CHAPTER 584: CHAPTER 310: BEGGAR (PART 5)

Little Ninth quickly handed over the cake, An Youyou took three pieces, and pointed at the remaining three: "These are for you, save some for Thirteen."

"We’ll wait for Thirteen to cook the rest of the stuff. You guys don’t cook as well as he does."

The little brothers quickly nodded obediently.

An Youyou lit the bonfire with a match, ate osmanthus cake, and then gnawed on the big pancakes.

After finishing three big pancakes, Jiang Weiguo still hadn’t returned. An Youyou threw a sweet potato into the fire to roast haphazardly. Who knows how long it took before Jiang Weiguo came back with a cloth bundle.

An Youyou stared at Jiang Weiguo with extreme displeasure: "You’re coming back so late, am I going to have to wait until this time every day to eat from now on?"

Jiang Weiguo said nothing and silently opened the cloth bundle, revealing a few vegetable buns inside.

As per the old rules, the boss eats half. An Youyou enjoyed 2, and the remaining 2 Jiang Weiguo didn’t eat and shared them with others, each got a small bite, some ate the skin, others the filling, Little Ten got some filling and tasted the grease but felt unsatisfied and even chewed on a piece of straw.

With the taste of the vegetable bun still in his mouth, the straw counted as having the flavor of the vegetable bun too.

Jiang Weiguo began silently cooking salted fish porridge and a hodgepodge, while An Youyou sat by the fire counting money. Jiang Weiguo glanced over, surprised that An Youyou hadn’t spent even a single coin.

"I thought you’d go into town to have a good meal at a restaurant," Jiang Weiguo said.

An Youyou widened his eyes: "Restaurants are so expensive! Eating a good meal means half my money is gone, isn’t that like cutting my flesh and sucking my blood?"

"And what’s the use of money here?" Jiang Weiguo asked. "Not renting a house, not eating and drinking, not buying clothes or blankets, what do you plan to do with it?"

"Of course, I’m saving it!" An Youyou said. "Money is meant to be saved, not spent!"

"If people weren’t so fragile to live, I would’ve saved a lot of money by now. Before I found you, every time I barely managed to save a little money, I’d have to spend it because of all sorts of things. I haven’t saved money in so long."

Jiang Weiguo: ...

Jiang Weiguo clearly didn’t understand the mindset of being both a beggar and a miser. After a moment of silence, he asked: "Didn’t find a place to stay?"

Talking about this made An Youyou angry, to the point of a bit of depression: "No."

"Those landlords are all crazy. When they see I’m a beggar, they don’t want to rent to me. What’s wrong with being a beggar? Isn’t begging also a job? They might not even earn as much as I do."

"If they don’t refuse to rent, they want to raise the price. Renting to anyone is renting after all. Every day I finish begging, I still wash the dirt off my face and body. And my clothes may be dirty, but are their clothes very clean? Aren’t they all afraid that washing their clothes too much will ruin them? Whose clothes don’t smell bad? Who doesn’t have odors on their body? Why are they discriminating against us beggars?"

"Is it a disgraceful thing to be a beggar? Surely being a beggar is better than them!"

Jiang Weiguo: "... People are like that, they respect fine clothes before the person."

"What clothes?"

"Never mind."

An Youyou sighed, used a stick to pull the potato from the fire, only to find it half-raw and a bit burnt. She tossed it to Jiang Weiguo, who directly threw it into the hodgepodge.

Looking up at the moon, An Youyou asked: "So does that mean I can’t rent a house?"

"I found something," Jiang Weiguo said. "A farmer who delivers vegetables to Fu Ji moved here from Shu at the start of the year. They say he knows some bigshot. To win over this bigshot, Fu Ji pays him 30% more for his vegetables than other farmers."

"His current house is in the suburbs, given by said bigshot. The house is large and has a yard, and the farmer wants to send his eldest son to school in town so he badly needs money, and is willing to rent out half the house."

"But the family isn’t familiar with people here and has no reliable tenants in mind. At home, there are only the wife and three children, so they’re very cautious in choosing tenants."

"I work as a handyman at Fu Ji, so for him, I’m at least sort of trustworthy. He’s not put off by beggars as long as the character is decent, but the rent is a bit high, three silver coins per month."

"If you think it’s too expensive, I can give you my monthly wages, and once I become a sous chef, I’ll give you two coins a month."

As soon as Jiang Weiguo finished speaking, An Youyou’s eyes lit up.

"What’s their house like?" An Youyou asked.

"It’s a house made of bluestone bricks and tiles."

"Let’s rent that one! Let’s rent that one!"

"Today, I was so furious. Someone laughed, saying a beggar wanting to rent a house is a fool’s dream. I’ll show them; not only will I rent a house, but I’ll rent a bluestone brick house!"

"I want to move in tomorrow!"

"By then, I’ll buy four quilts, I’ll use two, and you guys can use the other two!"

"I’ll buy 10 big pancakes, I’ll eat five, and you guys eat five!"

"And I’ll buy 20 buns, I’ll eat ten, and you guys eat ten!"

Seeing the little brothers not reacting, An Youyou shouted loudly: "Why are you still standing there dumbfounded? Don’t you know you have to clap when there are speeches and performances in town? Clap your hands!"

The little brothers immediately began to clap, the applause was thunderous.

Amid the loud applause, Jiang Weiguo couldn’t help but tease: "Can you really finish that many buns and pancakes?"

"Don’t worry about it, I’m the boss, I can finish them!"