It's just May, and summer can't wait. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Under the sea of clouds, the coolness of the early morning does not last, it is only early summer, and the sun has shown its power. It was almost past noon, and the water vapor was nowhere to be found, and the floating dust filled every crevice of the city, making the market look sticky and dull. It's like mead, Ah Ya thought, because it's so sweet that it's hard to swallow. Even cats, who like to crouch on the walls and bask in the sun, hide in the shadows of buildings and streets.

The new leaves of the mulberry tree, which were born about two months ago, quickly grew into palm-sized and layered trees, which can already cover the sky between the branches. The sun, which had been mild only ten days ago, was now burning on the back, so hot that it almost couldn't even wear the blue robe.

In the shadow cast by the sunlight on a few tall camphor trees, Ayu was packing her belongings. Probably because it was too hot, this young man born in the Yellow Sea solemnly put his deep robe on the wooden box, and his upper body was only sloppy with a white linen middle single, revealing his dark and strong arms. This way of wearing, it is said that in this season, it is still somewhat thin.

But this summer, too, came too early.

The show a few days ago ended with the arrival of demons. Halfway through the performance, I don't know where the shouts of "demons are coming" came from, people ran out of Zhu Jing's tent in a panic, the scene was out of control to the point of indescribable, the crowd ran in all directions, and a serious stampede almost occurred, Zhu Jing tried his best to maintain order, and the degree of their efforts in that case was only meagre due to the sparse number of people. The cries of terror came one after another, and some people were so exhausted that they could no longer run, and had to lie down in the dusty clearing.

Because of this, the Zhu Jing troupe composed of Huang Zhu Zhimin had to leave Aoshuang early. If they had only heard about it before, now they have determined that even Aoshuang, the capital of Qiaoguo, will not be able to escape the fate of the demons after the death of the previous Ho King.

The former Ho King, who was afraid that Qiaoguo would become even worse than Qingguo, actually hunted down and killed the Qingguo Fetal Fruit Monarch who had not yet ascended the throne at that time, and the stupid deeds of losing his way because of this spread throughout the Twelve Kingdoms.

There are people in the troupe who like to talk about the market, so it is really appropriate to say that the former pickaxe king is called the wrong king.

Because of the riots, the situation with the props is quite not optimistic. Scattered and repaired props were piled up in a tent by the way. The time to set off was imminent, and Ah Yan, who was in charge of sorting out the props, had to reclassify the chaotic props and pack them up in the sun.

Zhu Jing, the leader of the team, has already decided to go on the road in two days and go to Qingguo.

Although a few years ago it was still a chaotic and dilapidated country with rampant demons, but now that King Jing has ascended the throne, compared to the withered and impoverished neighbor Qiaoguo, the originally poor Qingguo, although it has not been rich in recent years, even if it is somewhat reluctant, it can fill its stomach. Today, most of the Qiaomin are still vying to go to Sokook first, but some people have chosen to flee to Qingguo.

In short, no one wants to stay in Qiaozhou, where the future is bleak and unpredictable.

"Ahh A thin and calm young man's voice sounded behind Zhu Jing.

"Su Jue." Ah Yan pointed to the remaining half of the luggage that still needed to be packed, "There is still nothing to do." ”

Perhaps knowing that he was going to help, Su Jue tied his two sleeves with his arms. He put the bits and pieces back into the jujube box and talked to Ah Yan.

Chen Yanyi said that he had to pack his luggage before dinner. Su Jue rolled up the colorful flags, tied them tightly with the hemp rope prepared in advance, and relayed the words of Zhu Jing, who was known as the housekeeper in the troupe, to Ah Yan.

"Just in time." After answering briefly, Ah Yan locked the last box after counting, turned around and helped Su Jue put the bundled bunting into the sack, and when the last bunting was properly tied in the sack, both of them heard the sound of the other's abdomen.

Ah Yan looked up at the sun and estimated the time a little: "It's not time...... he called Su Jue, "Don't worry about that pile of things, let's go find the cook." ”

"Uncle Cook has gone to the West Side." Su Jue stood up and patted the dust on his body, looked at his companion who was quite surprised, and said, "It is said that it is because there are not many crops left, and we must buy some more food to replenish it." ”

The staple food of Huang Zhu, 100 grains can be processed into a variety of grains, and after boiling, it will swell to six times as much as before, even if the taste may not be very good, but it can survive on this alone.

