"Brother Hu, I'm not good with words."

Yang Gong was silent for a long while before he looked at Hu Ma and said, "I, Yang Gong, don't have many friends, just these few sworn brothers. We all just don't know when we'll lose our lives."

"You are my…"

He paused, then suddenly stood up, actually intending to kneel down directly. "This favor, I'll remember it…"

"Hey, don't do this…"

Hu Ma had been watching him since he stood up. Seeing this, he quickly stopped him, and with his other hand stopped Shen Bangzi, who was also about to kneel. "Joking is joking, it's just an incense stick. How can it be more important than a brother's life?"

"If you really treat me as a friend, don't say things like that in the future."

"..."

Hearing this, Yang Gong didn't know why, but his eyes reddened slightly. He forced a smile and said, "I'm more concerned than you are. I might not be willing to give it up if it were me."

"But after being in the Red Lantern Society for so long, I, Yang Gong, have finally met a good brother. Heaven has treated me well."

Shen Bangzi had been listening silently beside him. He also said to Yang Gong, "Steward Hu is indeed a good brother."

"People in the city can't be trusted. It's more reliable to have brothers who climbed up together."

"..."

Seeing that these two brothers had held back some emotional words, but their intentions were sincere, Hu Ma knew the principle of knowing when to stop. He just waved his hand and said, "Speak less of such sappy things in the future. It's enough to be able to help."

"Now that this jar of blood offering has entered the village, you're probably going to make a great contribution, right?"

"..."

"More than that?"

Seeing that Hu Ma had changed the subject, Yang Gong understood his kindness and just silently remembered it. He smiled and patted the jar in his arms, saying, "I know how much the superiors need Blood Tai Sui this year."

"Based on the previous situation, I'm afraid the share to be handed over to the higher-ups won't be enough. If we brothers bring this jar back, I'm afraid at least one of us will be able to burn three incense sticks."

"Hehe, that Zheng guy is blind. I want to see how he dares to make things difficult for us after this!"

"..."

"The share to be handed over to the higher-ups?"

Hu Ma heard the details in his words and moved slightly. "Does the Red Lantern Society need to hand over a share to the higher-ups?"

"She already has such great Dao (the Way, Path), who is she handing it over to?"

"..."

But it was not convenient to ask about these things in detail, so he could only remember them. After clarifying these things, he felt relieved.

What he was worried about before was that the contribution Yang Gong and the others made was not big enough. After all, they had lost two men for this. If the contribution was not big enough, then after handing it over, it would either offset the merits and demerits, or the merits would not outweigh the demerits, and he would have worked in vain.

Now that he was sure that this was a great contribution, he could rest assured.

"It's good to be able to help. It's not easy for us brothers to come out and make a living. We just lack such an opportunity."

In his heart, he actually understood that Yang Gong's luck was actually very good.

According to his original plan, he was just going to rob some white food and green food. This jar of Blood Tai Sui was extremely rare, and this kind of luck only belonged to people like him who dared to think and do.

Of course, now he could only congratulate him. But if he had really followed his original plan, he probably wouldn't have made this contribution. But at the same time, he probably wouldn't have lost these two brothers either.

"That's right, we all have one head. Why should others eat spicy food and drink good wine?"

Yang Gong felt even more that Hu Ma's words were pleasing to the ear. He said in a deep voice, "Our brothers will take care of each other, and we won't be worse than others."

As he was talking, Li Waizi knocked on the door, "The meal is ready!"

Hu Ma then invited Yang Gong and Shen Bangzi out to eat. He saw that a square table had already been set up in the courtyard, with a large bowl of green food, a plate of pig's head meat, steamed buns with steaming heat, and several stir-fried vegetables, and even a jar of wine had been brought out.

But not a single one of the guys in the village could be seen. Looking into the distance, he immediately had a feeling of amusement.

Now, the people in this village saw that Hu Ma had gone out for a night, and brought so few people back when it was dawn. They didn't know what was in that jar, so mysterious, so they were full of thoughts…

…All of them were on the blonde girl that Hu Ma had brought back.

For a while, they didn't care what Hu Ma and Yang Gong and the others had done. Only Li Waizi now had a kind of saint-like purity and desirelessness. Looking at the way those people were crowding by the window, he only found it funny. "What's so good about women? Aren't you worried that Brother Ma won't have anything to eat?"

But Hu Ma and the others didn't care about these guys. They had been busy all night and had consumed a lot of energy. They sat down and began to eat.

Yang Gong was originally happy and wanted to drink wine, but Hu Ma stopped him and said, "Don't be in such a hurry to drink now."

Yang Gong said unconvinced, "What's wrong with taking a sip of wine?"

Hu Ma said, "This is such a big deal, I estimate that the people from the city will arrive in the afternoon. What's the point of you being drunk?"

"Wait until things are settled, then come to the village to find me to drink!"

"..."

