Chapter 16: Merchants and Bandits
Lin Fan didn't pay attention to Lin Yongsen, this person counted this time, before and after, I'm afraid he had threatened him no less than five times, shrugged his shoulders and crossed Lin Yongsen, and strode towards the forest, he found a flower bush in the forest yesterday, with many extremely beautiful flowers, and early this morning, when the winter sun was rising, he wanted to make a flower hat and give it to Zhou Chenxi, so as to win the hearts of the beauties.
"Dare to ignore me, boy, look good!"
Lin Yongsen stared at Lin Fan's back and scolded.
"Goo~Goo~Goo"
Following the direction of the source of the sound, Lin Fan tiptoed over, and saw three big pheasants pecking small insects on the grass, looked around, and did not find anyone else, Lin Fan picked up three small stones from the ground and threw them towards the pheasant.
"Whoosh" three times, the heads of the three pheasants were smashed by the stones, and the flesh and blood were blurred, lying on the ground and constantly kicking their legs.
Carrying three pheasants, Lin Fan came to the place where he found the flowers yesterday, put the pheasants on the ground, used the green leaves as vines, and dotted the flowers of five colors.
"Brother Lin, I've caught game again."
Zhou Chenxi, who was at the door of the house, saw Lin Fan holding three wild pheasants in his right hand, and couldn't help but be excited, who made Lin Fan not only superb cooking, but also barbecue, which made Zhou Chenxi, who had been relying on the sea for a long time, completely obsessed with Lin Fan's craftsmanship.
Putting the pheasant on the ground, Lin Fan wiped his right hand on his body, and motioned for Zhou Chenxi to close his eyes.
"What are you going to do?"
Zhou Chenxi asked curiously, Lin Fan didn't explain, just kept gesticulating, urging Zhou Chenxi to close his eyes quickly, and when Zhou Chenxi's eyes were closed, Lin Fan quickly looked left and right, took out the flower hat from the bronze ring, and gently put it on Zhou Chenxi's head.
The sun shone on Zhou Chenxi's beautiful and white face, the long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the frost-like skin could be broken by blowing.
"What a beautiful flower"
Zhou Chenxi, who smelled the fragrance of flowers, opened his eyes, took off the flower hat on his head, blinked a pair of big eyes, and couldn't put it down.
Seeing that Zhou Chenxi loved this flower hat so much, Lin Fan couldn't help but secretly rejoice, and suddenly remembered the poem that flowers can be folded and straightened, and there are no flowers and empty branches.
"Thank you, Brother Lin"
Zhou Chenxi put the flower hat back on his head and smiled sweetly at Lin Fan.
Lin Fan was unable to move, and the job of disemboweling and washing wild pheasants fell on Zhou Zhongyu's head, but he had no complaints, after all, he had a short hand and a soft mouth.
"I said, sister, are you interested in that kid? You've been fighting with him for just a month, you have to know that he is a cripple......
Zhou Zhongyu was on the edge of the stream, pulling the feathers of the pheasant and turning his head to Zhou Chenxi, who was washing vegetables, and said earnestly, but before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhou Chenxi.
"Brother, what are you talking nonsense, I don't allow you to say this about Brother Lin"
Zhou Chenxi's cheeks puffed up and glared at Zhou Zhongyu.
"Gotta get it, I can see it, you must have some interest in that kid, it's not that you're too fast, the kid's origin hasn't been figured out yet, and in his case, can he go to sea? It's okay to catch some game, but you have to think about it", Zhou Zhongyu persuaded bitterly.
"You're talking nonsense that I'm ignoring you"
"Okay, okay, don't talk about it"
The brother and sister didn't notice Lin Yongsen more than ten meters away, the cat was behind the tree, and the conversation between the two was listened to by Lin Yongsen word for word, when Zhou Zhongyu broke through, Lin Yongsen looked at Zhou Chenxi who was blushing, his fists were clenched tightly, and he didn't even realize that his nails were stuck in the flesh, he understood that Zhou Chenxi's heart had already secretly promised, this person was actually a waste man who had only been from Hong Kong Village for a month, quietly left the creek, and Lin Yongsen walked back to his home decadently.
Zhou Laohan picked up a pile of firewood, lit a bonfire and set up a shelf, Lin Fan, who was in charge of roasting wild pheasants, sat by the bonfire, constantly turning over the roasted wild pheasants, exuding bursts of fragrance from time to time.
"Is it cooked?"
Zhou Chenxi smelled the fragrance and had a great appetite, sitting on Lin Fan's right side and couldn't help but ask.
Lin Fan smiled when he heard this, tore off a chicken leg and handed it to Zhou Chenxi.
