Chapter Eighteen: Asking for Help from Giant Han

  After returning to the village, Li QIN couldn't help but tell his parents and fellow villagers about what had happened today. He brought back twenty sheep again, which shocked the villagers even more than the first time. The last time he got twenty sheep, it was considered a big deal for the young master of the Li family, but this time, bringing back another flock of sheep wasn't just a big deal, it was a huge deal!

  Li Tian and He's family were both surprised and delighted, they repeatedly asked who the giant was, but Li Qin only said that he had met him when fighting a leopard at night, and today he met again, but really didn't know what kind of person the giant was.

  After listening to her son's account, Mrs. He said: "Son, next time you see that giant, be sure to ask for his name. You said you ran into him twice, the first time you got a leopard and exchanged many things back, the second time you rushed back with a flock of sheep. This shows that the giant is your benefactor, as long as you meet him there will be good things!"

  Li Tian said: "How can that giant be a noble person? It's only right to say that Liu Sheng, the great elder of the Liu clan, is a noble person. These things were all given by Elder Liu, weren't they?"

  He nodded and thought it was right. He also discussed with Li Tian whether to go see Liu Sheng, who is also a good friend of his son's.

  As for the villagers, Li Qin didn't have to say much, and Xu Xiaoni had already said everything. Xu Xiaoni was extremely excited, chattering non-stop, exaggerating today's events, adding oil and vinegar to his story. He even said that it was because of Li Qin's arrival that the giant was scared away, otherwise the giant would have beaten Liu Sheng and twenty or so family servants to death!

  The villagers were amazed and admired Li Qin even more after hearing this.

  Li QIN let the villagers drive the sheep to the pen first, the sheep pen was newly built by the villagers next to Li QIN's house. Zhao Ba Jin volunteered and said that from now on, he would be in charge of letting out the sheep, as long as they gave him a sheepskin at the end of the year.

  Li Qin gathered the villagers together and said loudly, "Today is a happy day! I'll treat everyone to meat. Not only us, but also those in other villages who haven't escaped yet, let them come and eat meat and drink soup too. Everyone go prepare now, those who need to slaughter sheep, slaughter sheep, those who need to light the fire, light the fire. Wife, bring out another stone of rice, we have meat and rice, everyone enjoy themselves today!"

  He nodded and smiled: "These days are really like New Year's, every day there is delicious food!"

  The villagers all shouted: "Auntie Li is right, it's just like the New Year, even more exciting than the New Year!" Everyone worked together, bustling about.

  Li QIN called Xu Xiaoni, saying: "You've had a hard journey, ride my horse to the nearby village and let the villagers come to our village for dinner. If they ask, just say that Fugui Li Lang reads the sage's book, if he is poor, then he will be virtuous by himself, if he reaches his goal, then he will help the world. If they ask who Li Lang is, don't answer, when you leave on horseback, just shout that Li Lang is the most righteous!"

  Xu Xiaoni asked: "Brother Qin, what if there are too many people and not enough mutton? The nearby villages have a total of around 700 or 800 people!"

  Li Qindao said: "It won't all come at once, this kind of thing may not be believed by many people, so today there won't be too many people coming. Only after seeing others getting benefits will they all come next time. Even if they all come this time, it's okay, there are enough sheep."

  Xu Xiaoni responded with a sound, and became excited again, saying: "Qin Ge, I'm not very good at riding horses, just rode a few times, don't know if your black horse listens to commands or not, I'm afraid of not riding well!"

  Li Qindao said: "That horse has a good temper, but you also need to be careful not to ride too fast. In the future, when you have free time, ride it more often and you will naturally become familiar with it."

  Xu Xiaoni was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Can I ride it from now on? Great! I'll go around the villages right away!" He led out the black horse, mounted it, and proudly rode around the village first before heading out to take care of business.

  The villagers were full of admiration, and Xu Lao's old face smiled like a flower. He thought to himself: "Look, I was right to let my son follow Li Da's nephew, he won't miss out on any benefits. And before anything has even happened, he's already got the horse!"

  Li QIN returned to the house, he naturally knew how to treat bone injuries, but the medicinal materials of the Han Dynasty were not as many as modern times, some medicines were lacking, and there were also differences in their properties, so he did not dare to directly prescribe and prepare medicines, but first found out the silk book, looked up the prescription for treating bone injuries on it, and then began to prepare the medicine.

  The medicinal paste on the silk book is mainly used for military travel, which is convenient to carry and cannot be prepared and used at present. The main medicine for treating bone injuries belongs to ointment, with a peculiar formula, and the oil used for decocting is not vegetable oil, nor lard, but even less so the dog skin ointment that became popular all over the world hundreds of years later, but rather sheep oil.

  Li QIN took the medicine according to the prescription and decocted it until it became mutton oil, which was just right for eating mutton today. Tonight, some clean mutton oil can be simmered out to adjust the ointment.

  The sky had not yet turned dark, and Xu Xiaoni rode his horse back, leaving with caution, but returning with a gallop. When he arrived at the Li family's gate, Xu Xiaoni was reluctant to dismount, and shouted from outside the courtyard: "Qin Ge, I'm back! The five villages around us have all been notified, just as you instructed."

  Li Qin came out of the courtyard and asked: "How is it? Is there any fellow villager willing to come?"