Yang Gong didn't really care about these things, but when he heard that Hu Ma was right, he had no choice but to say, "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you." Shen Bangzi, the Red Fragrance disciple who followed Yang Gong, also had the problems of other Red Fragrance disciples: conceited, biased. He really looked down on these green-robed disciples in the various villages.

But first, he was saved by Hu Ma, and then he heard the conversation between Yang Gong and Hu Ma, so he treated him differently.

He called Yang Gong "Big Brother," but Yang Gong and Hu Ma didn't distinguish between seniority and treated each other as equals, so he also called him "Big Brother Hu."

"They're here, they're here…"

When Hu Ma first returned to the village, he arranged for a guy to watch outside. Sure enough, just after finishing a meal and before having a few sips of tea, this guy excitedly ran back and said, "A lot of people are here, and they're carrying big lanterns!"

"..."

"It seems that the city also attaches great importance to this batch of blood offerings…"

Hu Ma smiled and looked at Yang Gong, who was squatting on a chair drinking tea. "Aren't you going out?"

He guessed correctly. After this jar of blood offering entered the village, the city had already been notified. Normally speaking, this was just a report from the village. If it was just ordinary things, they would just wait overnight and then have someone from the city come to pick it up, or have someone from the village send it to the city.

But as soon as they heard that it was so much Blood Tai Sui, the people in the city couldn't sit still and immediately sent several capable men, riding fast horses, to rush to this village outside the city to meet them and send them back to the city to feel at ease.

But when he looked at Yang Gong, he saw that he also had an excited face, but he pretended to be indifferent, holding the jar in his arms, rolling his eyes and saying, "Why should I go see them?"

"Let them come in and see me!"

"Those guys are all dressed up, but they may not have dug up as much Blood Tai Sui this year as I have."

"..."

Seeing his arrogant appearance, Hu Ma frowned and said, "What are you pretending for?"

"Listen to my advice, go out and greet them politely, and get the credit first."

"..."

Shen Bangzi couldn't help but glance at him, knowing that Yang Gong was not usually someone who listened to advice.

But unexpectedly, Yang Gong listened to Hu Ma's words and just smiled. Although he said he didn't care, when he heard the sound of horses' hooves outside the village, he knew that the people had arrived outside the village, so he said to Hu Ma, "You're right, let's give them this face first."

"Let's go, Brother Hu, let's welcome our great contribution."

"You earned it with your lives. I just helped out a little. I won't take the credit!"

Hu Ma smiled and shook his head, saying to them, "You go, don't put on too much of a show."

Hearing this, Yang Gong was slightly stunned and took a deep look at Hu Ma, sighing, "Good brother, everything about you is good, but you're too honest."

"You'll suffer if you hang out in the Red Lantern Society like this."

"The losses you suffered earlier in this village, the city actually knows about them. Everyone is talking about it in private…"

"..."

As he spoke, he looked at Hu Ma and shook his head with regret, and then carried the jar out. Even Shen Bangzi looked at Hu Ma in surprise, and then hurried out of the house.

Li Waizi, who had been listening all along, was a little surprised and glanced at Hu Ma.

He didn't seem to expect that this sounded like a great contribution, but why didn't Hu Ma go to grab it, and he was also a little confused about the "losses suffered in the village" that he said to Yang Gong.

Hu Ma just sat silently at the table, knowing that this was talking about the matter between him and the shopkeeper.

Earlier, the shopkeeper killed the people from Tan Er (a kind of altar/sect) and he also made a contribution. On the surface, everyone was fine, but in fact, there were many capable people in the city, and they probably guessed that the shopkeeper was using him and were probably talking about it as a joke.

Yang Gong was worried that this honest man would suffer, which is where that came from.

Of course, he didn't explain much, but just listened to the sound of horses' hooves outside the village, and a burst of conversation sounded.

He couldn't hear clearly what they were saying until Yang Gong's voice became louder:

"This jar of blood offering was earned by our brothers with our lives."

"Not only did Shen Bangzi and I make a contribution, but brothers Niu Laojiao and Zhu Dachangzi also gave their lives. They should have an incense stick in front of the Red Lantern Goddess."

"Of course, we can't forget our brother Hu Ma. Thanks to them for helping us, risking their lives to take us across the river, otherwise, let alone this jar of blood offering, even the lives of our two brothers would have been ruined by the Green Robe Gang!"

"..."

Hu Ma, who was drinking tea inside the village, sighed. Yang Gong had a very bad temper and was reckless, but he was still loyal…

"If a capable person wants to stand out, no one can suppress it…"

At the same time, inside the inner courtyard, the old shopkeeper, who had not shown his face all along, listened carefully to the conversation outside and couldn't help but feel some emotion. Although his heart was not here, he knew the market this year.

Who would have thought that the largest batch of blood offerings was snatched by the few Red Fragrance disciples who had just joined the society last year, and even more unexpectedly, his little steward also made a great contribution.

"Nizi (daughter) ah…"

He looked up at the inner room and sighed, "No need to worry anymore, our father and daughter can leave with peace of mind…"