Chapter 5: Deer Hunting (7b)

The day after the caravan left, Xu Dayan returned to the tribe. I had a drink with Li Xu, Tao Kuotuosi, Eru, Duer and others, and then hurried to the Xinkai River in the southeast.

"The Khitans want to avenge Suotou Xibu!" Before leaving, Xu hurriedly dropped such a sentence. As for the relationship between the Khitan people and the Xi people, Li Xu, A Silan and others don't know. In addition to the Xi people, there are also five major tribes living on this grassland: Xi, Khitan, Murowei, Jian, and Turkic, and more than a dozen small tribes that Li Xu can't name and don't belong to. They all regard wolves as their ancestors, and they can be considered relatives of each other. They have been fighting against each other for thousands of years, and they can be counted enemies against each other. When the Suotouxi people were driven homeless by the Turks, the Khitans refused to allow them to move into their pastures. Now that the Suotou Xi Department has perished, the Khitan people have recited the love of incense again. The tyrant demanded that the allied forces release the prisoners of war from the Suotou Xi tribe and "return" the property, cattle and sheep of the relatives.

Before the integration of the Xia tribes, the Su Si tribe did not have the strength to fight the Khitans. So they could only send envoys to bargain with the Khitans. Xu Xian, whose wisdom is deeper than Crescent Lake, believes that it is fake for the Khitans to take revenge on Suo Touxi, and it is true to take the opportunity to fight the autumn wind. As long as the allied forces of Zhufei are well guarded on the border, the battle will not be able to start for a while.

In the days when there was no war, the wind blew away the bloody memories. Li Xu's inn developed rapidly, and the business was booming beyond everyone's expectations. Zhang Ji and Wang Kewang are both from merchants, and bargaining is their specialty. Coupled with the assistance of a person who knows Chinese characters, it is more than enough for the three of them to set up a small warehouse.

After no longer bothering about business matters, Li Xu turned all his energy to practicing martial arts and reviewing his homework. Master Coppersmith is a good teacher, Li Xu can not only learn the art of swords and horses from him, but also memorize the words that recorded the achievements of Yue Gong in order to please Old Master Yang, and they were also cheerful after being explained by the coppersmith. The master and apprentice sometimes quarreled over a record of Master Yang, and they forgot to sleep and eat until they provoked the anger of the coppersmith master. The next day, the coppersmith couldn't help but order Li Xu to recite Master Yang's notes and ponder the mystery by himself.

The coppersmith never forgot Nan Chen, and always sighed that if someone sent a surprise soldier from somewhere, it was enough to make the 400,000 soldiers and horses of the Great Sui fall into the sand. But the more so, the more he admired the resourcefulness and courage of the Northern Sui generals. "Da Chen didn't die at the hands of Shu Bao alone! If there was a Gao Ying or Yang Su in the south that day, the situation would not be so erosive! "There have been countless times when the coppersmith master admired with three points of drunkenness. The love, hatred and hatred of the past have long become a thing of the past, and now he only has admiration and reverence for his former opponents.

"They all said that it was Empress Zhang who confused Chen Shubao, so Da Chen died in the country!" Li Xu smiled and raised the bar with the master.

"The rise and fall are all men's affairs, and men have become turtles with shrunken heads, so they put the blame on women!" The coppersmith took a large sip of wine, made a drum out of an anvil, and struck the sound of a golden iron horse. "The beauty of the country is just a good dream! You remember this sentence, open your eyes in everything, in order to open the sky! ”

"Beauty?" Li Xu knew that his master had taken Master Yang's notes as a snack again, so he unknowingly drank too much. He is just an ignorant and ignorant stupid boy, and pointing out the country is the business of Luo Yi and Yang Su. As for the beauty, a slender figure floated in front of him.

Tao Kuotuosi had already made a marriage contract with him, and was no longer in a hurry to drill his tent according to the tradition of the Yan people. The two occasionally rode horses on trips, strolling from dawn to sunset, where the horses' hooves were trodden, and there was endless poetry and picturesqueness.

"Attached, let's, won't our parents really think I'm a Hu person?" Pulling the reins of his horse, Tao Kuo asked faintly. Eru's sad appearance every day made the little barbarian girl very worried, lest her marriage also go wrong and repeat the tragedy of her sister and Xu Dayan.