"Hot~~Hot~~Hot"
Zhou Chenxi, who couldn't wait to take a bite of the chicken leg, shouted, and after blowing off the hot air, he feasted on it, Lin Fan raised his right hand and gently wiped the oil stains from the corner of Zhou Chenxi's mouth, causing Zhou Chenxi's face to turn red.
Seeing this scene, Zhou Laohan just frowned slightly, but he didn't say much, but Zhou Zhongyu ate two roast chickens in three times and divided by two, and picked his teeth with his nails while burping, and his image was extremely unsightly.
After Lin Fan ate two bites, he seemed to remember something, got up and pulled Zhou Zhongyu and walked into the house.
"What are you doing?"
Zhou Zhongyu wondered, Lin Fan pointed to the dozen jars of wine next to the bed in his house, and motioned for Zhou Zhongyu to move out of the door.
"Do you want to drink?" Zhou Zhongyu was ecstatic, holding a jar of wine in one hand, and moved more than a dozen jars of wine to the door several times.
For Zhou Laohan's family, Lin Fan was full of mysteries, at first he simply thought that he was just here to experience the seaside life, but after getting along for a month, Zhou Laohan's family found that Lin Fan was not so simple, every two or three days, Lin Fan would always change into a set of clean clothes, but Zhou Laohan remembered that this guy didn't bring any salute when he came, not to mention the scar on his face, just said that a one-armed guy who couldn't speak could run into the forest every day to catch game, either pheasants or hares, and once dragged an adult tiger back to the village, which caused a sensation in the whole village, and it was precisely because of this feat that Lin Yongsen did not dare to do anything to Lin Fanγ
"How could a disabled person kill an adult tiger, and where did all this wine come from?"
Zhou Laohan felt more and more that Lin Fan was extremely mysterious, and secretly thought in his heart, but the three of them did not break it.
After Zhou Zhongyu moved all the wine out, Zhou Laohan fried a few more side dishes, and the three of them pushed the cups and drank them, and finally even Zhou Chenxi tasted it curiously, and was coughed so that tears flowed, which made the three of them laugh more than once.
Compared with his happy conversation and laughter Zhou Laohan's family and Lin Fan, Lin Yongsen is indeed extremely depressed, not long ago he passed by Zhou Laohan's house, he actually saw the waste man touching the face of his sweetheart, at that time he was so angry that he almost grabbed a stick and stepped forward to compare with Lin Fan, when he thought of the "heroic" feat of this waste man who had killed a tiger, he suddenly withered again.
"What I can't get, others can't think of"
Lin Yongsen was home alone, and poured a big sip of wine and hated.
Lin Fan and Zhou Laohan's grandson drank more than ten jars of wine, and the three of them were so drunk that they were not good, but fortunately they were able to walk back to the room by themselves, and they fell asleep as soon as they touched the bed.
"I'm full of food and drink, and I have to clean it up in the end", Zhou Chenxi spit out a breath of hot air, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and muttered and complained while cleaning up the mess all over the ground.
Lin Yongsen borrowed the strength of the wine and went straight to Zhou Chenxi's house, and Zhou Chenxi was still cleaning up at the door at this time.
"Chenxi, I like you so much, why can't you promise me? Who do you fancy is not good, why do you like a dumb person with a missing arm", Lin Yongsen walked behind Zhou Chenxi and roared.
"I like who wants you to take care of it, although Brother Lin is not sound, he said that he can kill a tiger, can you?"
Zhou Chenxi, who was taken aback, glanced back at Lin Yongsen.
"That kid is of unknown origin, I know he gave your grandfather a piece of gold, that's why he stayed in the village, look at the scars on his face, if you want me to say, either a bandit or a thief, don't be carried away and blinded"
Lin Yongsen was extremely unconvinced, although he couldn't fight the tiger with his bare hands, but he was one of the best at the helm, he was one of the best in the village, every time he fished, he returned with a full load, he never thought that the lover of his dreams was actually taken away by an outsider, how could he be willing.
"I think you look like a bandit and a thief, that's right, I just like Brother Lin, it's not your turn to take care of my affairs, you go"
Zhou Chenxi pointed at Lin Yongsen angrily.
"You...... You...... Are you really ...... It's true...... Like...... Love that kid."
Like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, Lin Yongsen's brain suddenly went blank, and his beloved said that he liked other men, which made him unacceptable.
Seeing that Lin Fan and Zhou Chenxi got along very well before, he was already angry, Lin Yongsen came while he was drinking, he wanted to fight for himself, who expected Zhou Chenxi to say his heart, and did not leave himself a chance.
