v In the vast Kazakh steppe, a grand wedding is being held.

Because it had just rained, the boundless sky was like a freshly dyed blue cloth, dazzlingly transparent, and it seemed extraordinarily deep, open and far-reaching. The white clouds and milky white mist, mixed with wisps of water vapor, with its charming magic, floated around the beautiful mountains and peaks, adding infinite softness to the heaven and earth. Although some of the valleys still have residual snow, the delicate grass, bright flowers, and bright green leaves exude a charming and delicate beauty.

And just between the blue sky and the white clouds, the figures of several huge airships are particularly eye-catching.

Next to the jasper-like spring, a huge new and gorgeous yurt was erected.

It was now close to evening, and the whole grassland was immersed in a soft and warm atmosphere, like a calm lake shrouded in a transparent layer of saman. The crisp air was filled with a strange fragrance, and groups of Kazakh girls with long braids and fluttering colorful clothes, with the heartfelt joy of being liberated from the oppression of foreign races, came to the lawn in front of the yurt with sweet smiles, like clusters of flowers, clustered around this "new house". The young men wore the national costumes with gold edges that were not often worn in recent years, with a rough and heroic spirit unique to the grassland, full of pride and passion, holding each other's shoulders and singing together. By this time, the groom in full costume had already greeted the door, let the guests into the yurt from the left, and generously distributed sweets such as sweets and cheese to the guests and relatives. According to the customs of the Kazakh people, the right side of the yurt is a place to store food, cook and tie young animals, and it is forbidden to enter, the upper right is the bed of the elders, and the lower left room is the residence of the younger ones.

"Happy bridegroom, look at the glint on your forehead, what a blessing to be able to marry such a beautiful girl!" Someone is saying words of blessing.

"This is because the bride's song has attracted auspicious clouds, and it is by the favor of the gods that everyone gathers together today." The bridegroom replied happily.

At this time, the eight-wing yurt room was crowded, and in the incomparably lively atmosphere, there were joyful touches everywhere. The laughter of the girls like silver bells, the wild banter of the boys, the rigorous and gentle conversation of the old people, and the unbridled frolic of the boys, formed waves of joy, and the fragrance of milk tea, the smoke of iron skewer barbecue, and the steaming heat of the meat pot were mixed together.

The eight-wing yurt room shone with jujube light in the soft sunset, and Yang Shuoming stood in the yurt, looking at this new house full of ethnic customs, as if in a dream.

For Yang Shuoming, it was the first time in his life – in his previous life or in his present life – that he had set foot on the Kazakh steppe and came into contact with the hospitable, friendly and kind people here.

In the ornate yurt room, a flower felt is lined in the center, and on both sides is lined with straw curtains connected by red thread ropes, and a few suppressed young yellow grasses stubbornly drill out from the junction at both ends of the carpet. Flowery satin quilts, duck down embroidered pillows and gaudy felts sparkle with dazzling brilliance, layered on the bed. On the birch chest with shell patterns there is a shining table clock, and on the stand hangs a black and shiny double-barreled shotgun, a short knife engraved with delicate patterns, a horsewhip wrapped in red and bright copper wire, a silver-encrusted bridle, a soft fox skin, a white velvet lambskin, and a shiny bear skin. On the grass next to the stove, there is rough gray felt and polished wolf skin, which is the usual place to sit on the milk tea tray. The round skylight's blanket is half-pulled and half-covered, and wisps of green smoke rise in the sun, filling the new house with a warm and harmonious atmosphere.

There was a commotion at the door, and Yang Shuoming followed the prestige, only to see the bridegroom grab a fat white sheep, drag it into the yurt, respectfully deliver it to the mullah, bend down deeply, and ask for baptism and prayer. Wearing a collarless cardigan coat with white hair and drooping chest, the mullah stroked her long gray beard and a peaceful smile in her eyes, stroking the back of the fat sheep. In Yang Shuoming's opinion, his serious solemnity was a bit pretentious, and his mouth was muttering thoughtfully. After an auspicious prayer to indicate that the fat sheep has been baptized according to Islamic customs, the white sheep is dragged out and slaughtered.

And before the official wedding, a group of fierce and brave riders have already begun a drunken carnival. Wielding whips on their wrists, they shook their shoulders, their bodies swayed, they bumped against each other, swirled around the yurt, and sang old songs aloud. Their vocals are rough and bold, with a hint of dullness in the voice, some indistinct, and no obvious rhythm. The singing came and went, like a group of fierce tigers running out of the mountains and forests, and it was like a sudden wind roaring, and the agitated and unrestrained feelings seemed to tear the heart and rush out. In the midst of the mixed singing, the riders are crooked, and you hug him, with drunken excitement, and after a whirlwind of whirlwinds around the yurt, you sandwich the bridegroom in it, like a torrent that sweeps him into the depths of the prairie.

A bright moon gradually rose from the treetops, leaving a faint layer of clear light, the high sky, like a quiet sea, there is no surging cloud shadow, the accustomed breeze is cool, the quiet night, that is, gentle and soft, quiet and peaceful, and so deep and unfathomable wrapped in the shadows of the rows of poplar trees, as hazy and blurry as a dream.

