Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 126 Different Inside and Outside

In fact, if there were a way to sell all these fabrics and silks, Zhou Ye certainly wouldn't want to let them go. After all, it was an extremely large fortune.

The difficulty lies in the fact that this batch of cloth and silk has already been targeted by someone.

Through observation, Zhou Ye discovered that the house at the dock was completely unremarkable; even the dozen or so hidden marks inside the house hadn't been touched. Therefore, the place shouldn't have been exposed.

However, there were several idlers near the warehouse who were clearly keeping watch. It seems that some people still have ulterior motives.

This shows that the Grand Canal Gang still had some bottom line. Although this wealth was enormous, it wasn't so enormous that it would drive them to reckless actions. Therefore, they didn't reveal the warehouse owner's address—hmm?

Zhou Ye suddenly realized that it was almost time to pay the warehouse rent. If he defaulted, the canal gang would be able to rightfully seize the cloth and silk and sell it to other merchants, just like when he bought it—a warehouse full of "clearance goods."

In that case, let's go pay the rent first, shall we?

More than half an hour later, Xiao Wu was strolling on a nearby street when Zhou Ye suddenly appeared in front of him.

Xiao Wu was startled. But when he realized it was Zhou Ye, he quickly signaled with his eyes, and the two of them hid in a secluded alley.

"Brother Zhou, so you're alright? That's great." Xiao Wu smiled. "You need to find a way to leave quickly, your warehouse is being watched. I'm really sorry, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have introduced you to this troublesome situation."

Why!"

To be honest, Zhou Ye was utterly shocked. If Xiao Wu was telling the truth, his character was truly admirable.

"Xiao Wu, do you know who's targeting me?"

Xiao Wu hesitated for a few moments, then shook his head with a wry smile: "It's hard to guard against a thief within the family. It was one of the elders in our canal gang. At first, someone outside inquired about the warehouse, but our canal gang directly turned them away. However, one of our elder uncles also had his eye on those fabrics. If he resold them, that would be tens of thousands of taels of silver! But the elder I'm working with is the same Ding Ye you've dealt with before. He's in charge of the dock warehouse area, and in the end, he turned them away too."

"oh oh."

"Brother Zhou, don't be careless. Actually—actually, Master Ding didn't have any good intentions either. He's just waiting for you to stay away so that when the lease expires, he can legitimately take over this batch of goods—"

From Xiao Wu's introduction, Zhou Ye learned that in large gangs like the Woodcutter's Gang and the Canal Gang, the incense masters and hall masters were generally at the early or middle stages of the Ming Jin (明劲) realm. The elders were almost all at the late Ming Jin stage. There were also a few grand elders at the early or middle stages of the An Jin (暗劲) realm. As for the gang leader?

They were all at the late stage of the Dark Force realm.

"Xiao Wu, may I ask you a question: if I continue to renew my subscription, can this batch of fabric remain in the warehouse indefinitely?"

"That's for sure. At least on the surface, all parties have to abide by the rules. Otherwise, if a bad reputation gets out, what will happen to the hundreds of thousands of taels of income the dock generates every year, and so many brothers are working there? The profits from the dock are too great; even our shipping guild can't control everything. If someone steals a warehouse, who will rent warehouses from our shipping guild in the future? To put it bluntly, they won't share the money they steal with us. There aren't enough for the hundreds of thousands of brothers in the shipping guild to go around."

Therefore, all of us other members of the canal gang will wipe out their entire family.

"Could you renew my subscription? I'll pay you right now."

"Helping you is a small thing, but it's pointless," Xiao Wu advised in a low voice. "No one will touch your goods, but will they make you disappear? You can't just openly pick them up. Wouldn't that be like walking into a knife's edge?"

"Okay, then I'll renew for another year first, and I'll think of something else later."

"That works. But Brother Zhou, if you decide to find someone outside, you must find a powerful force, one that even our Cao Gang wouldn't dare offend. Otherwise, they really might resort to underhanded tactics."

"Thank you!" Zhou Ye nodded with a smile. He hadn't figured out what to do yet. But in two or three years, he should have already broken through to the Inner Strength stage—right?

"By the way, Xiao Wu, do you have any connections to get salt?"

"Salt?"

"Yes! I have a few friends who work in the mountains. Their supply channels suddenly stopped. Wasn't it because of the mining trolls causing trouble?"

"Yes, we have the channels! Absolutely. How many does your friend need?"

"Give me 1000 jin first. If nothing unexpected happens, I should get no less than 1000 jin every month thereafter."

"Sure, sure. Where should I send it?"

"Wait for my message, then deliver it to my house! Oh, here's the money first. This is a year's rent. Also, how much is each pound of salt?"

'

""

Taking this opportunity, Zhou Ye simply offered Xiao Wu a private salt business deal. He could probably earn several taels of silver a month, right?

By now, Zhou Ye was too lazy to spend the time boiling salt. He might as well just buy it from the grain transport guild.

