The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#453 - Generous sponsor

“Mr. Jin is looking for me?” Lu Jing was taken aback.

Jin Duoduo didn't waste any time and went straight to the point, “That's right. I wonder if Grandmaster Lu is interested in becoming a venerated guest at my Duobao Pavilion? I can pay Grandmaster Lu four hundred thousand taels per year.”

As soon as this number was announced, even the big shots of the martial world present couldn't help but change their expressions slightly.

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All major martial arts forces have similar traditions of recruiting people. After all, to develop and grow stronger, there can never be too many experts, especially top experts.

But even for a first-rate expert, four hundred thousand taels a year is still too outrageous.

In fact, Li Bufan had also considered recruiting Lu Jing, especially after their fight that night. He had been thinking about Lu Jing ever since, wanting to absorb the latter into the Changle Gang.

It's just that he wasn't as direct as Jin Duoduo. Although he met Lu Jing at the Wen Family Manor this time, he didn't bring it up right away. Instead, he planned to build a good relationship with Lu Jing first, and then slowly figure it out.

However, Li Bufan was also a little regretful at this moment, because he knew that the Changle Gang could not match Jin Duoduo's offer no matter what.

It's not that the Changle Gang couldn't come up with the money. Although the Changle Gang wasn't as rich as Duobao Pavilion, it was still the number one gang in the world, and they could squeeze out three hundred thousand taels. The key was that Li Bufan, as the gang leader, couldn't do that.

In Lu Jing's words from his previous life, if Li Bufan took out the money, he would be destroying the Changle Gang's salary structure. The salary inversion would be too serious, and the old members of the gang would definitely be dissatisfied, which would affect the atmosphere within the gang and outweigh the benefits.

In comparison, Duobao Pavilion didn't have such worries, because most of the experts in Duobao Pavilion were outsiders. Even the old members didn't have much say in Duobao Pavilion.

And as everyone knows, Jin Duoduo has always been the most generous. The income of Duobao Pavilion's venerated guests is already much higher than any other gang or organization, so there is no possibility of poaching. At most, they would just be a little dissatisfied with Lu Jing.

But Lu Jing had just beaten Li Feilong, hadn't he? It only took one move from Li Feilong's sneak attack to his defeat. Those who were dissatisfied with Lu Jing could also weigh how many moves they could withstand under Lu Jing's hands.

As soon as Jin Duoduo made this money-scattering offensive, Li Bufan knew that he probably had no hope of recruiting Lu Jing.

Because four hundred thousand taels a year was really too tempting. Li Bufan had been the leader of the Changle Gang for so long, and his family property wasn't even half of that amount. So when he first heard this number, he couldn't help but be a little tempted.

At this moment, he wasn't the only one tempted. Duke Ying slapped his thigh and said with a regretful look, “Why didn't I practice martial arts properly when I was a child?”

Not far away, a glint flashed in Yu Wenyu's eyes. Apart from Duke Ying, this royal nobleman, only he and Lu Jing didn't belong to any force and could be recruited.

Although with Yu Wenyu's current reputation and status in the martial world, it was almost impossible for him to join another sect and be at someone else's beck and call, but if there were four hundred thousand taels in front of him, Yu Wenyu felt that this matter was not impossible to discuss.

However, to everyone's surprise, Lu Jing hesitated for a moment and then said, “Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Jin, but I'm used to being a free spirit and don't have any plans in this regard at the moment.”

Of course, he wanted money, but his experiences in two lifetimes also told Lu Jing that the capitalists' money was not so easy to take.

Even if Jin Duoduo was such a generous and magnanimous gold master, how could he be a fool to have managed Duobao Pavilion to its current state.

In addition, Jin Duoduo's terrifying wealth was also a huge trouble, which was estimated to make many forces jealous.

In peaceful times, those people might still talk about rules, and Duobao Pavilion's venerated guests were not vegetarians.

In terms of the number of first-rate experts alone, even top sects such as Xijian Pavilion, Xuankong Temple, and Yunshui Jingci Pavilion could not compare with Duobao Pavilion.

Therefore, over the years, Duobao Pavilion had always been as stable as Mount Tai in the martial world, but now it was different from the past. The troubled times had arrived, and Jin Duoduo's silver would only become more and more jealous, so his troubles with Duobao Pavilion were probably just beginning.

And this was probably the reason why Jin Duoduo approached Lu Jing. As a businessman, his sense of smell was more敏锐 than anyone else, and he had already started recruiting troops early.

Especially young experts like Lu Jing with very “clean” identities were coveted by any force.

So Jin Duoduo didn't want to give up easily. After a pause, he said, “Add three first-grade martial arts. As long as Duobao Pavilion has them, you can choose any of them. And you may not know that after becoming a venerated guest of Duobao Pavilion, all martial arts below the fourth grade will also be open to you unconditionally, and you can browse them at will.”

However, after he finished speaking, he saw that Lu Jing was still unmoved.

If he hadn't found a way to make money by planting ginseng, Lu Jing might have really joined Duobao Pavilion for the income of four hundred thousand taels a year, but now after weighing the pros and cons, he decided not to wade into this muddy water.

As for first-grade martial arts, the temptation to Lu Jing was also very limited. He already had enough things to practice at hand, and he had just received the news of the p 露 s version of Mad Demon One Hundred and Eight Staffs. Even if he got other martial arts, he wouldn't have much time to practice in the short term.

Seeing this, Jin Duoduo didn't continue to raise the price. Of course, he could afford to pay more, but from the previous two bids, he had already seen that although money was meaningful to Lu Jing, it was not enough to truly influence Lu Jing's decision.

So he didn't waste any more effort. To everyone's surprise, Jin Duoduo didn't leave after that, but just found a seat at the table and sat down.

In this way, except for Jiang Lei and Lu Jing, who was making a friendly appearance, the Wen family's sons-in-law had all arrived and gathered together.

Now, the people sitting at this table were all heroes. Picking one at random could cause an earthquake outside.

But at this moment, they were just sitting quietly around the table, tasting the melons and fruits in front of them, chatting, and waiting for today's birthday star to appear.

Fortunately, Old Madam Wen didn't let them wait too long, and soon walked over from a distance under the escort of Madam Wen and a group of granddaughters.