"Master, you finally know how to care about people's livelihood?"

The flying brush in Shangguan Yuan's hand suddenly stopped, and his gaze stayed on the paperwork uploaded from Huacheng. The book was filled with the names of the people who had recently died, and even more so from the city.

Within a year, five or six hundred people ......, and the more I looked at it, the more strange it became.

"Has there been any infectious disease such as avian flu in Huacheng in recent years?"

Shangguan Yuan asked suspiciously, and the scholar replied:

"I haven't heard of it."

"The number of people reported should not be fake, and the magistrate reported that these are all for the compensation of the allowance, but the compensation is a trivial matter, I am afraid that there is something hidden in it, and the county order over there in Huacheng has not investigated it well."

Shangguan Yuan muttered to himself, flipping through the pages back and forth, roughly counting the number of people registered in the file.

There were more than 300 deaths in the city itself, but more than 400 people died after coming to Huacheng from the outer city.

Strange......

"Arrange a few spies to go to Huacheng to investigate."

"Yes, sir."

After the scholar quickly picked out the books in his hand, he left to arrange the things ordered by Shangguan Yuan.

……

On the day of summer, the sun is so sunny that people can't open their eyes, Lu Sheng is walking on the forest path in the wild, and it is good to enjoy the shade under the big trees, fortunately, the forest is lush in this area, and the light transmitted by the sun through the leaves does not make Lu Sheng feel hot.

I walked for most of the day from Houjiucheng, and it was evening in a blink of an eye.

But now I don't know where I'm going, the surrounding is still wilderness, and the environment is still quite good, compared to the suburbs near Houjiucheng, there are big trees and grass here at a glance.

When the sun sets, don't leave first, find some firewood nearby, and then find an open place to light a fire to rest.

Let's see if we can find anything more to eat.

What to eat tonight?

Grass roots can also be eaten, but now there are many trees here that have never been seen, among which there are some trees with white bark, which Lu Sheng has never seen.

I wonder if the bark can be eaten......

If you look around, you might find a mushroom, and if you find it, you can make a roasted mushroom and eat it. ’

Lu Sheng planned to find a straight branch and insert it in a relatively empty grass, and then found a uniquely shaped stone to place next to the branch. In this way, when you come back, you will be sure of the direction you will take tomorrow, so that you will not take a fork in the road or go back the same way.

Next, huh......

Seeing that there are no people here, there should be no one coming, and it is quite tiring to carry such a large package on your back.

Lu Sheng hesitated for a moment and put the package next to the marked branch.

"Whew! ~”

Dressed lightly, Lu Sheng stretched his waist, and after moving his muscles and bones a few times, he went around to look for firewood and food.

While it's not completely dark yet, it's important to fill your stomach in addition to lighting a fire. Lu Sheng thought in his heart, there had been no rain in the past two days, and the environment here was not very humid, if he didn't find mushrooms, he could only pinch grass roots and wild vegetables to fill his stomach.

If you want to eat grass roots and wild vegetables, you also need to find a water source......

Make it into a vegetable soup to make it easy to eat.

……

"All the ideas over there were cleaned up last time?"

"Hey, it's already clean, and there's no hair left!"

Whoa——......

Lu Sheng looked for the southeast, that is, the direction on the left, and suddenly heard the sound of running water, as if there was a stream.

At the same time, the sound of someone talking was heard.

It seems that there are more than two, several different men's voices, in an unbridled noise:

"The things that your boss explained, you should be able to meet the standard after today, right?"

"Cut, he's already up to the mark, now it's just fun~"

"And you're still on the waves?"

"Hey, what are you talking about, are we brothers? Did I help you today? ”

"Tut-tut, what you said is love and righteousness, I didn't see a pleasing girl today, right, otherwise you would still be sitting here with us and blowing?"

"As far as your horse is concerned, if you don't poke me twice, you'll die."

"Hahahaha! ~”

"Hahaha......"

Lu Sheng squatted far away and hid behind a thick tree, listening carefully to the conversations of those people, but judging from the number of different voices, it seemed that there were three or four people? Or four or five people?

