A few days later, Valentine.

The sky was overcast, and there seemed to be rain flowing in and out, and since the beginning of summer, such weather has been rare, and the summer heat has been locked in this world by clouds, and despite the rain, it is still very stuffy, so except for those who have to go out, everyone almost locks themselves in the house, and even Sheriff Malloy, who usually leans against the door of the office, does not appear in the position where he usually stays today.

On the door of Miller's gun shop, there was still a sign saying "Open", and the owner who stayed in the store did not have the slightest sense of being able to receive customers at any time, although it was nominally open, but the owner was lying in a comfortable rocking chair, drinking coffee while flipping through the latest newspapers.

As a seasoned businessman, he knows very well that in such weather, there are generally not many customers, especially the gun shop, which itself will not have a large number of customers, and it is more likely that there will be no customers today, so he should give himself a holiday.

As for the batch of black goods that he had been thinking about some time ago, maybe a few days ago he would have lost his soul because of the loss of those things, but now, although he still cares about their loss, he no longer expects those things to come back, think about it, how can he take those goods from a group of vicious robbers with the power of one person? Therefore, although he is still haunted by the loss of those goods, his mentality is much calmer than some time ago.

The door creaked, and the sound of rain, which had been completely isolated from the house, slipped in through the widening crack of the door, and then was cut off again by a rough slam shut.

Walking into the room was a tall man, wearing a black cowboy hat with a low brim, so that his face could not be seen clearly, and the black leather trench coat that covered his whole body was stained with water droplets, making the man look slightly embarrassed.

The boss put down the newspaper and coffee in his hand, got up from the chaise longue, put on a standard smile for a guest, and said, "Welcome, sir, is there anything I can help me with?"

"I don't need your help much, but I did you a great favor," the man said, taking off his black cowboy hat on his head, revealing his pale blonde hair and green eyes, "Remember those black bastards of yours?"

The boss recognized the man in front of him at a glance, and said with a little surprise and joy, "It's you, Mr. Manny, this, this is really a surprise to me, I thought it was ......."

"You thought I died at the hands of robbers?" Brandi smiled and said.

"Ah no, no, of course not," the boss said with a trembling smile, "I thought it might take longer, but I didn't expect you to ...... so soon."

"yes, it's fast," Brandi nodded, "If it weren't for luck, I probably wouldn't have solved the problem so quickly, and maybe you'll have to spend the money on them again if I track down the culprit."

The boss is a smart man, and he understands just by listening to the sound in the words, and his attitude is immediately much more respectful than before.

He motioned for Brandi to sit on the stool in front of the counter for the guests to rest, helped Brandi take off his wet coat, hung it on his own hanger, and then poured Brandi a full cup of hot coffee and served it himself.

Brandi was very satisfied with the attitude of the boss, he took a strong cup of coffee, paused, and said, "Your goods are now in the back of your shop, two wagons full, you can go and count them later, I have paid the corresponding hush money to the hired coachman, they will not tell the public that they are involved in the delivery, of course, they do not know what is in those boxes." Oh, by the way, and besides, I met my brothers from the same gang this time, and without their help, this matter would not have been resolved so quickly, so I asked them to pick their favorite things and take them away, which was considered as a reward, what do you think?"

"It should be, it should be." The boss smiled, compared to the loss and recovery of this batch of goods, a small expenditure is nothing at all.

When it came to the remuneration, the boss suddenly remembered something, turned around, took out a stack of roughly looking about a hundred dollars from the cabinet behind him, handed it to Brandy, and said, "A little meaning,

and as a reward."

Brandi didn't take the money, just shook his head slightly and pushed the money back.

Seeing that Brandi didn't take the money, the boss was a little stunned and confused, and said, "Mr. Manny, what are you ......?"

"I'm more interested in collaboration than in pay," Brandi said, picking up a cigar from the wooden cigarette case on the counter that the boss used to entertain guests, and the boss very consciously struck a match to light it for Brandi, who took a puff and then continued, "What was the price you negotiated with them?"

When the boss heard this, he was slightly stunned, it was not that he didn't understand what Brandi was referring to, but he was slightly hesitant to say it, but this hesitation only lasted less than five seconds before disappearing.

