Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

"I have long admired the great commander's reputation. The people of Qishan Road live in peace and prosperity, and their lives are fulfilling. It is truly a paradise that everyone yearns for. Chu Wenxin longs for it and wishes he could visit it."

The elders of my Chu family have long admired the Grand Commander's reputation, and it is truly an honor for our Chu family that the Grand Commander would wish to visit us.

Mu An still wore a smile, as if he was truly delighted. He smiled and helped Chu Wen up, his voice calm.

"That would be excellent. Young Master Chu, why don't you stay at the Yang family's residence for a few days? After I've finished visiting my old friends, we can then head to Qingjiang together."

Chu Wen's face lit up with joy. He secretly compared the two. While the one-sided cooperation with the Yang family was certainly a highly profitable business, as they could earn tens of thousands of taels of silver every year simply by lending the name of the Chu family.

But the small Yang family is no match for the vast Qishan Road. If they could establish a connection with Qishan Road and open up a stable trade route, the profits would be substantial.

His eyes crinkled into a smile, and he had a plan in mind.

It's one thing to use coercion and bribery, and all sorts of tricks, against the weak Yang family, but not against the Qishan Road, which has tens of thousands of troops. It should be an equal exchange, with mutual benefit.

Of course, the twists and turns in between are another matter entirely.

"I am entirely following the Commander's orders. I am honored that the Commander thinks highly of my Chu family. I, Chu Wen, would like to convey my regards to the Commander on behalf of my elders. I will make sure that your trip to Qingjiang will not be a disappointment."

Mu An smiled. He didn't think he would be disappointed, but there was no need to say it now.

Yang He and Yang Tianshui had been standing in the corner since they entered the room. Yang He stood quietly with a calm expression.

Yang Tianshui was completely confused and couldn't figure it out at all. Not long ago, he was cursing the Chu family in front of Mu An, so why was he acting so harmonious now?

Is this how the adult world is?

The formalities didn't last long. Mu An's arrival was highly valued by the Yang family, who treated him with the highest level of courtesy.

Chu Wen also became humble, showing no intention of continuing to coerce the Yang family.

Mu An tasted the unique dishes and the most famous wines in Qingzhou City.

He remained calm throughout, chatting casually with Yang He, as if he had simply come to reminisce.

After enjoying a sumptuous dinner, he declined the offers from the Yang and Chu families to accompany him on his sightseeing trip, and instead spent the day walking alone in Qingzhou City.

He carried a notebook with him and wrote things down wherever he went.

At the noodle stall, he chatted with the old man selling noodles, "Business is doing so well, why do you look so bitter, old man?"

"Sigh, what else could it be? It's all because of those bastards from the Chu Jiang gang..."

At the teahouse, he tossed a few pieces of silver to the storyteller and asked, "What does the old gentleman think of the Chu family in this city?"

"The Chu family who run a school and a pharmacy aren't bad people, but the Chu family of Qingjiang... well, those who know, know. Young master, please don't ask any more questions, lest someone overhear and you lose your life for nothing..."

In the shadows of the street, he bought some steamed buns for the beggar children. "Can you even afford to eat by begging like this every day? Do you still have any relatives alive?"

"We have no relatives. They're all dead. We owed money to the Chu Jiang Gang, so they're all dead. Young master, you're a good man. Please don't give us any more money. This money will never reach our hands..."

In a dilapidated house, he gave a pot of wine to a wandering swordsman.

"You mean the Chu family? You can't just say that. Those dogs from the Broken Soul Pavilion are vicious. Many fellow martial artists have fallen victim to them, including young heroes like you."

……

On the second day of her solo journey, Mu An went to Qingjiang City.

In Qingjiang City, he didn't ask anything, he just walked around and stopped, using his own eyes to see.

It wasn't that he didn't want to ask, but that when he asked his first question, the old man selling mutton soup looked at him like he was crazy, and even tried to cover his mouth.

Mu An considered himself a person who respected the elderly and cared for the young, so he kept his mouth shut and only looked with his eyes.

Compared to Qingzhou City, Mu An didn't see many beggars or people who had lost their families and were barely surviving alone in Qingjiang City.

But he saw rows of dilapidated houses, clearly empty for a long time, just standing there empty among the houses.

