"Hey ha!" With his strength pushed to the extreme, Xia Ming's fist fell hard on his father.

"Good!" Xia Qiusheng's eyes lit up, and he was full of relief. He also punched out and met him.

"Bang!"

Xia Ming shot backwards, and stopped more than ten feet. He looked at his father excitedly and smiled, "Dad, you broke the rules!"

"Hehe, you kid, dare to teach your father, I just tested your limit, not bad!" Xia Qiusheng hurriedly lowered his fighting spirit to level three, his old face flushed, and he made a specious argument.

It has been one and a half months since the coming-of-age ceremony. Xia Ming started to practice with his father half a month ago. From the beginning, he was suppressed by the same level, but now he can fight against the higher level.

"Okay, let's go back, it's not too early!" Looking at the sky, Xia Qiusheng said hello and walked towards home.

The dinner was quite rich, with three pots, one pot of rabbit meat, one pot of wild vegetables, and a plate of seared fork fish. The fork fish were more than a foot long and were caught in the mountain stream in the morning. They were very fresh and fragrant!

"We will go to the town tomorrow. You don't have to worry about home in the next two years. Go out and try your best. Don't come back if you don't make a name for yourself!" Xia Qiusheng said solemnly, holding up the wine bowl.

"Yes!" Xia Ming nodded seriously and drank it all in one gulp.

Xia Liushi's eyes were full of reluctance. She drank a bowl of wine, which was rare. You could see the blush on her dark cheeks.

It turned out that after teaching his son the Falling Stone Fist, Xia Qiusheng had this idea in his mind. Especially after Xia Ming's rapid progress, he felt that Langshan Village was too small and needed his son to go out and see more. It happened that Xia Ming had become an adult, so he wanted him to complete six months of guard duty in the town, and then go to the frontier to guard for a year, so that he could see the world and come back to talk about marriage.

At first, Xia Liu was not happy, but when she thought about the difficulties in this world, she understood that she would survive better if she had more skills, but she was still a little reluctant and worried.

Xia Ming was happy about it, after all, traveling thousands of miles would bring more opportunities. Turning his head and seeing his mother's reluctant eyes, Xia Ming felt a warm feeling, his eyes turned, and he smiled and said: "Dad, Mom, my sister is married, I will serve in the army, if you two are fine, give me a brother or sister!"

"You are a child, you are disrespectful!" Xia Liu scolded with a smile, her face redder.

The originally heavy atmosphere was immediately diluted, and the family talked and laughed, eating until late at night.

The next morning, after completing the practice of Ziqi Jue, Xia Ming came to the grain field with his package on his back. Li Tieshan was waiting there driving a bullock cart.

"Uncle Li, good morning!" Xia Ming smiled and greeted him as he approached.

"Where's your dad? Why doesn't he come?" Li Tieshan looked behind Xia Ming and asked casually.

"My parents went to bed late and haven't gotten up yet!" Xia Ming smiled and responded. Seeing that everyone hadn't arrived yet, he asked curiously, "Uncle, can the competition you mentioned really exempt you from taxes?"

"Haha, you kid, are you still thinking about this?" Li Tieshan pointed at Xia Ming and laughed, then said, "Yes, it can, but you have to be the first place. Not only will your family be exempted from taxes for one year, but also for half a year in the village! If you have the ability, I will exempt your family from taxes for three years!" At the end of the words, he patted his chest.

"Brother, are you bragging here again?" Li Tiechuan's voice sounded, and two figures walked on the village road.

"Tiedan!" Seeing the figure of a fat man, Xia Ming smiled and greeted him.

"Erwa!" He waved happily, and Fatty came to him in a few steps.

"You all should be careful. When we get to the town, don't always call me by my full name!" Li Tieshan said happily while watching the two children who had just grown up playing.

"Got it, Xia Ming!" Nodding, Fatty called out to Xia Ming and laughed first.

"Li Changgui!" Xia Ming raised his eyebrows and called back with a smile.

"Okay, okay, it's about 200 miles from here to the town, and it will take two days. Let's go!" After explaining a few words to his cousin, Li Tieshan called out to the two of them, flicked the whip, and drove the ox cart out of the village.

Xia Ming and the other two stopped playing, climbed onto the ox cart, and sat on a cart full of goods. These things were collected by each family for tax money. Li Tieshan had to sell them in the town first and exchanged them for money before he could pay the tax.

Originally, it would take some time to pay taxes, but a "castle-shaped cloud" appeared the afternoon before yesterday. It was estimated that there would be heavy wind and rain tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and the road would be difficult to walk on. In addition, he had to participate in the "Year-Old Competition", so Li Tieshan set out early.

Sitting on the palm leaf, Xia Ming was about to leave the village. He suddenly felt a sense of separation in his heart. He turned his head to look at the village road. The purple air was flowing, and he saw his parents staring at him. He raised his mouth slightly, stood up suddenly, waved his hands vigorously, and said loudly: "Dad! Mom! Don't worry!"

The two elders waved in response. Xia Ming vaguely saw his mother wiping her eyes with her sleeves. His eyes also turned red. He secretly said: "This is the feeling of home in the hearts of ordinary people..."

