Westbound Exit (4)

The next day, when the sky was bright, Kangzaburo led everyone to leave the post road, through the woodland, early in the morning the forest was full of fog, as if hanging a light gauze curtain between the thick number of trees, barely walked for a while, and then could not see the road clearly. People are sleepy and the road is difficult to walk, so they simply find an open place, rest on the spot for an hour, and wait for the morning fog to dissipate before going. The guards took turns patrolling in pairs, while the rest tied their horses and sat down in a dry place underground, leaning against a tree or leaning against a rock. Ah Liu took out a thick felt blanket from his bag and spread it on the ground, but he was very tired, and the two of them snuggled up to each other and fell asleep.

Early spring was steep, and it was the wettest and cold time of the day, and Mu Qing, who had only slept for most of the hour, shivered and woke up suddenly. As soon as she woke up, she felt that there was something strange in her hands on the felt blanket, and the back of her hand was cold and numb, and when she turned her head to look, she was so frightened that the pores of her body trembled, and a red-headed centipede with chopsticks long was crawling leisurely on the back of her hand. Xu felt her fright, the centipede suddenly stopped lying on the back of her hand and did not move, she didn't dare to make a sound, she didn't dare to move the slightest, closed her eyes, clenched her teeth, and waited for it to crawl by itself. After a while, the centipede began to crawl again, and thousands of thin feet brushed densely on the back of her hand, like a thousand small sharp blades slashing across her heart. It finally crawled over the back of her hand, and she leaped to her feet, flicking her hand vigorously, and slapping it all over her body. Ah Liu was awakened by her movement, Mu Qing hurriedly pulled her up, lifted the felt carpet, and the huge red-headed centipede had already crawled under the felt carpet.

Ah Liu jumped away with a scream, but before Mu Qing could react, Ada had already jumped to her side, and everyone was woken up by this sound and surrounded her. Kangzaburo pinched two thin wooden branches, made chopsticks, and muttered in a low tone, "Don't teach it to run." While tiptoeing, he quickly took the thin wooden stick and clamped it down. In just one fell swoop, he caught the writhing and struggling centipede. "Quick, quick, get the wine bag." He muttered that Ada had already taken his leather wine sac, pulled out the stopper, and Kangzaburo threw the centipede into the wine sac, screwed the stopper firmly, and shook it a few times in satisfaction.

"What do you want this pickled poison to do?" Aliu was shocked and asked, stroking his chest.

Mu Qing had already settled down and patted her back. Wen Yan responded: "Such a big red-headed centipede is very rare, soaked in the liquor for a period of time, it is the best medicinal wine, relieving wind and pain, detoxification and stasis, if there is an external wound that does not heal to fester, it also has a miraculous effect." Ask Kang Saburo for it another day......" At this point, she couldn't help but be silent. Only Ah Liu knew where her mind had drifted, and she was probably prepared for Du Ruhui and Yinghua.

The fog in the forest has cleared. And when they had awoke, they mounted their horses, and went on their way. After a full day, there is no official road in the barren forest. When the sun sank, he could not go any further, so that he could walk more, and he did not rest for a day, nor did he eat any food. Aliu and Ada rode together, and it was better. Mu Qing rode alone, shaking and hungry, which taught her to be dizzy. See stars. Whenever he wanted to stop and rest, He Suizhao laughed lightly: "If you don't hurry up, and then teach others to take the lead, I'm afraid you will have to kill again." Qi Niang has already tasted the taste of killing, but do you want to try again? I don't know how serious his words were, Mu Qing had to sigh and continue to bump on the horse. If it weren't for the suspense about the safety of her husband and sister who went to Liaodong with the army, which stimulated her gradually numb mind, I am afraid that she would have lost her will and fell off the horse.

He Sui Zhaoxing walked behind her, turning his eyes to look at her from time to time all the way, seeing her figure on the horse from swaying slightly to swaying, like a lone lotus under the ravages of the wind, pitiful everywhere. He knew that her strength was running out little by little, and that she might have begun to tinnit and dizzy. He repeatedly wanted to stop and invite her to ride with him, but the words reached his throat and pressed again, and he gave himself the words to see how stubborn and resolute this delicate body carried. In fact, in the final analysis, he was still cowardly to her smile when she refused, obviously very gentle, but resolute.

Along the way, Ada casually shot a few birds and rabbits that had no time to avoid them, the sun was sinking in the west, and the group walked out of the wild forest between the valleys, and a wide stream could be seen in the distance, and the sound of the water could be heard, and He Suizhao stopped everyone. When Mu Qing jumped off the horse, his calf seemed to be no longer his own, and he stumbled and almost fell down. He Suizhao hugged his waist from behind, which made her angry again, and his elbow retreated fiercely, stabbing him in the waist and crotch. Unexpectedly, he didn't dodge, as if he didn't see her angry face, and said with a light smile on his face: "I don't want you to fall, don't thank me for falling, why are you still angry with me?" I never thought that Qi Niang would be so moving when she was angry, it's just that, my elbow is worth it. ”

Mu Qing tied the horse rope with a black face, Kang Saburo found an open and dry place, beckoned everyone to pick up some dry wood branches and broken leaves to set up a fire, Ada carried those wild things to the stream to peel and wash, Mu Qing saw that he was stuffy these days, so he stepped on the slippery pebbles, carefully walked to his side, and wanted him to wash together. When he got behind him, he found that he didn't focus on washing those prey, but he was stunned with a small brocade bag containing copper coins, the whole brocade bag was wet, and the embroidery on his face was extremely ugly, and he didn't know what the embroidery was, crooked like a crawling earthworm.

