Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains-Chapter 107 - 090, Collecting Martial Arts, Ghost at Jade’s End_2

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Hou Yucheng thought for a moment and then understood Hou Yuxiao’s intention, nodding towards him, "The Hou Clan is led by the Second Elder and the Fourth Elder, so what about the Zhaoyang Escort Agency and the Azure Dragon Association?"

Hou Yuxiao glanced at Old Fifth and said, "The Escort Agency is currently left to Wang Gong, and the Azure Dragon Association will be handled by Gao Cheng. They are both staying in the Prefectural City. Since both are part of the clan’s enterprises, they will naturally generate profits, which Hou Yuduan will be responsible for coordinating the handover with them."

Hou Yuduan immediately understood Hou Yuxiao’s intention and nodded towards him.

The allocation of finances within the clan was under his control, and since there were profits, he would certainly be overseeing these two enterprises as well.

"Moreover, the Azure Dragon Association is involved in assassination, which can easy incite resentment, so it’s best to keep the association’s relationship with the family a secret to avoid becoming a target. You all must remember this and not reveal anything to the outside," he cautioned.

Assassination is a profession that recognizes money over individuals, and in general, as long as the price is right and the power sufficient, any target is fair game—this indiscriminate approach indeed makes it easy to incite resentment, which is why such organizations usually operate in the shadows.

All four of them understood the matter and solemnly nodded their heads.

Hou Yuxiao finally settled his mind and spirit, checking the Divine Lotus merit value in his mind. Last night, he had elevated the Black Dragon Thirteen Forms to a second-rate Martial Art in the Prefectural City. He had also elevated the Drenching Rain Sword Technique, Fast Knife Technique, and Rainbow Shadow Whip Method to third-rate Martial Arts. He had a good idea of the merit values consumed to elevate these Martial Arts.

Advancing a Martial Art from not even third-rate to third-rate was quite affordable, requiring only 300 merit points, but advancing from third-rate to second-rate cost more than three times as much, needing 1000 merit points.

Fortunately, when he returned from the Prefectural City, he had a surge of merit points, which totaled 3268 points. Accounting for the three Martial Arts he upgraded last night, he still had 2368 points left.

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With this in mind, Hou Yuxiao first glanced at Old Fifth before addressing Hou Yucheng and the other two, "The promotion documents and the family’s Copper Seal, I expect, will only arrive next month. In the coming month, you should actively collect not even third-rate Martial Arts throughout the city and send them all to me.

Seven third-rate Martial Arts still seem rather meager..."

Upon hearing these words, all three became visibly excited. Collecting not even third-rate Martial Arts—Hou Yuxiao was planning to promote a large number of Martial Arts to third-rate.

The world of Martial Arts is vast and varied, with each person’s strengths and talents being unique. Take the five members of the Hou Family, for example, Big Brother Hou Yuxiao excelled in staff combat, Second Elder favored the blade, Hou Yuling enjoyed the whip, Hou Yujie specialized in the sword, and as for Old Fifth, it’s better to leave unmentioned…

From the five siblings alone, it could be inferred that the warriors under the Hou Family also each had their areas of focus. With a plethora of Martial Arts, their options for selection would be vast, making it easier to discover their own gifts. This was no small aid in improving strength.

Besides, as the saying goes in the martial world, "having many skills does not weigh one down," and no one has ever heard of a family complaining of having too many Martial Arts.

"Alright, the three of you can go now. Now that all of you have taken on additional responsibilities at the Hou Mansion and the Zhaoyang Iron Guards, set your own rules and figure out how to manage them. If you truly encounter difficulties, then come find me. Make sure there are no mistakes in the future!"

"Yes, Big Brother!"

The three of them bowed and left the room, leaving only Hou Yuduan.

"Take this money with you for now!"

Hou Yuxiao took out a bundle of silver notes from his bosom and handed them to Hou Yuduan.

