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Tap ......

TapTapTap......

Under the moonlit night, in the silent mountains, the sound of the rapid horse's hooves hitting the ground echoed in the mountains and forests, so that a certain group of villagers still gathered at the entrance of the village, did not go back to rest after dark, and did not know what they were doing, all turned their heads, and looked towards the end of the path outside the village, trying to see clearly who the travelers were still hurrying in the dark night under the not very bright moonlight.

‘？？ ’

'That's the sound of horses' hooves, right?' ’

'Yes......'

'But who is still in a hurry on this big night?' ’

'I don't know, maybe it's a passing imperial stagecoach? ’

'Everyone has to hurry at night, maybe something big will happen again!' ’

'Can you handle it?' ’

‘…..’

Tap ......

TapTapTap......

Soon, the sound of the horse's hooves was getting closer and clearer.

'Ahh ’

'It's not like a passing imperial stagecoach, it sounds like it's coming from our Changgan Village. ’

‘！！ ’

'It can't be those robbers, right?' ’

'Nonsense! Listen, just the sound and shadow of a horse, where can there be that kind of strongman who robs a village house single-handedly? ’

'Also ......'

'Ahh ’

I see it! Yes, it's a teacher! It's the teacher, he's back! ’

At this time, as the vague figure of a rider who was rushing to the road appeared at the end of the road in the distance, and soon, in the crowd of villagers of Changgan Village, who were originally whispering, a sharp-eyed half-grown man suddenly stood up and exclaimed.

‘？？ ’

'Li Bai? No way? ’

‘！！ ’

'He's really ......'

But why did he come back? ’

'Alas......'

In the morning, I saw that the big fat ran out, and he hasn't come back yet, so he must have gone to the county town to report to Li Bai Nawa. ’

I also saw that after the fat dun left the village, he did run towards the road in the county seat. ’

'Alas! What's the use of coming back now, it's too late......

'Isn't it?' ’

'We're old faces, I'm afraid there will be nowhere to put it in the future......

In the dimness, seeing the horse galloping wildly, and slamming the horse in front of everyone, turning over and dismounting with a long sword in his hand, and walking quickly towards this side with a calm face is Li Bai, this group of people have been gathered here at the entrance of the village even if it is dark, or standing or sitting, or simply squatting in the corner on the side, one by one with depressed faces, not knowing what they are discussing or waiting for what the villagers of Changgan Village are, they are shocked, they all shake their heads and sigh and look away with some shame.

"You ......"

"Li, Li Bai? You...... Why did you come back, and what about the other people who went with you? ”

"And Big Fat, did you touch him?"

The old man of Mura Zhenglin didn't need to guess much to know why Li Bai hurried back overnight at this time, in fact, all the people here knew it!

But it can't be helped, there are some things they don't want to ......

Therefore, seeing that everyone turned their heads away, they didn't dare to look at Li Bai squarely, as a village leader, he could only take the endless sorrow and shame, staggered forward with a cane, and met Li Bai, who hurriedly returned on a high-headed horse, and asked about the villagers who followed each other into the city.

"Yes, they are all in the county right now, and they may not be able to come back until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"But ......"

"I ask you, my sister Mei'er, where is she?!"

Li Bai didn't talk nonsense with the other party, but after casually dealing with it, he directly blushed, gritted his teeth and asked.

At this time, his tone was unusually cold, and even the basic politeness of the past, such as 'uncle' or 'Grandpa Muramasa', was no longer used.

"Li Bai ......"

"You...... You know it all? That big fat, he told you everything? ”

The old man of the village opened his mouth, first stunned for a moment, and then the cloudy eyes that were slightly dull in the darkness inevitably flashed a trace of helpless sadness.

“……”

Li Bai didn't say anything, but coldly swept past the group of villagers who were unwilling or afraid to look at him, and then turned his gaze to the village in front of him who was holding a cane, looking a little trembling, as if he had aged several years out of thin air.

