plumnovel Chapter 2 Targeted
Chapter 2 Targeted
The next day.
The rain has stopped and the sky is clear.
A ray of dawn floats across the horizon.
The air in the early morning still carried a faint earthy smell.
The thatched hut where the Lü family father and son temporarily took refuge belonged to a village that had previously been invaded by the Xianbei people. It was located in the southwest corner of Jiuyuan City, the capital of Wuyuan County, and was only half a day's walk from the Lü family's original estate.
Although the Xianbei people had retreated, many villagers who had fled famine had not yet returned, and the village remained sparsely populated, with only a dozen or so households showing signs of life.
Lu Ping, who got up early, cooked some soup and rice for himself and then tidied up his clothes. He was overjoyed. Lu Bu, who had gone out early, left some food for him. After standing in the courtyard for a moment, he turned around, picked up the hard bow left by the original owner, and began to practice on his own.
He placed the wooden stakes in the courtyard about ten steps away.
Lü Ping returned to his original spot and stood firm.
He held his breath, aimed carefully, and easily drew back the bowstring.
"middle!"
He gave a soft shout, and the arrow flew out.
It flew precisely in another direction!
With a whoosh!
The arrow grazed the top of the banyan tree, knocking down several withered branches before finally falling limply to the ground.
Seeing this scene.
Lu Ping's lips twitched involuntarily.
Relying on the original owner's strength, he drew the bow so smoothly that he thought the accuracy rate would be very high. Who knew that he could still miss even at a distance of ten paces.
Lu Ping glanced around discreetly, and seeing that no villagers were passing by, he breathed a sigh of relief. He then scurried over, picked up the arrow, wiped the dirt off the wooden shaft with his sleeve, and returned to his original spot.
Aim, fire, miss!
Aim again, fire again, but still miss!
......
As the sun gradually moved towards the center of the sky, the courtyard grew warmer.
"call out!"
The sound of an arrow piercing a wooden stake rang out!
Lu Ping let out a long sigh of relief, stepped forward and pulled out the arrow. The once smooth wooden stake was now covered with numerous nicks and slits.
It may be due to the original owner's memories.
Lu Ping, who had never touched a hard bow before, improved his accuracy from one or two out of ten shots to ten out of ten in less than half an hour!
Although he was a time traveler, he was, after all, a science and engineering graduate. Lu Ping's knowledge of history was probably only at the level of having read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
However, even though his historical knowledge was limited and he only remembered the general outline, Lü Ping still knew that he was about to usher in a chaotic era in Chinese history that lasted for hundreds of years, with nine out of ten households deserted and people treated worse than dogs.
Although "my son is the best in the world," having excellent martial arts skills is still essential for living a peaceful life. Otherwise, if Lu Bu is not around one day and he is beheaded by a common soldier, he will become a laughing stock.
Thinking this way.
Lu Ping shook his head slightly and sighed.
He shouldered his longbow, carried the wooden stake used as a target in one hand, and walked out of the courtyard, placing the stake in a relatively distant location.
The accuracy of ten steps is sufficient.
Next, he wanted to try the fifty-step method.
Standing fifty paces away from the wooden stake, the stake, riddled with holes, appeared to Lü Ping to be only about the size of a fist.
He drew his bow again and aimed carefully.
Just as he was about to release the bowstring and shoot the arrow.
A slightly familiar voice rang in Lü Ping's ears.
"Uncle Lü! Uncle Lü!"
"Stop! Don't shoot me!"
Lü Ping turned his head to look.
A robust young man, about eighteen or nineteen years old, dressed in short clothes with a sword at his waist, striding from a distance.
Seeing the young man approach, Lü Ping immediately lost interest in continuing to shoot arrows. However, since the bow was already drawn, it wouldn't be good to release it empty-handed. He didn't expect to hit the target, so he casually aimed and released the arrow!
With a whoosh!
The arrow flew out, grazed the edge of the wooden stake, and hit it firmly!
I actually won?
Seeing this, Lü Ping was slightly taken aback.
The young man who came from afar was also stunned for a moment, and subconsciously offered his congratulations.
"Hit the bullseye from fifty paces away! Lu Bo's archery skills are still superb!"
