Chapter 3 The Arrival

It was around March when the manor welcomed a steward, who brought two Red Incense disciples, seven or eight Green Incense disciples, and a tightly sealed carriage.

Hu Ma immediately led his men to greet them, ushering them into the manor. The carriage was sent directly to the warehouse, without unloading, and the horses were immediately led back to the trough to feed on grass and water.

Then the warehouse was sealed, and large red lanterns were hung in front of it.

The manor's workers, armed with their tools, guarded outside the warehouse all night long. Hu Ma, meanwhile, arranged for the steward and the Red and Green Incense disciples to have good meat and good food, but not a drop of wine was offered.

From beginning to end, Hu Ma never even saw what the blood meat looked like.

He analyzed that this was probably because something had happened at this manor before, and the higher-ups were still suspicious.

Unless absolutely necessary, blood meat didn't come to the manor. If it did, it was only in transit or in small quantities.

Moreover, the escorts didn't change from start to finish, taking it all the way back to the city in one go, eliminating any risks.

After all, this manor had a dark history.

Back when the old manager had his accident, the miners would escort the blood meat to the manor first, where the old manager would inspect it, record it, and then arrange for someone to send it to the city. The others would then return to the mine to work, which was much more efficient.

But this way, the work was easier than Hu Ma had expected.

More than two months passed, and it looked like this season was coming to an end.

And during this time, he hadn't really handled many substantial matters. He'd just prepared carriages when asked, opened the warehouse when asked, and gone to provide support where needed, besides managing the meals and keeping the accounts.

He didn't feel like a manager at all, more like a warehouse keeper.

Although it was easier and less risky, his ambition to be a manager faded.

The manager had previously said he wanted him to take over, but thinking about it, after slogging away like this for a year, with only hard work and no merit, his foundation was too shallow, and the position of manager was still too difficult to attain.

"Speaking of which, the Red Lantern Mother's harvest for a year is really something..."

While working, Hu Ma quietly calculated in his mind and couldn't help but feel a little shocked.

His manor had relatively little blood meat coming in and out, but Hu Ma had been watching with a cold eye, and no less than two or three thousand *jin* (approximately one pound) of blood meat had passed through the manor into the city.

And Hu Ma knew that his manor was just the smallest type of branch of the Red Lantern Mother Society in various places. Extrapolating from this, plus the other manors, wouldn't the Red Lantern Mother Society's blood meat for the year amount to fifty or sixty thousand *jin*?

According to the market price in this world, one *jin* of Green Meat was worth several taels of silver. Wouldn't the Red Lantern Mother Society's annual income be hundreds of thousands of taels?

This didn't even include the Blood Tai Sui, some special rare Tai Sui, Tai Sui blood, and other scarce or valuable items.

"The Red Lantern Mother has been gaining momentum in Mingzhou Prefecture for ten years now, how much wealth has she accumulated..."

Hu Ma couldn't help but sigh. Of course, he wasn't coveting anything, just purely sighing.

Seeing that less and less blood meat was coming into the manor these days, he felt a sense of relief. He didn't earn any merit, but at least he had put in a year's hard work.

But on this day, as dusk was approaching, the sound of hooves suddenly rang out outside the manor. Soon after, someone rushed over to tell Hu Ma that a disciple with a red ribbon tied around his waist had arrived and wanted to see the manager.

"Why is he only coming now when it's almost dark?"

Hu Ma felt a chill in his heart.

Escorting blood meat was usually done during the day, and it had to be sealed in the various manors at night.

But the roads were complicated, and unexpected things could happen. If these escorts were stranded halfway and caught by nightfall, it would be very dangerous. At this time, they would often immediately send someone to a nearby manor for help, adding manpower.

But even with more manpower, escorting blood meat at night was still not safe, and something might happen.

He hurried out, but was a little surprised to see that the Red Incense disciple who had come was a familiar face.

Well, not really familiar. After all, he had met many Red Incense disciples during his time of receiving and sending off, and had even seen some of them several times.

The one who had come now was someone he had only met once, one of the four Red Incense disciples who had come with Steward Xu to investigate the Altar Teaching matter. Hu Ma remembered his name was Yang Gong, and he was a proud and arrogant character.

And he didn't seem to be here to find manpower. When he saw Hu Ma, he said, "I'm here to ask for your help."

"What help?"

Hu Ma was a little surprised. He invited him into the manor and said, "Have you eaten yet? Come into the manor and have a meal."

"I won't eat in the manor."

Yang Gong glanced at the manor and said, "Is there anything outside? Anything will do, I've been hungry all day."

Although his request was a little strange, Hu Ma still said, "Yes, I'll take you to eat in town."

Saying that, he had someone lead Yang Gong's horse to the stables to feed and rest, while he walked shoulder to shoulder with him out of the manor and into a tavern in town.

The town had only a hundred or so households, but it was fully equipped, with taverns, restaurants, and some oil, salt, and sauce shops. Most of them catered to merchants traveling to and from Mingzhou Prefecture. Most of them closed in winter, and only had some business after spring.

