the enlightener says

As a result, the little boy Chu Gou came out of the backyard with a teapot in his hand, with a smoky face, cursing, "Hey, lady boss, what kind of firewood did you collect this time? The smoke is so big? It smokes me so fast I can't see, if I go blind, I will curse you when I go to be a fortune teller."

The proprietress stared at Chu Gou and said, "What is it called? Firewood doesn't cost money. It's just this firewood. Whether you want to use it or not, you can go up the mountain to pick it up yourself if you have the ability."

While arguing with the proprietress, Chu Gou poured tea for the guests. The inn was filled with laughter and laughter, but there was a knock on the door. Chu Gou took a look and obviously did not intend to open the door to welcome the guests. The proprietress cursed, put down the teapot again, and walked into the yard.

"Here we come!" He yelled while tugging at the door latch, but the moment the door opened, he was so scared that he almost peed his pants.

"My mother! The savages from the mountains are here!" In the inn, there are often woodcutters who say that they have seen savages on the nearby mountains. They have bear-like heads, are tall, and are dirty all over their bodies. It's Mao, before Chu Gou thought they were just joking, or trying to scare him.

But now, right at the door of the inn, there is a man with a bear head standing firmly!The hair all over his body was as dirty as a "monster" that had just rolled in the mud. He was shocked for a moment, his whole body trembled, his teeth chattered, and he howled fiercely.

The guests in the inn didn't take it seriously when they heard his cry, they just smiled at the proprietress who was trying to settle the accounts: "Is this kid playing some new tricks?"

The landlady's complexion darkened, and she walked towards the door while cursing: "Pig and dog! What are you doing! If you don't work hard, you will know that you are talking nonsense with your eyes open!"

And when she saw the ferocious bear head and the pair of big brass bell eyes staring at her blankly, she was also shocked. Even a bear shouldn't be so big... It's just that looking at this figure is not so big. Tall and majestic, obviously out of proportion to this bear's head, could it be that some monster really came down the mountain?

But when she took a closer look, she was relieved, what kind of monster is this?

It was just a man wearing a big bearskin, standing straight at the door.And Chu Gou didn't dare to move his eyes, so he couldn't notice the dirty face under the bear's head.

The person standing at the door listened to Chu Gou's call for a long time, and found that there was no end, so he lost his patience, and said helplessly: "Have you finished calling? Let me go in first after calling, and bring me a bowl of water... Is it true?" thirsty."

Hearing the youthful voice, the proprietress was finally relieved, and yelled at Chu Gou: "Piggy, didn't you see the guests coming in? You're still stuck here! Get out of the way!"

Chapter 332 Demon Bear Skin

This man in bear skin, half body muddy, and dirty face is naturally Qin Ke.

After being separated from Gao Yishui and others, he went deep into the hinterland of the mountain alone, and attracted two bandits and Lu Ming to chase him away. At this time, ten days and ten nights had passed.

At first, he thought that as long as he got rid of Lu Ming and others within a day, he could leave Funiu Mountain from another direction, follow the road down the mountain to find a nearby post station, and then buy a fast enough Mercedes. Horse, you can go to Mohism to join Gao Yishui and others.

It's just that he never thought that Lu Ming, who was born on the Great Wall, not only has good mind control, but also is familiar with various classics and is good at tracking.

He fled for three days, but he couldn't escape the pursuit of several people. If it wasn't for Lu Ming's serious injuries, his body really couldn't hold on later, I'm afraid he's still playing hide-and-seek with them in the mountains.

Funiu Mountain is not an isolated mountain. Its "ox tail" just connects with other mountains. After running for three days and three nights in a panic, he naturally lost his direction and didn't know where he was.

But he is also a country boy after all. In the past, Daoxiang Village was also located deep in the mountains. He had a natural sense of closeness to the mountains, so in the following time, he began to use mushrooms and sunlight to identify directions in the forest. Since he didn’t know where the road was Where, simply walk along the mountain road towards the east, and you can always be closer to the Mo family.

It's just that he walked for nearly seven days. It was not until this morning when he climbed the last mountain that he saw some cooking smoke in the distance. Who knew it was not a village, but a lonely inn.

