Hidden Blade

Chapter 174 An Amazing Name

Yesterday's battle left Xu Han extremely exhausted.

He slept for a long time before he was awakened by a loud noise coming from outside the door.

Xu Han, who was sleepy, put on his clothes and walked out of the room with Xuan'er, who was already impatient.

He looked at the sky. It was already six o'clock, and he had slept for five hours.

The noise coming from outside the city lord's mansion grew louder and louder. It was as if many people were gathered together. The noise was too noisy for Xu Han to hear clearly. With the Tiance Prefecture Army and many red-robed officials present, Xu Han wasn't worried about any trouble. Therefore, he washed up in the courtyard, tidied up his clothes, and walked out of the courtyard.

When he arrived at the entrance of the courtyard, he discovered that there were densely packed beggars dressed in rags gathered outside the Nuoda City Lord's Mansion. The focus of their gathering was the rice porridge Qin Keqing and many other Tiance Prefecture soldiers had brought over.

At this moment, they were distributing the rice porridge to the beggars.

"This is" Xu Han was a little stunned. He walked into the crowd and asked.

Qin Keqing also noticed Xu Han's arrival. She smiled faintly and said, "Today, Martial Uncle Hongjian and I went to the street to buy food, but we saw that there were a lot of beggars in Salt Lake City. After saving some silver in the Exquisite Pavilion these years, I begged Senior Lu for favor and delayed some time to cook porridge for these beggars."

At this point, Qin Keqing looked at Xu Han worriedly. "But Young Master won't be angry if Qing is so good at making decisions, right?"

Looking at her like that, Xu Han couldn't help but think of the half-steamed bun demon that the girl from Shangyun City of Qingzhou had handed over a few years ago. Her temperament was like this. If it wasn't for her kindness, how could Xu Han be like today?

"How could that be?" Xu Han smiled and shook his head.

After receiving Xu Han's reply, Qin Keqing immediately felt relieved. She held a spoon and gave the beggars porridge rice from the bowl of rice porridge that the Tiance Manor Army had just exchanged.

"But Miss Qing is really a Bodhisattva." At this moment, a smiling voice sounded in Xu Han's ears.

Xu Han was stunned. He turned around and saw that Mr. Lu had already stood behind him at some unknown time.

"Sir is here." Xu Han quickly cupped his hands respectfully.

"Young Master, this master and servant are different. You are the Manor Master and I am a subordinate. This old man cannot afford such courtesy!" Seeing that Xu Han was like this, Mr. Lu hurriedly extended his hand and raised the hand that Xu Han had arched up. He smiled and said.

"There are differences between master and servant, as well as between old and young. Sir, please accept my worship." However, Xu Han didn't care what he said. In the end, this ceremony continued.

Mr. Lu saw that he insisted, so he did not argue with him on the matter.

He turned to look at the beggars who were pushing for a bowl of porridge and suddenly sighed.

"The people are in a sorry state."

Hearing this, Xu Han also looked at the skinny and yellow faces that he had been begging for more than ten years. It was no surprise that he saw such a situation.

"What's the use of serving this porridge? I'll be hungry tomorrow." Xu Han also sighed. The Great Zhou's annual scenery was getting worse year by year. The so-called people's livelihood was in decline, and the general collapse of the country was probably nothing more than that, wasn't it?

However, when the old man beside him heard this, he glanced at Xu Han. "How can it be useless?"

"Tomorrow will come after we live today. Everything is hard to predict. Who knows if tomorrow will be a hungry day or another full meal?"

Hearing this, Xu Han was stunned again. He subconsciously wanted to refute, but he inexplicably remembered the half of the steamed bun from the drought that year. Perhaps without that half steamed bun, he really wouldn't be able to endure that summer..

"This trip to Chang'an is extremely dangerous. Young Master, you have to learn from these beggars. No matter what, you can't give up the hope in your heart." Mr. Lu's voice sounded again at that moment.

At that time, Xu Han turned his head to look at the old man. His eyes sank and he bowed again. "Thank you, sir. Xu Han has been taught a lesson."

Mr. Lu stroked his beard and smiled.

..

As more and more beggars gathered, Zhou Zhang, Ye Hongjian, and the others also came out to help, but they were still very busy.

After thinking for a while, Xu Han retreated with Mr. Lu beside him. He took a bucket of rice porridge from a Tiance Prefecture Army soldier and walked into the crowd with a wooden spoon.

Mr. Lu looked from afar and immediately smiled.

..

There were really too many wives and children asking for rice porridge. Xu Han could not squeeze into the crowd, so he could only go outside and have fun.

After that, dozens of Tian Ce Mansion Army soldiers were summoned by Mr. Lu to handle this matter together. With their participation, the matter of distributing rice porridge was progressing much faster.

Unconsciously, Xu Han, who had already reached the intersection, looked at the rice porridge in the wooden bucket. There was not much left inside. Xu Han wanted to change into a bucket, but at that time, the corner of his eyes glanced over. There seemed to be a pair of eyes in the alley at the intersection, looking at him carefully.

Xu Han turned around and the owner of the pair of eyes vigilantly retracted his body. Xu Han felt that it was a little funny. At that moment, the Violet Firmament Realm's speed reached its peak at the tip of his foot. He only dodged and rushed towards the small alley entrance.

The person at the entrance of the alley seemed to be frightened. He turned around and wanted to escape, but Xu Han's speed was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, he stopped in front of him.

Xu Han looked over and saw that the owner of the pair of peeping eyes was actually a boy.

He was about thirteen or twelve years old, thin and ragged, and seemed no different from an ordinary beggar, except, of course, for the two swords and knives on the boy's back, which were as tall as his body.

This kind of attire was somewhat strange.