Lin Yongsen, who lost his mind, took a big step forward, staring at the bronze eyes, and pinched Zhou Chenxi's neck with both hands.
It wasn't until Zhou Chenxi didn't resist that Lin Yongsen let go of his hand, looked at Zhou Chenxi lying on the ground and suddenly regained consciousness, stretched out his index finger and probed under the tip of Zhou Chenxi's nose, Lin Yongsen fell into a panic.
"Wake up, Chenxi, wake up"
Lin Yongsen shook Zhou Chenxi in panic and cried.
"What's going on, Chenxi, fuck, your uncle, Lin Yongsen, I'll kill you"
Zhou Zhongyu, who was woken up in a daze, saw his sister lying on the ground, while Lin Yongsen knelt on the ground and looked at him in horror, and suddenly felt bad.
"I... I... I", Lin Yongsen was speechless.
"Sister, what's wrong with you, sister", Zhou Zhongyu shouted anxiously.
"What's wrong?"
Zhou Laohan and Lin Fan, who heard the sound, also walked out of the room leaning on the wall.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Lin Yongsen immediately turned around and ran outside the house, "Sister, she ...... She... She is not breathing", Zhou Zhongyu probed his sister's snort and found that Zhou Chenxi had lost his life, and couldn't help howling in pain.
"What the hell is going on?"
Old Man Zhou woke up a lot in an instant, stumbled a few steps, and asked anxiously.
"It was Lin Yongsen who killed him that day," Zhou Zhongyu hugged Zhou Chenxi and howled.
Looking at the red pinch mark on Zhou Chenxi's neck, Lin Fan's eyes were red, he clenched the fist of his right hand, and chased after Lin Yongsen in the direction of escape.
The scenery on both sides continued to regress under Lin Fan's angry footsteps, and after a while, he caught up with Lin Yongsen in the woods, and at this moment, Lin Fan no longer ignored the instructions of his senior brother who could not explain thousands of explanations and not use spiritual power at will, and shot a spiritual power towards Lin Yongsen's left calf with his right hand, knocking Lin Yongsen's left calf through a thumb-sized hole.
"Ah~~Ah~~ You... You.... Who the hell are you?"
Lin Yongsen was injured in his left calf, fell to the ground and wailed in pain, but the next scene made him shudder.
He saw a rusty bronze ancient sword appear out of thin air on Lin Fan's right hand, and Lin Fan, whose face was pale, was walking towards him step by step.
"Bang~Bang~Bang"
Lin Yongsen heard his own beating heartbeat, watched Lin Fan get closer and closer to him, and roared angrily: "You can't blame me, if you want to blame yourself, if you don't come to our village, Chenxi won't like you, it's all caused by you, it's all caused by you, it's all caused by you, it's all caused by you, a waste person."
Lin Fan paused for a moment, looking at Lin Yongsen who was lying on the ground covering his left leg, Zhou Chenxi's smile suddenly appeared in his mind, and the bronze sword pointing at Lin Yongsen also trembled with anger, Lin Fan never imagined that Lin Yongsen would do such a conscientious thing.
Zhou Chenxi's death had already hit Lin Fan deeply, and he heard Lin Yongsen's endless shouting, which made Lin Fan fall into madness, and raised his bronze sword and swung it towards Lin Yongsen.
After a long time, Lin Fan was panting under a tree, Lin Yongsen next to him had been dismantled by Lin Fan, looking at the blood stains on his body and the bronze sword in his hand, Lin Fan couldn't understand why he was so tyrannical.
Putting the bronze sword back into the bronze ring, Lin Fan walked in the direction of Old Han Zhou's house.
"If you didn't come to our village, how could my sister like you? Then Lin Yongsen wouldn't have done this to my sister, I would have killed you."
Zhou Zhongyu shouted with red eyes and grabbed Lin Fan's collar.
"Let go of him", Zhou Laohan seemed to be more than ten years old in an instant, sitting at the door of the house and shouting.
"But he..."
"I said, let him go"
Zhou Zhongyu gritted his teeth, pushed Lin Fan away heavily, and walked to Zhou Chenxi's body crying bitterly.
"While the other villagers haven't found out, let's go, don't come to us again"
Zhou Laohan had already seen the bloodstains on Lin Fan's body, and instantly understood that Lin Yongsen was probably already more than lucky, his granddaughter was poisoned because of Lin Fan after all, he never wanted to see Lin Fan again, and urged Lin Fan to leave Yuangang Village quickly.
Lin Fan looked at Zhou Chenxi in the house, pursed his lips, tears dripped down unconsciously, looked at Zhou Laohan, took out ten pieces of gold from the bronze ring and put it on the ground, and left Yuangang Village in despair.
