Chapter 40: Near Death
"Ahh With the cooperation of Ma Li'er's scream, Yang Ling finished telling "The Record of Unjust Ghosts", hey! There is a real sense of accomplishment, Ma Lian'er shrank in horror, like a little quail, and finally saved a little face for "Journey to the West".
Yang Ling smiled with satisfaction and looked at the entrance of the clear cave, although there was no sunlight yet, but there was a hint of early morning breath in the cold air.
Ma Li'er was still shivering in her robe, maybe she was frozen, or she was frightened, Yang Ling patted her on the shoulder funny, and said, "It's dawn, we survived."
"It's dawn?" Ma Li'er poked her head out of his bosom and looked greedily at the clear light at the mouth of the cave. It's good when it's dawn, and you're not afraid when it's dawn, I know a lot about this damn showman's story, but it's too refreshing.
Yang Ling smiled secretly in his heart, and talked about the improved version of "Ghost Resentment", "Cherry Blossom Soul", and "17 Boys' Dormitory" for one night, to be honest, even he was a little hairy.
Noticing a smile on his lips, Ma Li'er glanced at him hatefully, and said angrily, "Did you do it on purpose?" ”
Yang Ling was stunned, her attitude was not quite right, maybe she had been lying in her arms for too long, one side of her cheeks was pressed red, and her hair was scattered, adding a bit of moving charm, like a wife who had just gotten up coquettishly, and her coquettish expression was very moving.
Yang Ling hurriedly turned his head, moved his numb limbs, and slowly got out of the snow nest. The night is like a net in the fisherman's hand, slowly disturbing, the sky and the earth are silver-gray, the sun has not yet come out, but the sky is already a little white.
It's so cold, it's cold, there's not a ray of sunshine, and for the hungry, it's like going to hell, and you can't tell where you are, and you can't even tell the direction of the snow-covered mountains and forests without sunlight.
Ma Li'er also got out of the snow nest, looked around, and said happily: "Fortunately, it's not a cloudy day, although the sun hasn't come out, you can see the southeast and northwest, follow me, as long as we get out of the forest, we have hope to go back."
It is impossible for the two of them to stay up in the mountains and forests for another night, and they must leave as soon as possible while they still have the strength. After a night of sleepiness, their physical strength was not as good as before, so the two had to support each other, and slowly walked along a frozen stream with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Ma Li'er walked side by side with him, like a pair of partners walking through the snow to find plum blossoms.
The stream is no longer visible, and the thick snow covers it like a road winding through the mountains and forests, except for the occasional ridge of ice rising from the shore, reminding people that this was once a joyful rushing stream. The breeze gusted, blowing the snow foam from the trees into people's necks, and occasionally the sound of birds flying by in the trees in a daze.
After walking for most of the hour, the two of them came out of the dense forest and came to a sparsely wooded snowy slope. Looking up, stretching from west to northeast, the mountains that are not too high are scattered and undulating, except for the gray and black trunks of the trees, the mountains are full of white and vast silver world.
The first rays of sunlight burst out, bringing a hint of warmth to the two of them. The two of them were about to continue walking forward in one go, when a squirrel jumped past them, made a line of shallow footprints in the endless snow, and dragged its big furry tail into a snow hole.
Ma Li'er was overjoyed, hurriedly shook off Yang Ling's hand, ran over happily, lay on the snow and watched for a while, and then picked it up with her hands regardless of the cold. Yang Ling smiled bitterly and followed, and said helplessly: "Miss, are you still catching squirrels to play at this time?" ”
Ma Li'er lay there like a puppy shaving snow, and said with a sigh: "Big fool, help me dig it, there must be food in the squirrel hole, a squirrel hole can produce several catties of food, dig it out, even if we can't get out today, we won't be hungry."
Yang Ling slapped his head, dropped the stick in his hand to help dig it up, the two of them first removed the snow, and pried the stick three times before digging the frozen soil, the squirrel had already escaped from the other hole, its burrow was very deep, Yang Ling reached in, his cheeks were rubbed all over the mud, and he took out many dried fruits such as hazelnuts, millet seeds, and hawthorn as he wished.
The two men excitedly knelt on the snow and examined the loot. Yang Ling picked up two millet seeds, wiped them on the placket, and handed one to Ma Li'er, and the two greedily gnawed off the peel and chewed the frozen corn [***] with a gurgling sound.
Yang Ling looked at Ma Li'er with a smile, chewing a mouthful of sweetness, and was about to praise her a few words, when he suddenly saw Ma Li'er's face change greatly, becoming snow-white, Yang Ling followed her frightened gaze and looked behind him, and his heart suddenly sank. Wolf! There were four wolves, bigger and more vigorous than the one I had seen yesterday.
