https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-118-The-Lame-Lesser-Servant-Ghost/12898614/
Chapter 117: Red Fragrance and Yang Gong
Chapter 117: Red Fragrance and Yang Gong
By March, the village welcomed its first batch of Blood Food.
A manager, accompanied by two Red Fragrance Disciples and seven or eight Green Fragrance Disciples, escorted a tightly sealed carriage into the village.
Hu Ma immediately led his men to welcome them into the village. The carriage was directly taken to the warehouse and unloaded. The horses were then led back and fed hay and water in the stables.
Soon after, the warehouse was sealed with a red seal, and a large red lantern was hung in front of it.
The apprentices in the village held their weapons and stood guard outside the warehouse all night. Hu Ma also arranged for the manager and the Red Fragrance and Green Fragrance Disciples to be served good meat and rice, but no alcohol.
The next day, the seal was lifted, the horses were harnessed, and they left the village, heading for the city.
Throughout the entire process, Hu Ma never saw what the Blood Food looked like.
He deduced that it was probably because the village had a troubled history, and there were still suspicions.
Unless absolutely necessary, Blood Food was not brought into the village. Even when it was, it was usually just for a short stop or in small quantities.
Moreover, the escort personnel did not change from start to finish, ensuring they delivered the Blood Food directly to the city, eliminating various risks.
After all, this village had a dark past.
During the incident with the old shopkeeper, the miners first delivered the Blood Food to the village for the old shopkeeper to inspect and account for before arranging for it to be transported to the city. The others would then return to the mines, making the process much more efficient.
However, this made Hu Ma's job much less demanding.
Over the past two months, he had been busy, but he had not taken on many substantial tasks. He simply prepared the carriages when asked, opened the warehouse when needed, and went to meet people when required. The rest was just managing meals and accounts.
Compared to being a shopkeeper, it felt more like managing a warehouse.
While this was a more relaxed and less risky position, the idea of becoming a shopkeeper was starting to fade.
The shopkeeper had mentioned wanting him to take over, but upon deeper reflection, after enduring a year of hard labor with no significant achievements, his foundation was still too shallow. The position of shopkeeper was still out of reach.
"Speaking of which, the Red Lantern Lady Association's annual harvest is quite impressive..."
In his spare time, Hu Ma quietly calculated the amount of Blood Food that had passed through the village. He was somewhat startled to realize that, despite the village handling a relatively small amount, there had been no less than two to three thousand pounds of Blood Food transported through the village and into the city.
Moreover, Hu Ma knew that his village was the smallest of the Red Lantern Lady Association's branches. If he extrapolated from this, the total amount of Blood Food for the year across all branches could easily be five to six thousand pounds?
At the market price in this world, a pound of Green Food was worth several taels of silver. The Red Lantern Lady Association's annual revenue must have been in the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, not to mention the Blood Tai Sui, rare and unique Tai Sui, and other scarce or additional items.
"The Red Lantern Lady has been rising in power in Mingzhou Prefecture for over a decade. How much wealth must she have accumulated by now..."
Hu Ma couldn't help but marvel, though he wasn't thinking of anything nefarious, just purely in awe.
With the amount of Blood Food entering the village gradually decreasing, he felt a sense of relief. He hadn't achieved much, but at least he had endured the year.
However, one day, just as dusk was approaching, the sound of hooves suddenly echoed outside the village. Someone rushed over to Hu Ma, saying that a disciple with a red sash around his waist had arrived and wanted to see the manager.
"Why would he come so close to nightfall?"
Hu Ma's heart sank.
Blood Food was usually transported during the day and sealed in the villages at night.
However, the roads were complex, and unexpected events often occurred. If the transport carriages were delayed and caught in the dark, it could be very dangerous. In such cases, they would immediately send for help to the nearest village and add more personnel.
But even with more people, transporting Blood Food at night was risky, and accidents could happen.
He hurried out and was surprised to see that the Red Fragrance Disciple was a familiar face, though not very well-acquainted. Over the past few months, he had met many Red Fragrance Disciples, some of whom he had seen several times.
The one who had arrived was someone he had only met once before, one of the four Red Fragrance Disciples who had come with Mr. Xu to investigate the Vat Sect incident. Hu Ma remembered his name was Yang Gong, a proud and ambitious individual.
Moreover, it seemed he wasn't there to request additional personnel. Upon seeing Hu Ma, he said, "I need your help."
"What kind of help?"
Hu Ma was a bit surprised and invited him into the village. "Haven't you eaten yet? Come inside and have a meal."
"I don't want to eat inside the village."
Yang Gong glanced at the village and said, "Is there anywhere outside? Any food will do; I've been hungry all day."
Although his request was unusual, Hu Ma said, "There is. I'll take you to a place in town."
He had someone lead Yang Gong's horse to the stables to be fed and rested, then walked with him out of the village to a tavern in town.
The town, with its hundred or so households, had all the necessary amenities, including taverns, restaurants, and shops selling oil, salt, and sauces. Most of these businesses catered to the traders traveling to and from Mingzhou Prefecture. Many closed during the winter and only reopened in the spring.
