knife

Chapter 72 If you can't pay back the money, go dance.

Seeing that the other party was about to retaliate again, Li Dachui quickly handed over the golden-brown steamed bun.

"Try my cooking! You don't usually get to eat the steamed buns I bake myself!"

Xiao Changche glanced at the other man, took the steamed bun, and said coldly, "Is that so? Even your bandit queen can't get any?"

Li Dachui shrugged: "Why do you keep bringing her up? Are you that close to her? Judging from your tone, you really don't like her! Why is that?"

Xiao Changche nearly choked on a mouthful of steamed bun. He stretched his neck and forced it down, but coughed a few times before saying somewhat angrily, "What do I have to do with her? You're clearly here on official business, yet you bring tea sets and all these bottles and jars of condiments. You're obviously not a proper person!"

"Where am I being improper?" Li Dachui cried out, feeling utterly wronged. "Work is work, and life is life. You can't neglect your life just because of work, can you? Besides, although I enjoy good food and drink, I've never neglected my duties, have I?"

At this point, he became smug again, bringing his face close to Xiao Changche's, and said, "At least I'm doing much better than you. You still owe me money!"

Xiao Changche tore off a piece of steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing as he coldly said, "Why are you putting your face so close? To show off? Or are you looking for a beating?"

Li Dachui shrank back with lightning speed, glaring at Xiao Changche: "You're just a violent maniac. Hey, Xiao Cheqi, I'm still your creditor, are you always this kind of freeloader?"

"I've always been like this. You're not happy about it? If I'm not happy, then don't lend me the money. But don't even think about paying back my past debts."

Li Dachui gave a thumbs up: "You're something else. Were you just waiting for me to get upset so you could use that as an excuse to renege on your debt? Dream on! I remember my debts perfectly well. Not only is there principal, but there's also interest. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, we signed an agreement for exorbitant interest rates!"

Xiao Changche was taken aback: "What kind of 'donkey rolling' is this?"

Li Dachui laughed loudly: "Starting from the first shipment of supplies three years ago, you probably owe me more than a million taels of silver by now!"

"What?" Xiao Changche jumped up immediately: "I kept the accounts. All the supplies, converted into silver, were clearly less than five or six hundred thousand taels."

"The rest is interest!" Li Dachui grinned like a shrewd businessman: "After you go back this time, Zhang Ruo will definitely have settled the accounts, and everything will be clear then."

"You tricked me?" Xiao Changche glared at Li Dachui.

"How could I have cheated you? The contract is in black and white! Who told you not to read it carefully?" Li Dachui said, "If you try to renege on your promise, I'll go to Yuan'an City and put up big-character posters!"

What is a big-character poster?

"We'll write down your debt default and post it everywhere!" Li Dachui said. "Paying back debts is a matter of course. If you don't pay, even your soldiers and the common people will despise you!"

Xiao Changche slowly sat down, his eyes filled with an uncontrollable murderous intent.

"Trying to kill me to silence me? You'd better think twice. My old man is not someone to be trifled with. Besides, those IOUs are right here in the Tai'an City Lord's Mansion! You can't take them away." Li Dachui said smugly.

Looking at those repulsive fake faces opposite him, Xiao Changche said coldly, "Who said I'm defaulting on my debt? Of course I admit it, but I don't have the money to pay it back. What can you do about it?"

"Interest compounding is no joke!" Li Dachui said kindly, "In two more years, it will double again. By then, it will be two million taels."

"I'll just dress up as a woman and go dancing in Tai'an City!"

"Huh?" Li Dachui didn't react for a moment.

Xiao Changche, however, snatched the other steamed bun from his hand, tore off a piece viciously, and stuffed it into his mouth: "One dance, and all debts are wiped clean!"

"Dream on! I'd have to do at least ten shows." Li Dachui objected. "Only then can I break even!"

"Take it or leave it!" Xiao Changche said, "Xiao Changche dancing is worth this price!"

After finishing his steamed bun, he snatched the small purple clay teapot from in front of Li Dachui, took a big gulp from the spout, and then casually tossed the teapot back to Li Dachui. Watching Li Dachui frantically catch the teapot, Xiao Changdao said, "Let's go!"

"I haven't even eaten yet! You ate both of my baked buns, are you a reincarnated starving ghost? These two big buns didn't even leave me a crumb!"

“I’m used to it. I’ll eat as much as I can when there’s food. Sometimes we don’t have anything to eat for days on end!” Xiao Changche picked up his cloth bag and turned to leave. “Let’s get to the field first and then rest. If the Tiele run away, I’ll kill you!”

Helpless, Li Dachui packed all the items into a bag and followed Xiao Changche out.

Then, the two of them were stunned.

Two horses, one black and one white.

Little Black and the White Jade Lion
They were gathered together at that moment.

