It was a ruined temple in the countryside, long deserted, overgrown with yellow weeds, hidden in a mess of trees that had lost their leaves.

Xu Ping got off the horse and asked Sang Yi beside him: "Is this here?" ”

Sang Yi said in a deep voice: "Not bad! ”

Got off the donkey and pulled out the shovel on his back.

Xu Ping also pulled out the long knife he was wearing, held it in his hand, and slowly approached the broken temple with Sang Yi.

When the two arrived at the gate of the temple, they stood on both sides and listened carefully to the movements inside.

"Now that you've arrived, why don't you come in and talk? It's not a cold wind outside, but it's uncomfortable! ”

Just when the two of them were preparing carefully, such a sentence suddenly came from inside the temple.

Xu Ping and Sang Yi were both taken aback, but they didn't expect that the people in the temple had already discovered them. Glancing at each other, the two entered the temple one after the other.

I don't know which way this small temple is dedicated to the gods, how many years it has been abandoned, and even the statue of the god is only half left. In front of the offering table, a fire was made on the ground, and two men were sitting by it.

A man of about thirty years old, a white-faced scholar, with a slight beard on his face, sat by the fire, leaned on an iron flute on his lap, and just concentrated on the fire, without even raising his head.

The other was older, burly, with thick hair and beard, also dressed as a scholar, with an iron sword beside him, and was looking at Xu Ping and the two with disdain.

Xu Ping said in a deep voice: "It turns out that the two have already discovered that they are here!" ”

The burly scholar laughed and said, "The guy next to you has been patrolling outside the temple for many days, and he still doesn't know that someone is coming, when we are blind?" ”

Sang Yi didn't expect that his Xingzang had already fallen into the eyes of others, his face was a little unbearable, and he clenched his iron shovel and asked, "Who are you?" Now that you know you're being targeted, why don't you run away? ”

The burly scholar said: "Both of us are Huazhou Jinshi, my name is Wu Jiuxia, and the brother is named Zhang Yuan." I came to Beijing to take the exam a year ago, and accidentally spent all my plate in the capital. When it came to the list, I didn't want the court to be a mother-in-law in power, and I didn't know heroes and heroes, so I dethroned my brother as a palace. I had no patience, so I had to let go of my face, do some improper things to earn some gold and silver, and scrape together money to return to my hometown. ”

Xu Ping listened to him easily, and said indignantly: "You have smelted medicinal silver, but you have disturbed this place!" Do you know how many families have been ruined by you? ”

Wu Jiuxia said disappreciably: "We only have this way to get money, if we don't get it in your place, we have to go elsewhere, what's the difference?" ”

Xu Ping didn't entangle him with this, and asked, "You haven't said why you didn't run away!" ”

Wu Jiuxia sighed: "I said I was going to leave the damn, no matter you birdmen!" I was stopped by this brother of mine, so I am waiting for you here. ”

Xu Ping and Sang Yi had already seen that the white-faced scholar was the mastermind, and looked at him together.

Zhang Yuan, who had been sitting there roasting the fire, said casually: "If we leave, the two of you will inevitably report to the official, which will also be troublesome." Since this person is only watching outside these days, and he doesn't do anything, he must have something to talk about with us, so why not wait and talk about it. ”

Xu Ping asked, "What do you think we will talk to you about?" ”

Zhang Yuan looked confident: "It's just coveting our recipe of turning copper into silver, who doesn't like white silver?" Otherwise, you two will come to us after you have eaten! ”

Xu Ping sneered: "Is it the method of using arsenic to smelt copper into white copper?" I knew this ten years ago, and I still want to come to you to learn it? ”

Zhang Yuan was taken aback, then he became serious, looked Xu Ping up and down, and asked, "It turns out that you also know this technique!" Since you know everything, why are you coming to us for this? ”

Xu Ping said: "The Qin Er you are looking for stole a few hundred taels of silver from my house, do you think I should come to you?" ”

Zhang Yuan shook his head: "Just for those few hundred taels of silver?" ”

Xu Ping said: "A few hundred taels is enough for the two of you to live happily!" ”

Hearing this, Zhang Yuan looked at Xu Ping, and suddenly smiled: "A few hundred taels is indeed not a decimal number, but for the little owner of the Xu Family Restaurant, it is nothing." ”

Xu Ping said: "It turns out that you already know me!" ”

"Nearby, the only one who can exchange a large sum of silver is your family, how can I not know?" Zhang Yuan said, looking at Xu Ping, "But when the little master comes to me at this time, there must be other things, why not speak up?" It's not your or my temperament to talk in circles like this. ”

Xu Ping was silent for a while before he said, "Yes, I came to you for something else!" ”

Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "Although the little master has made it clear, as long as both parties are beneficial, we will not refuse." ”

"A few days ago, when I captured Ke Wulang in Zhuang and sent him to the county, he was killed by five soldiers of the forbidden army. Have you heard about this? ”

Zhang Yuan listened to Xu Ping's words, but just shook his head: "We have all been nesting in this broken temple recently, how could we hear about these things!" ”

Xu Ping didn't care if he really didn't know or not, he just continued: "Those people robbed my wife who didn't pass through the door that day. I caught up all the way, but halfway through came a young man and an old man who looked like a subordinate, and it turned out that they were the masterminds. I know you were mixed with these people a few months ago, do you know who those two are? ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Hearing you say this, it should be Ma Zhifang, the little housekeeper of Ma Jiliang's family, and his family's prefect." Why, is it just that the little master just wants to know the names of these two people? ”

Xu Ping asked coldly, "What do you think?" ”

Zhang Yuan sighed: "Of course not. There are only a few powerful families in this vicinity, and I am afraid that the little master has already guessed it before I come. You still came to us, presumably to take the life of that little sacrificer. ”

Xu Ping kept his mouth shut.

