The Willow Leaf Bookstore is a very strange existence on Qingyun Street, where the scholars and ink treasures gather.

It is at the end of Qingyun Street, sandwiched between two shops selling pens and paper, the wooden door for only one person to walk through is inconspicuous, a material looks like an ordinary wooden board hanging vertically on the right side of the door, on the cursive "Liuye Bookstore" four big characters, but in regular script another line of small characters on the edge: "only one person at a time".

Scholars and scholars who often come to Qingyun Street will think that this is very literati, so they still think it is normal, but some pure passers-by who don't know the way will often choose to ignore such a bookstore that does not open a store to do business.

Mu Qing knew the rules, and he saw that the wooden door for only one person to pass through at this time was closed, but there was no willow leaf in the groove at the edge of the door, so the people who were received inside at this time were probably just ordinary passers-by.

It's just that he is still a little curious, who came to hang out early in the morning to buy books, and he was in front of him for the first time, which made him feel a little regret that he lost his precious first time.

People who wait, in a certain environment, will always involuntarily diverge their thoughts. Mu Qing's scalp tingled as he thought of the inhuman training he had undergone in the past twelve years, and he remembered the promise he had made to the peony when he left the valley.

He vaguely looked forward to the task he was going to take.

"Huh?" Mu Qing snorted in his heart.

His mental power, which was always outgoing, sensed that something was wrong.

At the mouth of a small alley at the very end of Qingyun Street, a horse-drawn carriage was quietly parked there, and a man in a coarse kudzu cloth had been watching this side.

Mu Qing pretended not to notice the other party, and the corner of his eye had already begun to look at the other party.

Forty or fifty years old, dark-skinned, not tall, with knotted arms exposed from the coarse kudzu short sleeves, knee-length short robes taut by thick thighs, straw sandals stepping on the rain-soaked mud without sinking.

Although it was an ordinary groom dress, Mu Qing found that the other party was standing like a mountain and was stable, and he should be a martial artist with some kung fu.

The other party's gaze never moved away from the door of the bookstore, and the gaze projected was obviously mixed with impatience.

Mu Qing quietly activated the internal force in the meridians and acupoints of his body.

"Squeak~"

Suddenly, the narrow wooden door in front of Mu Qing opened.

Before he could see the faces of the people clearly, the fragrance of the body mixed with the smell of earth after the rain came to his nose.

The person who came out was dressed in a beautifully embroidered and high-quality scholar's uniform, with skin like a crescent moon and a fragrant body, a pair of water-cut autumn eyes with a hint of worry, a pair of eyebrows like verdant distant mountains frowned slightly, and emotions were hidden under the delicate and beautiful face.

When she came out, she lowered her head slightly, and walked straight towards Mu Qing, who was a few steps away from the door.

"Rui Gongzi. A soft cry appeared beside the two people at the door, calling out to her who was looking down and thinking.

The groom, who was still a hundred steps away just now, came to the two of them in an instant.

"Oh, Uncle Li. The young man Rui, who was dressed as a man in Mu Qing's eyes, came back to his senses at this time, and when he saw Mu Qing, who was very close to him, he almost bumped into him, and expressed his apology with clear eyes.

"Rui Gongzi, let's get in the car first. The groom, who was called Uncle Li, changed his previous anxious waiting, comforted his young lady in a calm tone, and led her to the carriage at the mouth of the alley

"It seems that I am doing my own thing. Mu Qing shook his head, and said in his heart: That's right, his reputation hasn't broken out in this huge river and lake.

Mu Qing stood at the door of the bookstore for about a half moment, watching the carriage drive towards the north of the city where the merchants lived, and estimated in his heart that the other party should not be an ordinary scholar and tourist, probably because he was in trouble.

It's just that this makes Mu Qing's judgment even more confused: if it is an employer, willow leaves should also be placed at the door.

Mu Qing calmed his messy thoughts for a while, and waited for his breath to slowly calm down.

At this time, the narrow wooden door had been closed by the people inside, and the people in the bookstore did not take the initiative to invite him in because Mu Qing was outside the door at that time.

After three long and four short knocks on the door, Mu Qing waited quietly in front of the door.

Within half an hour, the footsteps in the door first faded away, and then the footsteps overlapped and staggered from far to near, probably because the man guarding the door attracted another person.

The door opened, and the first thing that entered Mu Qing's sight was a middle-aged man with a cold expression and a pale face, but he was not the protagonist, after he opened the door, he quickly stepped aside and stood, revealing the short, bloated old man behind him, dressed as a bookstore shopkeeper.

