"Big brother."
Seeing Lu Yuan, especially the large basket on his back, the leading Biao Ye instantly revealed a hint of smile.
He walked right up to the basket without any courtesies and opened it to take a look. He pushed aside the worthless rabbit skins, and when he saw the Wild Yellow Dog skins inside, his eyes lit up, clicking his tongue in awe, "Three large pelts, you've got quite a harvest in the past two months."
"It's all thanks to Biao Ye's blessings." Lu Yuan complimented him, but in his heart, he couldn't help but curse. He knew he was going to be bled dry by this skinflint.
Biao Ye chuckled and put down the basket lid, saying, "You know the rules, 30% protection fee for the goods. The pelts here are worth about two silver taels, so the protection fee this time is six cents."
"The small fry understands."
Upon hearing the price, Lu Yuan's heart bled. He hated not being able to cut Biao Ye down with a single stroke as he watched his grinning face.
But after seeing the sturdy builds of Biao Ye and his gang of three or five lackeys, that crazy thought immediately vanished.
Although he is a hunter and quite skilled, it is obviously a joke to think he could single-handedly take on several burly men.
Not to mention, this is their Old Nest, the city where the Black Wolf Gang has their base. If anything happened, the Black Wolf Gang would be alerted immediately and arrive in no time.
By then, the Black Wolf Gang would cooperate with the government, and most likely he wouldn't even be able to leave the city before being caught.
So, there was no way he could resist them. The only way to safely conduct business was to honestly pay the protection fee.
Honestly taking out 540 copper coins from his pocket, Lu Yuan counted them carefully and handed them over.
One silver tael was equivalent to ten cents, which was nine hundred coppers. Six cents was 540 coppers.
He had prepared these copper coins before descending the mountain, knowing he couldn't avoid this layer of exploitation.
"Here's the protection fee, Biao Ye, please accept it."
Biao Ye weighed the copper coins in his hand, glanced at his remaining coppers, and greed flashed in his eyes, but then it was gone.
Although there were still quite a few coins left in Lu Yuan's hand, possibly several hundred coppers, people in their line of work sought to make a steady profit in the long run.
Exacerbating that exploitation would be like draining the lake to catch fish, potentially driving this youngster out of business in the county town forever.
After all, few could bear that type of skinning and bloodsucking exploitation.
Everyone needed to make a living.
By forcing someone into destitution, leaving them without a single copper, how could they survive?
Don't they need to buy rice, salt, and other necessities? Don't they need to save up for marrying or having children?
What's more, the business of being a hunter meant mingling with dangerous beasts, constantly fighting and killing, so the profession tended to attract those with a bit of brutality and fierceness. If these people were not given a way out, they would naturally not give you one either.
Biao Ye did not think that this seemingly timid little guy, who dutifully paid up, was really just as cowardly as he appeared on the surface.
Who knows, maybe the youngster was secretly plotting to stab him to death.
So, the wise Biao Ye pocketed the money after confirming the protection fee was correct, and patted Lu Yuan's shoulder with his other hand, "Not bad, honestly paying up is better than those short-sighted people. Alright, go about your business."
"Yes, I understand."
Lu Yuan continued to force a smile, suppressing his urge to cut down the guy in front of him on the spot as he managed to see them off.
...
After paying twice, no one else came to bother him.
Laden with the basket, Lu Yuan, who had paid his protection fee, headed straight to a tannery he was acquainted with.
"Manager Liu, have a look. These pelts are almost all whole and intact, with minimal damage and scratches, and the fur is very lustrous. They're quality goods."
Among the businesses in the market, Lu Yuan took out several pelts from the basket and strained to promote them to the smiling and chubby manager in front of him.
As he listened, Manager Liu nodded and hummed in agreement, but his eyes sparkled with cunning and avarice.
After Lu Yuan finished speaking, Manager Liu touched the pelts, feeling their delicate texture, and leisurely said, "Indeed, they are of high quality, but these pelts are originally just low-grade pelts that aren't worth much.
Even if their quality is exceptional, that doesn't make them valuable.
Furthermore, some of these pelts are not even complete."
Lu Yuan's heart sank.
The implication of the manager's words was clear: he was trying to lower the price.
However, he had already anticipated this and was prepared to accept it as long as the price was not too low.
As a result, he bluntly asked, "How much are you willing to pay?"
Manager Liu chuckled and held up two fingers, "Two silver taels."
This price was indeed about the market price, just as Biao Ye had mentioned earlier, but it was the lowest price.
Lu Yuan was not going to accept this, so he shook his head, "Too low. You have to add more, otherwise I'd rather sell them myself at a stand."
Although the Four Connections Tannery specialized in fur trade and was the largest in the county town, even monopolizing the transactions, the market also allowed individual vendors to set up their own stands.
Since Lu Yuan had already paid the protection fees to the city gate tax official and the Black Wolf Gang, he abided by the rules.
So, even though the tannery was backed by the Black Wolf Gang, they couldn't force the Black Wolf Gang to keep coming after someone who had already paid the protection fee.
Therefore, it was possible for Lu Yuan to set up his own stand to sell his pelts, but he would have to spend more on a place to stay in the city and that would be an extra expense.
In order to save money and trouble, hunters usually went straight to big shops like the Four Connections Tannery to make one-time large transactions.
Of course, if the tannery lowered the price too much, the hunters would naturally not be willing to sell at a loss. They would rather put themselves through the trouble and set up a stand to sell their goods.
After all, these were pelts they had risked their lives for; who would be willing to sell them cheaply?
Manager Liu understood this principle, so he hesitated for a moment and waved the two fingers he was holding up, "I'll add another 200 coppers, at most."
Two thousand copper coins.
Lu Yuan weighed the offering, which was about the same as his past transaction prices. He knew it was the manager's bottom line and that he couldn't ask for more, so he nodded, "Alright, deal."
Manager Liu's face immediately relaxed, and he ordered his staff to take the pelts while he took out the money from the counter and handed it over, completing the transaction.
Lu Yuan couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
He paid 100 coppers for the city entrance tax and 540 coppers for the protection fee. His pelts sold for 2,000 coppers, leaving him with a profit of 1,360 copper coins.
After his original self and his own transmigration, all his hard work over two months only earned him one tael and five cents.
Averaging it out, it was less than one tael a month.
Even the laborers in the city who did simple work earned over a tael a month.
It's really...
"As I thought, being a hunter and an illegal resident is truly not human!"
Lu Yuan sighed in his heart, even more determined to get rid of his status restrictions as soon as possible.
Otherwise, doing things would be too restrictive, and it would be unbearable.