The journey was relatively smooth. When leaving the mountain, it took a little effort. Xia Ming and the others helped push a section. The rest was almost done. At noon on the third day, they had already arrived at the town entrance.

On the two-meter-high archway, there are three gray-black characters "Shitou Town". The corners of the clamping stone are polished very smooth, and the cracks on the supporting poles are one finger wide. Driving the ox cart, the three of them went straight to the store on the five- or six-meter-wide stone road.

Along the way, Xia Ming and Li Changgui looked around, one indifferent and the other excited. Although it is much better than the adobe houses in the village, the architectural style here is still much outdated compared to the towns in the previous life. There are still more stones and fewer bricks and tiles, and the colors are not so bright. There is nothing that makes Xia Ming's eyes light up. Li Changgui is out of the village for the first time. Everything he sees is new, even the peddler's box, which makes him curious for a long time.

"Yuan Ji Store" is the largest store in the town. The owner is called "Yuan Datou". He is a retired old material officer who has some relationship with Youzhi. He has a big bald head, a mustache, and squinting eyes. He is bargaining with Li Tieshan.

"Okay, okay, I'll do as you say, sixty-two silver coins!" Patting Li Tieshan's shoulder with a smile, Yuan Datou finally compromised and joked to himself: "I've become a victim!"

"Okay, stop pretending to be stupid with me, you come from the same team, I don't know you!" Li Tieshan rolled his eyes. He was very familiar with Yuan Datou. They were in the same team when they were garrison soldiers.

"Haha, sit in the house for a while. It's been a while since we came. Let's have a drink!" With a laugh, "Yuan Datou" dragged Li Tieshan into the house.

"Forget it today. These two guys are here to participate in the "year-old competition". I have to arrange them first!" Li Tieshan waved his hand and pointed at Xia Ming and the other two, rejecting the kindness of "Yuan Datou".

"Xiao Pang is okay. This kid doesn't have any fighting spirit. I thought he was here to be a guard." Looking at the two, "Yuan Datou" said with doubt in his eyes.

"Old Xia's son is born strong. Although he doesn't have fighting spirit, he already has a strength of 300 kilograms!" Li Tieshan said proudly with a smile.

"Oh? Great, just like "Han Da Ge", he is gifted!" Yuan Datou said in surprise, his eyes lit up.

"Almost the same, but not as big as "Han Da Ge"!" Nodding, Li Tieshan looked at Xia Ming and said with a smile.

"He hasn't grown up yet. "Han Da Ge" was more than 20 years old back then. Boy, do a good job!" Rolling his eyes, Yuan Datou encouraged Xia Ming with a smile.

"Yeah!" Xia Ming nodded in response, expressing his excitement appropriately.

"Okay, we'll go first!" After collecting the money, Li Tieshan said hello to "Yuan Datou", and took Xia Ming and the others to the treasurer's office, paid taxes, registered as night watchmen, and then went to the patrol office to sign up for the "year-old competition". After the trip, it was almost evening. After only having breakfast, Xia Ming and the other two were already starving.

"Come on, stop looking at me like that. The cost of living in the town is expensive. It's better to save as much as possible!" Li Tieshan said confidently, looking at the two's resentful eyes.

"Noodles are only three cents!" Li Changgui, who had long been attracted by the aroma of the noodle shop on the main road, shouted.

"If you promise not to eat more than ten bowls, I'll take you there!" Li Tieshan said in a hoarse voice, staring at the fat man.

"I, I, fifteen bowls, okay?" After going back and forth several times, Li Changgui knew the weight of the other side very well, and his eyes were full of pleading.

"Little boy, you're eating me to death. Come on, let's go. I'm afraid of delaying things at noon. Do you really think your uncle Li is stingy!" With a grin, Li Tieshan tied the ox cart and took the two to the noodle shop.

"Old Chen, give me a big bowl. I want two catties. These two guys both want three catties. Another two catties of white liquor. Cut the rest into cooked beef!" After entering the door, Li Tieshan shouted familiarly, and then threw a silver coin over, which landed right in front of the old man standing behind the counter.

"Okay!" Smiling, Old Chen quickly pocketed the silver coin, asked his wife to cut ten catties of beef, ordered some wine, and went to pull noodles himself.

"Uncle, I'm sorry for the expense!" Seeing the silver coin engraved with the word "Yan", Xia Ming knew that this meal had consumed at least several months of food for ordinary people, and said embarrassedly.

"What are you talking about? It's still the goods today. I sold two more silver coins. Eat one tonight and change the remaining one into big money. You two, 500 each!" Li Tieshan pretended to be stern and glared at Xia Ming.

"That's all because of you, Boss Yuan. If someone else goes, I'm afraid they won't even get 60 silver coins. Thank you, uncle!" Xia Ming smiled sincerely, thanking him from the bottom of his heart.

"Hehe, you are worthy of being my uncle. When we make money in the future, we will treat you to a daughter's red wine!" Li Changgui nodded solemnly, and then smiled.

"Haha, that's great, I'm waiting for it!" Li Tieshan laughed happily, raised his head and drank a bowl, and burped comfortably.