Chapter 53: Dian Wei

  Li QIN handed over the matter of repairing the fort to his father Li Tian and Feng Cheng. Li Tian was a village head, still with prestige in Fu Jiao Village, letting the villagers build the fort, naturally getting full support. Once the castle is repaired, everyone can move in to live, which is much safer than living in the village, and there is more land around, just right for farming.

  Feng Cheng and the newly joined soldiers were recruiting in another village, Li Qin made them promise that as long as they could build the castle, everyone would benefit. At least during the construction period, he was in charge of food, which was a practical matter, nothing compared to eating well and drinking enough being more practical.

  It's a long story, but as long as it's allocated to individuals, everything can be resolved smoothly. Li Qin brought five Fu Jiao soldiers, as well as Jia Xiang and Liu Zhongyan, Shen Yi drove the big cart, and the rest of the people rode horses, rushing to Long County together.

  When Ma Chao was about to leave, his relatives came, it was his maternal grandfather. Li Kan immediately called out Ma Chao and let him meet his maternal grandfather, and explained to the old氐man, hoping to get his help, and promised him food. Ma Chao's maternal grandfather had a Han surname, surnamed Zhong, and had a close relationship with the villagers of the Ma surname in Shibaopo Village. Poor Han people often married Huren because they couldn't afford to marry a wife, and the people of Shibaopo Village were even more closely related to the Zhong surname氐people, and could be considered as one family.

  Zhong Lao Han heard Li Qin's words and didn't immediately agree, saying he wanted to consider it and ask the opinions of his relatives. He took Ma Chao away with him. However, Ma Chao kept calling out "Li Shu" (Uncle Li) and hugged his leg, wanting to go with Li Qin together. Li Qin had no choice but to make another promise, saying that as long as Ma Chao listened to him, he would buy him sugar to eat when he returned from Long County. After much persuasion, Ma Chao finally left with Zhong Lao Han.

  Li Qian looked at Ma Chao's back and couldn't help but laugh, thinking that the future great general Ma Chao, who would shake the world, could now be sent away with just a few grains of sugar. Who would believe it if he told them?

  Li QIN bid farewell to everyone outside Fu Jiao Village and led Jia Xiang and the Fu Jiao soldiers to head southeast.

  From Fuping to Longxian, it's not far away, and with a fast horse, you can arrive in three or four days. But if you walk, it will take at least ten days. Liu Zhongyan is familiar with the road, and Jia Xiang has walked through recently, so they both know where to rest and how to get there more quickly.

  Traveling day and night, he arrived safely without incident. There was nothing remarkable on the road, and at noon that day, Li Qin arrived in Long County.

  Long County is the seat of Liang Prefecture, although its position will be replaced by Wuwei later, but now it is still the center of Liang Prefecture, and the gate of the prefecture governor is set in the city.

  Still three or four miles away from the city, villages began to appear, and there were many carriages on the main road. Many of them were merchants from all over the world, with people from all directions, mostly Hu merchants. However, these Hu merchants had been deeply sinicized, not only speaking Chinese, wearing Chinese clothes, taking Chinese surnames, but also doing business mainly in Chang'an and Luoyang, making Long County a transit station, a gathering place for goods.

  Li Qin and others were all wearing ordinary people's clothes, the city gate guards didn't ask much, they just treated them as ordinary merchants and travelers, they entered the city smoothly. After entering the city, in front of them was a long, straight road, with countless pedestrians on the street, this one street alone could have over a thousand people!

  Li QIN smiled and said: "What a big place! Here you can sell whatever you want, and you don't have to worry about being checked for the source. There's simply no way to check!"

  Liu Zhongyan walked over, smiling and said: "Young Master Li, you're new here, don't know the ways of this place. In this county, it's not that we're afraid your goods are of unknown origin, but rather that they might not be good enough. There are people who specialize in reselling goods of unknown origin. As long as you give them a look, they'll estimate the price, then go find a buyer. With just one transaction, without putting out any capital, it's like threading a needle - they can earn a 10% profit from you, more than what you'd get from...more than what you'd get from these things, and it's easy money!

