Film and Television World Life Record

This is normal. After all, he used to be a powerful figure in Jiangning. Suddenly falling into this situation is like falling from the clouds to the bottom of a cliff. It's not easy for him to accept.

It seems we need to continue; we can't afford to falter along the way.

With a wave of his hand, he injected another wisp of true energy. Seeing the Life and Death Talisman activate, Li Mu locked the door and left the courtyard again.

The next morning, Li Mu came to the courtyard and found that Cheng Yong was in a semi-comatose state. After checking him over, he found that he had reached his limit both mentally and physically, so he stopped the activation of the Life and Death Talisman.

After cleaning the grime in the house, Li Mu took Cheng Yong to the backyard to wash him with water, put him back in the house, and then wandered around the streets for half a day. News of Cheng Yong's disappearance had spread, and there were many more soldiers on the streets, with checkpoints set up in many places for investigation.

Indeed, he is a powerful local figure, and his disappearance for two days is bound to attract attention.

Li Mu thought about Cheng Yong's current state and concluded that it should be sufficient. Back then, Tianshan Tonglao used the Life and Death Talisman to firmly control the masters of the Thirty-Six Caves and the Seventy-Two Islands, among other martial arts heroes. Xu Zhu used the Life and Death Talisman to subdue the arrogant Xingxiu Old Monster Ding Chunqiu at Shaoshi Mountain.

It's impossible that he couldn't control Cheng Yong even with the Life and Death Talisman. Even if there are setbacks, he has the ability to control the situation and continue to take ruthless action.

When Cheng Yong returned to the courtyard at noon, he finally regained consciousness and his spirits had recovered considerably.

However, upon seeing Li Mu, his body began to tremble like a sieve, his face filled with fear and despair, as if he was terrified to the core, and he kept shaking.

Li Mu walked up to him, looked him over, and after a long while said, "Do you want to live? Continue to be your commander?"

A startling light shone in Cheng Yong's eyes—a yearning for life and a longing for the beautiful days of the past.

The next moment, as if remembering something, he moved his body forcefully, knelt on the ground, touched the ground with his head, his face full of expectation and longing, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

Li Mu continued, "As long as you obey, you can live and continue to be your commander."

Cheng Yong couldn't make a sound; he could only keep kowtowing.

Li Mu smiled, waved his hand, and released the pressure points on his body.

Cheng Yong felt his lost strength return somewhat, and his hoarse voice also recovered. For the first time, he felt that this state was so wonderful.

The next moment, it prostrated itself at Li Mu's feet, and said in a hoarse voice, "Master, from now on I am your dog, I will always submit to you, everything I have belongs to you, I will never betray you, and I will always be obedient."

Li Mu nodded and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, get up. I don't need you to be my dog. Just do your job well. And don't call me master, call me young master."

Cheng Yong quickly scrambled to his feet and said tremblingly, "Yes, young master!"

Li Mu said, "I've heard about your past actions. Be more discreet, and do what I ask of you carefully. Otherwise, I don't know if I'll give you a second chance."

Cheng Yong knelt on the ground with a thud, his face filled with fear, and said, "Yes, Master... Young Master, I will definitely obey. I will fulfill any orders you give me without fail. I will never misbehave again, and I will definitely be a good official..."

Li Mu waved his hand: "Get up, stop kneeling. Let's see how you behave next."

Cheng Yong then carefully got up: "Thank you, young master, thank you, young master."

Li Mu said, "You've been missing for two days, and people outside are already looking for you. Go to the backyard and wash yourself up, then go back at a suitable time."

Then she turned to look at him and said, "As for where you've been these past two days, if anyone asks, I don't need to tell you, do I?"

Hearing that he could go back, Cheng Yong's tense nerves finally relaxed a little, and he said respectfully, "I understand, I understand... I went hunting in the mountains and out of the city these past two days, and I was too busy playing to keep up with the time..."

Li Mu nodded: "Okay! You decide what to do with me, go ahead!"

