Chapter 38: Meng Qi Rushes to the Banquet

  Youzhou, Lelang Commandery, Ma Chao's last stop on his journey to Youzhou.

  The last stop in Youzhou, he couldn't say what his current feeling is either.

  Slowly recalling this trip to Youzhou, I met Zhang San again and pulled up a relationship with him. It can be said that Zhang Fei is now his own younger brother.

  After leaving Zhuo County, when passing by the Wu Zhong City of Youbei Ping, he met Jian Lao and saw him pass away in front of himself. This matter had a great impact on oneself, and from then on, one felt that one's own path would be even more difficult and long.

  Out of Wucheng, he came to Xuanxi County again and heard about the local horse market. As a result, Sun San introduced him to Wu Fu's horse farm. Cui An spent 10 gold coins and got a fine horse, while he himself spent 50 gold coins and also picked up a great treasure. I guess if Wu Baozi knew the truth, he would be so angry that he would vomit blood on the spot.

  No way, as soon as he thought of that sly merchant's face, Ma Chao couldn't help but feel disgusted. In his past life and this life, he had always disliked people like that.

  They have now entered the territory of Le Lang County. Ma Chao and Cui An's destination is the seaside, where they plan to take a boat to Qingzhou, which is naturally what Ma Chao has in mind.

  As for Lecheng County, he was not familiar with it at all. If there was any connection to speak of, it would be Du Yi from the Du family in Lecheng County, who had a vendetta with Zhang Fei's father Zhang Yong. After losing the duel, Du Yi said he would return to his hometown in Lecheng and never leave his house again. Alas, what a pity! Ma Chao couldn't help but sigh when he thought of this.

  With Du Yi's skills, he would have had a good development in the Great Han, but unfortunately, he insisted on pushing himself onto another path. It seems that this is also an inevitable thing. Du Yi won't be leaving his house anymore, but I wonder how his two brothers are doing now.

  Du Yi's elder brother Du Ren was skilled with a long spear, his technique pure and refined, his martial arts exquisite. A person like this in the army would absolutely be a great general.

  Du Yi's younger brother Du Li, with his archery skills being incredibly refined, had been immersed in this path for over 26 years. Ma Chao thought that perhaps Lv Bu and Huang Zhong's archery skills were probably about the same as Du Li's.

  Can't help but say that the three brothers of the Du family, especially Du Li's archery skills, shocked him the most. Ma Chao sometimes thought to himself, if only he could have such archery skills too, unfortunately, this was just a wish and couldn't become a reality. So he still had a good understanding of his own limitations.

  On this day, Ma Chao and Cui An entered Changshan City. After entering the city, it was just afternoon, but Ma Chao didn't care what time it was, as long as he was hungry, he had to eat. Cui An was even more so.

  Two people came to a restaurant, ordered some food and started eating. These two people who traveled all over the place were used to it and didn't care about the taste of the food as long as they could fill their stomachs, especially when they were on the road, no one would bother to pick what to eat.

  At the time when two people were struggling with food, they suddenly heard that there seemed to be someone quarreling outside. Ma Chao is a person who likes quietness and dislikes noise. When he heard the noise outside, he frowned, but after all, this was not his own home, but going out, you can't control how others behave, especially during the day, it's normal, so Ma Chao didn't say anything. He thought the noise would stop soon.

  Cui An was not affected at all, eating as usual. Ma Chao found it interesting and thought to himself that Cui An would basically ignore everything else when faced with food, now his only concern was how to finish all the food.

  Sometimes Ma Chao also often thinks, like Cui An, it's actually not bad, simple thinking will reduce a lot of worries, unlike himself, a teenager's body with a thirty-something soul, even wanting to live simply is not possible.

  Ma Chao originally thought the commotion outside would soon subside, but in reality his idea was so wrong. Not only did it show no signs of stopping, but instead seemed to be escalating.

  It just so happened that a shop assistant came in from outside the door, shaking his head and sighing as he entered.

  Ma Chao said: "Hey buddy, come over here!"

  The shopkeeper hurried over to Ma Chao and asked, "Sir, what can I do for you?"

  "What's going on? Why is it so noisy outside?" Ma Chao asked his partner.

  The shopkeeper looked at Ma Chao and said: "Sir, you look like a stranger from afar. I don't know if you're familiar with the situation in Chang'an City."

  "That's right!" Ma Chao nodded.

  "So, sir, you certainly don't know about our local tyrant Du Yibao." By this time, the shop assistant had lowered his voice, and he was being so cautious that he must have been afraid of something.

