Water Margin: I am Zhu Biao

Chapter 112 Spending New Year's Eve at White Tiger Village!

The next two days passed peacefully.

As the year draws nearer, Zhujiaji becomes increasingly lively, bustling with activity every day, exuding a peaceful atmosphere.

It seems the deaths at the training grounds earlier have intimidated the eldest and second eldest, and they haven't caused any more trouble in the past two days.

Zhu Biao did not leave the residence again. He spent his days practicing spear techniques with Lin Chong in the courtyard, or sparring with Wu Song.

Tongniu and his men were ecstatic, feeling like every day was New Year's Day. Not only were there plenty of steamed buns and millet, but they also had meat to eat at every meal.

Even more outrageous is that it's not just one type of meat.

For example, the other day, the two of them shared a beggar's chicken, a bowl of braised rabbit meat, more than half a pound of roasted venison, and a free bowl of pheasant and mushroom soup.

Pang Qiutang wasn't exaggerating; he was not only a first-rate archer but also a truly formidable hunter.

On the day she went up the mountain, she shot two elk, a dozen or so rabbits, and seven or eight pheasants, which was equivalent to the harvest of other hunters over several days.

This was even before she was familiar with the environment of Beishan. If she became a hunter, she would probably be able to wipe out all the wild animals in Beishan in no time.

Zhu Biao finally understood why the temple in her hometown charged a hunting tax.

The Pang family is absolutely cruel!

On New Year's Eve, every household is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and wisps of smoke rise from the chimneys. As soon as it gets light, the sound of firecrackers begins to ring out sporadically.

The harder life gets, the stronger the festive atmosphere of the New Year.

After enduring a year of cravings, I can finally indulge myself today.

For lunch, Zhu Biao still didn't go back to the Zhu family home. In the afternoon, Zhu Chaofeng had no choice but to swallow his pride and come to the residence in person.

He was the most favored and the most promising youngest son in the Zhu family, yet at the end of the year, his brothers forced him to leave home and live in a guest house.

Now, he, the head of the manor, has become a laughing stock in the entire manor and even in Dulonggang. He never liked to go out much to begin with, and now he stays home even less.

However, when he arrived at the residence, he no longer cared about any of that.

With Zhu Biao gone, most of his men had also disappeared, leaving only a few old, weak, sick, and disabled men, Instructor Zhang, Wu Da, female relatives, and wounded soldiers who were still unable to get out of bed.

Where is my youngest child?

Zhu Chaofeng barely managed to restrain himself from grabbing Zhang Jiaotou's clothes, but his fat face was already flushed red, and the veins on his forehead were throbbing.

"Please calm down, sir. Your husband went out today to prepare New Year's gifts for you."

Coach Zhang smiled and bowed to him, his tone very calm.

"New Year's gift?"

Zhu Chaofeng was stunned, then bombarded him with questions: "What New Year's gifts? Where were they bought? Why were so many people taken away?"

Instructor Zhang remained unhurried and spoke in a calm tone: "These young masters didn't explain, so I don't know either, but he said he will definitely return by New Year's Day tomorrow."

Seeing that Zhu Chaofeng was about to lose his temper again, Instructor Zhang quickly added, "Don't worry, sir. Your son is brave and has many men under his command, so he is safe. He acts unpredictably, so he must have prepared an extraordinary gift."

at the same time.

At the foot of Baihu Mountain.

Three large trucks slowly came to a stop in a grove of trees near the road.

A short, stocky man jumped down from the crossbeam. He had a slight limp in his left leg, but a loud voice, and shouted into the woods, "The Zhu Family Tavern has come to deliver wine! And to wish all the heroes a Happy New Year!"

This man's name is Zhu Shun. He's the head of the Zhu family's cart-driving corps and used to be a family soldier. He injured his leg in a fight, which is why he was sent out to work elsewhere.

Zhu Shun shouted three times before a whistle sounded from the forest, followed by a large group of twenty or thirty people pouring out.

These people were dressed in tattered robes, their faces were sallow and thin, and even in the freezing cold, some of them wore straw sandals with exposed toes and carried rusty knives and broken spears.

He looks like a lowly laborer.

However, there was one man who looked like a leader, wearing a dirty leather robe, with a breastplate hanging on his chest, and a pair of triangular eyes, carrying a long knife.

Upon seeing him, Zhu Shun quickly stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Good sir, Happy New Year! I've come to deliver wine for the Zhu family's tavern."

The man with the triangular eyes ignored him and instead squinted at the three large carts not far away. He first looked at the dozen or so drivers and guards beside the carts.

Finally, his gaze fell on the strong mules pulling the cart, and he subconsciously licked his chapped lips.

"Good sir, it's New Year's Day today. Why don't we settle the bill for the wine quickly and go home to celebrate the New Year?"

Zhu Shun had no choice but to speak up again. The man with the triangular eyes finally turned his head, glared at him fiercely, and cursed, "You son of a bitch! You clearly agreed to deliver the wine on the first day of the month, why are you only coming now? My balls are practically frozen solid."