The inn is also good.

Qin Ke thought in his heart, these days, he slept in the mountains every day, and he had already had enough of the hard or wet muddy ground, and the mosquitoes and poisonous snakes that entangled him so much... But he discovered this Another benefit of Xiao Hei - although it is very sleepy, even if you poke it hard, it may not wake up, but once there are poisonous snakes and insects approaching, it will wake up immediately.

The final result was naturally that Xiao Hei crawled back into his clothes after a full meal, and fell asleep close to his chest.

So in the back, he simply didn't look for those herbs that can repel insects, just found a dry place, cut some weeds with the Bodhisattva and laid them on the mud floor, which was his soft bed overnight.

Only one thing frustrates him.

The jade pendant that Zhang Fu gave him was broken.

On the red string that had been worn around his neck for a long time, now only the "talisman" made of the bone fragment that Ning Xin gave him remained. On the bow that was tied.

He knew that it should be the blow that Lu Ming used the transparent little sword to stab his chest before. At that time, he heard a crisp cracking sound. Maybe he was glad that he was not pierced through the chest by the transparent little sword.

If I go back, what should I tell Zhang Fu? Qin Ke scratched his head, licked his chapped lips, and finally decided to solve the problem of hunger and thirst first.

Just like when he first entered the courtyard, as soon as he stepped into the door of the inn, he heard an uproar around him. He also knew that he was not in good shape now, not to mention that his clothes were already covered with mud these days , It is almost impossible to distinguish the material and color of the original fabric.

Once during the period, in order to avoid being tracked, he specially paste some mud on his body, and it is really cold in the mountains in autumn, the bear skin he wore to keep out the cold at night is still on his body at this moment, the dead monster The bear has a ferocious face, so it doesn't blame others for yelling.

It's just that he didn't care about so much anymore, he sat down at the table with relief, let out a long breath, and said: "Give me a bowl of water first, I haven't found water on the mountain for two days, I'm dying of thirst." .”

The proprietress stared at the bearskin on his body, thoughtfully, and made a look at Chu Gou. Chu Gou understood, and reluctantly went to find a tea bowl, and put it in front of Qin Ke, but didn't like it. In a hurry to pour water, he snorted and said, "Drink water, the water in this store is not cheap."

Qin Ke was stunned for a moment, and said, "Drinking water also costs money?"

Chu Gou thought that he was right, this guy looked so embarrassed, he was worse than those savages, how could he have money, he raised his eyebrows on his hips and said: "Of course, the water in this shop is transported from the mountains. Spring water, there are only one or two sources of water nearby, why don’t you charge money?”

Qin Ke looked around, but none of the guests around him looked at him, and deliberately turned their eyes away.Qin Ke didn't quite understand what Xiaoer meant, so he could only smile wryly, and said, "I lost my money bag on the mountain these few days..."

Chu Gou was even more unhappy when he heard this, and wanted to leave while holding the teapot, but a silver light flashed in front of his eyes, and saw Qin Ke take out a palm-sized silver pancake from his arms, and put it on the table with a click. Said: "There is only so much left, is it enough?"

"Enough is enough." The proprietress came over, smiling like a flower, and said, "Guest officer, don't worry, the tea in our store is very cheap, how can we use so much..." She immediately glared at Chugou and said , "Pig dog, look at you, you have no eyesight, why don't you hurry up and serve tea to the guest officer, and then go to boil a bucket of bath water for the guest officer later, do you hear me?"

"I only have this one." Qin Ke felt a pain in his heart when he thought of his bag of money rolling down the mountain stream.

Chu Gou looked at the proprietress, resentful in his heart, but he didn't dare to say anything more, and poured a large bowl of tea for Qin Ke resentfully, Qin Ke blew for a while, but still couldn't wait, so he simply let Chu Gou Scooped a bowl of cold water for him from the water tank, picked it up and poured it down.

The clear spring water nourished his lungs, and he let out a sigh, drank one bowl, and another, and drank five bowls in a row before stopping.

"I'm afraid it's not a buffalo..." Chu Gou looked at Qin Ke's appearance, then at the ferocious bear head on his body, and muttered in his heart, this bear skin looks good, I have never seen such a big bear before. .

