What a lucky world!

Chapter 14 Mr. Wu’s Invitation

The golden crow and the jade rabbit compete with each other in joy, and the morning glow and the evening sun look at each other.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

Zhang Mu dragged his tired body out from the outer courtyard.

Another day of hard training!

I’m still practicing standing meditation!

Generally speaking, standing meditation can be practiced at the age of ten, when the muscles and bones are beginning to develop. At this age, as the muscles and bones continue to develop, the practice will be twice as effective with half the effort. If one practices at an age like Zhang Mu, when the muscles and bones have already grown, the effect will be much worse.

But any effect is better than no effect. As Master Wang said, it's better to mend the fold after the sheep have been lost.

Diligence is the thing—

It's mainly because the poor are forced to be poor.

If you can eat Xiao Yi Jing Dan as a meal, then why bother practicing Zhuang Gong!
In the past half month, when Zhang Mu had money, he would ask Xuan Ji for elixirs, and when he didn't have money, he would just wait for his body to accumulate energy naturally. Although he spent all the money, his progress was still very gratifying.

Seven acupoints!

As long as you open up the remaining two acupoints, you will reach the highest level!

Although these two acupoints are located at the end of the meridians and are more difficult to open than the previous ones, Zhang Mu has received a reward of fifty taels of silver and has reached the 61st place on the Tianji Ranking. His innate martial luck has been strengthened much more than when he first arrived, so there is no problem in breaking through the last two acupoints.

Guaranteed to be able to get it in four or five days!
During this period, the corners of Teacher Wang's mouth never came down from his ears.

I have never seen such a talented disciple!

Although he was mainly helping Zhang Mu to collect the reward, Zhang Mu also acknowledged his identity as Lao Wang's mentor.

A true mentor is one who can make money for his students!

Rejoice!

……

The sun sets in the west...Pah, sets in the west!
After a day of hard training, Zhang Mu came to Yunlai Restaurant as if he was familiar with the place and ordered a [Steamed Spirit Fish] worth one or two taels of silver to reward himself.

Ingredients with strong Qi and blood often only require the simplest cooking methods.

In this way, the loss of qi and blood during the cooking process is often minimal.

Zhang Mu picked up his chopsticks and was about to start eating when he suddenly heard a shout -

"Brother Mu..."

He looked up and saw Mr. Wu, the accountant of the escort agency, walking into the restaurant and walking towards him quickly.

"Mr. Wu?" Zhang Mu stood up to greet him. "What a coincidence?"

"It's no coincidence. I came here specifically to see you." Mr. Wu sat down at Zhang Mu's table and said, "I went to the outer courtyard to look for you, but they said you had left. I figured you were here for dinner, so I came all the way here."

Zhang Mu was a little surprised.

Mr. Wu's full name is Wu Xiangui. He is an old man in the account office. In Zhang Mu's impression, Mr. Wu is diligent and down-to-earth at work, and does not like to interact with others. He often goes home after work and never participates in social activities. He does not have much friendship with him.

What is he doing to himself?
"I wonder if Mr. Wu has anything to tell me?" Zhang Mu asked.

Wu Xiangui waved his hand: "No, no, I dare not even mention the word 'order'. Although Madam Zhuang is suppressing the news, I know that you are extremely talented and your future is limitless."

Zhang Mu smiled shyly and did not respond, his eyes looking straight at Wu Xiangui.

Wu Xiangui stopped beating around the bush and pulled his chair closer to Zhang Mu. He lowered his voice and asked, "That 'Four Pillars Settlement Method' that the accounting office is using now was invented by you, right?"

Zhang Mu was about to decline when Wu Xiangui interrupted him, saying, "Don't even mention why he came here to do this. I settle accounts with him every day. If he really did it, I would have known about it long ago."

Zhang Mu couldn't refuse, so he could only nod and say, "I just made it up."

"You're being modest." Wu Xiangui smiled. "I've been using your method to do my accounting recently, and it's indeed much clearer than before."

Zhang Mu didn't understand why Wu Xiangui had pulled him aside to talk about all this. It couldn't be just to praise him, right? So, without beating around the bush, he asked, "What exactly does Mr. Wu want to talk to me about?"

Wu Xiangui paused, pondered for a moment, and said, "I know you are making rapid progress in your cultivation."

"But for this practice, silver is indispensable."

"Let me be frank. I wonder if Brother Mu is interested in making some extra money?"

"Ah?" Zhang Mu's eyes lit up. Extra money?

If you talk about this, I won’t be sleepy anymore.

Right now, he only had ten taels of silver in his hand, which was not enough to buy even a small Yijing pill.

However, Zhang Mu did not immediately agree. Instead, he asked, "Where does this extra money come from? Besides, how can a kid like me earn this much money?"

