The carriage wheels ground over the blue stone slabs, emitting a teeth-grating scraping sound.
Xu Qinghuan leaned against the cushioned seat inside the carriage, the account book in her hand already crumpled from her grip. The refugees at Niushou Mountain were too obedient, obedient to the point of despair. Those people didn't hate her; instead, they had enshrined her on a pedestal. For every hoe sold, for every bowl of braised pork distributed, that damned system's progress bar shrank back a segment.
Money was spent, yet more returned; her reputation grew better and better. Continuing like this, not only would she avoid exile, she might even secure a place in the history books.
Noisy human voices came from outside the carriage, followed by a pungent, sour stench. The smell was incredibly penetrating, capable of making one dizzy even through the heavy curtains.
Xu Qinghuan frowned. Li Sheng sat on the carriage shaft, covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve: "Young Mistress, ahead is the West Market. This area is filthy, shall we detour?"
"Stop."
Not only did Xu Qinghuan not order a detour, she reached out and pulled the curtain aside.
A wave of heat mixed with the foul odor assaulted her. The West Market was where the lowest rung of Taoyuan County's commoners eked out a living, and also the most squalid, filthy corner of the entire county town. The drainage ditches lining the street had long been clogged, blackish-green filthy water overflowing and flowing unchecked across the road. Flies swarmed in clouds, their buzzing louder than the human voices.
Several bare-chested men were unfastening their trousers by a wall. A nearby vendor selling steamed buns paid them no mind, merely waving woodenly to shoo away flies.
Passersby either hurried past with heads down, or stepped through the filth on the ground as if it were nothing.
"Truly filthy," Li Sheng remarked from outside, his voice tinged with disgust.
Xu Qinghuan stared at the men relieving themselves by the wall.
Their faces wore a kind of numbness that felt perfectly natural. In a place where propriety held no value, shame was the most useless thing. Public urination and defecation, filth flowing freely—this was the reality of Taoyuan County.
Xu Qinghuan tapped her fingers twice on the window frame.
A bizarre sense of excitement shot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head.
Filthy?
No, this was a gold mine.
This was a perfect opportunity to disgust people.
Any living person had to eat, drink, and relieve themselves. One could endure hunger or thirst, but not the call of nature. Controlling food might get you branded a profiteer, but controlling the entire county's backsides...
Xu Qinghuan let the curtain fall, shutting out the stench. The sarcastic twist at the corner of her mouth finally became a genuine smile.
"Back to the manor."
Her voice was light.
Li Sheng cracked the whip, and the carriage picked up speed. He didn't know the young mistress inside was at that moment devising a scheme so ruthless it could drive the entire city mad.
...
The rear hall of the county magistrate's office.
Xu Qinghuan sat in an armchair, idly twirling a feather plucked from a feather duster.
Li Sheng stood below, hands at his sides, not daring to breathe too loudly. He knew this expression on the young mistress's face all too well. The last time she wore it, Niushou Mountain gained several thousand mining fanatics.
"Li Sheng." Xu Qinghuan tossed the feather onto the table. "In our county town, how many public latrines are there?"
Li Sheng was stunned. He was a proper steward, usually managing accounts and money. Why would he concern himself with such lowly matters as latrines?
"Probably... adding up the four markets—East, West, South, North—there might be around a hundred or so," Li Sheng ventured a guess, steeling himself. "Most were built by the authorities in earlier years. No one manages them; they've long since collapsed or leaked."
"Good that no one manages them." Xu Qinghuan leaned forward. "Go, have someone cut paper. Make sealing strips."
"Sealing strips?"
"Yes. Seal all the latrines in the entire city. Good ones, bad ones, roofed ones, roofless ones—seal them all." Xu Qinghuan tapped her finger on the table, her tone brooking no argument. "Post guards. From today on, not an inch of Taoyuan County's soil shall be stained yellow."
Li Sheng's jaw dropped, nearly hitting the floor.
Seal the latrines? What kind of decree was that?
"Young Mistress, this... this is probably improper, isn't it? When nature calls for the common people, it's a matter of utmost urgency..."
"Urgent? Then they pay." Xu Qinghuan cut him off, her eyes cold as ice. "One copper coin per use. Twenty coins for a monthly pass. Pay, and I'll let them go in and relieve themselves comfortably. Don't pay? Then they can hold it in."
This was blatant robbery. Worse than robbery. Robbery depended on whether the victim had money. This move depended on whether they had shit.
"And," Xu Qinghuan added, "anyone caught relieving themselves on the street, fine them ten copper coins. Can't pay the fine? Then arrest them and send them to Niushou Mountain to mine to pay off the debt. Release them only after they've mined enough for ten coins."
Li Sheng felt a buzzing in his head.
If this were implemented, the people of Taoyuan County would curse the Xu family ancestors' graves until smoke rose. This wasn't for profit—how much could one coin per use earn? This was purely to torment people, to grind the dignity of the entire county's populace into the dirt.
"Young Mistress... this will require manpower," Li Sheng tried to struggle. "The manor's servants and guards, even a ruffian like Pockmarked Liu, probably wouldn't be willing to take on a duty like guarding latrines and collecting money. To say it out loud..."
It was too humiliating. Making burly men guard latrines and collect fees would be worse than killing them.
Xu Qinghuan had already thought of that.
She stood up and walked to the window. Outside was the Xu manor's meticulously maintained garden, with its artificial hills, flowing water, and koi carp swishing their tails.
"Who told you to use the manor's people?" Xu Qinghuan sneered. "Go to the refugee camp."
Li Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. Refugees were good; they'd do anything for a bite to eat.
