"Wang Lun'er, come out!" Chen Jiebing supported his knees with both hands, his small mouth was still panting, and he shouted ——, and ——, he shouted this sentence vigorously, and his breath was shorter again.

When passing through the downtown area, Cutting Bing saw that the old man was about to ride out of the rest pavilion to the west, so she quickened her pace, first walked briskly step by step, and finally when she couldn't see the old man's horse team, her two little legs rose up, and ran all the way to the door of Wang Lun'er's house.

"What wheel, wheel, who are you, my voice is still loud," the door opened, and a round fat boy came out of the house, his door was made large, and he still had a lot of surplus to accommodate him.

"It's not big or small, it's really born to your brother with the same mother. ”

......

Ahem!

Sunlight poured in through the window, and the flying dust shone brightly.

Chen Qianxue removed her bed sheets, stood barefoot on the bare palm mat, and straightened the sheets.

Then he opened the mat, pulled out one treasure after another from the lattice underneath, and carefully wrapped them into the sheets.

Whether it is from Mr. Academy's persuasion or Master Lu's alarmism, no matter how big the crime of bullying the king is, it is only big in the second child's heart. In his own imagination, for the sake of the dragon head with broken horns, the officers and soldiers of the empire did not hesitate to turn Xieting and even the entire Jayin County upside down. The bottom of the bed of the second son of the Chang's family in the west eighty miles is not safe.

A few months ago, Chen Qianxue dismantled the half of the multi-wooden dragon body that Master Lu didn't want and put it into two marijuana bags, and carried it into Wang Lun'er's house on the way home. Lun'er's father doesn't care about anything, he takes his son's cooking to the field every day to eat, and the home is just a place for him to wash and sleep. So the second child can run to Wang Lun'er's house all day long, and he doesn't need to worry about anything when he concentrates on carving.

In less than two months, a dragon head and two front paws were born under Chen Qianxue's hands, or rather, a dragon was born under his hands - a five-foot-long jointed body, four claws, and a head, completely neat, because of the lack of straw filling, it looks a little thin.

More than a month ago, after the town sent off the heavenly maiden, the second child took his sister to Wang Lun'er's house and showed her this lacquered grass and wood dragon with a head nearly two zhang long. The lacquer is on Wang Lun'er, he has a special talent in this area, and the two blue eyes on the dragon's head seem to come to life. Chen Qianxue occasionally thinks about whether she should take him with her when she goes to Anlin City to make a name for herself in the future.

Wang Lun'er took three tongs from the stove room, took two for himself, and handed the remaining one to Chen Qianxue. The second child handed the tongs to his sister again, and he went to fetch a large rusty firewood knife - the knife used to be used by the father of the wheel, and then I don't know who gave the firewood as a thank-you gift, and a few bundles of firewood can be replaced by the father of the wheel for an afternoon, and his firewood will never be used up again.

The second child asked his sister to clamp the tail of the grass and wood dragon, he deliberately pulled out that part of the straw, and when he lit the fire later, that small section could not be burned.

On the other side, Wang Lun'er's two fire-proof pliers are forked in the middle of the grass and wood dragon and the other forked on the head and neck. Everything was ready, the second child gave a command, and the other two raised the grass wooden dragon in response—Wang Lun'er held a pair of tongs in one hand, still as steady as Mount Tai, and cut Bing held a pair of tongs in both hands, and his thin arms were already trembling slightly.

"Look!"

The second child put the firewood knife under his armpit, took out a pair of flints from his waist, and "clicked" at the back of the grass and wood dragon, and the flames rushed from one end to the other in an instant, and the tongue of fire licked and licked, beating as if it was the dragon's back, and it came to life.

Cutting Ice shuddered, his hands lifted together, and in his panic he steadied again, and the flames struck down the dragon's back and stopped in front of her.

"Don't be afraid. ”

Hearing the second brother's comfort, Cutting Bing nodded with doubts, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and lifted and loosened his thin neck.

"Wang Lun'er, get moving!" The second child took out the firewood knife from under his armpit, held it with both hands, and was ready to try.

The fat boy had to order the ice cutter who wielded the fire tongs and clamped the dragon's tail but did not have the strength to move, so the grass and wood dragon was like a yellow eel with its tail nailed, only the front half of its body writhed.

The second child raised a smile on his lips, took a step to the side, bit it with his teeth at one end, and wrapped half a foot of red silk around his left arm, because his sister was watching, so he didn't take off his shirt as Master Lu described.