But now I actually heard that there are not many crops left, and other grains need to be replenished, anyway, as a member of Zhu Jing, Ah Yan was taken aback.

"Forget it," Su Jue persuaded Ah Yan, "Uncle Cook is not here, it's inconvenient to go and get food." What he meant was that if you were to be treated as a thief stealing food, it would be unlucky and unnecessary.

Ah Yan thought about it, and even if he was a little reluctant, he still agreed to his companion's steady suggestion.

Compared with Ah Yan, who is Zhu Jing, Su Jue is just a floating person picked up by the Huangzhu troupe called "Winged Tiger" on the way to wandering countries. There was no coupon, no documents that could prove his identity, lying down under a tree in the mountains, and when Zhu Jing of the Winged Tiger found him, he only had one breath left.

I don't know if it's lucky or unlucky, before picking up Su Jue, Zhu Jinggang lost a companion due to the attack of demons. "It's good to stay and help." Because of this thought, Huang Zhu, who originally thought that it would be a trouble to rescue the floating people, agreed to leave the floating people named "Su Jue" behind.

Some people also kindly told Su Jue that if he joined Huang Zhu, he would not be able to get land. Su Jue replied that more and more land was barren, and even if he got the land, it was useless.

"It's not bad to be Huang Zhu, you can see what the world is like." The black-haired, black-eyed boy who looked unusually thin replied to the leader of the Winged Tiger, "It's not that important. ”

Probably such a free and easy answer unexpectedly made the leader very satisfied, and the next night, the cooker who was in charge of cooking told Su Jue that he would be in charge of the management of props together with Ah Yan in the future.

"Anyway, I can still live." Although he is not very old, Su Jue, who is more knowledgeable than his peers, said with a smile and agreed to this errand.

Ah Yan compared the excessively thin young man in his memories with the person in front of him, although he was weak, but he was unexpectedly reassuring in getting along, even if it was Zhu Jing, whose life was turbulent, Huang Zhu's young man suddenly understood the importance of Wang very deeply.

"I wish I could settle down sooner, Qiaoguo." Sighing like an adult, Ah Yan stared at the pure black pupils of his companion, "Ah Jue, you also want a king, right?" ”

As if he didn't know what to expect, Su Jue just smiled and nodded yes, and then shifted his gaze to the clear blue sky.

"Wanting and getting are fundamentally different." The young floaters muttered to themselves.

The night dew was heavy, and not long after the ugly hour, the cooker woke up the two teenagers.

After quickly dressing and washing, Su Jue and Ah Ji yawned to help the cooker prepare breakfast and dry food, then extinguished the fire, carried the cooking pot to the car and tied it up, to ensure that it would not loosen on the road; Ah Yan went to confirm the situation of the prop box again, and Su Jue divided the steamed buns and cakes that had been cooled according to the number of people - before going to bed the night before, the leader said that they would not stay the next day, and they must leave Qiaoguo as soon as possible.

"What time is it now?" Uncle Cook's voice was tired and dry, and Su Jue looked at the sky and replied cautiously, "It's probably time for Yin, right?" He looked around, hoping to find Ah Yan, Su Jue was far less accurate than Ah Yan in terms of his grasp of the moment.

It was a little far away, but in the early hours of the morning, Ah Yan's voice still came clearly: "It's a moment." ”

By the faint light of the lantern, Su Jue gave a thumbs up to Ah Ya from afar.

Uncle Cook went to wake up the leader Huang Hu. Only a quarter of an hour later, the otherwise quiet camp was filled with human voices. The deliberately muffled voice, the dull coughing, the sound of washing water, the rubbing of the tarpaulin from the tent, and the occasional short laugh.

These voices merge with the deepest darkness before dawn, heralding the beginning of a new day.

2、

In any case, to save him from such unbearable hunger, Su Jue thanked this group of Huangzhu people who were wandering between the twelve kingdoms from the bottom of his heart.