As he stood in front of the house, some people glanced at him.

He saw the countless white bones at the bottom of the Qingjiang River, and the jackals on the mountain devouring the rotting corpses.

He saw that the river bandits had openly set up roadblocks on the river, stopping passing merchant ships and charging exorbitant tolls for crossing.

The merchant ship handed over the goods without hesitation or any sign of refusal. Both sides were very amicable, as if they had been old friends for many years.

He also saw gangsters running rampant on the streets, taking away most of the street vendors' profits and leaving less than 10% for the vendors who had worked hard all day.

Everything was so natural and natural, as if it were the way things were supposed to be.

Mu An grew increasingly silent as he looked around. Finally, he stopped in front of the seemingly endless Chu family mansion and stared at it for a long time.

He gestured and pointed, and finally realized that his renovated Mu Mansion, which covered a full thirty acres, was pitifully small.

……

On the third day, Mu An returned to Qingzhou City.

He watched for a long time in the pharmacy run by the Chu family in Qingzhou, observing them treat patients and putting on their so-called "show."

He found the head of the pharmacy, a direct descendant of the Chu family of Qingzhou.

"If you're here to heal and save lives, why put on such a show? Or is everything you've done just to enhance your reputation?"

The manager of the pharmacy was a young man. Mu An's blunt words made him change his expression, but he did not drive Mu An away. He simply told Mu An to continue looking around.

Finally, at sunset, he spoke to Mu An.

"My friend, perhaps you are right. We are indeed putting on a show for that worthless self-comfort."

Or perhaps, as people say, everything we did was simply to earn some fame for another branch of the Chu family.

As many people have said, the reason we can run this pharmacy peacefully is because of the influence of the Chu family of Qingjiang. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have the chance to run this school and clinic.

Normally, schools and clinics make a lot of profit, but we've kept the profit to a minimum, just enough to get by. This has undoubtedly offended a lot of people.

To be honest, I don't really understand why my family members are destined to spend their entire lives in schools and clinics, living for others.

The direct descendants of other prominent families are all very imposing, with servants accompanying them when they go out. What about us?

There's nothing there; I deal with medicinal herbs all day long.

Even so, many people like you still don't approve of us and only think we're pretentious.

This is neither fair nor reasonable.

But my father once told me that what we think in our hearts doesn't matter, and it doesn't matter if others think we're putting on a show.

Because we are doing it, because each performance can make more people realize that performances also have value, and let more big families in Qingzhou City see the value in them and perform with us.

With more people putting on a show, the children of Qingzhou City will have access to education, and more people in the city will be able to afford medical care.

That's human nature. No matter how well you do, there will always be voices of doubt. If you get stuck in those voices, then there's no point in doing anything at all.

My friend, perhaps as you say, we are not good people, but I still feel that I have a clear conscience.

"After all, things are already pretty good as they are, aren't they?"

Mu An listened silently to all the steward's complaints. He didn't offer any comments, but simply stood in front of the pharmacy's entrance, staring at the pharmacy under the setting sun for a while.

There were many people coming and going, and the trust on the patients' faces was genuine.

He scribbled and drew in the notebook in his hand, and then tore off the entire page he was writing on.

Thinking about it carefully, isn't he himself also someone who likes to "show off"?

Everyone wears a mask; it's just human nature.

Finally, he went to the school run by the Chu family in Qingzhou, but this time he did not go in.

Because he saw a familiar yet annoying figure, Zhuang Sheng, who had appeared in front of him time and time again.

He still disliked Zhuangzi, but that didn't stop him from believing in Zhuangzi as a person.

Therefore, Mu An turned around and went back to the Yang family, arriving at the guest room where the Chu family in Qingjiang was staying.

He stood in front of the door, carefully examining the list of crimes that was almost full of writing in his hand. He knocked on the door and placed his sword against Chu Wen's neck.

"Lord Mu, what do you mean by this? Have I, Chu Wen, done anything wrong?"

Looking at Chu Wen, who remained calm and composed even with a sword to his neck, Mu An smiled, a very bright smile.

Since everything in Qingjiang is taken for granted, then what he is going to do tonight is also taken for granted.

"It's a dark and windy night, let me take you to kill some people."