  Shen Yi and Wu Xiaosan said in unison, "I know, there are many such people, but it's also thanks to these people that we can get good things quickly and find a good buyer!" They used to do business without capital, so they naturally understood the key point.

  Li QIN nodded, in fact, it's just a middleman. In modern terms, this business is called "stitching". This business seems to require no capital, but it tests one's vision and connections, and it's not easy to do!

  Li Qindao said: "Find a familiar inn, let's stay there, then you go find someone, finish the business as soon as possible, and we'll head back early!"

  Liu Zhongyuan said: "This is natural, we are doing a big business, so we have to put on airs, it's better to live in the largest inn in the city, not the old shop."

  Li Qin said with a smile: "Isn't it cool? Why is it called this name?"

  Jia Lian smiled and said, "If it's not cool, then it must be hot! I've stayed in this hotel before. When I first came to seek my fortune, I also stayed here for a few days just to put on airs. It was quite expensive!"

  Li QIN burst out laughing and said: "Not cool, it turns out that's what 'hot' means! Alright, let's stay at this inn!"

  Hastening in a large vehicle, everyone rushed towards the largest inn inside Lintong County town.

  Since the old shop is the largest and best guest house, it naturally attracts a large number of guests. The three open doors face upwards and downwards, with rooms in the front yard and back yard, selling wine and meat, as well as providing accommodation. All wealthy merchants who come to Long County are willing to stay here.

  At this time, on the second floor of the old store, by the window, a giant man like a giant spirit sat on a couch, wearing tattered clothes but with an intimidating aura. When he sat down by the window, no customer dared to share a table with him and all kept their distance from him.

  The big fellow drank a mouthful of wine, swallowed the food in his mouth, and slapped the table, shouting: "Shopkeeper, bring me two more pancakes, with more meat rolled inside. I suspect you've skimped on the meat filling, taking advantage of me! This is a black-hearted shop!"

  The shopkeeper hastily came over and said, "Oh no, sir, don't say that! Our store is a hundred-year-old shop, how could it be a black-hearted shop?" He glanced at the several large plates on the table, curled his lips and said, "I'm telling you, sir, our store's big pancake rolls with meat are one catty of pancake to one catty of meat. An ordinary person would be full with just one serving, but you've eaten six servings! And there's also a whole fat chicken and a jar of wine! Is this a stomach or a rice bucket... no, it's more like a rice bowl!"

  The big fellow glared with his eyes, shouting: "What's wrong, you're afraid of a big-bellied man like me? Are you afraid that Grandpa doesn't have money to pay the bill? You dog-eyed thing looking down on people!" As he spoke, he pulled out a leather pouch from his bosom and slammed it onto the table. The pouch hit the table with a loud thud, clearly filled with heavy objects.

  The shopkeeper glanced at the customer, and his face immediately lit up with a smile. "Look, sir, you're right! If there's business to be done, we can't not do it, can we? Just wait a moment, the big pancake rolls will arrive soon. I'm not worried that you won't have enough to eat, but rather that you might not be able to finish it all!" With that, he turned around and hurriedly ran down to the kitchen in the back of the building.

  As soon as Dian Ban Yi left, the giant immediately grabbed the bag and put it in his arms, stood up, patted the windowsill, and jumped down from the second floor with a whoosh, and ran away!

  The guests upstairs looked at each other and burst out laughing, shouting: "The shopkeeper has been cheated! You've met someone who eats for free, and you haven't lost a single bite!"

  The shop assistant heard the shout and immediately came back to himself, saw that the giant had disappeared, hurriedly went downstairs again, ran onto the street, and saw the giant running swiftly, having already run out of more than half a block!

  The shop assistants rushed out in a hurry, beckoning to the people inside, including the boss, the chef and other shop assistants, who all chased after them together, armed with pots, ladles and rolling pins, shouting and yelling as they gave chase from behind!

  Li Qin was walking on the street with his men when he suddenly saw a giant of a man rushing towards him from ahead. To his surprise, it was someone he knew. He recognized this giant as the one who had eaten his food without leaving his name. How did he also come to Long County from Fuping?