"You ......"

"What if you know?"

"Forget it, Li Baiwa'er, you're coming back late! More than two hours ago, before it was dark, the people had already been sent up the mountain......"

"Ahem......"

Old Man Lin closed his eyes in pain, and sighed heavily while shaking his head in frustration, coughing incessantly, obviously reluctant to say more about it.

“！！”

"You guys! I don't understand, why the hell?! ”

Almost gritting his teeth, Li Bai began to ask loudly in that trembling and angry tone.

"Ahem!!"

"What else?"

"Every eight years, we have to send a pair of boys and girls up, every time we have to send them, if we don't send them, none of the people in this village will survive, do you think we are willing, what can we do?"

As he spoke, he was a little excited, and suddenly the old man Muramasashi, who was patting his thigh hard and knocking on the cane in his hand, blew his beard and glared sideways to the side, his lips began to tremble, and saliva and snot squirted out and hung on his messy gray beard.

"Li Bai, you don't understand!"

"That's the mountain god who protects one side, it's the mountain god! It's not a demon or a monster, even if it's an official government! ”

"Our small place is quite good, some big towns close to rivers, lakes and seas, don't you have to send ten or eight boys and girls to keep a year's peace?"

"Hi ......"

"What a sin!!"

As he spoke, the old man Muramasato sighed heavily.

You must know that the person who was sent to the mountain, in addition to the Mei girl who took the initiative and insisted on replacing Liuya, there was also a grandson of his family, that was his old man Lin, the grandson of the village, who was drawn when he drew lots, and he had a total of three grandchildren, what could he do?

He doesn't want to do it himself, his heart hurts at this moment!!

In their Changgan Village, which has less than 100 households, except for Li Bai, they all live in the same family, which one is not related to him, he can touch his conscience and guarantee that if there is another choice, he will never choose to send the children in his village to the mountain to die!

But there is no way, they have no other choice, if they don't want to die more people, they can only choose to do that, it is an ancient precept passed down from generation to generation by their ancestors, and the consequences of not sending it are also clearly engraved in the sect, they can't disobey it, and they don't have the courage to disobey it, unless they can move out of here with an iron heart...... However, if you look at the whole world, everywhere is more or less the same, where can they go?

"That's it!!"

"I don't talk so much nonsense with you, tell me quickly, where did you send my Mei'er?"

After Li Bai took a deep breath, he decided not to settle accounts with these guys or investigate them first for the time being, and wait for him to save Mei'er's stupid girl.

“！！”

"Li Bai?"

"Okay baby, what do you want to do here?"

Seeing Li Bai's terrible eyes as if he was going to choose someone to devour, the old man Mura Zhenglin was not very afraid, but he understood the purpose of Li Bai's question, so he couldn't help but exclaim, and planned to come forward and pull Li Bai's clothes in order to prevent the other party from really doing something stupid.

"Say!"

"Tell me, where did you send Mei'er?!"

Gritting his teeth, Li Bai avoided Muramasa's pull, and the tone of his voice was unusually cold, even more permeable than the mountain wind on this late autumn night.

"Hi ......"

"It's useless."

"That's the god of the mountain, baby, you can't fight the useless flower shelf......."

Seeing that the other party took a step back and avoided his hand, the old man Muramasato did not catch up again, but just sighed and shook his head, wanting to continue to persuade Li Bai.

"Speak quickly!"

At this time, Li Bai's fingers grasping the scabbard of the iron sword were straining and the scabbard that was firmly grasped began to creak.

He only felt that all kinds of negative emotions such as anger, sadness, remorse, anxiety, and resentment in his heart began to roar like a devil in his chest, and the fierce sword qi began to unconsciously fill his body.

To tell the truth, if it weren't for the fact that these people were old uncles of the Changgan Village, if they weren't subjectively evil, if Li Bai hadn't been thinking about the friendship between each other in the past six years, just because these people sent his Mei'er sister to the mountain to die, he was afraid that he would be able to pull out his sword and kill them in a fit of anger!!

