Chapter 20

  Li Dog Left the Toad Village with his eldest son leading a horse, and his second son also leading a horse. He walked on the ground, feeling dizzy, everything was so dreamy.

  "Dad, aren't we dreaming? The mountain bandits really let us take away two horses?" Li Da.

  "What mountain bandits? That's a god! A god is taking pity on us!" Li Dogshit let out a long cry.

  Li Da and Li Er nodded, cut a day's worth of wheat, four pieces of flatbread were exchanged for two horses, not a god, can't be explained.

  "That immortal... also reaps wheat?" Li San asked, the young man still had a skeptical spirit towards this world.

  "How can an immortal cut wheat? You little kid don't understand, immortals not only cut wheat, but also eat scallion oil pancakes at every meal!"

  Hiss!

  The three brothers took a deep breath in unison, and indeed, it was a divine being.

  When Li Dogshit returned to Lijiazhuang Village, two horses were tied up in the yard, and instantly all the villagers couldn't help but gather around to watch.

  "Hmm, this is a good horse for a three-year-old! When it's time for my family to plow the fields, you'd better let me use it!"

  "Look at this big green horse, it can't be bought for less than twenty taels of silver. Old Li is really wealthy, but he doesn't show off his wealth, you've hidden it well."

  "Old Li, your eldest son isn't married yet, right? I've been meaning to arrange a marriage for him, but look at me, once I get busy, I forget."

  "Hmmph." Li Dogshit held up a large bowl of water, smugly saying: "This is the mountain god taking pity on us. I, Old Li, have never done anything wrong in my life. This is my good fortune."

  Li Dogsheng couldn't resist the temptation of vanity, so he told everyone about his experience today. This story was enough for him to brag about in the village for half a year. He insisted that it was a reward from the gods because of his kindness. Strangely, some people actually believed him. Li Dogsheng's family was poor, but they were known throughout the region for their integrity. His three sons never bullied anyone, and when selling firewood to others, they never added water to cheat them.

  There was a wealthy landlord in Lijiazhuang named Li Zhuang, who had over 100 hectares of land and was extremely rich. Although he was rich, he was not benevolent, and his wealth was built on the suffering of others. He would often lend money to villagers at exorbitant interest rates, forcing them to sell their homes or even their daughters.

  He heard this and couldn't help but think, Li Dogshit has three sons, I do too! The immortal asked him to lead four horses, but he only led two. Isn't that stupid? If it were me who encountered such a thing, I would definitely ask for forty or fifty horses...

  A wolf travels a thousand miles to eat meat, while a dog travels a thousand miles to eat feces.

  Thinking of this, Li Zhuang called his three sons to his side overnight...

  ……

  Luckily, with the help of Li Dog Four today, the Frog Village was able to finish harvesting the wheat. Now, bundles of wheat are neatly stacked on the school grounds, emitting a fresh fragrance. Later, they will still need to go through threshing and stone rolling to see the real wheat grains. Anyway, for now, the mountain village has horses...

  Whenever he mentions horses, Cheng Dalai can't help but get a headache. If things continue like this, the horses in the circle will only starve to death.

  Lin Shaoyu returned at night and brought someone with him.

  "Big boss, someone wants to join forces?"

  "Who is it?" Cheng Dairei subconsciously raised his head and saw the other person's appearance, suddenly stunned: "How is it you?"

  This man is none other than Huang San Yuan.

  Huang San Yuan's recent days have been particularly miserable. After narrowly escaping with his life, he returned to Black Stone City only to find that Han Hu had died and Xue Ban Chuan was purging Han Hu's former loyal followers. Huang San Yuan didn't know if he counted as a loyal follower or not, but he suspected Xue Ban Chuan wouldn't let him off the hook, so he quietly packed some valuables and prepared to flee to Luo Ye City. As it happened, he ran into Lin Shao Yu, who had come down from the mountains to rob travelers that day. Upon seeing a familiar face, Lin Shao Yu's eyes welled up with tears, and he said: "Since you have nowhere else to go, why not just join me at Ha Ma Fort?"

