“Huh?”

Hu Ma knew that the old manager had been thinking about leaving for some time, but he didn’t expect it to be so soon.

Seeing the surprised look on Hu Ma's face, the old manager simply smiled and nodded to someone beside him. The Wu He girl then picked up the wine pot, filled Hu Ma's cup, and then filled the old manager's cup.

The old manager raised his glass, gestured to Hu Ma, and sighed softly, "I couldn't stand staying here any longer. Firstly, leaving so abruptly would be difficult to explain to those above. Secondly, I always felt like I owed you something, wanting to help you find a promising future."

"Now that everything is settled, I have no more worries, so why wouldn't I hurry to leave?"

“…”

"Everything is settled?"

Hu Ma noticed the key point in the old manager's words and immediately looked at him with curiosity.

"Hehe, you've done a good deed."

The old manager looked at Hu Ma with a smile and praised him, "Young people are indeed more efficient. If I were young, I might not have had the courage to risk my life to fight for such a batch of blood offerings. In this matter, you've also helped yourself."

He then explained to Hu Ma, "I had previously submitted a letter of recommendation to those above, but it was suppressed, and no one gave me a clear answer. I suppose those above were not comfortable entrusting this estate to someone as young as you."

"But this time, I received news that those Hongxiang disciples made a great contribution, and your reputation also reached those above."

"In this way, it's much easier for me to recommend you."

"With my guarantee and these two great achievements as a foundation, even if you're a bit young, you'll be able to manage this estate."

“…”

"Indeed…"

Hearing the old manager's words, Hu Ma felt a slight relief in his heart.

No wonder the rewards for this batch of blood offerings hadn't been given out even after four or five days in the city.

Was it because it coincided with the old manager's recommendation, so the two matters were combined into one?

"You have the ability, which is a good thing, but…"

The old manager, seeing that Hu Ma had a thoughtful expression and wasn't carried away with pride, fell silent for a moment. He looked at Hu Ma with a deep gaze, and after a long time, he sighed softly and said, "Before I leave, I must give you a word of advice."

"Once you become the manager, cultivate in peace and stability, and get involved in other things as little as possible…"

“…”

Hearing the unusual tone in his voice, Hu Ma looked up and said seriously, "Please instruct me, Manager."

"There's no instruction, just a word between us."

The old manager waved his hand and sighed, "In this world, evil spirits are rampant, and the world is in chaos. Even the county yamen and the wealthy families who own thousands of acres of fertile land are struggling to protect themselves, let alone blood offering gangs like us who make a living by worshipping evil spirits and offering blood."

"Those Hongxiang disciples who worship the Red Lantern Goddess have already handed over their lives to the Goddess since joining the association. It's difficult for them to have any ulterior motives, so they have to struggle to survive."

"But our night watchmen's skills are our own, so we don't have to force ourselves into their circle…"

"No matter how powerful and majestic the Red Lantern Goddess is…"

“…”

Speaking of this, the old manager paused slightly before slowly saying, "But she is ultimately not a…"

"Person."

“…”

Hearing this suddenly, Hu Ma immediately looked up and glanced at the old manager.

This old manager was deep in thought, burdened with a great feud, and concerned about his own daughter. Although he taught himself the skills of a night watchman, there were also calculations and mostly used him.

Now these words could be considered the most sincere since the two had known each other.

"Manager, I understand."

He bowed respectfully to the old manager and said, "I only believe in my own skills and don't covet anything else."

The old manager was relieved to hear this and looked at Hu Ma deeply.

He wondered if he had ever regretted that one wrong decision he made in the past.

"Brother Hu Ma, once you leave, I don't know when we'll see each other again…"

In this silence, the Wu He girl beside him gently opened her mouth. She put on a black cotton-padded jacket with fur trim and tied a belt around her waist. If she covered her head and face, she would look like a young boy.

The weather was gradually getting warmer, so it was normal for her to wear this outfit in winter, but now it seemed a bit too thick. However, considering her condition, everyone knew that she could only cover herself up like this.

Now, she picked up the wine pot and carefully poured wine for Hu Ma, her eyes red.

"What are you talking about?"

Hu Ma smiled and said, "Won't we see each other when you've recovered from your injuries?"

As he spoke, he said to the old manager, "Manager, is there any news about the Divine Hand Zhao family that you mentioned?"

"It's not very certain yet."

The old manager sighed with a wry smile, "How easy is it to find one of the Ten Surname Families?"

"However, I finally managed to ask around my friends in the city, using my old face, and got a little clue. I'm in a hurry to go and try my luck. Thanks to the Green Jade Balm that you obtained from the Goddess Association, Nizi can endure the hardship of traveling."

"But the Divine Hand Zhao family is said to be like a dragon, only showing its head but not its tail. Whether we can find them depends on our fate."

“…”

"Ten Surname Families, what are they?"

Hu Ma thought silently, but seeing that the father and daughter were in a bad mood, he didn't say much and just offered a few words of comfort.

