Chapter 135 Find a General to Be a Brother

The meal was so good that even a dozen pots of noodles weren't enough to satisfy the thousands of soldiers. Liu Ye and the others cooked dozens more pots of noodles and made a dozen more pots of meat sauce before the meal was finally over. General Wang and the soldiers were very satisfied, as if it were New Year's Day. In fact, they hadn't eaten this well even during the New Year.

This meal of noodles led Bai Zilin and General Wang to address each other as brothers, chat happily, and agree to become sworn brothers on a chosen day.

Just as General Wang was about to leave with his soldiers, Liu Ye came out from the backyard carrying a bag. She stuffed the bag into General Wang's hand and said, "General Wang, this is a bag of apples that my friend from the south brought me. The bottom half of the bag is chestnuts. Here, have some as a snack. I have more at home, so please don't be shy."

General Wang accepted the bag somewhat embarrassedly: "Look, I've taken both food and gifts. I'll accept it then. I'll come visit you another day when I have time. I'll be going now."

Bai Zilin said with a reluctant expression, "Whenever you catch a good game, brother, please come over for a drink. I haven't had enough time to chat with you yet."

General Wang patted Bai Zilin on the shoulder heartily and said, "I haven't had enough time with you either, hahaha. You already know Zhang Bing, right? You found him and you found me. We'll stay at the county government office for now. You can come to the county government office to find me if you have nothing to do, and we brothers can have a good chat."

Bai Zilin nodded happily: "Brother, I've got it."

After General Wang and his men left, the noodle shop became quiet. Sun Erdan and his men were exhausted, but they were very happy.

Sun Erdan said excitedly, "Oh my god, my hands are blistered from cutting noodles, but being able to cook for the General and thousands of soldiers is something I can brag about for the rest of my life."

Da Hu also said happily, "That's right. Seeing them in their armor and with their swords at their waists, I even wanted to join the army. It's a pity that the army doesn't accept just anyone. You can't get in without connections, and you can't get military rations."

Liu Ye didn't quite understand. Wasn't it true that anyone could join the army if they wanted to? "Brother Bai, isn't it true that anyone can join the army if they want to?"

Bai Zilin sat down on a stool and said, “No, our Wuli Kingdom is a large country. No small country around us dares to provoke us. There hasn’t been a war for decades, so we don’t need so many soldiers. Maintaining an army costs money. I heard that an ordinary soldier’s monthly salary is two taels of silver. I don’t know anything above that. Our Wuli Kingdom has 500,000 soldiers. Just think how much money it would cost to maintain them.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Ye exclaimed, "Oh, so that's how it is! With no battles to fight, there's no need to maintain so many soldiers, which is a good thing!" She continued, "Oh, I see. Brother Bai, while General Wang is still here, you should chat with him more often. It would be best if everyone in Xiangshan Town knew about your friendship."

Bai Zilin smiled and nodded: "I know. General Wang is a good man. I sincerely want to be friends with him. By the way, it seems that General Wang's mother is sick. He won't be staying in Xiangshan Town for long. He will have to leave after two days."

At this moment, Sun Erdan asked, "Boss, there aren't necessarily many customers tomorrow. How much noodles should I make?"

Bai Zilin looked at Liu Ye, who thought for a moment and said, "Prepare two bowls of noodles. If no one comes, you can cook for yourselves. Brother Bai and I may not be here for a while tomorrow. I need to take him to see the house. You can mind the shop yourselves."

"knew."

As the sun set, Liu Ye and Bai Zilin returned to the village. Liu Ye lit the stove, and Bai Zilin tidied up the house: "Brother Bai, is Village Chief Wu regretting it to the core now? He might even be crying at home right now, hahaha. I really want to go and see him."

Bai Zilin patted the dust off his hands: "He deserves to cry. Who told him to be so malicious as to try to frame me? By the way, how much did you spend on the house?"

Liu Ye didn't dare to tell the truth, afraid that he would think it was too expensive: "It cost three hundred taels. The owner had something urgent to do and was selling it. It was a newly built house last year, and he would sell it for whatever price he wanted. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bought it after just looking at it. It's a brand new courtyard house inside and out. I heard that they only lived there for half a year. We can just move in with our bedding and we don't need to buy anything else."

"It's not far from our shop, just three streets from the main street, I think it's called Lotus Leaf Street, and the third house is ours. I'll show you tomorrow, and then you'll know how nice the house I bought is."

Bai Zilin pulled Liu Ye to sit on the kang (a heated brick bed), while he squatted down to light the stove. "If you say it's good, then it must be right. If it's really as good as you say, three hundred taels is really not much. Even a cheap house in town would cost two or three hundred taels, and a house like the one belonging to Young Master Zhao would cost tens of thousands of taels."

Liu Ye, flattered by Bai Zilin's praise, raised her little face with a smug look: "Of course, I only have my eye on good things. The manager said that the house originally cost more than 1,000 taels, and he wouldn't sell it for less than 800 taels. Hehe, I got a bargain."

Bai Zilin was taken aback. He thought to himself, "I won't sell it for less than 800 taels, but you're offering 300 taels. It seems this silly girl isn't telling the truth." However, he didn't intend to pry. He had enough silver on hand. With the silver he earned from hunting before and the silver he gave her after he returned, she should have about 1,800 taels. That should be enough to buy a house.

No, she gave that person a lot of money after saving him. It seems that no matter how hard he tries, he's destined to be a kept man for life. Being a kept man is good, especially since he has bad teeth...

"Once the water boils, wash your feet and go to bed. You don't need to get up so early tomorrow. After we look at the house, we'll go for a quick look around the shops and then come back."

"I understand." After the water on the stove boiled, Liu Ye washed her feet and went to bed. Bai Zilin guessed that Liu Ye was asleep, so he climbed over the wall and left the yard. He arrived at Village Chief Wu's house without anyone noticing and quietly sneaked into Wu Changgui's room.

Wu Changgui woke up with a start and saw someone standing above him. He was so frightened that he was about to scream when Bai Zilin snapped his neck with a snap, and he died instantly with his eyes rolled back.

Bai Zilin covered Wu Changgui's face with the blanket covering his chest, then quickly left the house and returned home without anyone noticing. He took off his shoes and went to bed on the kang (a heated brick bed).

The next day, Liu Ye slept until the sun was high in the sky. Although she wasn't tired yesterday, she was a little sleepy. She stretched, got dressed, went out, added two more pieces of firewood to the stove, and went to the kitchen to cook. She steamed a pot of rice and stir-fried some sliced ​​meat and cabbage.

By the way, she still has a lot of fish and shrimp in her space. She'll find an excuse to take them out and eat them someday, otherwise, with so many fish and shrimp in her space, it'll be all fishy.

Bai Zilin yawned as he came in from outside: "Didn't I tell you not to get up so early? Why are you still up so early?"

Liu Ye took the rice bowl out of the pot and handed it to Bai Zilin: "It's too early, the sun is already high in the sky. Take the rice inside, I'll bring the dishes."

After serving the food, Bai Zilin and Liu Ye had just started eating when they heard a faint, indistinct wailing sound outside, as if someone had died somewhere.