The next day at noon

Under Ao Han's repeated insistence, Mobei Rider has moved from the outskirts of Giant Bear Village to the suburbs. Seeing that the smoke of the cooking was rising within the range visible to the naked eye, Ao Han and the others were gurgling in their stomachs, in order not to disturb the villagers there, Ao Han decided that the whole army would repair in the same place first, and then enter the village.

"Less than two or three miles ahead is the Giant Bear Village, where soon your group of people will be able to eat and sleep happily, but people are soldiers, not robbers, so we have to sort out our mental outlook before entering the village, so as not to frighten the people. ”

Ao Han has been in the army with his father for many years, and he has long known the tricks of moving and retreating for the management of the army.

Throughout the ages, it was taboo for troops to enter the village without prior arrangement.

"General Montaigne?" Suddenly, Ao Han asked as if he were serious.

"Young master?" Montaigne shuddered inexplicably and said quickly.

"You see that the trees here are abundant, there are many beasts and birds, and everyone has been walking for a long time, and their stomachs are already hungry, you, what should you do?" Ao Han said with a shameful face.

Unexpectedly, the general's expression changed, and he glanced at Ao Han in embarrassment. I saw the latter glance at him with a smile.

"In this case, at this time, should you do something?" Ao Han continued to say inductively.

"This." Montaigne was speechless for a moment, as if he was dissatisfied, but he couldn't express his meaning directly, and only said, "Why am I again?"

"It's not you, who else? Uncle Hawkeye, do you think that being a section leader in the cooking class is actually quite good, and deliberately chose to forget what I asked you to do?"

"Oh, my grandmother...."Who knew that Montaigne sighed, and the old general immediately cried uncontrollably, and said while crying: "Really

The tiger fell in Pingyang and was bullied by dogs, and the dragon swiveled to explore the fish and shrimp play.

The powerful civet cat is as fierce as a tiger, and the down-and-out phoenix is not as good as a chicken.

The tiger lies deep in the mountains and listens to the wind howling, and the dragon lies in the shallows and other sea tides.

At the end of the sea, the sky is the shore, and the mountain climbs the peak.

If the east mountain can rise again, Dapeng spreads its wings and hates the sky.

Who has no tiger falling on Pingyang Day, when I am back.

I saw that the general was crying a sad man who grabbed the earth, sad, hateful, angry and sad. It's as if all the humiliations in his life have to be vented at once. It's just that he sings and howls, and his stupid appearance is a bit nondescript, and Ao Han looks very funny.

"Sure enough, it's a completely unreliable Uncle Hawkeye!" Ao Han scolded secretly in his heart, thinking that if you want to pretend to be aggrieved to let me let me take a day off and not have to do anything, then you will also look down on me Ao Han, no way!

So he explained to the puzzled knight behind him:

"It seems that the general is just touching the scene, but fortunately the injury is not deep, then I am relieved"

However, this explanation was too unconvincing, and several knights looked at him dissatisfied.

Ao Han glanced at the knights, glared at them fiercely, and glared back at their displeasure back into their stomachs.

"Don't make too much fuss, it's human nature, and you don't understand it. Hurry up!"

Seeing that none of them responded, the general scolded:

"You still don't listen to what the young marshal says!" The knights were not afraid of Ao Han, they were only afraid of Montaigne, and they did not dare to disobey Montaigne's words, but Montaigne was afraid of the young marshal, so in the end they had to obey Ao Han's orders, so they hurriedly turned their horses' heads, and when they turned their heads, they couldn't help but snicker a few times.

The general didn't hear it, but just focused on Ao Han, and after a burst of mourning, he learned to wail like an ape.

At this time, Ao Han heard the general's groan, and was stunned, so he pretended to be calm and said, and glanced at the general uneasily, only to see that the latter was still hateful, and just glared at him.

Ao Han couldn't help but laugh out loud a few times, "Hey, hey, hey, what do you think I'm doing?"

"What do you have to worry about?"

The general scolded again, aggressively and authentically

Ao Han squinted at him, and said without a false expression:

"That'...... What are you crying for, General, what kind of body is a big man's crying and crying?"

"Old man........ Alas, then what are you giving me that kind of task?!"

"What do you mean?"