But not only did he feel that the bear skin was a bit peculiar, but even the merchants on the side stood up one after another, and a few bold ones even leaned forward, looking up and down at the ferocious bear's head, and couldn't help but want to Go to reach out and stroke: "A dead bear can have such a shiny fur, such piercing eyes..."

Qin Ke turned his head and looked at a merchant who was closest to him.

Feeling his gaze, the merchant immediately bowed and saluted, appearing very respectful: "Dare to do this...uh..." He looked at Qin Ke's messy cheeks, "Dear brother... I don't know if I can touch you The leather on this body?"

Qin Ke looked at the two beards of the businessman, touched his chin, and found that he had grown some stubble, smiled, and said: "If you want to touch it, you can touch it. I haven't reached the age of weak crown, isn't it?" What dear."

Hearing that he did not refuse, the merchant's eyes suddenly shot out. With slightly trembling hands, he slowly caressed the bear skin, feeling the dirty but soft hair, and finally his frowning brows were relaxed. .

He stretched out his hand again, pressed the bear's skin, tapped on the bear's head, and finally confirmed his conjecture: "This... little brother, is this the skin of a demon bear?"

Chu Gou had a strange face on the side, this ugly behemoth, is it a demon bear?

He did know about the bear, but at night there were often rumbling sounds in the mountains, and the proprietress told him it was a bear beating a tree trunk, or fighting a wild boar...

Monster bears, of course, refers to those bears that have turned into demons. Funiu Mountain has a lot of aura. It is not surprising that there are some monsters in the mountains. Qin Ke also killed some along the way, partly for self-protection, partly It was eaten, but he skinned the bear like this one and put it on his body to keep out the cold and camouflage.

Qin Ke didn't expect that the businessman's eyes were like torches, and he could tell that it was a black bear that turned into a demon just by looking at it and touching it.

After drinking the water, he felt much more comfortable, and said with a smile, "It must be the demon bear."

"Hey..." The merchants suddenly gasped and looked at each other.

Someone sighed: "It's really a demon bear's skin... I've only seen it once in my life..."

The merchant just now asked again: "I don't know this...young man, where did this monster bear skin come from?"

Qin Ke rolled his eyes, and replied a little strangely: "Of course I hunted here on the mountain. I just came down today."

"Hunted?"

"Yes."

"Just you?"

"Of course." Qin Ke answered as a matter of course. He was alone in the mountains. Where did he get helpers? If he wanted to say helpers... He untied the Bodhisattva from his waist and put it on the table. , it’s actually not that great.”

Chapter 333 Bidding

After walking on the mountain for so many days, the scabbard was also covered with a lot of mud. It looked worse than the lowest-grade weapon in the blacksmith shop in the town. Of course, Qin Ke knew very well how sharp the blade hidden in it was. sharp.

That night, there was heavy rain in the mountains, so he had to find a cave to sleep, but who knew that he entered the bear cave by mistake and met this demon bear. After eating and sleeping in the open all day, and thinking about the long and long way down the mountain, he was really tired, so after dealing with the monster bear, he became more cautious.

When the merchants heard Qin Ke's answer, they were in awe, and the first merchant said excitedly: "Sure enough, he is a young hero. At this age, he can go up the mountain and fight the demon bear alone."

But Chu Gou couldn't help but said: "What young hero, why do I feel like bragging?"

"What are you talking about, pig dog." The proprietress rolled her eyes and slapped Chugou's vest, causing him to grin his teeth in pain, "You can't learn martial arts by yourself, can you treat everyone else as useless?"

After saying something, the merchants no longer concealed their original purpose, and directly asked Qin Ke if he wanted to sell the demon bear skin.

They were originally merchants traveling between the East and the West. If they didn't have a unique vision, they would not even be able to earn back their capital if they worked hard year after year.And the demon bear skin that Qin Ke was wearing, in their opinion, was of high quality, even if it was not sold to those royal family members of the Tang Kingdom, it would still be a lucrative income if sold to those aristocratic families of the Mo family.

It's just that there is only one bear skin, but there are many merchants, so it is impossible to cut up the bear skin and share it equally, right?