"Is it Master Sui, the Seventh Master?"

At this moment, a fair-skinned young man strode over from the convoy. He wore a square scarf on his head, had a handsome face, and wore a slightly worn blue robe under his old fur coat.

As he approached, he respectfully bowed to the man with the triangular eyes, saying, "I am Zhu Ping, the second son of Zhu Liang, the owner of the tavern. I am here on behalf of my father to pay my respects to Seventh Master and apologize."

The man with the triangular eyes was called Sui Qi. He was in charge of external liaison matters for the mountain stronghold. A scholar called him Master Qi, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up, and his complexion improved a lot.

"So you're Manager Zhu's second son, the one who's studying? Tell me, what offense have you committed?"

"Exactly."

Zhu Pingtuan said, "My father injured his leg this morning and rushed to the clinic, which is why I was delayed in delivering the wine."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "To express my apology, my father specially sent ten extra jars of Drunken Immortal wine, plus two jars of five-year aged wine."

Upon hearing this, Sui Qi's eyes immediately changed. A jar of Drunken Immortal wine from the Zhu Family Tavern costs one guan, and a five-year-aged one is worth five guan.

However, the wine was delivered an hour late, so this apology gift was still quite sincere and enough for him to explain himself to the two leaders.

However, he personally did not benefit from it, which made him very conflicted.

"My father also specially brought a bag of dried meat for Seventh Master. Please forgive him."

At this moment, Zhu Ping took out a small bundle from his pocket and handed it to Sui Qi.

"Oh? Manager Zhu is very thoughtful."

As soon as he got his hands on the bundle, Sui Qi knew exactly what it was: jerky, clearly worth two strings of cash. He immediately grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

He stuffed the bundle into his fur robe, waved to his henchmen behind him, and said, "What are you all standing there for? Come and get the wine, let's go back to the stronghold!"

A moment later, as darkness fell, the convoy, having unloaded the wine jars, slowly made its way back. As it rounded a bend in the road, fifty or sixty people suddenly rushed out from both sides of the road.

"Sanlang! How is it?"

The burly man at the head of the group, wielding a long iron staff, was none other than Luan Tingyu, with Lin Chong and Wu Song by his side.

"Qiutang has already secretly followed them, leaving marks along the way. Let's head up the mountain immediately!"

Zhu Ping jumped off the carriage shaft, ripped off his square scarf, took off his robe, took the leather armor, and quickly put it on. It turned out that Zhu Biao himself was in disguise.

The real Zhu Ping was about the same age as him and was not bad-looking, but he was a bookworm, timid and fearful, and rarely left the house.

If you let him deal with bandits, he'd probably wet himself on the spot.

Tightening his belt and securing the three-section gun firmly to his back, Zhu Biao looked around at his men: "Brothers, there are hundreds of bandits on the mountain. Are you afraid?"

"Don't be afraid!"

The people were of varying abilities.

The simpleton, Copper Bull, brandished his iron rod: "A few hundred bandits are nothing! Commander, I, Copper Bull, am well-fed now; I can take on a hundred by myself!"

Zhu Biao glared at him and said sternly, "Come up the mountain with me, you might die. If you're afraid of death, turn around and back now, and I won't make things difficult for you. Now, I'll ask you one more time: are you afraid?"

"Don't be afraid!"

Everyone responded in unison, and no one backed down.

These guys were all elites selected from the family's soldiers. Most of them had participated in rural brawls and had even seen blood, so they were fearless in battle.

Besides, even though Zhu Biao promised not to pursue the matter, they didn't dare to back down.

Where can deserters go? They can't go back to the family barracks, they can't stay in the militia camps, and they don't even have a place to stay in the entire Zhu Family Village.

In the end, they will have no choice but to leave their hometown, and their fate will probably be worse than death.

"Alright! Come with me up the mountain to spend New Year's Eve at White Tiger Village!"

"Here you go!"

Zhu Biao knew all this, but he didn't care whether they were sincere or not. Even if they were, they would become sincere after the great victory.

He firmly believed in the saying that morale cannot be cultivated in an army; it can only be built through a series of victories!

"Uncle Shun, what are you doing?"

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Zhu Biao turned around and saw that Zhu Shun was also carrying a knife, limping along at the back of the group.

"Young Master, I'll go up the mountain with you. Don't let my crippled leg fool you; I'm still a formidable fighter!"

He was a servant born into the Zhu family's older generation and had previously served as Zhu Chaofeng's attendant, so he naturally knew how much his master cherished this youngest son.

He went up the mountain so that he could protect the young master even at the cost of his life in case of a crisis.

"Ha! Uncle Shun, you can stay down the mountain to provide backup. This trip will definitely go smoothly."

He chuckled and patted Zhu Shun on the shoulder, then turned to Wu Song.

"Second brother, show us something! Let's boost morale!"