The two looked at Jinyunlan, who was snoring one after another, and a crystal saliva had already flowed from the corner of her mouth. Li Yi frowned, and immediately pulled out his pillow, and Jinyunlan's heavy brain fell on the bed board with a "bang".

"Ouch." She groaned, and her mind cleared a little because of the heavy knock. The jade crown on top of her head was extremely obstructive against the back of her head, and she reached out and fumbled to loosen her braid. The long black hair spread out and fell a few locks over his face.

The sparse moonlight sifted dimly through her hair, obscuring her peaceful sleep. She closed her mouth, a relieved relief on her face, no more indecent acts, and fell asleep peacefully.

Li Tang stared at her for a while, scratched his face, and showed a sincere smile: "Actually, I think she looks pretty good." ”

Li Yi crossed his arms, his eyes suddenly widened, and he squinted and looked at his brother up and down.

After the brothers arranged for her, they went to sleep in her brother's house together.

The two brothers huddled together in a bed for the first time in a long time. Compared with the intimacy when they were children, they have become a little awkward and distant as they get older.

Li Tang was lying flat on his right, while Li Yan had his back to him, facing the window.

Due to their long isolation from the world, the Li family did not catch up with the torrent of ideas, and they did not keep up with the pace of the transformation of matrilineal society to patrilineal society. In addition, the life span of the Li family is not long, reproduction has become the top priority, and the status of women has been raised extremely high.

A Lai man can only marry one woman in his life, but a Lai woman can have several husbands at the same time. Lai's harshness on men is no less than the high requirements for women in the world.

Due to Lai's special marriage system, Lai's mother had two husbands at the same time. And Li Tang and Li Yi are not siblings, but half-brothers.

Now their respective fathers have passed away, and their mothers are dying. Li Yi was also appointed at this time and became the new patriarch of the Li family. His strength and character are obvious to all, and he is also expected by everyone, so there is no objection.

Everyone in the Lai family relied on him and trusted him. He is highly anticipated and watched. Seeing the hardships and sufferings of his clansmen, he was also quite anxious with a sense of responsibility. But he never seemed to complain. He endured, maybe he still endured, so at this moment, he tightened his body and clenched his fists to suppress the strong feeling of powerlessness in his heart.

As an empathetic brother, he found that his brother who was soft in heart was guarding his pain, so he should persuade and comfort him in time. He interlocked his fingers and circled his thumbs around each other, struggling for a long time to shake his wit and coax him to be happy. But in the middle of the night, he couldn't think of any good ideas, so he struggled for a long time, coughed and said, "Xiao Yu, I haven't heard you call me brother for a long time, call and listen." ”

"Brother."

Li Tang's unexpected frankness surprised Li Tang. Suddenly, he laughed and mentioned the foreign woman sleeping next door: "If you let others know that a strange woman has slept in your room, see which other woman on this empty mountain is willing to want you." ”

Li Yiman didn't care: "Love or not." ”

Li Tang stared at the back of his head violently, sat up, flattened his body lying on his side, and looked at him with a calm expression in horror: "Don't you like her?" ”

Li Yan silently twisted his brother's arm, grinning in pain and rubbing it non-stop. He bluffed him: "You know it hurts, I thought you were talking in a dream?" ”

Li Tang glared at him angrily, lay down again, and changed his tone: "I see that Jinyunlan is not quite the same as others." Just because she was able to climb the mountain in the middle of the night to apologize to us, she was already much better than those Jinyun elders. She is the eldest daughter of the Jinyun clan, and she may be the patriarch in the future. If she doesn't change her original intention, maybe our Li family still has a future. ”

Li Yi took a firm attitude and objected to his brother's delusional idea of relying on others: "I don't want to pin my hopes on others. What's more, she is still from the Jinyun clan, and her credibility is greatly reduced. ”

Li Tang asked, "Then what are you going to do?" The Li family is not prosperous at the moment, and if you want to fight Jinyun, there will be no good fruit to eat. The tunnels that have taken many years to dig are just a little more contact with the outside world, and if we want all the clansmen to move their families and hundreds of people to act together, the goal is too big to be discovered, and we don't have enough money. Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if we survive successfully, where should we settle down? ”

Li Yan was silent. What Li Tang said was exactly the question he had been thinking about but couldn't solve these days. With no money, no power, and no one, they don't seem to have any way to live except for the empty mountain, a place to settle down.

They have nowhere to go, and to stay here is to struggle with the tragic fate of poverty and short life.

What was handed over to him was a dead end left by the Li clan for thousands of years.

