When Niu Dan heard that Ma Xiaoquan was going to go down the ditch, his legs trembled with fright.
"Uncle...there are really monsters down here, oh no, there are gods...the gods will blame..."
Ma Xiaoquan shook his head: "How could any god say that? Okay, didn't you just bring a long rope? Find a tree and tie the rope to the trunk. You can help me pull the other end. I'll go down and have a look. Okay.
, if I find the treasure, I might as well give you a share, so you can use the money to buy the little flower from that naughty guy, right?"
"Ah? Buy some flowers?"
"Yeah, didn't you say that Niu Er married Xiao Hua and gave his father thirty taels of silver? If I find the treasure, you can give Niu'er three hundred taels and redeem Xiao Hua from him. Look,
Is that okay?”
Niu Dan was a simple and honest man. When he heard that Ma Xiaoquan had gone down to look for the treasure, and also wanted to share it with him to redeem him for the little flowers, he quickly nodded in agreement.
After tying the long rope, Niu Dan nodded to Ma Xiaoquan. Ma Xiaoquan understood, pulled one end of the long rope and slowly slid down the dry ditch.
Perhaps because it had been dry for too long, the walls of the dry ditch had already cracked. Ma Xiaoquan tried stepping on it with his foot, but there was still a clicking sound.
"Well, the ditch wall is already brittle, I have to be more careful..." Ma Xiaoquan tried his best to use his strength as he slid down the long rope, and he was careful every time he stretched out his hands and feet.
Even so, the already brittle ditch wall still caused Ma Xiaoquan to slip out several times unnecessarily. Fortunately, Niu Dan pulled the rope very tightly on the other end of the long rope, although one end of the rope was tied to the tree trunk.
But with the force of a bull's egg, Ma Xiaoquan wouldn't be able to throw it out.
"Niu Dan, well done~" Ma Xiaoquan raised his head and shouted upward to express his encouragement to Niu Dan.
Niu Dan nodded and shouted down: "Uncle, you are so courageous..."
Ma Xiaoquan laughed and continued to slide down. Finally, after slipping twice more, his toes finally touched the uneven bottom of the ditch.
"Well..." Ma Xiaoquan took a deep breath, untied the rope tied around his waist, and pulled down.
Niudan on the dry ditch felt the force on the rope and quickly pulled it up. Only after pulling it did he realize that Ma Xiaoquan had untied the rope with his eyes.
"Hey, I'm an uncle, and I'm very courageous. Well, I'd better wait here..." After that, Niudan temporarily put away the rope, sat down by the ditch, and waited quietly.
.
Under the dry ditch, the light was much weaker than above the ditch, but since it was daytime, I could barely see ten fingers.
Ma Xiaoquan took a step forward and stepped on the bottom of the dry ditch. Compared with the ditch wall, there seemed to be a little more moisture at the bottom of the ditch. When he stepped on it, the soil was also softer. Ma Xiaoquan squatted down and stretched out his hand to twist the soil at the bottom of the ditch.
He nodded and said: "Although most of it has dried up, in fact, there is still a trickle flowing through it. Well, in this case, those people who were taken down by Lao Wang may be alive and not dead yet."
Ma Xiaoquan's judgment was very correct. At the other end of the dry ditch, four men were panting and squatting on a stone, licking their chapped lips and looking at the cracks in the stone.
The stone in front of them had a gap that was about as wide as ever, and there was some water in the gap. The four men were thinking of ways to drink the water in the gap.
"Damn, that Wang Zhixian is really a fucking liar. He wants to trick us into death..."
"Say less. If it weren't for the fact that he said he knew Ma Xiaoquan's whereabouts, would we have been fooled by him? Now, all four of us are down. This ditch is steep and fragile. If no one pulls us up from above,
If so, we will all die here. Hey, Zong Yu, please say a few words. You chose this path, and now you have killed the three of us."
Among the four men, the man called "Zong Yu" was Li Zongyu, the Gyeonggi general who had promised Wei Zhongxian that Ma Xiaoquan would be killed outside the capital.
It is said that after Li Zongyu lost the competition with Ma Xiaoquan and because of the "betrayal" of his own son, Wei Zhongxian was demoted to the guard general of the capital for "low ability". Although he did not have much power, he was restrained everywhere.
Li Zongyu was in a bad mood and could not swallow his anger.
It happened that he learned that Ma Xiaoquan was about to be discharged from the hospital. After Li Zongyu discussed with Cui Chengxiu and Li Yongzhen, the two suggested that he find a way to kill Ma Xiaoquan outside the capital. Master Wei would definitely be very happy when he found out.
Once you are happy, you, Li Zongyu, will naturally be reinstated, right?
Li Zongyu is right when he thinks about it. Life is short. What future will he have as a Gyeonggi?
