According to tradition, the Rong people's celebrations have four main functions - visiting relatives and friends, exchanging goods, making friends, and competing in competitions. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Visiting relatives and friends and exchanging materials do not need to be repeated, the brothers and sisters who came from all over the country and the "second day of September" who got up early and were busy all night at night have made Lu Shaoyun deeply aware of these two functions of the celebration. Therefore, for the blind dates and competitive competitions that he doesn't know much about, he needs to let Xia Shuanghan talk to him well.

The events at the festival are varied. From polo, a group event that is just to enhance friendship and not win or lose, to individual competitions with a large number of participants, with first, second and third prizes, the two categories of bow and horse cover most of the events of the entire competitive competition.

"After the polo is over, it's a horse race, isn't it?" On the side of the open and flat polo arena, Lu Shaoyun, who just wanted to watch the polo match with Xia Shuanghan, who had inconvenient legs and feet, declined the invitation of Aguirre and Taruk to let him try his skills, and asked Xia Shuanghan next to him curiously: "The wooden poles with rope loops at one end that we just saw should be the competition equipment for the next event, right?" ”

"Well, that's one of the two paraphernalia for horse racing." Xia Shuanghan, whose left leg was inconvenient to be forced, leaned slightly on Lu Shaoyun, who was beside him, and while watching the thrilling polo game in the arena, he said distractedly: "The horse race is divided into two forms of competition. There is another way for a rider to put a wooden pole with a rope loop around the horse's neck after getting on the horse, and then throwing the rope loop out of the rope loop to the horse. ”

"Of course, in terms of fun, I prefer the second option. After all, the way to throw a rope and trap a horse is more skillful and ornamental, and the distance between the horse and the rider can be pulled farther away. ”

"Brother Shixuan, don't you really plan to practice your skills?" Beside Lu Shaoyun and Xia Shuanghan, Lin Xiran, who couldn't resist Umar's warm invitation, decided to go to the fighting arena to wrestle with several young men from the caravan.

"No, I'll leave the bow and arrow project later." Lu Shaoyun, who answered like this, vaguely conveyed a look full of meaning to Lin Xiran - be more leisurely when you do it, and be careful not to reveal your kung fu foundation.

"Got it, then I'll go with them." Lin Xiran, who nodded to indicate that Lu Shaoyun didn't have to worry, walked to the wrestling arena under the eager gaze of Bariya.

"After the bow and arrow project starts, are you sure you can get the red silk?"

The red silk mentioned in Xia Shuanghan's mouth is the symbol of the first place in the competition.

During the five-day celebration, all the items with rankings were represented by red, yellow and blue silks embroidered with special embroidery.

At the bonfire on the night of the celebration, according to the custom of the Rong people, all Rong girls who have reached the age of 14 and are not married need to tie colorful silk on their right arm. And the young men who like these girls will use various gifts to replace the silk on the arm of their sweetheart, which represents "I am willing to have further relations with you for the purpose of marriage".

Among the gifts that the boys could offer, such as furs and jewelry, the red, yellow and blue silks, which symbolized "honor and excellence" at the celebrations, were the favorite gifts of the girls.

So, Lu Shaoyun, who had already learned about the custom of exchanging silk from Xia Shuanghan's mouth, assured his sweetheart: "Anyway, for the colored silk on your arm, I have to win back a red silk for you, right?" ”

Among the various archery projects, Lu Shaoyun signed up to participate in the promotion and elimination system project with the highest comprehensive inspection ability and the longest time.

At the beginning of the game, the first step is the lowest difficulty shot. When the contestants shoot in a fixed position standing position, the stationary targets are set at three different positions at 25 paces away, 50 paces away and 100 paces away. The archer has ten arrows, and within ten arrows, the contestant can advance as long as he can hit the bullseye of three targets at different distances, otherwise, he will be eliminated.

For Lu Shaoyun, the standard form of learning and practicing archery like fixed shooting naturally did not make it difficult for him. So, in the blink of an eye, three feathered arrows left the bow from his hand one after another, and then each hit the bullseye of the three arrow targets.

The second round after the promotion is mounted archery. On the side of the straight track for riding and archery, there are 20 targets at different distances from the track and at different heights.

The archer rode on a running horse, and if he missed the bull's-eye with more than three of the twenty arrows he shot from the beginning of the track to the end of the track, he was eliminated. Twenty arrows that do not shoot more than one feather arrow will also be eliminated.

