Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 83 - 50 - s: This is not a wise ruler, sooner or later it will be cut off!

Chapter 83: 50 Chapters: This is not a wise ruler, sooner or later it will be cut off!

In the middle of spring, due to the maritime climate, the central regions of Japan had almost fallen into a windless state, with not even a ripple in the air. This situation would probably continue until the Meiyu Season arrived. Even during the Meiyu Season, it was rare to have strong winds, causing the temperature on land to rise quickly, the weather to grow warmer and warmer, and plants to flourish more and more.

In this pleasant warmth, the Nozawa family’s boarders, children, and Lang Faction simply ate their lunch in the yard. As soon as the fish stew was ready, Ah Man was the first to pick up her chopsticks. She didn’t wait for Yayoi to portion it out for everyone, but instead grabbed the juiciest part right out of the pot, all the while asking, "He still won’t come out to eat?"

Yayoi didn’t dare offend her. In Yayoi’s eyes, Ah Man was fierce, so she replied obediently, "Master Saburo told us to eat first. He’ll eat after he finishes his work."

"He’s always holed up in there, fussing over who knows what all day. So weird!" Ah Man commented strangely, took a bite of tender fish, and then ordered Yayoi, "Add a bit more salt, it’s a little bland."

"I don’t know, Sister Ah Man." Yayoi dutifully sprinkled a bit more salt into the pot, but couldn’t answer her question.

Ever since Harano arrived at their new home, he immediately assigned tasks according to his plan: the silly son could keep lying around. Ah Man, Ah Qing, and Yayoi were in charge of cleaning, but only needed to tidy up the sleeping quarters for now; there was no rush to repair the parts of the house that were rotten. The Momoi brothers were to build a wall to close off the backyard first, and while gathering soil, dig a cellar—the bigger the better.

Afterward he just left them with, "Ah Man is in overall charge; if you’re unsure about something, just ask her first," and then took money out to buy a sack of soybean cakes, some jars and bottles, and a bunch of odd things before locking himself inside, refusing to come out—not even eating on time, they had to make his meals separately. It had been three days now.

All these three days, he’d stayed shut inside, busy by himself; he was hardly seen at all. Yayoi also found it strange, but never dared to ask or disturb him.

Ah Man was only muttering because she was bored. She had no idea, much less Yayoi, but after three days her patience had reached its limit. She planned to go check on what Harano was actually up to after lunch. As head of the household, it was fine if he didn’t do chores—she didn’t mind—but if he had a secret and didn’t tell her, now that was his fault!

That’s just the way she was—loved to mind other people’s business, extremely nosy and curious about everything. After lunch, she wiped her greasy mouth and ordered the Momoi brothers to finish the rest of the fish soup and not waste any, and to dig faster in the afternoon. Then she marched straight off to find Harano.

She tugged at the door but it wouldn’t open, so she circled around to the window. The window was open; she stuck her head in and immediately noticed the smell was a bit pungent, but didn’t pay much attention. She complained directly, "Just what are you up to in there? Don’t you care even a bit about things at home? Is this your house or mine?"

"It’s both my house and yours!" Harano had just finished his work and thought the plan seemed feasible—at least in the ’laboratory,’ it was working perfectly. He hadn’t expected Ah Man to appear just then. Taking off his mask, he beamed with a smile, clearly in a good mood.

"What exactly have you been up to?" Ah Man’s curiosity only grew. She braced herself to climb in through the window for a good look, but Harano hurriedly pushed her back and made an excuse: "It smells too bad in here, not good for your health. Let’s go talk outside!"

Ah Man didn’t object; the smell inside really was pretty strong. She was still very curious about whatever Harano had been tinkering with, but most of what she could see inside was bottles, jars, bits of sulfur, rocks, buckets, crumbled soybean cakes, buckwheat grains and such—just really ordinary stuff. There didn’t seem to be anything all that interesting.

She only glanced twice before letting Harano pull her out through the window, then followed him to the empty room next door. As soon as she sat down, she repeated her usual question: "You locked yourself in for three days—what are you doing?"

"Getting ready to make money!" Harano didn’t plan on hiding anything except the techniques, since he’d need her help anyway, and making money was really urgent now.

He’d lost a lot of money safeguarding his reputation earlier; after all, a lot of the herbs he’d traded for were just coarse grains—not tasty to eat, and not worth much to sell, so it was practically a loss.

So now he only had seven or eight kan left, and that wouldn’t be nearly enough for renovating the house, fixing it up, and feeding everyone—meat and rice disappeared way too fast. Saving money wasn’t really an option, either. Not only did he care a lot about quality of life—he was terribly ’spoiled’ by ancient standards—but also, honestly, there’s no such thing as loyalty for no reason. He wasn’t some born leader; Ah Man, Yayoi, even the Momoi brothers, they were sticking with him because they got enough good food, a better life. If he tried to skimp on meals and switch to black bean gruel, penny-pinching everywhere, they’d just lose heart and drift away. That’d be slow suicide.

He was a realist. He didn’t believe money would just fall from the sky. He believed you had to give to get, and would rather offer good living conditions to buy cooperation. That kind of ’loyalty’ reassured him far more. So he had to start making money and refill his purse again—that was absolutely the top priority right now!

"Make money?" Ah Man blinked, then her beady brows wriggled and she brightened right up. She liked money too! Her eyes practically sparkled as she got excited, "How are you going to make money? Are you planning to..."

Harano didn’t keep her guessing. He said directly, "Do you know soy sauce?"