Although they spoke very confidently, as the Yudai Bridge approached step by step, the pace of several people slowed down significantly.
People were coming and going on the street, people were bargaining over rental cars and horses at Qiaotou, everything was as before.
But is everything really the same as before?
"It's Lang Jun who's back!"
A familiar shout rang out, rushing through the noisy crowd into the ears of Xu Maoxiu and others.
Xu Maoxiu could clearly hear the brothers behind him heaving a sigh of relief, and he couldn't help but smile.
Brother Jin and Banqin had already happily taken it.
"...Why is it so slow? We have been waiting for a long time..."
"I said go pick him up, but no one was watching the door..."
"...Brother Jin, hurry up, set up the brazier, and burn the incense brought by Puxiu Temple..."
Surrounded by two people chattering non-stop, the seven people actually felt that they couldn't listen or answer. They just laughed and let Banqin and Jin Ge'er control them. They beat themselves with branches and stepped into the brazier before entering.
The door.
The mountains, rocks and flowing water, and the bamboos in autumn are becoming more and more green. When the hall door is opened, you can see several screens and tables, with a volume of books placed on them.
Everything is the same as before, except... there is no such figure.
Xu Maoxiu felt relieved and slightly sad.
In fact, he was a little afraid of seeing her...
"My wife has gone out and will be back soon," Banqin said.
Xu Maoxiu looked away and nodded.
"The water is boiled. Let the gentlemen go and wash up first. The clothes are also ready." Brother Jin shouted.
I took a bath, washed my hair, shaved my face and put on new clothes. Then there were two more people in the yard.
"My boss."
Li Dashao stood up excitedly.
Shopkeeper Wu smiled as relaxedly as ever.
"Why do you look so fat again?" he also said.
"I serve you with delicious food and drinks every day. I'm either lying down or sitting. It's strange that I'm not fat." Xu Bangchui rubbed his belly and shouted, "It's not working anymore. I haven't moved my muscles and bones for a few days and they are all hard."
As he spoke, he greeted a few people around him.
"Go, go, practice, practice."
As expected, the brothers went to the backyard with laughter, and soon there were shouts.
"It's still lively because there are so many people." Shopkeeper Wu said with a smile.
"It's also troublesome." Fan Jianglin couldn't help but whisper.
"Trouble? Life is like a mess. There is no time when you are not troubled." Shopkeeper Wu said with a smile, "Okay, the bosses have a day off and go to the store quickly. They all seem to be busy."
Fan Jianglin and Xu Maoxiu looked slightly startled.
"Yes, yes." Li Dashao also said, "Now that it's cold, the business in Shenxianju is getting better and better, and it's too busy. If the bosses don't come, the shopkeeper will restrict the number of people coming to eat.
"
Shopkeeper Wu laughed.
"This restriction on people coming to eat has nothing to do with being too busy." He said, with a bit of excitement, "This is also a method. Rare things are valuable..."
"Then we can obviously still make money, so why not? What a pity we can only make fifty tables a day." Li Dashao said, "If it comes winter, I'm afraid it won't be enough."
"If it's not enough, just make a reservation in advance." Shopkeeper Wu said with a smile.
Watching the two discussing the restaurant business, Fan Jianglin and Xu Maoxiu both smiled.
"Master, what do you think?"
Shopkeeper Wu looked at them and asked.
"Shopkeeper, just say yes," Fan Jianglin said.
"Boss, you are so laid-back, your restaurant." Shopkeeper Wu joked.
Fan Jianglin and Xu Maoxiu looked at each other.
"Shopkeeper Wu... we..." Xu Maoxiu said.
Halfway through his words, Brother Jin shouted at the door that the lady is back, and everyone stood up and looked towards the door.
The door opened, and after getting out of the car, Cheng Jiaoniang appeared in front of her while her maid took off the power fence.
Wearing a plain floral skirt, blue satin clothes, and a face as fair as jade.
"Brothers are back," she said, bowing her head and bowing.
Although they wanted to hide, several brothers were called over from the backyard and walked through the door slowly.
Cheng Jiaoniang, Xu Maoxiu, shopkeeper Wu and others have already sat down.
"..Should we eat at home or go to the store?" Shopkeeper Wu was discussing with them, "Even if you are at home, don't do anything. Let the store deliver it..."
"Let me do it." Cheng Jiaoniang said, "Brothers come back from suffering. This is what a sister should do."
