NOVEL NEXT Chapter 21: The Core Team
Chapter 21: The Core Team
The town had only two streets: a main street and an old street.
Xu Lian’s house was on the old street, not far from the main street. It was a short ride on horseback to get there.
The main street was crowded with people, mostly men looking for work. They gazed longingly at the grain carts, but were wary of the swordsmen guarding them, not daring to get too close.
When Xu Lian arrived, the crowd surged toward him like a wave, waving their hands to get his attention and begging for work.
Xu Lian, who was riding his horse, was almost immobilized by the crowd. “Everyone, please calm down. Let me through first so that I can arrange jobs for you.”
The crowd quickly dispersed to make way for him.
Xu Lian dismounted and was about to deliver an inspiring speech when a young man brought him a table and chairs. This took Xu Lian by surprise.
The young man smiled and pointed to the side of the road. “My house is just over there. I thought you might need a table and chairs for recruiting, so I brought them over.”
Was this foresight? Xu Lian couldn’t help but take a closer look at him. “What’s your name?”
The young man bowed. “I am Pu Ling, sir.”
It seemed that he was also looking for a job… Xu Lian thought for a moment. “How about a position as an overseer? Are you interested?”
Pu Ling was overjoyed. “Thank you, sir. I will do my best and not let you down!”
The crowd’s eyes turned red with envy. Xu Lian had just given Pu Ling an overseer position with a single sentence. Why hadn’t they thought to prepare a table and chairs beforehand?
Pu Ling quickly settled into his role as an overseer. He rushed home and brought Xu Lian a cup of tea, then raised his hand. “Everyone who wants to work in the mine, line up starting from this table and chair in front of Manager Xu.”
Xu Lian used public funds to buy ink, brushes, and paper, then sat down to drink his tea, leaving the rest to Pu Ling.
Pu Ling’s organizational skills were commendable. He quickly calmed the chaotic crowd and organized them into neat lines. One by one, they approached Xu Lian to introduce themselves, their skills, and their family situations.
Xu Lian felt a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he had returned to his previous life for an interview, only now he was the one conducting the interviews and deciding people’s fates with a single word.
He assigned tasks based on their individual circumstances. Most people had neither skills nor livestock, so they were assigned the simplest task of carrying stones.
“I have no skills and no cattle, but my daughter is still a virgin. She has a slim waist and a big bottom, so I am sure she will bear many children. If Manager Xu makes me an overseer, I’ll give her to you.”
Some tried to curry favor and take shortcuts to a better life.
In less than half an hour, Xu Lian had received more than a dozen offers of daughters. Such blatant proposals were not looked down upon, but rather envied by the crowd.
Xu Lian became annoyed. “I will say this one last time: I don’t want your daughters. I really don’t. Anyone who talks about giving their daughter to me won’t get a job!”
Those who wanted to offer their daughters were totally disappointed. They couldn’t understand why Xu Lian, a young man full of energy with only a few women at home, would refuse such offers.
“Next.”
Pu Ling stood next to Xu Lian’s table, acting like a host at a job fair.
A shy young man stepped forward, blushing slightly in front of the crowd. He stammered, “I… I’m Lin Bufeng. My mother sent me here to ask Manager Xu for a job as a stone carrier. She said she arranged it with Manager Xu yesterday.”
Xu Lian remembered. “Are you the son of the snake catcher?”
Lin Bufeng nodded. “Yes.”
Xu Lian thought for a moment and wrote his name on the list of overseers. “I’ll give you an overseer position.”
Lin Bufeng was stunned and his face turned red. “I… I don’t know how.”
The crowd’s eyes turned red with envy again. Xu Lian had given him an overseer position, a great opportunity, and he said he didn’t know how? They wished they could push him aside and take his place.
Xu Lian said, “It’s okay. You can learn. Being an overseer isn’t a technical job. Just carry a whip and make sure no one slacks off in the mine.”
“Thank you, Manager Xu.”
Lin Bufeng was thrilled and stood next to Pu Ling.
Seeing how easy it was to get an overseer position, many people begged to be overseers instead of taking other jobs.
“The overseer positions are not open to the public. I will appoint them internally.”
Xu Lian had to make an announcement. The overseers were his core team in managing the mine. He would only appoint those he trusted, knew, or who had made a strong impression on him.
With the overseer positions out of reach, the cook position became the most sought after. Dozens of people claimed to be excellent cooks, arguing and competing fiercely.
Xu Lian couldn’t judge who had the best cooking skills just by looking at them, so he decided to buy a large pot and some vegetables. He let the contestants cook on the spot, reasoning that the mine would need the pot anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt to use it now.
After a round of competition, he chose the best cook, an experienced old master, to be the chef, and three others with decent skills to be his assistants.
When Zhang Yuan heard that Xu Lian had been appointed as the manager of the new mine and was recruiting people on the main street, he rushed over, and Yang Ye also arrived in a hurry on a small black donkey cart.
Xu Lian didn’t have many acquaintances, so he quickly added their names to the list of overseers.
Zhang Yuan was overjoyed, strutting around with a small stick and shouting at the crowd, “Stand up straight, stand up straight, stand up straight!” He exuded an air of petty authority.
Yang Ye was also excited and diligently grinded ink for Xu Lian.
By the morning, Xu Lian had recruited enough people and used the public funds to purchase mining tools such as stone crushers and stone chisels. He then led the crowd in a grand procession to the new mining site.
The distance was not far, about ten miles.
Pu Ling had thought things through. “Manager, we don’t need to rush the stone mining. We should first build the granary to prevent the grain from getting moldy in the rain; we also need to build the rooms you’ll use for writing documents, as well as the kitchen and dining hall.”
Xu Lian nodded. “You arrange it.”
With permission, Pu Ling began to assign people to build the granary and other rooms.
Seeing Pu Ling bustling around, Zhang Yuan frowned and said to Xu Lian, “Brother Lian, I don’t want to interfere, but you’re not quite experienced as a manager yet. You should use people you know well. I’ve heard that this Pu Ling is just a street loafer, you can’t rely on him too much.”
Are you referring to yourself? Xu Lian didn’t want to deal with him.
Seeing that he couldn’t convince Xu Lian, Zhang Yuan nudged Yang Ye with his elbow. “Old Yang, you agree with me, right?”
Yang Ye shook his head. “Brother Lian is the manager. He knows who to use. It’s not up to us to interfere. We just have to do our own job well.”
Zhang Yuan could only smile awkwardly and didn’t say much more.
Xu Lian wasn’t worried about the quarry’s operation at all. The higher-ups didn’t care if the quarry made a profit or a loss. As long as he made blood sacrifices every now and then to summon the Earth Flesh, they wouldn’t question the quarry’s affairs. Everything depended on him.
Therefore, the blood sacrifice was his top priority.
However, he really couldn’t bear to hurt the miners. What should he do?
After some thought, he came up with an idea. Since he didn’t want to use the miners for the blood sacrifice, he would have to find targets from outside bandits!
Capturing these scumbags for the blood sacrifice wouldn’t burden his conscience, and he could even loot them. Why not?