Tongxi Village.
Spring is full of vitality. Like many villages, Tongxi Village is filled with cultivated land and fields at first glance. Villagers in twos and threes are working in the fields. There are paths running between the fields and various plants planted there. Pear tree.
Spring in the south heats up faster than in the north. It's only late March, and the sun at noon is already as bright as in summer.
The elderly peasant man wiped his sweat, rested his straw hat on his waist and took a rest. Looking into the distance, he saw a carriage slowly driving towards their village.
Tongxi Village originally lived a peaceful and stable life like other unknown villages. A few months ago, they welcomed a group of passers-by and asked if they could stay overnight.
Those people were well-dressed, generous and polite, and the kind-hearted and hospitable villagers stayed with them, and they left early the next morning.
Who knew that not long after they left, strange things happened one after another in Tongxi Village.
At first, they heard the howling of wolves in the middle of the night. There had been no wolves in their village for a long time, and the location was not very remote. There should not have been any wolves anyway. However, a few days later, someone was bitten to death by a wolf early in the morning.
The man died at the door of his home with his eyes wide open. He seemed to have seen some terrible scene. There were bite marks on his body and messy scratches on the door. It could be seen that the man was struggling desperately before his death. He wanted to go in, but ended up falling at the door.
The villagers were very scared and arranged many traps and anti-wolf devices. Fortunately, it worked and they actually caught one or two lone wolves.
Just when the villagers were relaxing a little, it didn't take long for young men in the village to start missing. At first, the two or three missing were gangsters who didn't have a good reputation in the village. They didn't do their job on weekdays, so the villagers didn't take it seriously. , but a few days apart, villagers found their mummies in the mountains, rivers near the village, or elsewhere.
Before they could react, children in the village began to get lost. This was terrible. The successive accidents brought a huge sense of fear, deeply suppressing the hearts of the villagers in Tongxi Village. Tongxi Rumors that the village seemed to be cursed became more and more popular.
Some people were so frightened that they ran away overnight. Gradually, all the young and strong people in the village who were able to walk moved away, leaving behind only the old, weak, sick and disabled and those who had no place to go. Their ancestors have lived here for generations, where can they go without money? Is it to eat and sleep in the open air or to soak up the wind and rain?
Tongxi Village has been labeled as unknown, and which relative is willing to take them in?
Poverty and indifference are more terrifying than death that is not known when it will come.
In the end, more than half of the hundreds of villagers left, leaving only about 30 households. The elderly village chief stayed to live and die with the village, and set rules for the remaining people: sunrise and sunset, Don't go out after dark. If you must go out, you must go in groups of three.
But even so, there are always passers-by who have lost their traces and news nearby for no apparent reason, including disciples of the Xiaomen sect in Jianghu, so Cangshan once again sent disciples to investigate and assist. They should have arrived a long time ago. But it was delayed for half a month because of the accident in Yangzhou City.
The old man squinted as the carriage passed by, and couldn't help but think that the disaster in Tongxi Village seemed to have started with the arrival of that carriage.
Such thoughts flashed through his mind, causing his expression to change drastically. Then he saw the carriage stopped in front of the field. The handsome man in the carriage smiled at him. Although he was still some distance away, the smile on his face was still there. But with eyes like a life-threatening evil spirit, he dropped the hoe and turned around and ran away.
Xu Pei raised the curtain without saying a word. He looked at the old man's running back and didn't know what he was thinking.
"Master?" The guard outside called him.
"Let's go to the entrance of the village." Xu Pei lowered the curtain and said.
"Brother Ah Pei, why did that old man run away?" The girl next to Xu Pei also asked after seeing the scene just now.
Xu Pei sighed: "Miss, I told you that you shouldn't come."
The girl called the eldest lady pouted and said dissatisfiedly: "You just want to get rid of me! I won't go back. My father agreed and told you to take good care of me."
"But I'm traveling with all men this time, so it's very inconvenient for you to be a woman."
The girl held his arm and smiled sweetly: "So you have to take better care of me."
The guards outside the car listened to the conversation in the car and turned their heads and pretended not to hear. The eldest lady just wants Mr. Xu to accompany her, and don't torture servants like them.
When the villagers saw outsiders coming, they ignored them and erected a defense device at the entrance of the village. There were also young men holding long guns and looking at them indifferently. A guard came forward and wanted to talk to him, but he pointed a long gun at them. He pushed back, and it was obvious that if he forced his way in, he would risk his life.
"It's in the wild, prepare to stay."
...
When Ruan Xianbei and the others arrived, they saw Xu Pei and his party camping in the wild.
"We're here," Shen Xuan said.
When the carriage stopped, they also saw the frightened villagers and the indifferent guards.