"I run this gun shop and run the black market for my gang, and in return I receive 10% of the net profits I make, and the rest of the profits are sent quarterly to Tacitus Kilgo from the time I take over the business."

The boss was actually quite satisfied with this condition, because the remuneration was much more substantial than the salary he received when he was employed by the Dalton family, and now he did not work as an employee or subordinate, but ran the shop as a partner, and this change was also a psychological satisfaction for him.

"Oh, I see," Brandi said, nodding, "I would venture to ask, on a quarterly basis, how much profit does this store and black market trading typically make?"

"This...... It's hard to say." The boss said with a look of embarrassment.

Brandi slowly smoked his cigar as he tapped his fingers on the table and said, "Tell me, then, how much profit did you make in the worst month you remember?"

"The worst? With all due respect, Mr. Manny, in our line of work, there is no recession unless the loss of incoming goods leads to a loss of money," the boss said this, smiling, "However, the worst month in my memory of business, including black market transactions, I only made more than three hundred dollars, and that time Mr. Dalton scolded me severely and deducted a month's salary, so I remember it more clearly."

"At least three hundred dollars a month, that's a thousand dollars a quarter, and even then, that's quite a lot," Brandi muttered to himself, and then asked, "Have you calculated this account with Mr. Matthews?"

Of course, the boss knew who Mr. Matthews Brandy was talking about, but to be precise, he only knew to call the old gentleman, who seemed to have nothing to do with the outlaws, Mr. Matthews, and nothing else.

He shook his head and said, "No, because Mr. Matthews was in a hurry at the time, he didn't ask about it."

"Oh, that's going to be easy," Brandi nodded, then smiled like a businessman, and said, "Now, now, why don't we talk about a new deal, ah no, a new collaboration, to be exact, what do you think?"

"This ...... That doesn't make sense, Mr. Manny." The boss looked scared, he knew very well what he was doing business for, and he didn't have the courage to make small moves behind the backs of those murderous guys.

"Don't panic, listen to me first," Brandi motioned to the boss to calm down, and continued, "What about you, continue to run this shop here, only no longer for the gang, and in return, you can keep 20% of your net profit as a reward, what do you think?"

「20%？！」 The boss was almost about to shout, and the salary was directly doubled, which was something he had never dared to think of.

Brandi kept the businessman's smile and said, "How's it going? I don't think you should have any reason to refuse this condition, right?"

"Yes...... Yes, that's too rich," the boss swallowed subconsciously and said, "But, Mr. Manny, in case Mr. Matthews finds out......

"Don't worry, he won't find out, because you'll still have to send 80% of your net profits to Tacitus Kilgo." Brandi said confidently.

Now the boss was even more confused: "This ...... Why is that?"

「

Because by the time you send the money, the gang may have moved to Lodz, and by then, Hosea's energy may not be able to focus on this little shop in Valentine." Brandi thought.

"You don't have to worry about that, just do what I say," Brandi said, "When you get a letter signed 'Billy the Kid,' and according to the contents, send the 80% to the address mentioned above, and the recipient will still be 'Billy the Kid,' understand?"

The boss nodded, which was not difficult to understand, but he still had a little doubt: "Mr. Manny, this 'Billy Kid'......"

"A friend of mine, reliable, and your boss," Brandi said casually.

The boss still had some difficulty understanding this, but seeing that Brandi didn't want to explain more on this issue, he just nodded again and did not speak.

"Alright, that's all I have to say." After Brandi finished speaking, he snuffed out the small half of the cigar in his hand, stood up from the stool, and the boss handed Brandi the leather trench coat, which was still a little damp, very eye-catching.

Dressed in a trench coat and a cowboy hat, Brandi reached out to his boss and said, "Now, who is your boss?"

"It's you, of course it's you." The boss immediately shook Brandi's hand flatteringly.

"No, your boss is Billy the Kid," Brandi said, shaking his head slightly, "and you have to keep in mind that I'm just a middleman, you know?"

"Yes, yes, I remember." The boss nodded again and again and said.

