Liaozhai Great Sage

Chapter 278 Buying a Fox
Two days later.

Li Xiuyuan and the four guards rushed to the Qingshan boundary that Hu Han said without stopping.

There is only a small county town near here, named Qing County, and there is a rolling mountain dozens of miles outside the county.

The mountain is not high, but it is densely forested. There are many hunters in the nearby counties. Farmers go up the mountain to hunt and forage. There are also village women from nearby villages who go up the mountain to collect wild vegetables and mushrooms.

"Is that the green hill over there?" Li Xiuyuan raised his eyes and saw that there were indeed mountains stretching and lush. He didn't know what kind of scene it was like in the mountains.

"The direction is right, the name of the place is right, and you shouldn't go wrong." Wu Fei touched his bald head and said, "Why didn't the young master go to Jinling City to rest for a few days when he passed by Jinling City yesterday? I can't bear it."

"Who knows what will happen if you come one day later, if you complain again, stay on Wangchuan Mountain and go to your king of the mountain." Li Xiuyuan said.

Wu Fei said hastily, "Don't, young master, I don't want to stay on the mountain, it's too boring, and now the smell in the mountain is so small that it makes me want to vomit."

"Let's go, first go to Qingshan to have a look, there are villages nearby, find a family to stay overnight." Li Xiuyuan said.

Ma Dong said again: "Young master, didn't you say that the fox fairy had already set off early, why didn't he send someone to pick him up, and asked us to look for it? There are so many mountains here, where are we going to find them?" .”

"When we get to the place, what should happen will happen naturally, don't worry." Li Xiuyuan said.

Hu Han had already gone to Qingshan in advance, although he was delayed for a few days, but if he waited for someone to enter the mountain, Hu Han would not know, so he was not worried.

"Let's go." Li Xiuyuan ordered, and continued on his way on horseback.

But on the road, I saw two thick and short men walking towards each other, carrying steel forks, carrying some hares and pheasants in the mountain, walking towards them, as if they wanted to take the game they hunted to sell in the county.

The two hunters walked away and chatted: "I don't know what happened in the mountains recently. Instead of hiding in the deep mountains and old forests, this wild animal kept running out of the mountains. The trap I set up yesterday not only caught several of them. I also caught a fox. Look, it’s still alive. I’m going to sell it to the furriers in the county. I heard that high-quality fox fur is very valuable, especially if the fur hasn’t been broken. fox."

"I heard this from an old man in a nearby village. The old man said that the mountains are not peaceful recently. There may be spirits fighting, which scared all the wild animals out of the mountains, so the wild animals kept running out of the mountains. , I heard that there are a few rich men in Jinling City who like fox fur. They specially invited a lot of hunters into the mountains to hunt foxes. "

"That's right, the hunter Zhang from the next door village has hunted twenty foxes these days, earning a full 20 taels. He didn't even get a daughter-in-law for more than [-] taels, but now he just got married to a girl with yellow flowers." Well, I'm so greedy, after I sell this fox, I will earn some money to buy some new clothes for my wife."

Another hunter sighed: "You can't hunt foxes in Qingshan. This is a rule passed down from our ancestors. My father said that if I dare to hunt a fox, my legs will be broken, and if I hunt two foxes, my legs will be broken." Legs, I can’t help it, I can’t earn this money.”

"Hey, my fox was not hunted, but it ran into the trap by itself. This is not a violation of the rules."

The Orion patted the skin bag on his waist, and there was a wailing sound from inside.

Li Xiuyuan came on horseback, and when he heard the two hunters talking, he suddenly pulled the reins and shouted, "You two heroes, please stay~!"

"What's the matter with this young master?" The two hunters stopped and asked politely when they saw Li Xiuyuan and others tall, well-dressed and with an extraordinary bearing.

Li Xiuyuan got off his horse and said, "Are you two local hunters?"

"Yes, my name is Mu Mu. He is a strong man. We hunt near here." The hunter named Mu Mu said cautiously.

Li Xiuyuan said, "Are there many foxes on the mountain?"

"There are many, our ancestors have been hunting in this mountain for generations, and we often see foxes haunting them." Mu Mu said.

Li Xiuyuan asked again: "I heard that many hunters have gone into the mountains to hunt foxes recently, is this true?"

"Of course it's true. At least dozens of hunters have gone into the mountains to hunt foxes. Even some rogues in the county have gone into the mountains to catch foxes. A rich man said that they spent a tael of silver. One acquisition, as long as the wild foxes in the mountains appear now, few escape, if they are caught like this, it is estimated that the foxes will be caught." The Zhuangzi next to him said.

"Do you know who bid to buy it?" Li Xiuyuan said.

The person Hu Han offended was a bit ruthless. Buying a fox for a tael of silver is indeed going to drive all the foxes in Qingshan to extinction.

"I don't know, I only know that there is a fur shop in the county, but all the fresh fox fur shopkeepers buy it for one tael each. I haven't seen this shop for a long time. I don't know which owner is behind it." Mu Mu said.

Li Xiuyuan suddenly looked at the leather pouch on the waist of Zhuangzi and said, "Is that a fox in your pouch?"

"Yes, a live fox, ready to be sold in the town." Zhuangzi said.

"You can sell it in the town, how about selling me?" Li Xiuyuan said.

Zhuangzi said, "Okay, the young master will make a price."

"You sell it for one tael in the town, and I'll pay double, two taels of silver." Li Xiuyuan said.

Zhuangzi's eyes lit up, his heart was overjoyed, and he was about to agree, but then he rolled his eyes, looked at the horses these people were riding, and the satin on the saddle, and knew that this was also a The son of a wealthy family is the master who is not short of money.

"Young master, two liang of silver is a little low. I am a living fox, and I haven't even hurt my fur. It's a good one."

