The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 9 Mountain Temple

The wilderness is covered with dense jungle.

A few rays of moonlight shone through the dense branches and leaves that blocked out the sky, illuminating a dilapidated path.

This path leads from the main road into the forest, about 200 to 300 meters long. At the end of the path stands a dilapidated mountain temple.

At this time, three people in the temple were roasting by the fire.

One of them looked to be in his early thirties, with a handsome face and a lazy posture. At this moment, he was leaning on an overturned table, casually throwing peanuts into his mouth.

There were two people left, one was in his twenties, with a handsome face and a strong body, who was baking cakes on the fire.

A girl who looked to be in her teens, petite and pretty, was holding a long knife and sharpening it carefully on a whetstone.

These three people were Li Miao, who had received the mission from Jinyiwei commander Zhu Zai to "annihilate the Five Mountains Sword Sects" and rushed to the Taishan area, as well as his confidant Wang Hai and servant Xiao Si.

In the agricultural era, traveling far away was a very troublesome thing. People had to eat and horses had to eat, sleep in the open air, and the language was different every 100 miles. Sometimes, even if you arrived at a village, no one could speak Mandarin, so you couldn't stay overnight and had to sleep in the wild.

The official roads were sometimes closed and sometimes not. There were also bandits, wolves, insects, tigers and leopards. At that time, a journey of more than 50 miles could result in a separation of life and death.

More than a month has passed since Li Miao took on the mission in Yanjing, and he has just entered the Qilu region.

Now there is no village or shop nearby, so I just rest in this dilapidated temple.

Li Miao felt lazy and didn't want to speak, so he just stared at the fire in a daze.

Wang Hai and Xiao Si were a little ambiguous and wanted to sit down and talk. But Li Miao, the parent and the light bulb, was sitting there and was too embarrassed to speak.

The only sounds in the entire dilapidated temple were the crackling of the burning fire and the sound of Xiao Si sharpening his knife.

In this awkward silence, the sound of several people talking came from the path outside the door. It sounded getting closer and closer, and it was obvious that they were coming towards this small temple.

Wang Hai immediately stood up, stepped to the side of the door, and looked out. Xiao Si, whose martial arts skills were not so good, ran to Li Miao with a knife in his arms.

Of course, they were just on guard out of habit, without a trace of nervousness on their faces. With the great god Li Miao around, to pose a threat to them, at least all the masters of a big sect like Emei would have to come out in full force.

Wang Hai looked carefully and saw that there were about a dozen people coming this way, including men, women, old and young. In the middle of the group was a cart of things covered with cloth, with a flag with the word "Tiger Power" on it.

He is a bodyguard on a convoy mission, and he should also rest in this dilapidated temple.

There are at least 800 escort agencies called "Huwei" in the world, if not a thousand. I don't know which one they are.

Wang Hai waited for the group to approach, opened the door, and stepped forward to greet them: "Please come in, everyone."

The leader was Zhao Dehua, the head of the Huwei Escort Agency. He was also a veteran. He smiled and walked forward and clasped his hands: "Hello, brother. Are you here to rest as well? Is there any room for us to rest as well?"

Zhao Dehua returned the greeting politely, and the bodyguards behind him also took their hands off their weapons.

Wang Hai came out alone to say hello, which was a gesture of goodwill, and they could not show a defensive look that would disrespect him.

It’s no wonder they’re cautious.

Since ancient times, the places where most people died in the martial arts world were ruined temples, inns, and arenas. Especially for robbers, ruined temples were their favorite place to fight, and no one knew who made this rule.

Anyway, once the escorts enter the dilapidated temple, something bad is likely to happen. It has become an unwritten rule now that the escorts must hold their weapons tightly and be ready to take action before entering the dilapidated temple.

Seeing that Wang Hai was young, handsome, and polite, and did not look like a vicious person, they relaxed their vigilance a little.

Wang Hai replied, "It's ownerless land, so it's fine. But my family members occupy the middle of the house, so I'd like to trouble you to squeeze in to the side."

"You're welcome. You're welcome. First come, first served. We escorts don't need to be so particular." Zhao Dehua bowed.

Wang Hai let the group of people into the temple.

Several escorts carried the things to the corner and put them down, packing up their luggage. Zhao Dehua walked over first and saluted Li Miao: "Your Excellency allowed us to come in and rest, thank you very much."

Li Miao didn't even look up, but just casually bowed as a return gesture.

Zhao Dehua bowed seriously again, turned around, and went to light a fire and cook.

When all the escort officers and students were very angry and started to eat around the fire, one of the girls in her early twenties whispered to Zhao Dehua, "Dad, the guy lying on the ground didn't even look at you, why did you have to bow to him? Wouldn't it bring shame to our escort agency?"

This girl is Zhao Dehua’s daughter, Zhao Ying. She has mastered her martial arts skills and this is her first time to join a bodyguard mission.

In fact, she was a little angry when she saw Li Miao not taking her father seriously. But she also knew that when the escort went out, everything should be done according to the leader's instructions. After settling down, she asked Zhao Dehua in a low voice.

The ruined temple was actually quite large, so they were not afraid of being overheard by Li Miao and the other two. Zhao Dehua smiled and said, "They are already giving us enough face by letting us in."

"They have fewer people than us. Not only did they take the initiative to send someone to greet us and reassure us, they also let us in to rest. This is already a gesture of goodwill. We have taken advantage of this, so we shouldn't worry about whether they are polite or not."

"What's the point of being impressive or not? No one else can see us here anyway."

Zhao Dehua paused, then said to his daughter, "Besides, he is not someone you can easily mess with."

He wanted to teach his daughter the knowledge of the world, so he guided Zhao Ying to observe Li Miao and the other two with her peripheral vision, without looking back. When Zhao Ying had seen almost everything, he asked, "What did you see?"

Zhao Ying shook his head and said, "These three people are all fair-skinned and well-dressed. They look like they come from wealthy families."

Zhao Dehua frowned and said, "We still need to practice."

"Look at the young man who greeted us. He has a long breath and light steps. His internal strength must be good. His hands are slender and powerful, but there is no callus. He is not a weapon player. The martial arts he practiced with his hands must be advanced, not external skills that require hard work and training of the skin and flesh."

"Look at the younger one. She's clearly a little girl. Her steps are loose and her breathing is unsteady. She probably doesn't have any martial arts skills."

Zhao Ying asked curiously, "Without martial arts, what's there to be afraid of?"

"People without martial arts skills are not easy to mess with, but people who dare to bring a little girl who doesn't know martial arts to camp in this dilapidated temple in the wilderness are definitely not easy to mess with."

"You have been practicing martial arts since you were young. Only when you were 20 years old and had made some progress did I dare to take you with me as a escort."

"This little girl is so weak that she can't even beat a bigger chicken. But she dared to let more than a dozen of us rest with them, and she didn't care at all. She must be confident."

(End of this chapter)