The horse market is in the west of Pingnan City, Yuan Xi got up early, led the horse for about half an hour, and arrived.

The horse market has been opened, but there are not many people, after all, horses are not as good as grain, rice and cloth, and they are not necessities of life.

Yuan Xi, who was dressed in coarse cloth clothes, led the horse into the market, which was very eye-catching.

A horse dealer came up to meet him,

"This little brother, is he watching horses or selling horses?"

Yuan Xi smiled,

"Big brother, what do you think of my horse, how much is it worth?"

When the horse dealer saw it, he was overjoyed, and it seemed that the business had really come to the door.

He stepped forward and looked first at the horse's teeth, then at the head and ears, and then at the horse's body. After looking around, I had a general estimate in my heart, and then asked Yuan Xi,

"I don't know how the little brother is bidding?"

Yuan Xi didn't know the horse market, but just let the other party quote inevitably suffer a loss, thought for a while and stretched out a finger,

"Our master said, this horse is worth this amount!" wanted to sell his own horse, but no one believed him, so Yuan Xi pretended to be a small guy who did business. He thought to himself, how can it be worth ten taels of silver.

"One hundred taels? I said this little brother, let me be fair, your master's horse is really good, but in the horse market, if you can sell it for one hundred taels, I won't do this transaction, and I will mix with you." ”

I didn't expect this kid in coarse cloth to ask for such a ruthless price, it seems that he is really an errand runner.

After listening to the horse dealer's one hundred taels, Yuan Xi was also stunned for a moment, but his face did not change, and he smiled at the horse dealer,

"You're joking, I'm also doing what the master tells me, or I'll go to another house and ask!"

When the horse dealer heard this, this kid seemed to have really gotten the opportunity to be taught by his own master, and he couldn't take advantage of it, so he walked according to the market, stretched out his hand to stop Yuan Xi, and he said,

"Since the little brother has been ordered by the master, then I won't play with the little brother, your master is also a trader, and he will definitely not bite the number of one hundred taels to death. In our Pingnancheng Horse Market, the price of this horse still has to be discounted, otherwise what do you want us horse dealers to eat? If you ask other people, it won't be higher. ”

When Yuan Xi heard this, his heart blossomed, he pretended to ponder for a while, and then looked at the horse dealer,

"The eldest brother is worthy of being a trader, and he guessed it accurately, my lord told me so, then according to what the eldest brother said, eighty taels. ”

After getting the heavy silver, Yuan Xi happily left the horse market.

The horse dealer is still very happy in his heart, this horse changes hands again, he can earn at least fifteen taels of silver, now that the world is in chaos, this horse is a rarity.

When the other horse dealers saw it, they coaxed sourly,

"I said Lao Jia, such a poor and sour boy came to sell horses, I'm afraid this horse didn't come from the right way!"

The horse dealer surnamed Jia glared,

"What nonsense? Who do you think is so swaggering? That kid said that he was selling horses for his master. Maybe it's a landlord outside the city, who is happy with the girl in our Pingnan City, and spends all the money before selling horses for money, I think you are red-eyed. ”

The other horse dealers made a coax and dispersed, who let his surname Jia have good luck, and he was the first to catch up.

Yuan Xi is going to take a walk around the city, and then go to the Yunde Martial Arts Hall to visit Uncle Zhao's master, Cheng Yunde.

Wu Zhong took people out of the Tongfu Inn, and it happened that the eldest brother Zhou Bochang also brought people over.

"Second child, how's it going?"

"Big brother, it's almost certain that it was the boy who sold our bear skin, picked up the horse, and rode into the city. Just now the guy in the shop told me that the boy left the store early in the morning, but he asked where the horse market is, let's go to the horse market now!"

When Zhou Bochang heard this, he nodded and waved his hand,

"Let's go!"

Several people rushed to the horse market.

The guy had just finished reporting the young man's situation to the official, and ran to the shopkeeper again.

"Shopkeeper, what am I talking about? I'll just say that the kid is not coming in the right way, no, an official has come to the door. ”

The shopkeeper stopped his abacus,

"You're just a little guy, not an official, just take care of yourself first, the official is here, what to ask, what to say, what to do. Did the boy steal your horse? Or did he shorten your money?"

The young man pouted and beckoned the guest to go.

The shopkeeper actually has a point, and the young man naturally knows it. How the young man is, it really has nothing to do with him, but he is still very comfortable with the two pennies stuffed by the official in his arms.

Zhou Bochang and Wu Zhong came to the horse market to ask if a rough boy had been here today.

Seeing that several officials came to ask, the horse dealer gossiped, saying that Lao Jia had just received a good horse this morning, and it was a rough boy who came to sell it.

