In front of the escort team, the young woman and four muscular men were waiting there. When Pan Yunpeng came up to them, the young woman bowed lightly and said softly, "My name is Su Ting, nice to meet you, Chief Escort Pan."
"...Miss Su."
Pan Yunpeng nodded, glanced at the four strong men behind the woman, and then asked, "You want a book?"
The woman named Su Ting nodded and said softly, "Yes, it would be best to have Thousand Character Classic, Hundred Family Names, Three Character Classic, or Augmented Essays, or Stories from the Past. If you don't have any of these, then some paper and pen would also be good."
These are all children's enlightenment books that are only taught in elementary schools...
Pan Yunpeng looked at her deeply, then waved to an escort beside him.
The escort handed over a book. Pan Yunpeng took it and chuckled as he said, "I don't have any of the books you mentioned, but I have a copy of Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals annotated by a great scholar. Would you like to take a look?"
As he spoke, Pan Yunpeng casually turned a page and handed it to the young woman.
The young woman took it subconsciously, and when she looked down, she found that this copy of Lüshi Chunqiu was turned to the chapter "Xianshilan·Chawei". The first article she saw was "Zigong Redeems a Man".
Su Ting naturally knew this story. It said that there was a law in the State of Lu that as long as one met fellow slaves in other countries and redeemed them, they could get compensation and rewards from the State of Lu. Confucius' student Zigong redeemed the people of Lu from foreign countries, but refused the compensation and rewards given by the State of Lu.
Confucius said that he had done something wrong, and that accepting the reward from Lu would not damage his character, but not accepting the reward would result in no one in Lu being willing to take the initiative to redeem their fellow countrymen who had died.
After reading the article "Zi Gong Redeems a Man", the clever Su Ting immediately understood.
What the kind-hearted chief escort wanted to express was probably not the original intention of the article, but the themes of "fellow slaves" and "redemption" mentioned in the article.
He was asking himself whether he was forced to go up the mountain and whether he needed the escort team's help to redeem him.
After realizing this, Su Ting showed gratitude on her face, and her heart felt both warm and sad.
There are still good people in this world...
It’s a pity that this kindness came a little too late.
Thinking of this, Su Ting sighed softly, closed the book, handed it back, and shook her head and said, "This book is of course very good, but it is not what I want. If the escort leader really doesn't have these books, just sell me some pens and paper!"
Pan Yunpeng frowned, and seeing her like this, he knew that she understood what he meant.
So, this means that you voluntarily go up the mountain and become a bandit?
Pan Yunpeng sighed: "Okay, then I'll sell you some paper and pens."
After saying that, Pan Yunpeng waved his hand and called two bodyguards, a man and a woman, to trade with Su Ting and others on his behalf.
It should be said that these two escorts, one male and one female, were the ones in the escort team who were responsible for trading with the bandits. Pan Yunpeng, as the chief escort, generally would not show up easily.
"Haha, you're just being rejected by someone you don't like~"
Lin Zhongtian was leaning against the carriage. When he saw Pan Yunpeng coming, he couldn't help but say something with a smile.
Pan Yunpeng spread his hands and said helplessly: "They volunteered, what can I do..."
Lin Zhongtian chuckled and said, "In fact, I already knew that the woman surnamed Su volunteered. When you were talking to your men just now, I observed carefully and found that the four men were all led by the woman surnamed Su."
"See the man with the mole on his forehead on the left? He just touched his crotch and was glanced at by the woman surnamed Su. This glance frightened him so much that he dropped his arms and sweated on his forehead. He dared not move rashly again."
Pan Yunpeng looked at the man thoughtfully: "There is also this matter..."
Lin Zhongtian smiled and said, "Yes, and you see those books she mentioned, they are all elementary reading materials. She may have taken control of the backyard of the mountain stronghold and monopolized the right to educate and raise the next generation of little bandits. Who knows how high her status is now!"