Yang Shuoming had never imagined that people could live so well in this vast grassland.

"Welcome distinguished guests from afar, eagles in the sky, from the far mainland of the motherland, to come here and be with all of us to celebrate this beautiful day." The voice of Eric, the local Kazakh chieftain, pulled Yang Shuoming back from his thoughts.

"I thought you were going to have a wedding for your son in the city." Yang Shuoming looked at the groom full of joy and said with a smile.

"The bride is a lark on the prairie, and a lark cannot leave the prairie. I asked that his wedding be held on the steppe and not in the city, which is not only an ancient custom, but also contains the friendship and blessings of everyone, so I cannot go against the wishes of the herdsmen, and I hope that they will understand that they must always be with you, just as you, the eagle in the sky, cannot leave the sky. Eric pointed to the sky and said with a smile.

Yang Shuoming couldn't help but laugh when he knew that the plane on the airship had fallen from the sky to give the tribal leader too much stimulation.

Night soon fell, and around the meadow, a series of connected woolen felt were spread, and three roaring bonfires were lit in the middle. The men all sit cross-legged with their hands on their knees, while the women sit on their knees, and their knees are completely aligned and cannot be shaken arbitrarily, so they appear very restrained. The respected old people, without squinting, sit in the middle, making the atmosphere of the wedding particularly solemn. At this time, the white tablecloth was filled with sumptuous food, including fatty mutton, smoked horse legs, yellow ghee, soft hot naan, crispy fried fruits, greasy toffee, and sweet and sour milk gnocchi. A middle-aged woman knelt on a wolf skin beside a bonfire with a copper kettle, busily and calmly handing bowls of hot milk tea. People drank fragrant milk tea slowly like wine tasting, and their foreheads were dripping with oily sweat.

The bride finally appeared in front of the people. She was dressed up very pretty. She was tall, light and plump, with two long golden braids dragging behind her back. She wears a pair of small, delicate riding boots in dark red on her feet. Her legs were covered with transparent flesh-colored stockings (a gift from Yang Shuoming), and a thin pink skirt wrapped around her delicate body like a cloud. The black velvet shoulders adorned with sparkling pearls tightly wrapped around her slightly bulging breasts, and with every shake, they shimmered with a silver glow. She had a beautiful breast-length turban on her head and fell into the mullah's arms. Gently embraced by the mullah and accompanied by a group of young women, he staggered out of the yurt.

The bride came to the lawn with infinite shyness, and sat cross-legged next to the groom. She lowered her graceful head, looking gentle and submissive. The groom looked at the charming bride, his eyebrows revealing unconcealed joy, his eyes flashing with happiness, and his face condensed with a dreamy smile.

The ceremony begins with the young man scattering handfuls of sweets on the bridegroom and handfuls of petals on the bride's head. At this time, the mullah, who had a tuft of cashmere eyebrows and a dignified demeanor, with the usual pious expression, broke a ghee naan in half, dipped it in milk tea, handed half to the bride, and asked gently: "Hehe, Parida, do you love your fiancé?" ”

"I love him." The bride replied with some embarrassment, firm and sweet. She tried hard to remain calm and self-controlled, but she could not hide the joy of accepting the newlywed, she suppressed the churning feelings in her heart, trembled her slender fingers slightly, took half of the naan in the mullah's hand, slowly put it in her mouth, and took a bite gently.

The mullah nodded quietly, turned around again, still with that solemn expression on his face, dipped half of the naan into the milk tea, and said to the groom unchanged: "Hehe, brave rider, handsome groom, do you love your fiancée?" ”

"I love her!"

Although the bridegroom answered mechanically according to religious rituals, his voice was unusually loud, implying an irrepressible cheerfulness, as if boiling New Year's milk was about to overflow. He hurriedly took half of the naan into his hand, eagerly stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed it greedily, as if he was afraid that someone would reach out and snatch it away. Then, with his eyes slightly closed, the mullah stroked his long beard with a calm demeanor, gently stroked the top of the bride's and groom's heads, smiled lovingly, muttered something indistinctly, and reverently and satisfactorily completed his blessing. It seems that his prayers have the power of the gods, and can subdue demons and subdue demons, so that the young man will always be happy and happy. In short, all this seems to have an ancient solemnity and a sacred religious overtone.

Yang Shuoming watched the mullah's movements, and he couldn't help but smile secretly in his heart as a non-believer.

Immediately, a handsome girl came over and unveiled the bride's "hijab" with a smile. When Yang Shuoming saw her face, he, who already had a strong immunity to beauties, was still slightly shocked by the bride's beauty

It was a beautiful and plump face, soaked in purple-red luster, with elongated black eyebrows that curved to the sideburns, and two emerald earrings hanging from the ear wheels, which were matched by the brilliant pearlescent light on the chest. The blue and clear eyes covered by the long eyelashes flickered timidly, revealing an expression of shyness and joy.

To the accompaniment of Dongbula, the duet at the wedding began. This duet is composed of two men and two women, one in the lead role and one in the supporting role.