Seeing Zhang Mu's caution, Wu Xiangui's eyes showed a little more appreciation. He lowered his voice and said, "You know, sometimes some wealthy families will ask outside accountants to help check their accounts..."

Zhang Mu nodded. "I see. It's just a third-party audit!"
"I have a private job here. I plan to use your Four Pillars method to calculate it, but the time is short and the task is heavy. I only have one night to complete it, so I'd like to ask you to come over and help me. What do you think?" Wu Xiangui said, "Don't worry about the reward. I will definitely not treat you unfairly!"

"Mr. Wu, you're too kind," Zhang Mu said. "I've also relied heavily on Mr. Wu's care in the accounting office. This is just a small matter, so I'll naturally follow Mr. Wu's instructions."

"Okay!" Wu Xiangui was obviously very happy and said, "Today at 11:00, come to my house. Don't let others see you."

Zhang Mu frowned slightly. Xu time?
That's not much time left until now.

Seeing Zhang Mu hesitate, Wu Xiangui added: "The other party is in a hurry, we can't choose the time of the host, right?"

Zhang Mu heard this and nodded without saying anything more, agreeing to the matter. Seeing that the deal was done, Wu Xiangui gave Zhang Mu his address and then got up and left.

When leaving, I paid for Zhang Mu's meal.

Pay attention!

After finishing his meal and walking out of the restaurant, Zhang Mu thought about it and decided not to go back.

Wu Xiangui's house is in the inner city. It is not long before the hour of Xu, which is the busiest time. Zhang Mu simply started strolling around the inner city.

Dang~dang~dang~
Zhang Mu hadn't been walking around for long when he heard patrolling yamen runners beating gongs to clear the way, and a group of yamen runners behind him shouted in unison:

"The county magistrate has issued an order that monsters are rampant outside the city and are harming our people."

"Improve the demon extermination tax and form a demon extermination team to go out of the city and exterminate demons."

"The upper-class households received five taels of silver each, the middle-class households received two taels of silver each, and the lower-class households received five hundred coins each."

"The four families in the county, Wang, Li, Yang, and Song, have each voluntarily contributed one thousand taels. We commend them!"

"I hope the people of our county will unite, work together, and actively pay taxes to restore peace to Wan'an County."

"Bah!" Suddenly, low curses rang out from the crowd. "Another tax increase! This is the nth time this year. Are we going to die?"

"Still fighting monsters, probably just going out for a walk, everything is normal!"

"Be patient. This is Zhou Paopi's last year in office. I hope we can have a judge next year in Wan'an County."

"Humph, all crows are black. Even without Zhou Paopi, there are still Huang Paopi and Zhang Paopi..."

"That's not the case. Look, even the wealthy people in the county have donated. Maybe they're serious about it?"

"Don't you believe him? When the time comes, the money of the rich will be returned as is, and the money of the common people will be split 30% and 70%!"

"Alas... the world..."

Listening to the groans, Zhang Mu also felt a little angry. He was a lower-class person and had to pay five hundred coins.

Even though he spent twenty taels of money to buy Xiao Yi Jing Dan from Xuan Ji, he didn't want to spend a penny of this kind of money!

Five hundred wen, that was half a month's salary for him as an accountant!

However, the most Zhang Mu could do was to spit at the departing yamen runners along with the crowd, and he was powerless to change anything.

"Ugh……"

The atmosphere on the street had become noticeably more depressing. Zhang Mu had no intention of shopping and headed straight towards Wu Xiangui's house.

……

Tea shop.

A stealthy figure wearing a conical hat walked in, glanced around, and saw a man with a scar on his face sitting in the corner, so he hurried over to him.

"Brother Li, this is what you want." The sneaky figure stretched out his hand, and a booklet slipped out of his sleeve and was caught by him.

The scarred man glanced at the other person, took out a silver ingot from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"Thank you, Brother Li." The sneaky figure put down the booklet and reached out to take the silver, but his hand was caught.

"Is it reliable?" Scarface asked in a low voice.

The sneaky figure pressed his hat and whispered, "Don't worry, Brother Li, we're going to make a living from this."

"Liu Zuo is just hanging around the escort agency and some half-closed brothels. Everyone he can find is on the list. Those he can't find won't be found even if you replace him with someone else."

Li Er nodded and let go of his hand. The sneaky figure grabbed the silver and turned around to leave the teahouse.

Li Er then picked up the booklet and roughly flipped through it.

This booklet contains information about some young people. If you look carefully, you will find that the people in the booklet are no more than twenty years old.

Li Er then flipped the booklet back to the first page, where it read: Zhang Mu, seventeen years old, cashier at the escort agency. He had met Liu Zuo the night before he disappeared. He lived in the sixth courtyard of Wuren Lane in the outer city.

Find him first!
Li Er stood up and walked out of the teahouse...

(End of this chapter)