  Xu Xiaoni's face wasn't too pleased, he said: "I came because I should have someone coming, but it doesn't mean everyone will come. In the five villages I went to, there were actually people who said I was talking nonsense and deceiving them, even mocking me, saying they had never heard of Li Lang! It made me so angry, I almost fought with them."

  Li Qinxin thought: "As expected. This is not unusual, even in modern times, if a great benefit suddenly appears out of thin air, most people will still want to wait and see first, only a very small number of people will seize the opportunity."

  He said, "Don't get angry. If someone had come to our village at an earlier time and said 'I'll treat you to mutton and rice for free', we wouldn't have believed it either, and would have said that they were cheating us. There's no such good thing in the world. So tonight, no matter who comes, we must entertain them well, not only let them eat their fill, but also let them take some back."

  Xu Xiaoni said: "Then next time, there will be many people coming. Qin Ge, when will you treat us again next time?"

  Li QIN smiled and said: "Let them wait, every day grumbling that they should have known Li Lang was so righteous, they should have come last time. Let them regret it, guessing when Li Lang will invite guests again." He waved his hand, letting Xu Xiaoni tie up the horse, preparing to eat.

  Fuping County is vast and sparsely populated. Even the nearest village to Fuguo Village, if you walk there, it takes half a watch, and some even take an hour. Many people don't believe this matter, since they don't believe it, they won't dare to travel at night, so naturally, they won't come.

  However, there were still people coming, and they were all poor and destitute adult men, about thirty or so. These people all arrived after dark, and Li Qin treated them generously, not only letting them eat their fill, but also giving each of them a piece of mutton to take away when they left.

  Li Qin personally handed out the mutton to each person and asked for their names, remembering them one by one.

  The poor men who came to Fu Jiao Village were all people with quick minds, belonging to the kind of people who would not give up as long as they had a little opportunity, whether it was true or false. They took the risk of walking at night and ran to Fu Jiao Village.

  They found that things were really true, and this Li Lang named Li QIN actually invited the villagers to eat meat. Everyone was overjoyed, thanked him profusely, and loudly called Li Lang the most righteous. After eating their fill and drinking enough, they took the mutton and left. As they departed, they kept asking if he would invite them again in the future?

  Li QIN will not answer this question, he just wants to keep everyone's appetite, let everyone discuss and spread the word that Li Lang is the most righteous. If it's clear when the next invitation is, then everyone can wait, no need to guess, and naturally there won't be daily discussions.

  It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky that Li Qian finally sent off the last poor soul, and the villagers tidied up their belongings and thanked Li Qian before returning to their respective homes. Li Tian and He Shi knew their son had to make ointment, so they reminded him to come home early and then left as well.

  Li Qin stayed in the threshing ground, scrubbed a pot clean and began to boil the clean mutton fat with the remaining firewood. He had never boiled animal oil before, and the first pot was messed up, so it couldn't be used for making ointment. Looking at the small half pot of black oil, he sighed, it seemed that he still needed to boil another pot, and also scrub the pot again. If he had known it would be such a trouble, he might as well have let his mother do it.

  Just as he was about to pour out the oil and scrub the pot, he suddenly heard a heavy footsteps coming from afar. He looked up and saw that under the moonlight, from the direction of the threshing ground, a giant iron tower-like man was slowly walking towards him - it was the same one he had seen during the day!

  Li Qin replied, "Is it you?"

  The giant walked up close and said, "It's me!" The giant actually looked a bit shy, this expression appeared on his ferocious face, and in the dark of night, it was quite strange.

  The giant paused, then said: "Today I saw a horseback rider shouting loudly all around, saying that there's a Mr. Li who wants to treat everyone to a meal, and anyone can come to eat... so I... uh, the moonlight is quite nice tonight!" He looked up at the sky.

  Li QIN smiled, looking at the giant, and said: "You're a foreigner, right? You've gotten into trouble, but you still want to come here to eat meat. That's quite bold! Since you're a good fellow, I have something to ask of you, and I hope you'll agree!"

  The giant lowered his head and stopped posing as a moon-gazing statue. He said: "You have something to ask of me? Don't you first ask who I am?"

  Li Qinxin thought to himself, "If I ask you, you'll probably not say anything. But if I don't ask you, you won't be able to hold it in and will end up saying something!" He shook his head and said, "When heroes meet, they share their hearts with each other; why is there a need to ask for names?"

  Huge Han Zhang opened his big mouth, quiet for a moment, and said: "Liver and gallbladder shining through each other, this is indeed the first time I've heard such words. Alright, what do you want to ask of me? Just speak up. Do you have an enemy? Tell me their name and address, and I'll go slaughter their whole family for you!"

  Li Qinhao snorted and shook his head, saying: "What a joke! What I'm asking you to do is... He pointed to the several large pieces of mutton by the pot and said: "I can't finish eating this meat, can I ask for your help to eat it with me?" He knew that the giant was too embarrassed to open his mouth to ask for food, so he made such a suggestion.

  Huge Han was taken aback, staring at Li Qin with wide eyes. He had never heard such a request in his life, and stuttered: "You must be joking! This meat... you... I... ah!" He didn't know how to respond properly.

  ——

  This morning, I saw that "Master" has risen to 22nd place on the new book chart! Haha! Brothers and sisters are too powerful, with you all, Ping An is truly worry-free, thank you very much, asking for votes, asking for collection, asking for powerful support, yeah!!!