Entering the tavern, the innkeeper, who knew Hu Ma, hurried over to greet him.
Hu Ma asked him to bring some wine and food first. He then sat down with Yang Gong at a square table and asked what was going on.
"I’ve managed to get a batch of Blood Food, and I was thinking of passing through your village. I don’t trust anyone else."
Yang Gong waited for the meat to be sliced and had a few bites before whispering to Hu Ma, "But I don’t have many people at my disposal. At a critical moment, I might need you to bring some apprentices to assist me, so I came to find you in advance and ask for your help."
"Blood Food?"
Hu Ma felt somewhat puzzled when he heard this.
Yang Gong had joined the Red Lantern Lady Association in the same year as him, and it hadn’t even been a year yet.
These Red Fragrance Disciples were mostly responsible for following the managers and escorting Blood Food, or going to the mines to prevent any issues. But from what Yang Gong was saying, he was planning to get a batch of Blood Food himself.
This made Hu Ma curious. No matter how capable Yang Gong was, he hadn’t been assigned to manage a batch of Blood Food on his own, right?
Moreover, if he had such authority, why would he lack manpower?
"Humph, I just can’t swallow this humiliation!"
Yang Gong poured a cup of wine into his mouth, slammed it on the table, and gritted his teeth, "My parents died early, and my uncles sold me to a broker. By luck, I joined the Red Lantern Association. I’ve endured hardships, hoping to rise through the ranks and return to kill those uncles of mine."
"But those people still look down on me, even though I’m willing to suffer and risk my life. They send us brothers on the toughest jobs, while their underlings get the glory."
"When it comes to distributing Blood Food, we’re always at the back. Even when I chose a Lesser Servant Ghost, they gave me a lame one..."
"To hell with it!"
"..."
His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Hu Ma, "Head Clerk Hu, I only find you agreeable in this Red Lantern Association. I don’t mind if you laugh at me."
"My original name wasn’t Yang Gong; it was Yang Danzi. No one gave me a proper name, but after burning the Red Incense, I changed my name to Yang Gong. If anyone dares to bully me again, I’ll shoot that bastard with an arrow..."
Feeling the hostility in him, Hu Ma also sensed the suppression and resentment/frustration in his heart.
Hu Ma sighed softly, refilled his wine, and said, "Brother Yang Gong, I’m like you, only my grandmother cared for me, and she passed away last year. But the world is always like this. Being outmaneuvered and bullied, is that rare?"
"Why make it hard on yourself? Just let it go."
"..."
"I can’t let it go!"
Yang Gong slapped the table, startling the innkeeper at the counter.
Hu Ma gave him a meaningful look, and the innkeeper immediately understood, running to the kitchen to avoid listening to their conversation.
Yang Gong realized he had raised his voice, his face turning slightly red, and he lowered his voice, "Those guys suppress me and won’t let me stand out. But I refuse to accept this fate. In our association, I go to the blood mines, but I’m only following orders, running errands, and patrolling."
"So I found a few people and decided to raid an unclaimed Blood Food mine. If we can bring it back successfully, it will be a great achievement..."
"An unclaimed Blood Food mine?"
Hu Ma was taken aback.
In this hundred-mile radius, there were many meat mountains, but most were Black Mandarins. Any place that could produce Green Ta Sui, Blood Ta Sui, or even White Ta Sui had long been claimed. Most of them belonged to families.
There were a few places with small quantities or that were too difficult to cut and transport, often contested by various factions.
Yang Gong actually had this idea?
"Ha ha, don’t worry, I’ve done my research and am very confident."
Yang Gong thought Hu Ma was afraid, smiled, and said, "The only problem now is that I don’t trust the managers and incense masters in the association. But our few brothers are too few to cut the Blood Food and transport it back to the city."
"I’ve thought about it a lot, and you’re the only one I can rely on. I plan to bring the Blood Food to your village first, then transport it back to the city. Are you willing to help me?"
"If this batch of Blood Food is successfully delivered, those people won’t dare to look down on me anymore. It will also be a great achievement for you!"
"..."
Seeing Yang Gong’s face flushed with excitement, Hu Ma sighed inwardly.
But on the surface, he said seriously, "This isn’t helping, it’s just part of my duty. If you succeed and bring it here, I have no reason not to accept it."
In his heart, he knew that such a young man, acting with such fervor, was likely to fail.
Even if he succeeded, once the Blood Food was delivered to the village, Hu Ma only needed to follow the usual procedures, hang the lantern, and seal the warehouse. He would handle it by the book.
Refusing would go against the rules of the Red Lantern Association.
What he felt now was a sense of sympathy for the anger and naivety of this Red Fragrance Disciple. He had only met him once, yet he trusted him so much.
"Great, I knew I could count on you."
Yang Gong was overjoyed, raised his wine bowl, and said to Hu Ma, "Brother, let’s work together to achieve great things and secure a bright future!"
(End of Chapter)
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