Sima Qiudao knew very little about the purpose of Lingao. The reason why he came to Lingao was entirely sent by his master. [Read the full text] Although Master’s words were unclear and even a little evasive. But Lingao Kun Thief has gained some fame in the world in recent years.
Various martial arts sects in the Central Plains had little contact with Kun Thieves in the past. In recent years, they have heard more or less about their deeds and have seen some Australian products. Take the Qingcheng Sect where he belongs, for example. Every year when disciples from all over the country wish their master and his uncles a birthday, they include Australian products among their gifts. Sima Qiudao had seen the kerosene lamp in his master's room, and also seen a certain junior sister secretly hiding the compact and small mirror given by her lover in the room. As for matches, although they are very expensive in Sichuan due to the long distance, they are very convenient items for people in Jianghu who have to travel at night and sleep in the open all year round. Therefore, almost everyone All.
But this is still an indirect impression. For them, the most intuitive feeling of the power of the Kun thieves is the sudden expansion of the Qiwei Escort Agency in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangnan and other places in the past five years.
This escort bureau was originally unknown, and its martial arts training was extremely meager. It was small in scale and had a short escort journey. Now Qiwei Escort Agency has become a giant in Guangdong and Guangxi, and their relationship with the Kun Thief is almost an open secret in Guangdong and Guangxi.
Now, branches of various industries under Qiwei's name have begun to appear in some major towns in the north and south, in the south of the Yangtze River, and on both sides of the Grand Canal. Sima Qiudao and others have enjoyed many services from Qiwei along the way - especially the long-distance travel combined transportation service provided by Qiwei: as long as you buy a combined ticket, you will have transportation, food and accommodation, luggage handling, customs clearance, and customs clearance all the way... Everything will be arranged properly. There is no need for the employer to worry about it. Even things like finding a girl to amuse himself when he is lonely and empty on the road, as long as the employer asks, he will do it. As for escorting along the way, this is the strength of the escort agency, let alone.
This service system has won the hearts of dignitaries. Originally, they wanted to reduce the hard work on the journey, so they only had to bring more people. The more people there were, the higher the expenses would be. Even if you mobilize troops and mobilize people like this, everything may not go as planned. Qiwei offers similar services at a lower price. Naturally, they quickly seized the market in this area - especially after the imperial court abolished the inns in the past few years. The market in this area is even larger.
Since Sima Qiudao took the waterway from Sichuan to Hankou, Qiwei provided services all the way south to Guangzhou. If it weren't for the "Qiye" "Pingkun Notes" that reminded him not to get involved in any Qiwei industry after arriving in Guangzhou, he would have originally Even the ferry ticket to Lingao had to be handled by Qiwei.
Sima Qiudao naturally knew that this trip was probably ordered by the imperial court - otherwise these sects that usually seem to be in harmony with each other would not have jointly sent out the backbone of their sects to take such a big risk. Even the Huashan sect has an unclear relationship with some rogue bandits Juqu. This time Huang Zhen was sent without hesitation. This thief is so proud!
It's getting light. The two Eight Immortals tables where Sima Qiudao slept now became dining tables, and Nan Wan'er, who was in charge of cooking, brought the porridge and vegetables one by one. A pot of thick brown rice porridge and a pot of Lingao rice noodles with dried shrimps and a few cut salted eggs.
This breakfast is quite rich according to the standards of this time and space: after all, martial arts practitioners have a great need for calories. Not only do you need to eat enough, but you also need to take in a fair amount of protein, which is why it is said that if you are poor, you should learn literature and practice martial arts while you are rich.
"You make porridge, rice noodles and salted eggs every day, why can't you change the pattern? You've been cooking for more than ten years, but you haven't made any progress at all!" The speaker was a girl in a pink dress, with bright eyes, big teeth, and picturesque eyebrows, double ten She has stopped growing evenly in her youth, has enlarged breasts, has a slim waist, and has a slim curve. She does not look like a lady with her hands on her hips, but she is dazzlingly beautiful, and the heroism she reveals beyond her beauty makes men intimidated. This can be seen from the fact that she occupies one end of the Eight Immortals table and no one wants to sit with her.
At this moment, she lost her temper and treated Nan Wan'er as if she were scolding a maid. Although Nan Wan'er was much older than her, she could only listen with her hands down and did not dare to argue. She and Zhou Zhongjun were both disciples of the same generation of the Hengshan Sect, but there was a huge gap in status. Zhou Zhongjun was born in a powerful place, and his family was rich and powerful, but Nan Wan'er was an abandoned baby picked up from the mountains by her master.
Even the two masters have very different statuses within the sect. Nan Wan'er's master is not an important figure in the Hengshan Sect. His martial arts skills are average and he rarely travels down the mountain to do business. He only took care of some chores within the sect. When Zhou Zhongjun was practicing martial arts with his master, Nan Wan'er was helping in the kitchen, so naturally her skills were not much better.
Seeing that the junior sister's temper was gone, Nan Wan'er said cautiously: "There is nothing delicious here, except brown rice and rice noodles. It's not easy to buy meat - there are so many dried fish and shrimps on the market, I'm afraid everyone can't get used to it. , and didn’t dare to buy more.”
