Chapter 5 Departure

At this moment, their cart was traveling through the long city gate tunnel. The city gate tunnel was very long, but its interior was not damp. The tall and wide design of the gateway made it ventilated and dry, with plenty of light. They had walked for tens of seconds before the carriage exited the city gates and arrived inside the city. Facing the city gates were three roads, all paved with large green stones. Due to the constant traffic on them, the road surface appeared to be shiny and glowing. Even the uneven pits on the surface of the bluestone or the gaps between two pieces of bluestone had been polished round and smooth. The center road was obviously wider than the other two, so it was undoubtedly the main road. The two side roads extend to both sides, and do not know where they lead to. On both sides of the middle road, there are many buildings, most of them are two or three-story buildings, with various canvases and signboards at the entrance. At this time, people were coming and going, and traffic was flowing. Yelling and greetings were heard one after another. Although it is afternoon, it is also a lively scene. The street was slightly crowded with pedestrians. Li Guoxin slowed down their cart and drove slowly. The three of them felt that their eyes were not enough as they sat in the cart. The three heads kept turning around, feeling that everything around them was very new. Most of those were never seen or heard of before. "Look, Brother Yan, inside that door is an iron railing and a high counter. That person outside can only pad his feet and stretch his face to talk diagonally to that small hole, it should be a pawnshop, right?" Li Yu saw a pawnshop and asked. "Xiao Yu, look at that three story restaurant, so grand! Well ...... it can be really flavorful! I've never smelled this flavor before. When roasting a wild boar, the smell of the oil on that boar doesn't even smell as good as this. If you later do apprenticeship here, if you can make this kind of flavor, that's a great ability." Li Shan said as he pointed at a restaurant he had just passed beside him. Li Guoxin turned back at this time and said with a smile. "You guys will stay here for a long time from now on, there will be time for you to watch. But you have to work hard to learn what you can do. Otherwise, if you are driven back to the village, it will be a shame! The place you're going to is still ahead." At this time, Li Yan also felt that his eyes were full of freshness. Many things are never seen. Some of them are heard from father and village people, some of them are not even heard of. He couldn't help but sigh at the breadth of the outside world and his own shallow knowledge. The carriage traveled forward in the crowd for some time, and then stopped far in front of a two-story restaurant. Although this restaurant only has two floors, it has many storefronts. There are seven or eight neighboring storefronts opening horizontally. Between these neighboring storefronts, the inside can be through, making the lobby especially wide and bright. At this time, it is not yet time for guests. But there are also some guests in and out. It is estimated that this restaurant serves food whenever guests come, and there is no fixed time for customers to eat. The signboard of the restaurant spanned across the center of several storefronts, and the green characters on the gray background appeared very grand and eye-catching, with four big words written on it, "Natural Wine House". Li Guoxin drove the cart to the right side of the "Natural Wine House" at a storefront facing the street, found a big tree and stopped, tied the reins to the tree, and then asked Li Yan and Li Shan to wait beside the cart. He himself led Li Yu towards the door in the center of the restaurant and went in. Li Yan and Li Shan stood beside the cart. Looking at the bustling scene on the street, for a moment the two of them actually did not speak. In fact, with Li Yu's departure, they also knew that the moment of separation had really come. In the future, they will have to live alone in this strange place. The previous excitement and longing, at this moment has disappeared. Only a trace of fear in their hearts, a trace of fear of being alone and helpless in a strange place. Two people have their own thoughts, all staring at the middle door of the restaurant in silence, looking at the flow of people coming in and out, eyes full of loss. After a while, Li Guoxin brought Li Yu towards the cart. He was followed by a man in his thirties, with a chubby figure and wearing a fat long shirt. Several people quickly came to the front of the cart, and Li Guoxin said to Li Yu. "Take out your traveling bag!" He then turned to the chubby middle-aged man and said with a smile, " Manager Li, I'll take this contract back to his parents. This... boy will stay here. I hope that Manager Li will take care of him in the future for the sake of the same clan. I thank you here." After saying that, Li Guoxin cupped his fists and made a solemn bow to that Manager Li. Manager Li's chubby face also revealed some smiles, "Guoxin, don't be polite. Your elders and I are from the same clan, so I should take care of him. You can rest assured that this boy is here! As long as he can endure hardship, he will inevitably have some success in the future." Li Guoxin waved his hand to Li Yu, "Follow your uncle! In the future, be more diligent and nimble, and when things come up, ask more questions and do more." Li Yu had already taken down his traveling bag from walking. He first bowed to Li Guoxin, then choked up and looked at Li Yan and Li Shan, " Brother... Yan , Brother...Shan, when you have time, come... Come to see me!" Saying this, he was extremely eager to shed tears. Li