Walking numbly along the two-zhang wide avenue, Lin Fan took out a jar of wine from the bronze ring, drinking it as he walked, he really couldn't figure it out, how could this relationship have ended before it started, Zhou Chenxi's death was no less than the nameless incident back then, and now he can only use wine to kill his sorrows.
......
More than thirty brown sturdy horses, each pulling a carriage, most of which were carrying a dozen sacks and the rest were wooden barrels, were slowly moving forward on the avenue.
It was a caravan of more than thirty people, led by a sturdy man with a thick beard and a height of six feet, named Chen Shihua, who was riding on a huge horse with a dark complexion, and a scimitar three feet long and two inches wide stuck in his horse, and was looking vigilantly at the forests on both sides of the avenue.
On the sack of the seventh carriage, there was a young man who smelled of heavy wine, this person was Lin Fan, he hugged the wine jar that was only one-third left, leaned on the sack and fell asleep.
Three days ago, when Chen Shihua's caravan passed another avenue, one of his subordinates found Lin Fan lying on the side of the road, thinking that he was a person in distress, but he never thought that he was a drunkard, Chen Shihua originally planned to let this drunkard fend for himself, but unexpectedly, the drunkard took out a piece of gold from his arms and threw it directly to Chen Shihua, and wrote the words "walk with you" on the ground.
Chen Shihua's caravan is currently carrying fish oil, salt, dried fish, pearls, corals and other valuables, all of which were purchased from the seashore and transported to a city more than 1,000 miles away to sell.
Although it will take more than 2,000 miles to go back and forth, but the profit is also extremely considerable, if there is no bad weather with wind and rain, it will be able to go back and forth in less than a month, and there will be risks if there is profit, the reason why Chen Shihua is vigilant is that he is worried about bandits and robbers.
At this time, the route taken by the caravan is the only way for Chen Shihua and them, this road is more than 200 miles long, and there are several bandits and robbers, and I don't know how many caravans are carried on this road, at least they lose their goods, and at worst they are even difficult to protect their lives, but fortunately, there are officers and soldiers who have been exterminated in recent years, and the bandits are only one left, but it is the most ferocious one.
The sound of horses' hooves clattering against the ground, bringing up puffs of earth mist from time to time.
"Brothers, you have walked more than 20 miles out of this road, don't let your guard down, go to the post station to rest after leaving this road," Chen Shihua said majestically.
"Refresh?"
More than 30 subordinates were immediately overjoyed, this road of more than 200 miles was the most painful part of the caravan's journey, except for letting the horses drink water and eat grass in the middle, the rest of the time was on the road, and everyone was tired and exhausted.
Chen Shihua said that the post station, is not an ordinary post station, this post station is like a large restaurant, the customers are like Chen Shihua this kind of caravan, the operator of the post station, is not an idle generation, is next to a thousands of troops of the commander of the army, the duty of this army, is to fight bandits and robbers and protect the coming and going of the caravan, after all, the caravan pays a lot of taxes.
This commander has a unique vision, every day there will be large and small caravans passing by the post station, in addition to opening this post station can make a lot of money, the caravan will also pay the commander a benefit in private, can make money and let the caravan rest, but also win the favor of the caravan, the most important thing is that the money earned can also be used to buy his soldiers, so that they can work for themselves, why not.
"Stand still obediently and don't move, otherwise the arrows in our hands will not be merciful."
When it was only seven or eight miles away from the post station, Chen Shihua and his party breathed a sigh of relief, never thinking that this bandit would come out.
In the woods on the left and right sides of the avenue, there are more than a dozen men armed with bows and arrows, holding bows and aiming at the caravan.
More than 20 meters in front, a slightly chubby bald man with a figure of more than five feet, holding a meteor hammer in his right hand, shouted viciously, it seems that this bald man is the leader of this group of bandits, and behind him more than 20 bandits armed with scimitars, looking at the caravan with laughter.
This bald man is also a bit of a brain, and the caravan will be very vigilant before stepping into this road, but when he is about to arrive at the station, he will definitely relax, so he will ambush and wait again, and he did not expect that after less than an hour of ambush, the fat sheep came.
"Even if you are unlucky, I met your grandfather and me, I am a little smarter, put down your weapons, I only need the goods on your car, as well as your horses, Lao Tzu is in a good mood today, I will spare your life", the bald man yelled with a few flicks of the meteor hammer.
"Your courage is not small, not far away is the camp of officers and soldiers, you dare to block the road and rob again"
Chen Shihua was extremely unwilling, the post station was not far away, these bandits were too bold, they had worked hard for more than ten days to transport this batch of goods, as long as they crossed this road, there would be no danger, I didn't expect this group of bandits to openly rob near the camp of officers and soldiers.
