Chapter 100

That night, Ma Wu slept on the first floor.

He had thought Li Qi was sleeping on the second floor, intending to go upstairs to find Li Qi at dawn to take him around Lanyang Village, but he didn't expect that there was no sign of Li Qi in the bedroom.

Where did he go?

It was very dangerous for an outsider to wander around Lanyang Village. Ma Wu searched the village several times.

He couldn't possibly find Li Qi, because at this moment, Li Qi was sleeping in the Suishenju.

Last night, Li Banfeng wandered around the village all night, not only saving up enough cultivation for a traveling cultivator but also basically mastering the geographical environment of Lanyang Village.

At the southernmost end of Lanyang Village, Li Banfeng saw the entrance to the New Land. Standing on a treetop, he could vaguely see some light, which proved that someone had successfully reclaimed wasteland.

On the way back, Li Banfeng encountered two robbers, extorted over three thousand yuan from them, and then sent the robbers to the Lady for criticism and education.

After the Lady's education, she burped and promised that these two people would never commit crimes again.

By dusk, Ma Wu, who had been searching hard all day, finally found Li Qi downstairs in the wooden hut.

Li Banfeng was watching the excitement.

Downstairs, two groups of people were fighting each other. The fighting style was relatively rough; basically, no techniques could be seen.

The tactics were relatively direct; the two groups charged directly at each other. Some fell, and some ran away.

The weapons were somewhat crude; some people held kitchen knives, and some didn't even have kitchen knives.

The noodle shop boss also joined the fight. At first, he held a kitchen knife, but later, fearing he would break the knife, he switched to a rolling pin.

Ma Wu came to Li Banfeng's side and lowered his voice: "Brother Li, where have you been all day?"

"Just wandering around." Li Banfeng gave a perfunctory reply and continued to watch the battle.

Ma Wu reminded: "Brother Li, it's best not to watch this excitement."

Li Banfeng said with a serious expression: "I have to watch; our landlord is in there!"

Ma Wu scanned the area and indeed saw Landlord Wei fighting in the crowd.

He was injured, his face covered in blood, holding an axe and hacking with all his might.

In the chaotic battle, five or six people were besieging him alone; these people were obviously targeting him.

Ma Wu whispered: "Brother Li, I'm afraid your two months of rent will go down the drain."

As they spoke, the landlord took another knife blow to his back, his body swayed, he almost fell, and the axe in his hand was almost impossible to grip.

The people around waved their knives and just kept hacking down. The landlord's consciousness gradually blurred, and under the heavy injury, he almost lost his will to fight.

Ma Wu stared at the landlord for a moment; the landlord seemed to perceive Ma Wu's gaze.

Like a dying person injected with adrenaline, under Ma Wu's gaze, the landlord's will to fight returned, he raised his axe, and continued to fight for his life with the crowd.

After persisting for more than three minutes, a shout suddenly came from the alley: "People are coming! Pull out!"

The group besieging the landlord quickly left the scene. The landlord led over a dozen subordinates to chase desperately: "Brothers, don't let these bastards run away! Hack one to death, and I'll give you ten silver dollars!"

The landlord hadn't chased far when another group of people rushed out of the alley; they appeared to be the landlord's reinforcements.

Seeing the scene becoming more and more chaotic, Ma Wu reminded Li Banfeng: "Brother Li, it's time to go. Once someone recognizes you, things will be troublesome."

Li Banfeng was startled upon hearing this and followed Ma Wu back to the wooden hut.

Last night, Li Banfeng gave Ma Wu his first day's wages, one hundred and fifty.

Ma Wu bought back some soy sauce beef, pig ears, and a bottle of white liquor, and the two chatted while eating.

"Brother Ma, that was you using a technique on the landlord just now, right?"

Ma Wu nodded: "Seeing him at a life-and-death juncture, I added some strength to him, at least to protect your two months of rent."

Li Banfeng was surprised: "The technique of a Joy Cultivator can also add strength to people? The Joy Cultivators I've met all make people feel flustered and shaky."

Ma Wu said: "Actually, these are the same techniques, but they have different uses. Like morning dew, it moistens; this is charm. Like fine rain, it sprinkles; this is encouragement. Like a rainstorm, it pours; this is confusion.

I haven't passed the first level yet; currently, I can only use encouragement. I haven't been able to learn the art of confusion yet."

