Chapter 66

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Early in the morning, the team members got up on time with the wake-up call and started their exercises after washing up.

"Isn't it a holiday? Why is the exercise call being blown again?"

"The captain must have something to say."

Liu Jun actually didn't have much to say. While the team members were enjoying their relaxation last night, the officers and clerks in the team were busy all night long. They organized the evaluations of all the team members, made the final comprehensive assessments, and converted them into personal points.

Liu Jun stood on the platform, facing everyone, holding a small booklet in his hand, and said loudly, "This is called the Team Member Points Book. Your excellent performance in the last battle and your hard work during training have been evaluated and converted into these points."

"Points?"

Many team members were very puzzled and didn't understand what these points, converted from evaluations, were.

"As for what these points are for, I won't go into detail here. After the team disperses, you can go to the camp gate. There's a service cooperative that just opened today. You can take your points book there and exchange it for things you want."

Liu Jun only said this much, then started reading names to distribute the points books. Those whose names were called went up to receive their points books. The points book was slightly larger than a palm, with about ten pages. On the cover was a nine-headed bird pattern, and below it were the words "Points Book." When opened, the first page had the team member's name and the team name.

Zhang Donggou received his points book. He couldn't read, so he, like everyone else, gathered around the flag leader Cai Yuan and asked him to help look at it.

"Flag Leader, what does it say here?" Donggou asked.

Cai Yuan took Donggou's points book, flipped through a few pages, and glanced at the points. He whistled; this Donggou had more points than he did.

"The first few pages actually contain the rules and regulations of our nine-headed bird. There are many clauses, and everyone already knows them. Violating any of them will result in corresponding punishments. However, now there's an additional rule: after violating the rules, in addition to the original punishment, some points will be deducted. The back part is the points. Each point is marked with its source, such as hard training, outstanding performance, or excellent performance on the battlefield."

Everyone understood a bit more after hearing this. However, when they heard that violating team rules would result in both punishment and point deduction, they became quite concerned. Although they didn't know what the points could be exchanged for, since it was so hard to earn points, they must be very valuable.

"Everyone, go to the service cooperative and see what good things you can get."

Donggou and others came back to their senses and all laughed as they headed to the service cooperative. After leaving the camp gate, not far away was the newly opened service cooperative. To their surprise, there were four team members standing guard at the entrance of the service cooperative.

However, once inside, there were several rows of cabinets, and the people standing behind them were all women.

Donggou felt a bit embarrassed. Most of these women were young, not over thirty, and they all wore clean blue dresses. Donggou had seen women before, but the women in his village were nothing like these. The women in the mountains were poor and tired, and by the time they were just over thirty, they were already very old. Their skin was dark and they were thin.

Just as Donggou was standing there in a daze, a young woman walked up to him and said softly, "Big brother, what do you want to exchange?"

Donggou was completely stunned. He foolishly took out his points book, "This is my points book, see what I can exchange?" After saying that, his face turned red. He felt his face burning and didn't dare to look at the young woman, even though they were separated by a counter. He could smell a very enticing fragrance coming from her, which made him want to lean closer.

Fang Qing took the points book from the young team member, opened it, and saw the name "Zhang Donggou" written on it. She then glanced at the points and was surprised to find that this young man was actually a flag leader, the leader of the rear flag musket team.

When she flipped to the back and saw the points, she was even more surprised and let out a small exclamation.

"What's wrong?" Donggou asked quickly.

Fang Qing covered her mouth with her hand, a bit embarrassed, and said, "Sorry, Flag Leader Zhang, you have ten thousand points."

Zhang Donggou asked curiously, "Ten thousand points, is that a lot?"

Fang Qing had already received several team members, but Donggou's points were shockingly high.

"In our service cooperative, one hundred points can be exchanged for one tael of silver. You have ten thousand points, which can be directly exchanged for one hundred taels of silver."

"My points can be exchanged for one hundred taels of silver?" Donggou was shocked. They originally thought that the points could only be exchanged for rewards like grain and cloth, and getting two or three taels of silver would be good enough, considering they had already received rewards for training and bandit suppression.

But now, hearing that ten thousand points could be exchanged for one hundred taels of silver was simply unbelievable.

"Can it really be exchanged for one hundred taels of silver, and can I exchange it now?"

"Of course, but I suggest you don't exchange your points for silver. That would be a bit of a loss. You might as well use your points to buy other things here, which would be more cost-effective. For example, we have rice here. Outside, one dou of rice costs eight fen of silver. But if you use points to exchange for rice, you can get a ten percent discount, and one dou of rice only costs seven points."

