Chapter Twelve Taking Office

  Lei Di, sounds like a pretty cunning and majestic name, but when the two people and nine dogs returned to Wei Suo, Ding Kui felt that this name was most suitable for himself or Song Qing'an, because the image of thunderstorm and wolf-like appearance was very fitting on them.

  After returning home, Song Qing changed into a fresh set of clothes and also wiped down the nine dogs with a towel. Only then did he carefully examine his spoils from this trip. As it happened, Song Hu was also a dog lover. Although Song Li was a woman, her family was originally a small but powerful clan, and she had a personality similar to that of a man, which is why she had taken a liking to the rough and boisterous Song Hu in the first place. Therefore, she too was very interested in dogs. The three members of the family surrounded the nine new dogs, constantly touching this one and looking at that one, playing happily together.

  The only one that seems a bit disheartened is probably the original watchdog, Lai Fu. Since the arrival of nine peers, Lai Fu has felt himself facing an unfavorable fate and has been barking for half a day. However, considering the numerical disparity between us, he didn't dare to do anything outrageous.

  At dinner time, the three members of the Song family were eating together. Madam Song was about to pour wine for her father and brother, but Song Hu snatched the wine jug away and placed it beside himself, saying to Song Qing: "Tomorrow you'll be taking office, so I won't let you drink tonight, lest you oversleep and give that scoundrel Xue Ping an excuse to find fault."

  "Dad, don't worry, I'll be frugal!"

  "Tomorrow, when you arrive there, no matter who he assigns to you, even if it's the old, weak, sick or disabled, just accept them all first. If there are any issues, we'll discuss them when you return." As he spoke, a heroic air suddenly emerged on Song Hu's face, and he gritted his teeth: "In the past, you didn't live up to expectations, and Xue Ping often boasted in front of me about having a good son, saying that his martial arts skills were only inferior to Wang Jian's. Now that you've made progress, let's see what he has to say. His son is actually an uneducated and untalented person who relies on his few skills to call himself the 'Flower Taishou', leading a group of rascals in the state city and the Wei prefecture, causing trouble every day. How can he compare to your real achievements earned through hard work? If Xue Ping dares to make things difficult for you, I, as your father, will not let him off easily!"

  "Thank you, Father!" Song Qing's face was filled with a smile. He knew that Xue Ping would not give him any good soldiers, but he had seen too many methods of training soldiers in his past life. As long as these people were not really disabled or mentally ill, he was confident that he could train them into something decent. Therefore, he wasn't worried about anything. After dinner, he chatted with his parents for a few sentences before taking Leidi back to their room to sleep early. The other dogs all entered the courtyard and quickly became friends with Lai Fu, becoming new members of the Song family.

  On the second day, early in the morning, Song Qing wore a small flag uniform, stood proudly at the door, and let Song Hu look at him for a while. After getting a satisfactory response, he took the two eggs cooked by Song Li for him and stepped out of the house with big strides, rushing to the small school field where Xue Ping's general flag team was located.

  Upon arrival, the school grounds were empty and deserted. Song Qing looked up at the sun and confirmed that it was indeed the right time. However, he soon came to his senses and realized that he had arrived according to the scheduled time on the drill manual, but in this day and age, nobody would arrive on time unless they were going into battle. Unfazed, he found a large stone to sit on and hummed a tune while waiting for Xue Ping and the others to arrive. He waited for half an hour before Xue Zongqi finally arrived with three or five attendants, as well as ten military households assigned to Song Qing.

  Xue Ping was quite unscrupulous, but not excessively so. The ones assigned to Song Qing were not the legendary old, weak, sickly and disabled, nor were they robust military households, but rather ten skinny teenagers who were only fifteen or sixteen years old. When leading them over, he had originally planned to take a look at Song Qing's ugly expression, and if there was an opportunity, he could even use the topic to make a big deal out of it and accuse him of disrespecting his superiors. Who knew that Song Qing seemed completely unbothered, politely thanking him with a smile on his face.

  Xue Ping snorted inwardly, but said with a smile: "Song Qing, your father and I are old friends. From now on, under my care, everything will be fine. If you need anything, just speak up, don't be polite. Uncle has some other matters to attend to, so I won't stay here with you any longer. You go get familiar with your brothers first!"

  Song Qingle smiled and said, "Thank you, Uncle Song. When I left home, my father told me that you two are old friends, so when I arrived here, you would take extra care of me. There will be many more things to trouble you with in the future, just go ahead and attend to your business!"

  These words were spoken politely, but Xue Ping always felt a bit uncomfortable listening to them. Especially when Song Qing emphasized his old friendship with Song Lao Hu and the special care he would receive, and that there would be many more troublesome things in the future. All of this sounded like it had a double meaning, yet on the surface, there was no flaw.

  Xue Ping, though not a good person at heart, was not skilled in verbal sparring. Although he felt resentful inside, he couldn't think of anything to say back, so he could only glare fiercely at the culprit who had taken his son's place and leave with his men, letting out a cold snort.

  As soon as he left, the atmosphere on the school grounds relaxed. The ones who came were only fifteen or sixteen years old, and although they knew that the Song and Xue families didn't get along, they didn't care about these things. Previously, when suppressing bandits, they had all been personally involved, and some had even killed bandits with Song Qing together. They admired this newly risen good fellow the most. As soon as Xue Ping left, these people immediately swarmed up, surrounding Song Qing in the middle, chattering and asking him about his previous experiences killing bandits.

  This time, Xue Ping originally only wanted to throw over some old and weak people, but those elderly people were good at serving the crops, so they simply sent these not-so-strong young men over. However, Song Qing didn't care about this. If they had really sent over some strong men, it would have taken a while to take them down. But these young men in front of him were his admirers, and it was easy to win them over. Adding the two or three who had fought with him before, they quickly became close after just a few words, and it took great effort to calm them down again.

  "Brothers, I have two words to say!" Song Qing cleared his throat and walked up to the small earthen platform at the back. He looked down at the ten frail figures below, his expression gradually turning serious. "I am Song Qing, you all should know who I am," he said. "What I was like in the past, I reckon not a few of you have some idea. As for how I got this official position, there are several brothers here who fought alongside me and can attest to it - we took our lives in our hands and fought back with every sword and spear. There's no fancy story behind it. But what I'm saying now, I reckon not all of you understand."

  Ten young men looked at Song Qing with a face full of desire for knowledge, obviously not quite clear what this sentence meant. Song Qing didn't keep them in suspense and said directly: "Actually it's very simple, I like tough guys, especially those who dare to fight to the death, can hold their ground at critical moments, now follow me, I can make you happy, but before being happy, you have to suffer first, my training method is different from others, later you all report your names to me once, then formally start training. I say this in advance, if you can't take it, you can give up and go back to farming, I will explain to General Xue myself. As for those who stay, I'll invite them to eat braised meat tonight!"

  New book is launched, seeking recommendation votes and collection now!!!!!