Chapter 17: Recruitment Fair?

  "Xu Xian?"

  "Xu Xian!"

  After confirmation, it was found that this Xu Gongzi was not the guy who married a thousand-year-old snake demon and was scared to death by his own wife. Ye Wen still couldn't get over the interesting part of this news.

  "Why did those bandits want to intercept one man?"

  After being bombarded with numerous unhealthy information, Ye Wen's first thought was that this man was too good-looking and had been targeted by some people with special hobbies, which led to his misfortune.

  After all, the prevalence of male prostitution is not something strange, it has a history of thousands of years in his original world, so even if he crossed over to another world, he wouldn't find it strange to encounter such things.

  Sometimes, however, facts are even more difficult to accept.

  "I'm afraid you don't know, sir, that in the eastern part of the province there is a female bandit called Mu Ye Cha, whose power is quite strong. This time it's this gang of thieves who are saying they will take Xu Gongzi up the mountain!"

  Upon hearing the shopkeeper's explanation, Ye Wen was completely stunned. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't have imagined that things would turn out this way. It turned out that a female bandit leader had taken a liking to Xu Gongzi and wanted to take advantage of his trip south to capture him and bring him back to the mountain... "Could it be that they want to capture him to make him their mountain stronghold's husband?"

  However, since Xuhui was favored by the strong man from another province, he must have been quite famous. Otherwise, why would they let everyone else go and specifically want to catch him?

  The shopkeeper hadn't even waited for Ye Wen to confirm his conjecture before he started talking rapidly, like a spilled bean: "It's no wonder that female thief took a liking to Young Master Xu. After all, not only is Young Master Xu exceptionally handsome and talented, but he's also a renowned scholar throughout Pingzhou and the entire country. It's said that Young Master Xu excels in poetry, lyrics, songs, and essays, and his skills in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting are all extraordinary. Who knows how many wealthy families' daughters have been hoping to marry into the Xu family? But who would have thought that this would bring about such disaster?"

  Upon hearing this, Ye Wen also understood that Xu Xian was an idol-like figure at this time. Moreover, as a literary man of high status, Xu Xian's reputation was well-known outside, and who knows when he would rise to prominence. There must be many talented women crying and begging to marry him.

  If this trip to the south is really hijacked by that woman bandit, I'm afraid it will be ruined for life! No wonder Mr. Xu hurriedly asked someone to protect his son on his way south, lest he be forced to take him up the mountain and become a "young master" of the stronghold.

  Yue Shan Escort House, however, due to inadequate information, did not ask clearly when receiving the escort and thought it was just a normal mutual assistance task, who would have thought that they were taking on a hot potato, which led to the later invitation of Jianghu people to assist.

  Now that he had inquired about the situation, Ye Wen no longer chatted with the young waiter, but instead sat quietly there drinking wine and eating food, while carefully listening to the conversations of the people around him to see if there was any other useful information.

  Unfortunately, for Ye Wen now, there isn't much truly useful information. Most of the things are just rumors from the jianghu, nothing more than which family has produced a young hero or where another great thief was eliminated.

  Or it was two families who had a feud with each other and agreed to settle the matter of life and death at some place - just from the content revealed by these two people's conversation, Ye Wen could roughly infer that this news was already seriously outdated, and now it was likely that the two families had already distinguished between victory and defeat.

  Apart from this, there were some trivial matters of neighborhood gossip and household chores. Ye Wenxiu was initially interested in listening to them, but soon found it boring. He hastily finished the remaining food, got up and returned to his room to rest.

  On the second day, early in the morning, Ye Wenxiu first simply practiced the Quanzhen Heart Method to put his state in the best condition, and then settled the room fee and went to the Yue Mountain Escort Bureau.

  He now has to help Zhao Auntie deliver a letter, but after learning about the Yue Shan Escort Agency, he thinks it's more important to make some silver money and try his hand at it. Moreover, if he really wants to follow the escort team, he can personally deliver the letter to Zhao Auntie's sister.

  Because Aunt Zhao's sister lived in Linshan County, which happened to be south, the team of Yue Mountain Escort Agency had to go south, so they would inevitably have to pass through there.

  It can be said that Ye Wen could have solved everything at once and naturally chose to go directly to Yue Shan's security agency.

  While inquiring along the way, Ye Wen soon arrived at the door of the escort agency.

  The large gate had a huge sign hanging on it, with the four characters "Yue Shan Escort Bureau" written in a very majestic manner. Yesterday, when chatting with Xiao Er, he knew that this sign was actually written by Old Master Xu's family before, it seems that the Xu family has been connected with Yue Shan Escort Bureau for a long time, no wonder they came to this escort bureau first after getting into trouble.

  Ye Wen took a glance at the sign of the escort agency and stepped inside. Since Yue Shan Escort Agency had openly invited martial artists to come, the large gate was wide open, making it convenient for people to enter and exit.

