with people.

The faces of these men and women, only recently freed from bondage, no longer held numbness or despair. Instead, they were bright with laughter and conversation, full of life.

The night before, it had been the first truly peaceful sleep Daiyu had known in all these years.

No fear of being beaten or bullied by traffickers, no dread that once she closed her eyes she might never see the sun of tomorrow.

Her heart was filled with gratitude toward Qin Zhen, and beneath it, a hazy longing and hope for the life ahead.

“Has everyone eaten?” Qin Zhen came down the stairs with a broad smile.

His spotless gray-white robe made him look somehow especially striking.

There was no need to go out and buy clothes; Qin Zhen already had ready-made ones on hand, waiting only to be chosen.

The long robes and short jackets brought from the Fishing Village were tasteful and proper. Once dressed, a man’s whole bearing seemed transformed.

When Qin Zhen appeared, everyone at once grew reserved.

Little Daiyu, however, smiled and said to him, “In reply to the benefactor, Director Li just took us to have rice porridge.”

Qiu Luo’s short hair brushed her ears, her brows and eyes were clean and bright, and with her new clothes she looked almost spirited, as though alive with cleverness. It was hard to imagine that this tender little girl, yesterday still so filthy and bedraggled, could now seem like a newly sprouting branch, full of vigor.

“Mr. Li?” Qin Zhen raised a brow.

Among the clothes brought by the Fishing Village for sale, aside from qipao, the garments were divided into men’s and women’s styles: for men, long robes with trousers; for women, embroidered jackets with long skirts.

Qin Zhen noticed that the little girl was wearing men’s clothing.

“It’s me!” Li Han’s infuriatingly smug voice came from the side, his dark face full of pride. “Zhen’er, you have to admit, being called ‘young master’ really does feel good!”

Qin Zhen covered his face, somewhat helpless.

“Could you save a little dignity? You’ve got no learning at all in your belly, and you still have the nerve to make some poor young girl call you young master?”

“Who says I’ve got no learning?” Li Han pouted. “I can recite the Three Character Classic!”

“Let’s hear it,” Qin Zhen said, amused.

“Human beings at birth, nature is good…” Li Han stammered, a little guilty. “If a dog won’t stop barking, then beat it, beat its damn mother, woof woof woof…”

“I don’t remember that part,” Qin Zhen said with narrowed eyes.

“What is the Three Character Classic?” Daiyu asked in brave curiosity.

“It’s the book Zhen’er wrote. It’s written really well. All the kids in our village love reading it.”

Li Han’s words only made Daiyu even more astonished.

“The benefactor can write books too?”

Li Han said proudly, “What’s so great about writing books? My Zhen’er can also compose poetry and couplets! He once casually wrote a piece about a hen laying eggs, and it stunned all those scholars and literati speechless. Even the city lord said it was excellent!”

This time, not only Daiyu but everyone around them looked at Qin Zhen in a new light.

They had witnessed firsthand the ferocity with which Qin Zhen had drawn his blade yesterday.

Now that they learned he was also a man of letters, their awe deepened into admiration.

Among common folk, the words “man of learning” were almost equivalent to “official gentleman.”

Even if Qin Zhen were not an official, he was at least someone of the same standing as a noble young master.

And once they thought of themselves serving under some noble scion, the people felt not only excited, but newly hopeful.

“I’m just an ordinary man, nothing special,” Qin Zhen hastily cut off Li Han, then cleared his throat and raised his voice to everyone. “Yesterday I told you I would bring you into business. Today I’ll use this chance to explain things properly, introduce where I come from, and what trade we do.”

“My name is Qin Zhen. I come from the Fishing Village, and I deal in cloth.”

At that, the crowd stirred in unrest.

A bold man raised his hand and asked, “The same Fishing Village that defeated the sea bandits?”

Clearly, the victory at Golden Sand Beach had spread far and wide, and even those in the prison pits had heard of it.

“Exactly.” Qin Zhen nodded.

“My heavens! So you’re heroes from the Fishing Village! No wonder they’re all carrying blades!”

“When I was fleeing famine, I heard people say that in the county by the sea there was a Fishing Village that produced a bear-slaying hero, a young man who killed a bear all by himself! And his name was Qin Zhen! Could it be him?”

Qin Zhen lifted a hand, signaling for quiet.

“Next, let’s talk about the work itself.”

The crowd fell silent again. Compared with before, the unease in their eyes had clearly faded.

Even the most timid among them, Qingwen, now peered out from behind Daiyu and listened intently to Qin Zhen’s words.

“In half a month, I’ll open a cloth shop on the busiest street in Near-Sea City. By then I’ll need help. Your job will be to receive customers, help them choose suitable clothes, wrap them up, and complete the sale.”

Hearing that they would merely be helping sell clothes, many people breathed a sigh of relief.

So it was just selling clothes! They had thought it was some terrible task. Who couldn’t sell clothes?

“Is it really that simple?” Daiyu asked doubtfully.

Selling clothes—was it really necessary to buy people from a prison pit for that?

If one simply posted a notice in the street, plenty of people would come seeking work.

“This isn’t simple,” Qin Zhen said with a subtle smile.

“I’ll draw up a complete sales process, including what to say when greeting customers, what to do, and a detailed introduction to the goods we sell. You must know it all by heart and serve the customers properly, giving them a shopping experience that feels like coming home.”

A woman timidly raised her hand. “Benefactor, what you just said... what is all that? I don’t quite understand it. And I’ve never sold anything before...”

People like her were everywhere.

“No matter. I still have some merchandise on hand. For these next few days, you’ll follow Li... Director and help set up the stalls and sell goods, so you can gain experience. I’ll teach you the specific matters little by little over the next few days. Just do as I say.”

Sales, after all.

Understand while you do, and understand more by doing.

The crowd nodded, half understanding, and figured it probably was not anything too difficult.

“Lastly, let’s talk about wages.” Seeing that some might not grasp the term, Qin Zhen put it in simpler words. “That is to say, a reward.”

“We get a reward too?” Daiyu was stunned.

Not just her—everyone stared in disbelief.

They had already been saved by Qin Zhen and owed him a debt of gratitude. When he said they would work for him for one year and then regain their freedom, everyone had assumed it meant they would serve as his beasts of burden for a year. That made perfect sense. For a life-saving kindness, let alone one year—ten years and they would still have willingly agreed.

But now Qin Zhen was telling them they would not be working for nothing?

There would be money?

Was there really such a good thing in this world?

“Of course there is!” Qin Zhen said as though it were only natural. “You work for me, and I pay you. That is only right!”

In an instant, everyone’s eyes grew moist.

Many dropped to their knees at once, offering Qin Zhen heartfelt admiration and gratitude.

It was because Qin Zhen truly and sincerely treated them as people.

Not as slaves beneath him.