Martial Arts: Starting with Bajiquan, I will prove my divine power through the ultimate path!

"Ah Wen, you're back?"

When Lao Shi saw his son return, he called out.

Meanwhile, Shi's mother silently accepted the fatty pork and roast duck that her son had bought and went back to cook.

"Hey Wen, do you have some way to make money? I see your family eating lots of meat and fish every day, you really live a lavish lifestyle."

Sitting on the stone bench, Aunt Chen chuckled and joked, "If you know of any profitable businesses, please share them with the neighbors."

"Aunt Chen is joking. If your family also sells land, you'll have money to eat meat."

Shi Wen replied, and Aunt Chen chuckled awkwardly but said nothing more.

Shi Wen looked at Old Shi curiously, "Dad, why is it so lively tonight? Has something happened?"

Old Shi said, "I've only been back for a little while. I heard from them that there's business to be done in Taiping Lane. I'm planning to go and give it a try with Old Zhang and the others."

"That gang, I don't know why, changed its name to Wo Luen Shing. I heard that starting today, Wo Luen Shing has divided Taiping Lane into 28 areas, and all those messy fees have been unified into management fees, garbage fees, and service fees. People in each area pay their respective area's red sticks, and they only collect once a month."

Aunt Chen, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, said, "If anyone dares to overcharge, they can go to the strategist, that old Song, to expose them. If the report is true, they'll receive a reward of 200 strings of cash!"

When she said this,

A clear look of interest appeared on her face.

"Expose them? They're all on the same side, do you dare to expose them?" An old man sneered from the side.

Aunt Chen, feeling embarrassed, retorted, "They're anonymous; they won't disclose your information."

"Heh heh heh, you actually believe anonymous reports? You just reported it, and the next thing you know, someone's burning your house down!"

Upon hearing this,

Aunt Chen and some of the neighbors all showed expressions of fear.

"I heard that He Lian Sheng is hiring people to rush the construction of a market on Wulin Street and a building on Fulin Street. The daily wage is 500 taels of silver, and the monthly wage is 20000 taels of silver."

"I heard that skilled craftsmen can earn 1000 treasure coins a day, and master craftsmen can earn 2000 treasure coins a day!"

"Those who do well will receive extra pay, but lunch is not included."

"They don't deduct a single penny when settling the bill; they even cover the taxes paid by the clerks!"

Old Lin, a neighbor, rubbed his feet and even brought them to his nose to smell them. "Do you want to go? The conditions here are much better than working at the docks, and it's closer to home."

"I'm afraid it's a lie," a neighbor said bitterly. "How could these gang members possibly follow the rules? They'll give you money one minute, and then they'll find all sorts of excuses to take it back the next."

"Yeah, that gang of thieves built the building before and didn't pay a single cent. Would you dare to cause trouble?"

"Although you get more money deducted for working at the docks, at least you actually get the money. Compared to this... working for Luen Shing, who knows what will happen?"

"I'm too scared to go, otherwise I won't even have money for hash browns."

Old Lin's expression froze for a moment, but thinking of his sick son, he shook his head and said, "The pay is better there. I know carpentry, so I want to give it a try."

Then.

The neighbors started another heated discussion.

Most of the topics revolved around things like building markets and creating commercial streets with Wo Luen Shing.

Some vendors were thinking that if a market were really built on Wulin Street, they could set up stalls to sell tea or coarse bread, and make a lot of money.

Old Shi's idea was to go to Wulin Street with a fellow tradesman to try selling things.

The competition at the docks is too fierce, and the gangs have many and varied deductions, sometimes even charging the same amount twice.

If there were places to make money in Taiping Lane, even if it was just Wo Luen Shing which offered more, at least I wouldn't have to travel so far.

Shi Wen chatted with them casually for a few minutes before returning home.

After dinner,

Shi Wen returned to his room.

He chewed on the dried meat in his hand, while carefully hiding the fairy mother wood carving and the blessed meat in a corner, and sorting and hiding some things.

That's when the space was freed up.

Take out the spoils obtained after killing Tong Roushan.

Splash...

Shi Wen dumped the contents of the bag onto the bed, and a pile of miscellaneous items scattered around. Among them, a pile of silver notes made his eyes light up.

After sorting the items, Shi Wen couldn't help but smile a little more.

