My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

Seeing Uncle Jiu was about to go upstairs to check, Jiang Li stopped him and said, "Master, it might not be a good idea for you to go up now, right?"

"Why don't you bring back Master Zhe's car and those spirit babies first? It would be bad if they were damaged by wild beasts."

Uncle Jiu thought what he said made sense, so he took Qiu Sheng to pack up.

Jiang Li came to the yard, picked up a gun that someone had dropped on the ground and examined it. He found out at a glance that it was an old single-shot bolt-action rifle.

Not only is the gun body old, but even the rifling inside the gun has a lot of wear and tear. It is obviously an old gun that has been discarded by someone else.

Seeing this, Jiang Li had an idea in his mind. The soldiers under Mao Dalong were not only timid but also had old equipment. They were obviously not a big threat.

Thinking of this, he felt relieved.

...

The next morning, Mao Dalong woke up and learned that his wife had given birth to a big fat boy. He was very happy.

So he held a banquet to entertain them, then gave Uncle Jiu a hundred dollars and sent them away.

Uncle Jiu took out fifty coins and gave them to Zhe Gu, but she remembered Jiang Li's words and said in a cold and arrogant manner, "You don't have to pay. I heard that you, my junior brother, have built a new Taoist temple. Can you take me there to burn some incense for the ancestor?"

Uncle Jiu wanted to refuse when he heard this, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it, and finally he had no choice but to agree.

At this time Jiang Li said, "Uncle Master, let's go to that forest!"

"You said Xuanyin wood is rare. It would be a shame if we don't take it with us."

After getting consent, Jiang Li drove to the place where the ghost appeared, and finally successfully got the coffin and the sedan chair.

Then the group rushed to Qingyun Temple.

After half a day's journey, the group finally returned to Lingxiu Mountain.

Uncle Jiu took his senior sister up the mountain to worship the ancestors, while several disciples were responsible for packing up and parking the carriage.

Wencai was still as stubborn as ever and kept hanging around An Muxi. Even Qiu Sheng was attracted by this junior sister and would have followed her if Jiang Li hadn't stopped him.

After parking the carriage and asking Jiang Youxiao and Jiang Youti to guard it, he asked a few people to carry the coffin, the sedan chair, and the other things and went up the mountain.

As soon as he got up the mountain, Jiang Li saw his master and Zhe Gu sitting there drinking tea awkwardly.

Seeing Jiang Li and the others coming up, Uncle Jiu stood up and said, "What took you so long? Put your things away and go practice with me!"

Seeing that Uncle Jiu was about to back off, Jiang Li immediately gave Zhe Gu a reassuring look and said to Uncle Jiu, "Master, it's not that we are wasting time. It's just that we have too few disciples."

"Look at this Lingxiu Mountain, it's over a hundred feet high and two or three miles in radius. It would be easy for twenty or thirty disciples to live in the Taoist temple. But now we only have a few people, and we don't even have the manpower to move the equipment."

Uncle Jiu was a little embarrassed when he heard this and said, "It's not that we don't have a fixed income. I'm afraid it would be difficult to support too many people."

Jiang Li was waiting for this sentence, and he immediately retorted, "Master, this is your fault. Don't you know my level? If you trust me, getting money is a piece of cake!"

"Look at Huang Silang. He has so many offerings of incense and food that he can't even finish them all. It's all thanks to me, your disciple."

Uncle Jiu said, "That being said, we don't have anything to sell right now, so I'm afraid it's going to be hard to make any income, right?"

Jiang Li chuckled and said, "It depends on whether you believe in me, Master. If you do, I guarantee that you will have a lot of money and good deeds."

At this time, not only Uncle Jiu, but even Aunt Zhe became interested. She asked curiously, "Really? I thought you were good at fighting, but I didn't expect that you were good at business. Tell Uncle what you think."

Jiang Li asked everyone to sit down after hearing this, and then said, "Master, you see, business is simply buying and selling. Merchants sell goods, and we Taoists sell services."

"Just like you, Master, catching ghosts, exorcising demons, and looking at Feng Shui, these are all small businesses that help people get rid of disasters and then charge a little money. If you want to achieve your goal of promoting Maoshan with these, I'm afraid it will be extremely difficult."

"But you still have many fellow apprentices. Look at Uncle Simu, he makes a lot of money driving corpses. Look at Uncle Zhegu, she also makes a lot of money by giving birth to children and raising spirits."

"I think as long as you sincerely invite them, they will not refuse your request."

At this time Jiang Li looked at Zhe Gu and saw that she had a smile on her face, but he tried hard not to laugh out loud.

Then Jiang Li continued, "As the old saying goes, many hands make light work. As long as our Qingyun Temple has more business, it will be easy to make money. With money, it will be no problem to support dozens of disciples."

Uncle Jiu was somewhat moved by such a grand vision, but still asked doubtfully, "How can I steal the business of these senior sisters and junior brothers? Besides, it is not a small amount to feed and drink so many disciples, and the effect is not very great."

Jiang Li couldn't help but say, "You are too narrow-minded, aren't you? Take Master Simu for example. He takes on the business of driving corpses himself. Not only is the work hard but the efficiency is also low. How much business will he miss during the period of driving corpses?"

"If he had a master to help him take on the corpse-driving business, and if he had disciples to help him every time, wouldn't that make things easier for the master uncle? And if he had a few civilian staff to help plan the time for corpse-driving, wouldn't he be able to take on more work?"

After hearing this, several people thought it made sense and nodded.

But Jiang Li did not stop and continued, "As for what you said about having more disciples being useless, that's because you don't see how many people we are short of right now."

"Look, the two people guarding the carriage now are Jiang Youxiao and Jiang Youti. Shouldn't they be replaced by two Taoist priests?"

"There is such a large hillside on the mountain. Can we open up a few vegetable gardens to grow some vegetables to meet our daily needs?"

"Believers need incense, candles, and paper money when they go to the mountains to worship. We can make these ourselves. Isn't this another source of income?"

"As I said just now, we need help to take over the business of driving corpses for Uncle Simu and the business of delivering children for Uncle Zhegu, don't they both require help?"

"It would be reasonable for believers to go up the mountain to ask for a few Taoist scriptures. Wouldn't disciples be required to copy them? This requires people."

"Finally, there are more disciples and believers going up the mountain. Do we need a few more disciples to serve as cooks to cook for everyone?"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. They never thought that it would take so many people to run a Taoist temple.

Seeing Jiang Li stopped talking, Uncle Jiu came back to his senses and said, "That's true. According to what you said, our Qingyun Temple still has a long way to go!"

"Just selecting so many qualified disciples is extremely difficult."

Jiang Li smiled again and said, "Master, what I just said is only the configuration of an ordinary Taoist temple. As a cultivation sect, our Maoshan naturally needs elders to pass on skills, people in charge of criminal law and guarding the mountain gate to protect the Taoist temple, so the number of people will be even greater."

Seeing Uncle Jiu in trouble, Jiang Li comforted him, "Master, don't worry. This actually has its benefits. Brother Wencai is neither good at literature nor martial arts. Even if he manages the kitchen in the Taoist temple in the future, he won't starve. Don't you think so?"