Chapter 118

I'm not the one selling the salt, and I'm even opening the gate at night; as long as I'm careful, who would find out?

By the time the Tang family's business was exposed, he would have already made a fortune.

"Then, I wonder... how much can the Tang family give me?" Wang Liu rubbed his fingers with a smile, the greed in his eyes becoming increasingly clear.

Jiang Jinshi held up one finger: "Ten taels!"

"Ten taels per time, or per month?" Wang Liu looked at Jiang Jinshi's raised finger, his breathing becoming much heavier.

"Calculated by the number of times, about four to six times a month." Jiang Jinshi didn't say much more; this number would be more realistic.

Wang Liu silently did the math in his head; even if it was only four times a month, he could get... forty taels of silver!

This sum of money was enough to knock Wang Liu senseless; he couldn't even imagine how much forty taels of silver was!

"I'm just asking you, are you doing this or not? If you hadn't said what you did just now, this wouldn't have fallen to you. If you miss this village, you won't find this shop!" Jiang Jinshi asked Wang Liu.

"I'll do it!" Wang Liu agreed without hesitation. He would earn the money, others would bear the risk—only a fool wouldn't do such a good deed!

"Fine! Then it's settled. Remember, it's tomorrow night!" Jiang Jinshi had achieved his goal, so he stood up to leave.

Wang Liu also stood up, "Have a cup of tea before you go!"

Jiang Jinshi took one tael of silver from his robes and handed it to Wang Liu, "I won't drink the tea; it hasn't even been served after all this time! I know you don't have any silver on you, Brother Wang, so take this to use first. You can pay me back after you've handled the Tang family's business."

Seeing the silver, Wang Liu wouldn't refuse; he hurriedly reached out to take it and wiped it on his clothes, "Good! I'll definitely pay you back once I get the money."

Once Jiang Jinshi and the others left, Wang Liu immediately bit into the silver, and only felt at ease after seeing the shallow tooth marks.

He knew that Jiang Jinshi had come to find him on purpose today!

A job like opening the city gate wasn't something just anyone could do, and he wanted to make money, so a job perfect for him just happened to appear?

So, meeting Jiang Jinshi at the gambling den at the beginning wasn't a coincidence at all; he had come to find him on purpose.

But Wang Liu didn't care, as long as he had money to make. He even felt lucky that he was a city guard; otherwise, how would such a good thing fall to him?

As for reporting it to the squad leader?

He wasn't that stupid! If he reported it to the squad leader, would there still be a share for him?

Moreover, once this matter was done, he would hold the Tang family's leverage in his hands. He wouldn't be stupid enough to use this leverage to threaten the Tang family, but he wasn't worried about not getting paid either.

When the young woman walked out again and found only Wang Liu there, a bucket of cold water was immediately poured over her heart.

She had gone inside to tidy up and dress up for nothing; the people were all gone, a wasted effort!

"The people you brought this time aren't any good either! They left after just a little while!" The young woman couldn't help but complain to Wang Liu.

Wang Liu laughed wantonly, putting his feet up on the table, "They're gone, but aren't I still here?"

"You? Every time you bring people here, it's just to eavesdrop. Is that interesting?"

The young woman crossed her arms, her proud curves attracting Wang Liu's gaze.

Wang Liu threw the silver that hadn't even warmed up in his hand toward the young woman, "Today, this master isn't eavesdropping; I'm going inside to drink tea."

Seeing the silver, the young woman's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly caught it and bit it.

"Yo! You're willing to spend money on me?" The young woman knew Wang Liu's character well; he threw all his money into the gambling den, and here, he only wanted to 'eat for free'.

It was fortunate she hadn't let him succeed before, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten a damn cent of silver this time.

Wang Liu stood up and walked toward the young woman, his right hand beginning to roam up and down without restraint.

"Aren't you going to go inside and pour me some tea?"

"Alright! Master, follow me."

As the door closed and was locked, the alleyway returned to peace once more.

Jiang Jinshi and his group left the city, and when there was no one else around, Wang Hou finally spoke up.

"Great Chief, is this matter a bit..."

"A bit rough?" Jiang Jinshi smiled; he understood what Wang Hou wanted to say.

Wang Hou nodded, waiting for Jiang Jinshi to clear his doubts.

"He's just a gambler, not a fool! Is that what you're thinking?"

"Nothing escapes the Great Chief." Wang Hou grinned.

"Tell me your thoughts!" Jiang Jinshi didn't say it directly; he wanted to hear what Wang Hou had to say first.

Wang Hou puffed out his chest: "Then I'll say it! The impression Wang Liu gives me is that he's a gambler, and an extremely addicted one at that.

But the process of us finding him and talking to him, I think it was a bit deliberate. He might see through it, and once he sees through it, he'll report it to the squad leader, and won't we have alerted the enemy?"

Jiang Jinshi cast an approving look at Wang Hou, "You're right! It's not 'might', he will definitely see that we went to find him on purpose. After all, he wants to make money, we just happened to run into him, and it's a 'coincidence' that we have a money-making job in our hands.

If I have a good opportunity to make big money, not arranging it for my brothers, sisters, or relatives and friends, but letting a stranger get rich, that in itself is a ridiculous thing."

"So, he will definitely be suspicious!" Wang Hou took over.

Jiang Jinshi nodded, "Exactly! I deliberately mentioned the smuggling of salt to dispel his concerns. Let him know it's not that I don't want to take my family to get rich, but that this is something ordinary people can't do, only city guards like them can."

Now Wang Hou understood, and continued, "And he also knows that he's not the only city guard; even if he doesn't do it, someone else will, so he might as well get rich himself!"

"That's about the gist of it!"

Yan Wu looked curiously at the two who were chatting happily. Having been trained as a guard since childhood, he had been instilled with one idea: unconditional obedience to orders.

Never question the master at any time; even if the master is wrong, it's not the place of a guard like him to question it.

But looking at the way the two interacted, Yan Wu was curious whether Jiang Jinshi was like this with everyone, or if Wang Hou was special.

So Yan Wu prepared to speak to verify his thoughts, and suddenly blurted out a sentence.

"He is a soldier after all; he shouldn't forget his duty."

Jiang Jinshi didn't expect Yan Wu to take the initiative to participate, so without thinking much, he continued.

"If it were before, it might have been possible, but from the moment they increased the entry fees and started charging merchants all sorts of fees, they had already broken their so-called 'duty'. When it comes to rules being broken, there is only zero times and countless times."

Then Yan Wu didn't speak again, seemingly thinking about what Jiang Jinshi had said, but Wang Hou was still a bit worried.

"Will he fall for it?"

Jiang Jinshi smiled; this was the reason he chose Wang Liu, "He's a gambler! Every gambler, when gambling, thinks they can win. So even if he has doubts, he will find excuses and reasons to deceive himself."

Speaking of this, Jiang Jinshi thought of the various scams from his past life; were those people really all fools?

No! They weren't stupid, but they were greedy!