  After listening to the whole story, Cheng Dalai asked: "Do you mean that Xue Banquan killed Han Hudu and he himself became the city master?"

  "It was definitely him, but he's been spreading rumors in the city that you sent someone to kill Han Huzhu, and now he's claiming he wants to avenge Han Huzhu by killing you."

  "We are five people in total at the Toad Village, how can we send someone to kill him!"

  "No one knew you only had five people." Huang San looked around: "I didn't think you really had so few people, but Xue Ban Chuan has been spreading rumors in the city that the Frog Village has a thousand strongholds, everyone kills without blinking, and the leader, the Frog King, is even more ruthless, eating human flesh for every meal. Now he's still posting wanted posters in the city, offering a reward for your head."

  Cheng Dali's eyes lit up: "How much is the reward?"

  "The head of the Toad King is worth fifty taels, the head of Jade-Faced Scholar Xu Shenji is worth thirty-five taels, and there's also a black-faced big man..." Huang San yuan glanced at Qin Man: "Your head is worth thirty taels!"

  "Despicable!" Xue Banchuan framed Cheng Dairen. He didn't get angry, but this time he was furious: "This Xue Banchuan actually looks down on me so much, putting a paltry fifty taels of silver as a reward for my capture!"

  This is indeed Cheng Dairen's ignorance of the world's monetary system. When Da Wu built his country, he issued Longhu coins, also known as copper plates. One thousand copper plates could be exchanged for one or two silver coins, equivalent to about 1,000 yuan in Cheng Dairen's previous life. In this era, the annual living expenses of an ordinary farming household were only three or four silver coins.

  "General, how much is the bounty on Gao Fei Hu?"

  "It seems like one hundred and eighty taels." Xu Shenji didn't know why Cheng Dali asked this.

  "I will definitely surpass him." Cheng Dairen said firmly.

  Looking at Cheng Dairen's spirited and confident appearance, Xu Shenji and several others were all speechless. Do you still think this is a good thing?!

  "Great master, Huang Guan's family is truly loyal to you. If you don't want him, then let him join our mountain stronghold," said Lin Shaoyu.

  Cheng Daire's gaze fell on Huang San Yuan, and he checked his information in his mind.

  Name: Huang San Yuan (a somewhat famous excellent butler)

  Age: 43

  Skills: None

  Hidden attributes: None.

  Huang San Yuan was also sizing up the surroundings, looking at how others spoke to Cheng Da Lei, and it seemed that he wasn't as terrifying as the rumors said. Shouldn't... be a cannibal, right?

  "Is our Toad Village good?"

  "This... is good."

  "How wonderful!"

  "Uh..." Huang San was so angry that he spat out blood. Can't you just drop it after I've made some polite remarks? Do you have to dig deeper and hurt my feelings like this?

  "Your attitude clearly shows that you look down on our Shanzhai. Don't underestimate us just because we have fewer people, but everyone here has the strength to take on a hundred alone. It's not easy to join our Frog Village, so here's what I'll do: now that you've got Lin Shaoyou as your introducer, write a 5,000-word application essay yourself, and after I review it, I'll consider whether or not to accept you."

  Xu Shenji nodded: "Alei is really very strict."

  "Five thousand words." Huang San Yuan shouted: "The master of the house might as well take my life directly."

  Cheng Dairen obviously misunderstands the writing of this era. In this age of nitpicking and pedantry, he has no concept of the magnitude of a 5,000-word article... The entire Dao De Jing is only 5,000 words.

  "You're making it difficult for me. Think carefully about how to show your sincerity, and what you can do for Shan Zhai." Cheng Da Lei said calmly.

  Huang San Yuan thought for a moment and suddenly said: "Master, I have a treasure map on me. Would this be enough to show my sincerity?"