The Happy Farmer Wanderer-Chapter 898: Hitting a Snake with a Stick

"The village issue..."

Li Qing murmured softly, it took him a moment before he suddenly recalled that the matter really hadn’t concluded yet.

He turned to look at Wu Shan, who was squatting nearby, boredly studying ants moving house, "Old Wu, what are you planning to do about this?"

"What am I supposed to do? Is there something still pending?" Wu Shan asked, somewhat puzzled.

Li Qing was amused by his response, it seemed that the old man really had forgotten all about it.

He wouldn’t have remembered himself if it wasn’t for Wang Baichuan’s reminder.

Actually, this matter was far from over, still lacking a grand finale.

"You beat up most of the people in this village and destroyed so many houses, don’t you think you should do something?" Li Qing said, "Hitting people requires compensation, and demolishing houses also requires compensation. If you don’t pay up, you might need to stay around for a while."

"At least ten years!" Wang Baichuan added from the side.

Wu Shan’s expression became blank, and he slowly stood up, "But I did that to protect the spring, this... I feel like you guys should take care of me a bit, right? Plus, you’ve already confirmed my intentions, haven’t you?"

"That’s true, I can indeed prove your intentions. But this matter, I think it should be handled separately, we shouldn’t confuse things too much," Li Qing said, "Although I can vouch for you, you almost destroyed the entire village and indiscriminately attacked everyone, which really was a bit too much."

At this point, Wu Shan’s initial intentions didn’t matter anymore.

From what Li Qing was seeing, though his actions were understandable, they were excessive.

If a few lives had been lost, it would have been even harder to explain.

"I was just flustered at the moment, didn’t come up with any good ideas, and just did it. Potatoes, those things don’t hurt that much when hitting someone," Wu Shan tried to justify his actions, his cheeks too gaunt, making his expression look almost like a spasm.

"Not that painful? Old Wu, let’s be honest, you might be slightly mistaken about this. Just look at the houses you demolished, their condition is like they were hit by a bomb. How could it not hurt if they fell on someone?" Li Qing said indignantly.

"I believe your intentions were good, but what you did was too excessive, so you still need to compensate!"

Wu Shan scratched his ears, his expression troubled as he asked, "Then... how much money is needed?"

"We need to consult the villagers collectively for a final number, we can’t give you an exact figure right now," Wang Baichuan said, "But considering the level of destruction and the collapse of the houses, it probably won’t be less than around two to three million."

"How much?!" Wu Shan’s face suddenly changed, his voice breaking, "Otherwise, you might as well kill me, I don’t have that much money. I admit I did go a bit overboard, but my aim was genuinely to protect that spring. If they continued using it like that, it surely would’ve run dry."

"You just said I attacked indiscriminately, I admit that too. But it was unavoidable, almost everyone in this village was doing it, I could hardly tell who was to blame, so I resorted to a general scare. I was worried that attacking just a few wouldn’t be enough to blow the issue up."

"You definitely mishandled the situation, so here’s what, I’ll pay the money for you, but you have to work for me for a while," Li Qing said, "What do you think? If you have no objections, let’s settle it this way. You can be assured, it won’t be too long, just two or three years at most, and with an annual salary of a million, it should be worthy of your strength, right?"

Actually, he didn’t currently have any tasks that required the help of a cultivator, but someone at Wu Shan’s realm should be excellent at construction.

If occasionally needed, he could also be a helpful asset.

His large-scale control abilities should surely be a good boost.

"Actually, my idea was to have the Ninth Bureau pay for me, after all, it’s such a big spring; I’d share some of the profit, and the rest would be yours. Now to turn around and ask me to pay is a bit unreasonable, although I adopted the wrong methods, we should still consider if the outcome is right?" Wu Shan grumbled under his breath.

"Honestly, if I didn’t care about keeping this spring preserved for the long term, I’d have just packed up and left, there wouldn’t have been any trouble, and I definitely wouldn’t be paying compensation. This arrangement, I think it’s unfair, really unkind," he said.

Li Qing paused to think, then turned to Huan Ling Ji, "As a beneficiary of this situation, the bureau should indeed take a stance."

"Although Old Wu’s methods were indeed improper, he’s not the only beneficiary. The bureau should take some responsibility and properly resolve this issue."

"The bureau will handle the aftermath," Lingji said.

"That’s good, that’s good." Wu Shan’s expression relaxed, and he chuckled gleefully, "I barely have a hundred and something pounds on these old bones, even if you sold me, it wouldn’t raise that much money."

"However, about that million annual salary you mentioned earlier, could we perhaps negotiate a bit more?"

Li Qing couldn’t help but laugh and cry, "Old man, are you seriously considering working for me?"

"Old man here is poor, trying to earn some pension while I still can," Wu Shan chuckled.

What should have been a kindly smile, on his skinny face, oddly took on an air of shadiness.

"I was just trying to get this issue resolved for you, with the proposed compromise. Now, I actually see no need for it, as I don’t really need any help in my day-to-day, I’m not short of people," Li Qing said.

"Don’t say that, young man. I’ll take less than a million, just give me a yearly salary of five hundred thousand," Wu Shan said.

Li Qing was hit with this curveball that the Old Wu deftly played.

"But I was only..."

Before Li Qing could finish, Wu Shan quickly spread out his right hand, urgently retracting three fingers, "Two hundred thousand, an annual salary of two hundred thousand, that should do, right? I’m about to reach Foundation Establishment, with my strength, two hundred thousand is surely worth it?"

"Despite being somewhat aged, cultivators like us, even in older age, are still excellent at guarding and protecting. Out there, just hiring any moderately capable bodyguard, they would cost around this much annually."

"And my old bones, though aged, are not easy to tackle, I still possess quite formidable fighting power, give it some thought."

Jing Yan swept a glance over Wu Shan and whispered to Li Qing, "The Underground Palace currently does need someone to watch over it."