Legend Management Bureau Chapter 215

[ … words ]

Du Yu also turned his head to look. “Hey?! Boss, why are you looking at those two?”

Lady Houtu flashed a wicked smile and said, “Oh my! Meeting here is destiny! It wouldn’t hurt to let me ask them a few questions!”

“No, no, no…” Du Yu hurriedly stepped forward and blocked Lady Houtu. “These two brothers of mine are not the people you are looking for.”

A’Can and A’Kui were also a bit frightened. The spiritual energy contained within the woman before them was simply too astonishing. Moreover, she had asked if they were “interested in dying” barely a few minutes after meeting them. If Du Yu had not helped block her, who knew what would have happened.

“Then who exactly am I looking for?” Lady Houtu was getting a bit impatient. “I have been searching for a long time and I am on the verge of losing my patience. There are four people standing right beside you, and none of them are the right ones? Or could it be…”

Lady Houtu turned to look at Du Yu. “Or could it be that you changed your mind and are ready to come work for me?”

“Oh, come on!” Du Yu pulled Lady Houtu aside and whispered, “My Lady, you are obsessing over this. These kinds of things cannot be rushed.”

“My situation is a bit special right now. I want to quickly find a place to hide, otherwise there is going to be a lot of trouble…”

“I understand, I understand,” Du Yu whispered to her. “I will tell you the truth. Those two beggars over there are exactly the people you are looking for, but now is not the right time.”

“Very soon. They will die very soon. Once they are dead, you can recruit them.”

“Really?” Lady Houtu exclaimed with delight. “As long as I recruit them, my days will be much easier from now on, right?”

“Yes, yes. You can go find a place to hide now.”

“That is good then.” Lady Houtu nodded. “I will trust you one more time. After all, when I followed your suggestion on ‘division of labor’ and let those six handle their own tasks, the results were indeed very good.”

“Exactly, exactly.” Du Yu hurriedly nodded. He suddenly realized that Lady Houtu was also an extremely important part of this legend. If he had not appeared, she would have hastily found people to fill the positions. In that case, the outcome of the legend would still have deviated. Being able to stabilize her in advance was definitely a good thing.

“Boss, you must remember. No matter what happens, you have to let those two beggars become Underworld Emissaries ‘together’. Only then will they be able to exert their maximum effectiveness.”

“Alright, alright, I have memorized it,” Lady Houtu nodded repeatedly.

Du Yu found it amusing. He felt like a teacher answering questions and resolving doubts for a naughty student.

“Alright, Boss. Since there is nothing else today, you can step down for now,” Du Yu said. “Although the City God Temple was burned down today, in my memory, it will be rebuilt once the Ming Dynasty comes to power.”

“Oh…” Lady Houtu nodded, and then asked, “Aren’t you going a bit too far, kid? Is this how you talk to me now?”

“Ahaha!” Du Yu scratched his head in embarrassment. “My mistake. I still respect you very much.”

“Fine.” Lady Houtu silently turned around and looked at the four remaining men in the temple. “What a pity. There are only two spots left. I see that all four of them have quite good aptitude.”

“Boss, please, just say less…”

Lady Houtu curled her lips at Du Yu. Stomping her foot, she rose into the air and vanished into the pitch-black night.

Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiu waited until Lady Houtu flew away before dropping to their knees with a heavy thud.

“So she really was a deity?!”

Du Yu stepped forward and helped the two of them up. “Stop dwelling on it. You will have plenty of time to spend with her in the future.”

The two of them looked at Du Yu, entirely clueless as to what he meant.

“I feel much more confident now,” Du Yu said with a smile. “Let’s go. We need to find a place to stay.”

“Find a place to stay?” Xie Bi’an asked. “Little Du, do you know of any other ruined temples?”

“The two of you really need to change your mindset.” Du Yu patted his own waist pouch, then pointed at the sack in Xie Bi’an’s arms and asked, “What is this?”

“This is money.”

“Exactly!” Du Yu declared. “You earned this much money and you still want to find a ruined temple to stay in? We are going to stay at an inn.”

Although the two of them understood Du Yu’s meaning, they still found it hard to accept.

“Little Du, if we spend money like this, won’t it all be gone sooner or later?”

“You are not wrong. The money will be spent sooner or later.” Du Yu nodded. “But what is the point of earning money? Isn’t it to live a good life? If you earn money but still beg for food and sleep in ruined temples every day, what is the difference between earning money and not earning money?”

“That’s true…” Xie Bi’an nodded.

“Besides, as long as you are diligent and keep working hard to earn money, it is very hard to spend every last penny.”

Du Yu led the two of them through the streets and alleys until they arrived at an inn.

After entering the door, the innkeeper acted just like the pharmacy owner from before. Upon seeing that it was Fan Wujiu and Xie Bi’an seeking lodging, he absolutely refused to accept a single penny. Not only did he arrange for a top-tier private room, but he also prepared food and wine.

The two of them were truly somewhat overwhelmed by the unexpected favor, and even Du Yu felt a bit puzzled.

They sat in a spacious room, guarding a large table full of exquisite dishes and wine, simply looking at each other.

“Seventh Lord, Eighth Lord, if my guess is correct, you should be bidding farewell to your days as beggars from now on.”

