Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 28 Back to Wangjia Village

"You need to do one thing."

"Please give your instructions, Sixth Master." Zhang Xijun was overjoyed when he heard this and replied quickly.

"How to convince Li Hu and how to bring Li You with you, you can do it yourself. As long as you can do it, it's not a bad idea to take you away from Yangtou Mountain. But if you can't do it, there's no need to mention this matter anymore, how about it?"

The stone in Zhang Xijun's heart suddenly fell, and he agreed immediately.

Zhu Shenzhui said nothing more, stood up and walked towards the main hall. After Zhu Shenzhui left, Zhang Xijun stood up and looked in the direction he left, with a relaxed smile on his face.

Zhang Xijun was a smart man. He knew clearly why Zhu Shenzhui asked him to do this. This could be considered a question Zhu Shenzhui gave him.

Since he wanted to join Zhu Shenzui, he had to show his abilities and take Li You away from Yangtou Mountain to control Li Hu's lifeline. This was originally proposed by Zhang Xijun himself, and it was natural for Zhu Shenzui to hand this matter over to him directly.

How to convince Li Hu to agree to follow Zhu Shenzhui to leave Yangtou Mountain also needs Zhang Xijun to solve it himself. Although Zhu Shenzhui can directly raise this condition with Li Hu, letting Zhang Xijun handle it himself has a completely different meaning.

Neither of them said a word about whether Zhu Shencui could trust Zhang Xijun, or how Zhang Xijun could gain Zhu Shencui's trust.

Both Zhu Shenzhui and Zhang Xijun knew that swearing and swearing were not binding, and it was impossible to use them to make both parties trust each other. But Zhang Xijun was not worried, because he was confident that as long as he followed Zhu Shenzhui away, he would be able to prove this in his own way.

The same is true for Zhu Shenzhui. Whether Zhang Xijun can be of great use and can be truly trusted depends on his subsequent actions and his own judgment.

On the way back, this time when we passed by Yangtou Mountain and Zhu Shenzui, we didn't plan to stay for long. After all, the weather was getting colder and colder, and it had snowed several times in the past few days. If there were to be heavy snow for several days in a row, the road ahead would not be easy to walk on.

The next day, Zhu Shenzui and others began to prepare for the return journey early in the morning. They packed up their things, had some food, and looked at the sun. The weather was pretty good today and it didn't look like it would snow for the time being.

Just when Zhu Shenzui and his companions were about to say goodbye to Li Hu and others, Li Hu and Zhang Xijun brought Li Youxian to find Zhu Shenzui.

Li Hu clasped his fists and said to Zhu Shenzhui that he hoped Zhu Shenzhui could take Li You away from Yangtou Mountain on his return trip, and that Zhang Xijun would also go with them.

The reason was very simple. It was nothing more than that the conditions in Yangtou Mountain were not good, and Li You was still young, so he couldn't help much. Zhang Xijun was a scholar, and it was the same in Yangtou Mountain. It would be more appropriate to entrust them to Zhu Shenzhui.

In addition, Zhu Shenzhui will send people to Yangtou Mountain, and Yangtou Mountain and Wangjia Village will be considered as one family in the future. It was Li Hu's own idea that Zhang Xijun followed Zhu Shenzhui, not only to take care of Li You, but also to help Zhu Shenzhui do some things and be responsible for the communication between the two sides in the future.

After saying that, Li Hu looked at Zhu Shenzhui with a little apology and expectation in his eyes.

Zhu Shenzhui didn't say anything, but agreed with a smile. He also assured Li Hu in front of him that Li You would be his nephew in the future, and told him not to worry, as he would make sure Li You would be properly taken care of.

In this way, Zhang Xijun took Li You and left Yangtou Mountain easily. When leaving, Li Hu was very grateful to Zhu Shencui. Just like last time, he personally led people to see them off for a long time and only waved goodbye when they left the mountain road.

After parting with Li Hu, Zhu Shenzhui looked meaningfully at Zhang Xijun who was following behind him. Although the conditions he proposed were not too difficult, it was surprising that Zhang Xijun could do it so easily and let Li Hu have such an attitude. It seemed that Zhang Xijun was quite capable.

The journey back was much more convenient than the journey here. After all, their goods had already been handed over in Zhao Village, and without any smuggled salt, they no longer had to cross mountains and take remote paths, and could return directly via the official road.

However, considering that Zhang Xijun and Li You were following them back this time, they neither had household registration certificates nor "road permits", so it would be a bit troublesome if they were checked by officials. But Zhu Shenzui and his men also had their own ways. They were very familiar with the return journey. Whenever there were checkpoints near inspection, Zhu Shenzui would let his men take them around through nearby paths in advance, and others could pass through the checkpoints normally. Although this was more troublesome, it was safer.

