Oh no, I've been set up by capital!

"You're not going to use my blood to curse me, or cast a head-lowering spell on me, control me, refine me into a puppet or something, are you?"

After Jiang Wangzu finished speaking, he asked again, still somewhat worried.

"Have you been reading too many Gods and Devils novels and storybooks?"

"If I had that kind of ability, would I need to spend money buying half a bowl of your blood?"

Luo Shiqi said irritably.

For some reason, he always felt that the fellow before him was a little strange.

His imagination was unlike ordinary people's!

Like a lunatic!

"That's good, that's good!"

"Then... here's to a pleasant cooperation!"

Jiang Wangzu reached out and took the initiative to shake Luo Shiqi's hand.

That counted as their preliminary agreement.

"Wait?"

"Are you insane?"

"This is what you call a bowl?"

"Damn it, this is a basin, isn't it?"

A while later, Jiang Wangzu looked at the freshly sharpened knife Luo Shiqi had brought over, along with an especially oversized rice bowl, and stared at Luo Shiqi with a face full of shock, snapping irritably.

This is bad!

I've been set up by capital, damn it!

"But this really is the bowl I usually eat from?"

Luo Shiqi also felt a little wronged.

In the end, the two of them haggled back and forth again.

Then they reached a unanimous agreement.

Jiang Wangzu would go to Western Hospital to have two hundred milliliters of blood drawn, and Luo Shiqi would pay him five hundred silver dollars!

Just like that, Luo Shiqi began handling Chen Xing's corpse and carrying out the cremation.

Jiang Wangzu used this opening to make a trip to Western Hospital.

After paying a cost of two silver dollars, under the astonished gazes of a crowd of doctors and nurses, Jiang Wangzu left the hospital carrying a bag of blood.

It was their first time seeing someone come to the hospital to have a doctor draw their blood, not to sell it, not to use it, but then just take it away himself?

Was he planning to go home and make himself a pot of duck-blood stew?

It was very hard to understand!

When he returned to No. 7 Crematorium, Luo Shiqi had already finished handling Chen Xing's body and sent it into the cremator.

And Jiang Wangzu and Luo Shiqi's transaction was completed.

Jiang Wangzu once again obtained five hundred silver dollars.

Once he opened up his thinking, making money was actually this easy!

Another five portions of Black Tiger Powder secret medicine were in hand!

Together with the six hundred silver dollars deposited with Little Medical Immortal, more than one-third of these thirty portions of Black Tiger Powder secret medicine were already in hand.

They left Hei Pi at the crematorium to wait and receive Chen Xing's ashes.

Jiang Wangzu and Ma Gan began shopping like mad.

They went to East Market to look at burial plots, West Market to buy white cloth, North Market to buy paper effigies, and South Market to buy spirit ingots.

The main theme was frantic shopping!

[Extra, extra! The Southern Revolutionary Army advances like splitting bamboo and has now occupied the lands of three provinces.]

[Extra, extra! Immortal Music Gate's Golden Voice Queen Ru Meng releases her personal single "Tian Mi Mi," setting the entire venue ablaze!]

[Extra, extra! Large numbers of foreigners enter the Shen City Concession, suspected of harboring a heaven-shaking conspiracy!]

[...]

The streets were filled everywhere with the shouts of newsboys hawking papers.

In this era, most of the entertainment facilities for people in Shen City were still reading books and newspapers, while children also liked reading picture-story books.

Although the common people at the bottom lived in poverty and destitution, there were quite a few who could read and write.

"Kid, give me a newspaper!"

Jiang Wangzu took out three copper coins and bought a newspaper.

Newspapers in this era were still fairly cheap, with a retail price of around three wen.

If you subscribed through the newspaper office and had a deliveryman bring it to your door, it cost about one silver dollar a month, which was not too expensive.

Middle-class families living in the Upper District subscribed to at least three to five newspapers and periodicals every month.

"Sister Ru Meng?"

"This song's already this popular. She should have made a fortune by now, right?"