Hearing this, Donggou's eyes lit up.

Although he couldn't read, he could still do math. One hundred points for one tael of silver, so one point was equivalent to one fen of silver. But if he used points to buy rice here, one point was worth more than one fen of silver.

Outside, one dou of rice costs eight fen of silver, but using points, it only costs seven points, saving one fen of silver per dou of rice.

"Then if I exchange my points for rice and sell it outside, wouldn't I make one tael of silver per dou?"

"The ten percent discount is an offer for team members, but it must be exchanged with points. In fact, points can be exchanged for many good things," Fang Qing explained in detail.

"What else can be exchanged?"

"Here is a detailed exchange list. There are all kinds of items, from food to clothing, even gold and silver jewelry," Fang Qing introduced enthusiastically. Captain Liu had taken them in, given them this job, and provided them with a monthly salary of one tael of silver, as well as food, lodging, and two sets of clothes. Fang Qing was very grateful for this. Although working in the service cooperative meant being more visible, she no longer cared about that.

Donggou calculated in his mind. He now had a lot of silver. Previously, he had received 195 taels of silver from bandit suppression, as well as one shi of rice, one bolt of silk, and two bolts of cloth. His rewards were the highest in the team.

"Five points for one dou of glutinous rice, seven points for one dou of polished rice, ten points for one dou of sticky rice. Five points for a three-pound fresh fish, seven points for a five-pound fresh fish. Three points for one hundred sugar cakes, fifty points for one sheep, two points for one pound of pork."

"Three points for one pound of dried fish, five points for one pound of smoked pork."

"Five points for one pound of white sugar, three points for one pound of brown sugar, five points for one pound of honey, three points for one pound of brown sugar."

"Four points for one bottle of distilled liquor, two points for one bottle of yellow wine, two points for one jar of bean wine, three points for one jar of cooking wine."

"Seven points for one pound of bud tea, two points for one pound of leaf tea."

"Eight hundred points for one ox!"

...

Donggou felt his eyes weren't enough to see everything. Listening to Fang Qing list the points prices of various items, he truly realized how valuable the points were. Not only could he buy all kinds of things here with points, but it was at least ten percent cheaper.

"Flag Leader Zhang, what do you plan to exchange for?" Fang Qing asked.

Donggou originally didn't plan to exchange for anything. He already had nearly two hundred taels of silver, one shi of rice, one bolt of silk, and two bolts of cloth, which was enough to take home.

But now, with the beautiful young woman standing in front of him, asking him what he wanted to exchange for, Donggou felt his brain wasn't enough. The fragrance made him a bit distracted. He said involuntarily, "Ten pounds of tea first."

"Bud tea or leaf tea?"

"I'll take the more expensive bud tea." Donggou tried to mimic Captain Liu's demeanor. How could he choose the cheaper one for just a five-point difference in front of a beautiful woman? If he was going to buy, he would buy the best.

"Bud tea is seven points per pound, you want ten pounds, right?" Fang Qing asked. Hearing Donggou nod, she added, "Ten pounds at once might be a bit much. How about two pounds first? If you like it, you can buy more next time, okay?"

Donggou nodded quickly and smiled foolishly, "Then two pounds first."

"Flag Leader Zhang, are you going home on leave this time? How about buying some sugar and some wine?"

"Whatever you say."

"Two pounds of white sugar, five pounds of brown sugar, two bottles of distilled liquor, and five bottles of yellow wine, how about that? Flag Leader Zhang, you'll definitely want to have a good feast when you go home."

"Okay, I'll take them all."

After that, Donggou went on a big shopping spree. He bought flour, ready-made clothes, boots, even a hat, cigarettes, pastries, and finally two hams and twenty pounds of smoked meat, a total of a large pile of things, which cost him more than three thousand points.

Converted to silver, that was more than thirty taels of silver. This was something unimaginable before. Spending more than thirty taels of silver in one shopping trip was equivalent to his annual salary. After becoming a flag leader, his monthly salary increased from two taels to four taels.

Unconsciously, he bought so many things. If it weren't for Fang Qing's kind reminders several times, he might have bought even more to save face in front of the beautiful woman.

Taking his points book to the front desk, a female accountant settled the bill for him, deducting exactly three thousand points. Because he bought a lot, the service cooperative gave him a discount, waiving the remainder and only deducting three thousand points. This discount was actually initiated by Fang Qing.

After pressing his fingerprint and signing on the deduction amount in the points book, the transaction was completed.

"Flag Leader Zhang, you bought so many things. Do you need a cart? If you do, we can call one for you, and you can still enjoy a ten percent discount."

...