"Drink!"

He shouted, leveled the wood knife, and faced the firelight, the blade was different and sharp.

"Let the horses come. He said in a deep voice.

Wang Lun'er had to order a flick of the dragon's head, take up half of the dragon's body, and smash it like a whip.

I saw that the firewood knife was flipped on the wrist of the second child, reflecting the firelight like flying fireflies, dancing red flowers.

Click!

A surprise knife in the dance, a knife slashed the dragon's horns. The dragon-shaped wood is also wood, and it is no different from firewood under the wood knife, and one horn falls in response.

The second child retracted his posture, and the firewood knife was held vertically on the side of his head, and he took another step sideways.

Not to be outdone, the dragon with broken horns surrounded him and trapped the heroic dragon slayer in the curled dragon body.

The flames on the dragon's back were beating, and they formed a circle with the dragon's body, and in the eyes of the second brother, there were also dancing flames, and Cutting Bing looked at those eyes, firm and cautious, just like when he had practiced dozens or hundreds of times behind his back, but he had only done that lame trick in front of his mother for the first time.

Cutting Bing looked at these eyes, and watched the fire dragon dance through these eyes, and watched the second brother raise and fall with his sword, another dragon whisker, another dragon whisker, and another dragon horn...... The fire dragon finally ceased to be majestic, it became broken, out of breath, and scarred under the hands of the second brother, and the flames on its back were much dimmer and lost its former vigor.

Gradually, the flames were no longer visible on the dragon's back, and all its straw hair was burned, and the fire lay dormant in its wooden backbone, and in it, there was a straw dragon tendon that connected the whole body.

Sweat slipped down Chen Qianxue's forehead one by one, marking a series of marks on his smoked face. His whole body was burned by the fire—and perhaps from the movement, and the front, back, and even the crotch of his pants were wet. He held the hatchet in both hands and was about to finish the final work. His eyes were slightly closed, and there was a sense of sacred mission, some righteousness, and some generosity and tragedy in his heart.

Swish!

With a swing of the knife, it made a sound that tore through the air. The dragon also seemed to deliver the final blow, and the dragon head suddenly raised against the blade.

Click!

A knife was fiercely embedded in the neck of the wooden dragon, and the knife could not be broken.

Crackling, crackling.

The dragon's body was scattered, the grass dragon tendon was burned, and the wood chips fell to the ground, mixed with the sound of crackling.

Only that section of the head and neck was still embedded in Chen Qianxue's knife, and the head was connected to the neck, but there was no body in the back, just hanging in the air.

Time stopped for a moment, the second child and Wang Lun'er took a long breath almost at the same time, the second child let go of the firewood knife, Wang Lun'er released the two tongs, and sat back on the ground at the same time, exhaling this breath.

Poof-

Looking at the two sweaty teenagers in front of him, Cutting Bing covered his mouth and couldn't help laughing. She suddenly found that the second brother also had a trace of the stupidity of other boys—but only a trace of it, a trace of stupidity that can be called handsome.

A short piece of the dragon's tail was still held in her hand, and without the weight of the dragon's body, the ice cut could even wield it with fire tongs.

She also threw away the pliers in her hand and sat down on the ground with the two silly boys.

......

Thinking of the safety of his family, the second child had some self-blame - but not much, he just carved a dragon out of wood, just stuffed straw in the wooden dragon, just set it on fire, just cut off its two horns and four whiskers, just cut off one of its heads, such a thing should not have been punished. He was just afraid of guilt, but he didn't feel that he had done something guilty, just like he felt in his heart when he carved the dragon's head and cut off the dragon's horns, he was just doing something that was ordinary and ordinary, at most there was a trace of it, at most a trace of secret pleasure.

At the end of the day, he just didn't think he was going to get caught. This is the difference between an artist and a revolutionary.

Right now, he was carrying a package made of sheets, which was full of incriminating evidence. He planned to go to the town to avoid the limelight, and brought Cutting Ice and Wang Lun'er with him to prevent them from leaking the news.

He still has something to ask the fat man who is smiling all day long, the dragon head that has completed its mission, how did it fall into the hands of the officers and soldiers in the county because it exerted its residual heat at the bottom of the Wang family's stove together with its body, and finally turned into ashes together?

The second child carried the package and chose to walk through the woods. It didn't take him much time to pack up his things, and his sister still had to go to Dongshili to find Wang Lun'er, so the second child didn't walk fast, thinking that he didn't have to wait for the other two for too long when he arrived at Dongjiekou.