"I'll find a chance to meet her, write her a few more songs, and get some money."

Jiang Wangzu had heard no small number of songs.

Although the vast majority of them were not very suitable for this era, if he chose carefully, finding some songs that fit the times would be no problem at all.

Of course, he could not give them all to Ru Meng in one breath.

Only by casting a long line could one hook a big fish.

Giving them to her one by one was what suited long-term interests, and it also made it less likely to arouse suspicion.

After all, Western music had not been flowing into the Great Xin Republic for long. You, a bottom-level Canal Gang hoodlum, might have a bit of literary talent.

But writing a dozen, or even dozens, of classic songs everyone loved in one breath?

What kind of stunt were you trying to pull?

It would be hard not to make people suspicious!

However, right now Jiang Wangzu was worried that the storm over him having slept with Ru Meng had not yet blown over, so he had better keep a low profile for the time being.

But he himself had also gotten carried away.

Only afterward did he learn that Ru Meng was actually so famous.

The number of people who adored her was beyond counting; pick any one at random.

Forget Jiang Wangzu being unable to handle them—even Chen Tai could not handle them!

So Jiang Wangzu had to lie low first!

He had to keep getting stronger, raise his own strength, and improve his power and status.

When the time came, he could refuse to eat beef!

When Jiang Wangzu gave Chen Xing a grand burial, Chen Tai led men to storm Xinglong Street and fought Gao Shengqiang until the battle was locked in a dead heat.

Both Xinglong Street and Rongsheng Street were bustling streets in the Lower District.

Any small boss able to hold down a place like this was bound to have martial force to his name; otherwise, he simply could not keep it under control.

Therefore, Gao Shengqiang's strength was not the least bit weaker than Chen Tai's.

If Gao Shengqiang's strength had been inferior to Chen Tai's, Chen Tai would have twisted his head off and kicked it like a ball long ago.

How would there still be room for him to strut around and throw his weight about?

The hoodlums who fought their way up from the bottom of the Canal Gang basically all had combat power that was up to standard.

However, not all of the Canal Gang's higher-ups had martial force to rely on.

Some of them had extraordinary backgrounds, while others were trusted confidants of warlords.

Some were good at doing business, and some were good at making plans and giving counsel.

It really was true that some people were born in Rome, while others were born as oxen and horses!

After giving Chen Xing a grand burial.

Jiang Wangzu brought Hei Pi and Ma Gan back to the rear courtyard of Hongyun Mahjong Hall on Rongsheng Street.

Chen Tai and the others had already returned.

Although every one of them was injured, especially Chen Tai, who had been wounded, the excitement in Chen Tai's eyes was clearly impossible to suppress.

Do not bully a poor young man!

Do not bully a poor middle-aged man!

Do not bully a poor old man!

The dead are to be respected!

The first three lines were all for fooling the living, but this last line was for fooling ghosts.

But Chen Tai used the issue as an excuse and insisted to the end that Chen Xing had been ambushed and killed by men under Gao Shengqiang.

Gao Shengqiang was like yellow mud dropped into his crotch—if it was not shit, it was still shit.

This time, Chen Tai held the moral high ground. Not only did he seize back the few shops he had previously lost, he also swallowed several more shops at the end of Xinglong Street.

That meant at least an extra hundred silver dollars in protection fees every month.

"Boss, we've already made proper arrangements for Brother Xing's funeral affairs."

Jiang Wangzu briefly went over the expenses from this time with Chen Tai, and took out the account book for Chen Tai to inspect.

Unexpectedly, Chen Tai waved a hand and said, "A-Zu, when you handle things, I'm at ease."

"As for the few silver dollars left over, keep them!"

"Also, every brother who came with me to Xinglong Street today gets five silver dollars each."

"And one more thing: from now on, every brother's monthly pay goes up by one silver dollar!"

Chen Tai's words left everyone wildly excited!

From the looks of it, he really had struck it rich this time.

But Jiang Wangzu no longer cared about such a small amount of money.