It was because a little beggar who had looked hungry for more than ten days was carrying a saber on his back. Since he was already hungry, why didn't he treat the saber as a saber and exchange it for some rations? Xu Han could not understand, but he felt that if it was him back then, he would definitely do so without hesitation.

Xu Han looked at the boy, and the boy also looked at Xu Han.

At that time, the boy's gaze actually had a trace of scrutiny.

Xu Han secretly felt that it was funny, but he silently scooped out the remaining rice porridge from the wooden bucket and handed it to the boy. He asked as kindly as possible, "Do you want it?"

The white rice porridge hurt warmth and gave off an aroma that made the boy subconsciously swallow his saliva. He looked straight at the rice porridge for a long time before withdrawing his gaze with great difficulty. Then, he shook his head firmly.

"No." He said.

This answer surprised Xu Han. He sized up the skinny boy again and asked, "Why?"

"I'm not a beggar! I can't ask for anything from others." The boy replied firmly.

"Not a beggar?" Xu Han looked at the boy's attire. This statement was truly unconvincing.

The boy seemed to realize this as well. His face turned red and he muttered again, "My father said that the most important thing for a macheteman is face. No matter how poor and hungry he is, he can't do such a shameful thing as a beggar!"

"Bladesman?" Hearing this, Xu Han was stunned again. Other than the exaggerated saber on the boy's back, he couldn't find any appearance of a so-called macheteman.

Xu Han's suspicious tone made the little boy angry.

He stared at Xu Han with widened eyes. '"Don't you believe me? I'm a macheteman, my father is a macheteman, my father's father is a macheteman, my father's father's father .." The boy tried very hard to explain his glorious macheteman family to Xu Han, but said that he was also confused. He simply waved his hand and said, "My entire family is macheteman, not a beggar!"

Xu Han smiled bitterly. Seeing the serious boy, he finally decided not to argue with him. He waved his hand again and again, "Good good good, you are a macheteman. Since you are not a beggar, then why are you here? This is a place to serve porridge to beggars."

The boy hesitated when he heard this. He thought for a long time before he looked up at Xu Han and said, "I'm here to find the Tian Ce Mansion. I heard that they live here."

"Huh?" The boy's answer surprised Xu Han. He was interested and asked, "Why are you looking for the Tian Ce Mansion?"

But at that time, the boy shook his head and replied unhappily, "You are not from the Tian Ce Mansion. Why should I tell you?"

When the boy said this, he looked very arrogant, but the corner of his eyes clearly stared fixedly at the rice porridge in Xu Han's wooden bucket.

Seeing this, Xu Han burst into laughter.

"How about this? I'll trade this bucket of rice porridge for you. Tell me why you're looking for Tiance Prefecture, and I'll give you the rice porridge. This is our trade, not charity." Xu Hanyan said.

"This" The boy hesitated. He instinctively felt that it was inappropriate to do so, but the hunger in his stomach made it difficult for him to resist Xu Han's entire proposal.

Seeing that the boy was somewhat moved, Xu Han hurriedly said, "Although I am not from the Tian Ce Mansion, I can bring you to see them. Don't you think this is very good?"

"Then I have to eat first, and then I'll tell you." The boy thought for a moment and seemed to be afraid that Xu Han would deceive him, so he said with extreme caution.

Xu Han smiled helplessly and handed the rice bucket over. Perhaps the boy was really hungry. He took the rice bucket and raised his head to pour some water. He gulped down the remaining rice porridge in the bucket with a few mouthfuls.

Looking at the thin boy whose mouth was filled with rice grains, Xu Han inexplicably thought of himself back then. He was moved by compassion and asked with concern, "Do you still want it?"

"No!" The boy shook his head and patted his stomach, indicating that he was full.

"Then can you tell me why you're looking for the Tian Ce Mansion now?" Xu Han asked with a smile.

The boy's eyes sank at that time. He said seriously, "My father was captured by the people of the Long Night Division. I saved him, but I can't beat them, so I want to find Tiance Prefecture!"

"What does this have to do with the Tian Ce Mansion?"

"The Long Night Division is a bad person, and the Tian Ce Mansion is a good person. Naturally, if we find a good person, we can deal with the bad person." The boy's logic was so childish that it was somewhat ridiculous.

"Who told you that the Tian Ce Mansion is a good person?"

"My father!"

"What if your father lied to you?"

"No way. My father is a macheteman. A macheteman doesn't lie."

Xu Han felt a little helpless towards the boy's stubbornness. He thought for a moment. With the boy's appearance, if he were left here alone, he would probably not be able to survive. If he didn't take him away, he would ask about the reason for this. After all, as the old saying goes, the enemy of the enemy is a friend. Tian Ce presumably wouldn't lack this pair of bowls and chopsticks.

"Alright. Follow me then. I'll take you to see the people of the Tian Ce Mansion." When Xu Han thought of this, he finally nodded.

"Really?" Hearing this, the boy was overjoyed and quickly reached out to wipe away the rice grains at the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, let's go." Xu Han nodded, turned around, and led the boy in the direction where everyone was.

"You are not bad. When I become the most powerful macheteman in the world in the future, you will be my little brother. I will bring you to eat and drink spicy food." The boy seemed to have put down his guard and began to chatter.

"Yes." Xu Han, however, did not take it seriously.

"You don't believe me? Let me tell you, my father's father's father's father's father, he was the most powerful macheteman at that time. He took three wives, and I will take three in the future .." The boy counted the number of fathers in his words and counted seventeen before stopping. It was as if what he said had really happened.

"So powerful?" Xu Han didn't respond to the young man for a single time. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something. He turned around and asked, "Oh right, what's your name?"

The boy smiled when he heard this.

" Su Mu'an." As he spoke, he raised his head high, as if this was a very impressive name.

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