The herbal medicine was very effective. After half a month, Qin Fengming's grandfather was able to get out of bed and walk around slowly. The family was very happy when they saw this, and the days after that gradually returned to peace.
Qin Fengming sometimes goes up to the mountains to play with his friends in the village, and sometimes collects dry firewood and collects wild fruits.
But when no one was around, Qin Fengming would take out the small gourd and play with it secretly. Apart from its dazzling and attractive appearance, the gourd had no other abnormalities. Qin Fengming was extremely puzzled by this.
In the afternoon of this day, on the mountain road leading into Qinjia Village, a dozen people riding tall horses suddenly appeared. These people were all strong young men, and the last horse was carrying some goods.
When Qin Fengming, who was playing on the hillside, saw this, he immediately stopped playing with his friends and looked at the visitor with a confused look on his face.
Qinjia Village is located in a remote area, and it is rare for so many people from other places to come here.
After a while, the team of people came to the crowd. The first person jumped off the horse and looked at the children carefully. Suddenly, when he saw Qin Fengming, he immediately said with a look of surprise:
"Little third son, third brother, you don't recognize me. I am the eldest brother Qin Xiang."
"Eldest brother Qin Xiang?"
Qin Fengming was stunned when he heard this. When his eldest brother left, he was only seven or eight years old. In his impression, his eldest brother was thin, had dark skin, and was slightly shorter than his father.
But the person in front of me is tall, mighty, majestic, and has a ruddy complexion.
After careful inspection, Qin Fengming could vaguely distinguish the appearance of his original eldest brother. He immediately jumped down the hillside, ran a few steps, grabbed the eldest brother's hand, and shook it vigorously, with a look of surprise on his face.
Qin Xiang stroked Qin Fengming's head, his face filled with excitement: "Third brother, are our parents, grandpa, and grandma all well now?"
"They are all very good. Let's go home quickly. Grandma and mother often talk about you."
Seeing his eldest brother, Qin Fengming didn't understand why his eldest brother became like this, but the smile on his face did not diminish.
Qin Hong did not go into the mountains today, but was packing hunting equipment at home. Suddenly he heard that his eldest son had returned. He was overjoyed and hurried to the courtyard gate with his family.
"Parents, grandpa, and grandma, please. Qin Xiang, your unfilial son, kowtows to you."
Seeing his parents and others from a distance, Qin Xiang hurriedly threw away the reins, ran forward quickly, knelt on the ground and bowed to everyone.
With tears in their eyes, Qin Hong and his son helped Qin Xiang up and pulled Qin Xiang into the courtyard.
The dozen young men who came with Qin Xiang were extremely well-behaved. Under Qin Xiang's instructions, they unloaded the items on the horse. At this time, everyone realized that the goods carried on the horse were some cloth, grain, wine and meat.
While everyone was talking, the clan leader heard the news and came to the Qin family with some elders of the clan.
With such a lively event, Qin Hong ordered everyone to prepare a banquet using the food and meat brought by Qin Xiang to entertain the villagers.
During the banquet, Qin Xiang recounted his experience in joining the army in the past two years. Everyone was pleasantly surprised when he heard this.
It turned out that after Qin Xiang joined the army, he was assigned to work under an officer named Li Bingtang. Li Bingtang was then a commander in chief of Qijia City.
After two months of training, Li Bingtang saw that Qin Xiang was very clever, intelligent, and willing to endure hardships. He was so happy that he promoted him to his personal guard and personally taught Qin Xiang how to practice martial arts.
Just half a year ago, Li Bingtang was ordered to exterminate the horse bandits entrenched in Langtiao Stream in the southeast of Qijia City. During the battle, Qin Xiang showed bravery, not only saving Li Bingtang from the sword of the leader of the horse bandits, but also beheading him with his own hands.
After successfully wiping out the horse bandits, Li Bingtang received a commendation from the superiors. Li Bingtang was promoted to the commander of Qijia City. Because he was grateful to Qin Xiang for risking his life to save him, he strongly recommended Qin Xiang to be promoted to centurion and serve as an errand under him.
This time Li Bingtang went to Yingzhou City to resign, so he took Qin Xiang with him. When he arrived at Tenglong Town, Li Bingtang knew that Qin Xiang was a local, and granted him a day off to go home to visit his relatives.
After hearing about Qin Xiang's experience in the army, everyone present looked envious. The centurion was already an officer. The small Qinjiazhuang actually had a centurion, which made everyone feel happy.
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After the banquet, the clan chiefs and others left, and Qin Xiang arranged the accommodation for the soldiers who came with him. Only then did he have the opportunity to say farewell to his family.
Although he described the events at home in detail, Qin Hong did not mention a word about his experience in buying medicine.
"My third brother is able to turn danger into safety, which is a blessing to my Qin family. Grandpa is getting older, so it is better to go into the mountains less often in the future. I can receive twenty taels of military pay every month. If I keep what I can use, I will bring it back to my family every month."
Twelve. Use it with caution, and you can ensure food and clothing."
Qin Xiang touched his grandfather's injured leg, but tears flashed in his eyes.
"Xiang'er, I'm in good health. You don't have to worry about me. The food and clothing at home are okay. You should keep the military pay you receive."
He caressed the head of his eldest grandson, and his grandfather looked kind.
While everyone was chatting, Qin Xiang suddenly thought of something, and immediately said solemnly: "Father, grandpa, I heard the commander once said that in half a year there will be a meeting to select disciples in Luoxia Valley, and the age group will be eight to twelve years old.
, my younger brother is just the right age, I wonder if I would like him to come and give it a try?"
Qijia City is under the jurisdiction of Yingzhou County, and Luoxia Valley is one of the two major Jianghu sects closer to Yingzhou County. The other sect is Crouching Tiger Mountain. In the eyes of ordinary people, these two sects are one huge Jianghu sect.
In fact, this is not the case. Both sects are actually vassals of the Xiuxian sect. However, the Xiuxian sect has rules and is not allowed to appear in the secular world, so it chooses a martial arts sect to be its spokesperson and handle some secular affairs.
Qin Hong had heard of the name of Luoxia Valley. There was a restaurant in Luoxia Valley in Tenglong Town, which was very prosperous. However, he had never thought about letting his son join the Jianghu sect. He was unsure about paying attention.
I had no choice but to ask my father for advice.
"Luoxia Valley is a large sect near Yingzhou County. I heard that a child from Yuejiazhuang, thirty miles away from us, joined Luoxia Valley. Within a few years, Yuejiazhuang became the most famous sect in Tenglong Town.
This kind of change in the village has something to do with Luoxia Valley."
"Father, can I let my mistress try it?"
"Of course you can give it a try, but it still depends on whether the mistress is willing to go." Grandpa thought for a while, looked at Qin Fengming lovingly and said.
Qin Fengming did not fully understand what his eldest brother said, but he had always envied his second brother, and now that he knew that his eldest brother had become a general, he had longed for the world outside the mountains since he was young.
Seeing that Qin Fengming did not refuse, everyone began to study how to participate in the selection.
"The commander once said that when selecting disciples in Luoxia Valley, each city can recommend candidates. The commander happens to have a few places in his hand. It shouldn't be difficult for me to ask the commander for one."
Hearing what Qin Xiang said, everyone was very happy.
Qin Xiang only stayed at Qin's house for one night. Because he had military affairs to attend to, he led his troops to leave the village at dawn.
Before leaving, he left behind fifty taels of silver. He told his mother that the silver taels would be used by Qin Fengming to replenish his health. He also said that the selection was very difficult and that Qin Fengming should train diligently and pick him up at home in April.