When bowls of congee mixed with cabbage leaves and ground pork were brought to the table, everyone gulped at the smell of delicacies.
Hungry eyes stared fixedly at the table; if not for the slavery microchips, they would have dashed at the food like monsters.
Jiang Chen was happy to see their expressions. These people were his slaves, but he would rather treat them as employees as long as they were obedient like now. As long as no one dared to rush for the food without his permission, he was satisfied.
Gulp…
Jiang Chen glanced at Sun Jiao beside him with an awkward smile. Even this foodie gulped at the sight of the food. He lowered his voice and said, “Didn’t you just eat? Why are you hungry?”“None of your business.” Sun Jiao threatened him with a flash of her teeth before she averted her gaze with a blushing face.
She wasn’t necessarily hungry, but she was driven by an instinct for food.
“Ahem, what are you guys waiting for? Time to eat.” Jiang Chen signaled that they could eat with a smile on his face.
His voice was like a heavenly melody to them.
When Jiang Chen said the word “eat,” almost all of the slaves wanted to profusely thank him.
These refugees were law-abiding people which meant they were easy to control. They needed only two meals a day to survive, and even without the deterrence of the microchips, no one was foolish enough to have ill intentions when they saw Jiang Chen’s generosity; a fool would never have the ability to find another fool to scheme together anyway.
Of course, as a method of deterrence, the microchips did an excellent job.“Don’t rush and eat slowly. If you’re not full after twenty minutes, then you can line up again to have another bowl. Of course, if you dare to overeat and puke it out, I’ll make you eat everything you vomited!” Jiang Chen stood by the giant pot as the slaves one by one went up and carefully used a ladle to pour congee.
“That’s disgusting,” Sun Jiao whispered by Jiang Chen’s ear.
“I can’t let these people who haven’t seen rice before waste it, right?” Jiang Chen quietly replied with a shrug.
“This meal consumed two pounds of rice, two pork strips, and three cabbages. A lot of the food in the basement was brought out to exchange for supplies, and as for the rest…”
The stored cans of food were used to trade, and the cabbages and perishable rice were originally supposed to last the three of them for a month. Now that thirty people needed to be fed, the food in the basement was nowhere near sufficient. After all, Jiang Chen bought those at the supermarket, so the quantities were small.
“Stop, these things aren’t even worth mentioning where I come from. I’ll go again soon to bring more back,” Jiang Chen responded with a bitter smile. At the same time, he was planning to rent a storage space in the rural area and use a food distributor to purchase some non-packaged food.
Using sandpaper every time was too much of a hassle.
But this audacious Miss Sun Jiao was becoming more of a homemaker. The dissatisfied pout in her eyes at his “wastefulness” oddly made Jiang Chen feel a rush of emotion.
The more this girl transformed into a civilized person, the more attractive she became.
Jiang Chen touched his slightly burning nose and stopped peeking at the side of her face.
The mansion was no longer empty like before and with this many people, he had to be aware of any intimacy.
When he saw the completely cleaned out bowls accompanied by eyes that were still frightened but now held a hint of gratitude, Jiang Chen coughed as he signaled for everyone to look at him.
“Are you guys full?”
No one responded.
“If you want to eat tomorrow, then you better answer all of my questions.” Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes.
“Yes!” Everyone hesitantly opened their mouths.
Jiang Chen nodded his eyes, pleased.
“Excellent. Hearing your response makes me confident that I’m not raising a bunch of mute pigs. The way I speak may be offensive to you because you guys are nothing to me! Thanks to me, none of you have to starve anymore, and this is a comfort not many can imagine. Therefore, you all have to prove your worth! Prove that you’re worth the three meals you eat every day!
Yes, I will provide three meals a day. But don’t be too happy yet. People slacking off are not included! I don’t want to be your master because that means I have the responsibility to feed you. Instead, I want you all to consider me as your boss. You are my employees, but the consequence of being fired is quite high. I don’t think I need to explain any further.”
Not a single person argued against his words.
To a person who offered them food without torture, they felt only gratefulness. As for what to call him, they didn’t care even if Jiang Chen made them call him daddy; they would do so without any hesitation.
Dignity? That was for people who weren’t hungry.
Also, as a civilized individual, Jiang Chen treated them with some respect for his personal reasons. If they were cute girls, it might have been acceptable, but the thought of this bunch of men calling him master only gave him goosebumps.
