Having obtained a 0-Ring Spirit Beast, a Golden Belly Ink Carp, Duke was genuinely delighted by the unexpected windfall.
Although Spirit Beasts—especially quasi-Spirit Beasts like this 0-Ring one—weren't outrageously expensive, it was still a small fortune that could help subsidize his household expenses.
He currently had three sources of income.
The first was his regular card-repair income from Little Sam's Card Shop. After deducting material costs, wages, and the Card Masters' commissions, he could net around 50 Silver Dragons a month.
The second was his purchasing service fees. The operation had expanded somewhat, and besides Levin, he had hired another honest, burly man, Harper. He could basically earn 120 Silver Dragons a month.
The third was scavenging cards at the Scrap Card Station, repairing and refurbishing them, then selling them as secondhand cards. With Xiao Yi's assistance, he could earn around 80 Silver Dragons a month.
After adding and subtracting everything, his total monthly income came to two Gold Dragons.
Of course.
Once the year ended, Old Sam's business tax would expire. At that point, Duke would have to pay the tax himself, along with the expenses for greasing the palms of the relevant town agencies. He would have to set aside one or two Gold Dragons a year for that as well.
"Let's go home!"
Seeing that it was already getting late, Duke carried the bucket and hurried home.
When he returned to the familiar Second Vertical Street, an acquaintance immediately greeted him. "Oh, Little Boss Duke, did you go fishing again?"
"Yeah."
"Little Boss Duke, you certainly know how to enjoy yourself. How was the haul?"
Duke replied with a smile, "Would you believe it, I really did catch something—a wounded Golden Belly Ink Carp. Boss Abraham, come take a look."
He handed over the bucket.
Apart from a few small miscellaneous fish, it contained the Golden Belly Ink Carp, whose tail had been blown away on one side. It had stopped bleeding, and its breathing was steady. Clearly, its constitution as a Spirit Beast had allowed it to withstand the gunshot wound.
"Whoa!" Boss Abraham exclaimed in admiration. "It really is a Golden Belly Ink Carp. What luck you have... Tsk, tsk!"
After looking at the fish,
Duke said, "By the way, Boss Abraham, I'm planning to order a few more sets of summer work clothes. Could you come by later and measure the sizes of our staff?"
Abraham was the owner of a nearby tailor shop. Upon hearing this, he immediately smiled. "Sure. I happen to be free. I'll go back, get my measuring tape, and come over."
"See you in a bit."
"Mm, you go on ahead."
When he returned to Little Sam's Card Shop, Aunt Abby had already prepared dinner. Aside from the three Card Masters, who had finished work and gone home, all the other staff were eating in the courtyard.
At present, setting aside the Card Masters and Duke himself, Little Sam's Card Shop had a full nine employees.
Before Duke transmigrated, the soybean-oil processing plant he had opened himself had employed about the same number of workers.
However, Little Sam's Card Shop's annual income of twenty Gold Dragons was equivalent to two hundred thousand yuan, which couldn't compare with the processing plant's earnings. During the two best years, Duke had made three or four million yuan a year from the soybean-oil plant. In ordinary years, he could still guarantee an annual profit of three or four hundred thousand.
If he hadn't made that much money, he wouldn't have been willing to become a senior member of the Falcon Shooting Club and practice shooting in his spare time.
"Boss, I'll serve you some food." Aunt Abby rose to her feet.
"Don't rush. I'll go take care of something first. Just save me some." Duke waved his hand.
With that, he carried the bucket to the converted building in the backyard warehouse.
"Chirp!"
The moment he entered the bedroom, a plump squirrel leaped toward him. It was none other than the two-month-old Long-Haired Mongoose cub—Little Dou.
Little Dou was timid. If Duke didn't take it outside, it would hide above the bedroom's suspended ceiling.
It stayed quiet and hardly made a sound.
"Are you hungry, Little Dou? There are bits of fish in the bucket. Do you want some?" Duke fished out a chunk of fish meat from the bucket and held it out to Little Dou.
