The road to immortality for a hundred generations

Chapter 89

With the cooperation of the six major forces in Tianyang County, the originally rising prices in the county gradually dropped back to normal prices, and other aspects also began to develop in a good direction.

"Qiangzi! After running around for so long, have you saved any money?"

"Ask me this again, and I tell you, even if you starve to death, you won't be able to borrow money from me!"

"No! Before the imperial court's martial law was issued, you went to join in the fun, but then you were not selected because you were not qualified enough. Now you have a new opportunity."

"Forget it. Not only did I fail the qualification test, but I also failed to practice for three months afterwards. I guess I'm not born to learn martial arts."

"I haven't said anything about the situation yet, why are you anxious?! I promise, you will be excited after hearing this!"

"Okay, tell me, I want to hear what's going on."

At the door of an ordinary small restaurant, a young man wearing tattered clothes but with shining eyes leaned on a wooden post and made an eloquent introduction to the short-shirted waiter in front of him.

"Just a few days ago, I don't know what happened. In our Tianyang County, a lot of shops were being renovated overnight. I didn't take it seriously at first, but just yesterday, guess what?"

"I can't guess, you just say it."

"Well, that's boring,"

The young man in tattered clothes curled his lips and continued, "I don't know if those shops were negotiated or what happened, but they all turned into martial arts schools! Moreover,"

"Eh! Wait!"

Seemingly aware of the flaw in the other party's words, the boy in a short shirt interrupted, "Didn't you mean a shop? How can a shop open a martial arts gym? How can a martial arts gym be opened in such a small place? If you are a little more truthful, you can say Maybe I’ll believe it.”

"No, I haven't finished speaking yet. Why are you anxious? And how do you know there is only a store?"

The young man in ragged clothes rolled his eyes, "Let me tell you, I went to find out personally. There is a yard behind the house where you can practice martial arts!"

The boy in short shirt clenched his clothes tightly and subconsciously looked towards the backyard of the restaurant, but then he relaxed: "Oh, even if there is a yard and so many martial arts schools are opened, so what? I don't have that many. money."

"This is what I want to say, those newly opened martial arts schools only cost this amount a month."

As he spoke, the boy in ragged clothes spread his right hand towards the other party.

"Five or two?"

The boy in the short shirt widened his eyes, "Li Toad, you told me that five liang is cheap? Now you can just find any martial arts studio that has two liang, okay?!"

"wrong!"

Li Toad suddenly raised his voice, startling the boy in a short shirt.

Li Toad was an orphan. He liked to learn how to jump when he was young, so everyone gave him the nickname Li Toad. As he screamed, it became his real name. As for his previous name, even Li Toad himself couldn't remember clearly.

"It's five cents!"

"Five cents?!"

The boy in short shirt repeated in disbelief, and before Li Toad could react, he suddenly dodged and rushed towards the backyard of the restaurant.

"what?"

This time it was Li Toad's turn to be confused.

What's the situation?
Could it be that Song Xuewu thought he was teasing him and now went back to the backyard of the restaurant to whip himself with a stick?

After thinking for a while, Li Toad came up with a possibility, and then he felt guilty and wanted to run away.

Before he could make up his mind to run away, Song Xuewu had already rushed towards him.

"Don't, don't, don't be impulsive, Xuewu. I really didn't lie to you. If you don't believe me, ask yourself."

"Okay, I'm going to ask you now where the martial arts gym is. You take me there!"

"They are everywhere. There are so many. You can see one just anywhere you look."

"Then take me to the nearest one! Hurry!"

Song Xuewu felt that his heart had flown to the sky at this time.

If the other person said that the monthly tuition was one yuan or even two yuan, he would turn around and leave without hesitation, pretending that he had not seen the other person.

He didn't need to think about it, he knew it was his friends teasing him.

But it happened to be five yuan, a somewhat ambiguous price.

If it's true, if it's true.

At this moment, Song Xuewu was praying in his heart all the time.

He was so eager to learn martial arts.

As early as when he was just sensible, he had heard that martial artists who entered the mainstream had at least two taels of money per month.

