Chapter 131 "As long as I benefit, that's enough!"
Pei Hening looked up in shock.
"You probably can't finish four simple meals, right?"
Hei Xiaoman didn't expect it to make such a loud swallowing sound.
It pointed to the food Pei Hening had placed on the board and awkwardly asked, "Could you share some with us?"
Hei Xiaoque stared longingly at the food, nodding repeatedly, "Yes, yes!"
Pei Hening looked Hei Xiaoman up and down, her gaze falling on the round stone bracelet it was holding in its hand. She smiled and said, "If you want to have dinner, you can pay for it."
Hei Xiaoman pursed her lips; the construction workers clearly didn't intend for them to eat.
If she truly wanted to treat them to dinner, she would give them the money directly, just like she did at noon, instead of asking for it.
Hei Xiaoman said confidently, "If we had money, would we need to come here to steal things?"
What he said makes some sense, but aren't there still accounts receivable?
Pei Hening said with a hint of regret, "You really don't have any money? This simple meal costs twenty copper coins, but I'll only charge you fifteen. So you're actually making a profit."
In the stir-fry shop owned by the calico cat boss, a simple meal costs ten copper coins.
The one I brought for the orange cat boss was a deluxe set meal, which cost twenty copper coins.
She only earned five copper coins for running errands, which wasn't expensive.
Blackie's eyes lit up. It said, "Xiaoman, I want to eat, only—"
Its mouth was covered before it could finish speaking.
Blackie's eyes were filled with accusation as it glared at Blackie and struggled frantically.
Like a fish that has just been caught and brought ashore.
Hei Xiaoman said urgently, "It's too expensive, we don't have the money."
Pei Hening picked up a piece of braised pork and stuffed it into her mouth. The caramelized sweetness of the rock sugar, combined with the rich aroma of the pork belly fat, and the fragrance of spices such as star anise and cinnamon filled the air.
The two rat-like figures swallowed even more frequently.
Hei Xiaoque twisted his body wildly.
Pei Hening, always eager for drama, added, "The braised pork was absolutely delicious today. If we miss this, who knows when we'll get another chance to eat it!"
Hei Xiaoque shoved Hei Xiaoman aside, took out fifteen copper coins from his pocket and handed them to her, saying urgently, "Give me one."
Pei Hening smiled and took the copper coin, then took out a simple meal and handed it to it: "Here, this is for you."
Hei Xiaoque picked up a light meal and ran to a corner to eat, while keeping a wary eye on Hei Xiaoman.
The way it looked was as if it was guarding against Hei Xiaoman suddenly snatching its food.
The aroma of the food grew stronger and stronger, and Hei Xiaoman couldn't stand it anymore. It glanced at Hei Xiaoque, who was wary of it, and then looked nervously outside the yard.
Lord Xiaozheng should be coming in a little while later.
It just needs to finish eating before Little Zheng comes in.
After carefully considering the pros and cons, it decisively paid up.
"I'll have one too."
Half an hour later, Hei Xiaozheng returned after planting the grass seeds.
As soon as it entered, it smelled the aroma of food filling the air.
Its stomach began to rumble, and it looked at Pei Hening with a resentful gaze.
This unscrupulous contractor is going too far!
How dare she enslave the infamous Little Zheng of the Black Rat Clan! Just wait! On the day the renovation workers officially hand over the keys, she'll teach her a lesson she'll never forget!
When the time comes, it will call upon its rat-men to move all the valuables out of the house and demolish the renovations!
She'll never achieve 100% customer satisfaction in her lifetime!
Pei Hening looked at Hei Xiaozheng's unpredictable expression and laughed, "What mischief are you plotting?"
Blackie looked like a duck being choked, feigning innocence: "What bad idea?"
Damn it, is it going to give itself away?
How could that stupid, unscrupulous contractor possibly see that something was wrong with it?
Pei Hening pointed to the last boxed lunch on the wooden board and slowly asked, "Are you cursing me in your heart? Cursing me as a heartless construction worker who didn't give you dinner?"
Blackie breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, the foolish construction worker hadn't discovered its main purpose. It waved its hands repeatedly, "Nothing of the sort, don't overthink it."
She opened the last light meal: "Do you want to have dinner?"
Blackie looked serious. It had learned its lesson and asked, "What are the conditions?"
It finally understood that this unscrupulous decorator was unreasonable and greedy, and no one could take advantage of her.
Having dealt with these cat-people of Lanling County for so long, this was the first time it had ever known that someone could be so ruthless!
That's right, Hei Xiaozheng's initial script wasn't to be her slave.
Its initial plan was to find an excuse to approach Pei Hening, play the victim with her, gain her trust, and then betray her, preventing her from completing her work in the municipal department, thereby profiting from it.