Thinking of this, Li Zongyu decided to use a relationship that he had never used before, that is, the assassins of the Assassin League whom Ma Xiaoquan had met many times on his way back.
As for how Li Zongyu got connected with the Assassin League, it was entirely because of his relationship with his son Li Yao.
In the past, when Li Zongyu sent Li Yao to learn martial arts from an old man, he overheard that the old man was related to an organization called the Assassin League. Later, after asking around, Li Zongyu found out that the old man who taught his son Li Yao was from an organization called the Assassin League.
An escaped assassin from the "League of Assassins".
Li Zongyu had no feelings for Li Yao to begin with. He asked him to learn martial arts from the old man just to train Li Yao as his guard and subordinate. But because he knew the identity of Li Yao's master, Li Zongyu had a wrong idea. He didn't know
By some means, he got in touch with the people of the Assassin Alliance and informed the alliance of the old man's whereabouts. Later... the old man was killed by Li Zongyu, and Li Yao has always been worried about his master's death...
..
...
"You all rely on me? Humph, each and every one of you wants to show off in front of Master Wei. I came here alone, who asked you to follow me?" Li Zongyu glanced at me and retorted.
"Li Zongyu, you..." A man was so angry that he picked up a stone and intended to hit Li Zongyu.
Li Zongyu scratched his neck, not showing any fear at all: "Come on, we are all going to die anyway, I will die first and you will die later, there is no difference for everyone."
"Okay, you want to die, right~" The man walked up to Li Zongyu with a stone and raised it to smash it. At this moment, two other men came forward, stopped the man and Li Zongyu, and persuaded: "Okay, okay.
, please stop being angry, everyone is doing this to claim credit in front of Master Wei, now think about how to save your life, you can’t really lose your life here, right?”
The four people who calmed down looked at each other, smiled bitterly at each other, and shook their heads in unison.
From last night to now, I haven't eaten anything. After looking for a long time, I finally found some water to drink. I didn't even urinate all night long. This situation is really frustrating and hateful.
...
At the same time, Ma Xiaoquan, who was far away at the other end of the ditch, was carefully exploring the ditch.
"It's strange. Niu Dan said that those men came down from where I just came down, but why can't I see them? Even if they died of hunger and thirst, there should be corpses?"
"Well, but then again, it's just one night, so they won't die of hunger or thirst. They either found an exit, or they are still in this dry ditch..."
Ma Xiaoquan said to himself, but he was sure that those people were still in the ditch, because if they found a way out, they would definitely go to Lao Wang for revenge, and if Lao Wang was afraid, he would probably harm others.
After that, I didn’t dare to stay in the village.
It's just...last night, the lights in Lao Wang's house were on, and Ma Xiaoquan also put his ears close to his and heard Lao Wang's voice.
Judging from this, that old Wang was very confident.
"This dry ditch looks very long. Those people must have been walking forward to find the exit, right?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "In that case, then I will go forward and take a look, but..." At this point, Ma Xiaoquan suddenly raised his head and shouted towards the ditch bank, "Niu Dan, Niu Dan...
..”
Niudan on the ditch bank heard Ma Xiaoquan's shout, trembled, and quickly responded: "Uncle, the little one is here."
"Well, in this case, I'm going to walk along this ditch, and you shouldn't stay here. You should be able to see me from above, right?"
Niudan cocked his neck and looked down the ditch, nodded and said, "Yes, sir, you can see it."
"Okay, that's it. I'm walking below, and you are watching me and walking with me. Of course, let's stop talking. Those people might still be alive. If you and I talk, it will be troublesome if the secret is revealed.
.”
Niu Dan scratched his scalp: "Uncle, I don't understand. Those people shouldn't be bad people, right?"
"That's not necessarily true. They were deceived by Lao Wang, and they must have a grudge. As soon as you and I opened our mouths, they thought that we and Lao Wang were in the same party. Do you think that no matter how powerful I am, how many people can I beat?"
Niu Dan nodded and said: "The uncle is right. Well, that's okay. The little one will follow the uncle. The uncle will let the little one talk, and the little one will do the talking."
"Okay~ But when you walk up there, keep an eye on it and don't go sideways, and don't let others see it, especially Lao Wang."
"Well, I understand, uncle~"
...
After settling the eggs, Ma Xiaoquan arranged the dry food and water he carried with him. The dry food and water he carried with him were enough to last him two days.
Ma Xiaoquan weighed the bag of dry food on his waist and murmured: "Although it is enough for two days, if I meet those people, it might be a bit difficult for me to deal with them alone... Hmm~~ So these dry food
, I have to protect it."
After finishing speaking, Ma Xiaoquan took off the bag of dry food and hung it on his chest. Although it looked a little ugly, it could better protect the food when faced with someone snatching it.