After laughing for a while, both of us started to cramp in our stomachs, and we couldn't stand it anymore so we had to stop and force ourselves not to laugh. Bird then went on to tell me about his upbringing.

"Looking back now, the years of hard work with my master in that nameless little Taoist temple were also the purest and happiest times in my life. The two confused Taoist priests, one old and one young, only take care of the two acres of vegetable fields in front of the Taoist temple every day, and then occasionally go out to do things for others to earn some money to buy rice. Although you can't save enough for the bride price of marrying a wife, it's still okay to have a full meal. ”

"Although my name is a bit strange, but there is nothing good to eat in the mountains, from time to time to hunt a few wild birds to smell the meat is an activity that both I and the master and master like, this 'bird meat scattering' is actually called true. So I didn't change it at all, and it was a commemoration of my master. ”

Birdmeat tilted his head back, his eyes twinkling, showing innocence that is rarely seen in ordinary times. Such childhood memories should be very beautiful for him!

"Then how did you practice Yin Gong later?" I waited for him to reminisce for a while before I asked.

"Alas, I followed my master for five years, and he died when I was fourteen years old, leaving me with a half-grown child who could not support a Taoist temple. According to the custom of mountain people to hold red and white ceremonies, there is always a need for a decent white-bearded old man to recite the scriptures. So, after discussing with the two nearby villages, they scraped together some money and invited a new and old road from outside the mountain to come back. ”

"This newcomer is in his eighties, and he is even older than my master, and he can't walk, and I have to carry him wherever he goes. But we are so poor there that no one wants to come if he doesn't come. This is my second master! ”

"Although my second master has bad legs and feet, he still has some real skills. He really knows how to catch ghosts, and those who have fallen into evil only need to invite him to his house to practice it once, and the next day he will be like a normal person! Now, not only in the neighboring villages, but even in the villages separated by two or three hills, there are people who are willing to carry a sedan chair to invite him over. The dilapidated little Taoist temple has become more and more vigorous! ”

"And what's even more powerful is that my second master is literate! He taught me how to read and write, corrected the scriptures I had been reading wrong for the first five years, word by word, and then asked me if I wanted to learn Yin Gong from him. I didn't understand the fart at the time, so I agreed, didn't I get on the thief ship? Bird meat spread his hands, expressing helplessness.

I couldn't get used to it, and complained: "You're happy!" I wanted to learn, but my master didn't want to teach me! ”

"Hey, you're not the same as I do, I'll go on and you'll get it!"

"Later, when I became an adult, I saved a few dollars and learned some skills, so I couldn't stay in the mountains, and I always wanted to go out and make a lot of money to get a beautiful wife. My second master couldn't keep me, so he recommended me to come to the provincial capital, and relied on the Teng family's relationship to enter Zuoqiu City. ”

"The Teng family is also a thief! I was still young at that time, and I thought about making a lot of money all day long, and after being fooled by the people of the Teng family, I happily signed a contract with them, and I gritted my teeth and signed for twenty years! Dog Day Drip! At that time, I thought that it would be okay to find a wife in the Yin City, but where did I think that it was almost a monk's city, it was almost like continuing to become a monk for 20 years! ”

"How many years do you have left on your contract now?"

"Eight years!"

"Then you're still faster than me, I still have nine years!"

"Hey, hey! When the time comes, it doesn't matter if I wait for you for a year, let's go to the yang world together and ask two beautiful models to be wives! I want the kind with big breasts, big butts, and long legs! Bird Meat had a lewd expression on his face, and he actually reached out to hook my shoulder.

"You're welcome! You just take care of yourself first, I don't have the same taste as yours! I pushed his hand away angrily.

What? I've known you for only a day. Even if you turn the page about last night's events, it won't become a hook on your shoulders so soon!

Bird Meat didn't mind my disgusted reaction, and continued to tell his "history of torture": "After I entered Zuoqiu City, I worked as a partner in the pharmacy from the beginning. The shopkeeper was an old man who picked the door, saying that he handed over the work of grinding the medicine to me, but he was always not at ease, and the ground medicine powder had to be weighed again to see if the weight was right, for fear that I would do some small tricks in it. So, after working in the pharmacy for three years, I learned to know all kinds of medicinal herbs. ”

"Later, when I had enough of him, I went to Manager Teng and told me that I would rather go to the cattle market to work as a coolie, brush the back of the big snail every day, brush the leg hair of the ticks, and cut the toenails of the big lizard! I've been doing this work for another three years, and now I know what kind of disease the animals are committing! ”

"Later, I got tired of serving the livestock, so I learned some kung fu from a cheap third master, and followed him to run a caravan. Now you see, I do everything, take care of supplies, take inventory of goods, and treat livestock! And I did it for six years! ”

"Wow! Then you know a lot, and you can keep accounts in addition to that! I couldn't help but envy.