"No, no, my sister is suffering outside, so don't worry about it," Fan Jianglin said.
"It's not hard, I just happen to be here today." Cheng Jiaoniang looked at shopkeeper Wu and Li Dashao, smiled slightly, "Let's just treat it as a farewell party."
Saying goodbye?
Shopkeeper Wu and Li Dashao looked surprised.
Their release from prison today must be due to this woman, so she naturally knew about the order to return to the barracks, and she knew it earlier than they did.
Xu Maoxiu and others were silent, not knowing what to say.
There was silence in the room.
"What, why do you want to leave?" Li Dashao couldn't help but ask.
"We are deserters." Xu Maoxiu said, "Deserts are beheaded. We are lucky to be alive. We have washed away our grievances and escaped from the crime of fleeing, so only soldiers are left. Since we are soldiers, we have to go back."
"
Li Dashao and Shopkeeper Wu nodded in confusion, their expressions a little complicated.
"No, we didn't have to go back originally." Cheng Jiaoniang said.
As soon as these words came out, the people in the room looked shocked again.
"I have prepared three big gifts for my brothers." Cheng Jiaoniang said, "This is the first one."
Is it a great gift to be taken back to the barracks and become a soldier again?
"Okay, thank you sister." Xu Maoxiu came to his senses and was the first to say.
As he opened his mouth, Fan Jianglin and others also hurriedly thanked him.
Thank you sincerely, no questions asked.
"Don't you ask why?" Cheng Jiaoniang asked.
"What my sister has done for us is all good. We just need to do what our sister says." Xu Maoxiu said.
"I didn't ask you, so I made the decision for you privately. I don't know if it's in line with my brothers' wishes," Cheng Jiaoniang said.
Does it suit your liking?
Shopkeeper Wu and Li Dashao couldn't help but look at each other.
Is it possible to live a comfortable and prosperous life in the capital while working as a lowly and dangerous soldier on the border?
"Madam, someone outside the door said a delivery was coming."
Brother Jin's voice came from the yard.
"The second gift has arrived." The maid smiled and stood up, "Come in quickly."
"My wife has given me all good things, let me take a look." Shopkeeper Wu stood up and said with a smile.
Li Dashao also stood up.
"Then go take a look." Xu Maoxiu said with a smile.
Everyone stood in the corridor in a noisy manner. Outside the door, a man who looked like a shopkeeper was directing four or five waiters to enter.
"bow!"
Seeing what they were holding, several brothers shouted at the same time.
“It’s Gyeongju’s bow!”
Another person shouted loudly, with a bit of surprise in his voice.
Hearing this, the man in charge looked over with a smile.
"Langjun has good eyesight." He nodded and said, walking over a few steps and pointing at the longbows that were brought in one by one by the waiters, showing off with a bit of pride, "The bows in our shop are made by the Gyeongju government. These few bows are made by the Gyeongju government.
They are two-stone to three-stone bows..."
Before he finished speaking, someone rushed towards him.
"The three-stone one is mine!"
Xu Bangchui shouted and rushed towards these bows.
He looked like he was about to eat people, which scared the guy holding the bow back.
"The three-stone bow is for me to use, and the others are for the children to play with."
These words made the other brothers start to cheer, and they also stepped forward.
"...Bangchui, can you draw the three-stone bow? Don't dodge..."
The yard suddenly became lively, and after a scramble, Xu Bangchui got the bow he wanted with satisfaction.
"Ha." He put on the copper ring finger that he always carried with him, pulled the bow string hard, and exclaimed, "Ha, what a good bow, what a good bow, powerful..."
Seeing the bow being stretched easily, the shopkeeper on the side was also a little surprised.
"What a good man, what a magical power!" He praised repeatedly, "Not even the military masters can draw this three-stone bow easily."
Xu Bangchui suddenly became even more proud and shouted that he was going to the backyard to shoot arrows.
"Don't be so proud of yourself. He's just a rare sight in the capital. Which of our brothers can't pull away easily?" the other brothers said one after another.
The yard became more and more lively with joking, laughing and noisy.
"Third brother, don't you choose one?" Cheng Jiaoniang said.
Xu Maoxiu, who had been watching from the sidelines, smiled.
"You don't have to choose, as long as it's a bow, it can be used," he said.
"In other words, as long as a person is good, he can use both good and bad bows." Cheng Jiaoniang said.