The fat shopkeeper seemed to have just woken up, and although his fat and fair cheeks were bent upwards to make a smiling face, his slightly narrowed eyes still revealed the unhappiness of being woken up from a sweet dream.

This old man who looked smiling was called Chen Xun, he was the shopkeeper of the Willow Leaf Bookstore in Vermilion Bird City, and he was the first person under the elders of the Hidden Valley Spring Mansion.

After Mu Qing finished his twelve-year training, Yingu did not give him time to rest, and immediately asked him to set off for Vermilion Bird City to find Chen Xun, the shopkeeper of Liuye Bookstore, and the rest of the matter was arranged by him.

Although there is no such thing as the sky is high and the birds are flying, the sea is wide and the fish is really free, but being able to come out of the hidden valley, there is no cold smell of blood in the air he breathes all the way, and he is finally able to do more things that have been planned on his agenda with his own strength, and the future is finally expected, which is really a happy thing for Mu Qing, so his recent state of mind is relatively comfortable and relaxed.

But when he was faced with Chen Xun, the shopkeeper who had thousands of lives in his hands and was nicknamed "Life and Death Record", Mu Qing immediately put away his inner casualness, corrected his attitude, and showed what a novice assassin should be.

"Shopkeeper's. ”

Mu Qing nodded at the white-faced and smiling-looking shopkeeper in front of him, and took out a dark blue-colored willow leaf made of cold iron from his scholar's cuff and handed it to him.

The air seemed to condense for a few seconds, and the shopkeeper Chen Xun didn't mean to reach out to take it until the end, but just smiled at Mu Qing without saying a word.

On the contrary, it was the one next to him, a middle-aged man with a pale face who seemed to have just recovered from a serious illness, who took the willow leaves handed out by Mu Qing and relieved Mu Qing's embarrassment.

It's just that the middle-aged man didn't show any kindness to Mu Qing, he first glanced at Mu Qing's dress, slightly mocking, and then lowered his head to carefully identify the object in his hand.

A silent time passed slowly, and the middle-aged man judged the authenticity of Liu Ye. He first bent down and nodded to the shopkeeper next to him, then put the willow leaf in the groove on the edge of the door frame, and finally gestured to Mu Qing and said, "Come in and talk." ”

......

"Entered the Hidden Valley in September of the sixth year of Tianjiao, the first survivability, the first self-rescue ability, boy, you are very good. ”

At the back of the bookstore, across the patio, there is a row of library houses.

At this time, in the room with the wooden sign "Ding", the only square wooden window has been blocked by a heavy black cloth. In the dark, the three of them sat on one side, and the first to speak was a middle-aged man who had just checked the token, and he called himself Li Cheng.

Mu Qing sat quietly on the side since he entered the room, his eyes fixed on the edge of the long table, as if he did not make a sound.

Just now, Li Cheng took the initiative to provoke the conversation, but the young and vigorous young man didn't want to communicate with him about tasteless nonsense, and he didn't have the slightest desire to respond to the exchange.

"How, do you have to say that Lao Tzu is not good next, that is not good, give a piece of candy and then beat Lao Tzu with a stick, Lao Tzu will not take your words. He replied in a heartfelt manner.

The shopkeeper Chen Xun's fat body sank into the circle chair made of peachwood, he put his right hand on the edge of the table, and his index finger lightly tapped the edge of the table.

"It seems to me that you may make a good pharmacist, but you will never be a good assassin. ”

Chen Xun's fat face faced Li Cheng on the right, and he used a calm and determined tone, but what he said was a complete denial of Mu Qing.

His mouth grinned wide, his smile full of mockery. At this time, he turned to Xiang Mu Qing and said meaningfully: "You seem to be merciful. But for an Assassin, mercy is a shit, and a good Assassin only needs to finish killing in the dark, can you?"

Without waiting for Mu Qing to answer, his mocking smile quickly disappeared, and he said to Mu Qing with a calm face. "You are very good, because of the four elders, I noticed you very early, and I have always had your file in my hand. ”

Without too many pauses, he continued with a blank face: "But what did you do, stealth training to run out to save people at the end, and the elimination training that tests the assassin the most is ranked at the bottom. ”

Chen Xun's drooping eyelids suddenly opened, his eyes stared at Mu Qing like poisonous snakes and said, "I said, you shouldn't come to me." In my eyes, you are not worthy of the lowest-level assassin mission, as soon as you enter the rivers and lakes, you are a piece of fat on the board, and you will lose your own life. ”

Mu Qing's head was a little dazed, and a feeling of being humiliated haunted inexplicably, he didn't offend these two, why did their attitude towards him worse than the other.

