Chapter 40: Western Main Street

  "Is there a flexible way? What flexible method?" Lu Tianhua asked in surprise.

  "It's simple, I'll just substitute for Brother in the next round."

  Lu Tianhua was taken aback and immediately changed his expression, saying: "No way, Yue'er is your sister-in-law."

  Lu Qi furrowed his brow and said in a gentle tone, "Brother, Yue Er is your legitimate wife. How could Xiao Qi do something that would bring shame to our family? What I meant was that we could casually find a widow for Xiao Qi to secretly get pregnant with, and then you could take her in as a concubine. Later on, when she gives birth to children, it will naturally be considered legitimate and they will be your kids."

  Lu Tianhua was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said, "This is a good idea."

  Lu Qi smiled and said, "After doing this, brother should be able to put his mind at ease and avoid being hurt by rumors again. The person chosen for this matter will be decided by brother himself. After the woman is bought back, Xiao Qi will take care of her and make sure she bears a child. Once this matter is settled, brother must not tell anyone else, including future children and their mother. Xiao Qi doesn't want this matter to cause conflict among future generations."

  Lu Tianhua nodded, he understood that Lu Qi was the legitimate son, while his elder brother was an illegitimate child. The status of legitimate children in the family is much higher than that of illegitimate children, especially when it comes to inheritance rights. If the child born through surrogacy knew that Lu Qi was the biological father, they might resent their father's unfairness and even harbor hatred towards their brothers of the same generation.

  "Brother, since you like medicine so much, can you learn more about surgical skills in the future?" Lu Qi changed the subject.

  Lu Tianhua's mood has improved a lot, and he heard He Sheng say: "I have learned a lot of medical skills for treating instrument injuries."

  Lu Qi nodded and said: "That's great, in the future when I join the army, I will have something to achieve."

  Lu Tianhua was taken aback and exclaimed: "Xiao Qi, are you saying that Brother will also join the army in the future?"

  "It's not necessarily so, I'm looking at the current state of war and speculating that the imperial court will have to mobilize on a large scale, while medical officers in the army are usually the safest, even if they're captured, they won't be killed. If the imperial court really issues a recruitment order in the future, I can take my brother to the military where we can take care of each other."

  Lu Tianhua nodded and said in a deep voice: "Brother understands, will study the art of healing injuries."

  Lu Qi nodded and took a sip of wine, Lu Tianhua also took a sip, then looked at Lu Qi and said: "Little Seven, I think you've changed a lot after being away from home for five years. The old you was straightforward and cheerful, but now you seem more profound and complex. Was your time in the military very perilous and bitter?"

  Lu Qi smiled faintly and said, "Five years without seeing each other, brother has changed a lot, can little seven not change? Brother says he has become a coarse and despicable person, but in fact, little seven is not much better. In the five-year military career, little seven has not only killed hundreds of enemy soldiers, but also done many evil things such as burning, killing, and looting. Little seven is actually a very bad scoundrel."

  Lu Tianhua was shocked: "The Battle of Xinzhou is a war of recovery, the government army burned and killed Tang Dynasty civilians in Xinzhou, didn't the officials prohibit it?"

  Lu Qi said indifferently: "What the superior wants is silver, who cares where the silver comes from? In the army, you absolutely can't be a righteous person. When I first entered the army, because I couldn't stand the evil deeds in the army and refused to participate in looting civilians, as a result, I didn't have any silver to offer up, not only was I isolated by my comrades, but also often assigned to be the vanguard for dangerous battles, nearly getting killed by the superior officer more than ten times. Later on, there was a commander named Wang who appreciated my talent and took me under his wing, teaching me how to survive in the army. For survival, I could only slowly become worse, I have raped women before, so if you want an heir, I can rape again without any hesitation."

  Lu Tianhua exclaimed: "The Tang army is harming the civilians of the Tang country, this is a great harm to the country."

  Lu Qi smiled faintly and said, "Brother, that's military business, we don't need to worry about it. Since Xiao Qi is back, he can naturally be a good citizen again. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore, lest we invite trouble by speaking too much."

  Lu Tianhua nodded thoughtfully and Lu Qi picked up a dish to eat, asking: "Brother, what's the news about Chen Hu?"

  Lu Tianhua echoed, "Still those pieces of information, that craftsman didn't know much either."

  Lu Qi nodded and got up to the door, poked his head out and called a shop assistant. After he sat back down, the shop assistant followed in with a smile and said: "Sir, do you want anything else?"

  Lu Qi stretched out his hand and took out two strings of cash from his pocket, placing them on the table. He said in a harmonious tone: "My brothers and I have bought a shop on West Street, but we've heard that to have a smooth opening, we need to make some offerings to Old Man Chen Hu. I'd like to know more about him, such as who his connections are in the government, what kind of relatives he has, what properties he owns in Shizhuang City and the countryside, where he usually hangs out, and how much money is normally needed for gifts?"