Xu Maoxiu laughed.
"I accept the compliment," he said.
After dividing the bows and verifying that they were correct, the shopkeeper took the money and happily bowed out.
"This thing is so expensive!" Shopkeeper Wu smacked his lips.
A bow actually costs twenty strands! Coupled with a ring made of ox horn, seven bows can be enough for a small family to eat and drink for a year.
"This old man," the shopkeeper said hurriedly, "This Gyeongju bow is extremely rare, and not everyone can get it."
Shopkeeper Wu didn't know much about this, and the money didn't matter. Anyway, this lady never took money seriously. Money was just a plaything to her, so he just laughed it off.
The store owner took the people to leave, but the noise among the brothers in the yard has not yet dissipated.
"It costs my sister money, and the army will also be issued with crossbows." Fan Jianglin said.
Cheng Jiaoniang hadn't spoken yet, but Xu Bangchui spoke when he heard it.
"The crossbows in the army are getting worse and worse every year, and they are no longer able to go into battle!" he shouted.
Xu Maoxiu stared.
"That won't cost my sister any money," he said.
Xu Bangchui touched his head and laughed.
"I didn't ask my sister to buy it. I just told my third brother that it was issued by the military." He said.
"It doesn't cost anything." Cheng Jiaoniang said with a slight smile, "Brothers are rich now, let alone twenty bows, even thirty or forty bows are just a matter of words."
"Yes, yes." Xu Bangchui nodded and smiled.
Fan Jianglin glared at him.
"...It's just that the value of a bow is not the price." Cheng Jiaoniang continued, "Why don't brothers buy this good government-made bow instead of picking up some branches and hemp rope and twisting it yourself?"
The noisy courtyard gradually became quiet.
"We are not stingy, we are..." Someone couldn't help but said, but they didn't know what to say.
"Brothers themselves don't know why." Cheng Jiaoniang looked at him and said, "But I know, I will tell my brothers."
She raised her feet and walked down the steps slowly, looking at the brothers in the yard who were holding bows and arrows, the joy on their faces not dissipating.
"Brothers, you always carry a wrench with you..." she said, looking at the brass wrench on the thumb of the brother in front of her, which had been polished to a shiny yellow color.
"I...I'm just used to it..." the brother said with some restraint.
"Yes, you are used to it." Cheng Jiaoniang said, walking past them one by one, "You are used to exercising your muscles and bones in all weathers, you are used to holding swords and guns ready to fight at any time, you are used to lying on the land of singing and dancing, you are used to being ready for battle at any time.
Keep your ears open and listen to the gongs and drums of attack..."
As she spoke, not to mention Xu Maoxiu and others who stopped talking, even Shopkeeper Wu and Li Dashao felt their breathing became a little short and couldn't help but clenched their hands.
The blood flowing in the bones is the most indelible...
"...It's just that here, there is no summons from the military camp, nor the screams of the comrades fighting each other, nor the murderous intention of the enemy coming at any time..." Cheng Jiaoniang said, standing next to Xu Bangchui
In front of him, he stretched out his hand to touch the long bow he was holding tightly in his hand, "...These bows and arrows here are just decorations hanging on the wall, just toys to play with my sister. Even if a crossbow is hard to find, take it."
What’s the use of having it in your hand…”
She let go of her hand, turned around, and walked back slowly.
"A tiger is only a beast in the mountains and forests, and a dragon has its power only when it hides in a deep pool. My brothers' bows and arrows are only worth a thousand gold when they are on the battlefield, and only when they are shot into the enemy's chest. So brothers will not buy those worth a thousand dollars."
A bow and arrow worth a thousand gold, because holding it and hanging it like this here is humiliating it.”
"A tiger would rather starve to death in the forest than be satiated in an iron cage. That's why I want to give my brothers a gift. It's not about sitting on a golden mountain and living a life of peace, but to make contributions and wash away the shame. Where did my brothers fall?
Get up wherever you go, and pat the dirt on your body wherever you go."
She stood in front of the steps and looked at Xu Maoxiu and others.
"I wonder if your brothers still like this gift I gave you?"
*************************************
The three-day holiday is over. It’s so painful to go to work. I’ll update it today. I’ll wait until I get used to it~~~~(_)~~~~
Double updates will resume tomorrow.
But the double pink is not over yet. If you still have a guarantee, please vote for it. Thank you. (To be continued)
