Chapter 11 Reward

While Red Lantern Holy Mother was nervously writing a guarantee with devout worship, the atmosphere in the village was cheerful, with wine and dishes served, and everyone eating and drinking.

Hu Ma had been worried that he wouldn't be able to get back the blood food and money spent on those zougui ren (errand runners), but who would have thought that Holy Mother would be so easy to talk to now, and he deeply approved of this boss for a time.

After Red Lantern Holy Mother left, Steward Xu was also smiling and relaxed, saying, "From now on, everything will be different."

"Hu, my dear nephew, I have to say, your style of doing things wouldn't have been a big deal in the past, but now our Red Lantern Holy Mother is going to be different. Your helping the people, eliminating evil, and pacifying the people is exactly what our Red Lantern Holy Mother will like most..."

"..."

"I didn't think too much at the time, but now that I look at it, I'm afraid I'm going to be set up as a model?"

Hu Ma also vaguely realized that the Red Lantern Society was probably going to be different from before because of this incident.

While thinking, he was also touched by some thoughts, and said to Steward Xu, "In other words, this matter can be regarded as a merit?"

Steward Xu laughed and said, "Wouldn't that be a merit?"

"Besides, the Zheng guy is gone, and no one is in charge of this area. I'll report it for you first."

"..."

Seeing his proud look, Hu Ma's heart moved slightly, and he lowered his voice and smiled, "The positions of the three incense masters of the Red Lantern Society are all good jobs, but now one is vacant."

"Could it be that Uncle Xu, it's time for you to get promoted again?"

"..."

"Hey!"

As soon as Steward Xu heard this, he put on a stern face and waved his hand, "That position is so important, how can it be my turn?"

Then he smiled and whispered, "I've already started making moves."

"The old guys are supporting me, and I can't be unappreciative. If I really get up there, I can help everyone with small favors, right?"

"..."

Well!

Hu Ma was shocked. This incident caused a stir in the city, and people who were related and unrelated were all involved.

Who would have thought that the one who would profit the most in the end would be this old Xu?

While they were talking, Hu Ma asked someone to call for wine and food from the town. It was the yellow-haired girl, Li Xiangyu, who brought the food box herself, which made the guys in the village a little more excited.

Hu Ma also entertained Steward Xu for dinner, and chatted about many things that only his own people could talk about, the impact of this incident, and the Red Lantern Holy Mother building a temple, taking over the blood food gang and various industries under the Qingyi (Azure Garment) Gang, and inquired a lot. Everyone was very happy.

After they had their fill of food and drink, he sent them out and prepared to close the village for rest.

But just as he lay down, someone knocked on the door again unexpectedly. When he opened it, he was greatly surprised.

It was the incense burners who had left during the day. Now they were riding tall horses, and each of them was pulling a rope, carrying a cabinet. Without saying much, they directly placed the cabinet at the door and said, "Holy Mother rewards you."

"But don't talk about this reward, just stay in this village and do your job well."

"..."

"Reward?"

Hu Ma was stunned for a moment: "Did it come so quickly this time?"

Wait, even if this matter is a merit, it's not worth such a hasty reward, and there's no need to send the incense burners over secretly in the middle of the night, and say not to tell anyone...

Hu Ma looked at the silent incense burners, and the red lanterns they were holding in their hands. He could feel that the light in the red lanterns seemed a little uneasy, as if they were secretly watching his reaction.

Suddenly, he realized in his heart: "Good fellow, this Red Lantern brat is trying to shut me up?"

"Thank you for the Holy Mother's reward..."

Hu Ma hurriedly thanked him for the reward, watching the two incense burners leave silently, leading their horses.

Then he moved the big box into his inner courtyard. Zhou Datong and others were curious about what was in the box, but Hu Ma just glared at him and told him not to talk about it.

However, after entering the inner courtyard and opening the box, he couldn't help but gasp.

Not to mention the bottles and jars inside, there was even a large piece of xue taisui (blood ginseng) that had not been made into blood food pills. In addition, there were some trinkets of gold and silver. People who didn't know would have thought that Red Lantern Holy Mother had moved her dowry over.

He understood in his heart that Red Lantern Holy Mother was afraid that he would reveal her previous cowardice and ruin her reputation, so she used some things that didn't need to go through the public accounts, and asked the incense burners with the tightest mouths to send them to him, so that he could keep this matter to himself.

However, why make it so troublesome? Wouldn't it be better to just silence me?

On second thought, she can't kill me. The current Red Lantern Holy Mother is probably the kindest she's been in so many years.

Moreover, she has to be kind in the future.

Feeling emotional, he moved slightly in his heart: "Now that this little brat is so scared, can I secretly use the Town Age Book to beat her in the future if something happens?"

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, but it was a bit損 (sun, mean).

Red Lantern Holy Mother is quite pitiful. She looks like she has a temple built for her, but in fact, she has three great evil spirits under her command...

In a great mood, he counted them. There were actually more than thirty blood food pills in these bottles and jars, which was more than the reward he had helped win in the previous fighting method.

