Chapter 11

Led by Shi Tou, they all gathered around Duan Yu's left and right.

They even helped Duan Yu carry the bundled furs, heading together toward the market.

Duan Yu held the hand of Diaochan, whose face was beaming with pride and happiness.

While recounting to Shi Tou and the others the thrills and excitement of yesterday's hunt in the mountains.

The group of fifteen- and sixteen-year-old youths listened with deep fascination.

"Brother Duan, I've already told my father. When we go into the city today, get me a bow. From now on, I'll follow Brother Duan into the mountains to hunt, so my parents can eat meat every day!"

"Me too, me too!"

"Brother Duan, I also want to go into the mountains with you and learn to hunt."

"Brother Duan, my family doesn't have a bow and arrows, but I have strength. I can help you carry the prey. Take me along, please?"

A group of fifteen- and sixteen-year-old youths crowded around Duan Yu, pleading.

Duan Yu smiled and nodded in agreement one by one.

"You can learn to hunt with me, but you must be able to endure hardship."

Hearing Duan Yu agree, the youths immediately raised their hands and cheered joyfully.

"Brother Duan, we're not afraid of hardship, we can endure it!"

"Rest assured, Brother Duan, we promise to listen and endure hardship."

Beside them, watching Duan Yu blend seamlessly with the villagers, Diaochan felt a heart full of sweetness. She held tightly to Duan Yu's hand, unable to help imagining their happy life in the days to come.

"If I could give my husband sons and daughters, he would surely be very happy."

Inside Wucun Township.

The village had a relatively large estate, occupying a vast area.

Surrounding it were walls made of yellow adobe.

A wooden courtyard gate stood wide open.

Men could be seen going in and out from time to time.

Some walked with their heads high, looking delighted, while others hung their heads in despair, their faces full of grief.

Inside the courtyard, fierce shouts rang out from time to time.

Nearby, the honest, simple villagers deliberately avoided this place when passing by.

Today, the vast majority of the villagers had gone into the city for the market.

But there were still some who disliked labor, known in the village as idlers, gathered within these walls.

No era lacks people who love to eat but hate to work.

This era was no exception.

It seemed that every village and every township had such people.

Diaochan's uncle-by-marriage, Li Gouer, was one of these idlers.

And this estate, which gathered all the village idlers, belonged to a renowned gallant within the surrounding ten li and eight townships.

The so-called gallants were not the great heroes found in Jin Yong's martial arts novels.

The terms wandering knight and gallant carried mixed connotations, both positive and negative.

Some wandering knights and gallants valued righteousness over life and loved making friends.

But the vast majority referred to scoundrels.

In other words, hooligans.

The estate before them was the home of Ma Sanyi, the most infamous "gallant" and biggest scoundrel in the surrounding ten li and eight townships.

The Ma family had many brothers, seven in total.

In their early years, they migrated here from Liangzhou.

They claimed to be distant relatives of Grand General Ma Yuan.

Of course, the villagers just listened without taking it seriously.

Liangzhou was even more bitterly cold than Bingzhou.

Moreover, it suffered from constant foreign invasions, so the people of Liangzhou were exceptionally fierce and ruthless by nature.

Bingzhou was similar, but that referred to places like Yunzhong and Jiuyuan in Bingzhou.

Taiyuan, though also in Bingzhou, was closer to the Three Adjuncts region.

Although the commoners' lives were hard, they did not suffer from foreign invasions.

Therefore, their temperaments were much milder by comparison.

As a result, once the Ma brothers settled here, they immediately became the local gallants.

Relying on their numbers and ruthless methods, they quickly gained a firm foothold in the area.

They also gathered some wandering knights from the vicinity.

On ordinary days, they ran gambling dens and engaged in forced buying and selling.

The people in the surrounding villages dared to be angry but did not dare to speak out.

At this time, most of the villagers had gone to Yu Jinyang for the market.

Only the village idlers came to Ma Sanyi's home to continue gambling.

A group of idlers gathered around a chicken coop made of woven wattle.

Inside, two fighting cocks were pecking at each other.

"Kick it, kick it, peck it!"

"Go, go, go!"

"Peck it, peck it!"

More than ten idlers surrounded the coop, red-faced and thick-necked, shouting at the top of their lungs.

Four or five wandering knights in short robes, their chests bare and short swords tucked at their waists, stood with crossed arms, watching with smiles.

Not far from the coop was a row of three rooms.

Although also made of adobe, they were far better than Li Gouer's adobe house.

The floor inside was paved with wooden planks.

In the main hall, over a dozen tables were arranged.

The seat of honor was a massive desk.

On the desk at this moment were roast chicken, mutton, roast fish, and unfiltered wine.

Behind the desk, a burly man with a scar on his face sat at the table.

Holding a chicken leg in one hand and a wine bowl in the other.

A mouthful of meat, a mouthful of wine.

In front of him stood two wandering knights with short swords at their waists.

They looked down fiercely at Li Gouer, who was kneeling in the hall with a bruised and swollen face.

The fierce-looking middle-aged man drinking and eating meat was named Ma San.

He was the most ruthless and venomous of the Ma brothers.

Although ranked third in his family, he was the one who truly called the shots.

"Gouzi, starting from yesterday daytime, you've lost a total of five thousand coins at my place."

"Adding the cost of wine and meat, I won't charge you extra, I'll charge you five thousand five hundred qian."

"Reasonable, right? Not too much, right?" Ma San squinted at Li Gouer kneeling before him.

Li Gouer swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then nodded cautiously: "Not much, not much."

"Alright then." Ma San smiled and set down the chicken drumstick in his hand, saying: "I took one thousand qian of yours, which means you still owe me four thousand five hundred qian."

"It's fine if you have no money, I also said, I will let this money go."

"Come, bring me four fingers."

"One finger offsets one thousand qian."

"Then the debt between us will be wiped clean."

Ma San looked at Li Gouer with a cold sneer and said: "Doggy, don't say I'm ruthless."

"Your Third Grandpa eats from this bowl; if I don't do you in today, how will Third Grandpa establish myself in the future?"

"Do it."