Pick up a princess to be your wife

Li Ertie had prepared a feast long ago, and as soon as Li Muyi sat down at the table, everyone raised their glasses and drank heartily.

"The brothers' daily food and clothing all depend on Brother Ertie's earnings. It's really not easy for Brother Ertie to support so many mouths. Let's toast Brother Ertie." Li Mu raised his glass, and everyone toasted Li Ertie.

"Hey, we're all brothers, don't be so formal. You're willing to fight for me, so I'm just sharing a bite to eat with you. It's nothing." Li Ertie waved his hand.

"I want to find new jobs for the brothers so that they can support themselves," Li Mu said.

Li Ertie immediately thought of He Xianzhi.

This time, Li Mu saved He Xianzhi, and the latter owes Li Mu a huge favor.

"Brother, are you planning to introduce us to He Xianzhi?" Li Ertie asked.

Li Mu shook his head.

These brothers were all thugs trained by Li Ertie, and their nature was actually similar to that of Zhou Wanfu's subordinates.

To put it bluntly, they idle around Luyang County all day, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, that's all.

"I want to open a pawnshop and buy antiques," Li Mu said.

"What do you do with antiques?" Li Ertie asked.

"Antiques are worthless outside, but with me, they can be exchanged for rice, swords, guns, and armor."

We only managed to defeat Zhou Wanfu, who was not even a small fry in this chaotic world. We have nothing to be proud of.

Outside Yao Pass was Wu Fengxian's rebel army, and the Lingnan region was full of mountain bandits, outlaws, and powerful local lords.

Our strength is far from sufficient. To survive and protect our families in this chaotic world, only strength can prevail.

Li Mu said.

After hearing Li Mu's words, everyone fell into deep thought.

Almost none of the people present had any formal education, but Li Mu's reasoning was simple and easy to understand.

Although everyone worked together to defeat Zhou Wanfu's more than 100 people, if Li Mu hadn't personally killed Zhou Wanfu, they would still have had no way to survive once Zhou Wanfu rose again.

If Zhou Wanfu alone is so difficult for them to deal with, let alone the separatist forces outside.

“What you say is right, brother. If you have the connections, I’m willing to work for you,” Li Ertie stated directly.

Now he no longer hesitated. People like Li Ertie, who had a dozen or so subordinates, were a dime a dozen in Luyang County.

If you don't want to be bullied, you have to become stronger.

“Second brother, I’ll do it too,” Zhao Cuo was the second to speak.

"I'll do it too!"

"If my eldest and second eldest brothers ask me to do something, I'd be a coward if I hesitated even for a second!"

"That's right, let's do it!"

Everyone expressed their opinions one after another.

“To open a pawnshop, you need some capital. Brothers, everyone who can contribute, let’s do it together,” Li Ertie said.

Now, everyone looked troubled.

Some of them need to take care of their families, while others are only fed and have no one else to feed. Who has any spare money?

“There’s no need to make things difficult for the brothers. I’ll cover the cost, and Brother Er Tie will run the pawnshop. Everyone has put in a lot of effort this time. I’ll give everyone a reward after I exchange the silver tomorrow,” Li Mu said.

He had ten thousand taels of silver notes, but he needed to exchange them for silver before he could distribute the money to everyone.

"You actually have so much money?" Li Ertie was somewhat surprised.

With so much capital, opening a pawnshop would be a piece of cake.

“Zhou Wanfu owes me over a thousand taels of silver; I only took a little more than he owed me,” Li Mu said with a smile.

Li Ertie burst into laughter.

In the past, he would never have dared to imagine that he could exploit Zhou Wanfu.

Li Mu is indeed Li Mu, he's definitely different.

They killed Zhou Wanfu and took 10,000 taels of silver from him.

"Brother Ertie, there's one more thing I need to ask of you," Li Mu said.

"Brother, why are you being so formal with me? This is making me unhappy." Li Ertie frowned, his face full of displeasure.

“My elder brother used to be a helper in Zhou Wanfu’s household, but now Zhou Wanfu is dead…”

Before Li Mu could finish speaking, he was immediately interrupted by Li Ertie.

“I’ll go to your house myself tomorrow and ask your older brother to work at the woodworking shop. Business has been good lately thanks to your help, and we happen to be short-handed,” Li Ertie said.

“You don’t need to go in person, just mention it to my sister-in-law.”

"Why are you still hiding it? Your older brother and sister-in-law will be overjoyed to know that you're successful."

"Haha."

Li Mu went about his own business, but didn't intend to explain much to his elder brother and sister-in-law.

He's always fighting with people; if his wife knew, she would definitely be worried.

Early the next morning.

When Li Mu returned home, he followed Li Tian and did odd jobs.

"Here he comes."

"Ah."

"You don't need to worry about things at home. Go and do your work so you don't miss out on earning money."

"It's okay, I've taken leave."

Seeing his elder brother's worried expression, Li Mu asked, "Brother, you know Zhou Wanfu is dead, right?"

"Yeah, sigh~" Li Tian sighed heavily.

"Is Brother lamenting? He bullied our family like that, didn't he deserve to die?" Li Mu asked.

“That’s true, but my brother relied on Zhou Wanfu for a living. Now that he’s dead, I’ve lost my job too. He was a real scoundrel, but he still supported more than a hundred people,” Li Tian said.

“Brother, you’re young and strong. You can find another job. There are countless jobs better than the one at Zhou Wanfu’s house,” Li Mu comforted him.

“My elder brother is incompetent and barely knows any characters. How can we possibly get good jobs? Zhou Wanfu is dead. Who will be able to go out of the city to farm next year? If we can’t farm, how will all the mouths in the city feed themselves?” Li Tian was extremely worried.

Zhou Wanfu dared to leave the city to farm because he had about a hundred armed thugs, and the refugees dared not plunder indiscriminately.

Ordinary people wouldn't dare leave the city to farm anymore. Their land had already been sold to Zhou Wanfu long ago.

"Things will work themselves out in the end, and you're a lucky man, Brother Li," Li Mu said with a smile.

"Sigh!" Li Tian sighed heavily again.

What do you mean by "good fortune always favors the virtuous"? He doesn't even know what to do next year.

He only has the skill of doing manual labor, and nowadays there are not many jobs available.

I can't expect my wife to support me in the future, can I? She'd be humiliated by the neighbors.

Li Mu felt a slight sense of emotion; Li Tian's thoughts were those of a truly honest person.

As long as they have food to eat and don't starve, they can tolerate endless oppression.

You can't blame Li Tian for lacking courage, nor can you blame him for lacking ability.

Most people think much like Li Tian.

In the evening, Wang Xiulian returned with food.

The family of three was squatting in the yard eating dinner.

Wang Xiulian specially saved a portion, saying, "This is for Miss Li Xin. Erlang, take it with you after you finish eating."

"Thank you, sister-in-law."

She looked at Li Tian, ​​and a slight smile suddenly appeared on her serious face.

"I have good news for you."

"what?"

"Li Ertie has recently had some incredible luck; his business is doing much better than before. He's short-staffed right now. Do you want to come work for me at the woodworking shop?"