Cheng Yong went to the backyard to wash up, while Li Mu slowly walked out of the courtyard. After two days of research, he discovered some drawbacks to using the Life and Death Talisman in this world. The first was that it was too costly; the cost of making one Life and Death Talisman was equivalent to one month of his cultivation.

The cultivation he gained in the year he spent in this world was only enough to cover the cost of making twelve Life and Death Talismans. The more he made, the more cultivation he would lose, which dissuaded him from the idea of ​​mass-producing Life and Death Talismans.

That's normal. The Life and Death Talisman is a rare item in the martial arts world. It would be too much of a cheat to mass-produce it.

On the other hand, casting the Life and Death Talisman also places requirements on the party affected by the talisman.

Once the Life and Death Talisman is planted, it will absorb the essence of the body in which the talisman is planted in order to exist for a long time.

This requires the person being afflicted to be physically strong and have a certain level of martial arts skill. Ordinary people without martial arts skills will quickly deplete their vital essence.

Like Cheng Yong, as the commander of the Wulie Army, his martial arts skills were decent enough to keep him going. An ordinary person wouldn't have been able to withstand it at all.

Therefore, ordinary people and those without martial arts skills cannot plant life-and-death talismans, and there are actually not many people who are suitable to plant talismans.

……

In the afternoon, Li Mu returned to the courtyard two hours later. The other person had already left. He thoroughly cleaned the entire courtyard and restored it to its original state.

After wandering around the streets again, the soldiers who had set up checkpoints were gone. It seemed that Cheng Yong had gone back. I just don't know how effective the results have been these past two days, or if there have been any relapses.

After some exercise that night, Su Tan'er fell into a deep sleep. Li Mu then lightly left the Su residence, avoiding the patrolling soldiers, and arrived at Cheng Yong's residence.

After quickly circling the mansion a few times, he soon found Cheng Yong in the study, seemingly searching for some information, which was undoubtedly about him.

Li Mu sneered and, like a gentle breeze, silently appeared behind Cheng Yong. Looking at the things in his hands, they were indeed about him, as well as some information about Ning Yi before their marriage.

Cheng Yong seemed to sense something and subconsciously turned around. The appearance of Li Mu made his mind go blank for a moment. His eyes widened and his body began to tremble. He was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground.

Li Mu looked at the object in his hand and asked, "Did you have someone investigate this?"

Cheng Yong scrambled to his feet and knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly: "Young Master, Young Master... I didn't mean to investigate. I just wanted to serve you better. I only looked at publicly available information. I absolutely did not send anyone to investigate you, I absolutely did not... Please forgive me this time, please forgive me this once..."

As he spoke, he kept banging his head on the ground, his forehead almost bleeding.

Li Mu snorted. Cheng Yong recalled his nightmarish experience from the past two days, and his body trembled even more violently. His eyes were filled with fear, afraid that Li Mu would use the same methods that caused him unbearable pain again.

His mind raced, and before Li Mu could speak again, he hurriedly said, "Young Master, I have something to offer you... Please forgive me this time, there will definitely be no next time."

Li Mu glanced at him: "What is it?"

Cheng Yong quickly got up and opened a secret room in the study: "Young master, this is all the wealth I have accumulated over the years, which I offer to you."

Li Mu glanced around and saw that there were many jewels, jade artifacts and precious objects inside, but even more so, boxes and boxes of gleaming silver.

He nodded expressionlessly: "There are some things that do require money, so I'll let you off this time. Keep some of these goods, and send the rest to me. You know where to send them, right?"

Cheng Yong kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "I know, I know."

Li Mu glanced at him and said, "Don't play so many tricks in the future, just do your job properly."

Looking at Cheng Yong, who was trembling with fear, Li Mu shook his head, and with a flick of his body, he disappeared.

……

The next day at noon, Li Mu sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, sipping his tea and watching Cheng Yong direct his men to unload boxes from the two carriages. Once the unloading was complete, Cheng Yong waved for the carriages and his men to wait outside.

