Chapter 3: The Wilderness (Part 2I)

It wasn't until the dinner party began that Li Xu was freed from his dizziness. It's not because he's determined, it's because the gurgling in his stomach forces him to go from his dream to reality. Along the way, I ate and slept in the open, and ate almost all of them dried meat, hard cakes and cold water every day, and my appetite was reduced by half. At this time, the temptation of a hot meal is far more real for the traveler than that of a beautiful girl.

The grassland is wide, so the eating habits of the Hu people are also in line with the surrounding environment, rough and atmospheric. Large copper bowls are used for drinking, large cowhide bags are used for wine, and the so-called dishes are so large that it takes two strong men to carry them to the table. It was a boiled whole sheep with its head and tail, leaning over the plate to make a herbivorous shape. The "grass" and "stones" distributed around the sheep's body are clearly the whole wild onion and the whole white mushroom.

The eldest elder of the clan was invited to the table, and after singing a few words of greeting that no one could understand, the old man picked up the knife with trembling hands, cut a long strip of meat on the sheep's back, and put it on a small copper plate and served it to Li Xu himself. This is the dining etiquette of the people of Xia, which is derived from their daily life. During the season of food scarcity, the youngest always gets the first piece of meat at each meal. Only in this way can the entire tribe be ensured.

Li Xu took the copper plate with a smile, although his stomach was attracted by the aroma of meat and rolled up and down, he refused to take the first bite. Instead, he gently grabbed the short knife that was inserted into the sheep's back, cut off the horns on the sheep's head, and the thin layer of meat on the top of the head that was connected to the horns, and brought it to the longest of the seats on a brass plate.

This is the return that the grassland teenager should do, which not only expresses respect for the elders, but also reflects the gratitude to the master. Before traveling north, Li Xu and his father had practiced this set of dining etiquette many times, so he could be meticulous.

Several of the elders of the Hale Clan smiled with satisfaction, they felt that they had seen the wrong person. The young man in front of him with a wolf as his companion does have a deep relationship with the Saishang nation. It seems that Changshengtian took special care of the Su Si Department this year, and not only sent tea and cloth before winter, but also sent signs that indicated the prosperity of the tribe.

The patriarch Su Si Sier clapped his hands, and two teams of dressed girls walked in again. Each person holds a bowl of mare's milk wine, holds it high in front of a guest, and sings in unison. The singing is gentle and loud, mixed with the aroma of wine, which is intoxicating.

Li Xu blushed again, because this time it was still the blue-shirted girl who toasted him. The corners of the girl's mouth twitched into a smile, and her eyes clearly showed a bit of stubbornness. With the experience of being teased last time, Li Xu didn't dare to provoke this girl to be angry, so he took the wine bowl and sipped the wine inside into his stomach.

The girl's eyes showed a bit of approval, and she was still singing the loud long tune in her mouth, but the movements of her hands were not slow at all, she picked up the leather bag closest to her, and neatly filled Li Xu's wine bowl again.

"Still drinking?" Li Xu asked with his eyes, but he couldn't see any answer in the girl's gaze. Fortunately, in his own home, he was already used to drinking his uncle's private brew. Although this mare's milk wine is stronger than ordinary rice wine, it is far from reaching the level of secret brewing of his uncle Zhang Baosheng.

Picking up the wine bowl, Li Xu drank the wine inside again. The girl's eyes became more and more cheerful and bright, blue and watery, like a lake of spring water. The shimmering waves reflect the color of the sky.

The third bowl of wine was raised in front of Li Xu again. The young man felt that his abdomen was hot, and his pride rushed straight to Xiaohan. took the copper bowl, didn't ask, and quickly let the bottom of the bowl be exposed. The girl smiled slightly, revealing a row of good-looking braided shells. Before Li Xu could finish admiring the bright smile like a flower, the fourth bowl of wine was brought to him again.

Li Xu's face began to turn red, this time not because of shyness, but because of the strength of the wine. Although the mare's milk wine was not strong enough, he drank it on an empty stomach. At this moment, the wine in the stomach seemed to have turned into blood, and it surged all over the body along the meridians. He felt his head a little big and his feet a little soft. But he refused to lose his etiquette in front of the alien girl, and held on, pouring the fifth bowl into his stomach again.

The girl's singing voice was as bright as a yellow warbler out of the valley, and the sixth bowl of wine was brought to Li Xu again. This time, before he could be killed, a low voice reached his ears: "Zhongyuan Yanzi, you can drink slowly." I can't let your bowl be empty until the song stops! ”

"Ahh Li Xu paused for a moment and found that the girl was looking at him with a smile, as if she had seen another monster. The delicate cherry lips did not sing with the other women, and it was clear that the kind reminder came from this girl.

Li Xu smiled awkwardly and looked up. Only then did I find that the other vendors were holding wine bowls and tasting slowly, and no one was as ready to dry as they were. And several elders in the tribe were laughing and talking to each other, obviously their reckless actions had already become a joke again.

Li Xu used a wine bowl to cover his flushed face, and this time, he finally persevered until the end of the long song. After singing the song, the banquet immediately became lively. The guests and hosts began to persuade each other, and they were happy. After saluting the guests, the girls withdrew from the big tent in batches. The musicians of the clan adjust the strings and play a cheerful and lively tune.