“Ah? Why? Will the villagers no longer give us alms?” Xie Bi’an asked.

“Not exactly. From now on, whenever you go out, people will deliver things right to your face. You could call it begging, but it looks more like you are being kept.” Du Yu grabbed a piece of braised meat and popped it into his mouth. He tasted it and found the flavor quite good.

“Are you saying that the commoners will always be grateful to us because of what happened today?”

“Yeah, you are heroes.” Du Yu nodded. “From now on, you will have clothes brought to you when you reach out your hands, and food brought to you when you open your mouths. When you think about it, it is not a bad deal.”

“How can that be?” Xie Bi’an frowned. “How can we be freeloaders?”

“Good heavens, did those words really just come out of a beggar’s mouth?” Du Yu looked at Xie Bi’an in confusion. “Weren’t you freeloading before?”

“That is different. There is a distinction between food that you work hard to beg for and food that others just hand directly to you.”

“What kind of weird logic is that?” Du Yu genuinely could not understand. “It all looks the same to me.”

“Anyway, I cannot accept ‘reaping without sowing’,” Xie Bi’an said with absolute certainty.

Du Yu sighed. He thought to himself, ‘Different trades truly are worlds apart. Since when did being a beggar become such a principled profession?’

“If you want to feel more at ease about accepting these free meals, I do have an idea,” Du Yu offered.

“What idea?”

“Naturally, you can no longer be ‘beggars’,” Du Yu stated. “You can change to a different livelihood.”

“But we have already told you about our situation. We really don’t know what kind of trade we could do. Are we supposed to go out every day and set up a stall for people to touch rocks?”

“How does that count as a trade?” Du Yu waved his hand dismissively. “This business of touching rocks definitely cannot be done long-term, otherwise it will damage your karma sooner or later. The person who lost money last time was a local bully, so there was no real harm done. But what if next time a gambler loses his entire fortune here and ends up destroying his family?”

Xie Bi’an frowned in thought, well aware that such a situation could indeed occur.

“Little Du, then what exactly is the livelihood you are talking about?”

“You guys could become ‘City Managers’,” Du Yu replied.

“What kind of job is a ‘City Manager’?”

Du Yu thought for a moment before explaining, “It involves patrolling the streets and managing public order. If someone causes trouble like that bully from earlier, you would step in and stop them. The world is in such chaos right now, and the commoners are struggling to survive. When the Ming Cult members arrived, the local authorities didn’t even come out to manage things, let alone deal with street bullies.”

Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiu looked at each other. This actually sounded like a pretty good livelihood.

A’Can and A’Kui, however, furrowed their brows. So this line of work was called being a “City Manager”?

Previously, in An Lushan’s territory, they had seen his underlings patrolling the streets all day long. Aside from maintaining order, they also collected protection fees. So it turned out they were actually running a legitimate business?

“But will this really work?” Xie Bi’an asked again. “Will the commoners accept us?”

“Of course.” Du Yu sneaked a few bites of the dishes on the table while speaking to the two of them. “You just saved the commoners. To them, you represent a ‘sense of security.’ Moreover, you grew up on these streets. The locals know you are not bad people. All that money was voluntarily donated to you by the citizens. Over time, your titles as ‘heroes’ will be cemented, and the neighbors will love and respect you even more.”

“Put that way, this ‘City Manager’ role really suits us,” the two of them nodded. “We will go test it out on the streets tomorrow.”

The group finished their discussion and wanted to eat something, but when they looked down, they saw nothing left but scraps and leftovers.

“Little Du… you sure have quite an appetite…” Xie Bi’an muttered in exasperation.

…

The next day, Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiu went to the tailor’s shop and each had a new set of clothes made. Xie Bi’an had always liked white, so he had a plain white outfit tailored, while Fan Wujiu had always liked black, so he had a dark outfit tailored.

After putting on their new garments, the two of them indeed looked quite distinguished. Even Du Yu nodded repeatedly at the sight.

The tailor shop owner also did not want to accept their money. But Du Yu had told them the night before that even if the locals refused to accept it, they must insist on paying. Otherwise, as time passed, problems were bound to arise.

Giving the owner no chance to decline, the two of them simply placed the copper coins on his counter.

Seeing this, the shop owner was truly a bit embarrassed and said, “You two heroes saved all the commoners in the county. How could I possibly ask you for this little bit of money?”

“Shopkeeper, please just accept it,” Fan Wujiu told the owner with a smile. “If you do not accept it, we will truly feel uneasy about it.”

Unable to sway the two of them, the shopkeeper had no choice but to accept the money.

“How about this!” the shopkeeper suggested. “To repay you for your kindness, I will gift you two hats.”

“Hats?”

“Yes.” The shopkeeper nodded. “You are dressed so sharply; you must have found respectable jobs, right?”

Xie Bi’an pondered for a moment before telling the owner, “To be honest, starting from today, the two of us have resolved to protect the commoners and manage the order of the entire street.”

“Really?” The shopkeeper’s eyes shone with a bright light. “Are you going to protect us and resist those Ming thieves from now on?”

“Yes,” the two of them nodded.

“Since it is such an important role, you absolutely must accept these two hats!” The tailor rummaged around beneath the counter for a while before pulling out two tall hats.