"There are thousands of flowers on the grassland, but the roses are the most fragrant, and there are thousands of girls on the grassland, but only you are the loveliest."

When a young man finished singing, a girl began to sing:

"There are thousands of horses on the grassland, but the horses are as fast as lightning, and there are thousands of young men on the grassland, but only you are the most missed."

"There are thousands of stars in the sky, but the Big Dipper is the brightest, and the eyes of the girls on the grassland are tens of millions, but only your eyes are the most beautiful."

"There are thousands of clouds in the sky, only the colorful clouds are the most brilliant, and the hearts of the young men on the grassland are tens of thousands, but only your heart is the most open."

The clear and beautiful singing voice deeply touched Yang Shuoming's heartstrings, and in front of his eyes, the beautiful figure that haunted his dreams suddenly appeared.

Unconsciously, another shadow appeared in front of him, making him can't help but let out a wry smile in his heart.

The song flowed like a waterfall, throwing a cloud with music into the distant sky, filling this misty and peaceful night with indescribable joy. The girls sang sweetly, the boys sang intoxicated, a kind of ethereal artistic conception, so that all people could not help but revel in the dizziness of happiness and the obsession of carnival.

After the duet, the young people began to dance, their dance was bold and graceful, rough and delicate, strong and gentle, so that Yang Shuoming deeply felt the unique charm of this ancient nation.

The Kazakh people have been active in the Altai Mountains, the Tianshan Mountains, the Ili River Valley, and Lake Issyk-Kul in northwestern China since BC, and are one of the ancient developers and operators of the "Silk Road". It has a deep relationship with the ancient ethnic groups of Wusun (Western Han Dynasty, 2nd century BC ~ 2nd century BC), Turkic (mid-6th century), Qarluq, Uighur (10th century ~ 12th century), Ha Thorn Khitan (12th century), Kereh, Naiman, Kipchak (late 12th century ~ 13th century) and other ancient peoples who ruled the area around the present-day Ili River Valley and Issyk-Kul Lake. Its ethnic origins are mainly composed of the ancient Wusun, Kangju, Xiancha people and the Sai and Dayue clans originally in the Central Asian steppe, and the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Rouran, Turkic, Tiele, Khitan, Mongolian and other Cypriot people who entered this area later (their main ethnic sources are the Sai species, Yueshi, Wusun, Xiongnu, Kangju, Xiancha, Kereh, Kepchak and other Cypriot people are one of the main ethnic sources of the Kazakh people. In 60 B.C., the Han Dynasty set up the "Duhufu" in the Western Regions, mainly to form an alliance with the Wusun State, which was related to the Kazakh origins. After the joint defeat of the Xiongnu, the vast lands east and south of Lake Balkhash and up to the Pamirs were incorporated into the Chinese territory. According to the Chinese historical records, the Sai people were called "Yunrong", who lived in Dunhuang, and were later excluded by the Yueshi and moved westward, nomadic in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, including the vast area from the Altai Mountains to the east and south of Lake Balkhash; Wusun has always been considered to be the main tribe of the Kazakh people, it was nomadic in the Hexi Corridor of China BC, and later occupied the land of the original Sai people in the Ili River Valley, and merged with the local Sai and Da Yue clans to form the Wusun State; In fact, there are many descendants of the Huns in the Kazakh ethnic group, and most of the areas inhabited by the Kazakhs today were under the control of the Huns; Kangju is an ancient country more than 2,000 years ago, living in a vast area between the west of Lake Balkhash and the Aral Sea and north of the Syr Darya River. Amcai, also known as "Alan", is a nomadic and agricultural tribe, and is the main tribe that constitutes the Kazakh "Little Yuz"; The Kereh was a populous and powerful ancient Turkic tribe that was forced to move west to the Kazakh steppes west of the Altai Mountains when Genghis Khan seized most of its territory. Among the modern Kazakhs, there are still tribes that retain the names of the ancient people mentioned above. Some foreign scholars have believed that the name "Kazakh" first appeared in the early 15th century. According to folk legends about the white goose, it is believed that Kazakhstan means "white goose". Some scholars believe that Kazakh is a synonym for the ancient Chinese "Hosa", "Asa" or "Khazar". Others interpret Kazakhs as "fighters", "free people", "asylum seekers", "seized". In the first half of the 13th century, Genghis Khan gave his four sons all the hooves of the Mongols from Asia to Europe. The eldest son, Jochi, received the Kipchak steppes and established the Golden Horde. Soon, due to the division of the households, a new situation of secession was created. Urudor took a portion of present-day eastern Kazakhstan and established the "White Horde", which became powerful in the 14th century, unifying the entire Golden Horde. In the 20s of the 15th century, the Uzbek Khanate appeared in the eastern part of the Golden Horde. In 1456 (the seventh year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty), Kereh and Ganibek led their tribes east to secede from the Uzbek Khanate. This group of people is called Kazakhs, which means "refuge" or "detached". The Kazakhs established the Kazakh Khanate and lived in peace and tranquility.

(To be continued)