Mo Shanshan glanced at him, his eyes were confused, and he could even feel a little flustered, it was obvious that although she was a world-famous bookworm girl, she was really not very good at this. 【】

Ning Que held back a smile, glanced at the dried meat in his hand, and began to chat with the desolate woman.

Chatting is what he is very good at, since he was a child, he can survive in such a dangerous environment, in addition to being ruthless enough, the more important trait is to please and sell well, you don't see the previous generals of Weicheng, you don't see the emperor Xià and Master Yan Se, you don't see the female professor and sister by the east window, how can there be people who don't like him?

So, it didn't take long for the desolate woman who bowed her head to treat the skins of the beast and began to talk to him warmly, although the accent was a little strange, but when the two sides of the conversation slowed down, there was no problem in the communication.

"There are a lot of fish in Atami, all kinds of fish. ”

The desolate woman grabbed a handful of hay, wiped the blood from her hands, and said with her arms apart: "My man has seen such a long fish, but when it comes to deliciousness, every year during the Light Festival, the patriarch will send warriors to dive under the sea to catch the egg fish, and that kind of fish is really delicious." ”

Ning Que put the dried meat in his hand beside him and asked curiously:

"Eggfish?"

"Well, because the roe is big, we call it the egg fish. ”

The desolate woman stretched out her finger and drew it exaggeratedly, then shook her head and said, "After coming to the south, there are more sheep than before, but it is not so convenient to eat fish. ”

From the conversation, Ning Que learned that in the spring, the desolate people went south from the hot spot in the cold region and robbed a large area of grassland in the royal court, and had stored enough grain and grass before the winter, and even the sheep also retained a lot, but probably based on tradition, the tribe still sent desolate people to hunt around.

The cold wind hit the tent with snow flakes, because of the strange paint pasted outside, making a dull sound, Ning Que thought about the situation he had seen all the way before, and was a little puzzled, and asked: "Even if it is hunting, there is no reason to come to such a remote place, it is always unsafe to be too far away from the tribal crowd." ”

He has been hunting in Minshan since he was a child, and he is well aware of the hidden dangers hidden in the hunting of his people.

The desolate woman said, "This is the rule of the tribe, and during the winter ritual, you must live alone for the whole winter. ”

Ning Que asked curiously, "What is the Winter Rite?"

As soon as the words fell, his eyebrows suddenly raised, and Mo Shanshan, who had been sitting silently and quietly, also looked at the door.

The heavy curtain was lifted, and a short figure rushed in, shouting happily, "I'm back." 【】

It was a small boy with a thin body, carrying a fat and round cold badger on his shoulder, and his face was full of joy and pride, but when he saw Ning Que and Mo Shanshan, he suddenly became vigilant.

"It's a guest. The desolate woman stepped forward to take the prey from his shoulder, and with a slight tug of her fingertips, she very quickly blocked the bloody mouth of the cold badger, and patted the little boy's head with a smile.

Ning Que looked at the little boy who would definitely not be more than twelve years old, thinking that in such a cold weather, he could actually hunt such a big cold badger, and he couldn't help but be shocked, and then he remembered his life in Minshan many years ago when he was younger than the other party, and he couldn't help but feel a little touched.

"This is my son. ”

The desolate woman looked at the surprised expressions of the two Central Plains people, laughed heartily, and said: "I just said the winter ceremony, which is his winter ceremony, the tribal rule, in the winter of the year when he was twelve, the parents will accompany the child into the mountains to hunt, and before the North Hot Sea thaws, he can hunt half a cart of prey, and the child will be considered an adult." ”

She looked at the little boy with a stern expression, but she couldn't hide the tenderness in her eyes, and said, "Next year he will become a warrior, and then he will organize his own family, so Winter Rite is the last time we will accompany him." ”

Ning Que had not yet gotten rid of this shock, and immediately thought of the previous sentence of organizing a family, and couldn't help but say with envy: "We Tang people can't get married so early. ”

Hearing the word Tang Ren, the little boy who was already a little vigilant suddenly became more nervous, and subconsciously wanted to hide behind his mother, but thinking that he was performing a winter ritual and was about to become a warrior of the tribe, he forcibly mustered up the courage to stop in front of his mother and glared at Ning Que fiercely.

The desolate woman slapped him on the back of the head and reprimanded him sharply: "What's the point of getting a fat badger? Winter Rite wants half a cart of prey, if it's the kind of cart in my hometown, it's fine, but don't you look at the cart pushed by the envoy Han in the autumn?"

The cars used by those barbarians are so big, it's not so easy to fill half of them. ”

The boy was driven out of his tent by his mother with sticks and intimidation, and with a wooden bow and arrows on his back, he resumed the difficult hunting necessary for him to become a desert warrior. Ning Que couldn't help but laugh happily when he listened to the desolate woman's previous assertion about the small cart and the barbarian cart in his hometown.