Ma Wu's example was very appropriate, and Li Banfeng understood it very clearly.

After a moment of silence, Ma Wu asked: "Brother Li, aren't you curious why I ended up in this state?"

Li Banfeng nodded: "I am a bit curious. When we met at the peddler's place, you spoke quite honestly, but now you don't speak as straightforwardly."

Ma Wu blinked, feeling that the question of whether it was straightforward or not wasn't the key.

Shouldn't he be asking why I became a beggar?

Ma Wu drank a glass of wine: "Actually, you could have seen some clues when we were at the peddler's place. Logically speaking, I shouldn't have gone to the peddler to buy medicine."

Li Banfeng ate a piece of pig ear: "Then where should you have gone to buy medicine? If you want to enter the path, don't you have to find the peddler?"

Ma Wu shook his head: "The Ma family still has some foundation in Green Water Bay. Ma family members don't need to find a peddler to enter the path; there is medicine at home."

The Ma family?

"Is it the Ma family of the four great families?"

Ma Wu nodded: "My name is Ma Junyang, the fifth son of the Ma family. The reason I chose medicine at the peddler's place is that I wanted to be a Joy Cultivator."

Li Banfeng thought for a moment: "Because there was no medicine for Joy Cultivators at home, you went to find a peddler?"

Ma Wu shook his head: "It's not because there was no medicine for Joy Cultivators; it's because there couldn't be Joy Cultivators in my home. The Ma family is a famous family; descendants of a famous family must have proper cultivation.

In Green Water Bay, literary cultivation and martial cultivation are the orthodox paths of cultivation, especially the Ma family, which views orthodoxy as extremely important and sneers at other paths.

Joy Cultivation is the path my father hates the most. If I cultivated Joy Cultivation, it would be equivalent to losing the Ma family's face; it is truly a disgrace to the family."

Literary and martial cultivation are orthodox; no wonder there are more cultivators of these two paths.

For a wealthy family, the reputation of Joy Cultivation might really be bad, but Li Banfeng felt this shouldn't have led Ma Wu to this point: "Just because of this, the Ma family kicked you out of the house?"

Ma Wu shook his head: "That wouldn't go that far. My father has many children; I have two older brothers and two older sisters above me. They all have proper cultivation. Producing a degenerate like me isn't too big a deal.

Besides, I was destined not to inherit the family business in the future. My father gave me two dance halls. I managed them well; I didn't worry about money, nor did I worry about cultivation."

Li Banfeng was stunned: "Really don't worry? Ten times a day, that's also quite difficult."

Ma Wu gave a bitter smile: "At that time, whether it was tonics or medicine, I could afford them, so I could support it."

Li Banfeng shook his head: "I was afraid your Daoist partner couldn't support it."

Ma Wu laughed: "One Daoist partner naturally couldn't support it, but ten Daoist partners, one time each, that's no difficulty. There are plenty of girls in Green Water Bay, and plenty throw themselves at me. I really never worried about this kind of thing.

My housekeeper, Chen Yupeng, changed the patterns every day to find girls for me, but until one day, my third brother came to my house, kicked the bedroom door open, dragged me off the bed, and beat me up. That's when the big trouble started."

"What big trouble?" Li Banfeng sipped his wine.

Ma Wu drank the wine in his glass in one gulp: "The one sleeping in my bed was my sister-in-law who hadn't yet entered the door."

Li Banfeng laughed: "Were you and your sister-in-law childhood sweethearts?"

Originally, he thought he would hear a bloody story, but he saw Ma Wu laughing bitterly: "Brother Li, you really know how to joke. My third brother married a total of sixteen sisters-in-law. I can't even recognize these sixteen who have entered the door, let alone this one who hasn't."

Li Banfeng frowned upon hearing this: "You don't know this sister-in-law?"

"Don't know!" Ma Wu's face was full of bitterness.

Li Banfeng thought for a moment and said: "You were set up!"

"Yes," Ma Wu nodded, "set up. Set up by my third brother and my housekeeper together. They joined forces to send this seventeenth sister-in-law to my bed to set a trap for me."

Li Banfeng put down his wine glass and said: "Why did your third brother want to set you up? How much hatred does he have for you? Is it worth such a big investment?"

Ma Wu sipped his wine: "Old Three set me up for my money. He is the legitimate son of the family; the Ma family's business will belong to him in the future.

