Chapter 90: Chapter 14: Winning Hearts and Stabilizing Our Foothold

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After killing these short-sighted thugs, the alleyway returned to peace.

The old hunters of Hongshan Village went on with their eating and sleeping just the same.

Since it wasn't their first time killing someone, each of them seemed rather self-assured and justified.

Inside the house.

After handling all matters fairly well, Shen Qing called over Shen Xiaohu and Tian Xiaohu.

"Brother Qingzi, what do you need us for this late? Who else do we have to kill?" Tian Xiaohu said cheerily as he entered.

He had gotten lucky in the recent scuffle, managing to pocket three to four hundred wen from a few bodies.

Though this amount didn't compare to what Shen Qing would usually haul in, the fact that he had earned it through his own efforts still made him quite happy.

Shen Qing took out a knife and started cleaning it, saying, "We need to pay a visit to Tang Biao's place. He can practice Martial Arts, so he must have some savings. I didn't find much on him. Probably left it all at home. Let's go have a look."

"Alright, Brother Qingzi, we'll do as you say."

"No time like the present, let's go now."

After finishing with his knife, Shen Qing tucked it into his waistband and left with the two tigers.

Leaving the alley, Shen Qing approached a shack that looked quite sturdy, knocked on the door, and said, "Neighbor, we're new here. I have a question for you."

"We don't know anything, we don't know anything. We're ignorant of it all."

A voice filled with fear and trembling came from the house.

Shen Qing's brow furrowed, and his expression soured as he glanced at Tian Xiaohu.

Tian Xiaohu understood and kicked the door of the household wide open.

"Ah!"

A scream came from inside the house, where a family of four huddled in the corner.

The man in the lead held a long wooden stick, looking fearfully at Shen Qing and the others.

The noise of the earlier murder in the alley had truly terrified them.

Shen Qing stood at the doorway without entering, his tone now milder, "We come from Hongshan Village. We have some grudges with Tang Biao, and I'm wondering where his house is. Just tell me the location, that'll do."

The man inside had no choice. Quivering, he said, "His place is... at Liu Li Lane... behind the large stone... turn right from here until the end, then left, and you'll see it... it's the largest shack."

"Alright."

Shen Qing gave a fist and palm salute and took Shen Xiaohu and Tian Xiaohu with him to leave.

He took only a few steps, then turned back. The man who had just begun to relax inside tensed up again.

Under the family's watchful eyes, Shen Qing took out ten large coins, stacked them neatly, and placed them on their doorstep, "Thanks."

Shen Qing smiled at them before turning to leave for real.

"They're really gone, right?"

"I'll go check."

The man inside, still gripping the wooden stick tightly, cautiously made his way to the door, peeked outside, and saw no one there.

"Really gone?"

Looking down at the doorstep, he saw the ten large coins shining coldly under the bright moonlight.

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"This should be the place, right?"

Following the neighbor's directions, Shen Qing arrived in front of a shack.

This house was clearly different from the others around it.

Even though it was quite shabby, it started to take on the semblance of a proper residence.

There was still light in the house.

Shen Qing walked briskly towards it, knocked on the door, and called out urgently, "There's trouble, something's happened to Brother Biao."

Clatter.

There was a sound of panic within, followed by the door being pulled open.

"What happened to him?" The woman who answered looked concerned.

Upon seeing Shen Qing and the strangers without a trace of urgency, she sensed something wrong and tried to shut the door again.

Shen Qing propped the door open with his hand.

"Why the rush to close the door?"

He pushed inside, nudging the woman aside.

The house brightened as he entered, revealing only the woman, an ordinary person.

Tian Xiaohu and Shen Xiaohu followed in after him.

Shen Qing, sitting in a chair, demanded, "Tang Biao's dead. Bring out whatever you have."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the woman said through clenched teeth.

Shen Qing pulled a golden leaf from his clothing, flashed it in front of the woman, and spoke, "You recognize this, don't you? He must have hidden some at home. I'm giving you a chance — don't irritate me. If we start searching ourselves, you'll have no part to play. You understand my meaning."

The woman's face turned pale at the sight of the golden leaf. She fell silent then, as if resigning herself to the inevitable, lifted up a floorboard and retrieved a box.

"It's all right here."

Shen Qing caught the box and felt a pulling force.

He glared at the woman, who reluctantly let go.

Upon opening the box, he found it filled with silver beans, silver fish, and some large coins, but no more golden leaves.

He weighed it in his hand. Roughly sixty taels or so.

"That'll do."

Shen Qing closed the box and stood up.

The woman stepped back in fear, pleading in a flustered voice, "Don't kill me. I'll do anything, I can sleep with you."

Shen Qing looked her up and down.

She wasn't ugly, nor was she particularly attractive.

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Perhaps due to having decent meals on a regular basis, the body had some capital and appeared quite plump.

Shen Qing didn't engage in her conversation, but looked around the room and said, asking, "Tang Biao doesn't have a son, does he?"

"No."

"What about a daughter, a son-in-law?"

"Neither. He came from somewhere else, and all his family went down with a sinking ship."

"That saves quite a bit of trouble. You're very sensible, I won't make things hard for you. Let's go."

Shen Qing didn't say much more, and signaled Shen Xiaohu and Tian Xiaohu to leave with him.