Seeing him like this, Li Xiuyuan knew that he was trying to raise the price, so he said again: "Well, I will give you three taels of silver and sell this fox to me."

Immediately, a look of surprise appeared on Zhuangzi's face. To him, one tael of silver was a lot of money, and a fox could be sold for three taels of silver, which was enough to go hunting in the mountains for several months.

But seeing Li Xiuyuan being so forthright, the Zhuangzi laughed again: "Young Master, add more, I'll sell all these prey to you, Young Master."

"For four taels of silver, I will buy all your prey." Li Xiuyuan said.

"How about five taels?" Zhuangzi said excitedly.

"." Li Xiuyuan didn't answer him, but looked at Wu Fei next to him.

"Ah, what are you talking about? A few taels of silver."

Wu Fei grinned, patted his bald head, put one hand on the waist knife, and asked a bit ferociously.

Zhuangzi was startled suddenly, his expression changed drastically, and he said hastily, "Four liang of silver is enough, enough."

Wu Feikeng drew out a waist knife with a bang, and asked again: "What? Did I hear wrong? Why did I seem to hear the word dead? Who is impatient?"

"Two, two taels of silver, my son, the price you said before." Zhuangzi trembled and said hastily.

Wu Feihu put one hand on his shoulder, squeezed his shoulders hard, and said with a grin, "Two taels of silver? Do you think we are the kind of people who can't afford a few taels of silver? Don't Reluctantly, we don't do things like buying and selling by force, we are from a decent and rich family, not the kind of bandits who kill and steal and bully men and women."

After speaking, the waist knife touched Zhuangzi's waist and stabbed lightly.

Zhuangzi was about to cry immediately; "No, I don't want any more money, this fox is for you, for you."

He was just a hunter in the mountains, he hunted and killed pheasants and rabbits, so he had never encountered such a vicious person as Wu Fei.

"Okay, Zhengyi, I've made a deal with you as a friend. In the future, when you go out and encounter problems, you can report my name. I am looking forward to Wu Fei, the king of Chuanshan Mountain. A good man in the green forest will sell a little face when he sees me. of."

Wu Fei patted him on the shoulder and said loudly: "Don't worry, I, Wu Fei, keep my word. If I say it's your friend, it's your friend. If I say kill someone else's family, I will kill the other person's family. It is absolutely unambiguous."

"Big, big king, little, the little one is just a hunter, just now, didn't mean it just now," Zhuangzi said with a mournful face, full of horror.

Wu Fei narrowed his eyes and said with a smile: "Stupid, is this king the kind of person who cares about everything? I don't care about what happened just now."

"Then, can you, take, take away the knife." Zhuangzi said with a trembling voice.

"Is this the one who used the knife on my brother? Just now, I just let you see how the quality of this knife is. This is a high-quality hundred-steel steel knife. It is a treasure. I'm afraid you haven't seen it before, so Let you learn a lot." Wu Fei said, shaking the waist knife in his hand.

But seeing the waist knife gleaming coldly in the sun made people feel terrified.

"Okay, Wu Fei, stop messing around, I'll give you two five taels of silver, you three taels, he two, buy all your mountain goods, and do me another favor, tell the nearby hunters not to hunt foxes in the mountains, if If you go hunting foxes again, you will be at your own risk." Li Xiuyuan saw that Wu Fei was scaring the Orion seriously, so he stopped.

After giving five taels of silver and taking away all the mountain goods, several people continued on their way.

"See you, brother." Wu Fei grinned and rode off.

After the group of people walked away, Zhuangzi stood on the spot, holding five taels of silver, trembling all over, and was at a loss for a while.

The wood next to him was also silent, not daring to move.

He can be sure that the man named Wu Fei just now was definitely not just scaring himself. The man's knife smelled of blood, and he had killed someone. The look in his eyes just now was very scary. He was only on those executioners in the county. I've seen that this kind of people are all ruthless people who kill people without even blinking an eye.

"Hey, what a guy, he's just playing around and raising the price. He wants to sell a fox for five taels of silver. Why don't you grab it? Our double price is already generous enough. Your heart is too kind, young master, so That's why these people kicked their noses in the face." On the way, Wu Fei took a sip and said angrily.

Li Xiuyuan smiled and didn't care: "So I have to have a villain like you by my side."

"Hey, that's true." Wu Fei grinned, feeling that he was valued.

Li Xiuyuan slowed down his horse, and opened the skin in his hand at this moment. Immediately, the shadow of a fox rushed out with a whoosh, jumped out of his hand, and then quickly slipped into the nearby grass.

"Young master, it's not good, five liang of silver has escaped." Ma Dong said hastily.

But I saw the nearby grass swaying, and a fox quickly ran towards the forest.

The taciturn Xing Shan immediately took off a big bow on the horse's back, drew the bow and arrow, and was ready to go: "Young master, do you want to live or die?"

"No need, let it go. I bought it for the purpose of freeing animals, not to kill it. Speaking of which, I have only killed one tailless fox in my life, and I don't want it to become the second one." Li Xiuyuan said.

He knew that Xing Shan's bow skills were rare in the world, and he must be sure to shoot down the wild fox that ran away, but if he shot it to death, it would defeat the purpose of Li Xiuyuan's trip.

"Understood." Xing Shan put down the bow and arrow in his hand.

"Go to the village over there and find a family to spend the night with. I'll go up the mountain at dawn tomorrow to have a look." Li Xiuyuan said.

After they walked into the village.

The wild fox that escaped before stopped in shock after fleeing to a safe place. She looked around, stood up suddenly, and transformed into a slim girl.

Her face was a little pale, and there was a look of disbelief in her eyes.

"Have my people been robbed?"

(End of this chapter)