Published: March 11, 2025
CHAPTER 45: Anger
After dinner, Zhao Hai intentionally kept Merlin in the room, asking her to help him brew some Kaya. While drinking Kaya, Zhao Hai said to Merlin, “Grandma Merlin, what do you think we should do now? How can we help those slaves study letter recognition more earnestly?”
Merlin thought for a moment and looked at Zhao Hai, saying, “Young master, do you really want to hear my opinion?”
Zhao Hai quickly replied, “Of course, Grandma Merlin! You have always managed people in the budah family. I have never managed anyone before, so I lack your experience in this area.”
Merlin smiled slightly and said, “Thank you for the compliment, young master. I think you are being too kind to those slaves right now. You should be a bit stricter with them.”
This took Zhao Hai by surprise; he didn’t quite understand. He asked, “Grandma Merlin, are you saying I should be stricter with those slaves? Why?”
Merlin replied with a smile, “Young master, you need to understand that a superior has not only a gentle side but also a strict side. If you are overly gentle, your subordinates will think you are easy to bully. Of course, the slaves are not in that situation, but they will feel that you are too good to them, and they haven’t lived up to your expectations. This is why they lack motivation when it comes to learning to read. To them, working for us is their value, while learning to read is a reward from us. If we only give them rewards without letting them do anything, they will feel uneasy.”
Zhao Hai was taken aback. He had never thought about it that way. He believed that these slaves should be like students on Earth; honestly, no student sees learning as a reward. Everyone would prefer to attend classes only two days a week and rest for five days.
Zhao Hai had overlooked a critical point: in this world, almost all knowledge and skills are closed off to slaves. Slaves exist only to work, and in the eyes of some nobles, they aren’t even considered human.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Hai said, “I understand now. Thank you, Grandma Merlin. Let me think about how to proceed.”
Merlin nodded in appreciation. She understood what Zhao Hai meant. Undeniably, he was quite remarkable now, at least in her eyes. However, she also had to acknowledge that Zhao Hai still had a lot to learn.
Zhao Hai sat there for a while, considering how to handle the situation. To be honest, this was the first time he had encountered such a predicament and had never dealt with anything like this before.
After contemplating for a long while, Zhao Hai stood up, exhaled, and turned to Merlin, saying, “Grandma Merlin, let’s go out. I want to meet these people.”
Merlin nodded, and the two walked out of the grass hut to where the slaves were. The slaves were currently practicing writing on the grass. They had peeled back the turf to expose the earth beneath and were using corn stalks to write in the soil.
However, Zhao Hai noticed that these slaves seemed somewhat dispirited, very different from their excited demeanor when they first learned to write.
Zhao Hai approached them with a serious expression and said calmly, “Everyone, stop for a moment.”
When the slaves saw Zhao Hai had arrived, they immediately dropped the corn stalks and knelt on the ground to pay their respects. But this time, Zhao Hai didn’t gently ask them to stand as he had before; instead, he said in a solemn tone, “I have heard that you have not been serious while learning to write these past few days?”
His voice wasn’t loud but was very calm. Yet the slaves couldn’t help but tremble and immediately responded in unison, “Please punish us, master.”
Zhao Hai said coldly, “You all have not understood something crucial. Making you learn to write is not just a reward for you; it’s to enable you to serve the budah family better. Even if you are fools, you should understand the current situation of the budah family. The budah family needs each of you to do your utmost to serve it, and that means your very best. Do you understand? But what skills do you have right now? Apart from doing some physical labor, what else can you do? What techniques do you possess? If I give you a book, how many words can you recognize? Right now, you know nothing, understand nothing. If those undead beings could be controlled by me, one undead being is worth ten of you, and they don’t require me to waste food on them! In terms of strength, you can’t compete with a horse. Why don’t I want you to be like horses? Because you can learn to read, while horses can’t. Only by learning to recognize words can you better serve the budah family. If it’s just for doing heavy labor, why would I have you learn to read? Do you not want to serve the budah family better by learning to read?”