  Li QIN shouted: "This brother, can still recognize Fu Jiao Li QIN?"

  The giant looked up and saw him, exclaimed, and shouted: "How is it you? Li Lang also came to Long County?" He stopped running, walked forward, and saluted Li QIN with a bow.

  With this delay, the shop assistants and others behind all caught up, and one of them rushed forward, shouting: "You scoundrel, how can you eat without paying?" While speaking, he moved forward to fight with the giant.

  The giant swung his hand as if to shoo away a fly, saying "Go, go play somewhere else!" With just this one swing of his hand, he sent the shop assistant flying out.

  The shop assistant spun around twice, fell to the ground with a thud, and felt dizzy. The other shop assistants and the chef saw this and shouted together: "You don't pay for your meal, you dare to hit people, is there no king's law? We'll take you to see the official!"

  The giant shouted, "Still want to catch me and take me to see the official? Alright, this time Grandpa won't leave, waiting for you all to come and catch him. Come on, let's go together, hurry up, don't dawdle, Grandpa has other things to do, busy!"

  Li Qingle was delighted, it seemed that he hadn't paid for his meal. He must have eaten a lot, otherwise so many people wouldn't be chasing him! He rushed towards the person who looked like the shopkeeper and asked: "Which store are you from?"

  The shopkeeper saw Li Qin riding a tall horse, dressed neatly, with a large cart and followers behind him, and among the followers were some fierce-looking men, which made him even more unbearable. He could only meekly reply: "As for what this young master said, we are not a charity store, this man ate a lot of our wine and meat but didn't want to pay, we can't afford..."

  Li Qian waved his whip and said, "So it's not the old store that's surprising. It just so happens that I want to stay at your store, and his bill will be counted here. By the way, you all came out to chase him, what about the guests in the store? Don't just chase him and let other guests run away, maybe now the store is empty!"

  The shopkeeper was shocked and exclaimed, "Isn't that so? How could I have forgotten this? I'm so furious!" He turned around and ran away, leaving only two shop assistants behind, lest the giant and Li Qian not go to their store.

  Li Qin leaned forward on his horse, this time he didn't pretend to be reserved, and asked straightforwardly: "Brother, we've met several times, it's clear that we have a connection. You know my name, but I don't know yours, may I ask how should I address you?"

  Jü Han hesitated for a moment. Previously, Li Qin didn't ask, so he didn't say anything and it was fine. But now that someone asked, if he still doesn't speak up, it would be unbecoming of him as a good man. He said: "I didn't speak up before because I feared implicating you. Since Li Lang has inquired, not speaking up again would be improper. My name is Chen Liu We!"

  Li Qian raised an eyebrow, sat up straight on the horse and said: "You're called Dian Wei... hmm, this name is not bad, sounds good. Right, I see you wandering around eating and drinking everywhere, it's not a long-term plan either. And what's with saying you're afraid of implicating me, not letting you work for my family? Which eye did you use to look at me like I'm afraid of being implicated? You just don't want to work for me, right?"

  Dian Wei's face turned red as he hastily said, "What are you talking about, Li? I didn't mean it that way!"

  "What's that supposed to mean? Stop talking nonsense and work for me instead. I'll feed you, give you clothes to wear, but no wages!"

  Dian Wei scratched the back of his head and said: "This... this... this..."

  "Let me be your master and give you work to do. It's better than the life you're living now, isn't it?"

  "This is also true, but I...". Dian Wei wasn't particularly willing to take on tasks for others, he was used to being free and easy!

  "You're not even a bit manly, how can you do things like a woman? I think from now on we should call you 'Dian Girl' instead of Dian Wei!" said Li Qun.

  "Ah, ah... a maiden!" Tian Wei's mouth was agape, his eyes wide with shock. What made him look like a maiden?!

  ——

  Chapter 2 updated on time. Peace continues to ask for collection and support. For a new book, it really needs the support of brothers and sisters, asking for support, peace thanks!