Since they were about to leave and had secured the best possible treatment for himself, Hu Ma temporarily put aside other matters and had this meal with them. Originally, he was the one being invited, but Manager Wu was tired and not in a good mood. The Wu He girl was reluctant to part, but she was still a girl, so in the end, Hu Ma accompanied them and deliberately changed the topic, talking about cultivation and martial world matters to dispel the gloom.

He had to admit that the Wu He girl knew a lot about Yin-Yang cultivation and other things.

Hu Ma had learned some basics of Yin-Yang knowledge from her earlier, which allowed him to understand some of the methods in the Town Guardian Book. Now that they were about to part, the Wu He girl was even more forthcoming.

"This girl was clever in her early years, and some people even wanted to recruit her into the Harm Head Path…"

Even the old manager sighed softly when he heard Hu Ma praising the Wu He girl for knowing so much. He looked proud, but when he turned his head, he sighed again with regret.

After drinking a few cups of wine, they had exhausted their feelings.

After leaving the estate, the moon was already on the willow tips, and Hu Ma was thinking silently in his heart.

Could he really get the position of manager?

He felt a little uneasy, after all, he had only joined the Goddess Association for less than a year, and after working for a season, he had directly achieved a two-level jump from worker to manager, which was a bit exaggerated.

But on second thought, he felt that it seemed reasonable.

He was indeed just a low-level thug who had just started out in Temple Street, but he had already helped the gang pull off a big job, plus the boss's recommendation, so wouldn't it be excessive to be a local leader in a small place?

But…

He suddenly realized the last problem. Since those above had spoken, he should also prepare to bribe them…

The position of manager was different from that of a supervisor.

Supervisors were the managers of each estate, and they were fixed. But the position of manager was a real high position, with extremely high compensation. Each month, there were twenty taels of silver, thirty jins of green food, and one hundred and twenty jins of Bai Taisui allotted.

In addition, every three months, or during festivals, there were blood offering pills awarded.

It was several levels higher than that of a supervisor.

Many of the estate supervisors in the Red Lantern Association, or the alchemists who refined blood offering pills and other secret medicines, were famous and had been invited over.

Compared to them, he was lucky. The manager felt guilty and strongly recommended him, and he happened to have helped Yang Gong make a great contribution, so he had some opportunities.

But even so, it didn't mean that he could sit back and relax. The gifts that should be given couldn't be spared at all.

However, how should he give them?

Now wasn't the time when he had just joined the Red Lantern Goddess Association, when a few green Taisui would make the supervisor smile.

But if he went to the city now and only brought a few green Taisui, it was estimated that people would directly kick him out…

But if he wanted to give expensive gifts…

…He had a lot of good things on hand, but firstly, he couldn't bear to part with them, and secondly, they couldn't be exposed to the light.

And on the surface, he had saved more than ten taels of silver and could get ten jins of green food from the estate in the past few months.

Let alone bribing everyone, it wouldn't be enough to give to one person.

Although he wasn't very familiar with the relationships in the city, he estimated based on his previous life experience that if he wanted to secure the position of manager, he would have to spend three to five hundred taels of silver just on the social interactions in the city.

Where could he find such a large sum of money?

Just as he was thinking silently and walking towards the house, he suddenly saw a black shadow rushing towards him head-on.

Both of them were startled and then saw that it was Zhou Datong pulling up his pants and coming out of the latrine. Seeing that it was Hu Ma, he sighed and said, "You scared me. Brother Ma Zi, why aren't you going back to sleep so late? Are you looking for ghosts here?"

"It's nothing."

Hu Ma was full of worries and casually asked, "Da Tong, do you have any money?"

Zhou Datong said, "Yes, I do."

Hu Ma said, "How much?"

Zhou Datong said, "Several taels, and a few copper coins."

Hu Ma sighed, "It's nothing, go back to sleep!"

Even the wealthiest second-generation member of the village couldn't help him, so it seemed that borrowing money to give gifts wasn't feasible.

"Brother Lao Bai Gan, congratulations on your promotion…"

Helplessly returning to his room to sleep, he didn't expect that Er Guo Tou, whom he hadn't talked to for a long time, suddenly contacted him.

Since cooperating with Miss White Wine and pulling off that job together, the three of them had less contact. Perhaps it was because they had to arrange the blood offerings that had been distributed to them, or it was subconsciously to reduce contact to avoid revealing any flaws…

…Although the connection between reincarnators was very secretive, they still had to follow the rules of the road, right?

Everyone who had robbed knew that after doing a job, they had to avoid contact for a period of time.

"You know too?"

Hu Ma's mood improved a lot when he heard Er Guo Tou's voice.

"Not only do I know, but I was the one who handed over your batch of blood offerings. I even skimmed off a layer…"

Er Guo Tou laughed, "However, I'm here to ask you if you're ready to take on the position of manager?"

Hu Ma was stunned for a moment and laughed, "Why wouldn't I, if I'm free and unrestrained?"

"That's a coincidence…"

Er Guo Tou said, "I'm really here to remind you about this matter tonight. Don't think about this position of manager yet."

[Being revised, there will be another update soon]