On the last day of ploughing the moon, the black sail sand boat sailed through the line of yellow and black junction. An orange-red eyed unicorn pigeon hovers between the sails, and it is rare to see a pigeon flying so far from land.

But it's really not a seagull.

Toko was the first to notice the anomalous creature, and he circled his index finger and thumb into his mouth, whistling at it.

The flower pigeon did not respond.

Another whistle, no response, and another whistle - the flower pigeon still flies on its own.

Qi Zuo was attracted to the board by the successive whistles, and she followed the direction that Dongzi was facing on her back, and also saw the unruly pigeon.

"That's not our pigeons," she asserted, "for the layman to use such fancy pigeons." ”

"Then why does it follow us, ordinary pigeons don't fly to the sea. ”

"Unless there is something it is looking for on the sea," Qi Zuo lowered his head, no longer looking up at the orange-red eyed unicorn flower pigeon, "or people." ”

"Think about who else we're on board. She looked back at the cabin, where the curtain of the hatch was blown open by the sea breeze.

Dongzi also lowered his head and then turned back, because he had been leaning up for too long, and his neck clicked.

......

Faced with Qi Zhilai's questioning, Ge Lan had to tell the story of being a secret agent on his behalf. It's not that a pigeon chasing after the boat is a powerful evidence, it's just that it's useless to cover up, Qi Zhilai has long known that he is an imposter that Jia Wenzhao was entrusted to fish, and it doesn't matter to her who entrusted it.

A mouse is a mouse, and unless it's home-raised, it doesn't make much difference to deal with it.

On the other hand, on Ge Lan's side, another month passed, and because of various unexpected circumstances, the secret report was only sent twice, once on the eve of the peace meeting, and once after boarding the ship;

By now, since the person who sent the pigeon already knew that Ge Lan was at sea, he would no longer be embarrassed about what task he was doing or where he was going. From this, he speculated that the pigeon had only a pill of antidote and a note "on standby" on its leg.

Sure enough, when Glenn poked his head out of the cabin, before he could whistle, the flower pigeon fluttered down and stopped on his left wrist.

"Standby"

Two words, no more, no less. Ge Lan took the small tube from the flower pigeon's leg and poured it into the palm of his hand, and a brown-black pill rolled out of it.

Ge Lan threw the pill into his mouth, "Huh," he carried a small note, shaking it in the air, showing it to everyone, "Standby." I said, life first, I won't get in your way. ”

The other four looked at each other, Dongzi spread out his hands, pouted, and put on an indifferent look, Cai Huan was still staring at Ge Lan with cold eyes, and Cai Zhao was still carefully reading Ge Lan's newly written secret letter word by word—if such a running account could also be called a secret letter.

"Give it to him. Qi Zuo closed his eyes heavily, raised his chin, and motioned for Cai Zhao to give the letter to Ge Lan. This one closed his eyes, looking tired and helpless.

"Thank you for making it perfect. ”

Ge Lan took the letter paper in Cai Zhao's hand, rolled it up, stuffed it into a small tube, and tied the small tube back to the flower pigeon's leg. It was a running letter, but it was not deliberately written to prevaricate the defenders of the Church—the events of the last decade on this black sand boat were indeed so lackluster.

He walked to the stern of the boat, headed in the direction of land, raised his hands, and released the orange-eyed unicorn dove.

......

Many more days passed after that, and the days of boredom never seemed to turn around. The ploughing month is followed by the planting month, and the weather becomes more stable, and there is no longer a spring rain or a warm undulation.

This is especially true of the sea, where the fog is neither thick nor light, blocking the sunlight but not in front of the eyes, and all that can be seen is a muddy gray. The difference between the sky and the sea lies only in the shade of gray, the upper half is white, the lower half is black.

In such a world, this old black sail sand ship seems even more lonely. Glenn couldn't understand why the ship's owner had dyed the sails black. In Shizhou, the black sail means disaster and ominous, which is the color of the undead fleet in Sisi's narrative poem and the color of the Fandong pirate longship.

The Catholic patrons would occasionally allow Ge Lan to go up to the deck to let the wind blow, and then he would look up at the black sails blown by the wind, at the mast that seemed to be about to decay and break, and he thought of the withered monks outside the walls of Ansai, who were also on the verge of dying, and were wrapped in tattered Ubri, puffed up by the wind and sand, like some strange fungus.

"Maybe it's just because it's dirt-resistant. ”

Cai Zhao answered Ge Lan's question like this. The empire is really rich in pragmatists.

There are also many opportunities to sit down and talk during the trip, such as eating, such as after dark, before going to bed......

In the main cabin with the map table, three men sat on the floor, one of them with an iron chain on his feet; Qi Zhilai leaned on the table with her hands clasped on her chest, and the position of her feet was exactly connected to the position of the three people's buttocks; Cai Huan was a little farther away, biting his thumb, as if thinking about something.

The candle flame flickered, and drowsiness began from the darkness where the fire could not be illuminated, creeping up everyone's back, then to the neck, and now to the eyes.

Toko yawned.

Like a chain reaction, Cai Zhao and Ge Lan, who were in the other two corners of the square, also yawned, and finally it was Qi Zhilai's turn to lean on the table.