"Don't look for the strong and able-bodied ones." Xu Qinghuan turned around, her gaze passing over Li Sheng, looking into the distance. "I want the broken ones."
"Broken ones?"
"Those missing hands or feet, those with festering sores no one dares go near, those with consumption gasping for breath, those so old they can't walk." Xu Qinghuan enunciated each word clearly. "The kind even despised among the refugees, left to wait for death. I want that kind."
Li Sheng shuddered.
The young mistress was forming an "army of wraiths."
"Issue them uniforms." Xu Qinghuan walked to the writing desk, picked up a brush, and drew a circle on a sheet of rice paper. "Yellow numbered garments. A circle on the chest, the characters for 'Night Soil' written on the back. Give each one a large dung shovel and a wooden bucket."
She threw down the brush, ink splattering on the paper, starkly black.
"Tell them, from today on, they are the Xu family's 'Night Soil Department.' All the shit, piss, and filth of this entire city is under their management. Anyone who dares to relieve themselves indiscriminately, don't be polite—smack them right in the face with the dung shovel. I, the Xu family, have their backs. Let's see who dares fight back."
Having said this, Xu Qinghuan felt the pent-up frustration in her heart completely dissipate.
Just imagine, all the respectable people in the city—the scholars, merchants, even officials who usually held themselves high—when nature called, having to bow their heads to a group of foul-smelling, maimed and broken wretches, obediently forking over a copper coin for the privilege.
That sense of humiliation. That hatred.
If she still didn't get cursed as a villain for the ages this time, she'd write her name backwards.
"Make it happen." Xu Qinghuan waved her hand.
Li Sheng held the paper with the drawn circle, his hands trembling slightly. Looking at the young mistress's face, filled with ambition, he suddenly felt the sky over Taoyuan County was about to turn yellow.
...
The refugee camp outside the city.
These were the people filtered out by Niushou Mountain.
Niushou Mountain only took in those who could work. Even the elderly and children, as long as they were spry, could scrape by with a meal. But the people here were the utterly discarded dregs.
Beggars with festering sores curled up on straw mats, flies laying eggs in their wounds. A man with broken legs stared vacantly at the sky, waiting for his last breath to leave him.
There was no hope here, only the smell of decay.
Li Sheng walked in with several servants, handkerchiefs pressed over their noses and mouths. Looking at this hellscape, his awe for the Young Miss deepened another notch. Only a ruthless person like her could think of making use of these people who already had one foot in the grave.
"Listen up!"
A servant struck a copper gong.
The "corpses" waiting for death on the straw mats stirred. Murky pairs of eyes turned their way.
"The Xu Family is hiring!" Li Sheng didn't want to stay in this place a moment longer than necessary, speaking rapidly. "Anyone with a breath of life in them! Lame or blind, it doesn't matter, as long as you can lift a ladle, we want you!"
No one moved.
Words like these sounded like a joke. Who would want useless trash like them?
"Meals provided!" Li Sheng roared. "Two solid meals a day! New clothes issued! Three hundred coppers a month in wages!"
Three hundred coppers.
The number acted like an incantation.
The man with the broken legs pushed himself off the ground with his hands, inching forward. He crawled through muck, crawled past the corpses of his companions, crawled to Li Sheng's feet.
"Master..." the man's voice was hoarse, "I... I got no legs, but my arms are strong. I can work."
Li Sheng looked down at him. Those mud-caked hands clutched desperately at his boots, knuckles white.
"Fine." Li Sheng pointed to the large cart behind him. "Get on."
With someone taking the lead, the lifeless camp erupted.
Those who could barely muster the strength to roll over moments before now found energy from who knows where, wailing and scrambling toward the cart. The blind groped their way, the mute cried out wordlessly, those covered in sores shoved others aside.
They were not people. They were dying wild dogs who had spotted the last scrap of bone.
Watching this frenzied mob of broken souls, Li Sheng suddenly felt a pang in his heart.
The Young Miss called this humiliation.
But even if these people were going to shovel shit, even if they were going to do the filthiest, lowliest work in the world, the light in their eyes at this moment was brighter than gold.
One shichen (two hours) later.
Five hundred "waste people" had changed into yellow uniforms. The cloth was coarse, but new and sturdy. The black circle on the chest looked like a target, and also like a medal.
Xu Qinghuan did not go to the site. She found the stench offensive.
But she sat in the magistrate's office's back hall, listening to Li Sheng's report, very satisfied.
"All arranged?"
"Yes." Li Sheng kept his head bowed. "As you instructed, all one hundred and twenty-four public latrines in the city have been posted with guards. Seals have been pasted, and collection boxes set up."
"And the people?"
"All on duty." Li Sheng paused. "They... are working fiercely. One with a missing arm nearly got into a fight over a latrine post in the busy market district. They say this is official duty, it's the face the Young Miss has given them. Anyone who dares to skip the fee is smashing their rice bowl."
Xu Qinghuan smiled.
This was the effect she wanted. The bottom rungs preying on each other, vicious dogs biting people. To keep this one meal, these wastes would become the fiercest guard dogs.
"Excellent." Xu Qinghuan stood up. "This is the 'Night Soil Department.' And I am the head of this Night Soil Department."
She walked to the map of Taoyuan County on the wall and jabbed her finger heavily at the location of the West Market.
"From today on, whether it's the Zhao family's rice shop, the Wang family's silk store, or even the yamen's bailiffs. If they want to take a shit, they have to pay my Xu family."
"This is the rule."
Li Sheng looked at her back.
The setting sun shone through the window lattice, casting Xu Qinghuan's shadow very long.
That was no Queen of Night Soil.
That was clearly a devil, playing with people's hearts in the palm of her hand.