For Lu Shaoyun, who had already mastered the "eye-to-eye" archery technique when he was in the army, as long as he quickly prepared for the next arrow after shooting the arrow in his hand, the distance between each two of the twenty targets was completely enough for him to complete a complete set of actions of building a bow, aiming, and releasing arrows on horseback. So after a round of running, Lu Shaoyun's arrows were not missing, and the branches were in the middle of the red heart.

The next third and final round is a running shot. As the most difficult and most eliminated round of competition, running and shooting is not so much an arrow competition, Lu Shaoyun believes that it is more like an actual combat exercise.

On the uneven, undulating field, the clay disc thrown by stepping on the point in time and countless moving targets pulled by ropes form a total of 50 shooting targets.

In the rope pulling, the target from near and far stands and falls on the field, and Lu Shaoyun, who steps into the field with a bow and arrow, must grasp the short time when the target stands up and falls, and shoots the feather arrow in his hand while striding forward.

A fallen target will not stand up a second time, just as a thrown clay dish will never be able to return to its original shape once it is broken. Failure to hit a target before a target that moves left and right in a small area falls to the ground, or fails to hit a target before the clay disc hits the ground and shatters, the archer will be credited by the referee.

If the number of negative points exceeds 10 out of 50 targets, the participant will be eliminated. And after all 50 targets have fallen to the ground, the archer who fails to advance three-quarters of the distance in the entire field will also be eliminated.

Lu Shaoyun, who stepped into the arena with a quiver, only felt as if he was back on the battlefield. Those targets that move in small motions and stand and fall down are like stubborn opponents; And those clay plates that flew quickly through the air were like enemy troops fleeing on tall horses.

The quiver was shot clean, stepping out of the arena, in the admiring and loving eyes of Xia Shuanghan, Lu Shaoyun took the embroidered red silk symbolizing the first place in the project from the referee and returned to her.

"Sometimes you're so good that I don't get happy!" took out a silk handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped the sweat on Lu Shaoyun's forehead, and complained coquettishly: "You don't know, when you were on the field just now, how many unmarried girls talked about you." This one asked, 'Where did this Han man with outstanding archery skills come from?', and the other asked, 'Did this handsome young man get married?' For a moment, I thought I was back when I saw you on Suzaku Street at the end of last year! ”

"Oh? It turns out that when you saw me on Suzaku Street last year, the girls around you were talking about me like this? Recalling the scene of triumphant victory in the capital from Tongcheng Pass last year, I regretted that I didn't really know Xia Shuanghan at that time, Lu Shaoyun said: "Then when those girls talked about me, were you also jealous like now?" ”

"How is that possible?" Xia Shuanghan glanced at Lu Shaoyun's smug sweet smile, and said mercilessly: "I didn't think about marrying you at that time, what kind of vinegar did I have?" ”

"Oh...... I'm sad. Lu Shaoyun, who put the red silk that represented the victory into his arms for reuse at night, covered his heart and said aggrievedly: "Frost and cold, can you not splash me with cold water?" ”

"I can't." was teased by Lu Shaoyun's aggrieved little expression, and he reached out and gently poked Lu Shaoyun's cheek, and said with a smile while ensuring that the human skin mask on his face would not be destroyed: "You are not allowed to make this expression to me again in the future." ”

"Why?"

"Because ......" Xia Shuanghan, who suddenly had the idea of teasing Lu Shaoyun, climbed on his sweetheart's shoulder and blew into his ear: "Because as soon as you make this expression, I can't help but want to kiss you." ”

"......" Lu Shaoyun, who was teased by the warm breath of Xia Shuang Han to the sensitive point on his ears, his body stiffened uncontrollably for a moment, and then he put Xia Shuanghan, who was smiling happily, on his side with a depressed face, lowered his head and said softly: "If you tease me again, be careful of my beastly hair, kiss your lips so swollen that you dare not see people!" ”

"It's broad daylight, are you sure you're going to do something like this here?" Xia Shuanghan, who was laughing heartlessly, glanced at Lu Shaoyun's sullen expression, put away the handkerchief in his hand and said, "Don't make trouble, my project is about to start, take me on the horse, will you take me on horseback?" ”

As a participant with a leg injury and poor mobility, whether it is a fast horse race that requires the horse to run fiercely to compete for speed, or a horse race that requires the rider to flip on the horse's back and bend down to pull out the colored flags on the ground to compete in skills, these two competitions are obviously not suitable for Xia Shuanghan, who is currently injured. Therefore, the project that Xia Shuanghan participated in was completely within her ability.

As a kind of race, once the horse's hooves leave the ground at the same time, it is counted as a foul, and then the rider is disqualified from the race, and the horses must have been rigorously trained in advance.