At first, he only noticed that there were a large number of people, but after eavesdropping for a while, Lu Sheng smelled an extremely tempting aroma wafting from that direction.

'Ah——, it smells so good! ’

What's that aroma? It seems to be very delicious food!

Lu Sheng's saliva flowed, but reason told himself that those foul-mouthed men were definitely not good people, and they couldn't just show up like this, otherwise they would probably be beaten up, or they would not be able to do a good job...... Little lives will be lost.

Lu Sheng swallowed several times of saliva, and the smell wafted over, it was really fragrant.

Goo-lur-lur-g

It's going to have to be like a way to go over and see how things go, and it's better to eat some of their kind of fragrant food.

Lu Sheng began to ponder, sat on the ground and pondered, unable to hold back a fart for a long time.

"Hmmm......"

Maybe they still have weapons in their hands, no, I can't fight them without them, but what if they are reasonable?

No, no, you have to prepare for the worst......

"There it is!"

Lu Sheng got up and ran away, then ran to a farther position until he couldn't hear the men talking, and then began to pick up the bark on the nearby tree trunk with his bare hands, tearing the bark into fibers one by one, and then began to weave hemp rope.

Although the technique is very rough, the hemp rope after forming is still quite tough, and it is not so easy to break.

"Okay, next is ......"

It took more than half an hour for Lu Sheng to take the prepared more than ten hemp ropes to the position where he had eavesdropped before, and it was almost dark at this time, and it was very difficult to see the surrounding environment clearly.

Lu Sheng carefully observed the surroundings, found a few good positions, and began to lay out the kind of 'trap' he expected.

One end of the hemp rope is tied into a retractable loop, and the other end is tied to a branch.

What was more laborious was that Lu Sheng had to climb the tree first, and then bend the branch with the weight of his whole body, and then ......

'Hey, hey......'

After a busy day, the trap was set up, and there were ten rope loops on the grass in this place, which was definitely enough! Finally, there is one more thing, which is to pretend to be a dummy.

Lu Sheng scribbled the excess bark pulled down into a standing sign that looked like a human shape, and inserted it behind a big tree. This is not a redundant setting, but it can be said that it is the most important setting.

At night, everyone's view is not very good.

This dummy was able to fool the sights of those people, mistakenly believing that the person standing here was the culprit who led them into the trap.

But if you come from there, if you don't make a detour, you will definitely fall into the ropes that are placed on the grass.

As long as one foot steps on it, the already taut branch is trampled and broken, and the branch that is bent down at the other end of the rope sleeve will be instantly forced, and the person who stepped into the rope sleeve will pull up one foot and hang upside down in the air!

'Hehe, I'm such a genius. ’

Lu Sheng secretly rejoiced, when all the traps and deceptive devices were arranged.

Pick up a rock, and throw it in the direction where the trap was set up, toward the spot where the conversation came from—

Boast! Da-da-da-da.

The stone didn't hit anyone, but a nearby tree on their side.

The movement startled the men, who were still eating with their mouths on their mouths, a fire burning in front of them, and talking and laughing, but when they heard the sound of stones flying and hitting the trunk of the tree.

Their gaze immediately turned to their weapons as one hand rested on their weapons.

"Who!"

Grunt......

Staring at the big tree that was moving, they were all sitting on the edge of the stream eating grilled fish, and the place was quite empty, and they were ready to move whenever their opponent came out of the shady part of the woods.

But, rolling out from behind the tree, was a fist-sized rock.

The five of them looked at each other, meaning to discuss who would go to see.

"You're going to see?"

"Isn't this obviously a pit, Lao Tzu won't go."

Lu Sheng observed in the dark, thinking:

'Huh? Why didn't they move, not a single stone? ’

Then another one!

Phew-

Syllable!

The five men were startled again by the sound of the stone striking the trunk of the tree, and in the blink of an eye, another stone rolled out of the grass.

Grunt......

"Hey, we seem to be being looked down upon."

"Let's go, let's go, fuck it!"

"Let's go!"

The five of them hit it off, all took the guys and got up, and walked towards the dark place in the forest.

Those people were finally lured away, but Lu Sheng's goal was not to murder them, mainly to-

"Hey, it's finally gone."