Walking out of the store, Brandi looked up at the gloomy sky, the rain still hadn't stopped, and the rain was even much more delicate, and it was likely to turn into the usual pouring rain in summer.

Bathed in fine rain, Jueying looked very pleasant, and although he was a Turkmen horse who was more adapted to dry weather than the average horse breed, he did not show any discomfort in this occasional rainy weather.

"Let's go, Jeeki," Brandi said, taking the reins of Jeeki's horse and whispering in Mandarin that no one could understand, "it's time to show you some friends."

It wasn't until just now that Brandi had completed his final arrangements for Valentine.

As soon as the convoy arrived at Valentine, he sent the coachman away at an additional expense, and then personally drove the two wagons to the backyard of the gun shop, which was actually to be more secure, and the two coachmen who were just employed by him did not need to know too much information, and the exchange of money for the right to know was a common thing in any era.

Then, he didn't come to the gun shop for the first time, but sent the little girl home. The little girl has been kidnapped twice in just one year, and has become a bit of a soldier, and she has not slept peacefully for a few days, and she looks groggy long before reaching Valentine, so that her horse is led by Brandy, and she herself lies in Brandy's arms, swaying and falling asleep.

After placing the little girl, Brandi packed the rest of his luggage, left a letter, and hurried away.

It's not that he wants to say goodbye without saying goodbye, of course, leaving a letter explaining the situation is not a goodbye, but, according to his original intention, he naturally doesn't want to say goodbye in this form.

However, on the one hand, he felt from the bottom of his heart that he had wasted too much time in this small town, others did not understand, but he himself knew very well, the injury was just an extremely justified excuse, what really prevented him from leaving, in fact, was the latent inertia in his own heart, this time can be said to be a good opportunity, if he did not continue to leave here with the momentum of going out to do business, Brandy felt that he would not leave in 1900.

On the other hand, he does feel that it is a troublesome thing to say goodbye to a person who will probably never meet again but has a good relationship, it is a troublesome thing to say goodbye to a best friend who was inseparable from middle school but was admitted to a different university, and it is also a troublesome thing to say goodbye to his first girlfriend who has always had a good relationship but had to break up for various objective reasons.

Of course, in that distant information age, it was okay to have a good chat with an old friend who couldn't meet each other, or to end a relationship that was destined to end badly

It is easy to solve problems with various information tools, but Brandi is a person who has experienced the embryonic period of the information age, and he has experienced all those troubles.

Later, when he lived alone and meditated on this issue, Brandi came to a conclusion, that is, the same information, from the mouth and written on paper or in the dialog box, the traces and weight left in the heart are different, for him personally, some things are incomprehensible with the mouth, and the use of words can at least retain a relatively clear logic of the discourse, and just in the matter of "goodbye" mentioned before, it is much easier to solve it with words than with words, not only has more room for organizing language, And it won't leave too many waves in my heart, so since there is such an opportunity to avoid saying goodbye with words, why not?

After dealing with this matter, Brandi still did not go to the gun shop, but first went to the Valentine post office, and instructed Ben Rosen, who was on duty, to pay attention to a letter signed "Billy the Kid" sent to the gun shop in the future.

In fact, it is not appropriate to say that it is an arrangement, at most it is just to make some plans for yourself in advance.

In fact, in this era, Brandi has many other options, it is not necessary to join the Van der Linde gang to make a living in this country, but he finally chose to join, the reason is simple, that is, he used to be a bystander, and now as a participant, he wants to give an explanation to those in this gang who deserve a good ending but can't die well.

However, this does not mean that he wants the Van der Linde gang to continue to exist, in fact, the survival of the Van der Linde gang is determined by this era that is gradually moving towards civilization, Brandi knows very well that he alone cannot stop the rumbling gears of the times, the Van der Linde gang is the choice of the tide of the times and the historical process, what he can do, in addition to trying his best to pull those gang members who deserve a better ending, is to leave more back roads for himself, after he leaves the gang, Not to wander incognito like John's family.

Keeping this gun shop quietly in his own hands is just the beginning, as for what to do next, Brandi doesn't feel the right idea for the time being, but at least, the program is set, and for a good start, it's enough.