Controlling his horse Hongyun, who had mastered the walking skills through his own training, Xia Shuanghan finally won the yellow silk that represented the second place for himself. And the red silk, which showed the glory of the winner, was won by a certain young man of great strength. (All events in horse racing are mixed for both men and women.) ）

In the lively and jubilant atmosphere, the western sky was slowly dyed red by the fiery clouds, and the clusters of bonfires rising from the grassland also danced with the red glow on the horizon.

Nibbling on roast lamb leg and drinking mare's milk wine, beside the fire at nightfall, Xia Shuanghan, who knew that drinking should be stopped in moderation, was slightly red with a confused smiling face stained by alcohol, singing songs and beating beats for the Rong girls singing and dancing in the camp.

"Brother Shixuan, aren't you going to get involved?" Under the swaying firelight, Ba Liya, who failed to invite Lin Xiran to dance, turned her gaze to Lu Shaoyun, who was sitting next to Xia Shuanghan, "Brother Shixuan, it doesn't matter if Brother Jiran doesn't dance, but you can't dance if you don't dance." Didn't you hear Sister Shuang Han say that according to tradition, at the wedding of the Rong people, the bride and groom are to dance for the guests after the ceremony. So, aren't you really going to take advantage of this opportunity to practice your dance moves? ”

"How can such a thing happen?" Glancing at Xia Shuanghan beside him, who had never mentioned dancing to him at all, Lu Shaoyun only felt that one head was two big.

"Don't worry, the dance at the wedding has been those few movements for a hundred years, and you can learn it in one night." Looking at Lu Shaoyun's appearance as if he was facing a great enemy, he always thought that it was not difficult to learn to dance, so he planned to wait for his leg injury to heal, and then talk to him about dancing Xia Shuanghan smiled: "If you are really worried, why don't you let Baliya teach you first?" ”

"This ......" surrounded the open space of the bonfire, and the people who indulged in singing and immersed in the joyful atmosphere could not care whether Lu Shaoyun, who was a Han Chinese, danced well or not. Therefore, Lu Shaoyun, who has never danced since he was a child, and wants to make the wedding perfect in the future, decided to follow Xia Shuanghan's advice and learn from Baliya first.

"If I'm really bad at dancing, you can wait for my leg to heal and practice hard with me!" Drinking the last sip of mare's milk wine in his hand, Lu Shaoyun, who glanced at Xia Shuanghan with a little complaint, put down the empty wine glass in his hand and stood up, and followed Baliya to walk away a few steps to learn dance steps.

Just a moment later, when Lu Shaoyun returned to Xia Shuanghan's side after following Baliya to learn the wedding dance steps that were indeed not very difficult, he didn't expect that there would be an uninteresting young man who was asking Xia Shuanghan for the colorful ribbon that he hadn't had time to come over.

"Brother, didn't you learn from the storyteller that she already had a sweetheart and was going to marry soon, when you heard your grandfather who lived in Naming Village tell me about Frost Cold's rescue of Chagape?"

Facing the young man in front of him, saying that he admired Xia Shuanghan's bravery and fearlessness when he rescued people and his outstanding performance in the horse race this afternoon, and then wanted to replace Xia Shuanghan's colored silk with the yellow silk in his hand, Lu Shaoyun directly untied the colored silk on Xia Shuanghan's arm with the majesty of swearing sovereignty, and tied the red silk in his arms.

"I'm sorry brother, the girl Xia in your mouth is already famous, and she will marry me soon!"

The nomadic young man, who learned that the girl he liked was already famous, took a moment to adjust his emotions, and then gave a proper blessing, and turned away.

And Lu Shaoyun, who was dissatisfied with himself but had just left for a short while, Xia Shuanghan "provoked" a rival in love with him by "attracting bees and butterflies", then pinched Xia Shuanghan's cheeks angrily, and said with a broken face: "Can you let me save some snacks?" ”

"I'm just wronged!" Xia Shuanghan, whose eyes were shining and his expression was crying and laughing, said: "I have already told you about the custom of asking for ribbons, you are not fast enough to start yourself, so why did it become my fault if you asked others to take the lead?" ”

"Oh, is it? It seems that if I don't hurry up, I can't marry you home as soon as possible! Lu Shaoyun, who was helpless by Xia Shuanghan's rebuttal, reached out and grabbed the waist of the people around him, and took her out of the camp of the bonfire party with half support and half hug, and said: "Since you have eaten and drunk enough, then go home with me first." You can't dance anyway, go home and go to bed early and get up early to help your wounds heal. ”

In the next few days, Xia Shuanghan and Lu Shaoyun, who were busy preparing for the wedding, did not go to the celebration arena outside the village to participate in the battle or watch the battle. And Lin Xiran, who used the excuse that he wanted to contribute to his cousin's wedding, and had never left the village much, hurriedly began to familiarize himself with the incomplete map of the internal passage of Qiuzi Mountain drawn by Xia Shuanghan.

