Today is the 185th day since she was sold here by Luo Yuan.

Yang Ruoning put the stone slab full of horizontal and vertical lines to record the time back in the corner.

It is a rare oasis in the desert. It was inhabited by a strong nomadic tribe from the north, who lived in tents, raised large herds of horses, cattle and sheep, and spoke words she did not understand.

The girls who came in the same car with her were all sent to be military prostitutes with the army, and Yang Ruoning was a little lucky. She was disliked because she was too old, so she was put in the stable to work as a coolie. She was unkempt every day, smelled of animal feces, and did not say a word, and was often regarded as a mad woman and rarely approached. However, Yang Ruoning was at peace. The people here still retain some of the characteristics of an uncivilized people. The men of the tribe, especially the cavalry, would carry the woman without hesitation and run quickly into the nearby woods whenever they saw a young woman, and the more daring ones would directly rip off the woman's clothes on the spot and do it in public, while the people who passed by either whistled and heckled or walked directly past to see the strangeness.

These beasts are simply primitive people, primitive people, Yang Ruoning thought as she smeared horse manure all over her body.

It's not like she didn't think about running away. She escaped twice, and each time she was caught, and each time she was severely beaten. Her ribs were broken, and every breath was accompanied by a sharp pain; Her ankle was badly sprained, and every step felt like walking on steel nails, but the physical pain was nothing, and the sense of hopelessness that could not be escaped was the most devastating. The experience of two escapes taught her that without a guide, she would never have been able to cross the desert alone.

It was late at night and it was quiet outside. Yang Ruoning stood up from the haystack. The black horse, who was chewing grass on the side, saw her get up and shook his head and snorted a few times.

She had never had the opportunity to interact with horses before. After spending the past few months getting along, she found that there is a reason why so many people like horses. Not only because they are good at running and have a peaceful temperament, but they are also very intelligent animals.

She didn't know what the criteria for a good horse were, but she felt that the dark horse should be a very good horse. It was tall and proud, with a dark and shiny fur; When it runs, it looks like a black bolt of lightning. On top of that, it's very empathetic. It will lie beside Yang Ruoning on a cold night to block the biting cold wind for her.

But the malevolent trainer didn't think so. In order to tame the black horse, he often whipped it until its skin was torn apart.

But the proud and stubborn black horse never gave in, and it was still the most foul-tempered horse in the stable, refusing to let anyone ride it.

She patted it, "Hi, bud, let'sgetout. (Hi man, let's go)"

She took it by the hand, and slipped out of the stable in the dead of night, toward the woods to the east.

After walking in the forest for about twenty minutes, Yang Ruoning came to a puddle of spring water. The moonlight was reflected in the small puddles, shining with a silvery light. About 30 meters away from the spring is a large tree, the thick trunk of which takes three people to wrap around, and the canopy of the tree extends to one side like a big hand. Under the tree, there are tributes.

This big tree is the sacred tree of the tribe. They believed that the sacred tree could protect their people.

The atheist Yang Ruoning naturally does not believe in ghosts and gods. There was no reason to let these tributes rot and not give them to those who needed them, and she felt that if there really was a god, then the god would not watch her starve to death.

She walked over and picked up a piece of jerky and threw it into her mouth. She circled the tree and found a new plate of fruit for today. It looks like an apple, but it is much smaller than an apple, and it should have been picked in the nearby woods. Yang Ruoning took a few and walked over to feed them to the black horse.

The black horse sniffed the fruit repeatedly, and seemed to be a little hesitant to eat it.

"Hey, it's not poisonous, it's okay to eat, look," Yang Ruoning took a bite, chewed and swallowed.

The dark horse gnawed at it with confidence.

Yang Ruoning patted it, "Hi, Bud, I often wonder if you like me as a person or what I feed you?" ”

The dark horse showed the whites of his eyes at her, as if to mock her idiot-like question. Of course I like what you feed me, stupid human.

"Ha, I see. But that's okay, I like you a lot. Want to eat another one? Yang Ruoning stuffed another one into his mouth. I wonder if I want to give you a name? So that I can distinguish you from other dark horses. ”

The dark horse snorted. "You think so too? So what name do you prefer? I won't give people a name, since you are black, it is called Black, and the Chinese translation is Black, what do you think of this name? ”

After hearing this, the black horse walked towards the big tree with small steps, as if he was despising the random name.

