Chapter 65: Chapter 57: Life Gave Me Painful Kisses, I’ll Repay with Song
Qin Hong recalled the distant past myths, and the continuation of families in the current Martial Arts World, and suddenly mused:
"Martial Dao can connect the distant past with a brand new future; it is the continuation of the will of generations of family heroes, a path humans take to change and evolve the life forms of their own family, this path of inheritance... is so long it seems endless."
"Our current hand bones, five fingers, spine... aren’t they also the result of generations of ancient ancestors, living through the long efforts in nature, constantly surviving and evolving, to finally obtain this physique? It has cost countless ancestors’ blood."
She clenched her fist, feeling that every inch of bone shape, muscle, and skin was a gift accumulated by generations of ancestors over tens of thousands of years, representing a relatively perfect form in life.
Fu Qingjun didn’t know what nonsense Qin Hong was thinking.
He just felt that her coming to find a gang to join was inevitable, after all, practicing martial arts requires joining a gang, unless one’s family is wealthy, otherwise, it’s impossible to sustain such a huge expense.
"You’ve already passed the test, you can join and practice martial arts."
Fu Qingjun glanced at Qin Hong and routinely said, "But to gain is to pay, when it’s your turn to contribute after eating from the gang, you must contribute, even if it could lead to death or trouble."
"Do you understand? People who enter the martial world almost never end well. If you lack even this determination, you shouldn’t live a life of licking blood off the blade, just go back and be an ordinary person."
"I understand."
Qin Hong nodded resolutely.
Fu Qingjun continued, "Speaking of which, our clock shop should be opening, call all the brothers, let’s have a meeting to decide the future development of our gang."
"Okay." Baiyu nodded and lit a cigarette.
Fu Qingjun walked around a street and saw a large joint cloth shop around the corner next door.
Two or three storefronts connected together, it is one of the largest cloth shops in the entire Du Guan Town.
Everyone knows that Miao Chun Hall controls the old industry of clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, while the Ten Blades Association has set up factories to study machinery and textile craft, reportedly also communicating with foreigners outside the autonomous region.
Soon, Fu Qingjun sat on a chair in the textile shop, watching the bustling martial men crowd in, feeling somewhat surreal about being a gang leader...
"The entire gang, including the new girl, thirty-seven people, are all here." Baiyu approached and said in a low voice.
There used to be more than just that few people, but they had recently declined badly, losing more than a dozen brothers.
"It’s good that they are here." Fu Qingjun smiled, realizing he had no real imposing air as a gang leader, knowing little of the martial world, but he understood the logic of making money.
Fu Qingjun said, "Today, I want to announce that we have established our own gang’s clock shop."
Clap clap clap.
"Good!"
"Good!"
Below, the straightforward guys clapped wildly and cheered.
Fu Qingjun raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, "Many people don’t understand what’s happened, why I let the brothers under my command restrain themselves, not being so aggressive anymore. Let me explain."
"The martial world is gone, everyone understands."
At Fu Qingjun’s words, everyone fell silent,
"But just because the martial world is gone, doesn’t mean the martial artists are gone."
"We martial artists must find a new martial world in the new era, find ways to survive that suit us... if we cannot adapt, then that is when the martial artists are truly gone."
"Now, let’s look at how our enemy, the Ten Blades Association, is changing."
Fu Qingjun held a piece of chalk against a large wooden board and drew, saying:
"From this board, we can see their gang’s operational logic, they no longer collect protection fees nor seize territories, they have built factories... what about their martial artists then? Are they only eating? We can see their martial artists aren’t fighting, they’ve started working as employees, as blacksmiths, using their strength wielding big hammers to work!"
"In this regard, martial artists have tremendous advantages."
"What happens if someone dares to come and collect protection fees from their factories? They themselves are martial artists, self-protecting, self-producing and self-selling, two in one!"
There was a commotion below.
"Brother Fu, are we to do the same?"
"Do we need to change as well?"
"Yes, we are getting poorer."
"But becoming blacksmiths, manual forging factories, it’s just too..."
Someone shouted from below.
In the previous era, martial artists were only responsible for training and eating, without needing to work.
The nature of most gangs was equivalent to a local guard force.
Resisting bandits, mountain thieves, committing murder cases, even presiding over justice and transactions among local merchants, while local merchants and farmers were responsible for providing tribute to the local gang.
Fu Qingjun smiled and said, "No! We are not at all like the Ten Blades Association! We still follow the old traditional model, everyone only needs to train martial arts...
The welfare remains, even better, we will open our own industries, forming a security force among you....
I am merely letting you know what kind of transitional situation other gangs are facing! And our Miao Chun Hall is giving you this kind of treatment, what pressure we must bear!"
"We still adhere to the style of old-school martial artists, righteousness comes first!"
The martial artists below became somewhat agitated, as some string in their heart was touched.
"What you need to do is to train hard, protect your own rice bowls, family property, become the blade of our Miao Chun Hall."
Fu Qingjun paced in front of the board and continued, "In the future, our gang will give everyone a monthly base salary of five taels of silver, and will expand the noodle shop, establish a large dining hall, ensuring every brother is well-fed, not just eating enough, but eating well. You can even bring your own family members to eat."
"Of course, your family members need to work in our Miao Chun Hall, crafting textiles, packaging for watches and music boxes, making unified Martial Dao uniforms for the gang, because Miao Chun Hall does not support idlers....everyone is family, and when we have money, we will exclusively build a residential building for all families."