The atmosphere in the forest was eerie, with the sound of leaves shaking in all directions. The second child tilted his head to the left and right, and did not feel the wind blowing on his face, as if it was not the trees that trembled, but the earth on which they were rooted.

Seven hundred miles of the mountain road, in ancient times through Yixia, now it is also the traffic artery connecting the Jihu granary and the empire, not to mention that there are road cleaning, forest remediation and other miscellaneous tasks to do, to more, to say that there are also the needs of managing cars, horses, pedestrians, mountain and forest residents.

Therefore, the empire set up a length of every ten miles in the mountain roads, and the ten miles long were appointed from the mountain people, and most of the mountain roads were unsettled woodlands and mountain roads, and ten miles and one length was enough.

However, the town of Xieting, which is located in the middle of the mountain road, is an exception, from east to west, this dam is less than ten miles in total, but there are no less than 500 people settled, and it is impossible to let the mayor of the town manage the same place.

One of the benefits of such dense segmentation is that it gives people who are in a hurry a sense of security — not the security of being taken care of, but the security of having their efforts validated. For example, now, the second child is walking on the path in the woods, and there is an imminent crisis in his heart, and without the long gate in front of the ten-mile long gate as a mark, he will always be unable to extinguish the unreasonable self-suspicion - how far have I walked? Why haven't I arrived yet?

Walking this road thousands of times should not have such a feeling, the second child is a little annoyed with himself like this, and adds a lot of irritability.

Finally, he pushed aside a pine branch that stood in the way, and the market of Xiting unfolded before his eyes.

The irritability is gone, and only fear remains.

......

The hustle and bustle of the town of Xie Ting is spread out around an open-roofed stage. The reason for saying that the open roof is not the open air is because the four sides of the stage have pretended to have pillars, as if the stage is only missing a roof compared with the orthodox goods in the city.

Around this stage that lacks carving, the crowd has been crowded with three layers inside and three layers outside. A middle-aged man with wet crotch knelt in the center of the stage, his head pressed by the officials, the inspector stood in the shadow of the pillar, his hands clasped to his chest, as if waiting for something, and the rest of the officials stood under the stage, the distance was stretched a little wide, barely enough to enclose the stage.

The second child struggled to get into the crowd, but fortunately he was tall, and he didn't need to squeeze much closer to see the situation on the stage.

His eyes widened, and the blurred figure on the stage became clearer.

The man in the earthy red coat was undoubtedly the official messenger, the one he was escorting......

The second child's eyes narrowed to a slit, and his neck poked forward a little more.

"Ironcarpenter of West Ten Miles," a faint voice came from beside him, "you are half-blind. ”

The second child turned his head, and the owner of the voice was a big fat man who was as round as a wheel, which did not match his voice.

"Brother. "Ice cutting is also there. The second child lowered his head and found her in the crack.

"What's going on?" the second child smiled at his sister and turned to look at Wang Lun'er.

"Come and talk. ”

Wang Lun'er took the second child's raised hand and pulled him out of the crowd, under an old locust tree. Cutting Ice also trotted over.

"The official is using your dragon head as bait, isn't your stupid sister also fooled. He said this with a mocking smile. When he heard this, he curled his mouth in anger or disgust, and twisted the fat on his waist.

Wang Lun'er snorted secretly in his throat and clenched his teeth.

This pinch for a long time, and when it was finally released, Wang Lun'er breathed a sigh of relief, and then said, "There are nobles who are willing to spend a lot of money to hire carpenters in this mountain, and such a temptation is indeed irresistible," he looked at the brother and sister almost flatteringly, and his expression seemed to say, I would be fooled if I changed, "Probably because I saw that no one stood up, and the iron boss was the only carpenter in the town, so he was greedy and wanted to impostor." ”

"I didn't expect to be your kid's substitute. ”

The fat man laughed again.

"You kid hasn't said how to get the dragon head out of your house and into the hands of the official. The second child looked at Wang Lun'er's face full of Dongfang Shuo's "Lao Tzu's No. 1 wisdom in the world", and just wanted to tear this face quickly.

Sure enough, he choked on the words. Wang Lun'er hesitated for a while, "...... This...... It's hard to say, but it's ...... You can't rely on me after all!" finally decided to prevaricate shamelessly.