The desolate woman lowered her head and continued her work, holding a smooth piece of wood and crushing the fur under her feet, and from time to time raising her arm to wipe the sweat from her forehead. Ning Que thought about the prey that was hidden by the snow outside the tent before, and thought that this kind of work was really hard, and asked, "Eldest sister, where is the child's father?" "I died in the spring fighting with those barbarians. ”

The desolate woman did not raise her head, and her voice did not change at all, and she pressed her tongue as straight as she did on the 1st, as if she was telling a story that had happened for a long time, had nothing to do with her, and was about to be forgotten.

Suddenly, she raised her head, stared at Ning Que and asked, "You guys...... Are the Tang people going to come and beat us?"

"Probably not, right?" Ning Que looked at the expression on the woman's face, and said in an accentuated tone, "Definitely not." ”

Whether the Tang Empire will send a large army to fight against the desolate people is a decision that can only be made by His Majesty the Emperor and the ministers of the court, where does he know if it will be, but whether it will or not, of course he can only say no in front of the desolate people, and it must be said categorically, with iron teeth and copper teeth.

Mo Shanshan didn't say anything, just glanced at him again.

The desolate woman was stunned when she heard his answer, and with a rare smile, she said, "That's good." ”

Mo Shanshan looked at her quietly, and suddenly asked, "Even if the Tang people don't come, there are many other countries in the Central Plains, especially the Divine Temple, aren't you worried?"

The desolate woman leaned forward and handed the weight to the wooden chip, crushed the hide vigorously, and muttered, "As long as the Tang people don't come, then what's there to worry about?"

When night fell, the wind and snow outside the tent stopped, and the little boy came back, but this time there was a look of shame on his face, because his hands were empty, and his shoulders were empty, and the woman of the desert did not say anything, and boiled a pot of hot soup, and out of nowhere, a leg of lamb was found under the snowdrift, and some spicy spices were put in, and the four of them ate a meal in silence.

"You can only stay here for one night. ”

The desolate woman put away the boning knife, looked at Ning Que and added, "Because this is the rule of the winter ceremony." ”

Ning Que expressed his gratitude, and then walked out of the tent with Mo Shanshan.

The two of them walked towards a snowy slope not far away.

At this time, the snow outside the tent has stopped, the wind and the clouds have dispersed, and the high black night dome is dotted with countless stars, and the starlight is sprinkled on the white snow covered by the mountains and mountains in the wilderness, reflecting a faint blue light.

"On the way from Chang'an City to the wasteland, I listened to the academy teach some stories of the wasteland. ”

Ning Que breathed in the cold and refreshing air outside the tent, looked at the silhouettes of dead trees faintly visible under the starlight in the distance, and said, "Do you know why the wasteland is called the wasteland?"

Mo Shanshan has lived in the southern river country for a long time, and he is very unfamiliar with this territory, so he couldn't help frowning slightly when he heard his question, and said after thinking for a while: "Isn't it because this wilderness is very desolate?"

"Endless green grasslands, all kinds of beautiful seas, majestic Tianqi Mountains with evergreen forests, countless wild beasts live here, where can such a place be desolate?"

Ning Que looked at her side face and said with a smile: "The wasteland is not barren, the reason why it has been called a wasteland is because this beautiful wilderness belongs to the barren people. ”

Mo Shanshan looked into his eyes and asked, "What do you want to say?"

"Nothing. ”

Ning Que said: "In the tent just now, you looked at me a lot, what did you want to say at that time?"

Mo Shanshan looked at him and said seriously: "I want to remind you that these people are desolate people and our enemies, you probe the enemy and deliberately make friends with the other party, but be careful not to forget your own position." ”

Ning Que laughed, and after a short pause, he looked at her and said, "What position should I stand on?"

Mo Shanshan asked expressionlessly, "Of course the remnants of the Demon Sect are enemies. Ning Que looked at her puzzled and asked, "I've always wondered, why is the Demon Sect the enemy?"

Without waiting for Mo Shanshan to answer, he continued: "I think about it, the Demon Sect is just a different cultivation method from the Haotian Dao Sect, at most it is a branch of the temple, how can it become the embodiment of evil?"

Mo Shanshan frowned and was silent, staring at his eyes, as if he had seen something very strange, his eyes were sad and sympathetic, and said: "Don't let others hear you talk like this in the future, and don't ...... Let me hear me. ”

Ning Que found that the girl's expression didn't look like she was joking, and couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

After a long time, he stepped a dead branch into the snow with the sole of his boot and said calmly: "In the past, you meditated by the inkwell, and you didn't experience much of the world, but now you have seen so many ugly things, and you have seen the appearance of the people in the temple on the meadow, do you still have reverence for the temple?"

Dian Shan Shan looked at the night dome above his head, blinked, his eyes were a little fluttering, so he looked a little confused, and said softly: "Even if you don't respect the temple, you still have to respect Haotian." ”

Ning Que followed her gaze, shook his head and said, "It's really not interesting to be in awe of this kind of thing.

Mo Shanshan looked back at him and said very seriously: "But the evil deeds of the Demon Sect are always true. ”