Chapter Twenty-Three: The First Gathering of the Strange Tales Society

The hunters of Deer-Crane Gully finally understood what "registering" meant—it turned out that giving their names to the Xu family's maid was called "registration."

What made them uneasy, however, was that registering required the payment of a single coin. This made some of the hunters hesitate; after all, they weren't buying anything from the Xu family, so why should they have to pay?

Yet the lure of five taels was too great. In the end, they reluctantly handed over the small registration fee.

Li Dazhuang registered without hesitation. He counted the names in the registration book—there were more than a dozen. To win the title of "the best archer in Deer-Crane Gully" among so many competitors would not be easy.

"Hmm, I should practice five more sets of arrows tomorrow," he resolved.

…

Meanwhile, Xu Wenshan, who was orchestrating the entire event behind the scenes, was utterly overwhelmed.

He had never expected that such a simple activity would be so difficult to organize!

Every era has its own limitations. In his previous life, this event wouldn't even have qualified as a minor campus activity at university, but here, every step was fraught with difficulty.

The first problem was literacy. When it came to things like advertising the registration or setting up a registration point, his first instinct was to make a poster—only to remember that the hunters were all illiterate, so someone would need to read it aloud.

But he had precious few literate people at hand. Cui was a girl, her voice was too soft, and Afu couldn't read at all.

In the end, he had no choice but to make Afu memorize the script overnight, so he could pretend to read from a sheet of paper. Fortunately, Afu was clever enough to memorize it word for word.

Cui could read but had never written before. Luckily, the villagers had simple names like Zhang Three-Three or Li Four-Six, so after several days of practice, Cui managed to write them well enough.

But Xu Wenshan realized that governing a city or a country in the future would be far more complex and would require a large number of educated assistants. He could now understand why, in ancient times, people were so desperate for talent.

That night, Xu Wenshan held the first "Liaozhai Conference" in the "Liaozhai" room.

The attendees were: Xu Wenshan, Lu Ze, Cui, and Afu. Xu Wenshan presided, spoke, and kept the minutes.

"Cui, how is the registration going?" Xu Wenshan asked.

"Today, a total of twenty-four people registered: seventeen hunters, three farmers, and four vagrants," Cui replied.

The term "vagrant" originally meant "without support"—those were landless peasants in the village, with no means of livelihood, who idled about, helping out at wealthy households during busy seasons and scrounging for food the rest of the time.

Xu Wenshan remarked, "There are more hunters in Deer-Crane Gully than that. It seems some are still hesitant."

Noticing that Cui seemed to want to say more, Xu Wenshan encouraged her, "Speak freely, there's no need to hold back."

"Master," Cui said quickly, "forgive my boldness, but I must say it: I believe many hunters hesitate to register because of the one-coin registration fee. It's such a small amount that it hardly matters, and if we didn't charge it, perhaps more might sign up."

Xu Wenshan shook his head. "That one coin is to cultivate their willingness to pay. If they are willing to spend that, they'll be willing to spend more. It's just a catalyst. I'm not running this contest for fun or charity—it's to open up the market in Deer-Crane Gully. Those unwilling to part with even one coin are not people from whom we can expect to make money."

Though she didn't fully understand, Cui still felt that Xu Wenshan was impressive in a way she couldn't explain.

Cui then ventured, "Master, forgive my boldness, but why do you seek to make money from these hunters? They don't even have land—our tenant farmers are better off than they are..."

Xu Wenshan smiled. "That's not your concern."

He had his reasons for starting with the hunters.

This was a clan-based society. Simply put, a surname was a source of power—whoever had the most people had the most say, and the rule of law was nonexistent. The most reliable way to break down clan power was through commerce.

The economic foundation of clans was agriculture. The more people a family had, the more they could produce, making them the most powerful. But if commerce flourished, people of different surnames would form new alliances based on shared interests. These emerging groups would challenge the old feudal landlords, and clan power would naturally be eroded.

The hunters were the perfect group for Xu Wenshan to launch his first commercial venture.

There were several advantages:

First, the area around Deer-Crane Gully was rich in game, and the furs produced there had commercial value;

Second, most of the hunters were solitary, scattered individuals, making them easier to control and less likely to form factions;

Third, the hunters were all capable fighters, which could be useful if future conflicts with the clans turned violent.

These reasons were more than enough for Xu Wenshan to invest his efforts in this group.

After this topic, Xu Wenshan asked, "Afu, how are your literacy lessons going?"

Afu was caught off guard—he'd thought he'd be asked about the effectiveness of the publicity, and had been preparing to boast about his composure and quick thinking. He hadn't expected Xu Wenshan to ask about this.

"Uh... learning to read is still quite hard, but... I'm trying, really trying..."

Xu Wenshan gave a cold smile. "I won't say much, just this: If you listen to me and study diligently, your achievements in the future will far exceed anything you can imagine now. But if you miss this opportunity, you'll only be left envying your old companions' success while you fade into obscurity."

Afu was stunned, unable to speak. "Old companions' success"—did he mean Cui? He glanced at her, but her expression was indifferent.

But what could a maid become, even if she did find success?

Afu was left gaping in confusion as the meeting drew to a close.

"Such briefing meetings will become more frequent. Cui, I suggest you master writing as soon as possible. That's all—meeting adjourned!"

As Cui stepped outside, darkness had already fallen. Ever since she had started serving the young master of the Xu family, candles seemed to burn away so much faster.

Yet she had a strange feeling—a sense of growth she had never experienced in the Xu household.

"Success…" Cui whispered to herself.

What would she become if she truly succeeded?

Would she end up as the emperor’s maid?