With King An's instructions, Ning Lang hurried for more than ten days, but finally reached Qingzhou.
Before entering Qingzhou, he already knew everything about Qingzhou. He knew that the people here were strong and there was a gang of mountain bandits. This time, he came here and listened to King An's meaning, which is to let him befriend those mountain bandits. good.
Seeing the stone tablet with the word "Qingzhou" written on it, Ning Lang straightened his clothes and his expression became serious.
When he arrived in Qingzhou, he first settled in an inn in the city of Qingzhou. Chu Fei had sent people here to make preparations early, and those who followed him hid in the dark, and he was the only one living in.
Ning Lang didn't mind either.
After putting away his luggage, he walked out of the inn with his hands behind his back, and walked around Qingzhou City with a curious face.
He had only stayed in the capital before, and he didn't know what other places looked like. Unlike the prosperous Jinsheng in the capital, Qingzhou was full of traces of simplicity. Most of the people here rely on hunting for a living, and there are also many animal skins and meats sold by roadside vendors, which is different from the capital.
Ning Lang's attention was quickly attracted by a cage of animal cubs on the roadside stall.
The stall owner looked at him with a smile: "This son is not from Qingzhou, right?"
Ning Lang stared at the cub in the cage, nodded when he heard the words, and asked, "How do you know?"
"Young master looks different from us from Qingzhou." Seeing that he was curious about the cubs in the cage, the stall owner lifted the cage up and put it in front of him so that he could see it more clearly. The stall owner boasted: "Young master is really good-looking, but it took me a lot of effort to finally be the tiger cub I found!"
"Tiger?!" Ning Lang's eyes suddenly lit up.
The tabby cat cub in the cage let out a soft cry: "Meow~"
Ning Lang was stunned: "Why does this sound like a cat?"
The stall owner didn't change his face and said: "Young master is not from Qingzhou. I think you have never seen a tiger before?"
"I haven't seen it."
"That boy doesn't know, this tiger cub used to cry like this when he was a child." The stall owner said: "This tiger has eighteen changes. , the figure will also be much taller than now, it is the appearance of the tiger you know, sir."
Ning Lang hesitated: "Really?"
The stall owner continued: "When this little brat grows up, the son wants to use him as a mount, as a pet, that's fine, think about it, son, if you go out with a tiger by your side, how majestic it will be? "
Ning Lang was moved.
The stall owner glanced at him up and down, and then praised: "I looked at the young master Yushu Linfeng, but he lacked a little domineering."
"Domineering?"
The stall owner patted the cage: "With this tiger, doesn't the young master even have the lack of domineering?"
Ning Lang looked down at the cage and met the round and wet eyes of the tabby cat, and his heart softened. He thought about the majestic appearance of this tiger cub when he grew up, and then thought about the look of a tiger following him, in the capital. , this is the only one.
Ning Lang immediately took out the money bag: "How much money does this tiger cub cost?"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a burst of laughter next to him.
The stall owner's face was full of joy, and just as he was about to open his mouth to say the price, he suddenly panicked and closed his mouth.
Ning Lang turned his head to look, and saw a handsome man standing next to him. Yang Zhen was looking down at the goods on the stall. Hearing the conversation between him and the stall owner, he couldn't hold back, and then he smiled. come out.
Ning Lang suddenly wondered, "What are you laughing at?"
Yang Zhen waved his hand and said, "Nothing."
The stall owner looked relieved, and then he felt relieved.
Ning Lang continued to ask, "How much money does this tiger cub cost?"
"I see that the young master is very eye-catching, why don't you ask for five..." The stall owner glanced at Yang Zhen and changed his words: "Three hundred taels."
It was the first time Ning Lang went out. Jiang Yunlan was worried about him, so he prepared a lot of money for him. Now he said that he would pay for the 300 taels without hesitation. Three hundred taels of silver notes fell into the hands of the stall owner, and the tiger cub also belonged to Ning Lang.
Ning Lang was overjoyed. With this tiger cub, he stopped shopping in the street. On the way, he bought some raw meat at the meat stall and planned to go back to feed the tiger. Then he happily carried the cub back to the inn.
It's just that he quickly ran into a problem.
The little brat is very resistant to raw meat, even if he uses a knife to cut it into pieces, the little brat is not tempted at all, his mouth is tightly closed, a pitiful whimper comes from his throat, and his big eyes are wet and pitiful. . Ning Lang was very anxious, and later the inn brought him his dinner, and he dipped it in the broth before the little brat was willing to open his mouth.