"The old man is a rough man, and the brothers call me "Black Bear", and I am good at fighting, killing, riding horses, and scouting, but ...... In previous years, there were quartermasters in the army to take care of this kind of vulgar work, but now there is only a group of us, and we really can't do it, but General Meng Yi personally entrusted it, and the thought of not being able to achieve the final entrustment of the old General Meng Yi made my heart panic."

"I just want to eat some game, but as for the wolves and beasts here, what's the difficulty in catching one or two?

"But you told me to pickle all the food according to the method of the Cooking Department, pack it up, and replenish it along the way, I'm a hunter, but I'm not a Cooking Department, let alone a quartermaster of Rausch!"

The young marshal looked at the general's three-size-fits-all, and saw that he was indeed distressed by the military quartermaster, and only felt that it was really undeserving to let a bear do the work of bees. After thinking for a while, although he didn't think of any good ideas, in order to comfort the general, he said:

"The general has filtered, as the so-called "there is a precedence in hearing the Tao, and there is a specialization in the arts", the old general only needs to do a good job of internal affairs, and as for the military supplies, I believe we will definitely have a way to solve it."

"My internal business is to cook and cook, and I have to divide and pack the meat in milk?

The general tilted his head and looked at him with a puzzled expression, which made the young marshal laugh.

"General, what do you think I'm doing? Now, this so-called "art industry has specialization" means that there are people from all walks of life who specialize in research, just like the general, you study wars, and the quartermaster studies supplies. Therefore, the general only needs to be responsible for guarding and guiding the way, and as for the rest, there will naturally be people who volunteer."

"Then you're going to let me marinate and pack the food?"

"This....... This is just subsidiary, right?,After all, the capable work hard.,Who called you the only one here who was a professional hunter before joining the army.,There's a specialization in the art industry.,Only you understand here.,If you don't want to do it, then who won't be able to win you.,Hey, it's nonsense.,If you don't do it.,If you don't do it, it's definitely because the army has been doing too little hard labor in that month.,Skills are unfamiliar.,Go back and give you a ......"

The general simply waved his hand after hearing this, and then pulled out a smile that turned out to be like this, nodded, looked at him appreciatively, and said:

Since the marshal is not there, he will listen to the young marshal, so as not to make the old man's head specializing in war study in the wrong direction, but I don't care about packing and pickling in pieces. Haha, drive!" ran away without a trace.

On the third pole of the sun, Ao Han arrived at a mountain col, and all of them came to a high place, looking at it from a high distance.

"Look, General," the young marshal glanced at the general respectfully, and then set his gaze on the dense forest in the distance.

"How...... General Wenyan's face changed, and he was about to draw his sword out of the sheath, but was stopped by the young marshal before he said:

"There is a pond 500 meters and 700 meters away in front, it should be water in summer, and the scale should be the size of half a school field, if it can be drunk, then food and water can be solved."

"Hey, no. The problem of water can be solved, I agree, but the water in the summer is only in March, how can there be fish, shrimp and crabs to survive in such a short period of time....."

"Haha, it's not swimming in the water. The old general didn't know that whether it was in the desert or in the forest, where there was water was always a sought-after area for animals, not to mention that there were only two water sources nearby, even if there were other places, I dare to say that hunting near here is several times larger than that of other places."

"That's right, that's what the young marshal said, but am I going hunting again?"

"Otherwise, you want to go to ......." Ao Han was about to say that he would stay in the Cooking Department for a few more months to study and study, and the general hurriedly replied:

"Well, the water and food are solved, naturally it is good, and the hunting is also very easy, everything is good.......!

"The arrows should be in front of the village blacksmith because there should be one, and we will naturally know when we arrive, but I'm afraid we won't be able to buy much with our money, right?" said with a nonchalant expression, as if he had known that the general would say this. ”

"Young marshal, don't be afraid, as long as the armor I wear on my body is washed, it will definitely be sold for a good price, so that we can have enough money to buy arrowheads, but food and water are ......"

Ao Han frowned, thinking to himself why you are so bad today.

"Huh, General, why can't you sell your armor for arrowheads, but you can't use your armor to buy food and water?"