Entering the tavern, the innkeeper recognized Hu Ma and hurried to greet him.

Hu Ma told him to prepare some wine and food first, and sat with Yang Gong at a square table before asking him what was going on.

"I got a batch of blood meat, and I'm thinking of sending it through your manor. I don't trust anyone else." Yang Gong picked up a few chopsticks of meat after it was served, ate them, and then said to Hu Ma in a low voice, "But I don't have much manpower. At a critical moment, I'll probably need you to take your workers to support me. So I came to you in advance to ask you to do me this favor."

"Blood meat?"

Hu Ma was a little surprised to hear that.

Yang Gong had joined the Red Lantern Mother Society in the same year as him, and it hadn't been a year yet.

These Red Incense disciples were now mostly responsible for following the stewards from place to place, escorting blood meat, or going to the mines to prevent any accidents. But according to Yang Gong's meaning, he was actually going to get a batch of blood meat himself.

This made Hu Ma curious. No matter how capable he was, he wouldn't have been solely responsible for a batch of blood meat, right?

Besides, if he had that power, how could he lack manpower?

"Hmph, I just can't swallow this breath!"

Yang Gong poured a cup of wine into his mouth and slammed it heavily on the table, gritting his teeth and saying, "My parents died early, and my uncles sold me to the broker. Luckily, I entered the Red Lantern Society. I was willing to endure hardship, thinking of making a name for myself and going back to kill those uncles."

"But those people still look down on me. They make us brothers do the hard work, and let their subordinates take the credit."

"When distributing blood meat, we're always at the back of the line. And when they gave me a *xiaoshigui* (an errand boy), they even gave me a lame one..."

"To hell with it!"

"..."

Saying that, his eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, and he stared at Hu Ma and said, "Manager Hu, I only like you in this Red Lantern Society, and I'm not afraid of you laughing at me."

"I wasn't originally called Yang Gong, I was called Yang Danzi (Sheep Testicle). No one gave me a proper name, but after I burned Red Incense, I changed my name. I'm called Yang Gong, and if anyone dares to bully me again, I'll shoot that bastard to death with an arrow..."

He felt the hostility on his body, but also heard some of the suppression and grievances in his heart.

Hu Ma sighed softly, poured him some wine, and said, "Brother Yang Gong, like you, I only had a grandmother who loved me, and she passed away last year. But this world is always like this, how can we have fewer things to worry about being schemed against, and being bullied?"

"Why make things difficult for yourself? Just be open-minded."

"..."

"I can't be open-minded!"

Yang Gong slapped the table, scaring the innkeeper at the counter.

Hu Ma winked at him, and the innkeeper immediately understood, scurrying to the kitchen, afraid to listen to their conversation.

Yang Gong also realized that his voice was loud, his face turned slightly red, and he lowered his voice a little, saying, "Those guys are suppressing me, not letting me get ahead, but I refuse to accept this fate. The Society's several blood mines, when I go, I'm just ordered around, doing errands and patrols."

"So I found a few people and decided to rob an unowned blood meat mine. As long as we can successfully transport it back, that'll be a great achievement..."

"Unowned blood meat mine?"

Hu Ma couldn't help but be taken aback.

Within a hundred miles around, there were many Meat Mountains, but most of them were Black Tai Sui. Any place that could yield Green Tai Sui, Blood Tai Sui, or even White Tai Sui had long been occupied, and most of them were owned by someone.

He had heard of some that were small in quantity or too difficult to cut and transport, and were often fought over by people from all walks of life.

Yang Gong had actually come up with this idea?

"Hehe, you don't have to worry, I've already inquired about it and have full confidence."

Yang Gong thought that Hu Ma was scared, smiled, and said, "The only problem now is that I can't trust those Incense Stewards in the Society, but we brothers have too few people. We can cut the blood meat, but we can't transport it to the city."

"I thought about it for a long time, and only you are available. So I plan to send it to your manor first, and then transport it back to the city. Are you willing to help me?"

"If this batch of blood meat is sent back, those people won't dare to look down on me again. And for you, it'll be a great achievement!"

"..."

Hu Ma saw his excited face, which had turned red, and sighed in his heart.

But on the surface, he said solemnly, "What's this about helping? It's just my duty. If you can succeed and transport it over, I have no reason not to accept it."

In his heart, he knew that a young man like this, acting impulsively, would probably fail.

Even if he really succeeded, and this batch of blood meat was sent to the manor, he only needed to follow the familiar routine, hang up the lanterns, and seal the warehouse. He just needed to handle it officially.

Refusing wouldn't be in accordance with the rules of the Red Lantern Society.

What he was feeling now was the Red Incense disciple's anger and naivety. He had only met him once, but he trusted him so much.

"That's great, I knew you were reliable."

Yang Gong was overjoyed when he heard that, raised his wine bowl, and said to Hu Ma, "Brother, let's make contributions together and strive for a good future!"