My father already gave him two casinos, two restaurants, and a department store. In Green Water Bay, half a street belongs to Old Three. He holds over thirty percent of the Ma family's business, all given by my father."

Li Banfeng couldn't understand: "He doesn't lack money either; why does he still want your money?"

Ma Wu shook his head: "He lacks money, very much lacks money, because he is a straw bag. With over thirty percent of the business in his hands, not one of them is not losing money.

At that time, it was almost the beginning of autumn. According to our Ma family rules, we have to settle accounts on the day of the beginning of autumn. This year, his account book couldn't be shown. He wanted me to draw some money from the dance hall to fill his hole, but I didn't agree.

I only have two dance halls; these two dance halls don't even count as a hair in the Ma family's assets.

But I am someone who knows how to make money. Just relying on these two dance halls, I can earn twenty percent of the Ma family's income. Old Three wanted to force me to pay, so he performed a bitter meat scheme, sending his fiancée who hadn't entered the door to me, wanting to take the opportunity to extort me."

Li Banfeng felt there was a problem with how this matter was handled: "He extorted your money; you could have just given it to him. Even if the matter was exposed, your family has the means to calm it down. Your father couldn't have kicked you out of the house for this."

Ma Wu smiled bitterly: "The means exist, but it depends on the situation. My third brother had just arrived, and the reporters also came. The naked photos were taken, and this matter hit the newspapers! Old Five slept with Old Three's wife. The Ma family lost face, lost face all over Green Water Bay!"

Li Banfeng was puzzled: "Who found the reporters? Your third brother couldn't be that stupid, right? He was made a cuckold, and he still dared to spread it?"

"It definitely wasn't him," Ma Wu laughed and sighed, "maybe it was my fourth brother, or maybe it was my older sister.

Old Three set me up, and someone set Old Three up behind his back. I was kicked out of the house, and Old Three was also locked up by my father. Before long, that person will be able to replace Old Three and become the Ma family's heir."

Li Banfeng asked: "Who wants to be the heir?"

"Still don't know," Ma Wu shook his head, "that person is hiding deep, and I don't know if I can live to see him."

It could be seen that Ma Wu's physical condition was very poor.

Li Banfeng asked: "Because the matter hit the newspapers, the Ma family made you leave with nothing?"

Speaking of this, Ma Wu sighed repeatedly: "It doesn't count as leaving with nothing. When I left the house, the family brought me three hundred silver dollars.

Brother Li, I'm not bragging, just relying on these three hundred silver dollars, I can earn back a family business for myself.

But less than two hours after I left the house, I was robbed. The three hundred silver dollars were robbed clean, and even my outer clothes were stripped off.

I hid a jade pendant, exchanged it for five silver dollars at a pawnshop, came to Lanyang Village to find a living, and spent half a month earning one hundred and twenty silver dollars. Guess what happened?"

Li Banfeng sipped his wine: "You were robbed again?"

Ma Wu nodded: "Guessed right. Just ten days ago, the one hundred and twenty silver dollars were robbed clean. I couldn't pay the rent, was kicked out, slept in a shed,

near the New Land, I picked up some junk and sold it, scraped together over a hundred Huan currency notes, just wanted to find a place to stay, but the day before yesterday, I was robbed again, not even leaving me money for food. That's when I went to pick trash to eat."

Li Banfeng frowned: "Who did this again? Who insists on forcing you to a dead end?"

"Who else could it be?" Ma Wu smiled bitterly, "It must still be my family."

This makes no sense.

Ma Wu has already been kicked out of the house and no longer poses a threat to others. What good does it do them to force Ma Wu to death like this?

Li Banfeng stood up and said: "Selling noodles by the strand, you call this fair?"

The shopkeeper nodded: "It is sold by the strand, and this is fair!"

"Then we'll have to calculate the price carefully!" Li Banfeng swung his walking stick.

"Calculate then!" The shopkeeper swung his rolling pin.

"Let's calculate together!" The other diners each picked up their tools and swarmed up, surrounding Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng nodded: "This looks like a place to stay. How much a month?"

"Two thousand five hundred! Pay monthly; three days overdue, please move out." Landlord Wei stated the rent, wanting to see Li Banfeng's reaction.

Li Banfeng counted out five thousand yuan: "Rent for two months first."