Gu Laosan and Lin Manliu chatted a few more times in front of the villagers before they completely dispelled their concerns.
Then Yijian Villa and others, led by Gu Laosan, rushed to the village not far ahead.
Compared with others, Lin Manliu and Yue Hanzhi walked this northbound road for the second time.
At Zhou Mo's suggestion, they headed towards Dongdu together, and finally met Mr. Qinglan and his first wife Su Miannuan again in the suburbs, and even got acquainted with the heroine Shen Qingpei.
Looking at the same scenery as they saw last year, both of them couldn't help but recall their experiences in that winter.
Lin Manliu said casually: "I don't know what happened to Brother Zheng now..."
Yue Hanzhi responded: "It's not a bad idea to allow the villagers to spontaneously protect the old, weak, women and children, and not abandon the village after hearing about the war, right?"
Indeed, whether it is Gu Laosan who looked like a gangster when they first met, or the young and strong men who are now working together to maintain the stability of the village, they all have Zheng Shuan's push behind them to achieve the current situation.
Lin Manliu glanced sideways at Gu Laosan. After the latter noticed the young man's gaze, he hurriedly walked forward.
At this moment, he was exactly the same as when he recognized the boy just now, with a face full of the intention to please.
The young man felt a little uncomfortable and shrank his head.
When Gu Laosan saw this, he immediately explained: "When we first met last year, I was impressed by the hero's skills. When we meet today, I can clearly see the hero's martial arts, just like the banished immortal descending from the sky..."
Lin Manliu quickly raised his hand to stop Gu Laosan from speaking.
He said: "There's no need to brag. Brother Gu really needs to correct these problems when he has time..."
Gu Laosan laughed with a flattering look on his face: "Then...can I call him Liu Daxia like Brother Zheng? Or Lin Daxia?"
Gu Laosan naturally heard the weird and strange things that Ye Dang heard just now. Even if he had never seen them, he had heard Zheng Shuan talk about the travel experiences of some knights in the world...
It is said that almost most knights use pseudonyms in order to reduce unnecessary trouble or to avoid being targeted by enemies.
When he met this young knight last year, he signed up his own number: Yijian Villa, Liu Manlin.
See you again today, Yijian Villa should be firmly established, and Liu Manliu is almost aware that he is an alias when he is away from home.
Lin Manliu joked: "Brother Gu is actually quite observant sometimes. Why was he so confused before?"
Gu Laosan coughed twice and explained: "Before, it was all about taking advantage of others, so don't make fun of me..."
Lin Manliu responded: "Brother Gu, just call me Brother Lin. I have heard too many things about being a hero and not a hero, and I always think they are some curse words..."
They are all that old liar who disgusts Lin Daxia one by one all day long. Now hearing the word Daxia makes Lin Manliu's heart skip a beat.
Gu Laosan said with a smile: "Being respectful is worse than obeying orders. Let me call you Brother Lin first! When I meet Brother Zheng later, I can be a little older than him for the time being, so I feel comfortable!"
From Gu Laosan's tone, one can tell that Zheng Shuan does have some skills.
Although the character of the people under his command is mixed, it is not easy for him to abide by his duties.
Lin Manliu said: "If Brother Gu wants to meet Brother Zheng, he can help him out!"
Hearing that the young man wanted to help him "trouble", Gu Laosan burst into laughter, his mouth reaching to the back of his head.
"Let's go out for a walk and take advantage of Brother Zheng! Brothers, you can watch Brother Zheng's jokes later!"
The villagers behind him also laughed with Gu Laosan, and some of them even came closer and talked about some interesting things.
It sounds like it means that Gu Laosan has suffered all kinds of losses at the hands of Zheng Shuan over the years, and how was he summoned by Zheng Shuan to teach him a lesson in person...
When Gu Laosan heard these words, there was no trace of anger on his face.
It seemed that no matter how much the villagers laughed at him, he remained still and even had a smile on his face.
Compared with his lackluster attitude in previous years, Gu Laosan has become much tougher this year!
Lin Manliu looked at his current appearance and felt a little more admiration in his heart.
The young man spoke up again: "Whether it's Brother Zheng or Brother Gu, the two of you are worthy of the 'chivalrous' character in your heart if you can handle things like this!"
This time, Gu Laosan did not answer the question as flatteringly as before. He just nodded silently and clenched his fists.
With swords for thousands of miles, hoeing the strong and supporting the weak, he is the hero who dares to be the first in the world alone.
It is the hero who protects the security of the village, sticks to his heart, and prevents the weak from being bullied.
They did it!
...
The mountain road is not long, and it didn’t take long to see the whole village.
The familiar village station is not far ahead.
Lin Manliu briefly mentioned some precautions when entering the village to the brothers behind him.
Then the boy and the woman in blue beside him winked, and the two of them hurried towards the village entrance station.
The horse's hooves trampled on the mud, making a brisk sound, which made the inn manager stick out his head and look over.
First he spotted the two cavalry figures, and he was about to shout, "Guest officer, please stay in the hotel!"
As a result, when they saw the crowd of people behind the two riders, they immediately retreated into the inn and no longer dared to look outside.