In fact, he knew why. The two men of the Wang family have two mouths and three meals a day, relying on the little widow in the west ten miles. The few acres of land left by her man were all cultivated by Lun'er's father, who looked at her pitifully and didn't ask for more than half of his money. Therefore, the little widow would come to Wang's house every few days to cook meals for several days, and she did not come or leave from time to time, and she had not met with Lun'er's father for many years.

Wang Lun'er hid this very well, and said to the outside world that he cooked for his father. There are not many people in the east ten miles, and it is even more obvious that Lun'er's father does not return home during the day, so there is not much gossip among the neighbors.

Chen Erbai ran to Wang's house for more than a month, and at first Wang Lun'er was still worried, for fear that they would bump into him, but later saw that he couldn't move when he was concentrating on carving, so Wang Lun'er generously invited the little widow into the stove room to cook.

Xu is the dragon head with broken horns and beards is very terrifying, and the little lady saw it in the pyre and threw it into the mountain.

This was a secret that should not have been known to the fourth person, and since Wang Lun'er knew that there were often people coming in and out of the stove room, he should have burned the faucet. This was indeed his carelessness, so he didn't plan to talk to Chen Erbai in detail.

"Now that the official has already caught someone, you don't have to be afraid, seeing that they don't look like people who break the casserole, they are all eating with official salaries, and they must not be investigated. Wang Lun'er was right, but in fact he just wanted to divert the topic.

"And what about that person?" Cutting Bing pointed to the ironcarpenter on the stage, his voice a little shrill with excitement.

"If you don't arrest him, arrest your brother. Wang Lun'er shrugged forward, as if scaring the child, "Blame him for being greedy for money and helping your brother prevent disasters-" He stretched out a finger and wanted to poke Bingbing's forehead, but was held by the second child.

"If you want to catch it, you dead fat man," the second child held Wang Lun'er's finger and pushed it back to the latter's chest, "But this matter has nothing to do with Tie Bo, he shouldn't be punished." The second child decided in his heart that this was a big crime of killing his head, but he was afraid of scaring his sister, so he only said that he was "punished".

"Then you die by yourself, anyway, the official will not return to the yamen empty-handed. Wang Lun'er raised his chin contemptuously and shook off the second child's hand.

"Let's ......" The second child wanted to talk about the idea of intercepting people on the road, but then the stage behind him was in a commotion again, and the three of them looked back in unison.

It turned out that the official drew his sword out of its sheath and laid it across the carpenter's neck.

"Let's think about it, after the fish festival and sending the goddess, is there any activity that will use this thing. The Inspector stepped out of the shadows of the pillar and lifted the dragon's head, with broken corners and whiskers.

The people in the audience looked at each other, and the inspector had indeed wronged them - many of them didn't even know what "slaying the dragon's horns" was.

The second child didn't know whether the old man was intentional or unintentional, but he was very unhappy to say that the "Fish Gift Festival" was "Fish Eating Festival".

"If you say that you made this thing, then you must know who ordered it, who cut it, and cut it for those people to see. When the inspector saw that there was no answer from the audience, he lowered his head and asked the carpenter who was kneeling on the ground.

"No...... No...... I didn't do it, I didn't ...... It's not ......" The knife rested on the carpenter's neck, and he didn't dare to shake his head, so he had to say no vigorously.

"He said it wasn't him," the inspector raised his head and looked at the crowd again, "It's not him, who is it?"

The inspector took a few steps towards the edge of the platform, and frowned pretendly.

"Do you despise the contemptible by not speaking?" he feigned anger and did not lose control of his throat like a truly angry person, "In my opinion, all of you present ......"

"All are suspicious!"

There was another commotion in the crowd. More than a dozen officials in the audience drew their swords and unsheathed them together. The commotion stopped in an instant.

"After all, the dragon slaying horn is not singing in his own bedroom, and he is not energetic alone. The inspector smiled, "If no one comes forward, we will have to bother everyone and go to the yamen." ”

More than a dozen pieces of white iron blades were also cold in the sun.

In the quiet crowd, a teenager stretched out his hand, trying to clear the way.

"Are you crazy, he doesn't dare. Wang Lun'er stretched out his hand and grabbed Chen Qianxue's shoulder.

Chen Qianxue dusted off his hand and continued to squeeze into the crowd. He thought that if there had to be a person to suffer, that person should certainly be himself.