"When you have some free time, you must teach me."
Lu Ping sized up the young man in front of him, raised an eyebrow, and teased him with a smile.
"Cheng Lian?"
"Why aren't you helping your father with the work in the fields? Why are you here? I rarely get a day off, so don't come here and cause trouble for your Uncle Lü."
Yes, the young swordsman before us is named Cheng Lian.
He was originally the leader of a group of wandering knights in Jiuyuan City. He was amazed by Lu Bu's martial arts skills, which he witnessed by chance, such as slaughtering pigs like chickens and shooting down geese with a single arrow. He took the initiative to pester Lu Bu.
He insisted on recruiting Lü Bu into his group of wandering knights, and even wanted Lü Bu to replace him as the leader of the group. If the original owner of this body hadn't been bedridden, Lü Bu would probably have joined long ago and become some kind of leader of wandering knights!
However... although Cheng Lian was eager to get Lü Bu involved in the underworld, he was a good person at heart. When Lü Ping was bedridden, Cheng Lian would often bring him nourishing foods to visit him. Therefore, Lü Ping did not dislike him.
"Uncle Lü." Cheng Lian approached with a grin.
"Did you bring back three or four baskets of salted fish from somewhere a couple of days ago?"
"How did you know?" Lü Ping asked, slightly surprised.
"My elder brother Lü told me this when we were drinking together before."
As he spoke, Cheng Lian glanced into the thatched hut with a puzzled look on his face.
"Where's my brother Lü?"
"He's gone out on business," Lü Ping replied irritably. He glanced at the sky, put away his longbow, slung it over his shoulder, and prepared to collect the wooden stakes in the distance as well.
"Just say what you need to say."
"Uncle Lü, these baskets of salted fish of yours have really caused a big problem!" Cheng Lian looked around and, seeing that no one was around, lowered his voice.
"When Lian came to the village today, he passed by the Wang family's house at the village entrance and saw several unfamiliar faces inside, carrying knives and swords. Out of curiosity, he eavesdropped for a bit, and guess what happened?"
"I happened to overhear them discussing how to get some money from the poor in the mountains, and they even brought up you and several surrounding manors."
"When the Wang family fled, some of the men went into the Wula Mountains in the west and became bandits. I reckon those unfamiliar men were bandits from the mountains who had just finished winter and were planning to come down to gather some grass."
"You should be careful lately and watch out for the Wang family at the edge of the village."
Lu Ping stopped in his tracks immediately.
He also knew the Wang family at the village entrance. They used to be a prominent family in the village, and most of the villagers farmed their land. However, after the Xianbei people plundered their land, they suddenly became poor again.
However... even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Wang family has lost all their wealth, they still have quite a few people in the family. If what Cheng Lian said is true, then it is most likely that he was spotted by the Wang family at the entrance of the village when he was picking salted fish some time ago.
It was bad enough that the eunuchs seized the manor, but he had only just found a village to stay in temporarily, and hadn't even finished the transaction. And now these nobodies dared to come up and bite him.
The thought that even such lowly scum dared to covet him caused Lü Ping's expression to darken for some reason, and he clenched his fist slightly as he held the wooden stake.
Seeing Lü Ping's appearance, Cheng Lian immediately sensed something was wrong.
He spoke cautiously.
"If Uncle Lü doesn't mind, why don't you and Brother Lü take your belongings and come into the city to stay with us brothers for a while to avoid trouble?"
"Our base is close to Shimen Ferry, where you are on duty, which makes it convenient for you to be on duty on weekdays."
"If you are robbed by those bandits on your way to Shimen Ferry, then things will be very bad."
Lu Ping snorted coldly and spoke indifferently.
"No need."
"They're just a few stray dogs. It's fine if they don't cause any trouble, but if they do, we can just kill them and throw them out to feed the wolves."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Lian was momentarily stunned.
Lu Ping shook his head slightly, turned around and walked into the house. He took out the ring-pommel sword left behind by the original owner of the body, sat on the side of the bed, and carefully wiped it.
After all, I've been here for over a month.
Although he was not yet proficient in archery and horsemanship, he had mastered about 40-50% of the original owner's strength and killing skills by practicing with Lü Bu every day!