He thought to himself: I don't have bad killing skills that I have learned, but I just don't want to do it to those companions who get along day and night.

Thinking of this, Mu Qing's heart couldn't help but suddenly pop up with a person's name: Zheng Shi.

This person ranked first in the final elimination round, not only killing the people in his own group, but also poisoning the people of Mu Qing's team with cruel methods.

"It's better not to let Lao Tzu meet that person, otherwise I will definitely kill him with my own hands to see who learns the most powerful killing skills." Mu Qing's eyes thought deeply.

After calming down his sudden irritability, Mu Qing said to Chen Xun in a calm tone: "As an assassin, I never kill my own companions. Shopkeeper Chen, don't you only care about the price of the Quanfu line? ”

He asked Chen Xun in a mocking tone: "Caring so much about my life and death really makes the kid honestly afraid, but even if I die and can't complete the task, will the Quanfu spit out the money in my pocket?"

Because until now, the reputation of Quanfu has never been bad among the people who know it, so the rule of Quanfu has always been to pay money first and then do things, unless it is some special tasks that can pay a deposit first, and other entrusted tasks must be paid first.

"Humph!"

Li Ying, who was sitting on the side, was about to get up, but was stopped by Chen Xun with his eyes, and he said to Mu Qing without a trace of ups and downs: "A qualified assassin can only complete the task as the result. I can give you a chance, the mission fails, and if you are lucky enough not to die, it will be worse than death. Have you decided?"

Mu Qing's chin was raised, and the arrogant confidence that a young man should have was revealed, and he calmly spat out a word from his mouth.

"Li Ying, you go and bring the Liuye Record Ding Book. Chen Xun didn't say anything more, and motioned for Li Cheng to go and get the task list known as the "Book of Life and Death in the World".

According to the difficulty of the task, the willow leaf record is divided into four volumes, A, B, C, D, and in different places of the willow leaf bookstore, the content it records will also be different, but the task with a high enough bid will always appear in the willow leaf record in various places. Moreover, because Suzaku Castle is located in the southwest and is the closest big castle to the Hidden Valley in the Tiannan Swamp Forest, the Liuye Book Office in Suzaku Castle can be said to have the most complete mission information all over the Imperial Dynasty.

The Willow Leaf Book is the only mission name that you can access as a novice assassin. Mu Qing had learned this before he left the Hidden Valley, so he didn't feel that it was the shopkeeper Chen Xun who looked down on him. He waited quietly for Li Cheng to take out the roster from the bookshelf hidden in the shadows behind him, wondering if there was any room for him to choose.

"Shopkeeper, there are two in the book that he can take. Li Cheng didn't mean to discuss with Mu Qing at all, turned the page of the Ding book, glanced at it a few times, and presented it to Chen Xun with both hands.

Chen Xun took the book and put it on the table to glance at it. He nodded and said concisely to Mu Qing: "Two tasks, one Ding Shang and one Ding Xia, the honorarium is four gold and ten gold respectively. ”

After finishing speaking, Chen Xun looked at Mu Qing, his eyes were bright in the dark, and he didn't introduce more to the content of the task, waiting for Mu Qing's choice.

"I'm going to pick Ding. ”

Although Mu Qing couldn't understand why Ding's remuneration was six more than Ding's, compared to the contribution of nine Ding's subordinates to one Ding's Shang, he chose Dingshang without hesitation.

"Well, Li Cheng, you give him the specific information of the task and the handover token, and I'll go to sleep. After Chen Xun finished speaking, Li Cheng took Mu Qing away from the T-shaped room.

Mu Qing, who came out, waited for Li Cheng to close the door only to find that there were six houses listed in the T-shaped room, and the corners of the wooden signs hanging at the door would be distinguished by numbers.

Li Cheng turned to Mu Qing at this time and said, "You stay here and don't move, I'll go and bring you the specific information and tokens of the mission." ”

After Mu Qing came out, he stood at the door of Ding Liufang's room and did not move, he secretly thought to himself about his employer's habits, should he leave the token at the scene after the killing?

Isn't it good to "kill one person in ten steps, and don't stay for a thousand miles"?