Bab 25: FEIFEI AT WORK
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
They thought Feifei is a woman. They will refer to Feifei as a "she" or "her".
Feifei, the Great Devil's weakness, is on his way home.
He is in a daze sitting on a horse wagon. He was informed there is one horse wagon that passes their village every six in the morning.
After work, the mine has an allotted horse wagon to bring civilian workers to the Town Square.
Feifei felt relieved upon hearing this good news. The only good news he heard today.
Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply, then exhaled.
Salt mine. In this Baojin City, there are only three mines. So the other two are gold mines while the last is salt.
And Salt is more precious than gold.
Feifei felt his head throb. While touring the mines earlier, Heng Yan brought along the "Yuyu" she shouted out when he first came in the building.
Yuyu is a young girl his age. The first time they met, this Yuyu glared at him. He wondered why.
During the tour, he learned of the mine worker's health condition. Which is bad.
From time to time, he would see a man having difficulty in breathing, another sweating heavily, another swaying dangerously. As if about to faint.
He felt sorry for these workers. Especially the underground diggers. Staying too long underground everyday is detrimental to their health. Inhaling too much salt particles would cause an imbalance of their body's fluids that may lead to heart attack or to a certain death.
It's not easy to be a prisoner. Especially, being a free labor mine worker.
Some diggers use wheelbarrows, others use back baskets. But they are all using crude axes to dig salt on walls.
It would be much better to blow the mines and just pick the scattered salt blocks. He inwardly muttered.
The mine has two vertical passageways into the underground salt bed. Like a tunnel.
One tunnel is called "First" referring to a tunnel for people passage.
The other tunnel is called "Second" referring to a tunnel for equipment passage. Second is where the salt blocks are brought up from the salt bed.
So these diggers go to the Recorders. These Recorders write down the name of the prisoner and the weight of salt block that he has.
After documentation, these salt blocks are given to the Haulers. These underground Haulers put the salt blocks into the rectangular box made out of iron wire mesh, then shout for the upper ground Haulers to pull the rope up. The rectangular box is connected with a rope which is tied above ground.
These upper ground Haulers then hoist the salt block and give them to the Carriers. These Carriers transport these salt blocks using wheelbarrows to a building where the Crushers are located.
There are five working platforms. One working platform, six crushers.
There is a wide and thick rectangular slab of stone which is connected to a rope. These six crushers would simultaneously pull down the rope together, then release.
Letting go of the heavy slab of stone would crush one and a half stones of salt block every thirty minutes.
When the salt blocks are completely crushed, though not refined, they are gathered by Pickers. These Pickers put the crushed salts to a bag and give them to the Baggers.
Baggers then weigh the bags of salt and give them to Documentations for recoding. Then Documentations to Storage. Storage to Transport.
The salt are then transported weekly to different parts of the City for further refining.
Feifei never thought salt could be so troublesome before you can use it. And laborious.
Feifei also met the people under his supervision. Coordinator & Scheduler, Storage & Distribution, Bookkeeper and the Checker.
Coordinator & Scheduler. Communicates with the six transport locations when salt will be delivered. They also communicate with the mine workers if there are rush demands or expedited deliveries. As the case of war. War means more salt, fast production, earlier delivery.
Storage & Distribution. Checks on the final weight of salt after production. They decide if workers need to do overtime to fulfill the quota.
Bookkeeper. Keeps records of all expenses in the mines including food and transportation expenditures. Basically the ones who manage finance.
Checker. The ones who checks on the supplies and materials needed by the mines. Including food. They are entrusted to do the final check on how much salt was released from the mine.
Feifei feels like vomiting blood with too much information.
To put the final blow to his already aching head, trouble came just when he was about ready to go home.
A woman came to him and snorted.
"What does a young backwater like you know about mining?" The woman said in a loud voice.
"Don't be selfish, alright? There are more senior people here more deserving of your post! This is not a place for you to play. Having a fox face is not enough to keep this mine running!" The woman's voice is full of malice and contempt.
Feifei rubbed his temple in irritation. " First, I don't need my face to run. I believe my feet can do the running just fine." Looking at the woman up and down, Feifei snickered. "You look more like a backwater compared to me. You even smell like pig dung."
"You...!" The woman furiously pointed a finger at him.
"Yes, me." Feifei covered his nose." Do you also eat pig dung? Why so stinky?"
The woman shouted in anger and was about to slap his face when Feifei caught her hand.
