Chapter 22 Bitter Wine Martial Soul
This time, the Academy gave them two days off, but Shi Lin didn't get a break. He spent every day in his room refining the Ironclad Gu.
Since the Ironclad Gu are inconvenient to carry, Shi Lin must refine as many of them as possible at home.
After two days and two nights of arduous struggle, Shi Lin refined eight high-grade Ironclad Gu and thirteen mid-grade Ironclad Gu, thus consuming all the iron armor on the Ironclad Black Boar.
With these Gu worms, it shouldn't be long before they can produce a sturdy iron armor for Shi Lin.
"Young Master, today is the first day of school, we should set off now." Shi An's voice came from the side room.
"Okay, I'll be right out." Shi Lin replied, tossing the newly crafted Ironclad Gu into the small bamboo basket.
To prevent the Gu worms from devouring each other, Shi Zhen found several skilled elderly people in Shijia Village to make a small bamboo basket for Shi Lin.
Placing the Gu worms in the bamboo basket effectively separates them, so there's no need to worry about them devouring each other.
He put the lid on the bamboo basket and then walked out of the side room.
"Young Master," Shi An greeted Shi Lin with a smile.
"Brother An, I have more than twenty Gu worms in my room. These Gu worms need to be fed iron ore every three days. After you send me to the Academy this time, please buy some ore and feed it to these Gu worms." Shi Lin earnestly instructed Shi An.
Currently, only four members of the Shi family know about the existence of the Gu worms: Shi Lin, Shi Zhen, Shi An, and Fugui.
Besides these three people, Shi Lin had no other people he could trust. Moreover, Shi Zhen and Fugui were both busy with the brewery, so the task of feeding the Gu worms to Shi Lin could only be done by Shi An.
Now, Shi An is managing all the Gu worms in the Shi family, which is making him a bit overwhelmed.
But there's no other way. The business is too small now, and they lack trustworthy people, so they can only rely on Shi An.
Shi Lin followed Shi An outside the courtyard.
Shi Zhen was out today, so no one was there to take Shi Lin home.
He glanced at the cart behind the carriage; it was filled with wine jars, at least twenty or thirty of them.
Looking at the wine jars, Shi Lin nodded in satisfaction, and then got into the carriage.
Shi Lin was very fast at refining Gu worms, and with the help of the high-grade wine Gu, he was also very fast at restoring his soul power.
However, to refine a mid-grade wine Gu, you need wine brewed by a high-grade wine Gu. But there aren't many high-grade wine Gu right now, so the amount of wine brewed is not enough, which makes refining a mid-grade wine Gu much slower.
Once there are enough high-grade wine Gu in the future, Shi Lin will be able to refine a large number of mid-grade wine Gu.
The Shi family's winery can now begin operations.
After watching Shi Lin settle in, Shi An flicked his whip and drove the carriage toward Notting City.
Six or seven servants boarded a cart and followed the carriage toward Notting City.
As the sun set, Shi Lin's carriage finally arrived in Notting City.
Soon, Shi An drove the carriage smoothly into Notting Junior Academy.
Just then, Shi Lin suddenly heard a commotion outside the carriage.
"What happened?" Shi Lin lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside.
Normally, Notting Junior Academy would be very quiet at this time, but today it was very lively.
Shi Lin noticed a brightly lit square not far away, bustling with people, and wondered what was happening there.
"Young Master, shall we go take a look or go to the dormitory?" Shi An asked, seeing Shi Lin peeking out.
"Xiao Liu, this is my dorm room key. Bring the wine jar to my dorm room, and then wait for Brother An at the college gate." Shi Lin tossed his dorm room key to a servant behind him and then instructed the servant.
"Yes, young master!" Xiao Liu replied, then drove the carriage back towards the dormitory.
"Brother An, let's stop the carriage here and go see what's going on," Shi Lin said to Shi An with a smile.
Shi An nodded, then jumped off the carriage and tied the reins to a tree.
After the carriage came to a complete stop, Shi Lin immediately jumped off.
Shi An walked in front, followed by Shi Lin, towards the brightly lit square not far away.
As Shi Lin and his companion approached the square, they finally understood what was happening there.
"It's graduation season again this year, and many work-study students haven't broken through level 10 by the time they reach the required years. So the purpose of today's exchange meeting is to help these work-study students find jobs."
"Although these work-study students haven't broken through level ten, their soul power level is still seven or eight. They are stronger than adult farmhands. As long as we sign an employment contract, we can take them away directly!" The head of the teaching department said passionately from the center of the square.
"What the hell? How is this any different from human trafficking?" Shi Lin said, scratching his head helplessly after hearing the headmaster's words.
The people in the square are all those who haven't broken through to the Soul Power level, so they don't receive any stipends from the Spirit Hall. The work-study students' families are already short of money, so they'll be doing long-term jobs anyway.
Taking advantage of the fact that there are quite a few young masters in the Academy now, and that more lucrative labor contracts can be signed, many work-study students who haven't broken through level ten come here to find a job.
"Young Master, why don't we buy a few farmhands too?" Shi An said to Shi Lin with great interest.
"That works too. It's not easy to find someone like this. We need people to build our family's winery, and we'll need some strong young people for brewing in the future. There are too few young people in Shijia Village." Shi Lin nodded and said.
Soon, Shi Lin found several pre-written contracts at the contract signing location. He could simply modify the wages and sign the contract directly.
Shi Lin led Shi An on a stroll around the area.
Graduates of Notting Junior Academy are around fifteen years old, while the work-study students here are mostly those who haven't yet reached level ten.
This is the perfect time to cultivate loyalty.
But at that moment, Shi Lin suddenly noticed an unusual presence.
A skinny little girl, about seven or eight years old, stood trembling in the corner, looking at the person in front of her.
"Huh? Brother An, is there really someone this age at this age?" Shi Lin asked Shi An, puzzled.
"Young Master, this is my first time here too. I don't know either," Shi An said, scratching his head somewhat awkwardly.
"Let's go take a look." Shi Lin became interested and went to the little girl.
The little girl also noticed Shi Lin walking towards her, and nervously squatted on the ground, hugging her knees, not daring to speak.
"Little girl, how old are you?" Shi Lin squatted down and asked the little girl gently.
"I...I'm ten years old?" the little girl said timidly to Shi Lin.
"Ten years old? You shouldn't be old enough to graduate yet, right? Why did you decide to become a laborer?" Shi Lin raised his eyebrows and asked again.
"My...my mother is sick! I need money..." The little girl burst into tears, her loud voice attracting the attention of many people.
"Stop crying, tell me about your Spirit. If it's suitable, we'll sign a contract!" Shi Lin was most afraid of girls crying, so he quickly and loudly stopped the little girl.
"I... my Spirit is a food-type Spirit, Bitter Wine, and my talent is only level one." The little girl looked at Shi Lin nervously, her tone full of worry. She still hoped that Shi Lin could sign a contract with her.
"Bitter wine?" Shi Lin became interested and then looked the little girl up and down.
"Ten copper soul coins a month, is that alright?" Shi Lin raised his eyebrows and smiled at the sallow-faced, thin little girl in front of him.
"Ten copper soul coins? That's great! Mother's medicine can be saved!" The little girl jumped up and said excitedly.
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[end of the chapter]