The journey was uneventful. After a few days, the group finally crossed the Fen River smoothly, crossed the river and continued westward, and finally returned to Wangjia Village in half a day. On the way back, Zhu Shenzhui had carefully thought that it was impossible for Zhang Xijun and Li You to be brought back to Pingyang City.

Firstly, their identities were problematic, and it was not easy to enter Pingyang City. Secondly, Li You was better, and Zhu Shenzhu liked this honest boy very much. He got along very well with Zhu Shenzhu all the way back, and even Wang Jinwu and others liked him.

But Zhang Xijun is different. Although Zhu Shencui brought Zhang Xijun back, the true origin of Zhang Xijun has not been fully understood. In addition, Zhu Shencui is not sure about his loyalty and reliability. At present, it is just a "probation period".

As for the third, it was Zhu Shenzhu's own identity. Zhu Shenzhu had always used the pseudonym Wang Shen, and he could not be sure of the consequences of his true identity being known by Zhang Xijun. It was impossible for Zhang Xijun to go back to Pingyang City with him, so the only place where they could be settled was Wangjia Village.

Putting these two people in Wangjia Village, with uncle Wang Rong and Wang Jinwu looking after them, there will be absolutely no problem. Moreover, Wangjia Village is not an ordinary village. Because of the smuggling of salt, Wangjia Village is loose outside but tight inside, which is much more reassuring than Yangtou Mountain.

Besides, the previous household registrations of Zhang Xijun and Li You could not be used. To put it bluntly, they were two "black households". If they were placed in Wangjia Village, Wang Rong could easily solve this problem. After all, Wang Rong was not only the village chief of Wangjia Village, but also had the title of a hundred households. Solving the problem of two black households was not a difficult task for Wang Rong.

When the group was still two or three miles away from Wangjia Village, the villagers who were on guard outside the village saw them. They were so happy that they hurried back to the village to report. A moment later, Wang Rong, Xia Dong and others came out of the village to greet them.

"uncle!"

"father!"

"Uncle!"

Seeing Wang Rong, everyone hurried forward to greet him. Wang Rong looked at everyone who had returned safely, especially Wang Jinwu, who was standing in front of him intact. He grinned and kept saying hello. He patted Wang Jinwu on the shoulder, and then looked at his son, who was a little darker but stronger, and felt extremely happy.

Then, he asked Zhu Shenzhui if the journey was smooth, and Zhu Shenzhui nodded and said everything was going well. When Wang Rong was about to continue talking, he saw two strangers in the team, who were Zhang Xijun and Li You.

“Who are these two people…?”

"I brought it back. I'll tell you in detail later. Uncle, first find a place for them to stay, and then pick out two smart ones to help settle down." Zhu Shenzhui said in a low voice.

Wang Rong was an old hand, and he understood what was said as soon as he heard it. He nodded in agreement immediately, then turned around and called two people over, pointed in the direction of Zhang Xijun and Li You, and then gave them a few instructions.

Zhu Shenzhui did not say anything, but turned around and nodded slightly to Zhang Xijun and Li You, giving them a reassuring look. Zhang Xijun was not panicked, he had followed Zhu Shenzhui to Wangjia Village, so he naturally had to listen to Zhu Shenzhui's arrangements. He immediately bowed to Zhu Shenzhui and Wang Rong, and took Li You, who was still looking around, and followed the two to leave.

After Zhang Xijun and others left, Wang Rong invited Zhu Shenzhui and others to go home.

After a while, Zhu Shenzhui, Wang Jinwu, Wang Chuer, Wang Gui followed Wang Rong, Xia Dong and Wang Yinsheng to Wang Rong's yard. As for the others, they were sent back. After being away for so many days, everyone had already missed home, so they had to go back and take a look after finally coming back.

After entering the house, everyone sat down. My aunt served tea to everyone and then left, leaving the gentlemen in the house to talk.

“Those two people just now…?” Wang Rong couldn’t wait to ask as soon as his aunt left.

Wang Rong had to be careful. Everyone in Wangjia Village was his own people. In the past two years, he had been doing private salt business with Zhu Shencui, a business that carried the risk of being beheaded. Suddenly, two strangers came, and Zhu Shencui did not directly tell him their identities. He felt uneasy if he did not ask clearly.

"These two followed us back from Yangtou Mountain. The older one is called Zhang Xijun, and the younger one is called Li You. Li You is the only son of the head of the Yangtou Mountain family..." Zhu Shenzui naturally had nothing to hide from Wang Rong. He immediately told Wang Rong about the origins of Zhang Xijun and Li You, and also told Wang Rong about the situation in Yangtou Mountain.

(End of this chapter)