After the five of them left the stream, Lu Sheng quietly ran around the corner to the place where they were sitting and talking. When I arrived, I realized that the aroma was the grilled fish next to the fire.

"Ah——! Which forced cub, here are the traps!! ”

"Where!?"

"Come and get a hand! Lao Tzu is on the set! ”

"I'll ——......"

Swish! ——

"! And a set! ”

"Wori, you horse, why are you also in the trap?"

"I can't do it!"

In the dark forest over there, there was a sudden commotion.

Lu Sheng knew that the five of them had already fallen into the trap at this time, but the kind of trap they saw would definitely not be able to trap them for long, even if they didn't take the initiative to untie it, with the quality of those few hemp ropes, they would break off by themselves after hanging on the weight of a single person.

The top priority is-

"Stealing food!"

There were also four skewers of grilled fish next to the fire, and there were two fish on each skewer, Lu Sheng was so hungry that he couldn't help it, so he took out a skewer of grilled fish and ate it first.

"Ahh There are thorns! ”

Lu Sheng, who had never eaten fish before, took a big bite and was pricked with a lot of fish bones, but the fragrance was also really fragrant, Lu Sheng began to be patient while quickly spitting fish bones, while Si Ha Sha endured the temperature of his hot mouth, and ate as fast as he could.

……

Maybe I ate it for a while, and I was planning to try it, and then pack it all up and steal it.

After a while, even in the dark part of the woods, the shouting that should have been there at the location where he had set the trap gradually stopped, and Lu Sheng didn't notice it.

I was also intoxicated by the delicious grilled fish.

'Well, incense ......'

……

"How's it going, boy, our grilled fish is delicious, isn't it?"

Lu Sheng didn't think much about it, and after spitting out a mouthful of small fish bones, he didn't look back, and replied directly without thinking:

"That's right! Fragrant! ”

After I responded, I realized that I realized later:

'No, who's asking me?' ’

Frightened, Lu Sheng immediately twisted his neck to look behind him, and at this time, five big men, with knives on their waists, stared at Lu Sheng like big bad wolves looking at little lambs.

Lu Sheng was stupid, the grilled fish in his hand was gnawed, and there were fish bones in his mouth that were not spit out, and when he saw five big men staring at him, Lu Sheng was so frightened that he didn't dare to move.

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahaha! ~”

They suddenly laughed, and they laughed very presumptuously.

'When did they come back?' It's over, patronizing to eat, forgetting to run away! ’

Lu Sheng's heart sank, and he felt that something big was going to happen this time.

Who knew that the other party squatted down, twisted Lu Sheng's shoulders to face the fire, and said magnificently:

"Eat! Keep eating, isn't it just a skewer of grilled fish! ”

Lu Sheng seemed to be coerced, so he could only continue to gnaw in embarrassment.

The other four people sat back in their positions one after another, sitting around the fire, and two of them were still holding the branches that Lu Sheng used to set the trap, which were now the firewood in their hands and were added to the fire.

"Third child, go to the water to catch some more!"

The man who was called should be the third child, but he turned his head and shouted to the partner next to him:

"Fourth, up!"

Before the fourth child could reply, the other person should be the fifth child, and he consciously took over the conversation:

"Stop, stop, don't scream, I know I still have to go, I'll come, I'll come, just sit down with your big brothers, ha."

After saying that, he got up and picked up his trouser legs, and went down to the water of the stream to catch fish.

On the other hand, Lu Sheng's side stared at the fire with a stunned gaze, and ate the grilled fish carefully with his mouth, he didn't know what to do now, but his intuition told him that he must find a chance to run.

Can't stay here wow......

It should be the 'eldest brother' among these five people who spoke to him directly, the eldest brother put his arm around Lu Sheng's back, put it on Lu Sheng's shoulder, and asked with a close face:

"Boy, you did a few traps in there, right?"

Lu Sheng didn't dare to lie, and said:

"Well, yes, I did it."

Unexpectedly, the eldest brother suddenly spoke loudly:

"Well done!"

Suddenly, Lu Sheng was frightened, his body trembled, and the grilled fish in his hand was about to shake off.