The vendors have always been thrifty, and except for Li Xu and Xu Dayan, there was little meat in the dry food of the others along the way. It's hard to stay up until all the dining etiquette is over, who is willing to be polite. The knife cut and grasped, and in a blink of an eye, a whole sheep saw the snow-white bone frame. The host was happy to see that the guests liked their food. Clapping his hands, a strong man immediately walked in and carried away the remaining bones. Then, another whole boiled sheep was served to the table.

As the sky darkened, the vendors ate meat at a slower pace. Although the mutton on the grassland tastes good, the fat is much thicker than the sheep raised by the Central Plains. With such fat meat, no matter how good your appetite is, you can't eat too much. Wang Mazi, Du Scarqi and others looked left and right with the wine bowl, as if they had lost something important, and they looked anxious.

The people are known as the white haze, and the women in the tribe have white skin like curd and their eyes are as clear as the sky. The hair is white or blonde, shining like a waterfall. Among the rumors of travelers, the woman of the Xia tribe is the most generous. They belong to this grassland, and they can invite you into their felt tents, but they never want to haunt you from now on.

At the most desperate moment after losing the trace of the Xi tribe, the legendary affair was once the driving force for Wang Mazi, Du Scar and others to continue to move forward.

"Full of warmth and lust!" Xu Dayan's eyes once again showed a little disdain. In the whole seat, he is the most gentle. Neither drank in a big bowl like Li Xu, nor gnawed meat like a hungry wolf like others, but tore the meat into thin strips with his fingers, and drank it slowly one by one.

The family does not get tired of eating, which allows Xu Dayan to easily distinguish the good and bad food. In addition to wild onions, mushrooms and salt, there are no other seasonings in the boiled whole sheep, which is exactly what suits his appetite. He liked the taste of nature and nature, but he did not like the companions with whom he drank very much. In Xu Dayan's view, these vulgar, philistine, narrow-minded, and easily satisfied vendors are simply not worthy of the warm hospitality of their masters. No matter what delicacies you give him, when the two sides start trading, don't want them to loosen up the price a little bit. On the contrary, they would not hesitate to raise the price of goods according to the wealth of the tribe and the thirst for Central Plains materials such as tea, silk, and pottery.

However, the patriarch of the Su Si tribe did not feel that the behavior of the guests was unruly, and in his opinion, any behavior after drinking could be regarded as an expression of human nature. If a man has no need for a woman, he loses the motivation to become stronger. Therefore, just when Xu Dayan was ashamed of his companion's behavior, Su Sixier clapped his hands again.

The upbeat music came to an abrupt end. The musician drank a bowl of wine, tuned the strings, and replaced it with another soothing tune. A group of beauties of the Xia tribe slowly walked in and danced in front of the table. The silver bells on his arms and ankles swayed, and every gesture hooked countless souls.

It was already dark, and the young men of the tribe carried a huge brazier. Inside the brazier, the fine charcoal danced with a faint blue light. Li Xu was roasted by the fire very hot, and there seemed to be hot air surging up inside and outside his body. Among the women who danced, there were no two girls who teased him and Xu Dayan, they were older and more attractive than the girls who toasted. The dancing to the music seems to have a kind of charm, and it is difficult to take people's eyes off them.

And they were really wearing little clothes, no shoes and socks on their feet, and no wisps on their arms. The snow-white arms and calves of ** slowly spread in the music, like an epiphany in the midnight slowly blooming petals. Li Xu didn't know if he was right to describe it like this, and he didn't know if he was watching the song and dance intently like this, whether it was against his duty to be a scholar. Li Xu really didn't know much about the examples of the ancient sages interacting with women. In the drunken haze, he only heard the light songs of the people.

"My brother came on a white horse, holding a scimitar in one hand and a bluegrass in the other......" He couldn't hear the next sentence clearly, and his attainments in Turkic language were too far from Sun Jiu and others.

"I am willing to be a bouquet of wildflowers, only for you and scattered!" Before getting drunk, Li Xu vaguely heard these words. It was a real illusion, and he didn't figure it out many years later.

The people attached great importance to the caravans that came from afar, and made an exception to prepare a felt tent for each vendor. In a daze, Li Xu felt that he was being carried into a very warm tent. Someone at his feet put a brazier for him, and roasted him hot and thirsty. Opening his eyes, Li Xu wanted to take out the felt tent and find some well water to sober up. But he was surprised to find that there was a person sleeping next to him, and a body that was completely different from himself.

When he landed, the wine in Li Xu's heart was sobered up for the most part. With his eyes wide open, he looked again through the faint light of the charcoal fire, and found a young girl lying beside him. In contrast, the ancients said, "It is too long to increase one point, and it is too short to subtract one point; Shi Zhu is too red, and Fu Fan is too white. "It's really pale and vague.

This is the same girl who had teased him during the day, and let him go at the last moment. Li Xu felt his scalp explode, and his whole body began to feel uncomfortable.

"Some tribes will let the women of the clan sleep for the guests." Before the trip north, my father used to joke about it. How to deal with it, but he has not been instructed. Maybe my father had never been in this situation, and just took it as a funny rumor. The father and son never expected that the legendary thing happened to Li Xu.

Li Xu hugged his arms tightly, didn't dare to close his eyes, didn't dare to move, his legs were tense like wood, stiff and straight. The charcoal fire in the tent became stronger and stronger, and waves of heat hit the feet, over the thighs, over the lower abdomen, over the chest, and over the top of the head.

At this moment, the sleeping girl suddenly turned over. The silver bell on his arm "jingled" and gently hung down on Li Xu's chest.

Drunkard's note: For the legend of the ancestors of the Turkic people, see the Book of Zhou