Twenty-four chapters of flowers blooming five blossoms

  The black-faced big man was trampled under Xue Fei's feet, so ashamed that he had nowhere to hide, and said "Don't want it, don't want it, spare my life, hero."

  Yue Fei moved his foot away, and the dark-faced big man scrambled up, raised his twin hammers and was about to smash them onto his own forehead when Yue Fei hastily stopped him.

  "Good fellow, why are you so desperate?" Yue Fei asked.

  The big man with a black face said, "Little brother, you don't know this, but I've grown up like this and have never been knocked to the ground by anyone. Now, I'm actually defeated by a young fellow like you. Tell me, where can I put my face? If it gets out, won't people laugh at me? That's why I'd rather not live on and avoid losing face."

  "You're a friend, but your words are wrong. As the saying goes, victory and defeat are common occurrences in battle. If you were to die every time you lost, you'd have died countless times in this life alone, even nine lives wouldn't be enough. Moreover, just now I didn't even engage with you, it was you who got impatient and slipped, falling to the ground, and I just took advantage of the opportunity."

  The black-faced man looked at Yue Fei with a curious expression and asked, "Brother, you have great martial skills and strength. What is your surname and given name? Where is your hometown?"

  "My surname is Yue, my name is Fei, and my style name is Pengju. I live in Qilin Village at the foot of Lishui Mountain."

  "You live in Qilin Village, don't you know Master Zhou Tong?" asked the dark-faced big man.

  "Zhou Tong is my sworn father, how did you know that? Does he have some connection with you?" Yue Fei asked in surprise.

  "I am also from Shaanxi, my surname is Niu and my name is Gao. I am a fellow townsman of Master Zhou Tong. My father was also a military officer and had great respect for Master Zhou Tong. Before he passed away, he left me with his last words: to find Master Zhou Tong, become his disciple, learn literature and martial arts, and serve the imperial court in the future. Because of my father's wish, my mother and I sold our property, left our hometown, and traveled all the way here to find him. We arrived at Xiangzhou and heard that Master Zhou Tong was in Neihuang County, so we came to Neihuang to ask around. Finally, we heard that Master Zhou Tong lived in Qilin Village, which is why we came here. On the road, our money ran out, and my mother and I were struggling to survive. We encountered a group of mountain bandits at Luangao Gang, and I accidentally killed one of them, took his armor, horse, and weapon, and chased away the rest. I thought that since my mother and I had no money, we might as well rob some traveling merchants to get some wealth, both to support my mother and to prepare a gift for when we meet Master Zhou Tong. So I settled my mother in a mountain cave behind the hill and every day, under the pretext of finding Master Zhou Tong, I went out to do this work. Today, unexpectedly, I met Master Zhou Tong's son here! It is truly the will of heaven." The black-faced big man said this, then knelt down with a thud, saying: "I, Niu Gao, have been defeated by Master Zhou Tong's successor today, but it is not shameful. Big brother, please take me to see Master Zhou!"

  Yue Fei helped Niu Gao up and shouted towards the grass in front: "Brothers, come out!"

  As soon as the words fell, Zhang Xian, Tang Huai and Wang Gui emerged from the bushes with a smile on their faces.

  "This is my three sworn brothers, Zhang Xian, Tang Huai and Wang Gui. The four of us are all disciples of Zhou Tong." Yue Fei introduced them to Niu Gao one by one.

  Niu Gao and his three brothers greeted each other one by one.

  "Brother Yue, my mother is just in the valley behind the mountain, not far from here. You can go together! If my old mother hears that Zhou Tong's disciple has come, she will be overjoyed," said Niu Gao.

  "Since it's like that, let's go take a look at Auntie then. Please lead the way," said Yue Fei.

  Niu Gao walked happily in the front, followed by his four brothers. After a while, they arrived at the mountain col, where there was a cave hidden behind a fence made of branches and leaves, very secretive.