"I'll just give you your consent, Blake?" Yang Ruoning said loudly at its back. Yang Ruoning saw that Black turned behind the tree and disappeared, so she knew that it was running for those fruits.

She left Blake alone, went straight to the spring, washed her face with the water, and sat down on the grass. A gust of wind passed through the trees, rustling the leaves with the fresh earthy smell of spring.

Yang Ruoning pondered the escape plan in her heart, she had already thought of countless plans, but she denied countless plans. Escaping alive was still an impossible task for her.

Suddenly, Blake screamed, and its cry echoed through the quiet woods in the middle of the night. It is said that Blake was originally a breed of war horse, but who would have thought that this product was naturally timid, and a fallen leaf could be frightened for a long time.

What's wrong with this horse, Yang Ruoning stood up and walked over there slowly.

Following the sound, she saw Blake standing in front of a tree, his head bowed as if he was sniffing something. Yang Ruoning shouted, "Blake! ”。 When she approached, she was startled. Good fellow, Blake found someone this time.

The man sat on the ground, hidden in the darkness, unable to see his body and face. He heard footsteps and looked up, his eyes shining brightly in the night.

It's a male voice.

The man said something, but she didn't understand.

There was a hint of weakness in the man's voice, and he sat motionless, as if he had been wounded.

Yang Ruoning didn't answer or come closer, she picked up Blake on the side, turned around and left.

Walking out about a few dozen meters, Yang Ruoning stopped, she sighed, she just couldn't sit idly by.

"Hey, Blake, don't you think it would be nice to just leave him alone? If he doesn't get help and dies like this, do we become bad people, do we not go to heaven after we die? I can't go to heaven, I have to go to heaven to be with my family, right? You want to go to heaven too, don't you, Blake? ”

Blake lowered his head and graze, ignoring her.

"Besides, we don't know how long the man has been sitting there, whether he saw us stealing the tribute, right? We should go back and figure it out, right, Blake? ”

I don't know if Blake understood, but it turned around slowly and walked back.

"Ok, it's your decision, and if anything happens, you're fully responsible. I'm just following you. ”

The man heard the footsteps and raised his head, staring intently at Yang Ruoning approaching step by step.

After Yang Ruoning approached him, she found that the person's right foot was caught by the beast clip, and the wound was very deep.

He said something again, as if asking for her help. His voice was weakened by blood loss.

Yang Ruoning squatted down, glanced at him, and then lowered her head to look at the beast trap, thinking about how to open it. The trap mechanism is simple, in fact, it only needs a hard stick to pry it open. She stood up and looked around. In this forest, I am afraid it is difficult to find such an iron rod. She'll probably need to go back.

"I'm going back and find a stick." She turned to the man.

The man was stunned for a moment, then said, "Over there," the man pointed not far away, "and my spear is there." ”

It's Chinese. This man also looks like a Han Chinese slave.

Yang Ruoning followed the direction he pointed and found the spear covered by fallen leaves, and then she used the spear to pry open the trap. The man snorted as she removed the trap. He said to Yang Ruoning, "Thank you." ”

"No thanks," Yang Ruoning replied.

To help people to the end, Yang Ruoning helped the man up and walked back slowly with him.

The two didn't communicate along the way, but when they were about to walk to the tent area, Yang Ruoning hesitated and asked, "...... tonight?"

"...... tonight"

Unexpectedly, the man also happened to speak, and the two of them actually spoke in unison.

"You say it first," Yang Ruoning said to him.

"Thank you, girl, tonight, but please keep it confidential and don't mention it to others."

"OK, actually, that's what I thought, and that's how we agreed."

She reached out to him.

The man looked at her hand, stunned for a moment, and then looked at her strangely, wondering what she meant.

Yang Ruoning grabbed his hand, shook it and shook it.

The meaning of this gesture is that we are determined. Whoever says it will be thundered by the sky. ”

"Oh, okay, we'll make up our minds." The man let go of her, "For the rest of the way, I will go back by myself, and I will not bother the girl." ”

The two were separated.

Yang Ruoning saw him holding his spear and limped over there. She thought, this man can really endure pain. The wound was already deep to the bone, but he acted like some small wound that didn't matter. Apparently, though, he didn't want to let people know that he was in the woods late at night, what was he doing there? Is it like she is stealing tribute? Well, it's very likely, after all, the food for the Han slaves here is pitiful and hard to swallow.

"Let's go," Yang Ruoning patted Blake and walked towards the stable.