Xi Zhen invited Ma Hong to have a good meal in the tavern, and after the meal, Ma Hong went back to Xi's house to rest on the grounds that he was unwell. As soon as Ma Hongyi returned to Xi's mansion, he walked into the room and retreated, leaving only Ma Sanyi by his side.

Ma Hong burped, reclined on the bed and said, "Ma San, you did a good job." ”

Ma San said with a smile: "It's all taught by Gongzi well." ”

Ma Hong rubbed his stomach, took a long breath, spit it out slowly, and said to Ma San: "Send someone to inform Li Li, and when Xi Zhen goes to Zhang Jinfu to investigate the case, let him sell a flaw to Xi Zhen." ”

Ma San said: "Gongzi recommended Xi Gongzi, who was at odds with you, to be the county lieutenant, and he had to give up Li Li, is it worth it?" ”

Ma Hong closed his eyes and said slowly: "Li Li asked me to help him kill his father-killing enemy, I helped him, and now he should also do me a favor, this is what we have negotiated." ”

Ma San bent down and said, "Childe, I just think that Gongzi recommended Gongzi Xi to be the county lieutenant, which is a bit worthless, after all, the relationship between him and Gongzi is not good." ”

Ma Hong waved his hand and said, "Don't talk too much, go and tell Li Li to let him go with confidence, I will take care of his family." ”

Ma San nodded yes and retreated. After Ma San withdrew, Ma Hong lay on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes, raised his hand, looked at the palm carefully, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and then turned his hand and clenched his fist tightly. Ma Hong understands very well that the Ma family supports Liu Qi, and he will also assist Liu Qi in the future, so he will pave the way for Liu Qi now, so after Liu Biao's death, Liu Qi will have a greater chance of taking over. Then after Liu Qi takes over, he is Liu Qi's first hero, and Ma Hong also knows very well that Liu Qi is a short-lived ghost, so after the short-lived ghost dies, he will be able to stir up the situation and show his ambitions. So what Liu Qi doesn't dare to do now, he will quietly replace Liu Qi to do it; Liu Qi didn't dare to think that he would plan instead of Liu Qi; If Liu Qi doesn't dare to move, he will kill him instead of Liu Qi. Although Zhang Jin also has some skills, he is not Cai Mao's person, nor is he Liu Qi's person, so even if Ma Hong secretly kills him, Cai Mao will not take it too seriously. As long as Cai Mao has not noticed him, then his actions will not be restricted, on the surface he is still only a thirteen-year-old boy, and he is only a student of Mr. Shui Jing, but his hand is slowly reaching for the hub of power.

On the second day, Ma Hong received news that Xi Zhen and Liu Qi went to Zhang Jin's Mansion to investigate the case, Li Li said that he had leaked his mouth and committed suicide in fear of crime. On the fourth day, Liu Qi came with the news that Liu Biao had enabled Xiang Lang to work for Bo Cao. At this time, Ma Hong had been recuperating from his injury in Xi's Mansion for more than a month, and his body had basically recovered, so he resigned and returned to Shuijing Villa. Before Ma Hong went to Shuijing Villa, he instructed Ma San to take Lian'er back to Yicheng, and instructed Ma Sanhao to take care of Lian'er.

It was May, the weather began to get hotter, Ma Hong took two cans of rice wine out of the stone forest of Shuijing Villa, his face was already covered with sweat, he put the wine on the ground, stretched out his hand to wipe the sweat on his face, and when he tried to straighten up, his head was dizzy, and he almost fell to the ground.

Outside the stone forest, Pang Tong, who was sitting in the sun grinding stones, saw Ma Hong coming back, walked to Ma Hong's side silently, picked up the rice wine, opened the lid of the altar, drank three sips of wine in a row, and then raised his head and sneezed three times in a row at the sun.

Ma Hong looked at Pang Tong, whose body was tanned, and Pang Tong's hand holding the wine jar also became extremely rough, and a layer of skin was withdrawn on his fingers, it seemed that Pang Tong's days in the villa were not very easy these days. Ma Hong said secretly: It seems that this guy Pang Tong must have told the teacher everything carefully, and Jia Xu, the old monster, cheated him once.