What is the concept of two liang?Not to mention eating meat every meal, but at least eating it every other meal is okay.

Therefore, the words "become a warrior" have almost become an obsession in his heart.

But unfortunately it was too expensive to go to a martial arts school, and his qualifications to join the sect were not up to standard.

But if you don’t meet the qualifications, you can’t learn martial arts?
He didn't think about anything like being innate or first-class.

He just wants to join the mainstream, get a job that pays two taels a month, and be satisfied if he can eat meat every day.

His qualifications are not too bad, and he even vaguely occupies the front position in front of a group of ordinary people.

But what is the use of this to the people of the sect?
What the sect wants is a genius, no matter how bad it is, it is a good talent who is better than ordinary people. They don't want mediocre people, they don't want ordinary people like him.

Even if he is still outstanding among ordinary people.

Some time ago, the imperial court implemented the military order, and he and Li Toad even joined in.

At that time, he was full of expectations the moment before the results were announced.

Because there were 3000 people in Tianyang County participating in external training at the beginning, according to the calculation of [-]%, there would be [-] places.

At that time, he managed to squeeze into the top [-] with his fairly decent qualifications and hard work.

But what's the result?What they want is the number of people on the day before the results are announced.

At that time, there were only 3000 people left out of 57, and the government only accepted [-].

He was eliminated, and Li Toad, who was ranked No. 60 in front of him, was also eliminated.

But he was unwilling to give in. He thought that it would be better if he worked harder. Obviously, the difference between No. 90 and No. [-] was only forty places.

Fortunately, the restaurant owner who had taken him in at first took him in because of old friendship, otherwise he might have been like Li Toad, relying on stealing to make a living.

While running, Song Xuewu did not forget to protect the waist bag in his arms.

There was three years of wages he had saved.

"We're here, let's go in and ask."

Li Toad rubbed his hands and said with a smile, "The people inside are so nice. If I go in wearing such tattered clothes, no one will kick me out."

"Wait, Toad, are you sure it's five cents?"

Song Xuewu looked at the martial arts hall in front of him with a clean facade, an impressive plaque, and the three characters "Wu Tang" written on it. He felt a little discouraged, "Could it be that they said it was five taels, and you heard it wrong?"

"It must be impossible! I confirmed it several times at that time!"

Li Toad said categorically, "Okay, okay, we're here. Just ask and find out."

With that said, he pulled Song Xuewu, and the two of them walked in.

"Liuzi, a guest is here. Go and entertain him."

The shopkeeper sitting in the rocking chair glanced at the door of the store, then turned and shouted to the person next to him.

"Here you two, welcome to our Jingwu Hall,"

Liuzi came forward happily, "Do you two want to sign up, or do you have something else to do?"

"Jingwutang, it turns out that the word "Jingwutang" is pronounced "Jingwutang".

Song Xuewu silently read these three words in his mind several times, and then asked, "I would like to ask, how do you charge the apprenticeship fee at your martial arts school?"

"Five taels,"

Five taels?Sure enough, it was five taels.

After hearing the expected answer, Song Xuewu suddenly felt exhausted. He felt so tired and wanted to lie down and rest for a while.

Liuzi had just said two words when he was suddenly interrupted by a sharp voice.

"Five taels? That's a lie, right? I just asked you this morning, you said five taels, and I specifically asked you if you remembered it correctly. You said no, and now you tell me five taels? See, we are both easy to bully. Right? Or are you saying that there is no one in the store now and you are deliberately cheating us out of money? "

Li Toad asked loudly and almost angrily.

"Five dollars?"

Liuzi was stunned for a moment, and then an apologetic smile appeared on his face, "I'm sorry, I,"

"I don't want to hear an apology, I just want to ask you, why did you lie to me?! I obviously asked you several times!"

Li Toad shouted at the top of his lungs.

"No, just listen to my explanation."

From the corner of his eye, Liuzi noticed that there seemed to be a crowd of people watching the excitement outside the door, and he immediately became anxious.

"I won't listen! This black shop of yours will close down sooner or later. Xuewu, let's go!"

Li Toad pulled Song Xuewu, who had become dull, and walked out.

