Defeating Magic Chapter 44: Trust between collaborators

Chapter 44: Trust between collaborators

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Mimosa

Zhou Yan followed the informant to the place where Sun Tian was causing trouble and found that a bunch of people had gathered there. Everyone was squatting or sitting on the ground eating mutton. Sun Tian was standing in the middle of the crowd, arguing fiercely with a man about something, and everyone else was basically watching the action.

When he saw this scene, Zhou Yan felt that it did not match his imagination. Sun Tian had always given him the feeling of being a small group leader, and he had also been strange to Zhou Yan several times before. Each time, there were a bunch of people around him, as if to give him a strong voice. However, this time when he saw him quarrel, no one came forward to help?

Well, at a closer look, these people don’t seem to be part of Sun Tian’s gang.

Zhou Yan did not rush forward, wanting to listen to the content of their quarrel, but the miner who shouted at him to come over to handle justice shouted first, “Stop it! Worker Zhou is here!”

Zhou Yan subconsciously glanced at the man, but the other party was still unaware of it as he was pushing several onlookers to the side to make way for Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan was very helpless, but also could not say it was this person’s fault. In terms of behavior, this person was even ingratiating himself and could not think of his own ideas. So Zhou Yan only heard a headless sentence, “This is the meaning of Worker Zhou, if you have any questions, ask him!”

This was said by the one who was arguing with Sun Tian and happened to miss all their arguments.

When both of them heard the news that he had come, they both immediately stopped talking, and the one arguing with Sun Tian immediately changed into a smile, “Yo, worker Zhou, what brings you here? Which one of the buggers went to bother you? This is a small matter, you do not have to come here to see.”

This person, Chen Qian, was responsible for the management of this area as the small leader, and Sun Tian was under his control. It seemed that because Sun Tian spoke well on this side, there was still a part of his more die-hard followers, and the two people had been in an evenly matched state. In the mining plant, in addition to Gabriel’s direct subordinates, further down, the division of the appointed chiefs were not really of much use. Since these small chiefs were the people who really managed the miners to work, if the people under them did not listen to them, any sneaky tactics could be used as they only followed those who they trusted.

Zhou Yan nodded towards him and asked, “What happened?”

Chen Qian stared at Sun Tian and said in a bitter tone, “This Sun Tian is really a bad seed, he actually led people to steal meat! We had just cut the meat, hanging it on the beam before cooking, and he took it away with someone.”

Sun Tian interrupted him loudly, “We didn’t steal it! What we took was our own share!”

Chen Qian sneered twice, “Worker Zhou clearly ordered it so it must be done by their respective kitchens. We can share, but the kitchen has not yet done anything, but you are the first to start. If this is not called theft, what is it called? Stop arguing and hand over the stolen meat, or else you can go home without complaining.”

The reason why Zhou Yan asked the kitchen to cook the meat before giving it to the people was because the people here were not worried about certain cleanliness habits. There were no quarantine and epidemic prevention measures for livestock in this era, so if they didn’t handle it properly, food-borne illnesses would easily appear.

Zhou Yan did not force his point of view to explain it to them, since they would not understand, and no one would believe it. Many empiricists would even think “I have been eating this way for decades, I’m fine, so I won’t have any more issues”, which was evident from the fact that he organized people to clean the hot spring baths but a lot of people made many  complaints on that matter! He was not able to explain as he would rather they understood that he was stingy and did not want anyone to sneak away to eat more.

This was the inevitable shortcomings of Zhou Yan’s character. He just came here and also felt the same. Explaining it once to others would not make them accept it. He simply shut up and did not say anything, otherwise they would not have been in Kohl Town for so many years.

At the time of Chen Qian saying this, it made it easy to misunderstand Sun Tian, and then the subject of the conflict would be transferred to himself. They themselves had a conflict, and Sun Tian subconsciously felt that Zhou Yan would not listen to his explanation. This matter may be so misunderstood that Sun Tian and Zhou Yan would both lose, but Chen Qian would benefit from it.

Well… this Chen Qian was quite powerful. In front of his face, he dared to play such a trick, sounding as if nothing was wrong, and covered himself so well…. Luo Futu suddenly and inexplicably laughed, and Zhou Yan looked back at him while gesturing with his eyes – what do you see?