  Duyi Ba? Could it be related to the Du family? Ma Chao was perplexed and couldn't understand.

  The shop assistant continued in a low voice: "Of course, Du Yibao is not his real name. His real name is Du Qiang, the general manager of the Du family."

  So it's like this, Du family, could this really be the home of the three brothers Du Yi?

  "What made Du Qiang become Du Yibao?" Ma Chao asked in puzzlement.

  "Alas, this is a long story. As for the Du family, they are our number one family in the village. The head of the household, Old Master Du, has a very good heart and is a kind old man. However, over the past two years, I've heard that due to illness, Old Master Du has almost stopped managing the household affairs, and most things have been handed over to his eldest son, Du Ren."

  Ma Chao listened and indeed this Du family was the same Du family of the three brothers Du Yi.

  "Originally, Du Ren managed everything just fine, and at that time, there was no existence of Du Yi Ba. But three months ago, the three brothers of the Du family went somewhere, people said they seemed to be seeking revenge, but somehow, in the end, all three returned lost."

  Ma Chao thought to himself, he was the clearest about what had happened, but he didn't expect this small piece of news to be so informative.

  The fellow continued: "Later on, for some reason, the second young master of the Du family, Dui Yi, stopped going out and didn't ask about or manage anything at home. The eldest young master, Du Ren, and the youngest, Du Li, would often go out, sometimes not returning for a month. As a result, most of the Du family's affairs were handled by Du Qiang, who gradually became the current Du Yi Ba..."

  After listening to the fellow, Ma Chao had a good idea in his mind. Well done, Du Qiang! It's true that without a tiger in the mountain, the monkey becomes the king. Ma Chao was a man who hated evil and he was thinking about how to clean up the door for the Du family. He didn't think there was anything wrong with it, cleaning up the door for the Du family, the Du family should thank him instead.

  Ma Chao took the Snow Drinking Knife and left the restaurant, thinking that this kind of thing was enough for one person to handle. He didn't even notify Cui An, just letting him continue eating while waiting for a moment. Cui An wasn't curious about what his master was going to do either; in his eyes, his master's orders were to be obeyed, or else the consequences would be unbearable.

  As soon as Ma Chao left the restaurant, he saw a crowd of people on the street. The waiter had told him about it earlier. It was because an old man accidentally bumped into Du Qiang, and as a result, the old man hurriedly apologized, but Du Qiang refused to forgive him and even ordered his subordinates to beat the old man up. If Ma Chao hadn't arrived in time, the old man on the ground would have been killed in no time.

  "Beat me to death! You blind old thing!"

  The speaker looked sharp-mouthed and monkey-cheeked, not very tall, with a treacherous expression on his face, looking like he was up to no good.

  Ma Chao knew that this was Du Qiang, that kid. In these three months, the number of people who died at Du Qiang's hands had already reached double digits. He bullied men and women, did many bad things, but unfortunately, ordinary civilians had no power or influence, so few dared to resist him.

  This kind of person deserves to die, Ma Chao thought to himself. Thinking of this, he shouted loudly at Du Qiang: "Du Qiang, come and take my life!"

  Du Qiang heard the sound and looked over, only to see a young man holding a knife rushing towards him. He suddenly had a feeling of walking towards death. Seeing that things were not good, he ran away, but his speed was no match for Ma Chao's. Before he could run a few steps, he was caught up by Ma Chao.

  Du Qiang saw no way out and said to Ma Chao: "Hero spare my life, I..."

  "Spare his life!"

  Du Qiang's words were not yet finished when a loud voice came from afar, Ma Chao heard it too, but he didn't care who shouted, today Du Qiang must die.

  However, just as his sword was about to fall on Du Qiang's neck, Ma Chao felt that someone had shot a cold arrow at himself. Of course, the other party meant to use the tactic of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao", but because the person who shot the arrow was too far away, the arrow had already reached its limit when it arrived at Ma Chao, and Ma Chao's determination to kill Du Qiang was unshakeable.

  Ma Chao's sword chopped down, and Du Qiang's head was severed in two. The arrow also shot into Ma Chao's back. Ma Chao, injured; Du Qiang, dead.

  After being injured, Ma Chao secretly thought it was lucky that the bow and arrow's force wasn't enough, or else he would have really been finished off. He pulled out the arrow, at which time the person who had previously shouted "Leave him" also arrived before Ma Chao.