Li Tang suddenly said: "There may be only one way now." ”

Li Yan turned his head to look at him, "What way?" ”

Li Tang blinked his blazing eyes, and the light in his eyes suddenly dimmed, covering him with a layer of shadow. He exhaled in frustration, and after glancing at Li Yi a few times with a weak heart, he muttered: "Surrender to Jinyun." Dedicate our natural ability to Jinyun from now on. ”

When Li Yi heard him say this, he was furious. An angry flush appeared on his face. He sat up suddenly, lowered his voice and said angrily, "No way! Jinyun has persecuted us for thousands of years, and you asked me to take all the existing tribesmen to use them as cattle and horses? How can you make me worthy of the ancestors of the Li family. Their lives, the lives of our fathers, are not to die under the curse of Jinyun. You've forgotten our hatred so quickly, can't you wait to wag your tail at Jinyun and beg for mercy? ”

Li Tang was also a little angry when he heard this. He sat up and retorted hesitantly, "I'm also thinking about my people." Our lives are too short to consume Jinyun. If you sit back and wait to die, in just a hundred years, the Li clan will be extinct in this world. At present, relying on the food sent by Jinyunlan, life is a little easier. But she is not the God of Wealth, can she still be inexhaustible? Sooner or later, you have to make a plan, it's better to make up your mind. ”

Li Yi said resolutely: "Jinyun has hated the Li family for thousands of years. Do you think that if we surrender to the enemy, they will celebrate and welcome us? It's just a sheep in the mouth of a tiger. It is inevitable to speculate on our intentions, and to watch out for us all day long. Doesn't the fact that we are close at hand give them an easier chance to frame us? I can't agree with the practice of nakedly offering the knife to the enemy! ”

The quarrel came to an abrupt end.

This proposal received the strongest refutation. A huge loophole was easily found, forcing the two into a bottomless abyss.

Unexpectedly, the method of losing dignity and bottom line still can't change their sad status quo.

It seems that only the destruction and extinction of a clan is the only certainty of the outcome.

The brothers looked at each other in the silence and darkness of the night, silently savoring the heart-eating taste of helplessness and despair.

The light dispelled the darkness of the night, and the morning came as usual.

Without saying a word, people went out to the bamboo forest and cut wood. The buildings that were destroyed by Jinyunlan are being gradually restored.

Jin Yunlan was woken up by the noise of the construction site. She woke up to the sound of people and the screeching sound of saws rubbing against bamboo poles, all at once, straight into her ears.

She sat up dizzily, her head splitting at the moment because of the hangover.

Li Yi entered the door at this time, and brought a bowl of black decanting soup to her with an expressionless face, "Drink, drunkard." His cold tone was no different from before, as if what she had said last night had not moved him for the first minute.

She felt a little frustrated. She is not wishful thinking, trying to dissolve the ice in Li's heart with just a few words. I just hope that the sincerity of my efforts can get a little response, even if it is only a small amount.

She picked up the decanting soup and swallowed it without knowing it. The sour and spicy taste scratched her taste buds and throat, and the unpleasant smell poured into her nose. The blow to her mouth and nose at the same time caused her stomach to churn.

She was about to spit it out, but when she saw Li Yi's sharp eyes, she still held back, swallowed it hard, and then praised it against her will, "Howl...... Delicious. ”

Li Yi still frowned, "Do you remember what you said before?" ”

He meant the oath that Jinyunlan had made in front of them before.

She put down the soup bowl and replied solemnly, "Yes." ”

Li Yi pointed to a road outside the window that led to the depths, "That's good." There is a lake in the back mountain. Wash off the filthiness from your body, and put on these clean clothes, and then come to me. ”

Only then did Jin Yunlan find that there was a simple dress that came with the sobering soup, and she carried the clothes around the hot construction site and went to the back mountain that Li Yu pointed to.

The more I walked deeper into the mountains and forests, the more I felt that this place was desolate and slaughtered, and the lively and busy scene was like another world, and the noisy sound gradually disappeared behind him.

It was so cold that it seemed that she was the only one living alone in this huge world.

She tightened her gown and quickened her pace, but for some reason she kept spinning in place. It's like entering a strange circle, and no matter which direction you go, you will return to the same place.

She observed Siye and didn't find anything unusual, and there was no one nearby using the aura of spiritual power, so it didn't seem like someone was maliciously doing something behind her back.

She pondered for a moment, striding forward, marking her way to find a way to solve the maze, not wanting to stumble into a cemetery.

It was eerily dark.

The gray mounds that dot the mountains are like shells floating on the raging tide. The name engraved on the tombstone in cinnabar turned into bloodied eyes at the moment, staring at her without blinking. A gust of wind blew at the right time, setting off an endless cry of blood and wailing in the air for a long time, refusing to disperse for a long time.

Rao is not afraid of heaven and earth, and Jinyunlan is also breaking out in a cold sweat at this moment.

She seemed to hear someone crying.

She shook her numb palm and staggered backwards, trying to run away, but holding back. She tried to restrain the panic and uneasiness in her heart, bowed to all the graves in front of her, and sincerely apologized: "I'm sorry. If you have strayed into your quiet place, I will come back another day, and I will bring sacrifices as compensation. ”

When she straightened up, the scene before her returned to its original sunny nature. The tombs stood quietly in place, peaceful and peaceful. The noisy sound of construction and the voice were intertwined from behind.

It was as if she had returned to the real world.