This didn't even include the xue taisui (blood ginseng), which looked like it weighed more than two jin. As for the gold and silver jewelry mixed in, they were certainly good things, but compared to these blood foods, they were not worth mentioning at all...

"Little Red Sweet, catch!"

Hu Ma suppressed the excitement in his heart, pulled out the stopper, pinched a blood food pill, and threw it to Little Red Sweet.

When Little Red Sweet chewed it in her mouth, she was still a little unbelievable, and then her eyes suddenly lit up.

Blood food, is it really blood food?

"You see..."

Hu Ma looked at her excited look and felt a little proud, and said, "Is our life getting better and better?"

Little Red Sweet nodded excitedly and said, "Can we eat blood food every day in the future?"

"..."

Hu Ma was a little embarrassed: "This condition is still temporarily unattainable..."

This reward, or rather, this hush money, really came at a special time!

He was worrying about the blood food for cultivating the fifth organ.

If he really relied on the little money from this village to support him, it would take many years to accumulate the blood food for refining the living heart...

Then let's refine it!

Hu Ma, who deeply realized the importance of his skills, had no reason to stop at this time.

Starting from this night, he tried to stop the xue taisui (blood ginseng) from supplying blood energy to his heart, and instead used his Dao power to refine it alive.

Thump!

The last wisp of blood energy was withdrawn from the heart, and after the last beat, there was a long period of silence.

An icy feeling spread from the heart to the whole body.

Hu Ma also seemed to feel again at this moment that he was different from others.

His body is a dead person...

Without the weird vitality of xue taisui (blood ginseng), even the heart would not beat.

And after sighing lowly in his heart, he immediately mobilized his Dao power and began to refine it alive bit by bit.

From this moment on, the slow and steady work of refining the fifth organ began.

Whether it was the hush money he got from Red Lantern Holy Mother, or the gift from Bald Zhang, or the blood food he earned from doing that deal with Erguotou and Miss White Wine, he had secretly taken them out and hid them under the bed.

Every day, he ate a lot of them, and then used the sufficient Dao power brought by the blood food to lead it over bit by bit and inject vitality into the heart.

Hu Ma had refined the four organs before, and he knew from the old shopkeeper's notes that the fifth organ was extremely difficult to refine and required a lot of blood food, but at that time, he didn't know the specific reason, but now he understood.

The heart is different from other organs, it is the place where qi and blood are transformed. A wisp of living qi is transferred over, and it only stays for a short time before leaving, unable to really stop and nourish it well.

Refining the other four organs is like a heavy hammer hitting and tempering them thousands of times.

Only the heart is like using water to constantly impact it, day and night, without stopping.

Of course, the difference from ordinary water dripping through stone is that the water he used to impact the heart was full of gold dust.

Before refining this organ, he thought that zougui ren (errand runners) were the most expensive.

Now he understood that the Shou Sui Ren (New Year's Eve Watchers) are also eye-poppingly expensive when they burn money...

The hush money he got this time was really real, and he didn't know how many years it would take for other shopkeepers to earn and embezzle it.

But now, it only seems barely enough?

……

However, the skill of refining the fifth organ cannot be rushed, but Hu Ma also has time to polish it slowly. Now the guys in the village have been tempered and are much more stable.

In addition, it is not the time to harvest blood food, and there is not much work in the village, so they can handle it themselves. Of course, the evil things around the village are now outrageously few, unlike other villages where it is so troublesome to deal with them.

Now, in addition to patrolling at night, the most important thing for Zhou Datong and the guys is to mediate disputes like fights between people in the village.

When two gangs of people fighting in groups got together, holding spears and sticks, Zhou Datong coughed, and they all became honest.

They were simply more useful than the elders in these villages.

The Red Lantern Holy Mother's temple has also begun to be built. This little brat may soon be able to receive incense.

It's just that Hu Ma suspects that in this world, even the righteous gods who receive incense are still puppets at the mercy of others?

As the days passed, Hu Ma gradually made progress in refining his heart, and the area around the village became more and more stable. He vaguely remembered the overwhelming evil spirits that had plagued the area before, and it was like a nightmare that was gradually fading away, giving him an unreal feeling.

On this day, Hu Ma ate a few more blood food pills and walked out of the inner courtyard after performing his exercises.

If it wasn't a waste to eat too many blood food pills, he would have swallowed them all in one gulp.

He originally wanted to see how the guys were doing since he hadn't been in charge for a while, but he didn't expect that as soon as he came out, he heard a loud shout from the outer courtyard.

The voices of the guys were full of real surprise. He could hear a busy sound of running footsteps, and they were shouting "She's here," "Hurry up and get dressed," and other sounds. He was a little surprised...

These boys are still sensible, knowing how much he cares for them.

While thinking, he slowed down his pace, thinking that he would have to comfort them a few words later, and tell them to work hard and learn skills.

Then, as soon as he came out of the inner courtyard, he was a little confused.

He saw that no one was looking at him. They were all gathered at the entrance of the village, surrounding the yellow-haired girl who had come in.

(End of chapter)