Choice

Hearing Li Beichen say this, the smile in Yan Fu's eyes vanished in an instant. He replied with a smile that never reached his eyes.

"Attendant Yuan, so your junior brother is already a grown man, yet still needs someone else to decide for him? Very well. It seems we're simply not fated to work together. I've imposed on you this time."

"Don't be angry, President Yan. My junior brother is a man of his word. That only makes him more reliable!"

"Do me a favor, Yuan Dazong, and give my junior brother another chance!"

"Very well. Give me an answer by tomorrow at the latest. If it weren't for your sake, Attendant Yuan, would I offer such generous terms?"

"Look at the other guilds. Which one can offer a thirty-tael stipend?"

Li Beichen watched Yan Fu and Yuan Dazong play good cop and bad cop, but he wasn't angry.

"I'm ashamed, and I have no face to stay here any longer. Senior Brother Yuan, President Yan, I'll take my leave!"

He pushed away the beauty who was clinging to him, composed his expression, and left the room without looking back.

Only Yuan Dazong and Yan Fu remained, staring at each other.

After a long moment, Yan Fu's voice rang out leisurely.

"Attendant Yuan, you've taken the Tea Guild's stipend for all these years. If Li Beichen doesn't make this trip for you, you'll have to go yourself."

"Don't worry, President Yan. When you take someone's money, you take care of their troubles."

"Then, Attendant Yuan, I still have things to attend to, so I'll take my leave as well."

Once again, Yuan Dazong was alone in the room.

"You old bastard. Sooner or later, I'll have your head..."

The next day, Fourth Senior Brother Yang Ling came up with a broad grin, hoping to introduce Li Beichen to the Firewood Guild. Even Fang Meiqin came looking for him; her family ran the Cloth Guild in Ram City.

The other trades among Ram City's Thirty-Six Trades, one way or another, sent invitations to him through outer disciples or came to call in person.

Li Beichen accepted each one and told them he would think it over.

Meng Juxiang had gone out again, saying he'd be back within ten days. After thinking it over, Li Beichen went to find Senior Brother Zhang Meng.

At that moment, Zhang Meng was practicing the Breathing Method. Li Beichen didn't know what technique he was using, but beneath his skin a bulge of air traveled all over his body like a little mouse.

"Senior Brother, there's something I'd like to ask you about."

"Is it the invitations from the Thirty-Six Guilds?"

"Yes."

Looking at the muscular man before him, with his thick brows and bright eyes, smiling broadly, Li Beichen knew Zhang Meng wasn't as muscleheaded as he looked, nor was he narrow-minded.

He'd managed to keep Yuan Dazong firmly under his thumb, leaving him no choice but to remain second in command.

Beneath that explosive musculature, he must have had a shrewd mind.

Zhang Meng slowly finished his practice and exhaled a breath of stale air.

"The Thirty-Six Guilds encompass every trade under heaven."

"Every trade sprang up in pursuit of profit."

"Wherever there's profit, there's bound to be a fight."

He looked at Li Beichen.

"Though they say business is business, in practice, much of the time they still rely on us martial artists to settle things with our fists. The winners advance, and the losers back down."

"The most profitable trades, such as salt and iron, brothels, and gambling dens, see the fiercest fighting. If you serve as their Attendant, you can certainly earn a generous stipend, but you'll also have to risk your life."

"Old Seven, my advice is that for now, you focus on building your strength and stay out of disputes over profit."

Li Beichen furrowed his brow.

"What if I refuse them all outright and focus on training?"

Hearing this, Zhang Meng replied meaningfully,

"The Thirty-Six Guilds and us martial artists are like a net. Once you enter the ranks, you qualify to be on that net, and you have to edge closer to it. If you're not on it, you'll go plop and fall right through."

"Even Master has no choice but to stay on this net."

"Let alone you and me."

Li Beichen caught the deeper meaning in Zhang Meng's words.

"Thank you for the advice, Senior Brother. I understand. I'll think it over."

After taking his leave of Zhang Meng, Li Beichen took out more than ten invitations. Among them were the Tea Guild, recommended by Yuan Dazong; the Firewood Guild, introduced by Yang Ling; and the Cloth Guild, which belonged to Fang Meiqin's family.

Besides the guilds his senior brothers and sisters were affiliated with, there were also the Wine Guild, Rice Guild, and Meat Guild.

Only the Tea Guild offered the highest price: thirty taels of silver a month. The other trades mostly offered between fifteen and twenty taels.

Apart from Yan Fu and Yuan Dazong's vague explanation of the Tea Guild's terms, the rest of the trades had laid out their requirements plainly.

It was simple: whenever there was a conflict between people inside and outside the guild, he would be expected to settle it through martial combat.

He would stand up for the guild.

Of course, this would only happen once a month at most, and the fights would be limited to fists and feet. If blades were allowed and the fight was to the death, the price would be negotiated separately.

After weighing it over, Li Beichen finally decided to choose the Meat Guild.

He had the means to make this decision with confidence.

For now, Li Beichen had Wang Er keep the braised-meat business small. They made only a hundred or two hundred catties a day, and stopped once they'd sold out.

After two months in business, Li Family Braised Meat's reputation had only grown.

It brought Li Beichen forty or fifty taels in dividends each month.

After deducting the cost of Giant Elephant Meat-Refining Ointment and food, he still had forty taels left in hand.

With money in hand, he had the confidence to choose freely among the Thirty-Six Guilds.

If he couldn't keep food on the table, had elderly parents to support and young children to raise, and needed money for his household, many people would risk a leap even if they knew the dangers.

Besides, the Meat Guild's stipend was only fifteen taels, but joining it would also let him expand the braised-meat business he ran with Wang Er under its protection.

That was another potential benefit.

"Xiao Wu, sorry for the trouble. Could you deliver this letter to President Zhou Zhongru of the Meat Guild?"

"Sure, Senior Brother Li!"

Li Beichen found Xiao Wu from the martial arts school and sent him off with word of his decision.

Two days later, with Zhang Meng as witness, Li Beichen signed a contract with President Zhou of the Meat Guild and officially became an Attendant of Ram City's Meat Guild.

The only duty required of him was a possible martial bout once a month.

The Thirty-Six Guilds of Ram City and the martial artists had become so intertwined that each contained the other.

They were all eating from the same pot.

From the moment he entered the ranks and tempered his flesh, signing that contract, Li Beichen became one of the people who could eat from that pot—a man above the common crowd.

If Li Beichen chose to put down roots in Ram City, and all went smoothly, he could slowly build up a lineage of his own.

But the state of the world had already left its mark on him when he drifted from Bing Province to Jiangnan.

Whether it was a fortune worth ten thousand strings of cash or a distinguished lineage, only force could protect it.

Otherwise, in the eyes of others, it was nothing but a fat piece of meat.

Now that he had taken up martial arts and glimpsed a corner of the jianghu, he understood this even more deeply.

Once he grew strong himself, everything external would naturally gravitate toward him. He wouldn't have to do anything.

Jiangnan Circuit still seemed relatively peaceful, but a glimpse of the smallest detail could reveal the whole picture.

The prices of rice and oil had risen considerably since Li Beichen arrived last year.

And they showed no sign of falling.

At this rate, unless the Imperial Court intervened, sooner or later Jiangnan Circuit would fall into chaos too.

After choosing the Meat Guild, Li Beichen also informed Yuan Dazong, Yang Ling, Fang Meiqin, and his other senior brothers and sisters.

As for the other invitations, not replying was his answer.