In the following days, before his home at the dock was fully exposed, Zhou Ye made several trips back and forth, emptying both warehouses of everything, including the 1000 jin of salt Xiao Wu had brought. He even secretly broke into the warehouse and took over 100 bolts of cotton and silk. Although he couldn't openly take the goods, he could at least steal them himself, right? Even if he gave them to the maids to make new clothes, it was better than them gathering dust.

Unexpectedly, when the cartload of weapons and arrows was transported back to his home on the city wall, Manager Li immediately came looking for him excitedly.

"Boss, how did you know the shop's secondhand weapons are almost sold out?"

"Um?"

"Master, things are very chaotic outside right now, so many people are buying weapons to protect themselves. New ones are too expensive, so secondhand ones are more cost-effective."

Zhou Ye was amused. Since the general store opened, it hadn't sold many other items, but the secondhand weapons seized from the bandits were selling much better.

"Then go and pick what you need. Keep all the iron arrows. You can also keep a few pieces of leather armor and any weapons you like. Sell the rest at the shop! Oh, and you and Lao Yu each pick a bolt of cotton cloth. Put the rest in the storeroom!"

"Master, aren't these bolts of cloth for sale?"

"Let the women in the inner quarters choose first. We'll talk about the rest later!"

"Understood." Manager Li nodded. "Boss, although business in the shop hasn't picked up yet, it's mainly due to the sluggish market. Actually, I've already taken stock of the goods, and many items are still quite valuable. I'm worried that some people outside might be envious."

Should we contact the Chamber of Commerce as soon as possible and ask them to help us find a few martial arts instructors on temporary assignment? That way, if we encounter any trouble later, we can have the martial arts masters mediate.

Zhou Ye found it amusing. He had already become a nominal martial arts instructor for several organizations, yet now he had to go out and find other nominal martial arts instructors?

He thought about it for a moment and said, "Old Li, I'll consider it. I'll definitely arrange it as soon as possible."

"That's good. Boss, you can go ahead and get back to work."

'

,

However, upon returning to the inner quarters, they heard a lively chatter. A group of girls were happily selecting various silks and satins.

Seeing Li Wenwen's envious expression, Zhou Ye chuckled and said, "Wenwen, you can pick out two too."

Li Wenwen smiled shyly, then asked happily, "Teacher Tian, ​​do I have one too?"

Wenxiu and Huijie, who were standing nearby, covered their mouths and laughed, "Wenwen, come here quickly. My young master is very generous."

Just then, Aunt He brought over the freshly prepared lunch. Among the dishes was a large piece of crocodile meat in sauce, which was actually crocodile meat from the early stages of the Ming Jin realm, meant for Zhou Ye's personal enjoyment. There was also a large plate of spicy stir-fried dried demon snakes and a large bowl of steamed tofu with salted demon fish; these were all demon meat from the early stages of the Jin realm, meant to nourish the girls.

"Wenwen, let's eat together."

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"Don't be shy. From now on, you can stay in the inner quarters and eat with us. The family won't lack your food."

"Alright then!" Li Wenwen glanced at Zhou Ye furtively, then happily sat down next to him.

Since the tuition was waived and the program was all-inclusive, Zhou Ye didn't mistreat his disciples. Regarding the supply of medicinal pills, each person currently receives one packet of Qi and Blood Powder per month. Once they reach the mid-stage of the Qi Refining realm, they will receive one low-grade Qi and Blood Pill per month. Furthermore, a daily supply of demon beast meat is guaranteed.

However, there's definitely a difference between the inner and outer quarters; the inner quarters receive much better treatment. Sometimes, when Zhou Ye is in a good mood, he might even give them an extra one or two. The male disciples outside only get a small piece of demon beast meat or bone broth made from large demon beast bones. The inner quarters, on the other hand, have a reliable supply of demon beast meat.

Therefore, Li Wenwen had an advantage. Except for not staying in the inner quarters at night, her treatment was no different from that of the maids in the inner quarters.

Of course, there are reasons for this.

Because he did whatever he wanted, physical contact was unavoidable. Although Zhou Ye didn't have any evil intentions, he often groped and pinched the girls, which had already subtly crossed the line between men and women.

So, this can be considered a kind of compensation, right?

At this moment, Zhou Ye chuckled inwardly: Back when he first started practicing martial arts, he never enjoyed such treatment. But now, these disciples are receiving resources almost identical to those of scions of aristocratic families—right?

These people are all from ordinary backgrounds and have little experience; they were completely unaware of these treatments. Otherwise, they would definitely be shocked and speechless.

"Master Tian, ​​were these silks also obtained from the mountain people?" Li Wenwen asked curiously.

Zhou Ye smiled slightly: "Mountain people sometimes turn into mountain bandits, so it's not surprising that they get whatever they want in exchange. But don't spread it around. Some things are easy to do but hard to talk about. After all, the source isn't exactly legitimate."

"Uh-huh.

""

core.

Zhou Ye suddenly realized that his identity as a traveling merchant was actually quite useful. Even the origins of these items now had a more plausible explanation.

"Young master, is it dangerous in those mountains?"

77

"That's fine! Actually, if you're careful, nothing usually happens."

"Then you must be careful."

"9

"hehe.

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