Early in the morning, the master and servant woke up and began to pack their luggage in the faint morning light, occasionally arguing, and more often silent.

Ning Que dug on the earthen wall outside the house for a long time, took out a long bag, took out the bow and arrow in the bag and carefully checked it for a long time, confirmed that there was no problem and handed it out, Sang Sang took the large package stuffed into the cotton cloth on the side, and took out three straight knives with slight rust from under the fence frame, Ning Que took it and wiped it a few times carefully, looked at the front mouth in the face of the rising sun, nodded and tied it tightly on his back with a halvet straw rope.

He took out a black umbrella from behind the door, and tied it tightly to Sangsang's back with the last piece of harong straw rope that remained. And this umbrella can be seen to be very large, even if it is tightly tied and carried on Sangsang's thin and short body, it almost hangs to the ground.

Preparing for the long journey, Ning Que and Sang Sang stepped over the tattered fence wall one after the other, and the two of them glanced back at the small bluestone flat and the small broken grass house at the same time, Sang Sang looked up at his chin and asked, "Young master, do you want to lock the door?"

"It's not locked. Ning Que was silent for a moment and said, "In the future...... Maybe it's hard for us to come back. ”

......

......

Wrapped in iron and wooden wheels to crush the wet and soft mud ground, the nobleman's chariot slowly set off and drove towards the outside of Weicheng. The five soft rope carriages in front and behind are very attractive at any time of the year. Today, there are indeed many farewell people who come to the side of the road, but the focus of their concern is not this noble horse's team, but the young man and the little maid sitting in the first carriage, from time to time there are hard-boiled eggs handed over, and from time to time there is an aunt with black cheeks wiping her eyes with a dirty handkerchief and crying something.

"I'd rather lack you, a dead and bad embryo who lacks morality, how good my distant nephew is, you won't let Sangsang marry him, this is good, if such a girl follows you to those places where you eat people and don't spit out bones!

Ning Que, who was sitting on the wheel, had an extremely ugly face, and replied: "Auntie, you started proposing marriage when Sang Sang was only eight years old, how can this not be done." ”

After a few scoldings with laughter, a drizzle suddenly fell in the sky, as if the rain was thinner than the line sprinkled on the people's bodies, a little cool, but no one left the people who saw them off, and the families of the soldiers in Weicheng were busy saying goodbye to Ning Que and calculating the final debt problem with him, and the crowd was endless.

The curtain of the most decorated carriage in the back lifted a corner, and the proud and indifferent servant girl poked her head out to look, and her beautiful eyebrows couldn't help frowning.

Just before the convoy was about to drive out of this small border city, Ning Que stood up from the carriage and bowed around.

The young man carried three old knives behind him, stood in the rain and saluted with his fists, and suddenly gave birth to a bit of heroism.

"Old and young masters, big sisters and aunts, don't say much about thanks. ”

After saying this, he opened his arms in the rain, clenched his fists and parted upwards, showing his not strong chest muscles and arms, put on a very stupid posture, and shouted loudly: "This time to Chang'an, if I can't mix up with a person, I won't come back!"

As soon as these words fell, it was like the storyteller falling down the loud wood to start the play, and like a bloody human head falling into the dust, the people on the side of the road shouted in unison.

In the only decent tavern in Weicheng, Ma Shixiang and several cronies were drinking, the nobles didn't want them to send each other, and they didn't bother to send Ning Que that kid, but they clearly saw the scene in front of them, a school captain thought about what Ning Que said when he stood in the carriage, and couldn't help sighing: "If you don't look like a person, you won't come back?" Then this undevoid kid seems to be really difficult to come back. ”

Ma Shixiang, who was at the wine table, thought about the three short words that Ning Que said to himself late last night, couldn't help but caress his beard, felt comforted by his old heart, looked at the carriage that gradually drove out of the city cave, and said softly with a smile: "It's okay if you don't come back, you immoral thing, go and harm the outside world." ”

......

......

Far away from Weicheng, naturally far away from the grassland, is plaguing the barbarian tribe and the new Shan Yu spring drought, did not affect here, the spring breeze green branches and grass leaves and then dyed the wheels and horses' hooves, from time to time provoked a few butterflies to chase endlessly.

The horses galloped between the meadows and the hills, the soft ropes were sometimes as tight as iron and sometimes slightly drooping like leaves, and the luxurious carriage covered with several layers of quilts and blankets also gently undulated and jumped, and the handsome maid looked out the window at the rapid backward scenery, perhaps thinking of the north where the yellow sand danced in the wind at this time, her facial expression seemed a little stiff, but her eyes were full of a kind of anticipation and eagerness for the unknown future.

In the carriage, a little boy in a luxurious light fur dress was hugging her calves and looking up longingly, muttering a few words in the middle of the tongue, as if he wanted to go out to play.

The maid turned her head and reprimanded the boy harshly, then returned to a gentle expression, took him into her arms, and rubbed his head indulgently.

The curtain of the car was lifted by the wind, and the spring breeze blew on her cheeks, which were no longer as soft as they were back then, and the maid squinted slightly at the front of the team, her face was not very good-looking.

On the relatively simple carriage at the front sat the young soldier named Ning Que, looking at his constant shaking and nodding, it seemed that he was about to fall asleep, as a guide should have led the way for the whole team, but he was dozing off most of the time, no matter how he looked at it, he was not competent.

The reason for the servant's cold expression was not because of this, but because of a detail in the picture she saw.