Luo Futu was not as concerned about the affairs of the mine as he was, and was even less interested in learning about the affairs of the little people underneath. He naturally did not know the relationship between Sun Tian and Chen Qian, without this information, what else could he tell?

Luo Futu then approached Zhou Yan and whispered in his ear, “Although Sun Tian drugged you and that makes me very concerned, this Chen Qian is not a good person either.”

This was a reminder to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan smiled, “Why do you think he is not a good person?”

Luo Futu slightly raised his eyebrows, “Intuition. The more righteous a person is, the nastier his mind is.”

— Luo Futu was a keen empiricist, very keen on the premise of empiricism, and this keenness of his came entirely from a distrust of human nature.

However, Zhou Yan thought Luo Futu actually had a small mind and wanted to give him a reminder, but did not remind him on the spot. He was still testing his “ability”. If he takes his words as a deaf ear, he would think this guy would also re-examine their own “collaborator” bar.

The high-level view was really unpleasant. He was not unable to understand Luo Futu’s thoughts, and he even hoped that Luo Futu would consider these aspects. If he had such a sense, it proved that Luo Futu was also a person worthy of cooperation. If he really believed him, he would be a fool. He knew from the first meeting that Luo Futu was the type of person he was not good at dealing with, and that he could even say godly things to himself when he first met him, but he never delivered 100% trust in his heart.

— At least for his own ability, he did not fully trust.

Luo Futu was so conceited, but also very smart. All things considered, Zhou Yan thought he was quite passable. No one would want their partner to be a pigheaded one, and as long as they still had a cooperative relationship, this kind of mutual probing would not stop.

As expected, after Chen said this, Sun Tian looked at Zhou Yan but did not want to explain, so he only showed a stubborn look without speaking.

Chen Qian pointed at Sun Tian and said, “Worker Zhou, look at him, he doesn’t even think he’s at fault, so why don’t you kick him out?”

“Oh.” Zhou Yan glanced at Chen Qian, “Things are not yet clear, you are the one who has set even the charge. Then this matter is left to you to deal with, why do you ask me?”

Chen Qian heard Zhou Yan’s dissatisfaction, so he smiled awkwardly and meekly shut his mouth to stop talking.

Zhou Yan looked around at the people squatting around and came to Sun Tian, “Now that I’ve heard one of the parties, let the other one talk next, what’s going on?”

Sun Tian did not appreciate it, “I have nothing to say! Anyway, no matter what I say, you have a predetermined result in your mind, why do you still pretend to ask me? I’ll just quit and go home!”

Zhou Yan nodded, “Good, you have a backbone, then you go to the accountant to check out and leave. I will tell them that you resigned on your own initiative and weren’t kicked out, so you can also look for your next job. But I advise you kindly, once out of here, it will be very difficult to find a place where you can eat well by working. You have to think about it.”

Xiao Ban said before that Gabriel’s mining factory gave good wages, and after Zhou Yan came, the miners were treated better than before. At least the moments of randomly scolding workers, whipping, and other very humiliating practices were gradually abolished. Now, if one were to leave the mine, where else would they find a more humane place to work than here?

Sun Tian finally took Zhou Yan’s words to heart, and he thought for half a day before saying, “Anyway, I didn’t steal anything.”

Zhou Yan looked at him expressionlessly, “Then did you bring someone to take the meat from the kitchen for yourself?”

“Yes! I let them take it away!” Sun Tian readily admitted, “But we only took our own share, you said that everyone can eat meat until they are full, we have not taken the share that’s enough for us to be full! I’ve seen it, they each took only one pound, less than the people here!”

This explanation did make sense as the mine workers did physical work and the amount of food they ate was generally very large. Some of the workers were just developed young people, and enough for four or five pounds was not excessive.

Zhou Yan was very confused, “But why take it away? Isn’t it better to eat here?”

Sun Tian was a little embarrassed by the question and did not have the heart to say it directly, but Zhou Yan instantly figured it out so he lightened his voice, “You have others at home?”

Although Sun Tian did not say, Zhou Yan also figured out the issue. Sun Tian and the others may have already started a family. This time of year, most families ate less food and ordinary people naturally could not afford to eat meat…. If they wanted to bring it back to their families, it was not impossible.

Zhou Yan did not expect Sun Tian’s group of people to still have a conscience, but their concept of the rules was too poor from just drugging him to just stealing from the kitchen to bring back…. Disorganized and undisciplined, they still needed to be educated.