"Hey! Don't you know, this bookkeeping was also learned from my master! Bird meat waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to make a fuss, "It turns out that when you are in the Taoist temple, you can read the scriptures casually, and you can remember the account clearly!" Who's going to be in what month and day? Did you do a red thing or a white thing? How much should I charge? You have to remember it all! The people in the mountains don't have much money, so they all save up and get married together when they have money after the autumn. When the time comes, Master and I will go door to door with the ledger to collect offerings. ”

"Your master is illiterate, how can you keep your accounts?" I'm curious.

"1234567890, he can still write ten Arabic numerals, right? Then, if you do a red thing, draw a circle, which represents the consummation of the circle; Bai Shi draws a square to represent the coffin; Wherever you go to do the ritual, let the head of the household press a handprint, the people in the mountains are simple, and they will definitely admit it if they press the handprint! ”

"Sure enough, there are more ways than difficulties, you and your master are both ghosts!" I complimented, "Then who is your current third master?" Introduce me to know, too! ”

Bird Meat sighed, shook his head, and said, "I've been with him for a year." The next year, he was eaten by a ball toad on his way to the business, leaving me only this pair of judges' pens. And what he taught me was some kung fu that I couldn't get on the table, otherwise I wouldn't have lost to you as a chef so easily! ”

This time, it was my turn to pat him on the shoulder and comforted: "You don't have to be too inferior, I, a cook, have also worked with a few serious masters, and my fighting skills are no worse than stir-frying!" ”

After chatting about their experiences, I asked him about everyone in the team. The first thing I want to know most is Bu Ye.

"Bu Ye's real name is Lao, and his name is Laobu. But everyone else gave him a nickname, 'Old Immortal'! "The bird meat exploded as soon as he opened his mouth, and he was definitely a guy who didn't hold back.

"Why did you give him that nickname?" I glanced at Bu Ye from a distance and wondered, "He doesn't look old, at most he looks like he's fifty or sixty years old." ”

"It's old! He's almost 120 years old this year! ”

"One hundred and twenty?"

My eyes widened. Isn't that more than twenty years older than Tian Laolu? Doesn't it look like it?

Bird Meat lowered his voice and said, "He's an old team leader, and he's been doing this for almost seventy years. Moreover, he has worked in the trading houses of major families, and he has jumped five or six times, and it is said that this is the second time he has signed a contract with the Teng family. With so many years of experience in running business, in fact, any business firm he goes to is willing to sign him. ”

In addition, he has experienced everything in these seventy years. Ghost bandits, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and all kinds of monster attacks, what haven't you seen? Sometimes the caravan is wiped out, and the whole team is dead, and he alone can escape! So everyone gave him a nickname, 'Old Immortal'! ”

"But, though I told you, you can't shout that in front of him!" Birdmeat finally glared at me again, "warned" me.

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid!"

"You should also be able to see that Bu Ye's temper is not very good, he loves to scold people, and occasionally beats people. So no one can understand him, and they are afraid of him! However, when it comes to running caravans, he is still the most experienced, and he is the oldest qualified team leader in Zuoqiu City! With him to lead the team, the caravan will definitely not get lost, and there will be few strange things encountered on the way. I followed him for three years, and this caravan ran fairly easily, and two people died in almost a year! ”

"It's okay to die two a year?" I was a little surprised by this statistic.

"Of course! It's dangerous to run a caravan underneath the underworld! Birdmeat disagreed, "Let's just talk about this natural unreasonable terrain, many caves have several layers. When you're unlucky, as long as you don't pay attention, the whole team steps on the hollow stratum and falls directly from the top layer to the bottom layer, so you can't break your bones? ”

"What about the ghost bandits? Do you often encounter them? "I've heard Cao Zhe talk about ghost bandits, and they seem to be quite a threat to the caravan.

"It's okay." Bird Meat said, "The strength of Zuoqiu City is strong enough, and ordinary ghost bandits don't dare to run so close to do things. Only when you run a long way can you encounter them around other small yin cities. Besides, caravans like ours are all following at least ten or eight dart masters, and the smaller ghost bandits can't eat us. ”

"What about the monster?"

"It's hard to say about monsters, after all, they are all creatures with very low intelligence, they go wherever they have something to eat, and they will attack when they see people. However, at least the area near Zuoqiu City has already been cleared by the city guards, and there shouldn't be that kind of powerful underground monster. ”

After talking about the risks that Bu Ye and the caravan might encounter, I asked Bird Meat about the situation of the others, but I didn't have anything special to say. They are basically veterans of running caravans, and those who enter the team late have two or three years of experience. So, the most tender of them all must be me, the new dart master and cook.