So someone began to bid: "I'll offer 50 taels, how about a young man?"

All the merchants snorted and scolded him for being untrue: "Don't say it's the whole demon bear skin, even the broken one, the price charged here is more than 50 taels, isn't it nonsense? If you are not sincere, leave as soon as possible, don't delay The young hero rests!"

The merchant's face turned red, he couldn't hold back his face, and shouted: "Shut up, look at what you are saying, did I say 50 taels? I said 150 taels!"

"150 taels?" Chu Gou was originally unhappy because of being scolded by the proprietress, but when he heard the price, he was momentarily stunned.

But what surprised him even more was still behind, and soon, another human said: "I will pay 200 taels!"

"210 taels!"

"300 taels!"

Once the bidding started, it was like a violent storm and would not stop. The merchants were full of honey and swords, ridiculing each other and exposing each other's weaknesses.And the price of the bear skin was raised to as high as 900 taels amid such quarrels.

The merchants have already begun to weigh this price. After all, they don’t have much cash in their hands. Maybe they can make some money after selling their goods at the Mohist House, but now they have to spend 900 taels. Difficult thing.

"I'll pay 1000 taels!" At this time, the first merchant who saw the precious bear skin on Qin Ke's body shouted loudly.

Everyone turned their eyes to him.

Someone sarcastically said: "1000 taels? Don't say 1000 taels, just say the 900 taels that Lao Jin said just now. I doubt whether he can take it out. Everyone is a small businessman who crossed the border to smuggle in the Mo family. They can have 500 taels in their family. Taels are considered rich, let alone 1000 taels? Old Pang, tell me, can you put 1000 taels in your baggage?"

The merchant known as Lao Pang also gritted his teeth and called out this price. Hearing the ridicule from everyone, he gritted his teeth and said: "Who said I don't have 1000 taels?"

He stretched out his hand, took out the jade pendant from his arms, put it in front of Qin Ke, and said, "Look, this is a good jade handed down from my family. It's possible to exchange it for 2000 taels. Young heroes, you have the ability to come up with something better than me!"

Qin Ke looked at the jade in front of him stupidly. He didn't say a word during the quarrel between the merchants just now. It's not that he didn't want to say it, but he didn't know what to say. Who knows, his bear skin Can it be sold at such a high price?

But he looked at the jade pendant as white as suet on the table, shook his head and said, "I don't want this."

Some of the merchants laughed and said: "Have you heard that, old Pang, your broken jade pendant is probably not worth so much money, and people don't want it."

"No, no." Qin Ke was afraid of being misunderstood, so he hurriedly explained: "It's useless for me to want this jade, not to mention that this jade is a treasure from your family, so I can't take it. I plan to go east to Mo's house, Now I just lack some money for the journey, and the journey is far away, so I have to buy a fast horse."

"How about this." Qin Ke thought for a while, and said, "I heard you say that you are going to the Mo family too? Otherwise, you can take me with you, and you can pay less money."

The merchant known as Lao Pang looked at Qin Ke, and was a little dazed for a moment. Looking at Qin Ke, did he make up his mind to sell the demon bear skin to himself?

Suddenly, his heart twitched, but what twitched was not fear, but surprise.But just in case, he still tried in a low voice: "This... young man, I don't know how much money you plan to ask for less?"

Qin Ke had a bitter face. Although he said that he came from a poor background, it is a pity that he has not learned the ability to bargain with others like flying tongues.

Even when I went to buy the beef for Uncle Ji's inn, Uncle Ji had already greeted the boss and agreed on the price before asking Qin Ke to pick it up at that price - if Qin Ke was allowed to go by himself, he would only I am afraid that the price of a catty of beef will have to double.

But then again, it seemed that the old Pang in front of him couldn't justify making him so cheap.Maybe this time I go to Mojia, I can find time to go to Daoxiang Village to see the folks... and the flowers and plants in my yard. I don't know if Uncle Ji and the others helped take care of them.If this animal skin can really be sold, the money in exchange will probably allow him to buy a lot of things for the villagers, right?

