33: Drag it down and call me

The two women were extremely scared; as the leader of the Shelter, Tian Ming could decide their lives with just a word.

"Leader, kick them both out of the Shelter and let them fend for themselves. If they dare to set fire to the house today, they'll dare to tear down the roof tomorrow," Aunt Lin said fiercely.

Tian Ming turned his head and glanced at Aunt Lin.

"Are you telling me how to do things? Or do you want to be the leader?"

Aunt Lin instantly cowered, quickly waving her hands and saying, "Leader, you decide, you decide. I firmly support all of the Leader's decisions and obey the Leader's wise and correct leadership."

Tian Ming smiled coldly, then turned his head again to look at the two women kneeling on the ground.

"What are your names?" Tian Ming asked.

"Qin Xiu."

"Liu Zhizhi."

The records showed that of these two, Liu Zhizhi was a food blogger, and the other, named Qin Xiu, was a chef at a private kitchen.

They were indeed birds of a feather; cooking in the dormitory, it was a wonder they even thought of it.

Tian Ming took a deep breath and said, "You've caused such a huge disaster today. You have two paths to choose from. The first is to pack your things and get out of the Shelter, right now, immediately."

Upon hearing this, the two women cried and pleaded, "The second, the second!"

They understood that winter had already set in, and leaving the Shelter meant certain death.

Even if the second option meant half their lives, they would accept it. At least they could live.

Tian Ming paused, then continued, "The second option: Dogzi, drag these two away and give them twenty strikes with a stick."

"No!"

The two women shrieked in horror, but their voices gradually faded as Dogzi roughly dragged them down the Shelter's corridor.

Immediately after, the screams of the two women came from the other side of the corridor.

Aunt Lin trembled all over upon hearing it, no longer daring to speak. She was thankful that she had only been fined a day's worth of supplies.

Soon, Dogzi dragged them back. Dogzi had a good sense of proportion; he didn't hit vital spots, but it definitely hurt.

The Leader gave two choices; the first was life-threatening, and the second was certainly to spare lives.

Even though Dogzi wasn't educated, he knew that killing them was definitely not an option. If they were crippled, the Shelter would lose two laborers and gain two useless people. So, the Leader's twenty strikes were definitely meant to make them hurt and teach them a lesson.

Tian Ming watched the two women trembling in pain. The purpose of the punishment had been achieved. And Dogzi controlled the force of his blows very well; he was a good dog who understood his master's thoughts.

"Liu Zhizhi, a food blogger, I should be right, shouldn't I?" Tian Ming squatted down and asked Liu Zhizhi.

Liu Zhizhi was so scared she shuffled backward, shaking her head repeatedly and wailing, "No more, Leader, I won't cook anymore."

Dogzi said fiercely, "When the Leader asks you a question, you only need to answer yes or no!"

Liu Zhizhi nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, I am a food blogger!"

"Then you should know how to cook, right?" Tian Ming continued to ask.

Liu Zhizhi nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, I can cook!"

Tian Ming nodded in satisfaction, then turned to glance at Qin Xiu.

"And you, a private kitchen chef, you should also know how to cook, right?"

"Yes, Leader. Today we received canned goods and noodles, so Zhizhi and I just wanted to cook them to make them taste better. We really didn't do it on purpose, really not..."

"Alright!"

Tian Ming reached out and interrupted Qin Xiu's explanation, then stood up.

"You two, you've taken your beating, and you've admitted your mistake. This disaster is over for today."

The two women wept with joy, fearing that other punishments might still await them.

"However..."

As soon as Tian Ming uttered these two words, the two women became nervous again.

Tian Ming paused, glanced at Dogzi beside him, and asked, "Have you finished cleaning up Factory Building No. 1 in the shelter?"

Dogzi nodded and said, "It's cleaned up. The ventilation and everything are very good."

"Is the power on?" Tian Ming asked again.

"Shen Yi and Old Man Yuan are pulling wires and installing it now!"

Tian Ming then turned back to Qin Xiu and Liu Zhizhi and said, "Since you two love cooking so much, I'm planning to set up a public canteen. Distributing supplies this way isn't cost-effective, and what you eat is too monotonous, easily leading to malnutrition. From now on, we won't distribute supplies; we'll issue meal tickets. You two will be responsible for cooking, making noodles, and portioning canned goods."

Liu Zhizhi and Qin Xiu looked at each other, unsure how to react for a moment.

"What? Unwilling?" Tian Ming looked at the two with cold eyes.

"No, no, Leader, we are willing, we are willing!" Liu Zhizhi and Qin Xiu quickly nodded in agreement.

Tian Ming had actually wanted to open a canteen for a long time. Among their supplies, there were many canned goods, as well as pickles, rice, noodles, flour, and so on. These things couldn't be eaten raw if simply distributed.

Factory Building No. 1, which Dogzi cleaned up, was intended for the public canteen, and they even got large rice cookers, refrigerators, and other items.

Besides Qin Xiu and Liu Zhizhi, the cook and the old woman brought by Qiu Wuhui were also among Tian Ming's predetermined candidates.

Seeing that the two women were still somewhat afraid, Tian Ming said, "Don't worry, useful people have a very high status here with me. Starting tomorrow, you can try to cook. Our Shelter now has over six hundred people. Besides you two, there are a few others; if you have anyone in mind, you can bring them to help. Besides getting enough to eat, after the Shelter implements the meal ticket system, it will also implement item vouchers, which are equivalent to cash and can be exchanged for any daily necessities you need from the warehouse. Of course, you won't be shortchanged."

The two women naturally knew what item vouchers meant. Item vouchers equaled supplies, and the amount of supplies meant one's status in the Shelter.

They nodded repeatedly and said, "Leader, don't worry, we will work hard."

Although they took twenty strikes, they found a good job. These twenty strikes were not a loss; they were practically a huge gain.

With so many people in the Shelter, one had to put in labor to get more supplies. Everything started from scratch; without a special skill, one could only move stones, clean, and be ordered around to get a little bit of supplies.

Now, knowing how to cook was also popular; at least, they would get enough to eat. Tian Ming couldn't let a group of cooks starve, but he also couldn't prevent them from secretly eating.

Looking at the thin clothes on the two, Tian Ming said to Dogzi, "Take them to the warehouse to get two sets of clothes. For the next two days, let them go to the kitchen to see what's missing and give me a list. I'll make up for it."

Dogzi nodded and took the two women to the warehouse to get their things.

In the future, two things will be popular in the Shelter: item vouchers and meal tickets.

This was actually an economic behavior, very primitive, but suitable for promotion in the Shelter.

For example, if there are ten thousand catties of rice, there will be a corresponding ten thousand catties of meal tickets. Once distributed, if the canteen consumes one thousand catties, one thousand catties of meal tickets will be recovered, and then the next cycle will begin.

To obtain these meal tickets, people would need to put in labor, either by repairing the Shelter or by going out to collect supplies.

To give a slightly simpler example, if a person consumes two catties of rice a day, but he goes out to collect supplies and obtains two hundred catties of rice. Of course, it won't just be one person, maybe ten, maybe a hundred.

Supplies will become abundant as the currency circulates. This very small economic cycle will operate healthily.

Of course, this economic cycle is built on Tian Ming's guarantee. As long as Tian Ming exists, the Shelter's small economic cycle will never collapse.