As they were leaving, Shen Xiaohu couldn't resist glancing at the breasts of the woman in the house.

So big, so round.

Shen Xiaohu hurriedly took a couple more glances before reluctantly catching up with the pace of Shen Qing and the others.

On the way, Shen Qing took out four taels of silver and said to the two men, "Take this, then go back and call over the men from each household."

"Okay."

Tian Xiaohu and Shen Xiaohu were not courteous and readily agreed on the spot.

"How have you two been practicing the Nine Skills lately?"

Tian Xiaohu and Shen Xiaohu looked at each other and sighed, "Not so good, we haven't figured out the right method until now."

"Hmm, no rush. You've both been practicing for a relatively short time, first get your bodies well-conditioned. The world isn't peaceful right now, and if we want to stand our ground outside, we need to start practicing martial arts as soon as possible."

"We understand."

Shen Qing didn't say much more.

Actually, he was clear in his mind.

The Nine Skills Martial Arts was a basic nourishing and training technique, demanding in terms of talent, somewhat difficult to practice.

It wasn't easy to grasp the knack of it.

If that was the case, it would be good to have more people in the village practice it, maybe a change in quantity would lead to a change in quality, and someone would eventually make something out of it.

Times had changed; cherishing one's modest possessions was not a good strategy.

Back in the lane, his aunt was in his room complaining to his eldest sister, Shen Fang.

Seeing Shen Qing and the others return, the aunt didn't stop her chatter and left, talking away.

Shen Qing noticed that his aunt was afraid his eldest sister would be lonely in the room by herself, not familiar with life here, and had come to keep her company.

"Eldest sister, you go to auntie's house for a while, I have some business to discuss here," Shen Qing placed the box on the table, watching his auntie's retreating figure, and said to his eldest sister. Sёarᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Hmm." Shen Fang didn't think much of it, tidied up the room, and followed behind the auntie.

After waiting a while in the room, the men from the households were called over.

The shed that Shen Qing chose was not small, just enough to fit these twenty or so men inside.

Uncle Shen Er sat beside Shen Qing, looking at his increasingly promising nephew, pride added to his face.

The usually hunchbacked man couldn't help but straighten his spine.

The heads of the households who came in all looked at Shen Qing, waiting for him to speak.

Shen Qing didn't notice Uncle Shen Er's thoughts and lightly tapped the wooden box on the table, saying, "When we were in the village, if we hunted big game together, everyone could share some. I just went to Tang Biao's house and collected some silver. I'm not one to keep secrets, so let's divide it today."

"However, even brothers should settle accounts clearly, I need to take half of what's inside."

Upon hearing that there was more silver to be divided, the men who had come into the house all immediately smiled brightly.

Many people outside had been killed by Shen Qing, and he hadn't asked them for a single coin; they all felt like they had picked up a bargain.

Now, there was extra money to share, which was truly an unexpected joy.

If Qingzi were to swallow it all alone, they wouldn't have any objections.

"We're just country folks, haven't seen much of the world, Qingzi, whatever you say goes."

Someone took the lead and the rest of the people also expressed their agreement.

"Then good, thanks for your trust. I'll divide it like this, and those 'hunters' who were injured this time will get a little more."

Shen Qing immediately made up his mind and began to divide the money.

In his view, the authority of a leader half came from his men's fear of his power, and half from their pursuit of profit.

Shen Qing didn't expect that once they arrived at the county city and left their native soil, these people would still stick together as usual.

People are very pragmatic.

There are too many temptations outside.

Shen Qing had also called over Zhang Shuyuan, the only scholar in the village, on the way to do the counting and bookkeeping.

In a quarter of an hour, these hunters each proudly took one tael silver back home, and when they told their families about it, the atmosphere was even more festive than during holidays.

They felt all the more that following Shen Qing had been the right choice.

After sending off the village hunters, Shen Qing quickly pulled Uncle Shen Er aside.

"Uncle, wait for me a moment."

"What? Does Qingzi have something else?"

Shen Qing took out three more silver coins and stuffed them into Uncle Shen Er's hand, saying, "Living in the Outer City is different from living in the village, everything including clothing and fuel costs money, even firewood has to be bought. One tael silver might seem like a lot, but it really doesn't last long. Take this, uncle, our own family should receive some special consideration."

Shen Qing spoke with order and determination, very decisive.

They were all rough men, without so much polite ceremony.

Uncle Shen Er glanced at the silver without much to say, pocketed it, and stated, "Okay, your two cousins don't have much else but their strength. In the future, you can use them for whatever you need! Our family might be poor, but at least we're not afraid of death."

Although he said this, Shen Qing was a clever person and heard the concern in Uncle Shen Er's voice.

"Uncle, here's what I'm thinking, Xiao Hu has gotten used to me these days, and I will have him follow me in the future. Xiao Shan is young, he'll stay in the house for now, and when conditions are better, we'll find him a wife. What do you think, uncle?"

"Done!" Uncle Shen Er's brows unconsciously relaxed a bit, "I'll head back now, if there's anything we can discuss it tomorrow."

Shen Qing didn't keep him, and saw off Uncle Shen Er.

After a day of hustle and bustle, where others might struggle to hold up, Shen Qing, on the other hand, was still brimming with energy.

He took out a book borrowed from Zhang Shuyuan and read it with relish.