It's just that he hesitated for a while, but he still couldn't figure out how to set the price. From this point of view, he set a much higher price. I'm afraid Lao Pang won't be able to pay that much money.But if you set less, wouldn’t it make others unhappy and treat yourself badly?After thinking about it, he couldn't think it through, so he simply said in his heart, "How much money do you have?"

His question not only stunned all the merchants, even the proprietress who was sitting on the sidelines was also stunned, and then she covered her mouth and laughed lightly.

Where is the price?It sounds like bandits robbing the road, asking people to hand over all their belongings, right?

Old Pang understood what he meant, reached into his purse, touched his purse, weighed it, gritted his teeth, took it out of the purse, put it in front of Qin Ke, and made a muffled sound when it collided with the table ring.

"Here is 500 taels."

Before Qin Ke could say anything, the other merchants were a little dissatisfied. Everyone was making serious bids. Why did you take out a jade pendant and say a few words, only to let you take advantage of it?You know, even if it costs 1000 taels of silver for this piece of demon bear skin, if it is sold to the right person, it should be worth three times or even more.

As for taking this young hero to the Mo family... After all, they were going to the Mo family to do business, and they would even accompany each other along the way, begging for mutual support.What's the impact of having one more person?On the contrary, this young hero has extraordinary martial arts skills and can kill demon bears. If he walks with him, even if he encounters those mountain bandits on the road, he will not be afraid.

As the saying goes, people make money and birds die for food. What's more, there is no reason not to fight or grab such a good thing that has fallen from the sky. Soon, some of the businessmen who bid more than 500 taels sneered. : "Just repaying 1000 taels, now it has become 500 taels, old Pang, you have the means, holding a piece of heirloom jade pendant and trying to gag this young hero, defrauding him of hundreds of taels of silver for nothing. The young man is going to the Mo family, who can’t take it with him? We’re willing to pay you back, but what you’re doing is really dishonest.”

Chapter 334 Agreed

The old man standing in front of Qin Ke had a gloomy expression. He took out the jade pendant, not intending to play tricks at all, but really intending to exchange the jade pendant with Qin Ke for the demon bear's skin.

He thought of his son's relationship with a concubine from an aristocratic family all the time in private, and this year has reached the age of marriage, but even though she is a concubine, she is not suitable for a merchant's family like him. It looks yellow.

However, that concubine's daughter was also of a strong temper, and she was forced to die at home, so the family finally let go, saying that as long as their Pang family could offer 5000 taels as a dowry, they would agree to let the girl marry.

But although his old Pang said that he has been in business for many years and has saved some family assets, it is not easy for him to take out 5000 taels at once.It was also because of this matter that he was in a hurry to get angry, hoping to make more money every day, so that the marriage could be settled as soon as possible, otherwise, he would definitely not be willing to give this jade pendant to Qin Ke.

If the bear's skin is taken back and sold to that family...the 5000 taels, maybe there is hope.He had already selected the seller in his heart at this time, so he suddenly bent down and started to lift his trouser legs under the watchful eyes of everyone.

Qin Ke didn't know what he was going to do, but he soon realized that Lao Pang not only put the money in the purse, but also hid some money, tied it in the trousers, and hid it very secretly.

Qin Ke had only heard about it from Gao Yishui before, but he didn't expect it to really exist.

Just as he was thinking this way, Lao Pang untied the money bag tied firmly on his right leg and placed it in front of Qin Ke. The sound of hitting the table was similar to that of the silver, but somewhat different.

When Lao Pang untied the bag, a bright yellow light suddenly appeared inside.

Lao Pang looked at Qin Ke's curious eyes, smiled wryly, and said, "Forgive me, young man, this is my lifeblood. In case of bandits robbing the road or losing money in business, this little money can at least make me happy." I have a chance to make it back. But now I don’t hide it anymore, here is a total of 25 gold, just a little trivial, I have saved it all these years. Give it all to you.”

All the merchants were silent. In the Tang Dynasty, one gold can be exchanged for about 16 to 800 taels of silver. After doing this calculation, there are more than [-] taels of silver here. When added together with the previous bag of silver, there are already [-] taels of silver. Two more.

Although it is still a little less than the 1000 taels promised by Lao Pang at the beginning, it is almost the same.