Zhou Quan glanced at Jin Shi a few times. Although the kid was quite talkative and had a lot of guts, actually wanting to acknowledge Xiaomai as his boss, he had to admit that he admired the kid a little.
He suffered such severe injuries last night, losing so much blood that he fell into a coma. Thanks to their treatment last night, he was able to walk from their side to this side this morning. Even though his lips were completely bloodless, he didn't utter a sound and was able to talk and discuss things with Xiaomai.
Judging from his age, he should be a year or two older than me; he's quite a tough nut to crack.
Jin Shi lowered his head silently. "When I was a child, after I lost my family, I would take my younger brothers to beg from people. They would drive us away and even beat us. I had two younger brothers who were beaten to death while begging with me."
"Later, I felt that there was no good person in this world. Our life and death were as insignificant to others as stepping on an ant. When I was ten years old, I met an old beggar who had his leg broken because of begging."
“I followed him and lived in a dilapidated temple. I never expected that he was a martial arts master. He told me that in this world, you should never beg others. No one cares whether you are hungry or happy. Only the strong will make others fear you and dare not bully you.”
“I thought of my two younger brothers. It was indeed because we were too weak that we were beaten to death. After that, I became his disciple and learned martial arts from him. When I was fifteen, he died, and I left that place to travel around.”
"Because my fists were strong, no one dared to hit me when I begged. When they saw the stick in my hand, they would give me something to eat. Gradually, more and more people followed me. I had no choice but to take them to this place to stay."
"To avoid being kicked out, we never begged for food here. We did manual labor to earn money to buy food. But there were always some necessities that we couldn't buy, so we stole them."
"After we discovered that those little things had been stolen, no one reported it to the authorities until we met you two!" Jin Shi said, feeling embarrassed to continue.
Li Mai's lips twitched as she listened.
Zhou Jia looked at Jin Shi speechlessly, "You've already learned kung fu, why are you still begging? You could earn some money by finding a job as a martial arts instructor or a guard, or at least you could feed yourself without doing manual labor."
Jin Shi rubbed his nose. "If no one wants to hire us, we're useless. Besides, I didn't have any money back then, and I was dressed in rags. People treated us like beggars. Before we even got close to any wealthy families, we were already being driven away."
Zhou Quan was speechless. He could only say that she was still not quick-witted. There were plenty of other ways besides begging!
Li Mai glanced at him and smiled. She understood Zhou Quan's thoughts; she thought the same way. However, there were some martial artists who disdained using their skills to make money and preferred to beg.
Otherwise, how did the Beggars' Sect, such a large gang, emerge in the ancient world?
After thinking for a moment, Li Mai asked him, "How many men do you have under your command now?"
“There are seventeen, plus me, eighteen!” Jinshi said.
"Eighteen people, and they even split into different factions?" Li Mai asked in surprise.
"Yes, five people per hall, one hall manager to oversee and teach them kung fu, otherwise I would have to manage them one by one. I only need to manage the hall manager."
"The other two are the ones who help me manage them; they are the vice leaders."
The two men who came with him were a bit older, but they had unshaven beards and worn-out clothes, and it was clear that they were not living a good life.
“I remember, some of your people are married, aren’t they?” Li Mai asked again.
“Yes, a few of them are from this town. They joined us and learned kung fu from us. That’s why we never kill the townspeople,” Jin Shi said with a light cough.
Li Mai nodded, understanding. "I think that since you all have martial arts skills, you can make full use of your advantages and start a martial arts school to teach children in the town or surrounding villages who are willing to pay tuition to learn martial arts some self-defense skills."
"Of course, as your numbers increase, you can also start a caravan to help people or goods, and earn money to support yourselves or your sect."
After Li Mai finished speaking, Jin Shi couldn't believe it. "You can do that?"
Li Mai nodded silently.
One of the vice leaders muttered, "How did Madam Zhou come up with so many ways to make money? We've racked our brains for years and still can't figure it out."
Li Mai chuckled, "Maybe when I have nothing to do every day, I'm thinking about how to make money, while you guys are thinking about how to improve your kung fu and how not to go hungry."
Jin Shi remained silent, which was probably true; they really couldn't come up with that many money-making ideas themselves.
“But will anyone trust us? After all, our reputation as the Heaven and Earth Alliance has been terrible these past few years.” After a moment of silence, Jin Shi finally spoke.
"Haven't you changed your ways? Are you going to stop secretly protecting the people these past few days?" Li Mai raised an eyebrow and asked, "Or are you still planning to rob and steal?"
"No, absolutely not. We will never do anything bad again," Jin Shi said quickly, standing up to avoid Li Mai misunderstanding.
"Yes, I believe you, but whether the townspeople believe you or not depends on your performance next."
"Of course, the ways you can make money that I mentioned before have a major prerequisite: you must be able to get the town magistrate's approval and issue you a document recognizing your Heaven and Earth Alliance as a local martial arts sect."
"My husband will be going to the government office in a little while. If you want to develop your Heaven and Earth Alliance as I said, go with him and personally persuade the town magistrate. If you can get his approval and recognition and gain a foothold in this town, I can promise you that if you need my help in running a martial arts school or a caravan, you can come to me or my husband."
"But if you don't get the Town Magistrate's promise, you won't get any help from me. You can disband the Heaven and Earth Alliance and go your separate ways as you wish. But I want to make one thing clear: if I find out that anyone who leaves the Heaven and Earth Alliance will cause trouble for the people in the future, we will not let them off easily."
Li Mai explained things to him very clearly, and Jin Shi and the two vice leaders understood, stood up, and thanked Li Mai.
Li Mai smiled and said, "Go ahead. I've said everything I needed to say and give you guidance. Whether you can turn your lives around and become respected by everyone depends on yourselves."
"Yes, thank you, Madam!" The three men knelt down again and kowtowed to Li Mai.
Li Mai raised her hand to help the three people up and looked at Zhou Quan.
Zhou Quan stood up, told her to rest well, and then left with Jin Shi and the others, heading towards the government office.
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