"I have long heard that there are all kinds of delicious food in Lingao, and there are many Australian snacks, which are unheard of in the world. How come I have been eating rice noodles with stinky fish sauce these days? It's not like spending money. Why are you, a pauper, so stingy with your money? Could it be that if the cook doesn't steal, the grain won't rise?" Zhou Zhongjun refused to give up.
Nan Wan'er just swallowed her anger and defended in a low voice: "There are seven or eight of us living here, and our daily expenses are not small..."
She came with the team this time, and the superiors naturally did not value her martial arts, but just wanted someone to clean and cook for daily expenses. To put it bluntly, he is just a butler accompanying the team.
After arriving in Nanbao, Nan Wan'er was responsible for buying food, cooking and daily household expenses. Food and drink for these seven or eight people is not a small expense.
To say that they have no shortage of money, Huang Zhen, the leader of the team, brought a lot of gold and silver with him. The problem is that gold and silver cannot be circulated locally. Before Qi Ye does not redeem it for them, they can only rely on Huang Zhen to redeem it in Guangzhou. If you can live with a tradable coupon, you will naturally have to use this money sparingly.
Keeping so many people eating and drinking is a thankless task in itself. It wasn't just once or twice that I was talked about behind my back. Zhou Zhongjun's attack in person seemed unreasonable, but in fact there were many people nodding secretly behind his back.
When Nan Wan'er saw that the atmosphere in the room was not right, she blinked her eyes twice. A layer of mist had already formed in her eyes, and tears began to well up in her eyes within a moment.
She was originally pretty, but now she looked pitiful and pitiful because of her humiliation, which made the men sitting there feel pity for her.
When Huang Zhen saw this, he quickly came out to smooth things over: "Earlier, there was not enough money in the official position, so I had to save money. Now the first payment has arrived. Everyone is lucky these days. We will make do with it for breakfast and let Miss Nan in the evening. Make us a good meal and sacrifice it to the Five Zang Temple!" He said to Nan Wan'er: "I have money here, you can take it later and go to the market to buy some meat."
As soon as these words were said, the awkward atmosphere in the room relaxed. To be honest, everyone was tired of eating brown rice, grilled dried fish, and stir-fried water spinach with shrimp paste every day these days. I heard that they could have a toothpaste in the evening, and everyone was excited. Smile.
Sima Qiudao was eating rice noodles by himself, but he didn't think so in his heart - he went out to do things, but when he started to fight over a meal before doing anything, Zhou Zhongjun was too ignorant of the overall situation. I don’t know why I took her out.
In his opinion, both Zhou Zhongjun and Nan Wan'er were too eye-catching. Not only were they too beautiful, but their behavior was also like that of a gangster. Now that the thief Kun has conquered the Wei Escort Agency, he naturally has all kinds of martial arts scum who sell themselves to join him. Once noticed by them, the thieves will be on guard.
After breakfast, everyone was about to get up when Huang Zhen said, "Please stay a moment, I have something to say."
Nan Wan'er was busy cleaning the dishes, obviously not thinking that what Huang Zhen was going to say had anything to do with her.
"Miss Nan, please sit down first. The dishes and chopsticks will be cleared away in a moment." Huang Zhen said solemnly.
"We are all martial arts comrades, so I have something to say, so I won't be polite! This time we were ordered to sneak into Lingao, although we don't know what we are going to do. But this place is different from the Ming Dynasty. We have no local people to take care of us here. The Ming Dynasty is here It doesn’t matter what you say here, so you have to be careful in everything, and you must not show any flaws." He glanced at the people present and waited, "Everyone also understands in their hearts that most of us have good intentions and stand out in the crowd. It’s easy for people to figure it out. The Kun thieves are very strict. Don’t go out if you have nothing to do on weekdays – if you do have to go out on important matters, you must inform me and Sima beforehand.”
Most of the people present here have rich experience in martial arts and know that Huang Zhen is not lying. They all listened to him with bated breath.
"We are a group of people who are not related to each other. Living together like this attracts too much attention. So next we want to open a store..."
"Open a shop?!" Zhou Zhongjun asked curiously.
"Yes, open a store." Huang Zhen nodded, "Use opening a store as a cover so that everyone has an identity. This will make it much easier to move around in Lingao. Besides..."
Moreover, he carries gold and silver as activity funds - although the gold and silver can be taken to Delong's Nanbao branch openly and exchanged for circulation coupons, if there is no legitimate use declaration, it will be stolen immediately. Keep an eye out - "Pingkun Notes" said: Every shop and bank in Lingao has the obligation to report suspicious money transactions.
"What kind of store should I open?" a middle-aged man asked, "When it comes to doing business, every family and faction has a store, but these are all managed by the shopkeepers below. We don't understand."
"Open a medical shop!"
"Medical shop?" The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment and patted his thigh: "Shopkeeper Huang, you really know how to think! The medical shop is great!"
The so-called medical shop is similar to a private clinic. The people who open such shops are not famous doctors. Most of them have a unique skill: massage, acupuncture, bone setting, etc. Open a shop and wait for business to come, and then sell some homemade medicines that are half fishy and half sharp. (To be continued...)
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