However, Liuzi's steps were light and he blocked Li Toad in two steps: "Wait, don't leave yet, this is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

"What? You've failed to trick people, why don't you let them go now?"

Li Toad sneered, looking past Liuzi and towards the group of people watching the fun at the outer gate, "With so many people watching, is it possible that you still plan to buy and sell by force, or do you want to be a human trafficker?"

"Whoo~"

Liu Zi took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, and then explained helplessly: "Five taels is true, the monthly tuition of our Jingwu Hall is indeed five taels, but the five taels I just said are not to trick you, but He said the tuition for one year is five taels, one year!”

"One, one year?"

Li Toad was stunned. He felt as if he had made an own mistake, but he felt that he was right. The mistake was that the person in front of him didn't explain clearly, which caused him to misunderstand.

"But five taels a month, isn't it six taels a year?"

Song Xuewu, who has three years of experience as a waiter, asked doubtfully.

Although he has never learned arithmetic, he has learned some simple arithmetic in the past three years.

"There is a discount for paying a year's tuition at one time. It only costs five taels."

Liuzi explained again, "Because there is a discount for those who pay for one year, many people directly paid for one year. Then when I saw you, I was ready to say five taels a year, but as soon as I said five taels, I was interrupted by you, and I haven’t finished what I’m going to say next.”

"Yuan, it turns out that's what it is,"

Li Toad scratched his head in embarrassment, "It turns out it was all a misunderstanding. It's my fault. I'm too impatient. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"it's okay no problem,"

Liuzi waved his hands indifferently, then turned to the crowd watching behind him and said, "Everyone, please listen clearly. It was just a misunderstanding. We are not running a black shop. Please don't spread rumors and ruin the reputation of our shop."

"No way!"

"How could that be? I have just paid my child's tuition for one year, how could I say such nonsense?"

"Yes, yes, I also paid for teaching my nephew for a year. Everyone is a sensible person and will not spread rumors."

Seeing that the misunderstanding was solved, the shopkeeper who had just frowned stopped and was about to explain, and leaned back on the rocking chair leisurely and rocked again. "Brother, who owns this business? I, I'm a little worried."

After learning that it was really five yuan a month, or even one or two yuan cheaper a year, Song Xuewu felt his heart beating wildly, his blood rushing rapidly, his brain congested, and his eyesight turned black. He almost fainted without being able to recover. on the ground.

"rest assured,"

Liuzi patted his chest vigorously, without explaining, and pointed directly to the door, "Go and look at the plaque outside. Pay attention and look carefully."

plaque?That plaque with the words Jingwumen written on it?
Is there any mystery behind this?Or is it that this plaque is very valuable, so the boss won't cheat them for a small amount of money?

Song Xuewu walked out of the store with questions in his head, raised his head and looked at the plaque carefully.

Needless to say, at first he just glanced at it in a hurry and was stunned by the three characters "Jingwu Sect". Now that he looked carefully again, he discovered that the workmanship of this plaque was extremely delicate, and the wood could tell that it was not ordinary. goods.

Seeing this, Song Xuewu's worries were relieved a little.

But when the other party asked him to look at the plaque, could it be that he was looking at the workmanship and wood?

wrong!There are words on the lower left corner of this plaque!
When Song Xuewu took a look at the deposit, he saw the words "Li Family, Tianyang County" written on it.

These five characters are not particularly small and can be seen normally. However, most people will subconsciously be attracted by the three characters Jingwumen when looking at the plaque, so there is a high probability that they will not notice these characters. of.

The Li family in Tianyang County.

After just saying it once, Song Xuewu felt his head buzzing.

This, is this a martial arts gym owned by the largest wealthy businessman in Tianyang County?

But why?

Logically speaking, shouldn't the martial arts gym opened by the richest man in the county be more expensive?

Why is it so cheap, even much lower than the lowest price of one to two to five yuan that he finally found after searching for more than a dozen stores?

Could it be that the richest man, Li, felt that he had too much money and couldn't spend it all, so he changed his ways to give alms to ordinary people like them?
"We are a martial arts school owned by the Li family. Don't worry about our credibility. There won't be any problems!"