"Ahem, my name is Mei Chao, and I'm the eldest brother of this line, oh, that's the second, third, fourth, "

As she spoke, Mei Chao drifted her eyes to the side of the stream, and continued:

"That's the fifth."

“…… Oh. ”

Lu Sheng didn't raise his eyes seriously, mainly because he was a little cowardly, these people didn't look like good people, I was really afraid that one would accidentally make them angry, and then his own life would be gone.

Mei Chao shook Lu Sheng's shoulders and said in a serious whisper:

"What about you, do you want to be a sixth child?"

"Hmm,...... Yes? ”

At first, he instinctively agreed, but Lu Sheng, who reacted immediately, looked surprised:

"Old, six?"

"Hahaha, yes, as long as you are the sixth child, we will be brothers in the future!"

"But ......"

"But what?"

Lu Sheng said timidly:

"But, I don't even know what you're doing, so I'm just going to join you, in case, I mean, what if I'm not suitable for your business."

Mei Chao was slightly stunned for a moment, and looked at the second and third children.

After exchanging glances a few times, I don't know what was exchanged, Mei Chao looked back at Lu Sheng again, raised his hand with a smile and patted Lu Sheng's back:

"Ha, it's okay! As long as you are willing to follow our brothers, you don't have to worry about food or clothing! ”

Lu Sheng's next sentence didn't go through his mind, and he quickly said it for a while:

"Are you thieves?"

When he said it, Lu Sheng realized how stupid this question was, if they were really bandits, and they would not be left alive if they were exposed like this......

"Poof...... Hahahaha! ~”

Unexpectedly, Mei Chao actually raised his head and laughed.

The other second, third and fourth children sitting by the fire also laughed happily.

Everyone laughed for a while, but Lu Sheng was the only one who looked confused:

What's wrong with them, did they guess right? ’

"Hahaha, bandits? Hahaha......, phew, ahem! ”

After Mei Chao laughed for a while, she barely sorted out her emotions, and said to Lu Sheng seriously:

"Ahem, listen, boy, now I'm going to officially introduce to you, my name is Mei Chao, and I'm a sword cultivator in the realm of five weeks! The first sect of the Qiu Jin Continent to which it belongs: Que Shengting. How's that, dick or not? ”

It's just that Mei Chao was afraid of face, and he didn't explicitly say that he was one of the legs of Que Shengting's outer disciples.

Although Mei Chao's strength realm far exceeds that of Que Shengting's outer disciple, but his Dao heart is not right, and his highest cultivation can only stop there, Que Shengting can't look down on it, so he confiscates it.

Now they are doing things for Que Shengting's people in the name of Que Shengting, which is also the default thing of those elders in their sect.

It was the first time Lu Sheng had heard these new words, what 'monk', 'sword cultivation', 'sect'......

Facing Mei Chao's self-introduction with a proud posture, what he got was Lu Sheng's bewildered words:

"I don't know."

Seeing that his eldest brother was deflated in front of a dirt bun, pretending to be unsuccessful, their brothers almost couldn't hold back their laughter. Mei Chao also twitched the corners of his mouth a few times, and he endured it without scolding.

After calming down, Mei Chao calmly asked about some information about Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng was very honest, thinking that although these people were a little fierce, they should not be so bad if they could feed themselves.

Therefore, for one night, Lu Sheng sat by the fire with them, and told Mei Chao about his background, experience, and the purpose he wanted to achieve when he went out of the city, and the dreams in his heart.

……

"Alas, it turns out that you are also a hard worker......"

Mei Chao gently patted Lu Sheng's shoulder and said mournfully.

After Lu Sheng finished speaking, it was already late at night, and at this time, Lu Sheng was also full, all the fish bones were spit into the fire, and the ground next to him was quite clean, and he could directly spread out a blanket and lie down to sleep......

"Ah, I forgot my stuff was still there!"

Lu Sheng remembered that his package was still in the place where it had been marked before.

Mei Chao got up and said:

"Let's go, I'll accompany you to get it."

Lu Sheng joined them unconsciously.

When they got their packages back, the six of them gathered around the fire and slept on the floor.