Li Yue had initially planned two ways for Long Dragon to make money. One was to make soap, and the other was to be a security guard.
He Lao Er was in charge of the soap business, and the security was naturally given to Wang Sanqian, who He Lao Er didn't like.
The two old gangsters were very clear. They knew that Li Yue didn't intend to let anyone dominate the gang.
It was just that Li Yue was already playing with checks and balances at such a young age. Even if she didn't think of it herself and had an expert guiding her from behind, the old gangsters still felt a little numb in their scalps. When they did things, they didn't want to play tricks with Li Yue. They even secretly competed with each other.
Before she took over as the gang leader, the small leaders of Long Dragon's various districts had already collected this month's protection fee in West City. Li Yue didn't plan to start collecting money from this month. Instead, she let Wang Sanqian lead his underlings to patrol the territory and promote it to the merchants and vendors, encouraging them to pay the security fee next month. She also didn't want to forcibly collect protection fees anymore.
In the past, when Long Dragon only collected protection fees, they only guaranteed that their own gang members wouldn't stir up trouble and outsiders wouldn't come to occupy their territory and cause trouble.
Now that Li Yue clearly told the gang members that they had to protect the safety of the people who paid the security fee, the gang members had a lot of objections at first. After all, other than the local ruffians, there were also scammers, thieves, and thieves in the underworld.
Wang Sanqian was one of the gang members who had objections. As a wily old fox, he naturally wouldn't rush to give his opinion to Li Yue. Instead, he urged others to be the first to stand out.
The new gang leader listened to the opinion of the first to stand out with a faint smile. She didn't hesitate to ridicule him. In the end, she laughed and said that there weren't many men present. They couldn't even protect their own territory. If they couldn't do it, they should go home early to nourish their kidneys.
Most men couldn't stand others' provocation, especially when they couldn't listen to others say they weren't good enough or admit that they weren't good enough. Before Li Yue could say anything, several young gang members had already rolled up their sleeves and stood out.
Li Yue definitely couldn't leave the job in the hands of a hothead. She tapped her fan and looked at Wang Sanqian, who was pretending to be a quail in the crowd. She then smiled at him.
Wang Sanqian glanced at Tie Chuanjia, whose arms were thicker than his thighs, and silently stepped forward to take on the responsibility of "publicity."
On the surface, Li Yue was promoting the safety premium, but secretly, she was preparing to catch all the swindlers and thieves in her territory. This required a full understanding of both the enemy and her forces.
In any case, Shuo Zhou City was the largest city outside the Great Wall. Outside the city, there were several towns and villages of various sizes. Naturally, there were many residents, not to mention the traveling merchants and herdsmen who often came to the city to buy and sell goods.
With more people, the underground forces became even more complicated. The government's energy was limited. As long as there weren't any murders, they rarely paid attention to the changes in the west side of the city. This made it more or less convenient for Li Yue to do something.
When it came to swindling and stealing, there weren't many swindlers and charlatans in the west side of the city. The last time the government cleaned up the slavers, they were basically nowhere to be seen. On the contrary, there were many small thieves.
However, because the residents were generally poor, they couldn't steal anything valuable. Most people set their eyes on the peddlers.
Although the peddlers didn't suffer unspeakably, they didn't have an easy time either.
There was a unified leader above the small thieves. Every month, the leader would collect "filial piety" from them. The leader would then pay filial piety to the people above him.
Everyone in the underworld knew the identity of this person. Not to mention the leader of the thieves, even some gangs had to pay filial piety to him.
The Long Dragon didn't pay filial piety to this person. However, because of the deaths of the previous leaders, they had lost contact with the previous leaders. The ordinary gang members weren't very clear about the situation in the gang.
Li Yue didn't want to get in touch with this person for the time being. She was busy washing the gang's reputation and didn't want to get involved in the past matters.
Since she wanted to change the gang's image and go out to do publicity, the gang members couldn't be as indecent as before.
Li Yue made dark brown robes for the gang members. She asked Tie Chuanjia to supervise them one by one as they went to the bathhouse. She also gave them smile training, trying to make the gang members not look so wretched and ferocious.
The specific effects of the transformation weren't particularly obvious for the time being. Li Yue, who had satisfied her bad taste, was very happy anyway. She was in a good mood as she watched the courtyard door being pushed open again.
He Lao Er was crestfallen when he went out. When Wang Sanqian came in to report on his work, he was also very nervous.
They were amiable according to Li Yue's request, but when they were nice, other people thought they were scared. The other gangs who heard them were a little restless and wanted to fight for the territory.
When they mentioned the security fee, which was slightly more expensive than the protection fee, many peddlers directly rolled their eyes. Wang Sanqian had a belly full of anger, but he still had to keep a smile on his face. It was simply adding to his anger.
The new gang leader wasn't angry. In other words, the reaction of the residents of West City was within her expectations. She asked the accountant to give Wang Sanqian and the others some compensation for their hard work. She comforted them with a few words and let them continue to inquire for information. She summarized all the information she knew and drew a detailed map.
