Starting Today, I’ll Work as a City Lord - CH 27

What appeared in front of Liu Feng was paper, another product ahead of the current era. It was also an important item that he needed to make major changes.

Liu Feng picked up the paper in front of him and found that it was a bit yellowish. After pulling it a few times, he found that the toughness was acceptable.

A plant unique to the other world could be used as a tough fiber, which allowed the paper created to become tough. Liu Feng had been happy for a long time when he first heard about it.¹

“Very good,” Liu Feng said, satisfied. “You did a really good job. Continue to improve these papers. As long as the paper gets whiter and whiter and tougher and tougher, I have rewards for you.”

“Yes!” the people shouted excitedly. They have things to eat and drink in this place, and the work wasn’t hard. They wouldn’t be able to find such good work anywhere.

Liu Feng left with the stack of papers. He could prepare to begin some of his plans.

When he returned to the castle with Mina, it was already noon, and it was time for lunch. Before he ate lunch, he told people to get Ba Fu.

Ba Fu came while Liu Feng was waiting for lunch, and Liu Feng invited Ba Fu to eat lunch with him.

Today’s lunch was steak. Ba Fu looked at the extremely exquisite ceramic plate in front of him. On the plate was a steak that was the size of 2 fists. It had aromatic spices on top of it. On the side was a fried egg and wheat flour.²

Ba Fu watched the food in a daze. He thought, so this is a noble’s lunch. It’s so extravagant. No, this is a piece of art.

But how do I eat this? Ba Fu turned his head to look at Liu Feng, and immediately copied him, and started to stiffly cut the steak with the knife in one hand and fork in the other hand.

He couldn’t cut the steak as smoothly as Lord Liu Feng could. The steak on his plate was constantly moving, and Ba Fu was struggling.

He was intoxicated when he put a piece of steak into his mouth. He could swear that everything he had previously eaten was dog sh*t.

Mina was eating the steak in her hand with a joyful smile. She was reminded of her shameful manners when she first ate steak.

“Ba Fu, how’s the steak?” Liu Feng asked with a smile.

“Ah?” Ba Fu was slightly surprised and quickly stood up and saluted. “My lord, this is the best food I have eaten in my life.”

“Sit,” Liu Feng waved his hand. “If you like it, I’ll let the chef pack a meal for you to bring home.”

“Thank you, my lord!” Ba Fu saluted excitedly.

“Eat. It’ll taste bad when it gets cold,” Liu Feng smiled warmly.

Liu Feng quickly finished the steak and was slowly sipping on a cup of tea. He turned his head to look at Mina, who was eating her 4th serving of steak, and couldn’t help but laugh. The cat girl really could eat.

“Ba Fu, do you know how many people in Xi Yang City read?”

Ba Fu heard Liu Feng’s question as soon as he finished eating. He said, “My lord, there are too few people that can read in Xi Yang City. Out of 100 people, there might be only 2 people that can read.”

That answer was within Liu Feng’s expectations. After all, it was hard to let commoners go to school when they can’t even feed themselves.

“How many children are between 6 and 15 years old are there?” Liu Feng asked.

“My lord, there are only about 300 children within that age range in Xi Yang City.” Ba Fu said. He had lived a long time in the city and know a lot of people.

Liu Feng frowned when he heard the number of children. Human population was also a type of resource in the cold weapon era. It seems that he needs to include increasing the population as part of his next plan.

“Ba Fu, I have a mission for you.” Liu Feng let a maid take away the tableware and served Ba Fu a cup of tea.

“My lord, please command me,” Ba Fu said respectfully. His life was heaps better than before. He even had lunch with Lord Liu Feng and could brag about it for a whole year.

“I need more people in Xi Yang City to be literate,” said Liu Feng. “Of course, I won’t force anyone. You only need to open an academy during the night to teach people to read and write for 1 to 2 hours.”

Liu Feng know that most people were busy during the day and rushed to do things. They would only be able to slow down and rest during the night.

“My lord, this…” Ba Fu hesitated. He didn’t think that the commoners would waste time learning to read and write.

“Don’t worry, I know what you’re thinking. I will solve all the problems. You just need to focus on setting up the academy,” said Liu Feng, smiling mysteriously.

His plans could only be carried out with more literate people. Idiots would be swayed too easily by others, and besides that, there would only be talents once people become literate. Plus, what he needed right now was talented people.³

Alright, fine, he would add in a few things such as how great Lord Liu Feng was and how to contribute more to Xi Yang City.

Before Ba Fu could speak, Liu Feng handed him a bunch of stuff and a pen.

“This is paper, something that is used to write. It is cheaper, lighter, and more suitable for writing than sheepskin scroll.”

“You can go back to try it tonight. You can pick a few soldiers from the military camp and teach them. You just need to teach them to recognize words and numbers.”

Ba Fu walked out with the stack of paper and steak in his hands. The steak really was delicious, and he was willing to go through a challenge for this type of lifestyle because he has a mysterious and powerful city lord.

Translator’s Notes:

¹ Author wrote “because there was another change”, but I’m not really sure what it means and I don’t think it makes sense, so I didn’t include it.

² Not really sure, it literally says wheat flour. Maybe wheat flour is a food that could be eaten raw? Or maybe it was actually cooked? Idk, am I just ignorant?

³ The typical vision of better education makes a person is smarter than someone with a lower level of education. The world places way too much importance on education, especially during a time where most of the education systems are sh*t.

I’m back!!!!! Sorry, I’ve been really busy the past 2 months, but I’m a bit freer now, so I’ll start translating again. I can’t give a proper schedule, but I’ll see how often I can update each week for a month and base my schedule off of that.