Chapter 575: Settle Down  

It had been two years since they last met. Fang Beidou was dressed in a blue luxurious gown with a jade headdress. He looked so much more mature now that he was sporting a mustache. Beside him was Xu Enda who had a square face and thick eyebrows. Compared to before, he now looked much more muscular and was more finely dressed. It would seem like he had a good life working at the newspaper publishing company and was highly regarded by Fang Beidou.

The people who had gathered at the Hundred Clans Market for work had discerning eyes. As soon as Fang Beidou and Xu Enda were here, they knew both of them were clients and everyone immediately flocked to them.

Yan Liqiang was no exception. When everyone flocked over to both of them, he followed them and squeezed through the crowd too.

“My lord, are you looking to hire someone…?!”

“I’m strong, obedient, and meticulous with my work…!”

“I have a few beautiful servant girls with me, do you want to take a look at them…?!”

“We’re not picky with work. We’ll take anything as long as we will be fed and be given a few extra copper coins!”

“Brother Xu, Brother Xu! It’s me, Liu An! We met here before…!”

Everyone tried hard to sell themselves. Since Xu Enda and his brothers used to look for work in the Hundred Clans Market, those who recognized him tried to worm their way into being friends with him.

Fang Beidou and Xu Enda stopped walking. Fang Beidou scanned the faces around him. He had a normal expression on his face, but his heart was filled by countless questions — Who is the one? Who is the one?

Half a month ago, Fang Beidou received a letter from Yan Liqiang through a falcon post. In the letter, Yan Liqiang gave him a few tasks, including the ‘recruitment’ he was doing today. Rather than Fang Beidou, it was more like Yan Liqiang wanted this. Fortunately, Fang Beidou had been the one personally handling many matters in the publishing company, especially when it came to recruiting manpower. To avoid giving an opportunity for someone to exploit, he would hand-pick and personally interview the people he would hire. Hence, this wasn’t his first time coming to places like the Hundred Clans Market or the Great Enclosure to hire someone.

Up until now, Fang Beidou never understood why Yan Liqiang had him come here to hire people. Even if he didn’t, he knew that there was always a good reason behind Yan Liqiang’s every action. Therefore, he didn’t dare to be negligent.

Fang Beidou reckoned that it was perhaps Yan Liqiang wanted to send someone to the Imperial Capital, so he wanted to use the opportunity of recruitment to give this person an identity to stay in the Imperial Capital. It went without saying that this person must have come with an important mission. Otherwise, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t go through this much trouble. Yet, after Fang Beidou scanned the faces around him, he failed to spot anyone special. All these people flocking to him were nothing more than ordinary men who struggled financially.

Was it that his IQ was too low, or the person whom Yan Liqiang arranged wasn’t here yet? Fang Beidou muttered in his heart. Just when his gaze swept past Yan Liqiang’s disguised face, Yan Liqiang winked at him. Fang Beidou was slightly taken aback before he took another careful look. Although Yan Liqiang didn’t really stand out from the crowd and was wearing plain clothes, his left thumb and pinky were slightly bent while he kept his other three fingers straight. Fang Beidou was startled, because this was the secret signal that Yan Liqiang told him before.

Fang Beidou was very experienced. He took another look at Yan Liqiang and realized that his hand had gone back to normal. He stopped staring at him and nodded to Xu Enda, signaling him to begin.

“Ahem, ahem. Everyone…!” Xu Enda cleared his throat. “Our manager is here today to hire a few permanent staff. We will need laborers that are strong, can drive a carriage, take care of horses, and even better, are good with their hands! You will be given two meals a day. There will be a probation period of three months, in which you will be paid seven maces of silver every month. You will be given a raise after you are formally employed!”

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Upon hearing Xu Enda’s voice, the older women and people who were trying to introduce servants walked away at once, while a few people who knew how to drive carriages and take care of horses stepped forward. A few that walked away also included lazy men who were only looking for short-term work with daily pay. With that money, they would be able to buy food for another two days. As long as they weren’t hungry, they would definitely not work. A few of them walked away while muttering, “Turned out to be a long-term job. How troublesome. There’s no way I can get alternate days off…:”

With that, the crowd around Fang Beidou and Xu Enda immediately thinned out. With only about twenty people left, Xu Enda started questioning them on things like their name, origin, skills, work background, and background in martial arts.

The remaining people answered his questions honestly, and a few of them even performed two rounds of fist technique on the spot. They looked presentable, flexible, and seemed to be strong. It went without saying that the people who put on a display of the fist technique were those who hadn’t even passed the three stages required of a Martial Warrior. Therefore, they were only demonstrating brute force that made them seem a little better than normal people and detered others from bullying them.

In just a flash, it was Yan Liqiang’s turn.

He came forward and put on an honest smile. “My name is Wang Shagen [1] from Hui Province. I have driven carriages and cared after horses before. I know fist techniques too and have chased thieves away…”

“Oh, what kind of fist technique do you know?” Xu Enda asked.

“Iron Thread Fist technique!”

“Please demonstrate!”

“Sure!” Yan Liqiang nodded, then stood with a serious face. He exhaled audibly, then punched out and stamped his foot hard on the ground as he began to demonstrate the Iron Thread Fist technique. His movements were rigorous as he kicked up the dust at his feet.

The Iron Thread Fist technique was the most ordinary fist technique, even more so than the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique that he had trained before. In fact, Yan Liqiang was the third to demonstrate this technique.

Fang Beidou silently watched the Yan Liqiang’s performance of the Iron Thread Fist technique with his eyebrows raised.

After Yan Liqiang finished his performance, his face was a little red and he was panting. He only stepped away after seeing Xu Enda nodding.

The other few people behind him also took their turns in answering Xu Enda’s questions and put on a performance.

By the time they finished interviewing everyone, Xu Enda looked at Fang Beidou. “Manager, what do you think…?”

“This one, this, this, and this, this and this…” Fang Beidou pointed to eight people and of course, Yan Liqiang was one of them. “You people, follow us!”

Yan Liqiang naturally followed Fang Beidou and Xu Enda, and those who were not chosen walked away too.

…

Half an hour later, Yan Liqiang received his first task in the Imperial Capital under his pseudonym of Wang Shagen. He was to guard a courtyard located at the edge of the town at the foot of Mount Longqi in the Imperial Capital. There were a few houses in the courtyard which were used as the publishing company’s warehouses. The place was watched during the daytime as there were people moving stuff around, but at night when there was no one else around, he’d have to pay more attention to prevent fires from breaking out and theft.

Yan Liqiang was the only one who would be guarding the courtyard. There were extra rooms there, so Yan Liqiang could live there too. Hence, on the same day, Yan Liqiang carried his luggage on his back and moved into the courtyard after staying the previous few nights in Datong Inn.