Little Dou sniffed it, then hugged the chunk of fish with both paws and began nibbling at it in small bites.
It could eat meat now.
Duke, meanwhile, carried over the fish tank he had just bought. He had already planned to raise some small fish when he went fishing. After filling the tank with water, he placed the Golden Belly Ink Carp from the bucket inside.
He didn't eat it or sell it.
He chose to raise the Golden Belly Ink Carp for the time being. It was a kind of romance unique to an old man. After all, his soul was no longer young; he had reached the age where he should enjoy raising fish and growing plants.
Once inside the fish tank, the Golden Belly Ink Carp seemed unaccustomed to its surroundings. It leaned against the corner and gasped for breath.
There was no air pump.
Duke was a little worried about whether the Golden Belly Ink Carp could adapt. But then he remembered that it hadn't keeled over in the bucket, which showed that a 0-Ring Spirit Beast had powerful survival and adaptability.
The fish tank should be able to keep it alive.
"Little Dou, keep an eye on it. From now on, it's your companion." As he spoke, Duke moved a pot of grass from his desk to the edge of the fish tank. "A Spirit Fish paired with a Spirit Plant—wouldn't that make the feng shui soar?"
The grass was the Earth Orchid he had dug up and brought home earlier.
After finishing all that, he left the remaining chunks of fish for Little Dou before going to the courtyard to eat.
Sally, who was stationed at the counter, had already finished eating. When she saw Duke come over, she casually said, "A few more mercenaries came to the shop for card repairs today. From their accents, they aren't locals."
"Did you ask where they came from and why they're here?"
"I did, but they wouldn't say. They only said they came here to explore and search for several scarce resources. But I don't think they're here to explore. I heard one of them mention that they'd already rented a house... Boss, think about it. If they came here to explore, they'd leave after a few days. There'd be no need to rent a house—they could just stay at an inn."
Duke nodded.
The deliveryman Dutlan followed up, "When I went to deliver goods, I also saw quite a few unfamiliar faces wandering around the streets."
After hearing this, Aunt Abby said worriedly, "Could the Pioneer War really be about to begin? Oh dear, who knows how many people will die this time!"
"It has nothing to do with us," the apprentice Ditet said indifferently.
"How could it have nothing to do with us?" Sally said. "If the Pioneer War really begins, our Little Sam's Card Shop will definitely be swamped with work. Who knows how many people will come to have their cards repaired then?"
After a pause,
Sally continued, "Boss, I'm a little worried."
"Worried about what?"
"I'm worried that Best's Card Repair Shop won't go under. There aren't many people getting their cards repaired there now, but once the Pioneer War begins and more people need repairs, Best's Card Repair Shop might come back to life."
"Yeah, that really is possible." The deliveryman Steve nodded.
Duke frowned. If the Pioneer War began and Best's Card Repair Shop took the opportunity to come back to life, it would certainly be an irritating development for him.
Best's betrayal back then had nearly ruined Little Sam's Card Shop.
Now, Best's Card Repair Shop's popularity was dismal to the extreme. But Best was, after all, a Card Master, and after all these years, he had accumulated a family fortune that allowed him to hold on.
He had surely heard the news about the Pioneer War and wanted to hang on a little longer.
"You don't need to worry about that. Whether or not the Pioneer War begins, Best's Card Repair Shop will go bankrupt sooner or later." Duke reassured them a few times. "Besides, even if Best's Card Repair Shop survives by riding on the Pioneer War, so what? There isn't a single card shop on Second Vertical Street that can compete with our Little Sam's Card Shop!"
"That's right, that's right!" Dutlan nodded.
The others nodded along as well, all of them believing this without question.
After everyone had finished dinner and Aunt Abby had washed the dishes, Sally closed the shop and left.
The huge Little Sam's Card Shop was left with Duke alone. Instead of returning to the bedroom to practice the Universal Blood Refining Method or read books and expand his database as usual, he...
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