Things have developed so far that there is no way to lose one person. He hoped that the ironcarpenter would not be deceived by that little bit of greed, maybe in this way, the officials would return to the county government with nothing, and he would be able to get away after the turmoil.

But there is no way now, if he doesn't stand up, not to mention that Tie Bo will die, it is more likely that the entire Xieting will be implicated. No, no.

Chen Qianxue was getting closer and closer to the stage, and the inspector had already noticed the young man, but he didn't speak.

The grass and trees of the entire mountain forest were shaking, and the sound was especially obvious in such silence. But everyone's nerves were tense, and the only sound in their ears was the sound of the heart pumping blood.

Knock, knock drums in the distance, hollow and distant, not as if from the world.

The light has dimmed, people have raised their heads, and boundless black clouds are approaching.

The sound of horses' hooves, war cries, and the clashing of soldiers.

The dozen or so white iron broadswords of the servants were still in their hands, and it was much darker in such a dark day, and the crowd forgot about their threat and began to riot again.

The inspector no longer looked at Diao Min in the audience, he raised his head and looked at the forest to the west. From the height of the stage, he saw the iron knights wrapped in black fog and the earth groaning at their feet before the people below.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

People stood still, and no one had ever seen anything like that.

"Brother, what is that?" Cutting Bing's little hand unconsciously grasped the four fingers of the second brother, and looked at him with a pair of eyes full of suspicion.

The second child is no longer generous to the stage, and the things in front of him make people forget what is in front of them.

He put his hand on his sister's head, his eyes just staring at the vision in the distance, where there was no answer. So he shook his head gently.

The black cavalry formed a wild goose formation, and only the blades in their hands shone with the cold light of the everyday.

People don't know these black monsters, but they know the swords in the hands of monsters.

"Run!"

It was Wang Lun'er who shouted anxiously, lifted his two-hundred-pound body, and pulled Chen Qianxue, who was standing on the side.

The crowd was also awakened by this shout, and they pushed and shoved, unable to take a step.

Only Wang Lun'er pulled the second child and the second child pulled the ice cut, and the three of them were the first to break out of the crowd and run eastward without their lives.

When she ran to the entrance of Dongjie, she couldn't run, she held on to the archway, panting for breath.

Wang Lun'er and the second child came over to protect her, and the ice cut adjusted her breathing, trying to recover her strength. Inadvertently, she glanced back.

The fawn's eyes widened, and his hands were raised to cover his mouth.

The other two saw her frightened face and turned back.

The black cavalry rampaged through the street market of Xieting, and a silver-white shadow shuttled through it.

It was a delicate woman in a veil, with two pairs of silver hairpins with dragon patterns in her black bun, and the white veil hung from the top of her head to the horse's back, and wrapped around the white horse's tail.

She sat on her horse, her jade legs encased in silver shin armor hanging down, like a fishermaiden sitting on the side of a boat, and two slender scimitars slashed with the horse's galloping, the arc so smooth that it was like a maiden putting her hand into the water of a lake and letting the water pass between her fingers, picking up floating wattles.

There is no sadness or joy in the girl's eyes, only some good spring light, and the lazy boredom that will be thrown on this thorn-picking boat, which is the most natural teasing for the idiot next door.

The white horse circled around the market of Xieting again, and at the very end, it turned around incredibly, and came straight to the three people under the archway at the entrance of Dongjie.

Chen Qianxue was originally stunned when she looked at the rhythm of the sword and horse, and the white-gauze woman who came from the dust did not have a trace of murderous aura, but there was something more important that made him break free.

Bing Bing was still looking at the white gauze girl, as if she was enjoying a dance, as if she was about to bring not death, but transcendence.

The second child grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her to continue running east. Cutting Bing shook his head as if he was looking back, and his legs had strength again.

"And Wang Lun'er!" she turned her head and saw that the fat man was still in place, salivating at the stunning beauty in front of her.

A long, thin scimitar slashed at his neck.

Cutting Bing's mouth opened wide in fright, but his throat couldn't make a sound. The white horse had come to her.

The elegant and agile creatures in the world turned out of a rounded corner like ice, and the white-gauze girl riding on the side faced away from the brother and sister.

I saw her hunched waist, like a girl who had been on the boat for a day, yawning and stretching her waist, her right hand slightly bent, and the thin and long scimitar danced with the gallop of the white horse.

The second child pulled his sister in front of him and protected him in his arms.

The scimitar slashed from his right rib to his left shoulder blade, and not a drop of blood soaked out.