"Say!"

"You ......"

"Where the hell did you send people?!"

Li Bai didn't want to continue to delay time here, because he had wasted a lot of time riding his horse all the way back, and if the other party didn't say anything about it, then he would have to use force directly.

‘……’

‘……’

Seeing Li Bai's terrifying expression, eyes and aura that suddenly became extremely unfamiliar, including the old man of Mura Zhenglin and the other villagers, they all took a step back involuntarily in fright.

However, the others saw that the old man Lin who was the leader seemed reluctant to speak, and the others who knew that the old man was worried about something also turned their heads one by one and refused to say anything.

Because they all know that it was not in vain, the people who were sent up the mountain at this time must be gone, and Li Bai will only send one more life in vain if he goes up again, so it is useless, it is better to stay and continue to live in peace!

As for the next time, it will be eight years before they need to think about it.

"I know!"

"Teacher! I know...... Go away, don't stop me!! ”

At this time, when Li Bai was about to draw his sword to intimidate and threaten with force, a little boy who was one and a half years old behind the villagers suddenly broke through the barriers of those villagers, and directly and dexterously drilled through the crowd and ran in front of Li Bai.

"Teacher!"

"I know! On the other side of the red maple forest, just follow the beautiful pebble stream up the hill, and in about an hour or two you will see a cave, and go inside, and walk to the place where there are many stalactites like you have taught! ”

"Sister Qingmei and Qiwazi were sent there by them!"

Ignoring the hand that the old man of Muramasin Lin on the side was about to forcibly cover, the half-grown boy suddenly said loudly with hatred in a very fast tone, wiping the tears on his face.

To tell the truth, Li Bai, who has been a teacher in recent years, is not competent at all, because he is often lazy, so that most of the time it is their Qingmei sister who is substitute teaching and teaching the naughty children in their village to read and write, so the relationship between these half-grown children and their Qingmei sister is good, anyway, it must be better than Li Bai, and they also respect the responsible and powerful big sister more!

Therefore, when he learned and saw that the other party was sent to the mountain god to eat in beautiful clothes, he didn't mention how sad he was, and he kept sneaking behind the escort team to the entrance of the cave, until he was found out later, and then let the adults around him pull it back.

And before Li Bai came back, he had already secretly hid aside and cried several times with snot and tears.

'Shut up!! ’

'You fool! Don't talk nonsense!! ’

At this moment, one of the villagers shouted and rushed over and slapped the boy on the head vigorously.

However, when the people realized something and turned their heads over, Li Bai, who was still standing there just now, had already disappeared in the blink of an eye, not knowing where to run.

'Oops! What about Li Bai Nawa? ’

‘？？ ’

'I don't know, wasn't it still there just now, why didn't you disappear all of a sudden?' ’

'Not good! ’

'I'm afraid it's going to be a bad thing!!' ’

'Taigong! What should we do now? Li Bai, that kid must have gone to find the mountain god! ’

'Li Bai Nawa, he doesn't want to die? ’

What's the use of all this nonsense, why don't you hurry up and get him back? ’

'Huh? Good! ’

'Brothers, let's ......'

‘！！ ’

'Stop! You guys aren't messing around enough?! ’

‘……’

'Listen up! ’

'Not a single one is allowed to go!' It's dark now, and you know that it's not safe in the mountains, so go back and rest, Ming'er...... Ming'er will wait for dawn and send a few more people along the road to see the situation, I just hope that Li Bai'er will have a big life and don't do anything stupid......

'Scattered, scattered! Let's all go back! Wait, who's going to take this horse to his house first! ’

'Hi ......'

Everyone was noisy for a while, and when they just wanted to organize a group of people to chase Li Bai back along the road, the old man of Mura Zhenglin, who had been staring at Li Bai just now, but didn't see how Li Bai 'swished' and disappeared for a while, finally let go, and stopped everyone present as soon as he spoke, and at the same time sighed and gave a solution to the matter.