Someone was camping not far from the entrance of the village, and the tents had been set up.
"That group of people is...Xu Pei?" Ruan Xianbei said, "Why is he here?"
"Who is Xu Pei?" Cheng Suisui asked.
Ruan Xianbei pursed his lips: "That, a disciple of Lingxiao Villa, the adopted son of the owner of the village."
Several people got off their horses, and the coachman pulled the carriage aside. They saw Xu Pei and his group, and Xu Pei naturally saw them, especially there was a monk. It was difficult not to notice them.
"Junior Brother Shen." Xu Pei had a smile on his face and looked much better than when he met at the martial arts club. He looked at Ruan Xianbei again, "This junior sister is here too."
"Senior Brother Xu is here too," Shen Xuan replied calmly, "Senior Brother Xu's health looks much better than last time."
"Yes, after hearing about what happened in Tongxi Village, my adoptive father learned that Cangshan sent disciples down the mountain, so he asked me to come and see where I could help." Xu Pei smiled, "I didn't expect such a coincidence. They are all acquaintances. Although I may not be able to help you much, but the people I bring are all masters of the Tianxuan realm, so don’t be polite if you need them."
He pointed at the guards, and Ruan Xianbei looked over. He had heard the phrase "If you need help, you're welcome" too many times during this period.
While talking, the girl in the pink skirt also ran over.
"Brother Ah Pei, who are they?" The girl, with a petite figure and a sweet voice, asked Xu Pei delicately with her chin raised.
Xu Pei introduced: "These are the disciples of Cangshan. This is Junior Brother Shen Xuan that I mentioned. This is Junior Master Tongchun of Mahayana Temple."
"Oh, what about these two girls?" the girl asked again.
Xu Pei smiled apologetically and said, "Sorry, I don't know the names of the two girls."
Ruan Xianbei felt uncomfortable when he saw Xu Pei. He was afraid that he would make a mistake, so he stood half a step behind the others to avoid making any unexpected moves.
Cheng Suisui held her hand, and Shen Xuan also paid some attention to her.
The girl looked at them with eyes, and her lips were obviously smiling but with a hint of disdain.
Ruan Xianbei said nothing. Cheng Suisui took a small step forward and stretched out his hand: "It's normal that Senior Brother Xu doesn't know us. My name is Cheng Suisui and this is Ruan Xianbei."
"My name is Mu Ruojiao." The girl smiled but had no intention of reaching out. She looked at Shen Xuan and then at Ruan Xianbei, who had been silent, and pulled Xu Pei to leave.
"Brother Ah Pei, go and help me set up the tent. There seem to be bugs inside, and I'm scared."
"I'll go there first." Xu Pei smiled apologetically again and followed the girl back.
"Brother Ah Pei, is that Shen Xuan? I still think you are the prettiest."
"Don't talk nonsense, there's no point in looking good."
Cheng Suisui looked at his outstretched hand and was speechless.
After they walked away, a few people also chose a place to sit down and rest. Cheng Suisui sat down and looked over her hands. She asked Ruan Xianbei: "Is this Mu Ruojiao hostile to us?"
"Even you feel it
Already? Ruan Xianbei glanced at her in surprise, "Mu Ruojiao is hostile to everyone of the opposite sex who appears around Xu Pei. Didn't you see that she was almost obsessed with Xu Pei?"
"Isn't that right? We are not familiar with Xu Pei, so there are so many women in the world, how can she handle it?" Cheng Suisui opened the box and took out some food to share with everyone. He took out one of them and took a bite, saying: " this is not bad!"
Ruan Xianbei took it and saw that it was actually a butterfly cake. Cui Lin was really interested when she thought that the last time she ate butterfly cake was at Miss Wen's house.
The sweet taste spread on the tip of her tongue. After finishing a piece, she slowly took a sip of water and said, "People enjoy it, so this is not something we should worry about."
Cheng Suisui was indignant: "Damn it, she also said that the senior brother is not as good as Xu Pei. How can that sick and sick look be compared to the senior brother?"
Ruan Xianbei laughed at these words, "That's true. If Tongchun grows his hair and returns to secular life, he can beat Xu Pei by eight hundred streets."
Ruan Xianbei looked across. Is it a coincidence that Xu Pei appeared here at the same time as them? Do they have something else to do, or are they really just here to help as he said?
Ruan Xianbei recalled the location of Lingxiao Villa, and after thinking about it, he found that he had no impression of it!
Very good, she doesn’t know the key things.
Ruan Yan wanted to negotiate at the entrance of the village, but the villagers also ignored him. When Tong Chun saw him coming back, he said, "How about I give it a try, little monk?"