Mu Qing let out a light cough behind him, he looked up at her, sighed, buried his head in trying to wring the brocade bag dry, and whispered while twisting: "Last year, I lost a lot of money outside because of a momentary mistake, and I talked about it when I came back to gossip with Yinghua. A few days later, it was my birthday, and the little girl threw me this brocade bag, insisting that I bring a good money skewer, saying that it was a flowing cloud pattern embroidered by herself. I expanded it to see, hehehe, no matter how rough Ada is, he has also seen the flowing cloud pattern, how can someone call a long insect a flowing cloud pattern. I laughed, she was still annoyed, this kid ......" Ada's tone showed a rare softness, laughing softly as she spoke, but sighed heavily at the end, "When I leaned over, I accidentally fell into the water, and it was even more ugly when it was wet." As he spoke, he took the wet brocade bag into his arms.

"What's so difficult about this, when Yinghua returns home, I will let Ah Yue press her to be a female celebrity, and let her make another one with you." Mu Qing knew that as far as Ada was concerned, Yinghua was like his own child, and he didn't know what was going on with her now, looking forward to her achievements, but also afraid that she would be damaged, and she was worried about the same as him. Ada listened to her relief, turned her head and smiled at her, her eyes were slightly red, she squatted down, took the hare that had been peeled in his hand, and washed it in the stream like him, and the two of them bowed their heads and worked together in the same state of mind, and did not speak again.

It was dark, and it didn't take long for it to be completely dark. He Suizhao led the guards to trample a clump of dry reeds on the shore and spread a large felt blanket, which was like a bed. Birds and hares were roasted on the fire, and Yasuburo grabbed a handful of fine rice-like green and yellow from the pouch of salt grains he carried with him, mixed with the salt grains and sprinkled them on top of the roasted game. "This is cumin from the Persian Sassanids." He spread out his hands to show people, and then he told people in high spirits about his many years of business, west to the ancient land of Kushan, the resting city of Sassanid in Persia, and to the south of the Yangtze River, and for a while he talked endlessly, like a storyteller.

In the past, Mu Qing liked to hear him talk about these things the most, and at the beginning of tonight, she also heard a few words, and when he talked about Jiangnan, she couldn't help but remember the situation when she first saw him on the way back to Wu County in Yuhang, and she pulled away her thoughts. I still remember that she was standing on the corridor on the second floor of the inn, leaning on the wooden railing and looking at the hall Du Ruhui raised his voice to ask for mulberry wine. It's been six or seven days since I was gone, and I don't know what he's doing at this time, but he's fine, and I don't know if he can still see it.

Over there, Kang Saburo talked about Xingtou, took out the wine bag, and everyone passed the drink, so as to drive away the wet cold of the early spring night, and passed it to Mu Qing, she took the wine bag, and without thinking about it, she raised her head and took two sips, and then handed it to the next person. The liquor passed through her throat and fell into her belly, and a warmth rose up, warming her heart together, temporarily expelling the sorrow and concern in her heart, but after this warmth, the two sips of the liquor were like pouring on the flame of longing, burning the fire more vigorously and reddening her eyes.

The wild things on the fire were ripe, He Suizhao took a wild pheasant, walked to Mu Qing's side and sat down, took out a small silver dagger from his arms, and silently cut off the skin and flesh of the wild pheasant and handed it to her. She sniffed and chewed the wild pheasant meat calmly, and after a long time, Fang heard him say: "Don't worry, since I have promised Brother Du to let you return to Beijing safely, even if I take my life, I will never break my word." ”

She put down the pheasant and looked at him, the firelight danced quietly on the side of his face, the bridge of his nose was straight and straight, Daddy was good at metaphysics, and once said that if the bridge of the nose is straight, his character will probably not deviate. In the past, he was only a wanderer, but today he sees his nose straight, if according to Daddy's words, he should be a righteous person inside, and he is just a cheap man on the lips, and there is nothing wrong with his character, perhaps, maybe he just sincerely admires himself. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sincerely say "thank you". To her surprise, He Suizhao did not look at her as presumptuously as usual, but hung his head deeply, and laughed softly in the shadows where the fire could not shine.

After a long time, he raised his head again and smiled cynically, "Why don't you see Miss Aliu who is following you?" Mu Qing was also suspicious, he had a lot of thoughts just now, and he didn't care about Ah Liu's whereabouts. He Suizhao raised her chin towards the fire, and she looked in that direction, Ah Liu was sitting with Ada, looking down at the cooked food with a small blade, and Ada on the other side looked at her with a smile. "You, the housewife, are inevitably too inconsiderate." He Suizhao laughed. This was unexpected, she didn't know when it happened, and she was overthinking the things around her all day long, and she neglected the people around her. (To be continued......)