Because of the relationship between getting up before dawn to help the cook, Huang Hu, the leader of the Winged Tiger, asked the two teenagers to sit in the carriage that pulled the props to catch up on sleep, "Children need to sleep more to grow taller." "A yellow tiger that looks like a giant tower moving a humanoid, and in contrast to its brutal appearance, it is a kind and welcoming heart. As the backbone of the troupe, unlike other adults in the troupe, he enjoys playing with the children in the troupe.

Although she was a little unwilling to be treated like a child, she was still happy to be able to get in a carriage without having to walk like everyone else. At first, he was very excited to chat with Su Jue, but it didn't take long for the sound of gentle breathing to sound.

Su Jue took the straw stalk he had pulled from outside the carriage in his mouth, and tore off the folded linoleum cloth to cover Ah Yan and himself—this was originally specially prepared to protect him from the rain. It was still dawn now, and Su Jue, who was only wearing a coarse linen middle top and a gray caftan brown, regretted throwing his luggage and others into the car in front of him.

He folded his hands behind his head and lay on his back on the bumpy carriage. The sky was still a deep inky color, but the stars had gradually faded, and only a few remained, and it was almost dawn. Su Jue closed his eyes, imagining that the originally deep night sky gradually brightened, and then broke through a line of fish belly white from the sky, the last darkness before dawn was pierced by the strong golden sunlight, almost in an instant, the color faded, replaced by a warm color that stained half of the sky, and before long, the brilliant and enthusiastic morning glow like garnet red will dye the sky, expelling the last trace of night.

It's just that when he opened his eyes, from east to west, from south to north, as if the sky of an upside-down cauldron was still stubborn Dai Zi, such a deep night drove away the clarity of his spiritual platform little by little, and finally only a thick sleepiness remained.

Finally, he closed his eyes and fell into the distant dark and sweet country.

“…… Jue, Ah Jue, Ah Jue! ”

The eyelids seemed to be glued together, unwilling to part, Su Jue covered his eyes with the back of his hand, and let out a moan like a sigh: "Ah? ”

"It's dawn."

Su Jue lifted the hard felt cloth and sat up, and a rare trace of warmth quickly dissipated in the cold morning air. He shuddered, and as far as he could see, the fog was thick and his clothes were wet. The travelers were silent, and the only sound of carriages could be heard on the road, interspersed with the sound of horses' hooves on the ground.

"Where are you now?"

"It's said that I've left Aoshuang, and now I should be somewhere in Xizhou."

After a brief conversation, the two seemed to have nothing to say. A crude piece of wood and a rudimentary carving knife came out of his pocket, and he had recently become obsessed with wood carving. It just so happened that there was someone in Zhu Jing who seemed to be quite good at this, and since then, in his spare time, Ah Ji has wasted a lot of time on wood carving.

He also asked Su Jue if he wanted to learn together, and the floating boy shook his head with a smile, "I, it seems that I have never been good at this kind of handicraft before." He told Ah Yan very honestly.

And not only Ah Jue, but also quite a few people in Zhu Jing think that Su Jue is probably not good at this kind of work that requires hands. A friend of Ah Yan's age in the troupe once discussed with him the origin of this floating man.

Although thin, he is tall and tall, his skin is pale from the sun for a long time, his palms are weak, and there are thin calluses on the knuckles of his right hand that are not very obvious. Although every child will at least enter primary school, Zhu Jing believes that Su Jue's level is definitely not only in primary school, but even itchy.

"It must be the child of a rich family." In the end, my friend came to this conclusion.

Ah Yan couldn't refute it. Although he felt that the gentle and steady Su Jue was completely different from the rich man who was high up and never looked at Zhu Jing directly.

"If he is really the young master of a rich family, then why did he still fall in the mountains? It is said that he almost starved to death. This question is not only curious, it should be said that all Zhu Jing is very curious.

However, for Zhu Jing, the people of Huang Zhu were originally floating people who abandoned their country and past and struggled to survive in the land of the Yellow Sea. Although they were curious about Su Jue's identity, they also cautiously kept silent.