Regarding this map, although it was incomplete, it would come in handy in the next few months, although Lin Xiran could indeed see from his handwriting that the map was made by Xia Shuanghan, but due to Lu Shaoyun's request, he did not ask Xia Shuanghan to dig into the origin of the map.

The temptation in the vast mountains nearly six months ago and the relationship between them in the past six months have made Lin Xiran divide Xia Shuanghan into the category of friends who can definitely be trusted in his consciousness. In addition, with a good brother like Lu Shaoyun on the side, Lin Xiran was very confused and curious about this incomplete map, but he still suppressed the desire to find out in his heart.

On the ninth day of September, it is the day after the five-day celebration ends.

On this day, as a prospective groom who had not yet proposed to his sweetheart, Lu Shaoyun, who had turned over with a bow and arrow, went out of the village to the wilderness where the brightly colored fire fox was most often haunted under the leadership of Umar, who had already proposed marriage. Needless to say, the purpose of his trip was naturally to lay a fire fox skin for Xia Shuanghan.

At the same time, Xia Shuanghan, who has basically healed from his leg injury, rinses his clothes with Umar's fiancée, Lidilu, on the third floor of the layered well.

On a sunny afternoon, Lu Shaoyun, who had hunted a fire fox in the way of "eye-to-eye" as he wished, returned to the village with three or four young men who had gone out hunting with his peers. In addition to the prey, they brought back from the wilderness outside the village a young man who had been bitten by a poisonous snake.

"What? You say that the young man is Umar's long-lost brother Ugal? Xia Shuanghan, who learned from Lu Shaoyun that the young man who was bitten by a poisonous snake was Umar's younger brother, was so surprised that he stopped what he was doing. She put the dried clothes she had received into the clothes basket and asked in amazement, "Is that young man really Ugal?" ”

Umar said yes. In the yard where clothes and sheets were drying, Lu Shaoyun said while handling the fox skin that had been peeled off on his hands: "When Umar helped him treat his wounds, he accidentally saw the birthmark on his body. ”

According to Lu Shaoyun, when he and Umar and his party found Ugal, Ugar had been bitten by a poisonous snake. For a man who was alone in the wasteland and did not yet carry the antidote to snake venom, if Ugar hadn't happened to meet Lu Shaoyun and them, who were out hunting, then he would definitely die.

And the reason why Ugal, who had been lost for many years, so coincidentally appeared in the wasteland more than ten miles away from Naming Village was entirely because he was on the way to Naming Village to find his relatives.

Ugal said that all these years he has lived on the steppe with his adoptive parents and their children, living a standard nomadic life. In his memory, although he remembered that he was separated from his own brother due to the raids of the Mobei people, he was still very young at the time of separation, and he had no idea where he should go to find his only remaining relatives in the vast grassland. ”

Over the years, in order not to grieve his adoptive parents and worry his siblings, Ugal has not been able to inquire about his brother's whereabouts. It wasn't until two years ago, when his adoptive parents passed away one after another, that he left the grassland and stepped into the town, that he was finally able to find out about his brother. ”

"A few days ago, during the celebration, in a town a hundred miles away, Ugal stumbled upon the situation of Umar from the regular inhabitants of the town's merchants. Thinking that he had a good chance of finding his brother's whereabouts, he didn't even have time to finish the celebration, so he hurriedly packed his bags and went to Naming Village. ”

"It's just that on the way here, he almost lost his life because of a snake bite." Lu Shaoyun, who said this, put down the fox skin in his hand and sighed: "It's okay, it's okay, if Umar hadn't taken me to that area to fight the fire fox today, Ugal, who died of poison, was afraid that he would have become the rations of the beasts." ”

...... "According to you, isn't the reason why Ugal was able to reunite with his brother in this life is due to me?" If I hadn't wanted Firefox Skin, you and Umar wouldn't be in that wasteland today; If you hadn't visited there today, Ugar wouldn't have been saved.

So in this way, did Ugal in his previous life die in the wilderness before he met his brother because he was bitten by a snake and couldn't save himself?

I deeply feel that in the dark, all the summer frosts and colds destined by heaven have received memories and thoughts about the past life in the back of my mind. After all, for her, although it is gratifying for her friends to find her long-lost relatives, this incident has little impact on her. (To be continued.) )