And his solution, which is to do nothing!

Even if they want to do it, they can't do it, after all, they are just a group of ordinary people, even the strongest hunters dare not run into that old forest at such a time, God knows what kind of danger there will be? And today, Changgan Village has to endure the pain of losing two babies, and he is unwilling to lose anyone's life at such a time.

“…….”

At this time, when the villagers slowly dispersed and returned home under the persuasion of the old man of the village Zhenglin, Li Baizheng gritted his teeth and accelerated, and advanced towards a certain forest like a lightning speed.

He was stirring his sword qi with all his might, allowing them to strengthen his nerves, muscles, and bones as much as possible, turning him into a lightning bolt, rushing forward in the dark forest, among the big trees, the mountains, the cliffs, and the piles of rocks, vines, and thorns.

As he moved forward at a rapid pace, his angry and anxious heart inevitably began to flood with Mei'er's sister's resentment and joy and all kinds of past.

'Hey~♡! ’

'Brother Li Bai! ’

'You must remember! ’

'Come back early when you're done!' Don't stay in the county for too many days, and don't think about going to see other people's little ladies~! ’

'Hey! Did you hear that?! ’

……

'Lang rode a bamboo horse, went around the bed to make green plums, and lived together in Changganli, the two of them had no suspicion? ’

'Hey~♡! ’

'Brother Li Bai, you did a really good job, people won't beat you this time and next time! ’

……

'Li Bai Ge (gě) Ge (gé)~♡'

'People can't sleep alone, are you going to go over there and sleep with them?' ’

‘……’

Brother Li Bai...... You, will you not want green plums in the future? ’

"Brother Li Bai, I only have you left, if you Brother Li Bai and you don't want Qingmei, Qingmei will have no family in the future......

‘……’

'Look~♡! ’

'Brother Li Bai, what do you see here? Eat it, I just got it, it's already baked, it's fragrant! ’

‘……’

|˛˙꒳˙)？

'Are you the weirdo that Daddy fished up from the river?' My name is Qingmei, what's your name? ’

'Li Bai? ’

'What a strange name, they all say your head is in the water, is that true?' Where did you get it from, your eyes or your nose, do you want someone to pour it out for you? ’

‘……’

'Hee~♡'

'Brother Li Bai, you are really a weirdo! ’

‘……’

While clashing forward desperately, it was amazing, but Li Bai's brain suddenly became abnormally clear, so that in the darkness, he could clearly see those flying insects and birds and beasts that infested in the dark, as if he had broken through a certain realm?

But at this time, he was not in the mood to think about those situations, but his mind began to keep flooding with all kinds of things about Mei'er in the past, and his heart and ears kept echoing what he or the other party had said, and at the same time, in the midst of endless remorse, his eyes gradually turned red, and his expression became more and more hideous.

'Uncle Lin! ’

'I'll definitely take care of my younger sister!' ’

'I, Li Bai, hereby swear: I will protect my sister Qingmei in this life, if there is a lie, heaven and man will abandon it!! ’

'Heaven and man abandon together......

‘……’

Suddenly remembered something he had promised, and for the first time, Li Bai felt deep remorse and self-blame for himself.

"Mei'er ......"

He felt that he should not have come down the mountain three days ago, and if he could stay in the village properly, Mei'er would definitely be fine! He didn't understand, what was so good about the flowery world outside, the broken county, why was he so anxious to go down the mountain to the waves?

"Mei'er ......"

"You must not have anything, never, never ......"

In this way, while praying incessantly in his heart, Li Bai clung to the iron sword that he had bought from the county for a lot of money, and first followed the stream full of beautiful pebbles that he easily found at a very fast speed, and then rushed straight upstream, like a gust of mountain wind, directly along the stream towards the halfway point of the mountain, and disappeared in an instant, leaving only the low canopy and weed piles that kept swaying after he rushed over.