"Young marshal, the armor is sold to the blacksmith, the blacksmith has a way to remove the military mark on the armor, but the blacksmith is a lowly class, you can't expect them to come up with more money to buy you food and water, generally speaking, it is good to be able to exchange a set of armor for a sufficient amount of arrowheads, let alone think about what there is money left over for you"

Ao Han looked at his expression, and only felt that he shouldn't lie, but could he really only change his armor for arrows, wouldn't it be too wasteful. So at that moment, he first affirmed the Tao without authorization:

"That is to say, we are now selling armor at a cheap price, after all, the price of any set of armor is not low, and if you change the arrows, it is estimated that it is enough to equip a hundred-man group. ”

"That's right, that's what it means, this kind of behavior of changing armor for arrows actually existed a long time ago, when the two armies faced each other, one side suffered a defeat, and when the beaten people fled, due to the trouble of armor wearing and unloading, generally the loser in a war will lose a lot of weapons, arrows, Even horses, but there is little loss of armor, at this time there will be an asymmetry of weapons and armor, generals will generally sell armor at a low price to powerful blacksmiths or merchants nearby, buy weapons and arrows from them, and blacksmiths and merchants will sell these armor to those in need in exchange for large sums of money, and then buy iron and hire workers to create new weapons and arrows"

"That's ...... Ahh

When Ao Han heard this, he thought it was just casual chat, but he suddenly felt that something was wrong, and thought that although this kind of behavior of changing armor for arrows has satisfied the army's combat readiness supply problem to a certain extent, it will inevitably lead to a large outflow of military armor for a long time, and private businessmen will sit big because of this, and private businessmen with deep pockets can have no bottom line in order to make profits, and they want to sell all kinds of shoddy, low-income and high-quality weapons to enemy countries, in this way, in turn, it is not conducive to the security of the country, and no one has thought of this for thousands of years in the Sunset Empire, the fundamental reason is that the military system and legal equipment are not complete, and it is urgent to improve the military system and legal equipment。

Speaking of which, it is necessary to mention a big man, this figure is from Fang Guo, that is, a powerful country that was once annexed by the Sunset Empire, where he is known as Fang Guoda Sikong Fang Kong, which can be described as a famous person, and is one of the party systems that advocate reform in the current empire.

"Perhaps what Fang Kong, the prime minister of Jiangnan, said is true, the empire should combine the military and the government, the military and the government should complement each other, and the emperor should concentrate all power in the center. ”

When the general heard this, his face changed, as if he had heard with his own ears that he was going to be punished to go to the cooking department, only to see that he sighed heavily.

"Alas, Fang bucktooth......"

As he was groaning, a loud voice came from afar.

"I have heard that the blue wolf in Mobei is the first in the world, and when I see it today, it really lives up to its name, and it is like walking on sand in the wild forest, which shows that the riding skills are extraordinary. However, no matter how high the riding skill is, no matter how fast the horse riding speed in the forest is, it can't be faster than the flying deer in the forest......"

Just when the young marshal was distracted, a deer shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, no, take a closer look, there was also a handsome man with long hair on it, he was carrying a gun in front of him, looking at the young marshals with a few people, and seemed to have no fear.

He said calmly, apparently trying to expel us.

You must know that looking at the whole world, anyone who hears the five words of Mobei blue wolf riding, whether it is bandits, robbers or business travelers, all avoid it, and dare to block a team with one person and one horse, it is simply appalling. And the other party is not only not afraid, but seems to be sure that we will leave.

The young marshal looked at the general beside him again, and found that he was also looking at the other party seriously.

The blue wolf ride in Mobei is easy to distinguish, because they wear a strip of cloth with vertical eyes on their heads wherever they go, and they ride a gray-haired fire horse of the cool species. Although they are currently under the command of the Sunset Empire, the horses they ride are still the Eliang Fire Horses introduced by the Sunset Empire from the Sunset Empire. It's just that the Sunset Empire has a great Tagra steppe, and the cool fire horses stocked here not only did not become fragile, but became stronger than the original, and the fourth emperor of the Sunset Empire was very pleased, and personally renamed the Gripen War Horse for this horse.

So it's not surprising to be recognized, after all, fame.

But the young man in front of him was a little incomprehensible, he rode a deer, according to his words, this deer was the flying deer he said in his mouth? And on closer inspection, it was found that this deer was larger than the average deer, the hind leg muscles were more developed, and the whole deer was even larger than the ordinary Gripen war horse, and the general estimated that even if he rode three more people, it would not be an exaggeration. Such a deer can carry both men and sprints, and may be of great use in mounted warfare.