"My mom and dad don't care so much. They can't wait to hold their grandchildren as soon as possible! Li Xu raised his hand, gently plucked a blade of grass on Tao Kuo's silky head, and smiled comfortingly.

The caravan had been gone for some time, but the parents' reply had not yet been received. Not only that, but the matter entrusted to Xu Fu and Wang Mazi to rescue Sun Jiu also has no whereabouts. When he was alone, Li Xu often worried about these things. Sometimes I worry that my parents are not as open-minded as I imagined and can accept a Hu person as a daughter-in-law. Sometimes he is afraid that Wang Mazi will be timid and misguided, so that Sun Jiu will not be able to escape the hands of corrupt officials. As for whether he was worried more about Uncle Nine or worried more about his marriage with Tao Kuodesi, the young man himself couldn't figure it out.

"Then Third Uncle Zhang, why didn't they send the letter back?" Tao Kuo Silky lowered his head and kicked up a piece of gravel with his boot. The stone drew a slight mark on the tip of the grass in early autumn, and in an instant it was submerged in the deep green waves.

"The third uncle is greedy, and it is estimated that he will have to form a caravan before he is willing to come!" Li Xu was very distressed by Tao Kuo's frowning appearance, stretched out his arm, and gently hugged her shoulders.

Tao Kuo's shoulders leaned back and leaned comfortably on Li Xu's chest. In the past six months or so, Li Xu's body has risen again. The abundant beef and mutton in the tribe provided sufficient nutrients for the young man who was growing his body, coupled with factors such as daily martial arts practice and riding horses, which made Li Xu's shoulders and back very broad. Even through the clothes, the girl could feel the hard muscles in the other person's chest. The tendons seemed to have magical powers, and whenever she leaned on them, the girl was reluctant to raise her head again.

Autumn has arrived, and the grass tips are already dyed with a little sunshine. When the wind blows, golden scales dance between the layers of green waves, as if a bay ripples under the sky. Horses are like fish, sheep are like shells, and as for people, they are immortals who are at ease in the mirage.

"Yawn!" A few strands of silver hair rolled into Li Xu's nostrils with his breathing, itching him to sneeze. The tenderness from his chest and the girl's body fragrance sent by the autumn breeze made him feel very intoxicated, and in the boundless sea of grass, without any dusty sunlight, he really wanted to be drunk like this.

"Attached, when I get old and no longer pretty, will you get tired of me?" The girl's sweet and greasy voice crawled from her chest and down her ears to the bottom of her heart.

"No, I'm sure not!" Li Xu bowed his head and swore in the girl's ear. Tao Kuo's silky and crystal earlobes were like a grape, and he couldn't help but take a bite of it.

Tao Kuo snorted, melted and stuck to his body. Li Xu held a beating flame and sat down slowly. The two horses groaned a few times and ran away impatiently. The heavens and the earth suddenly became empty, and under the sunset, on the tips of the grass, only a pair of shadows snuggled up to each other remained.

"You're a hero like your father, and I'm not as scheming as Aunt Qing......"

"I'm not a hero, I'm just a small trader, a small trader from the Central Plains......."

"You are my hero, always ......."

The delicate red slowly ushered in, and when it met the hard lips, invisible lightning suddenly surged, triggering a small thunderstorm. Like flowing clouds, two trembling eyelashes gently brushed the man's rough cheeks blown by the wind on the prairie. The wind stopped, the grass was quiet, and a blushing sunset slowly hid to the west, hidden.

"Yes, yes!" A hurried sound of horses' hooves shattered the silence of the prairie. Immediately after, another exclamation of a woman was heard in the distance. The panicked screams of the sheep and the roar of the shepherd dogs rolled at the same time from a distance.

"It's Patter!" Li Xu and Tao Kuo jumped up at the same time. Aslan's wife, Pa Dai, is more than eight months pregnant, but she is unwilling to hide in a felt bag to give birth. Every day, he insisted on going to the grassland, and arranged for his own households and herdsmen to seize the time to harvest autumn grass and firewood. Autumn is short on the grasslands, and the first snow can fall shortly after the summer has passed. Last year's expedition added a dozen slaves and a large number of livestock to Aslan's family, and if enough firewood and forage were not stocked up before the snow fell, people or livestock could freeze to death in the cold of winter.