After a night, the little brat slumped visibly. Ning Lang had never raised a tiger cub before, so he was so anxious that he went out with the cub early in the morning to find the owner of yesterday's stall, but when he arrived at the stall, the stall had already changed its owner and sold It is no longer an animal, but a pile of animal meat.
"This little boy, do you want to come and taste the bear meat I just hunted? This bear paw is very delicious. You might as well buy one and try it..."
Ning Lang looked around in Qingzhou City, but he couldn't find anyone no matter what, so his subordinates came to look for him, saying that he was going to visit the leader of the Qinglong Mountain bandit today. , Ning Lang had to hold his cub up the mountain with his head down and dejected.
On the way, he was still worried, he lowered his head and said to the little cub: "I heard that the leader of the mountain bandit is extremely scary, as strong as a bear, as powerful as an ox, and he is lucky to drink raw blood. If you want to kill someone, you can't lift my shoulders and I can't resist, he can knock me down with one punch, if something really happens, you have to protect me."
The little cub called out weakly: "Meow~"
Ning Lang was even more worried: "You said that when you grow up, of course you will be majestic, but you haven't grown up yet, they are all tigers, and they should have a little bit of that... domineering?"
"Meow~"
Ning Lang sighed deeply.
When he entered Qinglong Village, he saw several mountain bandits with strong backs, and even huddled into a ball with his own cubs in his arms. After entering the main room, he thought he would see someone more powerful and majestic than those outside. The burly man, who knew that there was a handsome young man sitting on the main seat inside. Compared with the bandits around him, he didn't look like a mountain bandit, but a scholar.
Ning Lang couldn't help but look left and right: "Where's the person? The King of the Mountain hasn't come yet?"
Yang Zhen was also surprised: "It turned out to be you?"
"you know me?"
Yang Zhen nodded and nodded to the little cub in his arms: "You really treat this cat cub as a treasure."
Ning Lang remembered that he was the stranger who was laughing beside the stall. Ning Lang opened his mouth and retorted, "This is not a cat cub, this is a tiger cub, and he will grow into a tiger in the future."
Yang Zhen couldn't hold back, and suddenly burst out laughing.
Ning Lang was puzzled, but even the surrounding bandits laughed.
One of the bandits said unabashedly: "People from outside are really a liar. They take a cat cub as a tiger cub, and some people even believe it. Does a tiger cub look like this?"
Ning Lang: "..."
Yang Zhenren smiled and said, "Did you go to the stall owner today?"
"how do you know?"
Yang Zhen said: "The rules in Qingzhou City are like this. Anyone who deceives people will rest for a few days, because those who take advantage of them will soon come to the door and wait for those people to leave Qingzhou before they continue to spread out."
"And then to deceive the next one?"
Yang Zhen nodded: "That's right."
Ning Lang was extremely depressed.
Qingzhou City is not a small city, and there are many passers-by who come and go, so there are many people who have been deceived. Many people have no good impression of Qingzhou. Most of the news about Qingzhou is also spread from these passers-by. from.
As soon as Ning Lang came back to Qingzhou, he was deceived 300 taels on the first day. He even held a cat cub as a tiger cub, and his heart was broken.
…
Ning Lang settled down in Qingzhou City.
Although he spent three hundred taels of silver to buy a kitten, he didn't dislike it after he got angry. He still carried the kitty wherever he went every day. It's a tiger cub.
Yang Zhen was very curious, because Ning Lang wanted to have a good relationship with these mountain bandits, and he took the people sent by Chu Fei to do some business in Qingzhou, which made him often go up the mountain to find Yang Really, and every time Yang Zhen sees him, he can see that cat cub.
As time went on, Yang Zhen couldn't help but be curious.
"Didn't you know that this is a kitten? Why do you still carry him around?" Yang Zhen asked, "You don't want your tiger anymore?"
"A tiger is a tiger, and a cat is a cat. Just because it's a cat, you shouldn't want it, right?" Ning Lang lowered his head to tease the milk cat, and the little tabby cat hugged his fingers and meowed softly.
"It's so small, it's really pitiful, and it died accidentally. I went out last time and left it in the inn, but when I came back, I couldn't find her. I searched the whole inn before I could find her. I found that she was hiding under the bed, starved for a day, and almost died. Another time, it was accidentally caught by someone else, and that person even caught it and stewed it, alas, you people from Qingzhou are really…” Ning Lang said, but couldn't help shaking his head again.
"..."
"You said it's so small, if I didn't take it with me, and I accidentally lost my life, wouldn't I become a villain?" Ning Lang touched it pitifully: "A cat is a cat, at least I spent three I bought it for 100 taels of silver, if it’s really a tiger, I have to worry about whether the tiger will bite me when it grows up, if it doesn’t bite me and kills someone else, I’ll have to go to jail.”
Ning Lang sighed and accepted this fate.
Yang Zhen was speechless.
"But it's just a cat." Yang Zhen said, "You were deceived for three hundred taels, so you're not angry?"
Ning Lang waved his hand and said without hesitation, "It's okay, it's not the first time I've been deceived."
"..."
"Besides, what happened to the cat? If I let my sister know that I bought a cat and then threw it away, my sister would definitely be angry with me." Ning Lang sighed, "You know, little girl... Let it eat around you. There are not many, and I don’t lack a bite of food for it, and it doesn’t make trouble on weekdays, so I just keep it.”
Yang Zhen's mood is very complicated.
The bandits in the cottage rely on hunting for a living, and those fur and animal meat can also sell for a good price in Qingzhou. The more times Ning Lang went up the mountain, the more often he would come across the pictures of those mountain bandits handling the corpses of wild beasts. When he first saw him, his face was a little pale, but after seeing it a lot, he got used to it.
Yang Zhen asked him again: "You are pitiful even for a kitten. Now that you see this, you don't feel pitiful for those beasts?"
"I know." Ning Lang raised his chin proudly, but he asked clearly: "There are many beasts on this mountain, and they multiply quickly. If you don't destroy them, sooner or later they will go down the mountain and harm Qingzhou City. I have also asked the common people, and said that you will control the hunting, and will not kill them all. If so, what is there to be pitiful for?”
"real?"
"You make a living on this, and you earn money by your own abilities. When people outside Qingzhou talk about you, they all say that you are domineering mountain bandits who loot and loot all day long, but I don't think that's the case." Ning Lang said solemnly. : "My sister said that those who make money on their own are very powerful, and I am not as good as them."
Yang Zhen: "You talk about your sister all day, is your sister really that good?"
"Of course." Ning Lang said proudly, "My sister is the best sister in the world."
"..."
Seeing her expression, Ning Lang became wary again: "I'll tell you first, you can't hit my sister's mind. My sister is so good, but I can't just marry you..."
"Me?" Yang Zhen raised his eyebrows: "Yesterday you said how good I am, but I can't do it today? Didn't you just say that those who rely on their own skills to make money are all very powerful, just like this Said, I should be very good too."
"My sister... My sister..." Ning Lang was anxious in his heart, and his mouth was stupid. If he couldn't say how to refute, he simply ran away with his own kitten in his arms: "Anyway, you can't hit my sister's idea!"
A day later, when he went up the mountain again, the whole mountain bandit knew that he had a younger sister who was hurt by him like a jewel, and he couldn't even let anyone say a word.
…
Ning Lang ran more and more, and his relationship with Yang Zhen became more familiar.
He has always been familiar with him, and he can get along with everyone. Once he gets to know him, he always likes to talk about his own affairs with others. Not only did Yang Zhen know that he had a father who used to be unclear, but has finally become clear recently, he used to be weak and obedient to her, but now he is a fierce mother to everyone, and he also has a smart and beautiful sister. He has a friend who is preparing for the Qiu Wei exam in Beijing. Even the purpose of his coming to Qingzhou was revealed unintentionally. Combined with Yang Zhen's own investigation, he quickly guessed the truth.
Yang Zhen can't wait to knock on his head to see why he can be so undefended by so many people.
Ning Lang has come here many times, not only getting acquainted with Yang Zhen, but also with these bandits on the mountain. He would spend a lot of time running up and down the mountain every day, so Yang Zhen simply reserved a place for him in the cottage.
"It's not good." Ning Lang rejected: "The people who live in your cottage are all bandits like you. I'm not a bandit, so why live here."
"Do you still want to be a mountain bandit?" Yang Zhen glanced at him up and down, and the bandits next to him also burst into laughter.
Ning Lang was not convinced: "Don't look at me like this, I'm actually pretty good too."
They can't see it.
There was nothing on the mountain recently, and the bandit next to him stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and revealed his muscular arms: "Since you said you are very good, let's make a gesture and see how good you are."
Ning Lang: "..."
"People who enter our cottage will definitely go to the mountains to hunt. You have good hunting skills. If you are not good at hunting, it will save you if you encounter a tiger, but you will have to be swallowed." The bandit raised his hand and gestured: "If you want to enter our cottage, it's not bad to reach out."
Ning Lang's face turned green.
He has always been unable to hold hands and shoulders, how can he go up the mountain to fight wild beasts, let alone compete with these mountain bandits. It's similar to Zhu Hanshan's gestures. With his physique, he may lack arms and legs before he has even tried a few tricks against these muscular men.
"Okay." Yang Zhen rounded up the situation. "Stop teasing him."
The bandit then sat back.
Ning Lang shrunk in position with the cat in his arms, not daring to move.
He defended in a low voice: "In our capital... the people in our capital are different from you and don't like these people who fight and kill."
"If you want to join our cottage, you have to accept us, just like us." Yang Zhen said, "If you recruit a weak scholar like you, won't our cottage be leveled by the government?"
Ning Lang didn't dare to say a word.
"Besides, even if you use the capital's way to compare, can you still beat them?" Yang Zhen said, "I look at you, but it doesn't look like someone with outstanding literary talent."
Ning Lang: "..."
He really didn't!
The cat's ears in his arms also drooped down, looking very disappointed.
"I'll give you a house, you live there, there's so much nonsense." Yang Zhen slapped him boldly: "If you keep swaying like this, be careful I drive you down the mountain."
Ning Lang didn't dare to say a word.
He packed up, brought his cat, and carried luggage in large and small bags, and moved from the inn to the mountain.
A few days after moving to the mountain, he had a brilliant idea.
"I've thought about it, not everyone on this mountain has to be good at it." Ning Lang raised his chin and said, "In a cottage, there is an indispensable person."
Yang Zhen: "What?"
Yang Zhen thought about it seriously, there are people in the cottage who can use their skills.
She wondered, "Mrs. Yazhai?"
Ning Lang said angrily, "It's a military advisor!"
"..."
"Our cottage doesn't do anything about adultery and looting, so why do we need military advisors?" Yang Zhen said with a dull face.
"You don't know, my mother has a lot of shops, she will settle the account." Ning Lang counted for her: "Look, everyone on the mountain has to go hunting on the mountain. What about the prey? It’s a unified treatment, I asked, and you are distributed according to your work, and you have to rank according to your credit, how to remember this credit, you have to find someone?”
"..."
Ning Lang pointed to himself: "Do you know who I am?"
Yang Zhen asked cooperatively, "Who are you?"
"I'm a scholar." Ning Lang said proudly, "My mother is still so good at doing business. I'm her son, and I must be as good as her."
Yang Zhen: "..."
Yang Zhen said, "But this is my life."
"..."
Ning Lang was silent.
After a long time, he suddenly realized: "So you are also a little white face."
After staying in the cottage for a long time, all the bandits called him that.
Yang Zhen: "..."
It was not until later that Yang Zhen personally demonstrated to him what a beast is with a hammer, and Ning Lang finally dared not mention the word again.
…
After staying in the cottage for many days, I observed Yang Zhen's strength up close, and Ning Lang finally gave birth to countless admiration for her.
When Yang Zhen heard that he was going to learn from him, he was still a little puzzled: "What can you learn from me?"
"You can learn anything." Ning Lang said, "As long as it is great, I want to learn it."
Yang Zhen reported his skills to him: "Then do you want to learn the art of war? Or do you want to learn kung fu? The easiest way, I can teach you the skills of hunting."
Ning Lang shook his head again and again and asked, "Is there anything to relax?"
Yang Zhen pondered for a while and said, "You come out with me."
Ning Lang didn't know why.
Half a day later, the two were riding horses outside Qingzhou City. Ning Lang looked back at the city gate, feeling a little uneasy in his heart. He tightened the reins and said nervously, "What do you want to teach me?"
"I'll teach you how to escape."
"… what?"
"If you want to escape, you have to run fast." Yang Zhen said, "Two legs are not as fast as four. Today I will teach you how to ride a horse."
Ning Lang said quickly, "I can ride a horse, I can ride a horse."
Yang Zhen took a deep look at him, didn't say yes or no, but suddenly stretched out his hand, raised his whip, and slapped the rest of his horse's butt heavily.
Ning Lang was startled, and quickly grabbed the reins. The horse under him neighed and immediately strode forward on all four legs. The yellow sand rolled all the way, and in the blink of an eye, he ran for hundreds of meters.
Yang Zhen raised his lips and chased after him.
When she caught up with the horse in front of her, she realized that it was only a moment's work. Ning Lang had already lost his image. He was embarrassedly hugging the horse's neck, pressing his half body on it. miserable.
"It's done." Yang Zhen said, then raised his hand and whipped the whip: "Grasp the reins and tame your horse well."
Ning Lang screamed: "Then don't hit it!"
Yang Zhen turned a deaf ear, but when the horse's speed slowed down, she immediately raised her hand and whipped the whip. The horse fell on its back and fell to the ground, unable to move.
Yang Zhen sat on the horse and bent down to look at him: "Is this what you mean by riding a horse?"
"People in our capital don't ride like this." Ning Lang said miserably, "How can you ride like this?"
"If you were on the battlefield, you wouldn't say that." Yang Zhen said indifferently: "If you are followed by an enemy and you don't run fast enough, there will only be one end, and you will surely die."
"But this isn't a battlefield either." Ning Lang was so tired that he gasped: "Now that the world is so peaceful, and I won't be on the battlefield, do I need to be so cruel to me?"
Yang Zhen didn't say anything.
Ning Lang said again: "Also, you... You are a mountain bandit, do you still want to go to the battlefield? Those officers and soldiers will come to trouble you first when they see you?"
Yang Zhen said displeasedly, "Get on the horse."
"What?!" Ning Lang was shocked: "Here?!"
"Go up!"
Her voice was sharp. Ning Lang rarely saw her lose his temper, and was shocked. For a moment, he didn't care whether he had the strength or not. He climbed on the horse non-stop and tightened the reins nervously: "Go... what are you doing on the horse?"
Yang Zhen raised the whip high, and then slapped it heavily on the horse's butt.
Ning Lang's complexion changed greatly, only to hear the neighing sound of the remaining horses. Sure enough, he stepped forward and ran forward quickly. Ning Lang couldn't stop him, so he had to hold on to the reins and hold the horse's head, leaving a continuous scream.
The two had been training for a long time, until Ning Lang's face was pale and almost unconscious, all he knew was holding the horse's head numbly, for fear that he would fall off the horse's back. His face was bleak, his whole body was in a state of embarrassment, and there was no place for the handsome appearance of a graceful son on weekdays.
Seeing him like this, Yang Zhencai was finally satisfied.
"I see, you are torturing me, right?" Ning Lang said miserably, "Where did I offend you?"
Yang Zhen pursed his lips and smiled: "How is it possible, I'm just teaching you as you said."
Ning Lang muttered a few words in a low voice, then lay down on the horse's back again, and asked her out of breath, "Then are you out of breath now?"
Yang Zhen raised his eyebrows.
"If you're still angry, then... Then I'll run two laps with you tomorrow." Ning Lang glanced at the sky and said, "If it's already very late today, if we delay a little longer, we won't be able to make it back to the mountain. ."
"tomorrow?"
"Yes, my mother said that if you do something wrong, you must apologize. And my sister, if she knows, she will definitely write to scold me."
"How is your mother all day, how is your sister, what do you think in your heart?"
"Of course I think so too." Ning Lang said as a matter of course: "I have done something wrong, of course I have to apologize, don't you dare to admit it? Although I don't know exactly where I angered you, but you usually Li has never targeted me in this way, although I don't understand, but since I have done it, I will take the responsibility. A man, this is what I should do."
Yang Zhen fell silent.
Ning Lang lay on the horse's back for a long time, and finally calmed down Gu Lai, he straightened up, patted the yellow sand and dust on his clothes, and looked up at Yang Zhen in confusion: "Do you still want to stay? ?"
"Let's go." Yang Zhenyi pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, and walked towards the city: "Go back to the mountain."
Ning Lang also quickly followed by pulling the reins, and drove the tired horse to Yang Zhen's side.
Yang Zhen asked him, "Do you want to be my brother?"
"what?"
"Everyone on the mountain has to go hunting, and the only thing that doesn't ask for anything is to be the king of the mountain."
Ning Lang was stunned: "You want me to usurp the throne?"
"..." Yang Zhen said, "Now there are four mountain kings on the mountain. I am the eldest, and they are all my brothers. On weekdays, they help me manage the entire cottage. I don't want other brothers to go out hunting."
Ning Lang suddenly realized.
"Then you mean..."
Yang Zhen tightened the reins, stopped the horse, and turned to look at him: "Would you like to be my five kings?"