After the matter of Changlong was settled, Li Yue turned around and went to the alley to find Zhu Er.
The day after tomorrow was the Lantern Festival. Every family would light up their lanterns. She had discussed with Zhu Er long ago that they were going to make a big news. This time, she was going to check on the results of her little friend's trouble.
Zhu Er's house wasn't far from Changlong Gang Headquarters. When Li Yue arrived at his little friend's house, the door was ajar. She knocked a few times and opened the door. She was surprised to see Lu San Egg, whom she hadn't seen for more than ten days.
He was talking to Zhu Er about something. When he saw Li Yue come in, he smiled and greeted Li Yue.
"Oh, speak of the devil.
Isn't this Young Master Li? What a coincidence. Since you're here, I don't have to specially look for you. "
"Why didn't you come to school recently?
Master is still counting on you to study at Shuozhou Academy. "
"I'm not the top scorer in the exam. What's the point of going to Shuozhou Academy? To listen to that group of old pedants recite scriptures or to become a scholar?
Young Master Li, you didn't go either. Besides, I've already found out what I really want to do.
Didn't they say that reading ten thousand books is better than traveling ten thousand miles? I want to explore Jianghu!
After the Lantern Festival, I'll go to the Central Plains with Master! "
Li Yue walked around Lu San Egg and gestured that there was less than a palm's height difference between them. Her face was full of undisguised disdain. "Usually, when we were just teasing you, we would praise you for your extraordinary talent. Don't tell me you took it seriously?
With your thin arms and legs, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Dan Egg, I'm really afraid that one day I'll hear the news that you've lost everything. "
"We're all saying the same thing. Why do I feel weird when it comes from your mouth?"
Lu San Egg felt a faint pain in a certain part of his body. He closed his legs and quickly changed the topic. "What Dan Egg? Young Master Li, let me tell you. Zhu Er and I are both famous now.
Zhu Er is now known as Zhu Ting, and my name is Lu Xiaofeng. "
"Hahahaha, Xiao Feng?
In the end, you still can't get around an egg. Hahaha ~ "
Li Yue pointed at the gloomy Lu San Egg and couldn't stop laughing. When Zhu Er finished fixing a joint, it was as if two strings in her head suddenly connected. The smile on her face also froze.
"No, wait, you said your name is Lu Xiaofeng?"
Lu San Egg nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
"Then he's Zhu Ting?"
Zhu Er didn't say anything. When he sensed the strange atmosphere, he also nodded slightly in response.
Li Yue was stunned for a while. Then, she hugged her head and squatted down.
Lu Xiaofeng, Zhu Ting? Li Yue originally thought that the world of Li Fei Dao was dangerous enough. This time, reality slapped her twice, telling her that she was too naive.
At this point, Li Yue still didn't give up. She asked again.
"Then the future Hero Lu, have you heard of the Bandit Commander?"
Probably because the words "Hero Lu" pleased Lu San Egg very much, he wiped his nose and coughed lightly. He tried to pretend to be serious. His eyes were filled with unconcealable joy. His voice was clear and full of vitality.
"'The young master lost his beauty with the flower, the Bandit Commander left a fragrance on the moon'. This sentence is known by everyone in Jianghu, including me.
But my master said that with my talent, as long as I roam Jianghu for a few years, I will definitely have a reputation that won't lose to the Bandit Commander.
And there is a place that I can go openly. The Bandit Commander will definitely not go openly. "
"What place?"
"The capital.
The Bandit Commander is a 'bandit', and the capital is the territory of the Divine Marquis Residence.
My master said, Zhuge Shenhou is one thing, but if the constables in the Divine Marquis Residence weren't restricted by the yamen, their reputation would definitely be more prominent than today … … "
Li Yue looked at Lu San Egg, oh no, Lu Xiaofeng, talking about Jianghu matters clearly and logically. She couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth.
The danger level of this world was increasing exponentially in her mind. Li Yue was a little worried that she might not be able to earn enough money to spend with her little tricks. After making a simple plan for the future, she looked back at Zhu Ting, who was as calm as ever, and Lu Xiaofeng, who was still gossiping endlessly. She patted the latter's shoulder meaningfully.
"Hero Lu, let's make a deal, and in the future if you … … Forget it, before you leave Shuo Province, remember to apologize to the old man. He's already so old, and he's worried so much for you. Even if you don't take the imperial exam, you still have to bid farewell to the old man.
The Jianghu is very dangerous, don't take the risk of dying just because you're lucky.
Speaking of which, it's quite troublesome for you to leave Shuo Province … … "
"Young Master Li, so you don't want me to leave!"
Li Yue's face was expressionless as she looked at Lu Xiao Feng, who was winking at her. Zhu Er coldly spat out the truth.
"Wake up, Dan Dan. Li Yue is just worried that if something happens in the future, there won't be a suitable person to take the blame."
"No, wake up. Zhu Ting, Dan Dan is going to the Central Plains. It'll be more convenient for him to take the blame for us."