Chapter 73

  The fast horse stopped in front of the city gate. The wind was still very tight, and on the city gate were posted the portraits of Cheng Dairen, Qin Man, and Lin Shaoyu.

  However, except for Cheng Daren, the portraits of the other two people are still unrecognizable.

  Today, Qin Man blackened his face with pot bottom ash and smoothly mixed into the city of fallen leaves after giving a copper plate to the guard.

  "Second Master, how is your relationship with your elder brother and Du Mao? Will there be any problems?"

  "General, you can rest assured, Big Brother and Old Du are sworn brothers. To be honest, I didn't even need to come personally this time, just a word would have settled the matter."

  Three men led the horse forward and stopped under a large locust tree. Gao Fei tied up the horse, went forward and knocked on the door.

  "What's all the knocking for? Are you announcing a death?"

  A head poked out from inside the door, cautiously staring at the three of them.

  "Go inside and tell them, Flying Leopard from the Flying Tiger Fort has arrived and wants to see your Big Boss Du."

  "Wait."

  The man uttered two words and soon reopened the door: "Old Du is resting inside, you all come in and wait."

  Three men walked into the yard, Xu Shenji's eyes scanned around and saw several big men drinking and laughing in the yard, with a few empty wine jars on the ground.

  "Leopard, you little scamp, how did you get here? Want to drink with Hua again?"

  "Beware, our brother will take you to see the official, your little head is now worth 100 taels of silver."

  Two people who knew Gao Fei laughed and scolded as they greeted him.

  "Cut the crap, where's Du Lao Da? I need to find him for something."

  "Big brother is drunk and sleeping inside, you wait for a while first."

  At last, everyone's eyes fell on Xu Shenji and Qin Man, asking: "These two brothers look unfamiliar, what's their origin? Are they new brothers in the Flying Tiger Fort?"

  "Before introducing, these two are brothers of Hamao Village. This is the military strategist of Hamao Village, Xu Shenji."

  As soon as the words were spoken, the courtyard suddenly fell silent. Those who were drinking stopped drinking, and those who were holding stone locks threw them to the ground, standing up with their eyes fixed on Xu Shenji.

  "Could it be... Xu Shenji, also known as the Jade-Faced Bookworm?"

  "It's said that the successive victories of Ha Maaii were all due to this person's strategic planning from behind the scenes, such as defeating a thousand elite soldiers at Heishi City."

  Someone stared at Xu Shenji, sizing him up from head to toe. He was of a hunched build and had an ugly face; the words "scholarly" couldn't be used to describe him, let alone "jade countenance".

  "It's easy to talk nonsense, who knows what's true or false, if you ask me, most of it is just pretending."

  Nowadays, the reputation of Hamao Village is really loud, and even Xu Shenji's prestige has risen with it. Everyone says that this jade-faced bookworm is so clever and resourceful, but after seeing Xu Shenji, he looks like this...

  To be honest, I have a feeling of an idol crumbling...

  "Hey, you think your Turtle Village is so powerful? Well, let's see how many of you our brothers can take down?"

  "Haha, this is hard to say, hard to say." Xū Shénjī bowed his waist and accompanied with a smile.

  "What's wrong with saying it, say it boldly, what are you worried about..."

  "What I'm worried about is that there are too few of you..." Xu Shenji raised his head, and a fierce glint flashed in the depths of his eyes: "Not enough to kill."

  The crows and sparrows have fallen silent!

  Everyone's eyes in the courtyard were fixed on Xu Shenji, with vigilance, anger and unease at the bottom of their eyes.

  Xu Shenji rushed towards the house and shouted: "Xu Shenji of Hamao Village, here to pay respects to Old Master Du."

  The door of the house slowly opened, and a middle-aged man in white robes stepped out of the house and stood under the sun.

  What a handsome big fellow!

  Qin Man couldn't help but praise him in his heart, seeing that he was over eight feet tall, with a strong back and slender waist. His face had a lazy look, making him appear like a Confucian scholar who loved to read books. However, the glint in his eyes was as sharp as a knife.

  Xu Shenji knew that this was the real master, and he gave Qin Man a glance. Qin Man understood, opened the package on his back, took out a pure silver Buddha statue, weighing about 100 taels.

  "Boss Du, our big boss asked me to come over and make friends with you."

  Du Mao took over the Buddha statue and weighed it in his hand.

  "Du didn't chant Buddha's name and didn't burn incense. When Cheng sent me a Buddha statue, what was the point? Did he think Du would become a vegetarian in the future?"

  The courtyard erupted in a burst of laughter, and everyone looked at Xu Shenji with playful teasing.

  "Take it back, I, Du Mao, am not short of friends." Du Mao waved his hand and tossed the Buddha statue over: "Also take it back to tell your master, dogs have dog roads, tigers have tiger paths, I and your Frog Village are not on the same road. Advise your master, don't stretch out your hands too far, this is not Qingniu Mountain."

  Gao Fei Bao didn't expect Du Mao to be so arrogant, and he immediately hit a big nail. He awkwardly said: "Du Lao Da, this time it's my brother's face..."

  Xu Shenji waved his hand to stop Gao Fei Bao from continuing. He clasped his fists and said, "Du Lao Da, please, although dogs have their own paths and tigers have their own ways, mountains and rivers meet, the road is narrow, and it's inevitable that we'll collide sometimes. Who is the dog and who is the tiger will be clear when the time comes."

  Three people turned around and walked out, two big men blocked the door.

  "Brother, come on, don't go back empty-handed, bring something with you."

  As he spoke, Du Mao suddenly picked up the stone lock on the ground and swung it over. Hearing the wind sound behind his head, Qin Man quickly turned around, stepped forward to block Xu Shenji's path, took a step forward, caught the stone lock, and retreated to unload the momentum of the stone lock.

  Xu Shenji and Gao Feibao turned their heads at this time. Gao Feibao was furious: "Du Lao Da, what are you doing!"

  "The road is long and it's inconvenient to carry heavy things." Xū Shénjī said coldly: "Qín Mán, go back."

  The stone lock flew through the air again and smashed towards Du Mao, who retreated three steps back to catch it and placed it by his feet. His eyes scanned Qin Man's body once.

  "See you off."

  Three people mixed out of the city, Gao Fei's leopard-like aura made him wail loudly. Originally, he wanted to rely on his face to settle this matter, but now this face was thoroughly trampled on the ground.

  "Du Lao Da has gone too far, thinking he can cover the sky with one hand! But Old Xu, you're not as simple as I thought, you have some skills after all."

  "Alright, alright." Xushenji smiled and suddenly found that Qinman's expression on her face was not right.

  "Qin, little brother, what's wrong?"

  Qin Man's face revealed a bitter smile: "I was careless and hurt my arm."

  He rolled up his sleeves, and his arm had already swollen. Du Mao launched a sneak attack from behind, but Qin Man defended hastily and parried the blow with his arm.

  Returning to the Toad Village, Cheng Dairen's eyebrows immediately furrowed when he saw this scene.

  "What's his real skill like in a fight?" Cheng Da Lei asked.

  "It's not beneath me, indeed I have the ability to fight a tiger." Qin Mian sighed.

  "This time we lost big, thanks to Qin Miao's skills. Otherwise, we might have been done for. And that Du Maotou is also arrogant, not putting our Frog Village in his eyes at all. He says you're a dog and he's a tiger, and tigers don't make friends with dogs." - Xu Shenji

  "What was I saying, what was I saying......" Cheng Dalai's anger surged to his head: "Can't spoil them, really gave him face."