"Donor." Tongchun went to the village entrance to talk to the guarding villagers again, "The young monk saw that the donor seemed to be troubled. I wonder if there is anything that the young monk can do to help the donor?"
Tong Chun spoke very slowly, and there seemed to be a troubled expression on the man's face, but then he immediately returned to indifference and pointed a long gun at him.
He gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words from his throat: "Leave quickly."
Tongchun took a step back and bowed: "Thank you so much, donor."
He returned with a solemn expression, sat down and said to the others, "There is a problem here."
Twenty taels of silver was a bit too small, but in modern times it was still around eight thousand to ten thousand yuan.
At present, an ordinary soldier in the Yu Dynasty can only earn one tael of silver per month at most, and a centurion can earn three taels of silver per month.
Maybe he will accept it.
In addition, Qin Hu is also planning to draw a big pie for Li Xiaokun. After all, Qin Hu used to have money.
Now it depends on whether he and Qin An can survive the night.
"Little Marquis, I may not be able to survive. I'm so hungry, my hands and feet are frozen with cold." Qin An said in a daze.
"Xiao Anzi, Xiao Anzi, hold on, hold on, you can't stay still, get up and run, that's the only way you can survive."
In fact, Qin Hu himself is in trouble. Although he was a special soldier in his previous life, this body is not what he used to be. All he has now is a perseverance.
"Wait!"
Qin Hu's eyes were like cold stars, and he suddenly shouted in a low voice. A reflection and a rustling sound that appeared just ten meters away from the camp aroused his alertness.
With the professional sense of smell of a special scout, he felt that it was the enemy.
But should we notify Li Xiaokun?
Qin Hu hesitated a little. What if he saw it wrong? You know, his current physical condition is completely different from before.
If a false alarm causes night terrors or camp roars, and someone gets a handle on it, they will be killed without mercy.
"Xiao Anzi, hand me the bow and arrow."
Qin Hu crawled under the carriage and whispered.
But Qin An's next words scared him so much that he almost jumped up.
"Bow and arrow, what are bow and arrow?"
What, there are no bows and arrows in this era?
Qin Hu looked around and found a wooden stick with a sharpened top placed under the wheel. It was two meters long. It was thick at the handle and became thinner as it went up.
The more I look at it, the more it looks like a weapon.
Wooden gun, this is the iconic building of the cannon fodder.
"Come closer, come closer..." After a few breaths, Qin Hu was sure that he was right.
The other party may be the enemy's scouts, called scouts in this era. They are trying to enter the camp and conduct reconnaissance.
Of course, if conditions permit, you can also poison, set fire to, or perform a beheading operation.
"one two three……"
He and Qin An lay motionless on the ground until then, he suddenly jumped up and threw the wooden spear as a javelin.
"puff!"
It was impossible for the scout to wear armor because he had difficulty moving, so the shot pierced his chest directly.
Following Qin Hu, he picked up the wooden gun belonging to Qin An, jumped out of the carriage, and chased in the opposite direction desperately.
For the reliability of intelligence, the scouts are required to monitor each other and are not allowed to act alone, so there are at least two.
After a few moments, Qin Hu threw another black shadow to the ground.
Then he strangled his neck with a wooden gun. There was a crisp sound and the man's head hung down.
"Hoo, hoo!" Qin Hu was sweating profusely and almost collapsed. He lay on the ground gasping for air. His body was really too weak.
Just to break the enemy's neck, before he could just use his hands, but just now he had to rely on the power of a wooden gun.
"Qin An, come here and help me search you."
Qin Hu is familiar with the rules of the battlefield. He must collect all the trophies from these two guys as quickly as possible.
"Two daggers, two horizontal knives, a level, seven or eight taels of broken silver, two grain bags, flags, kettles, two sets of cotton-padded clothes, two pot helmets, bacon..."
"Qin An, brother, hurry up, hurry up, eat something quickly, you are saved..."
Qin Hu tremblingly grabbed a handful of fried beans from the grain bag and stuffed it into Qin An's mouth, then filled him with water and put on the captured cotton-padded clothes.
.
Before dawn, Qin Hu cut off the scout's head before the sentry on duty arrived, carried it into Shi Chang's camp, and reported what happened yesterday.
This was done to prevent others from taking credit, and he knew what kind of environment he was in now.
"Thirty taels of silver for one head, you are rich."
The chief's name was Gundam. He was a tall, muscular man with a beard.
At first, he didn't believe it until he saw the trophies captured by Qin Hu and the two corpses.
At this moment, his eyes were full of envy, jealousy and hatred.
"It's not me who gets rich, it's everyone who gets rich. This is the result of the ten of us."