  Ma Chao took a look and found it was an acquaintance. The person who came was Du Yi's younger brother, Du Jia Du Li Du Shu Ming.

  Only then did Du Lie come up to Ma Chao and say: "Why did you kill Du Qiang?"

  "He deserved to die!"

  "You... did you hear me just now when I shouted 'stop'?" Du Li asked again.

  "Of course, but you can't stop me!" Ma Chao replied disdainfully. After finishing speaking, he broke the arrow that Du Li had shot at him in front of Du Li and threw it on the ground.

  Ma Chao was not the kind of person who bullied others with his power, but Du Qiang became a tyrant in the city because of the indulgence of the Du family. It can be said that the three brothers of the Du family did not discipline their subordinates well, so there were such people and such things. He just wanted to express his dissatisfaction with the Du family, without any other meaning.

  "Alright, alright, Ma Mengqi! Today, you killed a member of my Du family in front of me and humiliated me to my face. My Du family and I, Du Li, will never let this matter drop!"

  Du Rui was really helpless and had no choice but to put down his fierce words. If he didn't fight, he couldn't beat the other side, and if he shot arrows, it was still too close, so it wouldn't work either. Besides, Ma Chao was already on guard, so that wouldn't work either. He could only put down his fierce words.

  "Anytime!" Ma Chao laughed.

  "Let's go!" Du Yi said to the remaining members of the Du family, who had been beating up an old man but didn't dare make another move after Ma Chao came over and killed Du Qiang in seconds. Upon hearing Du Yi's words, they ran away one by one as if they had heard a beautiful and heavenly music. They didn't want to end up like Du Qiang, whose corpse was torn apart. As for Du Qiang, the Du family members were still somewhat loyal and took his body with them when they left.

  After Du's family left, Ma Chao looked at the old man who was beaten on the ground and found that he had arrived just in time. Although the old man was injured, his life was not in danger. Ma Chao sent the old man to a medical clinic and also left a lot of money for him to treat his injuries. He also took care of his own arrow wound at the same time. After all this was done, he returned to the restaurant.

  The shop assistant looked at Ma Chao with a face of worship, it can be seen that the situation just now made him feel shocked and unforgettable.

  Just as Ma Chao had spoken a few words to Cui An, someone entered the restaurant and came over to Ma Chao's side. "May I ask if you are Ma Chao, also known as Ma Mengqi of Fufeng?"

  "Exactly, what brings you here?" Ma Chao asked the newcomer.

  "The little one is Du's family member, and he has come to invite the young master to a banquet on behalf of the second young master!" The newcomer replied.

  Attend the banquet? As the saying goes, there's no good wine and no good feast. Especially today, I've just made an enemy of the Du family, so now that Du Yi is inviting me, he probably has ulterior motives. But Ma Chao is a man of great artistic skill and bravery, so not only would he dare to attend a banquet hosted by the Du family, but even the Hongmen Banquet wouldn't faze him.

  "Alright, go back and tell Second Master that Ma Mengqi will arrive soon!"

  "No! I'll definitely pass it on, I'm leaving!" After finishing speaking, the person left.

  After the visitor left, Ma Chao smiled and said to Cui An: "Fu Da, someone has invited us to dinner!"

  Choi Ahn's eyes lit up, "Master, who's going to treat us?" All he could think about was the delicious food.

  "It's those people who had a contest with us in the woods outside Zhuoxian City last time!"

  "It's them, great! Master, let's go quickly!" Cui An said somewhat anxiously.

  "Alright, let's set off!"

  After finishing, Ma Chao settled the bill and left the restaurant with Cui An to go to Du's house. To say that time really passed quickly, when he and Cui An entered the restaurant, it was afternoon, but after a series of events, it was almost evening now.

  Ma Chao didn't know the Du family, but he could easily find out by asking someone. When he and Cui An arrived at the gate of the Du family's house, what Ma Chao didn't expect was that both Du Yi and Du Li were waiting for them at the gate.

  Du Yi couldn't see any expression on his face, but Du Li stood at the door with a very unwilling look, making it clear that he was only standing there because he had no other choice.

  From this point on, it's not hard to see that among the Du brothers, Du Yi is a man who doesn't show his emotions on his face, has depth and his own views. His younger brother Du Li, already in his thirties, seems like someone without much depth, a relatively simple person.

  Seeing Ma Chao and his men arrive, Du Yi hastily came forward to greet them. "Is it not delightful to have friends come from afar? Please, both of you!"