Liuzi looked at the two men standing in a daze under the plaque, and suddenly felt a sense of complacency.

"Okay, then we'll pay."

Song Xuewu swallowed hard and pulled Li Toad, who was still looking at the plaque, into the store.

"Okay, by the way, these five dollars a month include two meals a day. If you want to eat more and eat well, you have to pay more. There are also medicinal diets, and you have to pay more."

Liuzi introduced, "The other thing is accommodation. If you live in a room with six people, you can exchange it for a better one by paying more. The same goes for martial arts. You can choose to learn the ordinary ones for free, or you can pay more to learn better ones."

Song Xuewu didn't think about reaching the sky in one step or falling into the sky. Anyway, he thought that it would be enough to study for a year and a half and work hard every day to become a streamer.

Li Toad wanted to add more money to learn better, but after digging around in his pocket for a long time, he only found five coins and one copper plate.

"I'll just study for a month first."

Li Toad scratched his head in embarrassment.

He regretted it a little.

During the three months he studied with the government, he actually didn't pay much attention to it.

Because he had already said Bai Cun Ten, and according to his progress, Bai Cun Three could pass, so why bother to put in all the hard work?
But I never expected that the final result would be nothing.

"Toad, I can lend you five taels."

Song Xuewu took out five taels of silver from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"Ah? Lend me? No, you, aren't you afraid that I won't be able to pay you back in the future? This is five taels, five taels."

Looking at the darkened silver on the table, Li Toad stuttered a little.

"When we went to the government to study together for three months, I thought that you were so talented that you would definitely become a big shot in the future, but I didn't expect that,"

Song Xuewu shook his head regretfully after saying this, and then stared at Li Toad seriously, "Toad, as long as you promise to study hard for one year after paying the money, I will lend it to you."

In fact, he hasn't saved much money in the past three years, just 17 taels.

But it took him three years to save these 17 taels of silver.

After being taken over by the restaurant owner, his monthly salary was six hundred cents. Later, he worked hard, and the shopkeeper gave him several raises. Now, his monthly salary is a full one or two.

Fortunately, the restaurant still provided two meals, otherwise he would not have been able to save so much money.

It's a pity that Xuewu can't be too weak, so he has to buy breakfast every day, otherwise he can save at least 20 taels.

"Okay, okay, let's learn martial arts. I promise you that I will study hard and never be lazy!"

Li Toad stood up straight, raised his right hand above his head and swore.

Since being screened out that time, he didn't know how many times he woke up from pain and regretted it.

Sometimes I can't help it anymore and I'll shave my ears.

Now, the opportunity to learn martial arts was before him again, and he couldn't let this opportunity go.

"Well, I would like to ask, how long does it usually take to enter the flow?"

Looking at the remaining seven taels of silver, Song Xuewu felt a little hesitant.

He didn't know whether it would be more cost-effective to use the money to buy the opportunity to study in the martial arts gym for the second year, or to buy the decoctions and medicinal diet for the first year.

"If you have average talent, it will take two or three years."

Liuzi thought for a while and said, "But you can't eat too badly. At least you have to eat enough. You have to eat meat every now and then."

"Two or three years?"

Song Xuewu, who felt it was a long time, but not a long time, quickly asked again, "What if the talent is a little better and you work hard."

"If your talent is slightly better, two years would be about the same. If you work harder, maybe one and a half years would be enough, or another year? Anyway, that's about it."

Liu Zi frowned and tried to remember.

"Then, let me add some money for food."

Song Xuewu looked at the seven taels of silver on the table. After hesitating for a moment, he put away one tael of silver and said, "This year of learning martial arts, give each of us three taels of silver for food."

"Xue Wu, I can't take it. You already lent me five taels of silver. You should keep the rest for yourself."

Li Toad shook his head repeatedly.

"Didn't you hear? If you have better talent, work harder, and eat better, you can enter the mainstream in one year. It is not certain whether I can join the mainstream in one year, but you, Toad, are more talented than me, so you will definitely be able to join the mainstream."

