Starting Today, I’ll Work as a City Lord - CH 72
Morning.
The castle was as lively as always. No one cared much about Carter’s and Fez’s death.
Liu Feng put the five glasses into an auction in the Shopping Mall, which he planned to open next spring. Big nobles and merchants would be there to throw all their money in there.
Liu Feng’s current problem was that the population of the territory was too small. Just building houses required two thirds of the population.
Besides, winter would come soon after the wheat harvest that would happen a few days later. Did people really want to be idle in the winter? No, no one does; they just have no choice.
Just like that, Liu Feng woke up in the morning with a ton of things to think about.
He didn’t know why he woke up early today, around seven o’clock. Maybe it’s because of Mina’s question last night, he thought.
The door to the room was pushed open, Nicole walked in gently, but just in time to Liu Feng’s black eyes, making her freeze for a second.
“Young master, you’re awake, I thought you were going to sleep until nine.”
Nicole lightly breathed a sigh of relief, she had came in to take some clothes and go sunbathe. After all sunbathing would be a luxury in the winter.
The people in the castle used the watches Liu Feng brought over to keep track of time.
Liu Feng brought a lot of mechanical watches over, but only some people had them. They all hid them carefully, afraid that other people would see it.
For them, watches were divine objects. In this world, most people looked at the sky to tell the time, while the nobles use candles to tell the time.
“Are Mina and Anri awake?” Liu Feng asked.
“No. I don’t know what happened today, but both Mina and Anri haven’t woken up yet,” Nicole said.
Mina and Anri usually got up very early in the morning. Mina got up early to exercise, while Anri got up early to do business.
Liu Feng left all the tedious and unimportant stuff to Anri, and she handled them very well.
“Really?” Liu Feng asked, raising his eyebrows. Did I give her a bad answer last night?
He was a newbie who has never been in love, whether on Earth or here, but he still had some EQ. He thought that there was nothing wrong with the answer last night, besides, he truly thought what he had said.
Not only did he not reject the idea of marrying a beastkin, he was actually a little excited about it.
When Liu Feng came to the dining room, he saw Mina and Anri there. Both of them had dark circle under their eyes.
“Good morning!” Liu Feng greeted.
“Good- good morning!” Mina said, blushing slightly.
“Good morning~~” Anri responded, yawning.
Anri glared at Mina. You mutated catgirl, what the hell was wrong with you last night? You kept trying to talk to me last night and won’t even let me go to sleep until five.
Mina had been excited by Liu Feng’s answer and couldn’t sleep last night.
When Mina saw Liu Feng, she thought about the stuff that she had imagined. She had imagined herself wearing a wedding dress and sitting on a horse, waiting for Liu Feng to marry her.
The atmosphere during breakfast was a bit strange. Mina’s face was red, she almost put her spoon in her nose, and she giggled from time to time.
Anri’s eyes widened. Mina, what happened to you? You were just like how Fuji had been.
“Young master, the kitchen is going to run out of salt,” Nicole said suddenly. She was talking about the salt that Liu Feng had brought from Earth.
The salt in this world was gray, not white. They were also bitter.
“Then and get some from the inner vault room,” Liu Feng said nodding. He couldn’t stand the taste of the salt in this world.
He suddenly remembered that the salt in this world was very expensive. He didn’t know about other places, but in Xiyang City, half a kilogram of salt cost several dozen copper coins. Commoners used months to just use half a kilogram of salt.
“Is there a salt store over at the Shopping Mall?” Liu Feng asked.
“No, those salt merchants are not willing to pay tax.” Anri said.
She remembered the servants’ reported that the salt merchants were quite conceited, thinking that Xi Yang City couldn’t last without them.
The salt in Xi Yang City and other nearby cities were all imported from far away.
The Shopping Mall required people to pay taxes according to their income. The higher the income, the more taxes will be paid. Selling salt was a very profitable business and was basically robbing people of their money. As such, they have to pay a lot in tax, and so they didn’t want to go to the Shopping Mall.
“Nicole, are there any salt mines nearby?” Liu Feng asked.
“Salt mine? Is there a mine for salt too?” Nicole asked, confused. She blinked her eyes and stared at Liu Feng.
“Young master, did you make a mistake? All the salt are from the sea.” Anri said, grabbing a pastry from Mina’s plate.
“You don’t know about salt mines?” Liu Feng suddenly remembered that this world practically had no industry. Most of them were all struggling to fill their stomachs, so it was understandable for them to be unaware of salt mines.
“Immediately tell someone to ask around and find a nearby place where the rocks and dirt are salty,”¹ Liu Feng said. Currently, he could only search for salt mines using the most primitive method.
“Understood!”
Nicole immediately sent someone to ask. She felt that something big was going to happen soon.
Translator’s Notes:
¹ How are they supposed to know how the rocks or dirt taste like? What, are they going to lick the rocks or something.