Chapter 29: Ghostwriter
"Grown a bit taller? He should be meters tall. Tsk, the White Ape Pillar is really a good thing!"
In the bronze mirror, there is a slightly childish face, not handsome but well-proportioned, with bright eyes and a faint dark blue around the mouth.
Nodding with satisfaction, Li Yuan walked out of the door refreshed. On the table in the outer room, there was a bowl of rice porridge, two steamed buns, a dish of side dishes and a few eggs.
"Where are the people?"
For three whole days, Li Yuan hardly saw Fatty Sun, but he did not miss any meals.
Early in the morning on the fourth day, Li Yuan opened the door and saw Sun Hao, who seemed to have lost some weight.
"We'll fight the same way we fought that day!"
Fatty Sun pushed the door open and walked out. His voice was a little hoarse and his eyes were a little complicated: "Don't, don't hide your clumsiness."
"Thank you for your advice, Brother Sun."
Li Yuan clasped his fists, a little worried: "You've been..."
"I'm fine, it's just..."
Fatty Sun snorted twice and waved his hands in annoyance:
"Let's go, it's getting late!"
After Li Yuan left and closed the door, Sun Hao sat down in the room dejectedly, feeling really depressed.
He was not a jealous person. He had seen apprentices with good physique and talent over the years, but this kid's talent was too good.
"I studied for three years, but I still couldn't get as good as he did the first time..."
The more he thought about it, the more depressed Fatty Sun was. He reached out and picked up the hammer in the corner. He adjusted his breathing and stood up on the White Ape Stake, gritting his teeth:
"I still don't believe it!"
……
"Genius, outstanding, but this degree must be grasped..."
After leaving the house, Li Yuan reflected.
He was very restrained that day and only showed off a little bit of his skills to irritate Fatty Sun. The degree was just right.
If you use your full strength...
"Inner courtyard apprentices can move out. As long as they have money, no one will bother them. But..."
Rubbing his eyebrows, Li Yuan sighed, still poor.
He still had seven or eight taels of silver in his hand, enough to rent a small courtyard, but this was for his medicinal food to nourish his body. As for the pearls, it was really difficult to sell them.
Although he did not go out these days, the rare incident of him dying as a silver note had already spread throughout Gaoliu County, with details and details.
"Brother Li."
Wearing a white cloak and black boots, Li Yuan turned around and saw Wang Gong. Next to him stood a pretty girl, who was Chief Zhao's youngest daughter, Zhao Xiaoming.
"It turned out to be Senior Brother Wang."
Li Yuan bowed.
Although they joined the inner courtyard at the same time, they had little interaction. Only Niu Gui managed to fit into the small circle of Wang Gong, Zhao Xiaoming and others.
A group of people including Lu Zhong and Du Yun just couldn't get in.
"Brother Li, are you going to the inner courtyard? We can go together."
Wang Gong walked over with a smile, and Zhao Xiaoming looked at him curiously.
In the past few days, Li Yuan has become a popular figure in the inner and outer courtyards.
The number one in the inner courtyard, a genius who had mastered the Cloak Hammer Technique to a minor level in just four months, and the apprentice of Zhang Ben, the forging manager...
"Brother Wang, what's this?"
Li Yuan frowned slightly, neither cold nor hot.
After becoming his apprentice, Old Zhang talked to him a lot about things in the weapon forging shop. Qin Xiong was not only the third manager Wang Ding's man, but also the latter's most capable disciple.
"The third day after the Chinese New Year is the birthday of the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva. We accompanied our mother to burn incense. We just returned yesterday, but we were unable to attend Senior Brother Li's apprenticeship banquet..."
Wang Gong didn't care about Li Yuan's indifference. He smiled and reached out to take out a porcelain bottle:
"This 'Blood-Nourishing Pill' is a precious medicine from Four Seasons Herb Hall, and it should be considered as a gift from me."
Blood-nourishing Pill?
Li Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly:
"Brother Wang, this gift is too generous..."
He had never been to Four Seasons Thatched Cottage, but he had heard of this medicine. A bottle of six pills cost his second brother half a year's salary, and it was only sold in the inner city.
"What's this..."
Wang Gong smiled faintly and was about to say something when Li Yuan reached out and took the porcelain bottle:
"Such a valuable gift must be for my master. Since Senior Brother Wang is going to the inner courtyard, I will help you deliver it..."
"Uh……"
Wang Gong was slightly stunned, then he forced a smile again:
"Hey, Senior Brother Li isn't going to the inner courtyard?"
“It’s not far either way.”
After weighing the bottle of medicine, Li Yuan bowed and said goodbye, not paying any attention to Wang Gong who was standing behind him and whose smile had disappeared from his face.
"A bottle of Blood-Nourishing Pill, you just gave it to him like that?"
Zhao Xiaoming chuckled: "Master Wang is really generous!"
"…He is a poor man after all!"
Wang Gong felt a little embarrassed and left in anger.
When he returned this time, he heard Li Yuan's name several times from his father, so he suddenly decided to try to win him over.
Who would have expected...