  The fellow glanced at the money on the table and smiled, saying: "Sir asked the right person, Chen Hu's backer is County Magistrate Niu, and many of Chen Hu's close relatives are in the city. However, there is a paternal uncle who is an elder gentleman in Dongliu Township. Chen Hu has many properties in the city, all on West Main Street, and many fields in the countryside, mostly in Dongliu Township. Chen Hu usually loves to go to Lishui Pavilion, where there are three or four good girlfriends. Occasionally, he also goes to Dongliu Township to collect rent and pay respects to Elder Chen. As for the monthly tribute to be paid by the shop, it is generally twenty to one hundred taels of silver. Your medicine shop must pay at least twenty taels."

  Lu Qi was taken aback and smiled: "So big brother knew about the shop we bought."

  The fellow sneered and said: "As for what happened on West Avenue, there's very little that I don't know."

  Lu Qi smiled and said: "Since big brother knows a lot, then I'll ask another question. Besides Chen Hu, who else has the final say on West Main Street?"

  The fellow smiled and said, "On West Main Street, only Old Man Chen Hu is in charge. Further down the street are Zhao Er Ye and Luo San Ye. Normally, it's Luo San Ye who patrols the streets and collects silver, while Zhao Er Ye is Old Man Chen Hu's manager. He's highly skilled in martial arts, and whenever Old Man Chen Hu goes out, Zhao Er Ye always follows him."

  Lu Qi laughed and said: "So Zhao Er Ye's martial arts are much more powerful than Chen Hu Da Ye."

  The fellow laughed and said: "You're wrong, Master Chen Hu is a scholar-official, he doesn't know martial arts."

  Lu Qi was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said: "It's just me being paranoid, you can take the money, thank you."

  The fellow stretched out his hand to grab the copper coins on the table, hesitated for a moment and then said: "Sir, I'd like to remind you that the shop you two bought is one of Old Luo's tricks, specially designed to cheat outsiders who don't know the inside story. Even if you're willing to pay the monthly rent, it's probably not going to work out."

  Lu Qi smiled and said, "Thank you, but it's okay, I have a deep relationship with the Zhou family in Wangjiang Slope Village, I will take Lord Zhou's name card to ask Old Man Chen of Dongliu Village for help."

  The fellow was taken aback, and hastily exclaimed in surprise: "So you can move Old Man Zhou Qi, then this matter is settled. Chen Hu will definitely give face to Old Man Zhou Qi. If Luo San knew about it, he would not dare to make things difficult either."

  Lu Qi smiled and said: "Thank you very much, you can go."

  "Old fellow is gone," said Chen Tianhua with concern, "Xiaoqi, is it proper for you to pretend to have a relationship with Zhou Qin?"

  Lu Qi laughed and said, "Brother, I didn't say the three words 'Zhou Qin Lao'. The Art of War says that one should use the real to attack the fake. To deal with these local rascals, we must use a senior official to suppress them. My identity as a protector county lieutenant can only temporarily suppress them, but it will mainly trigger Niu County Lieutenant's nerves, which is not conducive to future development. I just told my partner about this relationship, and it won't take a day for Lao San Ye to know. At that time, I'll take the initiative to talk things over, and it's sure to be successful."

  Lu Tianhua nodded and sighed: "Xiao Qi, brother really hopes that your Hu Jun County Wei can last a little longer. In this world, without official backing, it's too hard to do things."

  Lu Qi smiled and said, "I will work hard, as long as the thieving birds are not all gone, this good bow of mine will always have someone who cherishes it. At the very least, I must hold on until the Lu family has a solid foundation of wealth in Shitou County."

  Lu Tianhua nodded and the two brothers raised their bowls to toast each other, eating and drinking slowly. After a while, the wine was gone, and Lu Tianhua wasn't very drunk since his heart knot had been untied.

  Suddenly, someone outside shouted urgently: "Master, Second Brother, someone has come to smash up the shop."

  The two brothers were shocked and quickly got up to rush out. They saw that it was their uncle, Lu Jing, who had a lame foot. He urgently told them that seven fierce men had come to the shop, some of whom were holding clubs. The two brothers rushed to the shop without saying a word, while the waiter from the wine house hurried after them because they hadn't paid for their meal yet.

  Lu Qī hastily returned and instructed his elder brother not to say a word, letting him handle everything. Lu Tianhua nodded anxiously. Upon entering the shop, Lu Qī let out a sigh of relief as it was intact without any damage, except for seven uninvited guests, including a man in his thirties sitting on the long cabinet, while the others were scattered around the shop.