The general thought carefully for a long time, but he really couldn't think of a reason, a person riding a deer, holding a spear, he had never heard of this person, and he thought it was just a bluff of a village ranger. Now it is different from the past, the Sunset Empire is chasing them with all its might, the situation can be described as extremely urgent, the young marshal must not let the people of the Chloe family arrest them, otherwise there will be no life.

So he asked in a cold and serious voice

"Who is under the feet, not afraid to hear the five words of the Mobei blue wolf riding the five words?"

"The next step is to go to the Kyushu branch of the Gate, and the demon falls to the continent to go to the Far West Ranger"

"Just the door?"

The general muttered in surprise, but what surprised him was not the name of the Imperial Wandering Gate, but the deep groaning in his heart that the Imperial Wandering Gate was not a small gang of rivers and lakes outside the Eastern Ocean of the Demon Fall Continent, occupying a small land in the East China Sea, those people didn't think about going to the sea to catch fish in the sea, how could they cross the ocean to come here, and even how they ran to the western border of the empire, and even dared to take care of the affairs of the imperial military.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but hate in my heart, and I didn't feel that my tone was a little indifferent.

"I thought you were a powerful person in some country. But I don't want you to be just a gangster. In this case, let's meet in the middle of the road, and the brave wins!"

"Accompany you to the end!" The man's long hair fluttered, and he said categorically.

Seeing that this man was unruly, the general was about to teach him a hard lesson. At that moment, the scimitars in the hands of the seven partners were unsheathed together, and the young man's heart sank, and he couldn't help but secretly say a powerful murderous aura in his heart.

Seeing that the situation has reached the level of saber rattling. Ao Han thought that General Montaigne was the last trump card to protect himself, and it would be fine if he had won, but if he had lost, things would have become even more complicated.

So he immediately shouted at the general: "General, what are you doing, don't act rashly until the matter is clear." ”

Where will the general listen.

"Young marshal, I see people unruly, and I think I am used to being in the township. If you don't see the coffin, don't cry, wait for me to catch this person and let him know what it means to be powerful!"

The young marshal saw that the situation was not right.

"Stop, let me come!"

As he spoke, he pulled his sword out of its sheath, and in the astonished eyes of the generals, he rode alone and took the lead.

"Young marshal, this can't be helped. ”

"The general Hugh has to say more. I was born in a martial arts family since I was a child, and I am quite proficient in swordsmanship, and I was taught by famous teachers, and I am an average peer. I can't beat me!"

As he spoke, he winked confidently at the general.

The way of the sword, to be fast for respect, once upon a time someone was able to do a second of ten thousand swords, the sword was as fast as lightning, the shadow was blurred everywhere it went, and the sword flower fell into the river like Pantuo heavy rain, stirring up ripples. But so many tricks, too fast speed, will inevitably lead to flaws.

The general wanted to stop it, but he thought that he had already said it just now, the marshal was not there, and the young marshal's words were orders, and if he dismantled the stage halfway, I am afraid that it would not be good for the current situation.

Come to think of it, the young marshal is young and vigorous. The blood is strong, and it is the time to temper more. The general's heart was relieved, and Ao Han had already walked out of the two feet.

But having said that, the young marshal must not fall into his hands.

So he put his right hand lightly on the cluster of arrows on his back.

"I'm coming!

As he spoke, Ao Han placed his sword across his chest, and pointed the tip of the sword at the other party.

sneered, suddenly, Ao Han stabbed with his sword, and the sword blade was obliquely out, only to see the sword like a long dragon out of the water, and the thunder of the sky was punished, this move did not have any fancy, the sword was stabbed, the speed was as fast as lightning, and everything was actually a spark.

Fast, fast sword is the true meaning of swordsmanship, and fast sword does not need any fancy.

The young man on the opposite side pressed the spear in his hand tightly, only to see that he submerged the tip of the spear into the dust, and when a sword stabbed in the face, it was suddenly a landslide and the ground cracked, and with a very powerful mention, the tip of the spear was raised, and the spear came first, just picking up the sword in Ao Han's hand, and also resolving Ao Han's move.

At this time, Ao Han's door opened, and the man trembled the tip of the gun slightly, removing the shock when the weapons collided, and then saw the tip of the gun drooping, pointing directly at the vital point of Ao Han's chest.