There were fourteen silver notes, each worth 10 taels, plus some loose silver, totaling nearly 160 taels!

One tael of silver is worth 30 strings of copper coins, and here there are 4800 strings of copper coins.

If converted into precious coins, it would be an enormous sum, one that even the poorest people in the entire Black Cloud County would find difficult to save in their entire lives!

For example, their family could work themselves to the bone all year and still not save 10 strings of copper coins!

"As expected, murderers and arsonists wear golden belts, while those who repair bridges and roads leave no trace of their bodies."

"If I were to work honestly, I would probably struggle until I died, facing heavy taxes and exploitation, and I would hardly be able to save up 4800 guan in my entire life. Only by becoming a martial artist can I survive in this chaotic world and acquire some capital to live on."

"It's a pity we don't have enough money."

"I heard that even the most dilapidated courtyard house in the outermost part of Yacheng costs 300 taels of silver."

"When we have money, we'll buy a house in Yacheng and move the whole family there."

"This way, my parents can have a better living environment, and I won't have to live in constant fear."

Shi Wen took some loose silver with him and put the rest away.

Ya Cheng, also known as the inner city, boasts the best public security in Black Cloud County. The world inside the inner city is a completely different world from the outside world.

I've heard that having a Yacheng household registration not only guarantees your safety but also exempts you from taxes.

Even if you find a job in Yacheng, the salary is more than ten times that of working outside, and there is no exploitation by gangs or deductions by clerks!

Shi Wen continued sorting the items, and soon he had several porcelain bottles in his hands.

He opened the porcelain bottle and smelled it.

Two of the porcelain bottles contained pills that, when smelled, would cause his blood and qi to surge faster.

It's just that we don't know whether it's poison or a good medicine.

Shi Wen walked to the wooden window and whistled. Suddenly, a black cat with jet-black fur came running from the deep alley, jumped into the window, and nudged his trouser leg with its little head.

Since the last time I fed it a piece of meat from a strange beast with a thread of precious blood.

The black cat would come over every few days to beg for food.

Shi Wen poured out a pill from each of the four porcelain bottles, broke off a small piece, and placed it on the ground.

Only after the black cat had finished eating and showed no signs of illness for more than ten minutes, and even seemed more energetic, did Shi Wen throw the black cat out the window.

"This should be a pill for nourishing qi and blood. After taking it, the speed of qi and blood circulation will be much faster, and it can also strengthen qi and blood! One pill can increase qi and blood by one percent. I wonder if there is an upper limit? There are not many pills. There are only 23 pills in two bottles."

"This bottle should contain pills to fill my stomach. One pill is enough to make me feel full, and I have no desire to eat..."

He tasted the pills while classifying them.

After sorting out the four bottles of pills, they also sorted out some miscellaneous items.

A look of worry appeared on Shi Wen's face.

He has expended a lot of energy these past few days. He has less than half of the beast meat left, and even his Blood-Strengthening Powder only has five doses left.

Although some supplies were replenished at Tongroushan, the situation remains far from optimistic.

There is no exotic beast meat here at Tongrou Mountain, only elixirs that nourish bones and strengthen qi and blood. Without exotic beast meat to eat, it will cause great problems, and the body's functions will find it difficult to maintain the qi and blood that are being devoured like a glutton.

"I wonder why there isn't a single piece of exotic beast meat in this Mountain of Child Flesh. Could it be stored at home?"

"But this person even carried his belongings with him, and was eating something before the fight. He was obviously not the kind of person who could keep his things. It's probably because the Taibao Henglian Gong requires a high level of nutrition, which is why Tong Roushan didn't have any exotic beast meat on him."

"Phew... Looks like I'll have to find some time in the next few days to go and see where Zhang Sheng's talking about is from, the place where the exotic beast meat is produced."

"If the production in that area is insufficient, or if he's lying to me, we need to plan ahead for what's to come; we can't run out of exotic beast meat..."

Shi Wen continued rummaging through things, sorting out the useless items to the other side.

For example, the hand cards of Lanchun Courtyard, the membership cards of gambling dens, etc.

Among them, a token made of an unknown metal caught his attention.

One side is engraved with the character "极".

On the other hand.

It is engraved with a pattern of an old forest surrounded by mist in the deep mountains.

A huge black goat's head stared at us.

Those horizontal pupils were so lifelike, it was as if a living goat was staring right into his eyes...