Yan and Li Shan also squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying and replied respectively. "Good, I'll come over to see you when I'm free." "Little Yu, do your work well, Brother Shan will come to eat the food you cook then, and make sure it's enough to fill me up!" "Well!" Li Yu nodded heavily. That Manager Li smiled when he saw this, "Let's go." After saying this, he cupped his hand to Li Guoxin, and turned around to walk towards the wine shop. Li Yu followed behind him with his traveling bag, turning back a few steps and following with reluctance. Eventually, he disappeared into the gatehouse. When Li Guoxin saw the two disappearing behind the door, he also called Li Yan and Li Shan to the cart. After he unhooked the reins from the tree and sat on the cart again, he saw that the two of them were in a heavy mood and could not help but point at them and say. "Manly men, don't be such childish and weak. You are out to learn skills. After learning the skills, it is a man who brings his parents here." And then he did not look at the two, driving forward. The cart continued to move forward. After turning a few more corners, it stopped at a place called "Iron Weapon Pavilion". Just like just now, Li Shan got off the cart and went with him, leaving Li Yan alone to guard the cart. After a while, Li Guoxin and Li Shan came back, but this time there were two people behind them. The first person was over ten feet tall, naked, his muscles were even stronger than Li Guoxin's, and in the sunlight, his muscles glowed with an oily black light. Between raising and moving of his hands, his muscles bounced little by little, just like a mouse jumping on his body. This person has rough eyebrows and eyes, and is about forty years old. Next to him was a half-grown boy about the same age as Li Shan. But this boy also has a stout body, big hands and feet, much stronger than Li Shan. After Li Yan learned that the strong man is the owner of this business, named Lv Kui, can make good instruments. Whether it is military equipment or agricultural tools, there is no one better than him in this city. He also often repairs and maintains military equipment for the military garrison, so he is very familiar with the local garrison. The one beside him was his eldest disciple Liang Shi. Li Shan has been his second disciple since then. Afterwards, the matter was just as Li Yu had done earlier. After Li Guoxin entrusted some words, Li Shan also said goodbye to Li Guoxin and Li Yan with red eyes and followed those two. The young boy had experienced several departures in one day, and his mood was even lower at this time. Li Guoxin raised his head to look at the sky and said to Li Yan, ''We have to hurry up and go to the military training ground too. It should be three o'clock in the afternoon at this time; if we are any later we may have to go tomorrow." Li Yan also hurriedly gathered his mood and nodded his head. He was now in an unstable state of mind by the previous appearance of Li Yu and Li Shan. He missed his parents and brother and sister. However, he also knew that at this time, he could only go forward at this point. He could not go back. As for the future, he was confused and unknown. Li Guoxin drove towards a place with Li Yan. After traveling for about half a quarter of an hour, they came to a gate surrounded by a high wall. Li Yan saw that the wall of this place extended to both sides, and he still could not see the whole range as far as his own eyes could reach, and felt that the inside of this wall should be very large. Li Guoxin parked the cart farther away and bolted it to a stanchion. There were also many horses and carts gathered there. Li Guoxin packed up slightly and immediately led Li Yan towards the gate. At this time, there were more than a dozen soldiers with armor guarding the gate. There were also a dozen youths and a dozen people who seemed to accompany them lined up at the gate at the same time. When those people saw the two of them coming over, they weren't too surprised. After glancing this way at the same time, they turned their heads to look at the soldiers at the gate, seemingly waiting to enter the courtyard. When the two of them came to the gate, one of the soldiers came over. "You are here to participate in the recruitment of the Close Guard?" Li Guoxin pointed at Li Yan, then bowed and replied. "Yes, sir! He's participating in the recruitment test!" That soldier pointed to Li Yan with his hand and said. "Just right! Then come over and go in with this group." Li Yan hurriedly went forward to follow that soldier. He soon reached the last position of the dozen or so youths and stood at the end. After watching them stand properly, that soldier turned to Li Guoxin and the others, pointing his finger to one side and said. "You guys go there and wait. It's estimated that the results will come out around the hour of 5 o'clock, and success or failure will be decided." Only then did Li Guoxin notice that farther away on the other side of the gate, there was already a black-packed group of people sitting or standing on the ground. One by one, they were stretched their heads to this side and peeped out. He thought that these should be the people who came earlier. In this way, there should be quite a number of people who participated in the recruitment of the army this time. After all, this time, the duties of the close guards still made many villagers interested. Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan, who also looked his way. Li Guoxin pointed to that area and then pointed to himself, signaling that he was waiting for him over there. Li Yan nodded slightly to show that he understood. Li Guoxin then walked towards the waiting area with the dozen or so people from earlier.