"……interesting."
Pan Yunpeng smiled and suddenly asked, "Brother Fu, are you interested in hearing her story?"
"Not interested."
Lin Zhongtian shook his head, looking up at the sky in boredom, and said indifferently: "On the way to the capital, I have seen too many similar tragic stories. The story of the woman surnamed Su is probably not much different. It is really nothing good to hear. Besides, she is a woman who has finally made up her mind to survive in this cruel world by her own strength. You rashly showed up and interfered, and you still think you are doing it for her good. It's really laughable to think about it——"
"Brother Fu, what are you thinking about?!"
Pan Yunpeng didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and quickly interrupted Lin Zhongtian's words, then leaned close to his ear and lowered his voice.
"I mean... organization."
"You want to bring her into the Alliance?"
Lin Zhongtian came back to his senses and frowned.
Pan Yunpeng shook his head: "It's not that simple. We need to observe it for a while first."
Lin Zhongtian glanced at him, turned around and got on the carriage: "You decide for yourself, I won't care."
Pan Yunpeng looked at the carriage thoughtfully, and suddenly realized that Lin Zhongtian must have encountered a similar situation, and the result did not seem to be very good, otherwise he would not have said such words in such a tone.
After thinking for a while, Pan Yunpeng leaned against the carriage and was about to speak, but was interrupted by Lin Zhongtian in the carriage.
"Okay, stop guessing. I did massacre a village, killed many bandits, and saved a woman. I watched her slash her throat with a sword in front of me, but this kind of thing doesn't bother me. I am much more understanding and open-minded than you in this regard. If you really want to comfort me, then do your job well, clean up the country as soon as possible, and build a brand new world."
Lin Zhongtian's faint voice came from the carriage.
Pan Yunpeng smiled slightly and saluted: "Brother Fu is right."
Inside the carriage, Lin Zhongtian shook his head, poured a glass of wine and drank it all.
It's really troublesome. This is human morality and empathy...
That afternoon, since the escort team did not have many of the things the mountain village needed, the escort agency's rules for visiting the mountain clearly stated that the escort team was obliged to trade with the good friends who had accepted the fine wine.
So Pan Yunpeng made a temporary decision to rest at the foot of the mountain for a day and send people to the nearby county town to buy supplies needed for the mountain village.
Su Ting felt a little embarrassed and warmly invited them to go up the mountain to rest.
Pan Yunpeng knew that she had no ill intentions, but he still refused decisively.
Regardless of whether the other party accepted the wine or how deep the friendship between the two parties was, Pan Yunpeng would not let down his guard. This was the lesson he learned from his dead father.
His father died at the hands of those bandits because he believed too much in the rules of the escort agency's mountain visit.
Lin Zhongtian was somewhat interested in this different thing.
But he also had to find time to teach Yang Suhua fingering and clawing techniques, so he really didn't have much time.
Thus, the night that should have been filled with turbulence passed peacefully.
The next day, the escort team traded the purchased supplies with the mountain stronghold in exchange for a pile of loose silver and dozens of intact animal skins.
The transaction should have ended here, but when Su Ting saw that there were women in the escort team, she seemed to smell a business opportunity and deliberately had someone bring the few little foxes they caught to the women.
Sure enough, Yang Suhua and Zhang Yan took a liking to those little foxes at first sight.
But what Su Ting didn't expect was that these two girls were both soft-hearted and obedient.
Even though they loved these little foxes very much, they just stared at them and would never ask anyone to trouble them, let alone ask others to buy them for them.
Just when Su Ting was feeling a little disappointed, the big enemy in the escort team finally spoke.
"You two, if you want something, just ask. Only crying children get milk. Do you understand?"
Lin Zhongtian scolded her a few words in a bad mood, then took out a few golden melon seeds and threw them to Su Ting.
"Miss Su, I want those little foxes."
"You don't have to refund the extra money. This is the price."