"If you don't go into the tiger's den, you get the tiger, as the saying goes, how much you pay, how much you get, it's not in vain that Lao Tzu walked in the woods for a day and a night, and ambushed here for nearly an hour, God is not thin to me."
The bald man looked at the goods on the more than thirty carriages, and licked his mouth with red eyes, as long as he snatched these goods and spun them out, he could make a lot of money, thinking of this, the bald man was extremely excited.
"We rely on this batch of goods for a living, we have to leave a line for everything, you take ten truckloads of goods, and keep the rest for us, you see how it is", Chen Shihua dismounted, looked at the archers on both sides and muttered.
"Don't talk nonsense, whether you are in the car or on the horse, get off the car and dismount me, walk to the side of the road, put your hands in front of you, and throw away your weapons, otherwise the arrows aimed at you in the hands of my brothers will not greet you"
The bald man was impatient, and shouted viciously.
"Everyone get out of the car and throw away their weapons"
A bandit with a bow shot a sharp arrow at the feet of Chen Shihua's black horse, Chen Shihua knew that if he did not follow the requirements of this group of robbers and bandits, he was afraid that he would end up losing both his personal and financial resources, and now it was important to save his life first, and when this group of people left, he immediately went to report to the officers and soldiers, and they couldn't run far with the goods, so he immediately let everyone in the caravan still put their weapons underground, and walked to the left side of the road in the middle of the horse team.
"Hahaha, count you as acquaintances, brothers, on"
The bald man rushed into the horse team with his men like a hungry tiger, and the bandits with spears stood by a carriage.
A masked bandit armed with a long knife walked to the seventh carriage and was about to jump into the carriage when he heard a snoring sound, and turned his head to see that it was a one-armed young man in his twenties, who smelled of alcohol and was lying on the sack and falling asleep.
"Okay, you're a kid, you're tired of being crooked, you want to get out of the car if you want to live"
The bandit slapped Lin Fan with a knife and shouted viciously.
"Yo, it's quite horizontal, uncle, do you hear me talking to you?"
Seeing that the young man only raised his eyelids and glanced at himself, and then closed his eyes, the bandit was annoyed and angry, so he used a knife to smash the wine jar that Lin Fan was holding in his right hand.
This can annoy Lin Fan, now for him, wine is his life, this bandit, as an ordinary man, dares to smash the wine jar in the hands of a god transformation stage cultivator, of course, how can this bandit know that the person in front of him is the so-called immortal stream in their mouths.
I saw Lin Fan quickly open his eyes, gently patted his right hand on the sack, quickly changed his body to a different direction, and at the same time kicked his right foot heavily on the bandit's chest, kicking the bandit into the eighth carriage.
The sound of clicking and plopping sounded at the same time, it was the sound of the bandit's back breaking, and the sound of hitting the carriage and bouncing on the ground, Lin Fan's kick was so strong that the bandit crashed into the carriage, and actually knocked the carriage full of goods back more than a meter, and the brown horse pulling the eighth carriage also took a few steps back, the horse's nose spewed out a breath of white air, and the horse's hooves stepped on the ground a few more steps, making a burst of neighing sounds.
"Lao Jiu, what's wrong with you? boy, you are really an old birthday star who eats a batch of creams, you think your life is long, right?"
The two masked bandits next to the sixth carriage and the eighth carriage, seeing the bandits lying on the ground, blood slowly emerged from his black scarf, I am afraid that they are already more than lucky, one is holding a knife, the other is holding a spear, and at the same time, they slash towards Lin Fan one after the other.
The bandit archers on both sides lost their effect because of the participation of these two bandits, Lin Fanyuan swept his legs, and directly broke the legs of the bandit holding the spear in front of him, the bandit fell on his back to the ground, and before he felt the pain, Lin Fan had already snatched the spear in his hand, and smashed the head of the spear-wielding bandit with one kick, and threw the spear in his right hand towards the chest of the knife-wielding bandit behind him.
The spear passed through the heart of the knife-wielding bandit and stabbed into the ground, and Lin Fan threw it, and actually nailed the knife-wielding bandit to the ground with his back facing the sky with a spear, killing him on the spot.
"Damn, what are you still doing in a daze, is the bow and arrow in your hand an ornament, shoot him to death", the bald man yelled angrily.
The bandit archers on the left could only stare at the caravan because they were blocked by the goods of the carriage, and the dozen or so bandit archers on the right all shot bows and arrows drawn into a full moon and swished towards Lin Fan.