Tao Kuo Tuosi whistled and summoned the two mounts closer. The two of them flew on their horses and took off their horned bows from behind their saddles. Those who dare to go wild near the camp of the Susibu can only be lone wolves or horse thieves who take risks. The people have a tradition of protecting women and children, and no matter how many beasts and horse thieves come, Li Xu and Tao Kuotuosi have the obligation to protect Pa Dai from the safe escape.

"You should take Ganro out!" Li Xu thought regretfully while desperately driving the mount. Ganro had grown bigger than any sheepdog, and when he howled, he was so awe-inspiring that even hundreds of wild wolves did not dare to approach the sheep even half a step.

"It's an eagle! It was the eagle who stole the sheep of the Aslan family! Tao Kuotuo pointed to the sky and shouted, his voice relieved. The eagle is the overlord of the sky, and all living creatures smaller than it, from swans and lambs to hares, are the targets of its attacks. At the turn of summer and autumn, the lamb has just escaped from the protection of the ewe, and is ignorant of the dangers of the outside world. With their small bones and tender flesh, they are the best hunting targets for eagle owls.

Following Tao Kuo's pointing, Li Xu also saw the low-flying figure clearly. It was an adult black eagle with a fat lamb in its claws, so it flew only about thirty paces. Behind the cloud-like eagle shadows, dozens of horses galloped quickly, and the knight on horseback waved the reins and shouted at the eagle eagle.

As if deliberately fighting with people, the eagle refused to put the lamb down or speed up its flight. Leisurely flapping his wings, ignoring all threats under the sky.

"Great, Sister Patelle is fine!" Tao Kuo took off the ribbon and grabbed the reins of the horse, patted his chest and said. The excessive fright and high-speed gallop made her heart almost jump out of her throat, and her face turned red, as delicate as a blooming peach blossom.

Li Xu smiled and looked at the beautiful flowers beside him, and gently put the arrow on the bowstring. He once promised to shoot an eagle with his own hands to show Tao Kuo Tuo Si, Tao Kuo Tu Silk may have forgotten the promise at that time, but he himself has not forgotten it.

Instinctively sensing the threat from below, the low-flying eagle screamed, speeding up the fluttering of its wings. In the astonished gaze of everyone, it flew higher and higher, higher and higher, and suddenly, its wings flickered, and its whole body fell down at the same time as the prey between its claws.

The black eagle fell into the grass, shook off the lamb from its paws, staggered to its feet, and flew high. Staggered down, fell. Like drunkenness, it flew up again, and fell again. At last, when it had no strength to raise its wings any longer, it raised its head and cried out in desolation throughout the field.

"Whew!" The sound of carvings is endless. The overlord of the sky died and couldn't believe it, someone shot it after it spread its wings.

"Detachment!" Tao Kuo shouted excitedly, and rode his horse to chase after Li Xu and run in the direction where the black eagle landed. She saw everything her sweetheart had done for herself, riding a horse, bending her bow, shooting on her back, and in the eyes of the girl, there had never been a man in the whole grassland who galloped with a bow as smooth as a song.

Li Xu retracted his bow, rode his horse, and suddenly leaned over at the moment when the horse's hooves swept past the black eagle, and copied the eagle's corpse like a cloud. He drew his bow and arrows at a gallop, turned his horse's head, and ran back to meet Tao Kuo's smiling face.

The second horse mistook his neck and stopped in his tracks.

"I'll send you!" The tower-like young man holds a black eagle with low wings, full of pride.

"Why?" Tao Kuotuo, who had never known what politeness was, suddenly became shy, lowered his head, and played with the reins of the horse, his voice as thin as a gnat.

Why? Li Xu didn't know why he remembered the promise he made that day. Looking at Tao Kuo's delicate and shy appearance, there was a sudden flash of inspiration in front of him, holding a black eagle in his hand, and replied loudly: "Because I want to marry you as a wife!" ”

"What did you say?" Tao Kuo's face was instantly flushed, and he instinctively asked.

"I'm going to marry you!" Ignoring the crowd around him that was gradually approaching, Li Xu took off his silk at Tao Kuo and repeated loudly.

"I'm going to marry you!" Under the dreamy sun, the vows drift away on the grass tips with the evening breeze.