Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 1151 - 554: Beggar (End) (2)

An Youyou's heart skipped a beat for two seconds, then she suppressed it and said sharply, "Little Ninth, what do you mean? You want to give up such a great profession as begging to go to that... Hankou..."

"Hankou."

"Yes, Hankou, working seven hours a day to earn me two silver coins?"

Little Ninth thought An Youyou was complaining that two silver coins were too little: "Boss, two silver coins are a lot now, not like before. Nowadays, you can't even save half a silver coin a month carrying bags at the dock, and carrying bags is exhausting. If you don't eat well, you'll be worn out in a few months."

"Pulling a rickshaw requires renting one, and we don't have the money to rent one now either."

"It's not like before when we couldn't beg for food, we could still do some odd jobs to make money. Now, no shops are hiring for odd jobs, and few shops are even open."

"What?!" An Youyou was shocked, "When you were begging, you weren't doing it properly, sneaking off to do odd jobs and not attending to the main business?! When did you start doing odd jobs?"

Little Ninth was annoyed with himself for accidentally letting it slip, showing a look of frustration, he had to confess: "Two years ago!"

"Two years ago? When I still had thirteen underlings, you secretly went off to do odd jobs behind my back?" An Youyou felt as if her world collapsed, she never thought that her most valued underlings had long betrayed the honorable profession of begging.

"Bo...boss, let me explain." Little Ninth was so scared his voice trembled, "Ma... mainly because, we couldn't really get much food starting two years ago."

"Other beggars are stealing, robbing, and even tricking and deceiving people. Boss, you thought we couldn't fight them, worried we'd get killed doing that, so you never allowed us to do those things."

"But nowadays, just begging isn't really getting food."

"We had no choice, didn't want just you alone begging to support all of us. Didn't want Brother Thirteen to suffer so much either. Originally, Brother Thirteen said he'd give two silver coins every month as rent and food, but these years Brother Thirteen spent all his wages on us, and we didn't want to freeload."

"Yeah, yeah." Xiao Yi nodded furiously, "Boss, you and Brother Thirteen have supported us for so many years, we also wanted to earn some money."

An Youyou asked in anguish, "So you went to do odd jobs?"

Little Seven, seeing it couldn't be hidden any longer, confessed everything: "Actually, it's not just odd jobs, they are unstable. Those who can, went to the dock to carry bags. Ninth Brother had particularly good luck two years ago, got hired by a factory, but unfortunately the factory closed after just three months, so I thought maybe this time with the factory recruitment in Hankou, Ninth Brother could get in again."

"Boss... actually all these years we've been secretly doing other work, not much begging."

An Youyou: ...

An Youyou took a deep breath, attempting to control her emotions and breathing, afraid she might lose control and faint.

It was at this time that her most valued Little Ninth delivered the fatal blow: "Boss, actually Brother Thirteen wasn't wrong, begging is really unstable."

"Even you can't get food now, we all think the accounting job in Jinling sounds pretty good, why don't you head to Jinling?"

"Boss, don't worry, we will always be your underlings. We'll work hard to find jobs here in Shanghai, and send any extra money to you every month."

An Youyou: ...

An Youyou took another deep breath.

She wanted to curse, but the words wouldn't come out. In her heart, she still firmly believed that begging was the best job in the world. But her underlings didn't seem to think so, and now she couldn't say it with much conviction, because she really couldn't support her underlings by just begging, and they hadn't depended on begging to get by in a long time.

They all went out to find jobs behind her back!

How could they secretly find jobs? Clearly, begging is the best job in the world! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Qin Huai looked at An Youyou's expression and could see that An Youyou's world had not only collapsed; her entire world had shattered.

An Youyou stood up and calmly said, "It's too stuffy in here, I'm going for a walk."

"Boss." Little Ninth worriedly wanted to follow but was stopped by An Youyou.

Qin Huai followed behind An Youyou, walking with her to the riverside where she washed off the dirt from her face every day after begging, watching as An Youyou sat by the river, questioning her life, seemingly about to emulate a Wen Yao Fish and jump into the river out of despair.

I must say, the spot seems fitting.

While An Youyou was questioning her life, on the opposite bank, a few gangsters were throwing some sacks into the river, committing some minor murder and disposal of a corpse.

An Youyou watched the whole process calmly, the night was her best cover, as he sat there quietly questioning life.

Until Jiang Weiguo came looking for her.

"Little Ninth and the rest are going crazy looking for you." Jiang Weiguo wasn't aware of the exciting incident that happened on the opposite bank, "I told them not to wander around outside at night, it's unsafe. I told them to head home. Little Ninth told me everything."

"I was the one who persuaded them, begging was merely a stopgap, not a long-term solution. You can't blame them, it was all my idea."

An Youyou was deeply sorrowful: "But isn't begging the best job in the world? Why are they being so fickle, tempted by sights and riches, cheating here and there, looking in the bowl while eyeing the pot, to find other jobs?"

Jiang Weiguo: "... Is this how Chen Shun taught you to use idioms?"

Even as Jiang Weiguo said this, he sighed with relief, because he realized his boss was still as clueless as before.

"Maybe because... begging isn't the best job in the world." Jiang Weiguo now had the courage to knock the lofty pedestal of begging down right in front of the boss.