Zhou Yan looked back at Chen Qian, “Are you the person in charge here?”

Chen Qian hastily nodded, and Zhou Yan then said, “Then you go inform everyone. If they want to eat meat in the mine factory, according to the old rules, do not arbitrarily take the meat away and allow it to cook uniformly. If you don’t want to stay, you can get a pound of meat back, but it has to be processed in the kitchen. If you take it away secretly, it will be treated as theft. Whether it is eaten, or taken home, we must keep good records to avoid fraudulent claims and omissions.”

Chen Qian loved power, and Zhou Yan personally gave him this task which was equivalent to giving him face. Chen Qian was very happy, so he stopped focusing his eyes on Sun Tian. Sun Tian also did not expect Zhou Yan to make such a decision as he thought that he and his brothers would definitely be driven away. He didn’t care much, but if he dragged the others, his sin would be big before being forced to bear down also for those people. He looked at Zhou Yan with some surprise, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Zhou Yan glanced at him, but said, “Don’t thank me, I haven’t finished yet. I don’t think you did the right thing, trying to be brave, individual heroism, disobeying the command, and bringing everyone along with you to make mistakes…. If you are dissatisfied with a certain policy, you can ask for instructions from above, and if your leader does not agree, you can ask for instructions from your leader’s leader. If that does not work, you can also go directly to me. You reflect on yourself.”

Sun Tian had nothing to say to Zhou Yan. Since it was in front of everyone that he scolded him, his face turned red.

Chen Qian came over at this time, “Worker Zhou, just… reflection? This punishment is too light, right?”

Zhou Yan looked at him indifferently and raised his hand to pat Chen Qian’s shoulder, “And you, as a leader, you actually quarreled with your men in front of everyone. You and Sun Tian together will do the meat sharing. If you do a good job, then all is forgiven, if you do not do a good job, you can get together to settle accounts.”

Chen Qian hurriedly answered with a yes.

Zhou Yan thought about giving some practical punishment, but this time of year, it was not easy to live and to save a pound of meat to bring back to the family…. Zhou Yan was now trying to resolve the conflict between these two people and not incense them, so he could not do too much.

This little episode soon passed, and watching the lively people disperse, Luo Futu only then applauded as he stood up, “Great, I did not expect you to be so good at managing people, what else do you understand?”

Zhou Yan in Luo Futu’s eyes was actually a bit withdrawn, he did not like to be friends with others, and sometimes was a bit indecisive. However, he did not expect that he could properly deal with the problem.

Zhou Yan glanced at him, “High Priest is too much.”

Zhou Yan used to have so many companies and research institutes under him, so if he didn’t have a little tolerance for others, he would still be running a business that would go out of business in a few years.

“But your tactics are still too kind as they were lightly taken and released, not enough to deter others. Especially Sun Tian, he has harmed you.”

Zhou Yan walked forward expressionlessly with his brow slightly furrowed, “He’s just too weak in legal awareness, and the lack of an effective system has led everyone to look at such things casually. And these two people are not without merit, as they are well-learned in their craft. Chen is experienced, while Sun Tian is handy, meticulous, and efficient. If I can make good use of these two people, they can play a big role. Making the best use of their abilities and talents is more important than punishment. My goal now is to make a qualified mecha, everything else is put aside. But I need to write a staff code of conduct as soon as possible, otherwise all this mess would be enough to keep me busy, and I don’t know when I can make a mecha.”

Speaking of this, Zhou Yan’s head hurt, and now he had to do everything himself.

Luo Futu raised an eyebrow at his words, “I understand this, I’ll help you. As your collaborator, I can’t do nothing.”

Zhou Yan said in surprise, “You understand?”

Luo Futu raised his eyebrows, “The witch spirits also have rules, which I personally wrote, with some modifications, we should be able to use them.”

Once he heard the word “rules”, Zhou Yan was a bit unconvinced. He was afraid that he would write something like “kill all those who don’t listen to the High Priest”.

As Luo Futu said, he was now his collaborator so he must trust him. It would be too demotivating to deny him before he had written it.

“Okay, it’s all up to you.”

–Anyway, if the writing was bad, he could still rewrite it and change it.

The two walked away without noticing that there were eyes staring behind them. It was Gabriel who had watched the whole thing. He looked at Zhou Yan and sighed deeply, “Li Qing, I think I still want him.”