He pulled out a small booklet from his pocket and said respectfully, "Young master, this is the list of these goods. If you need anything else, just let me know and I'll get it for you."

Li Mu nodded: "Alright, go down now!"

Cheng Yong bowed and said, "I'll take my leave!" Then he slowly withdrew.

After everyone left, Li Mu gently picked up the booklet, which was quite substantial.

But think about it, Jiangning is one of the top cities in Jiangnan, a commercial center. As the largest military force in Jiangning and the surrounding area, Cheng Yong, as the commander of the Wulie Army, is an absolute figure of real power. It wouldn't be difficult for him to make money.

After reviewing the list, I found 170,000 taels of silver, 4,000 taels of gold, two boxes of jewelry and jade worth 70,000 to 80,000 taels, a box of calligraphy and paintings, and a box of rare antiques, which together amounted to 40,000 to 50,000 taels.

If you do the math, all these items together are worth over 300,000 taels of silver. It's quite a generous offer, a real drain on resources.

The gains this time were not just limited to the money.

In this era, it's indeed not easy for a business to grow large without a certain official background.

Now that he controls the Wulie Army Commander, there are virtually no obstacles between the legitimate and criminal worlds in Jiangning, and even in the entire Jiangnan Province.

Bamboo Records can develop relatively freely without interference.

Early in the morning, Li Mu returned from his cultivation by the Qinhuai River. As he passed by Nie Yunzhu's small building, she had already gotten up, washed up, brewed a pot of tea, and carried it to the front of the building. She would take a sip now and then and look around. Soon, she heard familiar footsteps.

He turned his head and flashed a bright smile: "Young Master Ning, would you like a cup of tea?"

Li Mu stopped in his tracks: "I was just thirsty. Yunzhu understands me perfectly!"

As they spoke, the two walked into a pavilion in front of the small building, where Nie Yunzhu poured Li Mu a cup of tea.

Then he spoke up, saying, "The various components of the distilled spirits you mentioned are already being made. To maintain secrecy, different craftsmen have been commissioned to make them, and we will try our best to ensure the specifications are met."

"We've also been contacting brewers, but the skilled ones are asking for higher prices."

Li Mu nodded: "Price is not a problem, as long as the craftsmanship is good. Also, the prices for the various parts of the distilled spirit can be higher, but the quality must be guaranteed and the specifications must be standardized."

Nie Yunzhu quickly took out a small notebook and wrote it down.

The two chatted for a while about the progress of the project in Calabash Valley and the grain purchase situation. Nie Yunzhu hesitated for a moment and said, "Should we buy less grain? There's not much money left in the account."

Li Mu said, "Don't worry about the money. I'll send another sum over in the next couple of days. Don't complain that it's too much then."

Nie Yunzhu laughed and said, "Zhuji is spending money everywhere right now, and Yunzhu doesn't think there's too much money."

Li Mu smiled faintly: "That's good. Get ready to take over!"

As the two were chatting, a sickeningly sweet voice came from upstairs: "Sister Yunzhu, who are you talking to?"

Nie Yunzhu laughed and said, "Little lazybones, go back to sleep. Didn't you want to be the manager? You'll be busy in a few days."

Li Mu said, "Yuan Jin'er!"

Nie Yunzhu nodded and recounted what had happened in the past few days: "I was afraid that Cheng Yong would cause trouble for Jin'er, so I've kept her hidden at home these past few days."

Li Mu smiled and said, "There's no need to be so cautious. Cheng Yong won't cause her any more trouble in the future."

Nie Yunzhu was taken aback: "Liheng, why do you say that?"

Li Mu smiled mysteriously: "Do you believe me if I tell you I taught him a lesson, and he'll behave himself from now on, and might even patronize Zhu Ji's business?"

Nie Yunzhu looked at him and said firmly, "I believe you."

Li Mu shrugged: "Just believe me, there's no need to ask any more questions. You'll find out naturally in time."