……
"You haven't even fully grown your hair yet, and you dare to test your master?" Putting the pill into his arms, Li Yuan snorted in his heart. After becoming his disciple, he realized that the third shopkeeper was not a good person either.
On the day of the assessment, if he had not shown his talent and attracted the attention of the two shopkeepers, he would not have been able to enter the inner courtyard even if he had defeated Niu Gui.
He might even be sent by that old man to work for Qin Xiong...
"Blood-retaining pill?"
Amid the sound of iron forging and the heat waves, Zhang Ben poured out the pills in the forging room, and one by one, he used his fingernails to pick up some powder and put it into his mouth to taste it:
"Well, the medicine is fine. It's sold at Four Seasons Thatched Cottage. The little guy is willing to spend money on it. This bottle costs five taels of silver!"
"What are you doing?"
Li Yuan was stunned.
"You can't take pills carelessly. Even if you buy them from a big medicine shop, you have to be careful, let alone if they have passed through other people's hands?"
Zhang Ben warned his apprentice:
"Inner Court disciples have to go out, so you must remember this! Not only the pills, but even water and dry food cannot be taken carelessly!"
"Disciple noted it down!"
Li Yuan kept it in mind.
He had also been in the underworld for several years in his previous life, so he naturally valued the experience and advice of these old predecessors. Behind these experiences, there might be blood.
"Well, just remember it."
Zhang Ben was still relatively confident in his apprentice and threw the porcelain bottle back to him:
"It's just a bottle of Blood-Nourishing Pill. If he dares to give it to you, then you can do it. This old man may not be very capable, but I can still afford this little thing!"
"Then I'll thank you!"
Li Yuan felt even less burdened and stuffed it into his arms with a smile.
"Okay, didn't Old Tang say he wanted to test you? Then go early, and you won't have to take the 1,000 hammers today!"
Zhang Ben waved his hand.
He was very satisfied with the progress of this disciple. Except for the greater losses in the first few days, the progress in the past few days made him stunned.
"It can't be avoided. My disciples rely on this to buy medicine!"
Li Yuan shook his head repeatedly.
Being the disciple in charge of the forging room naturally had its benefits. For every two thousand kilograms of wrought iron he refined, he would get half a tael of silver.
This is the treatment only given to the masters in the forge room, and it is also his only income at present.
"what ever!"
Zhang Ben waved his hands impatiently.
……
call!
call!
Before reaching the inner courtyard, Li Yuan had already heard the sound of breaking air.
On the martial arts field in front of the courtyard, new apprentices like Niu Gui, Wang Gong, Lu Zhong, etc. were standing with hammers in their hands, learning how to fight, while the old apprentices were practicing in pairs or building up their strength on the side in groups of three or four.
Outside the field, Yue Yunjin stood with his hands behind his back, expressionless.
He is the one who teaches the new apprentices how to fight.
Tang Tong, who had not shown up since the assessment, also came out today. He sat upright on the armchair with his eyes squinted. It was unclear whether he was watching or taking a nap.
Li Yuan slowed down his pace and looked at the new and old apprentices.
"Wang Gong, Zhao Xiaoming, and the other rich kids from the inner city all have blood and energy that exceeds the mastery level, but their hammer skills are only at the entry level, thanks to the medicine they took."
After taking a few glances, Li Yuan lost interest in his "classmates".
However, there are quite a few amazing ones among the old apprentices. Each of their moves has a method, and they are enhanced by their blood and energy. They are quite impressive and it is obvious that they have made some progress.
"Except for Yue Yunjin, is there no one who has achieved great success? Maybe there are others, but only one or two at most..."
Li Yuan had an idea in his mind.
With the blessing of the perfect level Cloak Hammer Technique, he could guess a person's progress by watching them practice, but he naturally couldn't tell from those who hadn't practiced.
As for Tang Tong...
"Lying like a sick tiger, much more powerful than Qin Xiong, right?"
Li Yuan muttered to himself, and actually heard Qin Xiong's full-bodied voice:
"Li Yuan!"
Swish!
Tang Tong, who seemed to be dozing off, suddenly opened his eyes, sharp as a hawk:
"I don't know which friend this is. Why didn't you inform me when you came?"
"I am Yu Zhen, the ghostwriter of Zhelong."
Laughter was heard from outside the inner courtyard, and a thin young man strode in: "I came here for a reason and forgot the etiquette for a moment. I hope Brother Tang will not blame me!"
"Yu Zhen!"
Tang Tong stood up, his face slightly gloomy:
"Why would a ghostwriter come to my forging shop if he doesn't want to arrest the imperial criminals?"
"Ghostwriter!"
Li Yuan glanced back and his eyelids twitched.
The young man looked to be about 28 or 29 years old, with a long sword on his waist. His skin was dark yellow, his face was weather-beaten, his clothes were untidy, and he looked quite down and out.
But no one who sees him would dare to underestimate him in the slightest.
It was just after the New Year and the cold had not yet subsided, but this person was only wearing a single layer of clothing with a tight-fitting shorts underneath!
At this moment, under Qin Xiong's instruction, the ghostwriter's eyes were fixed on himself:
"I came here just to ask this little brother a few questions!"
(End of this chapter)