  As soon as he entered, it was the front yard of Yueshan Guard Bureau. The originally spacious ground had already gathered a considerable number of people, making it somewhat crowded. Looking at these people, each carrying weapons, Ye Wen knew that they were Jianghu people with similar purposes to himself.

  At this time, these people were either in twos or threes, or alone, and they all formed a big circle as if watching something. Ye Wen looked around, saw no one coming to greet him, so he took a step forward to see what was going on.

  He was standing behind the crowd and couldn't see clearly, plus there were some burly men mixed in, so Ye Wen couldn't see anything at all.

  However, one of the benefits of having internal strength is that in such a crowded environment, he can rely on his inner power to force out a path. Moreover, with so many people, even if these guys were bumped into, they couldn't immediately find out who did it, and amidst the curses and shouts, Ye Wen had already squeezed forward while checking left and right, as for whether this would cause some fighting incidents, that's not what he cared about.

  Squeezing inside for a look, Ye Wen finally understood what was going on with these people surrounding the area.

  "It turned out to be a martial arts competition, and they actually used such a clichéd method. But thinking about it, this is also the simplest and most direct way."

  Since Yueshan Escort Agency offered a high price to invite Jianghu people to come and assist, the big gates and small factions around Shushan County, even the declining martial arts halls, have been visited by someone every day. The purpose of these people coming here is naturally for the generous reward offered by Yueshan Escort Agency.

  Although the Yue Shan Pawnshop never mentioned what price they would open with, there were still many rumors circulating in the vicinity. Those who received these heart-moving messages all hurried over.

  Among them, the disciples of various sects on Shushan are the most numerous.

  Due to many factions, the competition is fierce. Moreover, they are all small families with little income in their daily lives, so this lucrative job will naturally attract a crowd of people competing for it.

  Even some relatively small sect masters personally brought people here, hoping to join the team protecting Master Xu with their own skills.

  With so many people arriving, Yue Shan's security agency naturally couldn't employ all of them. However, testing each person's skills one by one would be too time-consuming.

  So the head of the escort agency, also known as the master of Yue Shan Escort Agency, Yue Hang, made a suggestion: anyone who comes to "apply" must show off their skills in the arena. As long as you can display your abilities and satisfy Yue Hang, he will naturally agree to let you join.

  At the same time, if someone below thinks your skills are not enough to challenge you, then this commission is likely to be sent to someone else's pocket. Of course, this is not absolute. If Yue Hang thinks that both of their skills are very good, it is also possible to invite both of them at the same time, and it is not necessarily necessary to win before being invited.

  Apart from this, if someone thinks their kung fu is exceptional and can overwhelm everyone, then they can take on the task alone. However, the difficulty of doing so is really too high. If those famous figures in the martial arts world might have a chance, as for these practitioners around Shūshan County...

  It's not that Yue Hang underestimates this group of people, but in his opinion, the fellow Jianghu who came today are not even one real expert, at most they are just some rural techniques. After all, Yue Hang is a professional in the escort industry, and he has traveled extensively, seeing and knowing a lot, so he still roughly knows what level a true expert should be.

  Unfortunately, he is just a fifth-rate character in the eyes of those people, and cannot enter the eyes of others. He has no relationship with these real masters, otherwise, why would they need to spend so much money to invite people everywhere?

  Just as Yue Shan was helplessly watching the two people in the arena exchange blows, with one person punching and the other kicking, until they were covered in dust and dirt, their faces bruised and swollen, and finally one of them collapsed from exhaustion, this farcical duel made him lose confidence in this trip.

  A middle-aged man standing next to him seemed to have noticed the leader's concern and comforted him in a low voice: "Don't worry, Leader. Even if we can't recruit any top-notch talent this time, at least we'll have enough manpower. After all, there are many bandits on our way south, and if we're short-handed, we'll be at a disadvantage!"

  Yue Hang also knew this truth, so he didn't get annoyed by these incompetent guys in front of him and disperse this 'recruitment meeting' directly.

  The middle-aged man saw that Yue Hang's expression eased slightly, and immediately continued: "Moreover, the head of the escort has already invited Liu Zhenren from Hu Shan Sect. I believe that with Liu Zhenren's skills, even if we encounter bandits with relatively strong martial arts, he can easily defeat them."

  Upon hearing Liu Zhenren's three words, Yue Hang's complexion finally improved a lot. He also finally had the mood to continue selecting a few truly useful good hands from this group of people who seemed to be performing acrobatics in front of him.

  At this moment, the man who had just used a palm to repel his opponent and showed off his impressive skills that made Yue Hang somewhat satisfied suddenly pointed at a young man not far away and sneered: "I said why he looked so familiar, isn't this Ye Dazhangmen who lost to his own sect in just a few moves?"

  That man pointed at Ye Wen, who was standing in front of him, with a look that seemed to have heard the most hilarious joke in the world: "What? Does the great master Ye also want to come and make some money? I just don't know if Master Ye's kung fu has improved, otherwise today he might not only fail to get any silver, but also have to pay for some medical expenses!"