This horse dealer surnamed Jia couldn't hide, and he also came forward.

Wu Zhong didn't talk nonsense, and directly wanted to take a look at the horse.

The horse dealer surnamed Jia muttered in his heart, it won't really be as the gang said in the morning, there is something wrong with the way this horse came from, if so, he will lose a lot of money.

After seeing the horses, the two stepped forward to check that it was indeed the horse that had been dropped by the group that had killed them. The third child, Zheng Shuyuan, once said that there was a brand on the left back buttocks of the horse, and it may have been made by someone's family.

Zhou Bochang looked at the horse dealer surnamed Jia, then pointed to the mark on the horse's hip and asked,

"Is this the mark of your horse market? Have you ever seen a horse with a similar mark?"

This mark surnamed Jia horse dealer has seen it, he originally thought that the horses of the boy's master family are all this brand, originally he planned to take good care of this horse, and when the horse's hair grows and covers, it will be fine.

It seemed that he couldn't hide, so he hurriedly said to a few military masters,

"Adults, I don't know that this horse is not coming from the right way, do you say that my horse market is not a place to collect and sell horses? The business has come to the door, and I can't help but do it, right? That kid looks like a goblin, and he has to sell it for a hundred taels, and I will bargain for eighty taels, and he actually agreed. It's also a small brain, he agreed so happily, he must be in a hurry to make a move, I was also confused by the sale, blind, just looking forward to a few adults to catch the kid, can return the small capital, seventy taels on the line, the remaining ten taels for a few adults to buy a few bowls of hard tea to drink. ”

Wu Zhongyi frowned, what kind of nonsense is this, holding the handle of the waist knife, he asked,

"Listen to what you mean, this mark doesn't belong to our horse market? Don't talk about those things that don't need it, have you seen this mark?"

"Yes, yes, sir!"

The horse dealer surnamed Jia nodded hurriedly, and then carefully checked the mark, and then whispered with a smile,

"My lord, I have never seen this mark in all my years in this horse market. Why don't I call the other horse dealers over and take a look? ”

Wu Zhong nodded.

The horse dealer surnamed Jia hurriedly left his stall and went to find the steward of the horse market.

I saw the steward of the horse market, surnamed Jia, a horse dealer

"Steward Wang, those officials want to ask something, please gather everyone and come to my stall to have a look. ”

"I said, Lao Jia, what kind of trouble have you caused? I can tell you, if you are a big deal, don't say that our Pingnan City Horse City can't accommodate you. ”

The horse dealer surnamed Jia laughed together,

"It's okay, it's not a big deal!"

After a group of horse dealers surrounded them, they looked carefully, and most of them shook their heads after looking at them for a long time, indicating that they had never seen them. At this time, an older horse dealer looked carefully for a while, took a few puffs of dry tobacco, and then said to Zhou Bochang and the others,

"A few officials, the old man seems to have seen it, but he is not sure, after all, he is old and has a poor memory. ”

Hearing him say this, Zhou Bochang and the others came to the spirit, and Wu Zhong hurriedly asked,

"Dare to ask what this old man is called, and where have you seen this mark?"

Hearing this official call himself uncle, the old horse dealer straightened his waist, and then he spoke vigorously and lit the dry tobacco that had not been long ago, and after spitting it out, he said slowly,

"The official is polite, the old man's surname is Fan, this mark doesn't seem to be from our Bazhou, I also traveled north and south when I was young, I seem to have seen it in Jingzhou, whose family is it, but I can't remember it!"

"Jingzhou?"

Zhou Bochang frowned, in this case, the matter is a bit big!

The two thanked the horse dealers, said a word of interruption, and hurried back to report to Lu Yiping.

The horse dealer surnamed Jia was stunned for a moment, just like that, left?

He hurriedly pulled the old man surnamed Fan,

"Old Fan, let's go, go to my place to have a bowl of tea, I just brewed it this morning, this year's new tea, you come and try it!"

The surrounding horse dealers were coaxing, and they were also going to taste Boss Jia's tea, and he waved his arm,

"Go, go, don't mess around!"

Then he called the king's steward, who was about to turn around,

"Steward Wang, stay, stay, let's go have a cup of tea together!"

The horse dealer surnamed Jia poured three bowls of tea, and the three of them sat down to chat.

The horse dealer surnamed Jia spoke first,

"Old Fan, what you just said, but is it true? That imprint is really from Jingzhou?"

Fan Lao, who was smoking a dry cigarette, snorted, spit out the cigarette, took another sip of tea, and spit out the tea leaves that entered his mouth.