Ning Que dozed off on the wheel, looking like he might fall from the speeding carriage at any time, so the little maid Sang Sang was always vigilant and guarded beside him, trying to support him with her thin and short body, and the expression on her dark little face could not be seen clearly, but she could feel that she was already very hard.

At this moment, the convoy ran over a very shallow grass stream, Ning Que woke up from the shock, he rubbed his eyes, glanced at the sky, and found that he slept until dusk, so he raised his hand and signaled the team to stop and prepare to camp.

When he woke up, he set up camp, seemingly irresponsible and nonsense, but no one in the team objected to his arrangement.

It has been a few days since he left Weicheng, and every decision made by the teenager along the way has been proven correct after the fact, whether it is from the perspective of path selection, camp location, safety and defense, water and food, and ease of escape, there is nothing wrong with it, and what is even more amazing is that the speed of the convoy is quite fast.

The dozen or so barbarian horse thieves who were subdued by the nobles in the grassland originally looked down on the Weicheng border army, but now they only admired the young soldier's ability to be a guide.

On the bank of the stream, people silently dug earth stoves to collect firewood and boil water, the maidservant girl stepped down from the precious carriage that was under key protection, and looked at Ning Que, who was lying on the grass like an outing and rubbing her stomach and preparing to eat shabu-shabu, and looked at the black and thin little maid who was struggling to collect firewood from the water rack and pot, and her brows furrowed more and more.

A powerful guard stood up and glanced at her, she shook her head, motioned not to follow, and walked along the stream through the smoke.

She admitted that this young man named Ning Que is indeed very capable, much stronger than those young nobles who think they are handsome in the capital Chang'an, if he is really a noble son of Chang'an, then this kind of behavior may also make her feel a little appreciated, but after all, he is just a vulgar teenager at the bottom, but he oppresses the little girl who should share weal and sorrow so much, and unconsciously touches a certain side of her mood, which makes her extremely unhappy.

Walking not far from the little maid Sangsang, the maid smiled gently at her, and motioned for the other party to put down the heavy firewood in his hand and talk to herself.

Sang Sang glanced at Ning Que, waited until he nodded, and then walked over. The handmaid took out a handkerchief from her waist, but Sang Sang shook her head - after doing so much hard work, there was not a single bead of sweat oozing from the little maid's forehead.

Ning Que finally got up from the meadow at this time, dusted off the grass clippings on his body, wiped off the green grass juice outside the cotton shirt, and bowed with a smile.

The maid didn't turn her head to look at him, and said lightly: "I don't like you, so you don't have to be close to me." People like you look childish on the surface, gentle and pleasant, but in fact they are full of stale and old feelings, which is disgusting. ”

There is no emotional tone, a slightly raised chin, and there is no feeling of deliberately pulling a distance, but it naturally exudes a condescending nobility, as a personal servant serving Her Royal Highness the Tang Princess, even if she can command most of the officials of the empire, let alone a small role like Ning Que.

Ning Que shook his head with a smile, turned around and walked towards the earthen stove by the stream.

He only had one little maid, and the nobleman had countless maidservants, and the only little maid was taken away by one of the nobleman's countless maidservants to gossip, and the nobleman had other servants to serve, but he had to go and burn wood and water for cooking.

It may be because the wind and sand are too big and the skin has become very thick, and there is no embarrassment in his smile at all.

......

......

When the sun was about to set, Sang Sang came back with a large pile of dried milk and other snacks. Ning Que was holding a bowl of burnt meat porridge in a daze in pain, and when he saw it, he took it unceremoniously, and then desperately stuffed it into his mouth, and asked vaguely:

"Why does she like to talk to you so much? I don't want to think that I haven't eaten a serious meal in a few days...... This kind of cheap sympathy of nobles is sometimes really not used, looking at her smile, like a wolf grandmother who wants to eat a little girl, she thinks she is gentle and decent, which is more fake than the mixed wine sold in the Weicheng tavern. ”

"She's a nice person. Sang Sang picked up the porridge beside him, lifted the curtain and was about to leave to do it again, but he called back.

"What have you all been talking about these days? Ning Que asked.

Sang Sang frowned, recalled for a long time with great difficulty, and replied, "It seems to be ...... You know I'm not very talkative...... Most of the time she was talking about the prairie, but I forgot what she was talking about. ”

Hearing this, Ning Que's mood suddenly became much better, humming a small tune gently, chewing the excellent taste of dried milk, and said: "If I talk to you in the future, remember to collect money from her, or it is not bad to take more of this kind of dried milk back." ”

Night.

Sang Sang used the stream water to extinguish the stove fire, and after careful confirmation, he dragged the hot water bucket towards the small tent, and the people on the slope of the stream looked at this scene, knowing that this was the little maid preparing the foot washing water for Ning Que, and I don't know how many people showed disdain at the same time.

Of course, this contempt was given to Ning Que.

After washing his feet, Ning Que got into the woolen mattress, and then hugged the pair of cold little feet stretched out from the opposite side into his arms, let out a moan that didn't know whether it was enjoyment or pain, and said after yawning twice: "Sleep." ”

Sangsang was much more tired than him during the day, and fell asleep after a while.

Ning Que didn't know when he opened his eyes again, his gaze seemed to penetrate the tent with many scars, fell on the starry sky, and then landed on a handkerchief.

Recalling the gold-rimmed handkerchief that the maidservant girl had taken out, he knew that his guess was indeed right, but he didn't know what use it would be if he guessed.