These days, all the travelers were going south to avoid trouble, and the folks in the village were hiding at home. He was the only one in the inn at this time.
The innkeeper's legs were trembling and he didn't dare to look outside.
But when he heard the sound of horse hooves getting closer and closer, he seemed to be scared out of his wits, and huddled under the counter.
Finally, when the horse's hoofbeats were heard, they stopped. The innkeeper's heart was filled with despair, and he slumped on the ground helplessly.
Lin Manliu shouted: "Don't worry, shopkeeper, I'm just passing by here and want to buy some tea!"
The innkeeper didn't dare to reply, so the young man had to take out some money from his arms and put it on the table.
"I put the money on the table. The shopkeeper can come and get it later. I will return the teapot after I use it!"
Hearing the young man's words, the manager of the inn was even more heartbroken.
He immediately said: "The teapot... we don't want it! Uh... and the money... we won't accept it either, little brother, just take it as soon as possible!"
Lin Manliu heard the timidity in the other party's heart and had no choice but to continue explaining.
"Don't worry, shopkeeper. We came here with Brother Gu, and we are still half-acquaintances with Brother Zheng. If the shopkeeper goes out and takes a look, he might be able to remember who this guy is!"
The young man thought that the inn manager would let down his guard, but it turned out that the inn manager seemed to be in a panic.
"You guys...if you don't leave! You will be targeted by the village tyrants here later! We have paid money to others, and they will protect our inn safely!"
Hearing this, Lin Manliu and Yue Hanzhi looked at each other, and they thought of one thing in perfect agreement.
Now this Brother Zheng is really the village tyrant...
Before the boy could continue to explain, Gu Laosan ran forward.
The innkeeper's shouts earlier were so loud that he listened to them all.
Gu Laosan shouted to the inn: "Master Lin really came with me, Gu Laosan! Don't hide it! If you don't believe me, I will go to the village and ask Brother Zheng to come with me!"
Afterwards, no one responded at the inn for a long time.
Gu Laosan was about to enter in person, and when he was explaining to the innkeeper, a figure walked out of the inn.
Lin Manliu's eyes lit up, wasn't it Zheng Shuan?
The young man shouted: "Brother Zheng, long time no see!"
Zheng Shuan did not respond immediately, but instead saluted Lin Manliu and Yue Hanzhi with cupped fists.
"I never imagined that I could see Liu Shaoxia again!"
Lin Manliu said: "Brother Zheng did what he did. Brother Gu gave me an overview along the way. I admire you!"
Zheng Shuan raised his hand and knocked on the counter beside him. Only then did the inn manager dare to stick his head out and look at the three people outside the room.
After seeing Gu Laosan's appearance clearly, he slowly exhaled and finally dared to stand up straight.
The shopkeeper murmured: "I just thought that the third child was being coerced. I was really scared to death..."
When Gu Laosan heard such a guess, he immediately stamped his feet.
"It's been so long... I still think that Gu Laosan is a coward! I'm so angry!"
Zheng Shuan pointed at Gu Lao San's nose, laughed and scolded: "Lao San, you are just a coward!"
Gu Laosan was about to cry but had no tears. He moved his body to the side and found a corner to squat by himself.
Zheng Shuangou glanced at the scene outside the village, looking at the villagers and Yijian Villa disciples who had all arrived.
He asked the young man: "Those must be Liu Shaoxia's classmates, right?"
Lin Manliu said: "Well! Those who are going north on this trip are all from our Yijian Villa. Brother Zheng can tell the folks, don't worry, we are just passing by."
Zheng Shuan nodded and pointed to a table and chairs.
"Do you have time to chat for a while?"
Lin Manliu nodded as a sign, and then sat down with Zheng Shuan.
After taking his seat, Zheng Shuan spontaneously talked about all the recent events, including the war disaster in the Eastern Capital, the rumors about the emperor and the empress, and the people fleeing south.
During the whole process, he never asked what the reason for his trip to Yijian Villa was, nor did he ask Lin Manliu what he thought about everything.
Because in Zheng Shuan's opinion, Liu Shaoxia in front of him is so chivalrous, then Yijian Villa behind him is even more chivalrous!
When Zheng Shuan finished speaking, someone suddenly spoke up.
"From what you have seen, what do you think of the recent rumors about the Demon Queen causing chaos?"
Zheng Shuan looked around and saw that the person asking was not seated, but a figure in a yellow shirt who had just walked into the inn.
Seeing the smile on the visitor's face, Zheng Shuan filled up the tea in front of his desk and drank it all in one gulp.
Zheng Shuanyan said: "I used to follow the example of others and read some idle books...Throughout the ages, whenever a war is about to break out, I either ask for advice from thieves or use evil words to confuse the public. Today, it is nothing more than the latter..."
The figure in yellow shirt said: "Then your Excellency, you mean that these things cannot be heard, and the actions of the rebels cannot be trusted?"
Zheng Shuan shook his head and said: "We are all trying to maintain stability. Which side's words are trustworthy and which side's fist is harder is actually not that important to us..."
For them, the thoughts of the people in the world don't seem to be that important.