Ao Han didn't wait for the tip of the gun to come, he hurriedly drove his horse forward, and he also twisted his body in an instant, and the next moment he saw that the tip of the gun almost stabbed Ao Han, grazing Ao Han's waist, and Ao Han was also so dangerous that he just dodged this fatal shot.

Ao Han exhaled with palpitations, glanced at the clothes that had been torn by the spear, and then looked at the sword that had been picked out, and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his head.

Ao Han turned the horse's head, and was about to make another backrush, only to see that the young man was thoughtful, still controlling the deer under his crotch and standing in place, but he also turned around and faced Ao Han.

After a few more rounds of fighting, just when Ao Han thought he was about to stab the young man,

But the next second came "Bang Bang Bang"

The sword came out of his hand and flew far away. Slammed into the ground.

The young marshal looked at his red and swollen right hand. I looked at the blue-haired boy who was still calm.

The long-haired boy sneered and said, "You are not my opponent at all"

Just one move. The long-haired boy flew the sword in his hand far away with just one move, and the knight behind him was also full of horror.

At this moment, the long-haired young man's hand shook, and the spear was about to go to sea, almost instantly, and it arrived in front of Ao Han's eyes.

"Whoosh!"

Seeing that the young marshal was about to die under this gun, a feathered arrow flew and flicked the spear away, and the tip of the spear brushed against the tip of the young marshal's nose. The tip of the gun whistled past with a majestic whine, shaking off the debris on the gun's body.

What a powerful gun, what a great archery.

Feeling the sharp momentum of the gun, if it weren't for the sudden arrow behind him, almost instantly, that shot could have pierced his head into a big hole. Ao Han's heart was careless, this person was really powerful, and hurriedly returned to the horse and ran away. Before returning to the battle, he learned from the general and said aloud:

"What a lot of strength, what a sharp marksmanship,"

The young man didn't dare to be careless, Shicai's arrow was not only extremely powerful, but also extremely accurate. If it was shot at his head, where would he still be alive?

"Who's down, I see that your kendo foundation is not bad. ”

"My surname is Ao, the son-in-law of the Ao family, a single name and a cold word," said darkly, and gave up his hand to make a gesture, "Now my father was framed by thieves, and he was hunted down by the wicked, and now he is fleeing here, I hope that it will be convenient for us to travel, and we can't be injured in the rain......"

"What about this one? Speaking of which, this one's archery skills are even more extraordinary! The long-haired boy said and pointed to the general behind him.

"The ...... in the Grasslands of the North of the Desert"

"Wait, what did you say, what did the general who spoke to me just now, what did he say?" the young man seemed to be very dissatisfied with his sneak attack in the battle just now, so this sentence had an obvious meaning of lightness.

When the five Mobei riders heard this, they couldn't help but feel a pang in their hearts, and the muscles in their arms tightened, and they were actually vigilant at the same time.

The general's face changed slightly, and he said aloud without gloom:

"It is indeed the northern blue wolf rider of the Northern Empire, and it is also one of the five guards of the Sunset Empire, and it is also a last resort when he sneaks up on his feet, just because the personal safety of the young marshal is very important, and he must not allow any mistakes, so he apologized again. But now the situation is different, the Chloe family dog thieves are chasing and killing us with all their might, and it is not a pity to die, but there is the final entrustment of the proud general, who entrusts him to save the life of the young marshal, and hopes that it will be convenient for him to travel and let me wait."

"Proud General?" the young man exclaimed in surprise, obviously he hadn't heard of the great name of Proud General.

"You say you're the ones of the proud general?" the young man asked

"Exactly!"

"Is there any evidence?"

"The proof is the young marshal. ”

"Who?"

As he spoke, he saw the general look at the young man beside him who was wearing light armor and riding a golden horse.

"Him?"

"That's right, no one in the younger generation will not know the young marshal, the young marshal had made a big fuss about the Grand Pontifical of the Four Divine Sects of Ten Thousand Flowers when he was young, and at the age of 15, he had tamed an "imperial iron hoof" in the prime of life, and at the age of 18, he had already won the Imperial Golden Knight Medal awarded by the Sunset Emperor, and he was the youngest knight of the Medal. His prestige is as good as his father's!"