Pang Tong sneezed, rubbed his nose, showed his hands to Ma Hong, and said, "Look, my hand holding the pen has become a hand grinding stones." ”

Ma Hong smiled and asked, "Why did you grind the stone?" ”

Pang Tong sighed and said, "It's not because of you, I was punished by the teacher, how about it, is the injury serious?" ”

Ma Hong smiled and said, "It's almost good." ”

Pang Tong drank two more sips of wine before he said slowly: "Xu Shu and Liu Ye worked together to break Old Man Huang's stone formation. ”

Ma Hong sighed, and then asked, "How long did it take?" ”

Pang Tong stretched out two fingers to Ma Hong.

Ma Hong guessed: "Two hours?" ”

Pang Tong shook his head and said, "Two days." ”

Ma Hong sighed and asked, "Is the teacher satisfied?" ”

Pang Tong shook his head and said, "I was quite dissatisfied, so the teacher gave each of them a hoe and went to the field to help the villagers remove the grass." ”

Ma Hong's face changed, and he said secretly: Could it be that I just returned to the village, and I will also be punished by the teacher? Still wounded? What can I do?

Pang Tong stood up, took away a jar of wine, and said as he walked: "Go see the teacher!" Let's see how the teacher will punish you! ”

Ma Hong said to Pang Tong: "You always want to punish me, you seem to be very happy." ”

Pang Tong turned his head and squinted at Ma Hong and said with a smile: "It's best for the teacher to let you accompany me to grind stones, I'm too bored by myself, Xu Shu and Liu Ye went to hoe and there was someone to talk with." ”

Ma Hong sighed, threw the remaining jar of wine to Pang Tong, and walked towards the teacher's residence alone. When Ma Hong saw Mr. Shui Jing, Mr. Shui Jing was holding a knife to engrave words on the stone tablet, and after Ma Hong saluted the teacher, he stood silently and watched the teacher engrave.

Mr. Shui Jing didn't pay attention to Ma Hong, but continued to carve the words with the carving knife, and after he carved the words he was carving, he turned to Ma Hong and said, "How about the words?" ”

Ma Hong has been watching in the process of Mr. Shuijing's engraving, and was suddenly asked by the teacher how the carved words are, Ma Hong was speechless for a while, paused for a moment before saying, "Not bad." ”

Ma Hong obviously told a lie, he originally wanted to say it very well, but Mr. Shuijing's engraved words were not good, so he said it well. Although Ma Hong had long heard Xu Shu say that the teacher's handwriting was not very good, he didn't expect it to be so unsightly.

Mr. Shui Jing shook his head and said, "As my student, I must first tell the truth to the teacher, my handwriting is really bad. ”

Ma Hong blushed and said secretly: You yourself know the difference in carving, and you asked me, if it was me, I would definitely be embarrassed to ask.

Mr. Shui Jing put down the carving knife, washed his hands, and then returned to the stele and said to Ma Hong: "Although the carving is relatively poor, can you tell what I carved?" ”

Ma Hong secretly said in his heart: Your soul carver, it is really not easy to see what you carve, but I can see it. Then Ma Hong replied: "Teacher Hui, what you engraved is a sentence from the Analects of Politics, which is: "Disciple, if you enter, you will be filial, and when you go out, you will be cautious and faithful, and you will love the public, and be kind." If you have more than enough energy, you will learn the text. ”

Mr. Shui Jing nodded and said, "Yes, you have eyesight, so can you do what this sentence says?" ”

Ma Hong thought about it carefully before saying, "Back to the teacher, the student feels that it has been roughly done. ”

Mr. Shui Jing nodded and said: "Although you and Pang Tong didn't do it, but you are a little stronger than Pang Tong, when I asked him, he said without thinking that he did it." Neither of you fully did what I said because neither of you was careful enough to do things, do you think I'm right? ”

Ma Hong said without the slightest hesitation: "What the teacher taught us is that we are indeed a little reckless in our actions in the city. ”

Mr. Shui Jing nodded and said, "Well, then you have to pay attention to it in the future." ”

Ma Hong hurriedly replied: "What the teacher teaches is that students must be cautious in their words and deeds in the future. ”

Mr. Shui Jing hummed again and continued to ask: "If you have more than enough energy, then you will learn the text, I think you need to learn calligraphy in the six arts now." After all, your handwriting is the most distinctive among your brothers and sisters. ”

Ma Hong's handwriting is indeed very distinctive, because his handwriting is the same as that of Mr. Shuijing, which is poorly written, but it is much better than Mr. Shuijing's writing. Ma Hong heard that Mr. Shui Jing wanted him to practice calligraphy, so he said: "The student is ashamed, the handwriting is really poor, and the student will practice diligently." ”

Mr. Shui Jing hummed and said, "Liutao, have you read it?" ”