Draw your sword!

  The shopkeeper, however, had a look of insisting on selling to Zhen Mingsu, and pulled him saying: "Alright, sir, if you really want to buy, I'll make an exception today, give you a 50% discount, and let you choose any clothes in the store. What do you think?" The old man looked at Zhen Mingsu with deep meaning in his eyes.

  Zhen Mingshu carefully observed the old man, puzzled as to why he was looking at him with such an appreciative expression. Feeling a bit surprised, he smiled and said: "I'm Zhen Mingshu, I don't know how to address you, sir?"

  "My surname is Gao."

  "Old man, let's have tea together when you're free. Don't buy clothes for now, come back another day to take a look. I still have things to do, sorry to disturb your business."

  "Hehe, no worries, Master Zhen, feel free to come by anytime."

  Just as Zhen Ming had walked away, a clear and melodious female voice sounded from behind the old man: "Uncle, what's wrong? Why are you standing there smiling foolishly by yourself? Have you met another interesting person?"

  The old man turned around, and standing in front of him was a young woman as beautiful as a flower, with a slender figure, holding an embroidery needle and a half-embroidered golden yellow silk fabric. Although only half embroidered, the overall outline had already appeared, it was a phoenix rising into the air, vivid and shining with golden light. Judging from her appearance, she should have run out of gold thread and came out to get some.

  The old man smiled and said: "Your uncle has just found a candidate for your husband."

  That beautiful woman seemed to have already gotten used to the old man's words, and while searching for what she wanted in front of the counter, she casually asked: "Which heir of which century-old shop are you eyeing this time? Or which young master from a noble family?"

  "Not exactly the son of a wealthy family."

  "Is this what they mean by 'words flowing like a fountain' and 'poetry and prose both being exceptional', the future looking bright for this bookworm?"

  The old man smiled and shook his head: "This person has no money, nor does he look like a scholar. His appearance and figure are all ordinary, nothing outstanding."

  The girl smiled and said: "This doesn't seem like someone you would take a liking to, Uncle."

  The old man laughed loudly: "Is a person who can lift a 300-jin stone lion with one hand considered a strange person?"

  The beautiful woman's face showed surprise: "Is it that person at the entrance of the ironwork shop you mentioned to me last time?"

  "Not bad, although he doesn't recognize me, I do recognize him. As soon as this person entered the store, I recognized the scar on his face. After some probing, I found that he is steady, humble and polite. Although he has fallen on hard times, he hasn't lost his dignity. He must be a man with great ambitions and determination. His future achievements will surely be extraordinary. If you follow him, Uncle can also rest assured. Let's find an opportunity to invite him home for a visit another day, and have you meet him."

  The woman finally couldn't keep calm, her pretty face suddenly turned red, and she stomped her foot in distress: "Are you always thinking of marrying me off so that you can be lazy and at ease?! I won't see anyone, if you want to get married, you marry yourself!"

  Having said that, she ignored him and took a bundle of gold thread from the counter, turned around and entered the inner room.

  The old man shook his head and sighed, "This child, always talking nonsense. When a girl reaches a certain age, she will eventually get married. Do you want your uncle to support you for the rest of your life? Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't live that long... Bei'er, Bei'er, listen to your uncle finish speaking..."

  Muttering to herself, she turned and chased after him.

  ……

  "It's almost noon and he just arrived at the store, really like a master, even the boss is not as leisurely as him, and Wei Chi doesn't manage him either."

  "Could this kid be acting so recklessly because Uncle Ji refused to give him a commission?"

  "Who let him sell more things by himself than all of us combined? And yet he's the one who got the reward."

  "There are only ten days left until the deadline for the wanted list, I don't know how he's going to get away with it."

  As soon as Zhen Ming entered the door, the little servants in the shop began to gossip.

  After leaving Zhang Sun's clothing store, he went home and changed into clean clothes before coming to the blacksmith shop to start work.

  Today's Wei Chi Iron Shop is a bit different from usual. There are more than ten wounded war horses parked at the entrance.

  There were also several horse-drawn carts for carrying goods.

  A dozen or so blacksmiths were moving basket after basket of ore from the carts into their workshops.

  A dark-faced pillar came out from the back of the store, shouting loudly: "What took you so long? Come with me, Brother Wei is looking for you."

  Zhen Ming followed him through the garden behind the blacksmith's shop, into the smelting room of the blacksmith's shop, and found that in addition to the usual craftsmen, there were several people he had never seen before.

  Wei Chi Jingde stood beside these people, seeing Zhen Mingsu arrive, and beckoned to him: "Brother Zhen, you're here, come, let me introduce you. This is Liu Wuzhou, Big Brother Liu, my sworn brother. Big Brother Liu, this is Zhen Mingsu."

  Wei Chi Jing De finished speaking, and a tall, robust man beside him picked up a thick-backed large knife from a pile of newly forged weapons and turned around.

  Broad and sturdy shoulders, square face, full of beard, especially that pair of majestic and powerful eyebrows, make people unforgettable at first sight.

  His arms were muscular and knotted, full of explosive power, as if they contained the strength to lift a thousand catties. Compared to the pillar-like strong men, he was even more powerful. A pair of half-closed small eyes sparkled with sharpness, his face had an almost imperceptible aura of murder, it was the sharp gaze that only a seasoned general who had experienced many battles and had made swift kills would possess.

  The two people's eyes met, and their faces simultaneously showed a look of surprise.

  Zhen Ming was shocked to discover that this man was the same general who had been escorting ore in a mine north of Luoyang City, whom he and Fei Long had seen on their way back from Sun Langzhong's grass hut a few days ago.

  Liu Wuzhou was surprised because he had heard Wei Rong tell stories about this Zhēn Mìng Kǔ many times, a one-armed man who could lift a 300-jin stone lion, knew nothing about blacksmithing, yet dared to take on the reward list, and as a mere shop assistant, could earn more than high-level masters. He had always wanted to meet this person.

  Today, I met him and unexpectedly he was a slender figure with an unimpressive appearance. Except for the shocking scar on his cheek that extended all the way down to his neck, he was just an ordinary young man, far from the tall and powerful image he had imagined.

  What surprised him even more was that the young man's eyes shone with a maturity and worldliness that didn't match his age. Usually, people would look away unnaturally after three seconds of eye contact with him, but this young man maintained eye contact for over ten seconds.

  Finally, Zhen Ming's bitter expression softened as he revealed a hint of kindness in his smile, "Hello, Brother Liu."

  Liu Wuzhou was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Fate is bitter, huh? The name is quite special, I heard Jingde say you're pretty handy with your hands, must be a good family heirloom, take the knife!"

  ;