Chapter 19

  "Spare our lives, great king! We're all poor people and really have no money... If you want to kill us, then kill me, but please don't kill my son!" Li Dogshit was so scared that his soul was about to escape.

  "Who says you're going to die? Stand up and speak."

  Li Dogshit stood up with four timid ones and said: "You don't want to kill me, what do you want to do? We have nothing."

  "I just heard you say you want to buy a horse, right?"

  "What's with the excited look on your face, Li Dogshit was confused. He stammered: 'I can't afford to buy a horse, it's just that my eldest son can't get married, if our family could even afford a small donkey for farming, it would be easier to find someone to marry him.'"

  "Haha, your luck has arrived, I just so happen to be a horse seller. Are you excited? Are you happy?"

  Li Dog Remains is now dead-hearted, he must have not checked the almanac before going out and bumped into these two mountain bandits, of course, he's very excited, excited if he can survive today.

  "But I don't have that much money!"

  "Well, after all, it's still something you have to buy with money, how much do you have?"

  "Two... copper coins." Li Dogshit carefully pulled out two almost worn-out copper coins from his clothes, no one knew how long he had been hiding them.

  "This...". Cheng Da Lei opened his mouth: "Do you have anything else on you?"

  "I still have four wild vegetable cakes here, which were baked by my mother for us to fill our hunger on the road."

  Li Da opened the package and found four burnt pancakes inside. Cheng Dairen broke off a piece and handed it to Lin Shaoyu.

  "How's the taste?"

  "Not bad."

  Cheng Dali and Lin Shaoyu exchanged a glance, turned their heads and walked to one side, huddled together whispering.

  "Big boss, two copper coins, four pancakes, isn't this price a bit low?"

  "I also know it's a bit low, but what can I do if I don't sell it? Am I really going to kill and eat the meat?"

  "Either sell it to them, look at them all poor families, can't afford anything else."

  "So you mean it's been sold?"

  "It's been sold."

  Li Dogang and his son watched the two figures, not knowing what they were whispering about, their hearts pounding. If they fell into the hands of the mountain bandits, there would be no good outcome, one knife would chop off their heads, this situation was also possible.

  "Haha."

  Suddenly a loud burst of laughter, scared the four people almost fell to the ground again.

  "Alright, I'm opening for the first time, consider yourselves lucky, let's go up the mountain."

  "Up the mountain!" Li Dog's eyes widened, this was going to take himself and his son up the mountain to be bandits. He quickly begged: "Great King Grandfather, if you want to catch us, just catch me, at least let my son go, and also give our Li family incense."

  "What! You don't want to go up the mountain!" Cheng Dairen raised his big axe, eager to try and shave off his beard. Seeing this scene, Li Dogshit didn't dare say another word.

  "Go up the mountain. Lin Shaoyou, take good care of our customers."

  Lin Shaoyu walked in front, Cheng Daire carried a big axe and walked at the end, and in between were Li family's four father-son.

  The four of them were on the verge of collapse, feeling that their lives were hanging by a thread and could fall off at any moment.

  "Dad... will they kill us?" Li San.

  "Kid, hold on tight, don't be afraid."

  "Dad, stop shaking your legs before saying that."

  "When they want to kill us, I'll fight them to the death. Little San, you must escape, you are the incense of our family."

  The four of them walked in unison, their feet as if treading on clouds. They were walking on a mountain path that was clearly leading to the Ghost Gate Pass. From afar, they could see the entrance to the village, and the four of them had already turned pale with fear. Once they entered this mountain stronghold, it would be difficult for them to come out again.

  "Fourth, please!" Lin Shaoyu led the four people to the horse enclosure.

  "I'm going to fight with you..." Li Dogshit shouted loudly, but when he saw the situation in the horse pen clearly, he suddenly stopped.

  "What's going on?" Lin Shaoyu was completely bewildered.

  "What's wrong?" Cheng Dairen said: "Hurry up and choose one!"

  Li Dogang and his four sons were all in a state of extreme shock, only to see the horse enclosure filled with horses of various colors, black, white, red, gray... The number was so large that they were almost squeezed together. Each one had its head held high, with a full set of saddles, these were not ordinary horses, but robust warhorses. Their strength, size and physique were unmatched by ordinary horses.

  The three brothers of the Li family, their mouths watering at the thought of the enemy, being men, who wouldn't want to mount a horse and wield a whip, galloping across the land.

  Li Dogang was like falling into a cloud and fog, timidly saying: "Your Majesty, you really want to sell it to us?"

  "Hmm? How many horses do you want?"

  "One."

  "One piece! I've gone to so much trouble and you only want one piece!" Cheng Dairei's eyebrows furrowed.

  "Or two?" Li Dogshit nervously raised two fingers, afraid of being too greedy and offending the mountain king.

  "Only two." Cheng Daire's eyebrows furrowed even tighter: "You have three sons, shouldn't each of them get one, and you take one for yourself? What do you say to four?"

  The three Li brothers were beaming with excitement, indicating to their father to quickly agree. Li Dogshit glared at them fiercely and said reluctantly, "Can't afford it."

  "Then two it is." Cheng Dairen suddenly remembered something: "Do you know how to reap wheat?"

  "We're all farmers, how can we not know how to harvest wheat?"

  "Alright, if one of you can reap an acre of wheat before nightfall, I'll let you take two horses away."

  Cheng Dairen nodded in agreement, Lin Shaoyu gave a thumbs up in admiration. The master of the house was indeed clever and resourceful, both of them breathed a sigh of relief after escaping the difficult task.

  They took, or rather dragged, the four of them to the wheat field, and one of them handed each a sickle to cut the wheat. In the end, Cheng Dalai did not escape either, as Xu Shenji snatched a sickle and handed it to him. What made Cheng Dalai even more indignant was that Lin Shaoyu borrowed an excuse to go down the mountain to sell horses, and took the opportunity to slip away.

  The sickle swept across, under the scorching sun of summer, laying down a piece of wheat. Cheng Dalai stood up straight and wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

  "Big boss, you're lazy again!" Xu Shenji.

  "No way, can't you see I'm also very diligent?"

  "Hurry up, we'll be late for dinner!" Xu Shenji urged.

  Looking at the vast expanse of golden wheat fields, Cheng Dairen's mind wandered and felt that Hamao Village was like a small home. Qin Man was a kind-hearted big brother, Lin Shaoyu was a stubborn younger brother, Xu Ling'er was a mischievous and clever... daughter-in-law who hadn't yet entered the family gate, yes, that's right, daughter-in-law, and naturally Xu Shenji was a selfish father-in-law...

  Li Dogang and his four men didn't dare make a sound, fearing they would provoke this mountain king.

  "Dad, did he really say he'd give us a horse?"

  "Stop daydreaming and get back to work."

  "I reckon he said we won't be able to finish cutting the wheat before dark, and then he'll send us to see King Yan."

  Four people were reaping wheat, all of them were field workers, not afraid of such a livelihood. Under the threat of death, they all burst out with potential. Large tracts of wheat fields were reaped and bundled into sheaves, pulled to the school grounds in the mountain stronghold.

  "Your Majesty, shall we help flatten it into wheat grains?"

  "Never mind, go to the horse enclosure and choose two horses."

  Wow, really?