But as expected, an accident still occurred.
Hei Xiaozheng still can't understand how someone could be so evil and heartless, not even sparing rat people, but enslaving them.
What's most infuriating is that she felt the three of them weren't enough for her to command, and wanted her to find more rat-men to enslave her.
Is this something a human being could do?
"Fifty copper coins a share, want it?"
Pei Hening looked at Hei Xiaozheng as if he were looking at a god of wealth.
Those two lowly rat-men can afford to spend fifteen copper coins on a meal, so there's no reason why this little lord can't afford fifty copper coins, right?
Seeing that Hei Xiaozheng's expression remained unchanged and the corners of his mouth turned up, she guessed correctly; this was indeed a money bag!
Fifty copper coins for a meal was still within Hei Xiaozheng's acceptable range, but it still made him feel a little uncomfortable.
How can this person be so stingy?
Hei Xiaozheng asked, "Since I work under you, am I considered your subordinate?"
Pei Hening: "No."
"Shouldn't a boss be considerate of their subordinates—what did you say?"
Blackie thought it had misheard.
"No."
Pei Hening repeated it in a good mood.
brazen!
Hei Xiaozheng tried to reason with her: "I'm working under you illegally, and I still have to pay you to buy me food. Don't you think that's unreasonable? Either way, I'm the one who suffers."
Pei Hening also felt innocent: "But you said it yourself, you're working under me illegally, and I'm a heartless decorator. Why should I be reasonable? As long as I benefit, that's enough."
"Fifty it is."
Hei Xiaozheng is truly at his wit's end; he's too shameless.
Just thinking about it makes my internal organs ache. What a waste!
Its resentment vanished completely upon taking its first bite of dinner—it was delicious!
Unfortunately, their tribe doesn't have this kind of delicious food at all, and they can't buy it from the cat shopkeeper.
Although Hei Xiaozheng is a nobleman of the black rat clan, he can only eat dry pasta and occasionally nuts to improve his diet.
It never imagined that one day it would be able to eat such delicious food.
I heard that Lord Duoduo came and took Lord White Claw home, leaving the cat clan without a leader.
So, do the rats have a chance to turn the tide in the upcoming battle and crush the cats?
Hei Xiaozheng looked up at Pei Hening, his eyes burning with desire.
Um... it's like seeing the God of Wealth.
Pei Hening noticed its gaze and said, "If you look at me again, I'll charge you."
Miser! Grandet! Penny-pincher!
It won't hurt you to look!
Hei Xiaozheng cursed inwardly, but honestly looked away.
There's no way around it; it's simply been scammed so many times before.
This construction worker is really greedy; even if he has money, he shouldn't waste it like this!
While they were eating, Pei Hening checked them over again from beginning to end, paying particular attention to the details.
Her phone rang in her trouser pocket.
[Happy Mimi's Home - Little Work]: Master, I think I saw a rat-man when I passed by your door just now, please be careful.
Pei Hening tapped her fingers on the phone screen and typed out a line of text: "I understand, don't worry."
She had just put her phone back in her pocket when she saw a furtive head—it was Hei Xiaoque.
"What's wrong?"
Hei Xiaoque hesitated for a moment, then said, "Could you bring me an extra meal tomorrow? I'll pay you."
Pei Hening glanced at the furtive-looking Hei Xiaoque, but found no trace of the other two rat-men. She smiled kindly and said, "No problem, but I need you to answer some questions for me."
"Really? You're not kidding me?"
"certainly."
Hei Xiaoque sat down opposite her.
What do you usually do with the things you steal?
This problem has been bothering her for two days.
From the moment she met the rat-men, she wondered what they wanted to do with these things.
"We handed it over to the people who were in charge of selling stolen goods, and they would give us copper coins and food."
Pei Hening pondered, "The food the person in charge gave you is not as good as what I bought for you?"
Hei Xiaoque's eyes widened: "How did you know?"
It's not that they were being too obvious; their eyes lit up when they saw the food she brought back—that's the look in the eyes of someone who's truly starving and craving something.
It was very similar to the look in the eyes of the famine-stricken people she encountered when she accompanied Chu Xuange on his expedition to Haiti.
Pei Hening ignored its question and continued, "Can't you buy food from the calico cat's shop?"
Hei Xiaoque didn't mind her evasive attitude and nodded honestly: "Yes, we are sworn enemies with the cat people, and we were the losers in the last round. We are restricted by the rules, so it's impossible for us to buy food from the calico cat shop."
Its words confirmed Pei Hening's suspicions.
The anchor point of this instance is a small part of the territory inhabited by the cat and rat tribes.
No wonder attacking NPCs is prohibited in this instance; no wonder we encounter so many here.
