Relying On

A tender little chick of sixteen?

What did he mean?

Was he, Li Chengfeng, that sort of man?

Li Chengfeng was still hesitating over how to refuse when he saw Zhao Lie give a meaningful look.

A moment later, several women walked in wearing thick powder and rouge—average looks, average figures, with no virtue to speak of except their young age. Li Chengfeng's mouth twitched at the sight.

"Brother Zhao, you're too courteous. I, Li, love my delicate wife dearly and have no interest in this. Please put all this away."

Li Chengfeng spoke to Zhao Lie with a solemn expression.

Zhao Lie's face turned awkward when he heard that. "That is indeed so. I suppose Brother Li is used to eating delicacies and has no taste for little pickled side dishes like these."

As Zhao Lie spoke, he shook his head and waved a hand, and the girls were led away.

Li Chengfeng silently drank a cup of tea, thinking to himself, If you knew, why did you still do this?

Still, he said nothing, treating it as if the matter had never happened, and continued eating and drinking with the several masters present as well as Zhao Lie.

Only after they had eaten and drunk their fill did they finally bring up proper business.

"I wonder whether Brother Chengfeng has any intention of affiliating himself now?"

Master Zhao, who seemed to have some connection with Zhao Lie, was also the first to speak at the table. He looked at him with a smile. "My business is not large, but I would still be willing to offer ten taels of silver a month to invite Brother Chengfeng to affiliate himself with our trade."

"As would we!"

The moment Master Zhao said this, the other four masters could not help raising their hands in cupped-fist salutes as well, smiling as they spoke to Li Chengfeng.

Hearing what they said, Li Chengfeng raised an eyebrow, then glanced at Zhao Lie beside him, whose face was full of smiles. He could not help saying, "I naturally do have the intention to affiliate, but affiliating with so many families all at once—would that not be a little hasty?"

One family meant ten taels of silver a month. Five families meant fifty taels of silver—enough to buy ten Blood-Qi Pills.

Affiliation meant they would borrow his martial strength to resolve matters. If he affiliated with five forces at once, and all five had trouble at the same time, would he not lack the skill to split himself into clones?

"Ah, Brother Chengfeng, you're overthinking it."

When Zhao Lie heard this, he immediately said, "These five masters have long since made an agreement to advance and retreat together, and they resolve any matters together. So while you would be affiliated with all five families, in truth, it is only equivalent to affiliating with one."

"No matter which family has trouble, the other four will help handle it together. It's the same if you affiliate with them. Even if two families have trouble at once, or all five families do, you only need to deal with it all together."

"Of course, dealing with trouble does not mean asking Brother Chengfeng to fight to the death. They will only call on you when Brother Chengfeng can still hold the situation in your hand. If there is danger, then it will be discussed separately."

Discussed separately—the meaning was very clear.

Ten taels of silver per family was only the price for handling small matters, matters that posed no danger to Li Chengfeng.

If they encountered the sort of matter that even Li Chengfeng himself found troublesome, that would be a different price, and extra money would have to be paid.

After all, the choice in this matter also lay with him. If he truly encountered that kind of danger, he simply would not go.

"Ten Blood-Qi Pills a month. It isn't much, but it isn't bad either."

Li Chengfeng pondered this inwardly, but he did not immediately agree. He only told them to leave their addresses so he could consider it first, and once he had thought it through, he would reply to them one by one.

Since Li Chengfeng had put it that way, the five masters could not say much more. They all smiled and nodded, saying that was only right. After that, the banquet could be considered over.

Li Chengfeng left the private room and found Liu Yuniang, who had been laughing and chatting with several madams nearby. After the two joined hands, only then did the five masters, under Zhao Lie's escort, wrap the five gift boxes in a piece of colored cloth and personally hand them to Li Chengfeng, seeing him out of the building together.

"Cautious, isn't he."

Zhao Lie watched Li Chengfeng walk away hand in hand with his wife and smiled, then unconsciously shook his head again. "But caution is good. Only the cautious live long."

"..."

On the other side, Li Chengfeng brought Liu Yuniang back to the courtyard. When he opened the gift packages sent by the five masters, he raised his eyebrows.

"Five Blood-Qi Pills per person. Not bad, not bad."

Inside the five boxes, he saw they were all Blood-Qi Pills. Each box held five, and Li Chengfeng was quite satisfied at the sight.

This was exactly the sort of solid, practical thing he needed.

"With these twenty-five Blood-Qi Pills plus mine, that makes thirty-five. Enough for more than half a month of cultivation."

Li Chengfeng was satisfied inside, and a smile involuntarily appeared at the corners of his mouth. He could not help holding Liu Yuniang's soft body beside him and kissing her on the lips before speaking softly. "Yuniang, how was the food in that pavilion?"

"The dishes were all made by the Lin-Feng Pavilion's chefs, so of course they were good. I've never eaten such delicacies before."

Liu Yuniang giggled. Then, feeling Li Chengfeng's large hand unconsciously wandering over her body, she could not help blushing a little. "It's broad daylight. What are you doing..."

"Sister-in-law..."

"..."

At noon, Li Chengfeng woke from his nap. He was not in a hurry to cultivate. Instead, he reminded Yuniang to be careful at home, then went out by himself to make inquiries about the businesses of the five masters Zhao Lie had introduced to him, as well as their conduct and reputations.

This sort of inquiry was not actually difficult. Near their areas, he only had to ask ordinary small households whether they could borrow high-interest loans from these forces, then pretend to mention questions like whose daughter had been sold by them, and whether they had heard of such a thing.

After an entire afternoon, Li Chengfeng had a good grasp of the five forces.

After all, they were doing business in this world. He could not say they were especially good, but he could only say they were proper and within the rules of this world.

Li Chengfeng immediately went to visit them one by one that very night and expressed his willingness to affiliate with them.

The five bosses were very pleased, and settled his silver for the month on the spot, while also stating that from then on, the affiliation silver for each month would be paid at the start of that month.

Li Chengfeng agreed readily, then cheerfully took the silver back and showed it to Liu Yuniang, making Yuniang very happy as well.

Now they could finally live the comfortable days where they did not have to do a thing and still had money to spend!

Liu Yuniang was happy, and Li Chengfeng was even happier. With a fixed income, he could more steadily improve his strength at home, saving himself many unnecessary dangers.

However... some dangers could not be saved away.

"Will it be like Zhao Lie said, just a little knock to make a point?"

Thinking of Master Zheng, Li Chengfeng could not help narrowing his eyes, then let out a deep breath.

He looked at the sky. Today was no longer suitable for swallowing Blood-Qi Pills and cultivating, so he simply raised his long spear and trained fiercely right there in the courtyard.

"..."

Early the next morning.

As time passed, the news that Li Chengfeng had registered his name in the rolls finally spread through the city.

When he went out in the morning to practice martial arts, he suddenly saw more than a dozen shopkeepers he had never had any dealings with before come to his door bearing congratulatory gifts.

"This humble one is the shopkeeper of Lin-Feng Pavilion. Having learned that Young Hero Li has stepped through the great gate of the martial path, registered his name in the rolls, and become a martial artist, I have come specially to offer congratulations!"

More than a dozen respectable-looking men carrying gift boxes seemed to have arranged it beforehand, arriving together outside Li Chengfeng's courtyard gate. When Li Chengfeng looked over in surprise, one of them immediately stepped out as their leader, his face wreathed in smiles as he cupped his fists toward Li Chengfeng and spoke.