The white jade lion held its head high with an air of arrogance.
Little Black, however, was licking the white jade lion's mane like a servant, his horse face revealing a smug, obsequious expression. Little Black was a rare and exceptionally fine stallion. Unlike other warhorses, Little Black was not gelded, so he was always short-tempered, but in battle, he was incredibly fierce.

Baiyu Shizi was a mare. In Xiao Changche's army, Baiyu Shizi was always kept in a separate stable because any stallion that dared to approach her would be kicked and bitten half to death by her.

But at this moment, although the white jade lion remained proud, it was clear that it did not reject Xiao Hei's approach and flattery at all.

Are these two horses like dry tinder and a raging fire, hitting it off?

After a moment of stunned silence, Li Dachui burst into laughter, as if he had seen his own ugly son snag a beautiful and wealthy neighbor, and he was filled with pride and joy.

Xiao Changche's face darkened. He walked over, raised his hand, and lashed the white jade lion's rump with his whip.

The white jade lion let out a pitiful howl.

He mounted his horse, flicked the reins, and rode away.

Li Dachui patted Xiao Hei's head and praised him repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad, keep up the good work, take this opportunity to get the white jade lion and have it have a few cubs for you!"

Seemingly understanding Li Dachui's meaning, Xiao Hei snorted excitedly, and after Li Dachui mounted his horse, he immediately and impatiently chased after the white figure in front of him.

Life as a horse is really tough!

As proud as Xiao Hei is, he naturally wouldn't want to be compared to those inferior horses. Now that he has finally found someone who is a good match, he naturally doesn't want to miss out.

Mao'er Mountain.

Originally just an ordinary, unremarkable hill, the straight-line distance from the foot to the summit is only a hundred steps or so. However, because it is the only mountain within a radius of several miles, it stands out and has become a tourist attraction, with people coming here from time to time to climb up and enjoy the view.

If you're looking for something elegant and to appreciate the scenery, Mao'er Mountain is a great choice. Even in the depths of winter, the frost-covered pines on the mountain are absolutely stunning.

However, from a military perspective, Mao'er Mountain is undoubtedly a dead end. Once surrounded here, it's practically a death sentence.

Fortunately, it is winter now, and there is enough snow and icicles to solve the water problem. In other seasons, the lack of water alone would be despairing.

Sometimes, even knowing it's a dead end, you still have to come.

Because at this point, if this is the only place where you can still barely survive, then where is there any room for you to be picky?

At this moment, the military stronghold of Mao'er Mountain was occupied by a team.

Lu You sat on a tree stump, his upper body bare, while Jin Bao bandaged his wounds. They had fought their way here as the vanguard, and the fact that they had survived until now truly showed their skill.

Of course, they were also very lucky.

Just like Lu You's current wound, a spear pierced his abdomen. However, Lu You was wide and fat enough that the spear pierced through him, but it only pierced through the fat. His internal organs were completely unharmed. It was just that the wound looked huge and quite frightening.

Jinbao limped along, his head wrapped up like a rice dumpling. The two of them had looked after each other and covered for each other along the way. In addition, they still had a group of brothers who would follow them to the death and protect them at all costs. That's how the two of them got to this place. However, the number of old brothers who were still with them could be counted on one hand.

"So many brothers have died, yet we still ended up in this deadly place!" Jinbao said helplessly. "What's the point of all this? It would have been better to die sooner rather than later. Fatty, if I can't move anymore, please kill me with one stroke. You absolutely cannot let me fall into the hands of the Yan family. The Yan family probably hates us to death now. If we fall into their hands, they probably won't let us go without tearing us to pieces."

"What discouraging words are you saying? Sisi, be gentle, be gentle, you're tying a tree!" Lu You, however, seemed extremely relaxed: "Bao'er, let me tell you, we definitely survived."

"Don't try to comfort me now." Jinbao looked up at the army already camped down the mountain, and the Yan family's troops still converging on the area in the distance. "Not to mention, there are probably at least 20,000 men. How many of us are here? Do we even have a thousand?"

"Are you blind?!" Lü You snatched the cloth strip from Jinbao's hand, tied it into a flamboyant bow, stood up and jumped around a bit. Making sure it wouldn't affect his axe swings, he nodded in satisfaction: "You've been up the mountain for so long, haven't you found anything?"

"What could there be? Even most of the trees have been cut down!" Jinbao suddenly stopped talking and turned to look inside. From the outside, the forest still looked very dense, but he had just come out from inside and knew that all the trees inside had been cut down long ago. Moreover, when they rushed up, these trees were already being cut down. At that time, it seemed that there were still quite a few people busy here.

The wolf was prepared.

And it's all happening right here.

Jinbao blinked as he looked at Lü You.

"Understood?" Lü You laughed. "We are cicadas! The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. But who is this oriole?"

(End of this chapter)