Everything makes sense now.
"Who are you the defeated party in this war?"
Hei Xiaoque shook his head: "I'm not really sure, I'm not an adult yet."
Pei Hening didn't make things difficult for it, saying, "I'll bring you two meals tomorrow."
The next day, Pei Hening was still startled by the snoring after waking up.
The rat-man's snoring was deafening. She banged on the pot with a cold face: "Wake up!"
The three rats were startled awake, and their expressions were all very unpleasant.
Especially Hei Xiaozheng, it was very unhappy, "Next time you wake us up, can you be a little gentler? You almost scared me to death."
Pei Hening pointed to the time on her phone: "It's already six o'clock, you should get up and get to work."
She then added, "Your previous habits of stealing and cheating were bad, and only I can unconditionally tolerate you and am willing to help you correct your bad habits."
Hei Xiaozheng sensed something was wrong, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Hei Xiaoque couldn't understand the inappropriateness of her words at all, and genuinely felt that she was thinking of them: "Waaah, you're so kind, you even think of us."
Pei Hening's lips twitched; she was somewhat reluctant to lie to Hei Xiaoque.
It's really not smart; it can't even recognize such a simple PUA (Pick-Up Artist) tactic.
"Let's get to work."
To make it easier for them to get people to work, Pei Hening left the two-story building early and found a spot where she could clearly see the situation there.
"This is a good location."
Pei Hening looked up and saw Pear Blossom Queen wearing a pink floral princess dress. She had arrived at some point.
She was chewing on a green catnip, her bright green cat eyes fixed on the group of rat-men.
Isn't this the best-selling cat outfit on a certain two-word online shopping platform?
What brings you here?
"Come and see what's going on... and while you're at it, see how you're amicably negotiating with the rat people."
King Pear Blossom's attention was entirely focused on the group of rat-men. He mechanically chewed on the catnip and answered her question when he had a spare moment.
Seeing her eager expression, Pei Hening asked, "Can you do it yourself?"
When King Pear Blossom heard this, she felt that she was being looked down upon. She took out her phone, opened a photo, and handed it to her: "A group photo of the cat clan's strongest list at the end of last year."
It was a large group photo containing eighty-four powerful individuals. They were considered powerful because of their imposing presence!
Orange cats, calico cats, black and white cats, tabby cats... their eyes are all locked on the camera, exuding an aura of intimidation.
Their eyes were sharp, their pupils narrowed with vigilance, their ears stood erect and ready to pounce, and even their beards were taut, as if they would pounce on their prey at any moment!
Pei Hening spotted the Pear Blossom King in the crowd at a glance.
She stood in the front row, dressed in a gorgeous court-style long dress, her eyes defiant and disdainful as she looked down at the camera.
"Is this you?"
King Pear Blossom hummed in agreement: "It's me."
"Very impressive."
"I know, I've always been very impressive."
King Pear Blossom snorted: "I've already told you, don't doubt my strength."
Pei Hening then asked, "What do you plan to do with these rat-men?"
"Catch them and send them to the military headquarters. Someone will negotiate with the rat people, and then you can pay to get them back."
She can also receive the prize money.
Pei Hening continued looking at the group photo, and she unexpectedly discovered the white claws.
"White Claw is even in the group photo."
"Of course, otherwise he wouldn't have so many properties in Donglan County."
King Pear Blossom sat down next to Pei Hening, silently calculating how to spend the bonus that hadn't yet been credited to his account.
Pei Hening suddenly asked, "How can you give me 100% satisfaction?"
Upon hearing this question, King Pear Blossom replied seriously, "Let me think about it."
Pei Hening understood: "No matter how well the renovation is done, your satisfaction still depends on your personal wishes, right?"
King Pear Blossom spoke frankly: "Yes, this is compensation for us."
Pei Hening's heart sank. This meant that many people had worked hard all week to renovate, but they didn't get any benefits in return.
If you can't achieve 100% satisfaction, then it's all in vain.
Pei Hening considered carefully: "Is there any possibility?"
King Pear Blossom looked at her, puzzled: "What's possible?"
"No matter what the decorators do, you're never satisfied?"
"No, the game doesn't favor any side; it's all about fairness."
The Pear Blossom King has already given enough hints; the rest is up to the decorator.
Pei Hening recalled the content of their previous conversation and said, "If we ask you how to achieve 100% satisfaction, you will answer?"
The pear blossom king's emerald green cat eyes turned round, and its cat ears stood up in surprise, looking adorably dazed.
She didn't remind the renovation worker of that; it's none of her business!
"I don't know, why do you have to ask everything? It's annoying!"
King Pear Blossom stood up in a panic, glared at Pei Hening, and fled in disarray.