The four wolves took brisk steps, pressing towards the two step by step, Yang Ling Huoran stood up, the four wolves approached step by step in a triangle, the white fangs and ferocious eyes were terrifying.
Ma Li'er also trembled and got up, looked desperately at the approaching wild wolves, and suddenly shouted: "Yang Ling! ”
Yang Ling was pulled by a strong force and turned around, and was met by Ma Li'er's swollen red face and those eyes that didn't know what emotions they contained. She pounced over, hugged Yang Ling tightly, and said in a trembling voice: "Yang Ling, hold me!" She hugged Yang Ling tremblingly, breathing rapidly and searching for his lips.
The four wolves paused slightly because of the strange behavior of the two creatures, and the first wolf let out a low howl of threat, and then gradually increased its pace, fifteen zhang, ten zhang, five zhang, and entered the prelude to the hunt, its strong and powerful hind legs shrank, and it was about to take off into the air.
At this moment, there was a "clang" sound of the bow, and a sharp arrow flew out of nowhere, and pierced through the belly of the head wolf with a pop. The force of the arrow was great, and the cluster of arrows drilled out and plunged into the snow, and the wolf let out a long howl, and his limbs trembled and fell to the snow, and the blood quickly stained red.
Because of this miserable howl, Yang Ling and the two of them turned their heads sharply to look, only to see the three wild wolves stopped because of the first wolf's arrow, roaring around looking for the source of the threat, and their bodies turned around quickly, and the three wolves turned around and were about to flee.
At this time, three sharp arrows swished out through the forest, and the three wolves were shot to the ground one by one with great accuracy, and the smallest wolf was rolled out by the arrows, and his body jumped into the air, and then he fell to the ground and lost his breath.
Yang Ling and Ma Li'er were surprised and delighted, looking around for a life-saving benefactor. The hillside was white, and his eyes were dazzled by the rising sun, Yang Ling squinted, and soon found that a few figures were exposed under a few birch trees on the slope, and walked towards the two people step by step.
There were four men in total, and in front of them was a burly man in his early forties, dressed in a gray-blue jacket, with a tattered animal skin draped diagonally over his upper body, carrying a hunting longbow on his back, and holding an iron fork in his hand.
The eldest of the three men in the back was in his early twenties, carrying a bow, and carrying three or four long feathered golden pheasants hunting and shivering in the wind, and the youngest was a little guy with a tiger's head and a tiger's brain, and a round face with a red flutter, although dirty, but as strong as a stone pier.
He was only twelve or thirteen years old, dressed in a torn sheepskin jacket, carrying a bow, and holding a wounded little muntjac deer with a rope in his hand, and his short legs stumbled and stumbled through the knee-thick snow, and from time to time he turned back and struck the muntjac deer on the buttocks of the deer that refused to walk with the stick in his hand.
The handsome young man in his early 20s glanced at Yang Ling and the others kindly, beckoned another young man who was younger than him and only had some light fur on his lips to clean up the wolf corpse, pulled the arrow from the wolf corpse, rubbed the blood on the wolf skin, inserted it back into the quiver, struck it the wolf that was not dying, and then took out the rope and tied the legs of the four wolves together.
The middle-aged man walked in front of Yang Ling and the others, looked the two up and down, and saw that the two men had a muddy face, but their temperament was like a scholar, and the women's clothes were messy, but the exquisite clothes, eyebrows, eyes and facial features were not like those in the mountains, and he asked suspiciously: "Who are you?" How did you run into the wild forest of Wuzhaling? ”
Yang Ling saw that he was full of beard, although he was rough and unliterate, and his nose was straight and his mouth was upright, and he was a little relieved, but in this barren mountain and wild mountains, he still kept some eyes on it, and he didn't dare to tell the truth to this strong mountain-like man.
He arched his hand and said: "Our brother and sister are going to visit relatives at Jimingyi, and we met officers and soldiers and Tartars fighting on the road, so we fled here, thank you uncle for saving your life."
"Hee-hee, brother and sister? This big brother, I just saw you kissing on the mouth", the tiger-headed little guy chased after him at some point, and said as he stomped on the snow. He hit the leggings of a thousand waves, and tied two animal skins on them, which was not short and made him very cute.
Yang Ling and Ma Li'er's faces turned red, and the middle-aged strong man scolded: "Don't talk nonsense, go and help your brother tie up the prey."
The little guy stuck out his tongue and said unconvinced: "Originally, they kissed their mouths, I saw it, the eldest brother saw it, the second brother saw it, and my father also saw it."
The big man kicked the little guy who was muttering on the buttocks, and scolded with a smile: "Little rabbit, you talk too much, and you will not be allowed to eat when you go back!" Then he turned his head to look at the two of them, a sharp cold alertness flashed in his eyes, and said, "My surname is Han, and I am a hunter in the mountains, who are the two of you?" ”
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