Song Xuewu held the three taels of silver in his hand and smiled casually, "When you get into the mainstream, you will still be short of money. Then you can pay me back."

"Okay, don't worry, Brother Wu, I will definitely pay you back with interest when the time comes,"

Li Toad nodded repeatedly, "I guess we will all be able to join the stream by then."

"Yeah, you can all be in the flow."

Song Xuejun pushed the five coins that Li Toad had taken out earlier and said, "After you take the money, you have to leave some money for backup, right?"

"Okay, okay, I understand."

Li Toad quickly picked up the five-cent silver coin from the table and held it in his hand.

Most people in Tianyang County don't know when many new low-cost martial arts gyms and schools suddenly opened in the county.

Originally, they thought that with such a low price, the instructors and teachers inside must not be very good, and the store would close down after a short time because it could not make money.

But soon they learned that behind these low-priced martial arts gyms and schools were actually three families, two gyms and one villa in Tianyang County.

As soon as this news came out, there was an upsurge in full name registration.

As long as they have a little spare money, they will let their children or the children of valued relatives learn it.

There are also some unsighted forces who feel that these low-price martial arts schools and schools must be under the guise of the six major forces. After all, in their view, such low prices will definitely lead to losses, and the six major forces cannot be so stupid. matter.

However, it turned out that these low-priced martial arts gyms and low-priced schools were actually opened by the six major forces.

Their explanation for this is that they hope to create a Cheonyang County that stays open at night, lives and works in peace and contentment, and is happy and healthy.

Regardless of whether what they say is true or false, at least it gives those people at the bottom the idea of ​​​​climbing up.

As for the internal explanation, even the Six Families themselves don’t know it clearly.

Anyway, they knew that after Qingshan County did this, it took only a few years to transform a poor small county into one of the best large counties in Wei.

They seem to understand the principle and are not particularly clear about it, but there is no problem in copying it.

The most important thing is because there are people above who are suppressing this matter and letting them do this.

Otherwise, even if there are successful examples in front of them, they may not follow them.

What the residents of Tianyang County didn't expect was that before the six families had finished their front-foot movements, there were new movements behind them.

"Old man, didn't you go to build a bridge with the government? Why did you come back suddenly?"

"A small bridge of five or six meters was built in less than two months. Look at the wages the government paid me."

"This, so much? Are they all for you, old man?"

"Forty cents a day, it was originally two taels and four cents, but unexpectedly I got an extra cent, hahahaha."

"By the way, old man, we are moving. The government has built a new house for us to move to, but we have to use this old house to replace it. Should we change it or not?"

"Replacing the old house with a new one? How about the new house?"

"It's very good. I've seen it. I can't say it's good, but it's definitely much better than our house."

"Then what are you thinking about? You just got it for nothing. Change it. You must change it!"

"I also think it needs to be changed. Ever since I saw the new house, I don't like the old house anymore."

"Oh, these days are getting better and better, but it's a pity that our Dayong family is not so lucky."

"It's okay, old man, I have some good news."

"what?"

"The bandits who killed our Dayong were all caught by the government. Half a month ago, I watched with my own eyes as their heads were chopped off one by one."

"All hacked to death?"

"There are some who survived, but they are all children and women."

"A good death! A good death! It's a pity that we didn't eradicate the roots. We should have killed them all."

"I didn't think too much about it. Anyway, the bandit who killed our Dayong is dead."

"By the way, I think about it, there's another good thing!"

"Is there anything else good?"

"The land tax has been reduced, by half, and there will be no head tax after the age of 55."

"55 years old? Then we have to wait another eight or nine years, but it is a great news that the land tax has been reduced."

"Eighty-nine years, eighty-nine years. Anyway, this is a good thing. When they get old, they won't be a burden to Er Yong and San Niu."

"Let's wait until we live to that point. Are there any good things left?"

"There's another thing I don't quite understand. It's about reducing the business tax by [-]%. It's said to let everyone do more business so they can make more money."

"Doing business? Forget it, we won't do that opportunistic thing."

"What kind of opportunism? You are the most rigid!"

(End of this chapter)