At this, all the martial artists became excited.
This treatment truly was remarkably good.
Previously, their treatment was mainly just enough to fill their bellies, which was already a very happy thing for martial artists... and now, they even earn more silver than Ten Blades Association was previously famed for.
In fact, having meals and lodging covered might be considered a good deal in later generations, but here, it’s unprecedented.
Fu Qingjun continued, "Additionally, our gang divides benefits into three levels according to the Martial Arts Realm, with gold, silver, and bronze badges...."
Fu Qingjun took out a gold mechanical badge the size of a ping-pong ball and placed it on the table, "Second-in-Command, Third-in-Command, come up and receive them."
Baiyu and Little Trumpet approached in surprise to pick up the badge, discovering that it was actually a mechanical pocket watch.
Many people below looked on enviously.
This exquisitely crafted mechanical badge, its starting value must be at least thirty to forty taels, right?
If I could become the leader, how noble would it be to wear this? The girls next door and the pretty widows, their eyes would definitely be fixed on me, surely I could marry a beautiful wife...
However, the strength of the first and second-in-command does indeed match such a beautiful watch.
"For now, we’ll distribute the gold badges first." Fu Qingjun calmly looked down and said, "The bronze and silver ones will be distributed over the next week, everyone will get one, just the color differs."
We have them too?
Suddenly, the eyes of all the martial artists lit up, sitting on the small benches, as restrained as little students.
That’s a mechanical pocket watch!
Its value is...
Each person gets one, isn’t it thirty-seven in total, at what cost.
Some martial artists felt a rush of hot blood to the head, we rough folk, can we actually use these luxury items that only noble figures have??
Holding such an exquisite mechanical badge in the palm of your hand, afraid to accidentally crush it?
"Brother, this is too..."
"This watch is more precious than us."
"Selling us wouldn’t even fetch that price."
Many wanted to speak, these straightforward big men had been envious moments ago, now that they truly had it, they were too scared to accept it, feeling unworthy.
Fu Qingjun found these startled big men rather endearing, yet he ignored them and continued in a deep voice, "And our guests also have a tiered membership system, we issue membership cards, symbolizing our friendship at Miao Chun Hall, with the lowest-level membership card giving a 10% discount on all our businesses."
"Currently, there’s only the lowest-level membership card."
Fu Qingjun took out a slightly thin two-centimeter thick square card, lightly pressed it, and a pleasant classical bell sound was released—an exquisite music box.
On the music box, two rows of elegant large characters were written:
Du Guan Miao Chun Hall.
Life has kissed me with pain, I will return it with a song.
"This business card...??" Qin Hong looked at the card with its simply elegant characters that also played music, immediately liking it on first sight.
The other martial artists, having little culture, couldn’t understand it, but Qin Hong, who came to martial arts later in life, found these words overwhelmingly powerful, incredibly impressive!
Life has kissed me with pain...
I will return it with a song.
The short phrase on the card was so poetic, immediately giving outsiders the impression of a gang with cultural depth, a lofty and high-class feeling, not the brutish and violent sensation.
In just one short sentence, the unwillingness of martial artists faced with the end of their era, their bloody valor, free-spiritedness, and the joys and sorrows of life, were vividly expressed in an extremely subtle way!
Such literary talent!
She looked at the tall and handsome gang leader, with a towering hat on his head.
Silently marveling, this Fu Qingjun’s literary talent surely surpasses my own teacher, doesn’t it?
At that moment, she felt truly shocked by these astounding designs, thinking that her perspective was still not enough, feeling the loss of having no cultural background. The former Angel Empire couldn’t play such fancy tiered systems.
She must learn well from this one.
"Brother, giving such a valuable thing to guests?" Baiyu looked at the music box, finding it exquisitely lovable, and said in surprise, "Brother, this must be worth at least a dozen taels of silver?"
One tael of silver could cover a week’s expenses for an ordinary person.
Fu Qingjun shook his head, sighing silently that he was still too young, "This isn’t something ordinary people can receive, it’s a symbol of status... In the future, everyone will be proud of gaining our Miao Chun Hall’s friendship!"
Everyone couldn’t hide their joy.
Fu Qingjun continued to smile and said, "We, value loyalty, can risk our lives for brothers, but talking about money is not vulgar. Our Miao Chun Hall will grow bigger and bigger, I make you a promise today, that the thirty-seven brothers present, as long as you work hard, diligently practice Martial Dao, anyone can become high-ranking, and in the future, will have immense wealth, becoming prominent families!"
Everyone’s spirits were stirred.
Even Qin Hong, sitting in the corner below, was dumbfounded by the ambition and grandeur of this Miao Chun Hall’s strategy.
Even the Second-in-Command Baiyu beside him was in complete admiration, thinking that brotherhood’s spiritual bond combined with material fulfillment was the best way to consolidate a gang, right?
However, such exaggerated supply must be maintained, can it always be done?
"Second-in-Command Baiyu, come here." Fu Qingjun called out.
The other party walked over.
"Don’t think this is precious."
Fu Qingjun personally hung the mechanical gold badge on his collar and looked down, saying:
"Brothers, there are two concepts of value in this world."
"One is that the mechanical pocket watch on you is intrinsically worth a hundred taels, the other is that it becomes worth ten thousand taels because you wore it."
"One day, the thirty-seven pioneers present, this watch will be worth ten thousand in silver because you wore it."
This sentence had an unprecedented impact on these martial artists, rendering all brothers speechless, their minds blank.