Hou Yuduan accepted the silver notes, his expression surprised for a moment. Hou Yuxiao had brought a considerable amount of money and goods this time, but the expenses in the Prefectural City were also not low. He had heard from the Second Elder and the Third Sister that just to curry favor with the Great Luo Sect had cost one hundred thousand taels, not to mention the purchase of so many Body Strengthening Pills, and each of the four siblings buying a piece of ordinary-grade precious weaponry. He had thought that Big Brother would not have much money left.

"Four hundred thousand taels?"

After counting the silver notes, Hou Yuduan’s eyes suddenly revealed a trace of shock. The money Hou Yuxiao took with him this time, even when adding the batch of goods and the gold, totaled just over nine hundred thousand taels. And that didn’t include other expenses he had just thought of, which should have halved that amount, not to mention other places where money would definitely need to be spent.

How could there still be four hundred thousand taels...

"Alright, pack it up. With these four hundred thousand taels, plus the clan’s monthly income, there shouldn’t be any more financial issues, right?"

Seeing Hou Yuduan’s astonished look, Hou Yuxiao couldn’t help but smile. Although he had spent quite a lot on his trip to the prefectural city, that batch of gold had indeed been a great help.

Furthermore, the fifty thousand taels he had bet at Shengxin Residence had brought him profits of two hundred thousand taels of silver. So, as of now, he still had over five hundred thousand taels of silver on him, along with a box of gold he had yet to exchange.

Hou Yuduan had no intention of asking too clearly. He revealed a slight smile and nodded, "According to the rules big brother set before, our clan’s monthly expenses are seventy thousand taels.

Our present monthly business income is twenty-four thousand taels. Adding on the more than twenty businesses in the county that third sister mentioned, we could roughly have a shortfall of ten thousand taels per month, which adds up to thirty-four thousand taels.

We’ll just have to see if the Qinglong Association and the escort agency can fill the gap of thirty-six thousand taels. If they can, then we will have achieved a balanced budget, and if we can exceed that, the family could even have a surplus each month."

Hou Yuling had explained the situation of the businesses in the county when he returned yesterday. As the accountant, Hou Yuduan needed to be aware of these matters. So, when Hou Yuxiao inquired, these numbers naturally came to mind, and Hou Yuduan’s face began to brighten as he spoke.

He hadn’t had such financial ease during the accounting in the previous years. Naturally, he was very happy now that they could have a surplus.

Hou Yuxiao didn’t interrupt Old Fifth’s happy expression and waited until his face gradually calmed down before staring at Hou Yuduan and asking slowly, "Old Fifth, have you done something recently, keeping it from me?"

"No, I’ve been in the city all along, and there’s nothing I’ve hidden from you, big brother..."

This kid, he definitely has a secret!

Despite Hou Yuduan’s quick response, Hou Yuxiao still caught that momentary flash of panic on his face when he had just asked the question.

Merit couldn’t possibly increase by more than three thousand for no reason, even if Hou Yuduan was improving the lives of the people in Zhaoyang City, with only about a dozen points of increase each day. Hou Yuxiao had secretly checked upon his return yesterday, originally thinking that Hou Yuduan had done some great act of kindness to cause such an increase, but after checking, he found nothing.

He had intentionally asked today and didn’t expect the kid to be dishonest...

Hou Yuxiao watched him for over ten breaths, observing Hou Yuduan’s expression, which remained unchanged. He smiled and said, "Alright, big brother must have remembered it wrong. I was actually meaning to ask Second Elder. You can go now!"

Hou Yuduan nodded and then took his leave from Hou Yuxiao, turning to walk away.

Returning to the Ya Xiang Courtyard in Hou Mansion, Hou Yuduan entered his room, closed the door with a bang, and collapsed into a chair, a hint of worry appearing on his face.

"Big brother couldn’t have found out, could he? He shouldn’t... he shouldn’t... He’s been in the prefectural city all this time and hasn’t come back. He couldn’t possibly know..."