"You don't need this hand, do you? If there is a next time, I will cut off your arm, shove it down your throat and push it out from your ass. Don't worry, this service is free of charge." Feifei threatened coldly.
The woman was so frightened that she slumped heavily to the ground and burst out crying.
Hmpf.
Feifei then turned and walked away.
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"Guhya Village. Guhya Village." The wagon driver shouted.
Feifei was jostled awake.
"Thank you, Uncle." Feifei jumped out of the wagon then walked slowly to the Village entrance.
Seeing a group of young women gathered at the Banyan tree, Feifei smiled in greeting.
When he was about to move pass the group of women, someone called him.
"Feifei...!"
Following the direction of the voice where it came from, Feifei saw Mari and another pretty young girl. They were walking closer to him.
The other pretty girl looks like his own age. The girl smiled at him warmly.
Feifei was surprised. Do I know her? He mused.
"Hello, Sister Feifei. I'm Fanfan. Shan Xuefei is my mother. Village Head Yu Quibai is my father."
I see! Feifei smiled warmly at Fanfan.
"Hello, Fanfan. Nice to meet you."
Fanfan looked at Feifei with eyes full of praise and wonder.
"My mother is right. You are beautiful. Very beautiful!" Fanfan can barely close her mouth admiring Feifei.
Mari laughed. "I told you, right? Sister Feifei, from afar you look like a fairy floating towards the Village. So beautiful! If I were a man, I would really like to marry you!"
Fanfan nodded her head repeatedly in agreement. "Me too. I will marry you."
Feifei laughed softly. "You girls are very beautiful too. They say people always love the new and forgets the old. And it so happens I'm new here. Once you always see me, my face would just be as common as cabbages."
Mari and Fanfan gawk at Feifei. Eyes with even more admiration.
How humble!
Fanfan laughed in joy. She likes this sister!
"Sister Feifei, my mother asked if you can visit her today. Someone delivered a box from your hometown." Fanfan said. "That's why we were waiting for you at the entrance."
Feifei smiled even more brightly.
That's the box he prepared for himself! His herbs! His spices! His homemade pickles! His very own special cured meat!
Hooray!
"Then I'm sorry to impose."
Fanfan waved her hand rapidly like swatting a fly. "No...no. Don't mention it. I have wanted to meet you anyway."
Feifei stopped walking and looked at Fanfan with an eyebrow raised.
"My mother keeps on talking about you. She keeps on praising how beautiful you look. I thought she was exaggerating. Infact, I think she was referring to a fairy instead!" Fanfan laughed. "It turns out, mother is right."
Feifei blushed with his ears bleeding red.
"Sister, you go on ahead. I still have somewhere to go with Mari." Fanfan then waved her hand goodbye to Feifei.
Mari also waved goodbye to him. Then both girls, hand in hand, went the other way.
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"Sister Feifei is not only beautiful. She is also so fragrant. I can't stop myself from getting close to her. Just to smell her!" Mari exclaimed!
Fanfan's eyes were also as big as saucers. "You smell it too? Her hair smells divine! I love the smell too. Like flowers and spice."
Silence.
"I'm so envious of her skin. So white and watery. Red lips, pinkish cheeks like a blush. It also looks so soft. I wanted to pinch it!" Mari gushed.
"Yes. It looks soft and smooth to touch. Her skin is almost shockingly transparent. Aaaaah. I want my skin to be like that too!"
"Haha. So Rong Jin will look at you more?" Mari teased Fanfan.
"Hey!" Fanfan slapped Mari's shoulder.
"Hush...someone might hear."
"No one might hear but sooner or later, someone will see you together!" Mari reasoned.
"I know."
"You always use my name as an excuse when you go out at night. If Uncle Quibai knows, he will kill me!" Mari complained. "Just confess to your parents already."
"I'm just waiting for Rong Jin to be ready."
Mari snorted. "Fanfan, I really don't trust that Rong Jin. If he is really sincere to you, instead of asking you to sneak out at night, why does he not visit you at home?"
"Mari!" Fanfan shouted in impatience. "Rong Jin is a good man, okay? He is just afraid of my father. Especially my Big Brother Yuan. Besides, its not even dark yet!"
Mari snorted again in disbelief. "If he is truly afraid of your father and brother, all the more reason for him to show his sincerity."
"Hmpf. You just don't understand. You haven't fallen in love yet!" Fanfan ran away.
"Fanfan, be careful!" Mari called out.
I haven't even told you yet, I saw him hugging another girl. Mari bit her lip in worry.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone