At this time, Li Yan and his companions' carriage were passing through the long city gate.
The city gate tunnel is very long, but it is not damp inside. The tall and wide design makes the city gate tunnel ventilated, dry and well-lit.
After Li Yan and his companions walked for dozens of breaths, the carriage finally left the city gate and arrived inside the city.
Opposite the city gate are three roads, all paved with large bluestones.
Due to the constant flow of cars and people walking on it all year round, the road surface appears shiny and glossy, and even the slightly uneven pits on the bluestone surface or the gaps between two bluestones have been worn round and smooth.
The avenue in the middle is obviously wider than the other two, so it must be the main road.
The two forked roads meandered to both sides in front of the city gate, and no one knew where they went.
There are many buildings on both sides of this road, most of which are two or three-story buildings, with various canvases and signs hanging at the doors.
At this time, there were people coming and going, and the sounds of shouting and greetings were heard one after another. Although it was afternoon, it was still a lively scene.
The street was a little crowded with pedestrians, so Li Guoxin and his carriage slowed down.
Li Yan and the other two felt that their eyes were not enough while sitting in the car. They kept turning their heads around and found everything around them very new.
Most of them have never been seen or heard of.
"Brother Yan, look at that door. There are iron railings and a high counter inside. The person outside can only stand on tiptoe and stretch his face diagonally to talk to the small hole. This should be a pawnshop, right?"
Li Yu saw a pawnshop and asked.
"Xiaoyu, Xiaoyu, look at that three-story restaurant, it's so grand! Mm... it smells so good, I've never smelled such a smell before, even when the wild boar was roasted, the oil on the wild boar didn't smell as good as this.
If you become an apprentice here in the future and can make food taste like this, you will be very talented. "
Li Shan said, pointing to a restaurant he just passed by.
Li Guoxin turned around and said with a smile.
"You will be staying here for a long time in the future. You will have your time to watch. But you must learn skills well, otherwise you will be driven back to the village, which will be embarrassing. The place you want to go is still ahead."
Li Yan also felt that everything was new and fresh at this moment. There were many things he had never seen before. Some of them he had heard about from his father and villagers, but some he had never heard of at all. He couldn't help but sigh at how vast the outside world was and how limited his knowledge was.
After the carriage moved forward among the crowd for a while, it stopped far away in front of a two-story restaurant.
Although this restaurant has only two floors, it has quite a few storefronts. There are seven or eight storefronts facing the street horizontally. These adjacent storefronts are connected inside, making the lobby particularly spacious and bright.
At this time, it was not yet time for customers to arrive, but some customers began to come in and out.
I think this place is a come-and-eat kind of place, with no fixed dining hours.
The restaurant sign spans across several storefronts in the middle. The green letters on a gray background look very impressive and eye-catching, with four large characters "Natural Wine House" inscribed on it.
Li Guoxin drove the carriage to the rightmost storefront facing the street of "Natural Wine House", stopped under a big tree, tied the reins to the tree, and then asked Li Yan and Li Shan to wait beside the carriage.
He took Li Yu and walked into the middle door of the restaurant.
Li Yan and Li Shan stood beside the car, looking at the bustling scene on the street, and for a moment they were silent.
In fact, with Li Yu's departure, they also knew that the time for them to part had really come, and they would have to live alone in this strange place from now on.
All the excitement and longing I had before have now disappeared, leaving only a trace of fear in my heart, a fear of being alone and helpless in a foreign place.
The two of them had their own thoughts and they both stared silently at the middle door of the restaurant, looking at the people coming in and out, their eyes full of confusion.
After a while, Li Guoxin and Li Yu were seen walking towards the carriage, followed by a fat man in his thirties wearing a baggy long gown.
Several people quickly came to the front of the car, and Li Guoxin said to Li Yu.
"Take out your bag!"
Then he turned to the fat middle-aged man and said with a smile.
"Manager Li, I will take this contract back to the baby's parents. This baby... this... this child will be left here. I hope Manager Li will take care of him in the future for the sake of our common clan. Thank you very much."
After saying that, Li Guoxin clasped his fists and bowed solemnly to Manager Li.
A smile also appeared on Manager Li's fat face.
"Guoxin, please don't be polite. You and I are from the same clan, so you should take care of us. Don't worry about this kid. As long as he can endure hardships, he will definitely have a bright future."
Li Guoxin waved to Li Yu.
"Go with your uncle. In the future, you must be more diligent and quick-handed. Ask more questions and do more when you encounter problems."
Li Yu had already taken down his bag and bowed to Li Guoxin first, then choked up and looked at Li Yan and Li Shan.
"Brother Yan, Brother Shan, come and see me when you have time!"
After saying this, he almost cried.
Li Yan and Li Shan also forced out a smile that was uglier than crying, and answered respectively. "Okay, I'll come to see you when I'm free.
"Xiao Yu, you do your job well. Brother Shan will come to eat the food you cook. Make sure he is full and well fed!"
"Um!"
Li Yu nodded heavily.
Manager Li smiled when he saw this.
"Let's go."
After saying that, he bowed to Li Guoxin and turned to walk towards the tavern. Li Yu followed him with his luggage, looking back every few steps, and followed him reluctantly, but finally disappeared into the gatehouse.
Seeing the two men disappear behind the door, Li Guoxin also called Li Yan and Li Shan to get on the carriage. He untied the reins from the tree, sat on the shaft again, and seeing that the two men were in a heavy mood, he could not help but point at them with his hand.
"Be a real man, don't be so cowardly. You are here to learn skills. When you have learned the skills, you can bring your parents to live with you. That's what real men are."
After saying this, he didn't look at the two of them anymore and drove away.
The carriage continued to move forward, and after turning a few more corners, it stopped at a place called "Iron Pavilion".
Just like before, he let Li Shan get out of the car and follow him, leaving Li Yan alone guarding the car.
After a while, Li Guoxin and Li Shan came back again, but this time there were two people following them.
There was a man who was over ten feet tall, shirtless, with muscles even stronger than Li Guoxin's, and glowing with an oily black luster in the sunlight.
Every time he raised his hand and moved his body, his muscles jumped in small pieces, as if mice were jumping on his body. This man had thick eyebrows and round eyes, and was about forty years old.
There was another boy next to him who was about the same age as Li Shan, but this boy was also stout, with big hands and feet, and was a circle thicker than Li Shan's.
Later, Li Yan learned that the burly man was the owner of this house, named Lu Kui, who was very good at fighting with weapons.
Whether it was forging military equipment or making farm tools, he was second to none in the city. He also often repaired military equipment for the garrison troops, so he was very familiar with the garrison troops here.
The one next to him was his eldest disciple Liang Shi, and Li Shan became the second disciple from then on.
What happened next was just as Li Yu had said before. After Li Guoxin gave some instructions, Li Shan said goodbye to Li Guoxin and Li Yan with red eyes and followed the two of them away.
The boy had experienced several farewells in one day and was in an extremely depressed mood.
Li Guoxin looked up at the sky and said to Li Yan.
"We have to hurry to the martial arts training ground. It should still be 3 p.m. now. If we are any later, it may be tomorrow."
Li Yan quickly calmed himself down and nodded in agreement. He was now troubled by the behavior of Li Yu and Li Shan. He missed his parents and his brother and sister.
But he also knew that he could only take one step at a time and absolutely could not go back. As for the future, he was confused and unknown.
Li Guoxin took Li Yan and drove to a place quickly. After about half a quarter of an hour, they arrived outside a gate surrounded by a high wall.
Li Yan saw that the courtyard wall extended in an arc shape on both sides. As far as he could see, he still couldn't see the overall scope. He thought that the area inside the courtyard wall must be very large.
Li Guoxin parked the carriage far away and tied it to a hitching post. Many horses and carriages had gathered there. Li Guoxin packed up his things and immediately took Li Yan to the gate.
At this time, there were more than a dozen soldiers armed with weapons guarding the gate, and there were also more than a dozen young men and more than a dozen people who seemed to be escorts lined up at the door.
When those people saw the two of them coming, they were not too surprised. They just glanced over here at the same time, then turned to look at the soldiers at the gate, as if they were waiting to enter the yard.
When the two of them arrived at the gate, a soldier came towards them.
"But you are here to join the Guards recruitment?"
Li Guoxin pointed at Li Yan and bowed in reply.
"Yes, sir, he is taking the examination!"
The soldier pointed at Li Yan.
"That's great. Come over here and go in with this group of people."
Li Yan hurried forward and followed the soldier, and soon stood at the last position of the dozen young men.
After seeing them standing in place, the soldier turned to Li Guoxin and the others, pointed to one side and said.
"You guys go wait there. The results will probably come out around 5 p.m., and we'll know whether it will be successful or not."
It was then that Li Guoxin noticed that, further away on the other side of the gate, there was already a large crowd of people sitting or standing on the ground, each of them looking this way. It seemed that these people were the escorts who had arrived earlier.
From this perspective, there should be quite a few people who will participate in the conscription this time. After all, the duties of the Guards still attract many villagers.
Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan, and Li Yan also looked at him. Li Guoxin pointed to that place and then pointed at himself, indicating that he was waiting for him there.
Li Yan nodded slightly to show that he understood, and Li Guoxin walked towards the waiting area with the dozen people who had gone before.