At this time, her bright eyes had narrowed into two slits, and sleepiness was about to erupt from the mouth that usually only gently hooked a corner. She bowed her head slightly, and reached out to cover her lips, but the moving mandibles still leaked the heavens.

Under the invasion of sleepiness, only Ge Lan noticed this rare scene among the three men sitting on the ground. Under the faint candlelight, I don't know if it was his illusion, this woman who was as hard as steel seemed to reveal a trace of softness and shyness at this moment.

"Let's tell one last story, and then go to sleep!"

In the secret realm, Cai Zhao's kid cheered up and was unwilling to succumb to sleepiness like this.

"Who's coming!" Toko patted his face, and the second cheered up. They're simple creatures who like to have a good time, and they like to laugh and toast.

"The old rules. Cai Zhaothief smiled.

All four of them clenched their right hands into fists at the same time and raised them to the side of their heads.

Seeing the fist draw, Qi Zhilai suddenly raised his hands, "I'll quit." She palmed her hands forward and struck a gesture of stopping.

The palms drawn by the other three people could not be stopped or changed, and they were all hands with the backs of their hands facing up, and they were drawn.

Cai Zhao sighed softly, his voice was very small, but he was still heard by Qi Zhilai.

"You three go on, I'll wait to hear the story. ”

......

The three of them drew two more rounds, one with the back of the hand and the other with the palm of the hand, and the third game was the winner.

With both hands behind his back and one palm, it was Ge Lan who lost.

He told the story of a chivalrous couple.

"Knock! Knock!"

This is the sound of slapping the shield with a sword and the sound of two swords striking each other, Ge Lan imitated it with his mouth, and used a tap on his wrist to indicate that he slapped the shield with a sword, and he tapped the floor to indicate that the two swords struck each other.

"Shield drum and sword song, unparalleled in the world!"

"Fandong tour woman, Sexi seller;"

"Where the sun rises, where the sun sets;"

"Shield drum sword song, famous!"

Ge Lan's voice was very low, and with the echo of this small cabin, the singing seemed to sound from the bottom of everyone's heart.

"Knock! Knock!"

He looked serious, and this time he had to hit it more categorically and harder.

"Bully Haoqiang, don't be arrogant!"

"Shield drum sword song, life-threatening mandarin duck;"

"Two swords like scissors, two shields like copper walls;"

"Knock! Knock!"

"The male shield is famous for drought and thunder, and everything can be done;"

"The sword strikes like rain, not touching the body, but making a futile sound;"

"Knock! Knock!"

"The shield rains from time to time, and I don't hurt the enemy;"

"The knife is like a talc, and it is returned, and the parry is busy;"

Singing this, Ge Lan's face had a proud look like a few family treasures.

"Knock! Knock!"

"Shield drum and sword song, unparalleled in the world!"

"It's too small, Xuan Chen pretty girl;"

"Where the clouds rise, where the clouds disperse;"

"Shield drum sword song, famous!"

"Knock! Knock!"

"The old and weak, the women and children, lack of money and food;"

"Shield drum and sword song, it's okay, it's okay-"

Ge Lan also shook his head, just like when the chivalrous man said the sentence "It's okay, it's okay".

"Xingxia doesn't want to report, but asks Lan Zhixiang;"

"Knock! Knock!"

"There are halberds on all sides, and the sharp scissors lose their edge;"

"The cold light pierces the heart, the voice is not chaotic, especially singing;"

His voice became mournful, and his finger bones slammed against the floor as if they were about to shatter.

"Knock! Knock!"

"Arrows come down from all directions, and the iron wall is not appropriate;"

"The couple were strong and deep, looking at each other and smiling, as usual;"

"Knock! Knock!"

"Shield drums and sword songs, 10,000 taels of heads;"

"Knock! Knock!"

"The shield drum and the sword song, the tomb is Lan Zhixiang. ”

At the end of a song, even if it is a simple accompaniment like knocking on the floor, even if it is a simple and rough voice like Ge Lan, the three people on the side can be shaken by the romance and pride in this song. There was no trace of sleepiness on the faces of the four of them. Qi Zhilai lowered her eyes, she seemed to hear something, and quietly looked at the broad-fronted man on the ground who had just finished singing a song and his knuckles were a little red and swollen.

His pair of tousled eyebrows no longer seemed to show straightforwardness, and turned into a heart-wrenching calm.

After a moment of silence, Ge Lan spoke again, his voice was already a little hoarse, he said, according to the information he had inquired, the drought and thunder and the rain from time to time mentioned in the song did have things, they were in Fengzhang City, in the hands of a weapon merchant named Wu Yiyong, and he had come to Taiwei thousands of miles away, one of the purposes was to find these two legendary shields.

What he didn't tell the people of the state religion was that the weapon merchant was from Shizhou, where he had a louder nickname - "Splitting Ge and chopping wood is useless", Ge is Ge Chuntao, Chai is Chai Fangman, and the pair of fools and chivalrous couples sung in the song of the shield drum and sword died under his halberd.

The moonlight shone on the sea, and the mist took shape, and there were clumps of cotton that seemed to have been dusted, and only the one in the southeast, which was dyed a bright orange by the firelight or something else.