And most importantly, he didn’t want his inner self to change from hearing the title “Master.”
After everyone finished eating, Jiang Chen adjusted his mindset and continued to speak.
“Rome wasn't built in a day’s time. You all are the first ones to join me in building my empire! I’ll bring order and prosperity to this lawless land, and you must contribute to my vision and in return, I’ll continue providing the food that ensures your survival. That’s enough from me. From tomorrow on, everyone has work to do. Clean up the bowls after yourself. Whoever’s name I call, stay behind. The rest can go back. Remember one thing, the mansion is a restricted area. If anyone enters without my permission, they will be killed immediately.”
His last sentence rang out with a deathly chill.
He monitored the thirty heart rate indicators in his EP, and he nodded with satisfaction. Without any abnormal stimulation, the heart rate would not fluctuate, which meant that they don’t have any strange thoughts.
Everyone brought their bowls with them at their dismissal and headed to the sink with Yao Yao’s guidance. He was thankful for the automatic water treatment system which provided them with city-wide safe and clean drinking water in the post-apocalypse.
Everyone whose names were called stood quivering in front of Jiang Chen. They didn’t know what their master would make them do.
“Zhou Jiexi.”
“Yes.” Zhou Jiexi gently bit her lip as she bowed down to Jiang Chen staring on the ground. She had a husband who loved her dearly. To be truthful, she was afraid that Jiang Chen would require some disdainful need from her. If that was the case, she couldn’t resist. For her husband’s life, she would shamefully accept.
She was clearly thinking too much. Although she was rather attractive, Jiang Chen wasn’t into married women, and he especially was not interested in forcing anyone.
Also, Miss Sun Jiao was standing beside him.
“You all don’t have to be so afraid. I won’t eat you guys,” Jiang Chen said as he shrugged at the two males and two females. He then asked the wife, “Do you know how to cook?”
“Mhmm.” It was an odd question, but Zhou Jiexi truthfully nodded. As a qualified wife, of course she knew how to cook. It was just that ever since she woke up from the hibernation chamber with her husband in the survival base, she hadn’t seen rice in a long time.
“You’ll be responsible for the food of these thirty people. I’ll give you a menu in a moment.” After he finished, Jiang Chen didn’t bother to look at Zhou Jiexi’s expression as he flipped to the next page. “Wang Qin.”
“Here!” The timid girl with freckles was frightened by Jiang Chen’s voice.
“This is not elementary school. You don’t have to say here, just say yes.” Jiang Chen gently smiled at the peculiar gazes of the four people before getting back to the point. “You’re an accounting major. Therefore, you’ll be responsible for the supplies in storage. I’ll give you a copy of the key, and I need a record for every supply’s usage. This is an important task, and I cannot allow you to make a mistake. Do you understand?”
“Understood!”
Great. Although the voice was a little weak, it certainly showed her determination which pleased Jiang Chen.
Her timid personality made him especially satisfied with his choice.
“Lu Huasheng.” Peanuts? Jiang Chen almost burst out laughing at such an odd name.
“Yes.” A responsible-looking middle-aged man cautiously nodded in response.
“I heard you were the chief developer of Huajian Real Estate?”
“That was before the war.” Lu Huasheng smiled bitterly.
“I don’t care when it happened, I only need you to redesign this base for me. That’s right, I want to build a survival camp far larger than Sixth Street. I’ll need you to draw a layout plan with the mansion in the center and expand the radius of the base by two times. The design of the wall, where to put it, how much material is required, and the survivors’ building—I trust you know these better than me. I want to see the result by tomorrow at six o’clock.”
“I need a full sensory computer and a memory card,” Lu Huasheng cautiously said. “For drawing purposes.”
“Here you go.” Jiang Chen said without even blinking. Jiang Chen purchased a bunch of these cheap, second-hand equipment that littered the Sixth Street.
“Okay, that’s it. You three can leave now.”
The ones released let out a breath of relief as they looked compassionately at their companion left behind before they quickly left with their bowls.
“Hehe, boss, what about me?” The person remaining was a middle-aged man with a pair of glasses. His figure was rather lean, meaning he was unable to do any physical labor. He saw that Jiang Chen didn’t say anything which made him uncomfortably scratch his head as he asked in a timid voice.
The other three people were all assigned tasks to complete, but this young boss didn’t give him any instructions which made him quite afraid. His mind began to wander to see if he did anything wrong to upset the boss.