"I did see this mark in Jingzhou. We're in the horse trading business, and as you know, each state has its own characteristics. Why are you asking this? The official didn't bother you, isn't this horse still yours?"

The horse dealer surnamed Jia rubbed his hands,

"Isn't it that I don't have Fan Lao who is well-informed, and I don't know if I don't ask clearly, I'm not sure, I'm afraid that if I sell horses in the future, I'll get into trouble! Jingzhou is so far away, I'm relieved, anyway, this horse is now in our Bazhou, and I'll brand it with our side after a while."

After speaking, he asked the king's steward who was drinking tea,

"Steward Wang, do you think these officials can come to the door again?"

The steward of the king drank half a bowl of tea, and pondered for a moment,

"Lao Jia, you are lucky, I don't think you will come again!"

Hearing what Steward Wang said, as he guessed in his heart, the horse dealer surnamed Jia fell down, hurriedly picked up the pot, and poured tea and water for the two of them.

Yuan Xi carried the package on his back, walked around the street for a while, and went to the tea house to buy a bag of new tea as a door-to-door gift.

Before coming, Uncle Zhao briefly introduced the Yunde Martial Arts Hall to Yuan Xi.

The Yunde Martial Arts Hall was founded by Uncle Zhao's master, Cheng Yunde.

This Cheng Yunde is not from Bazhou, Uncle Zhao didn't say where it is, but only said that his master was good at kung fu and came to Bazhou to make a living when he was young.

The newcomer Cheng Yunde relied on his martial arts to make a living in Pingnan City, at that time the world was peaceful, and Cheng Yunde, who had no ability but no background, had no way to join the army, so he had to play some tricks for everyone to see.

In the year of peace, there was also that unfortunate child who became the little beggar on the street who asked for food.

This Cheng Yunde accepted a few little beggars as disciples, one person took a few children, performed during the day, and went out of the city at night to rest in a thatched hut outside the city.

An adult and a few children are barely enough to make ends meet.

As several children grew up, Cheng Yunde regarded several children as his own, and carefully taught himself martial arts, and did not hide his selfishness.

The children learned some martial arts, they were able to perform more, the harvest was more, and life was better.

Among these little beggars, Cheng Yunde values his major disciple Cao Renwei and second disciple He Yijin the most. The main reason is that these two disciples have really good qualifications, and they are materials for martial arts.

As the old saying goes, the apprentice of the church, starves the master.

Cheng Yunde has never heard this old saying.

In his eyes, the children have a lot of skills, and it is he who teaches them well.

When Cheng Yunde brought back Zhao Qianjun, he had just rented a larger mansion in a slightly remote location in Pingnan City and opened a martial arts hall.

In the past few years in Pingnan City, the people in the city also saw that Cheng Yunde had real skills, some children in the family did not want to study, and they did not have the money to go to the sect to learn art, so they were willing to go to the martial arts hall to learn some fist and foot moves, so as to add a craft to make a living in the future.

This is how the Yunde Martial Arts Hall slowly developed.

Speaking of Zhao Qianjun, he was lucky, Cheng Yunde was willing to take him in, give him a bowl of rice, and teach him some skills, although he did not eat rice in the martial arts hall all these years, but in the end, it was Cheng Yunde's initial kindness that gave him a life.

He didn't stay in the martial arts hall because he didn't have the opportunity to become Cheng Yunde's descendant disciple, so when he was successful in learning and supporting himself, he left the martial arts hall.

Cheng Yunde's descendant disciples, a total of five, later he married a wife, gave birth to a son and a daughter, plus as he grew older, he no longer accepted descendants.

Those who re-enter the martial arts hall spend money to practice martial arts, and the martial arts hall teaches some fists and feet.

Later, within a few years, the world was in chaos, and the practice of martial arts became a fragrant bait, and the martial arts hall did not worry about recruiting disciples, and the Yunde martial arts hall became a well-known martial arts hall in Pingnan City.

Once, Pingnan City was a martial arts hall, but now it is not.

In the Yunde Martial Arts Hall, Cheng Yunde, who was close to knowing the age of the Mandate of Heaven, sat in the main seat of the front hall of the martial arts hall and drank tea.

Cheng Yunde is not tall, his figure is a little fat, and he sits at the table, but he is full of majesty.

On the left hand side of the guest seat is his own descendant disciple, and on the right hand side is his son and his uncle.

Cheng Yunde's uncle is the second son of the Zhang family in Pingnan City, Zhang Zhongqian.

The atmosphere in the hall was a little tense, and everyone stared at Cheng Yunde.