Sang Yi was taken aback and asked Xu Ping: "Do you really have such a mind?" This is a violation of the law of the land! What's more, the Ma family is just popular in front of the Queen Mother, why do you want to provoke him! ”

Xu Ping shook his head and said to Sang Yi: "What does this matter to us?" It's because they smelt the medicine and silver by themselves, and they divide the spoils unevenly, and they have a vendetta against each other, who cares? I only want a few hundred taels of silver! ”

Zhang Yuan got up and smiled: "You are also people who read a lot of books, carry a knife and a sword, how do you look forward and backward when you do things, mother-in-law and mother-in-law, what big things have you achieved?" In your eyes, he is the son of a favored minister, no one dares to mess with him, but in my eyes he is just a useless little bastard, but just a sword! ”

Xu Ping also knew that Ma Jiliang's son was extremely unsuccessful, and with his identity, he did not have an official body in this son. It's just that this kid is notorious, and as soon as he mentions it, he will be attacked by Taiwan, and his own identity as a relative will be taken out to talk about it.

But no matter what, they are also people from the Ma family, close relatives of the Queen Mother, and no one dares to take the initiative to provoke them. Xu Ping didn't have the courage of Zhang Yuan and Wu Jiuxia to ignore anything, so he killed him with a knife.

Seeing that Xu Ping was silent, Zhang Yuan said again: "Since the little master is an understanding person, of course he knows that the cost of smelting the medicinal silver is not small, and the risk of poison is extremely great, and a few hundred taels of silver is a bit less." ”

Xu Ping said coldly: "It's enough for you to go back and be a rich man!" ”

Zhang Yuan laughed when he heard this: "The little master has such shallow eyelids!" If you want to be a rich man in the countryside, why should Brother Wu and I come to the capital, you can easily do it at home! The eldest husband is a human being, and if he learns to write Tao Wuluo, he should be a general and enter the phase, and make immortal achievements! He was famous before his death, and he was danqing behind him! ”

Shaking his head while laughing: "I originally saw that you can also carry a knife on a horse, and you can also chant two lines of poetry, with a few unsuccessful villagers, you can defeat the long-trained army, and you can easily catch Ke Wulang and a group of thieves, and I thought that you were also a character of my generation, and you have the heart to make friends." I didn't expect you to only have a rich country man in your eyes, you really laughed off my big teeth! That's it, since we've said it here, if I deal with characters like you anymore, I'll surrender my identity, and I'll just sell you another face. I brought you that little housekeeper of the Ma family here, and took his life in front of you, so that you can see the demeanor of my generation! All you need to do is send two jars of good wine here, so that Brother Wu and I can have a good drink, don't say that we are greedy for your money!" ”

Xu Ping didn't expect this person to be so arrogant, and his face was a little unbearable. But after thinking about it, this guy was also a former Jinbang high schooler, and he was dethroned when he got to the palace exam, and his arrogance was also based on his ability. As for what he wants to go out of the phase and the like, Xu Ping has memories of his past life and is not very enthusiastic. It's good to aim high, but it's even more important to be down-to-earth and don't always float to the sky.

said to Zhang Yuan at the moment: "Whatever you say." It's not hard to get good wine, I'll find someone to bring it later. ”

Zhang Yuan said to Wu Jiuxia: "Brother Wu, you have worked hard to bring that little housekeeper of the Ma family here, and let this little master watch me take his life!" In the eyes of these countrymen, the great difficulty is nothing more than five steps of blood splashing in my eyes! ”

When Wu Jiuxia heard this, he stood up, did not take the iron sword, and said to Zhang Yuan: "Brother Zhang, wait." Then he went out of the temple gate and strode away.

Sang Yi really wanted to kill someone, and he wanted to stop it, but he was hit by what Zhang Yuan said just now, but he just opened his mouth, and finally didn't say it.

Zhang Yuan ignored the two, sat down by the fire, and muttered casually: "I have the heart to wait for the rabbit in the moon, and fly to the head of the white cloud." ”

Shaking his head, he concentrated on the fire. Obviously, he thinks he is a high-minded person, and he disdains to talk to someone like Xu Ping who has no ambitions.

Xu Ping and Sang Yi stood quietly to the side, watching Zhang Yuan pretend to be a master there.

In his previous life, inadvertently, Xu Ping didn't know how many biographies of celebrities he had read, and he knew it very well. Like Zhang Yuan's style, if he can become famous in the future, it is an anecdote of celebrities, and he has great ambitions from the beginning. If nothing is accomplished, it is a joke, like Su Dongpo's joke, eating miasma old beef in a rural temple and drinking village wine and talking about it.

Since ancient times, people have worshipped and envied only the result, not the process.

(Note: The first volume is coming to an end, and the next volume will involve the capital and some middle- and upper-class figures.) These two days will have to be a little slower, leaving time to think about the plot of the next volume. Excuse me! ）