Life had fallen into dire straits, and Xu Yi had no choice but to try changing things. With his exceptional intelligence, he seized an opportunity, and with a silver tongue, talked the vain assistant manager around. He landed a cushy job handing out tally sticks: he only worked half a day, yet earned ten sticks. The bald foreman not only dared not snatch them from him, but even brought him three to five extra sticks each day to curry favor.
That way, he could earn sixty or seventy copper coins a day, enough at last to eat delicious stuffed buns for both breakfast and dinner, though he still couldn't fill his belly.
On the third day of handing out tally sticks, Old Jia, a laborer, put in a good word for him. At a rock-bottom price, Xu Yi rented a side room in a large courtyard belonging to Old Jia's brother-in-law, in Water-Well Alley, two li from the docks. At last, he no longer had to take the sky for a roof and the ground for a bed.
It turned out a clever mind was a wonderful thing. Wherever you had one, you could make your way.
After half a month or so, once he'd adjusted to life among the common folk, Xu Yi didn't need long to climb into a relatively comfortable position.
He seized an opportunity and put his knack for mathematical calculations to use, earning the shipowner's favor and a job keeping accounts. At last, he left the ranks of manual laborers, and his monthly pay reached two taels of silver.
That was enough to maintain a household at a modest level. But it still wasn't enough for Xu Yi to eat his fill of meat buns dripping with chili oil at every meal. He could only