Cheng Yunde finished drinking the cup of tea, put down the teacup, and continued the pot by himself, his small eyes flashed, looked at everyone, and slowly spoke,

"What are you worried about? How does Master teach you on weekdays? Whether it's practicing boxing or encountering trouble, but ask for a stable word. ”

After listening to what the master said, Zhu Zhimang, the fourth disciple who was anxious, said,

"Master, the senior brother and the second senior brother are too immoral to do this, and they are simply deceiving the teacher and destroying the ancestors. ”

Kong Lixiang, the third disciple sitting in front of him, glared at the fourth child,

"Are they still worthy of being called senior brothers?"

Cheng Yunde waved his hand,

"That's it, that's it, after all, it's your senior brother, they can be unkind and unjust, but I can't let go of these more than ten years of nurturing. ”

The youngest disciple, Zhou Xinliang, asked respectfully,

"Master, what should we do then? This is all bullying coming to the door, you listen to the rumors outside. ”

Cheng Shifei, who was sitting opposite Zhou Xinliang, that is, Cheng Yunde's son, slapped the table and scolded angrily,

"Come on, who's afraid of whom? A bunch of white-eyed wolves who can't get enough to feed. ”

Cheng Yunde coughed lightly, and then looked at his son, not to blame Cheng for being angry with his disciples, it was really these two disciples who did something that made him angry, and he was even more sad in his heart.

"Fei'er, what's the use of shouting? If you have that kung fu and practice the boxing techniques taught by your father, will you still be afraid of people coming to the door? Remember, if you want to support this martial arts hall, even if you have the help of these three senior brothers, you have no ability yourself, and sooner or later the martial arts hall will be ruined. ”

Cheng Shifei listened to his father's words, and his face was ashamed, in the final analysis, he was not capable enough at present, and he had to rely on his father to shake the scene.

And the departure of those two martial arts traitors was not because they were not convinced?

It's not that he doesn't become a talent, it's really that he is only fifteen years old, and his time of practicing martial arts is not as long as those two upright and prime-aged senior brothers.

Mrs. Cheng Yunde's first child was a daughter, and when the girl was four years old, Mrs. gave birth to a son. And the daughter married to Zhangfu a few years ago, although Zhang Zhongqian is not the eldest son, but he is dedicated to his daughter, and Cheng Yunde is also very satisfied with his uncle.

Zhang Zhongqian originally came to ask his father-in-law about something, but he caught up with the martial arts hall to discuss the matter, and he was not an outsider, so he discussed with him.

Yuan Xi had already come to the door of the Yunde Martial Arts Hall with the tea leaves and the package on his back.

The tiger skin was too conspicuous, and he had wrapped it in an old cloth so as not to be too ostentatious.

When he asked people where the Yunde Martial Arts Hall was, he also heard that Pingnancheng had opened another martial arts hall, and the kind man pointed to the passers-by to say more, if the young man wanted to learn martial arts, he could go to the Jin Wei Martial Arts Hall to try.

Yuan Xi waved his hand, saying that he was going to visit Mr. Cheng Yunde, not to practice martial arts, blocking the words of the kind-hearted person who continued to introduce Jin Wei Martial Arts Hall.

The Yunde Martial Arts Hall was very magnificent in Yuan Xi's opinion, and the two carved stone lions in front of the door made Yuan Xi look at it for a while. I thought to myself, if this was a living thing, I would be able to bully it well.

The door of the martial arts hall was open, and there was a lot of harmony inside the door.

did not break in rashly, Yuan Xi tapped on the door, a disciple came to ask, Yuan Xi explained his intention, and took out Uncle Zhao's letter, and the disciple who opened the door took the letter and passed it on.

The matter in the hall was not discussed, and it was really difficult for Cheng Yunde to make a decision, and at this time, the disciple came in to report that a young man from outside the door had come to visit the master and held a token in his hand.

took the letter and opened it, Cheng Yunde knew in his heart that it was Zhao Qianjun, a child, who introduced him.

Cheng Yunde likes Zhao Qianjun's disciple very much, and he wants to come to see him every year before the end of the year, and treat himself as a close relative, but it's a pity that he didn't accept him as a disciple.

After glancing at the letter in his hand a few times, Cheng Yunde was overjoyed and said to the disciple who was still waiting,

"Go quickly, invite the young man outside the door in!"

"Young man?" everyone here was puzzled, especially right and wrong, I had never heard my father mention who he knew from a high-ranking family, could it be that my father had a connection with the original master again? That's far away.

"Dad, who is the young man in your mouth?"

Cheng Yunde smiled and shook his head,

"Daddy doesn't know either!"

Yuan Xi stepped into the gate of the Yunde Martial Arts Pavilion.