Ao Han was praised by Montaigne as the youngest knight of the Medal, his face was flushed, and he said to General Montaigne happily and angrily:

"Learn from other people's nonsense"

The young man seemed to be suspicious and hesitated, and said:

"This ...... There is no basis for words, but come up with evidence. How do I know if the person you're pointing at casually is the son of a handsome man?"

The general's face turned cold.

"If you don't believe us, you can stop us here, even if you can't beat the seven of us together. But wait until the gang of dog thieves comes. Naturally, everything is clear. However, in this case, it is estimated that we will not be able to survive. ”

Just when the battle between the two was about to enter the white-hot land, Ao Han saw that the fire was almost over, and he had an idea, and added:

"The Ao family is the general of the ancient country, and once made a wish in front of the Son of Heaven: no matter how the clan reproduces, the male must be like a sword, and when he grows up, his son will only learn sword weapons, and the sword has a double edge, which is to remind himself not to forget to weigh the pros and cons at all times, abide by his heart, and worry about the national economy and people's livelihood."

The young man's face changed slightly, he looked at Ao Han carefully, quickly put away his spear, made a gesture to the general, and said, " Since it is the person of the proud general, the junior should not block the way of the young marshals, and then walk six or seven miles ahead is Xiaoxiong Village, I am not a villager there, but Xiaoxiong Village is disgusted with the imperial officers and soldiers, and the next is a doorman from the Eastern Overseas Palace, the last time I saw the imperial officers and soldiers come here to plunder, so I came to help, but I accidentally killed a few officers and soldiers, and I was afraid that the imperial military would come to seek revenge, so I stayed here, and I have driven them away five times in recent days, and when I saw Your Excellency, I mistakenly thought that it had attracted the attention of the empire, and sent the elite to seek revenge"

The general opened his mouth and laughed, laughing so much that his beard trembled on both sides without scruples, "Haha, I can't imagine that there is such a story." However, it can be seen from this that the name of General Aoshi is known to everyone, and even in a small village, there are people who know the name of General Aoshi."

Everyone's hearts couldn't help but be relieved.

The hard work of the past few days seemed to be diluted a lot by this loud laughter, and the few riders behind him invariably breathed a sigh of relief, and even the young marshal was a lot more relieved.

The young marshal asked him curiously:

"You said that you are from the Eastern Sea, isn't the Eastern Overseas the sea, how do you live in the Eastern Sea?"

Ao Han has never seen the sea in his life, but he often heard his father talk about the sea, and now he happened to meet a "Donghai man", so he naturally wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

The young man thought for a moment about the magnificent palace of his sect, and then thought of the stern admonition of Youyou: Do not divulge any information about the location of your sect to anyone by any means, otherwise you will break your legs and expel you from the sect.

At that moment, he had to humbly reply: "We are not good at all, it is very cramped, and it is not as comfortable as the people on your mainland." Don't mention it."

"This is the case" Ao Han immediately showed a deep expression of approval when he heard the "very narrow", thinking that his father had said ten years ago that the ocean is a very unstable place, even if you occupy every inch of the ocean with a large army, but when the wind blows, everyone has to be squeezed into the sea. It is unbelievable that there are people living in the sea, who does not live in a boat and blow the sea breeze and toss in the waves.

Ao Han was thinking wildly, when suddenly the young man asked him:

"I don't know what the marshal has done, which has caused the young marshal and others to be so embarrassed" As he spoke, the young man looked at several people wearing blood-stained armor, and several riders also looked at their armor.

Marxism-Leninism, is this still worn by people, I saw that the blood on the armor seeped into the nail pieces, and the internal organs and the mucus of those white flowers were all over the body, and under the wild rush of the desert in the past few days, maggots even grew in the gaps between the nail pieces and the nail pieces, and smelled the smell, oops, the smell was disgusting.

"Vomit" The young marshal couldn't help but vomit when he thought of the appearance of being crawled on his body by maggots and smelled the stench.

After the young marshal finished vomiting, the young marshal gloated and looked back, but found a strange scene, among the people who traveled the way, only the young marshal vomited, which was really embarrassing.

"Er, that...... The horse's back was too shaky, causing an upset stomach, and it seemed that it had to open a big one after going. Any of you have toilet chips, okay when I didn't ask."