  Niu Gao pushed open the door, bringing in Yue Fei and others, excitedly shouting: "Mother, I've invited Master Zhou Tong's four disciples to come over."

  Niu Mu heard that he was a disciple of Zhou Tong, and naturally felt overjoyed. She smiled and invited the guest to sit down, then told him about her late husband's last wish to seek refuge with Zhou Tong.

  Yue Fei listened to the old man's words and replied with tears: "My adoptive father unfortunately left this world last September, he went so hastily that even we didn't expect him to go so quickly."

  The old man listened, with a face full of disappointment and sorrow, saying: "I was entrusted by my late husband to bring my son from afar to find Master Zhou Dang. I didn't expect that Master Zhou Dang has already passed away. From now on, my son will lose his guidance and have no hope for success. How can I bear this? I've wasted so many years in vain, and there's no hope even if I return home." The old man finished speaking and burst into tears.

  "Auntie, don't be sad. Although our family's master is gone, there's still my younger brother here. My skills may not be as good as my father's, but I've learned a lot of things. These three sworn brothers of mine are also the master's disciples and have some abilities. Now that you're already here, why don't you come back with us to live? Let Brother Niu practice martial arts with us too. What do you think?" Yue Fei comforted.

  "Mother, this brother Yue Fei's kung fu is quite impressive. Why don't we follow them?" said Niu Gao.

  "Alright! Since you've treated us mother and son so well, it's our good fortune, but we're troubling you too much." The old man wiped away the tears on his face and said slowly with his head down.

  "Aunt, we welcome your arrival." Zhang Xian, Tang Huai and Wang Gui said in unison.

  "Big Brother Yue, if you don't mind, I, Niu Gao, am willing to be your younger brother. In the future, we five brothers can practice martial arts together and conquer the world together. Five flowers blooming at once, what do you think?" asked Niu Gao.

  "Good! We have another good brother." Zhang Xian, Tang Huai and Wang Gui all cheered.

  Yue Fei also nodded in agreement.

  Niu Gao saw that Yue Fei had agreed and was overjoyed, his mother was also extremely delighted.

  "Auntie, pack up your belongings and come with us back to Qilin Village," Yue Fei said.

  The mother and son quickly packed up, after finishing packing, Niu Gao helped his mother onto the horseback, leading the horse to follow Yue Fei and others to Wangjiazhuang.

  Arriving at the entrance of the village, Niu Gao helped his elderly mother dismount and went to Yue Fei's home. After meeting with Madame Yue, he recounted the events from start to finish. Madame Yue instructed Yue Fei to invite the three officials over. Niu Gao paid his respects to each of them one by one and again explained the circumstances to the three officials.

  Three officials were overjoyed and on that day set up a banquet at Wang's house to entertain and refresh the mother and son of Niu Gao.

  At this point, Niu Mu and Yue An lived together as companions, while Niu Gao and Yue Fei stayed in Zhou Tong's study. They chose a auspicious day to formally become sworn brothers, the five of them.

  Yue Fei taught Niu Gao literacy and martial arts, with equal emphasis on moral character.

  One day, five brothers were practicing in the courtyard when Wang Gui suddenly saw someone peeking out from the woods across the way.

  "Who's there? Come out from hiding!" Wang Gui shouted into the woods.

  That person listened, unhurriedly walked out, made a bow to the five brothers and said: "I am the newly appointed village head here. Yesterday, the military governor of Xiangzhou, Liu, sent an official document to the county government, saying that all martial arts children from various places will go to Xiangzhou for examination, only those who pass can go to the capital for further testing. The county magistrate knows that your martial arts skills are extraordinary, so he specially dispatched me to inform you. I saw that you were in the middle of training and didn't dare disturb you, so I hid in the woods to watch. It wasn't intentional, please forgive me, young masters."

  Yue Fei said: "Thank you for your trouble, please go back and report to Mr. Yue, just say that Yue Fei will visit him another day."

  He died of illness in office.