The morning mist, which was so thick that no one could see it clearly, was diluted by the sunlight, and now it was as thin as a gauze curtain. Ah Yan put a third of the carved wood and carving knife into a small bag made of animal skin, and beckoned Su Jue to fold the felt cloth and put it away. Too hard and too wide, for them who are still teenagers, it is indeed a bit reluctant to fold alone.

In the fields on both sides of the road, you can finally see farmers working in twos and threes.

"It looks like a village up ahead." Ah Yan put up a pergola with his hand and squinted for a while, "It doesn't look like much." ”

Su Jue also raised his hand in front of him as he imitated, just like Ah Jue said, the village is indeed not big. He counted them, but not even a mile. The buildings look almost no color other than yellow, the thatch is withered yellow, the mud walls are dirty and yellow, and even the windows are covered with a thin layer of loess.

"Huang Hu said that he wouldn't stop throughout the day, right?" The implication is that the size of the village has nothing to do with the troupe.

Ah Yan smiled and explained to Su Jue: "Although this is the case, the horse can't do it, right? The horses have to rest, drink water and graze, because the road is long, and the general forage cannot feed the horses at all, so at this time they have to feed black beans and oats. In this way, the horse will have strength and will not fall ill after a long journey. ”

Su Jue looked a little surprised, "So that's the case?" I thought I would go to the dark in one go. ”

"If you don't stay, you mean you can't make a fire to cook, right? It's true that if you want to make a fire, it's too troublesome. Finding clean water, collecting firewood, making a fire for cooking, and wasting precious salt......" Ah Yan added, of course, hot rice is better.

The troupe's convoy stopped at a distance from the village, and the Zhu Jing could already see that the entrance to the village had been blocked by rejected horses, young men with dung forks and sickles were standing guard on both sides of the road, and several young men dressed as hunters had put feathered arrows on the bowstring.

Someone in the distance shouted, "Who are you?" ”

Huang Hu also replied loudly, letting the voice pass, "We are Zhu Jing!" ”

There seemed to be some commotion over there, as if they were discussing whether to believe Huang Hu's words. Then Su Jue saw an old man come out.

"Can you take a look at the coupon?"

As if he had been prepared, Huang Hu asked the cook to send his voucher over for the other party to check. Su Jue guessed that the leader was too scary because of his appearance, and if there was, it should be the reason why Zhu Jing subconsciously protected the leader.

The other party should have believed Huang Hu's words. The young man put away his agricultural tools as weapons and moved away from the horses that blocked the road.

When the carriage passed by, Su Jue took a special look at the rejection horse that was hastily nailed by a few pieces of wood, just as he thought, such a rejection horse could only be used as a prop, and had almost no practical value. Probably a shoddy imitation of the villagers themselves after seeing the style of the army.

Li Zai discussed with Huang Hu, and he agreed to the troupe's request to rest in the village, and also agreed to the villagers selling forage and grain to Zhu Jing. But the premise is that Zhu Jing can't wander around the village. Although it was said very tactfully, the other party obviously hoped that when the troupe was in the village, it was better not to go anywhere.

As a result, except for the few people who traded with the villagers, everyone else was bored and stayed in the carriage.

Ah Yan and Su Jue whispered: "The people of Qiaoguo especially hate seafarers and mountain guests, and even Zhu Jing is hated with them. ”

Su Jue was a little surprised, he could understand the reason why the people of Qiaoguo hated seafarers and mountain guests, but Zhu Jing?

"The city is fine, after all, well-informed. The biggest headache is such a small village," Ah Yan said to several villagers who stood around the troupe's carriage, intentionally or unintentionally, "Most of them think that Zhu Jing is a thief and a bandit." ”

That seems to be the case. Su Jue followed Ah Yan's line of sight, and the entire village except for the old man he saw at the beginning, that is, later Li Zai, there was almost, no, not a single young woman, a child, and other old people at all. The young men who had just begun to appear were completely nowhere to be seen, except for a few people standing near their carriage.

The whole village is filled with a silent and stubborn prejudice, which cannot be seen or heard, which means that it does not exist. Those nasty things and people, whether they are mountain guests, sea visitors, or Zhu Jing troupe like Huang Zhu Zhimin, or even disasters and demons, as long as they close their eyes and plug their ears, they can act as if nothing happened.

Just like the current Qiaoguo. (To be continued.) )