Eastern Yubang Kingdom, Rose Sand Castle, Salt Mine Canyon

For the people of the canyon, Mei Qing must be a strange person.

He rarely takes the initiative to talk to others, and always covers most of his face with a dark gray cloak on weekdays. If someone asks him anything, he either nods or shakes his head, or gives a gentle smile in place of all answers. He came here penniless five years ago, but the locals don't know much about him any more than they used to.

The owner of the salt mine took him in, and at first treated him only as a lowly servant. But as time went on, the owner of the mine found that he was quite good at what he did, that he could always find the richest place to stay in the mines, that his camels were the most docile and endurable to run the farthest, and that the sheep he tended multiplied faster than the others, and that even the work that the mine owner did not let him do would be properly disposed of as long as it passed through his hands. In short, after he came, the mine owner's fortune increased more than ten times, and he was a little superstitious that this person might be the embodiment of the god of treasures.

Gradually, the owner of the mine entrusted him with the management of all the affairs of the house, except for his own food. The mine owner offered to give him a house and a big bag of gold, wanting him to work for him forever. He refused with a smile, and the mine owner was in a hurry and simply proposed that all five daughters were willing to give him as his wife, which was tantamount to making him his heir, and he still refused. With so many attractive terms offered by the mine owner, he accepted only two conditions: a small increase in income and permission to borrow books from the mine owner's library.

The owner of the mine was once again astonished, for he thought that he must be illiterate in his work so well, like most slaves or servants, and that he himself could barely read a few words, and that the fact that there were so many books in his family was the result of the tireless devotion of several generations. The mine owner tried his best to inquire about his past, but found nothing.

Unlike the mine owner, who was full of doubts, Mei Qing seemed to be shrouded in a huge mystery on the one hand, and seemed to be like a newborn on the other hand. He eats every day, shepherds, reads, supervises, checks, and pays accounts, and lives clearly every moment. He never does anything that needs to be hidden, and he doesn't seem to be angry. In the face of insults or slanders from jealousy, he is as calm as a windless lake, he never justifies himself, but he can convince everyone silently.

The mine owner's wife also liked this taciturn young man, she was immersed in the dream of being a mother-in-law, but when she heard her husband mention that he refused to marry his daughters, she was very angry and wanted to go to Mei Qing to question her face-to-face. It was not easy for her husband to dispel her thoughts.

"Don't get involved in this, girls," warned her sternly, "lest we be looked down upon if it gets out." ”

"But what did he come to us for?" his wife was puzzled, and the mine owner wanted to know the answer.

Before the old couple went to bed every night, they had to carefully ponder the bits and pieces of Mei Qing's daytime, and speculated all kinds of strange answers, but in the end they were not satisfied.

"Don't think about it," the mine owner was annoyed by his wife's gushing nonsense, "maybe it's better not to know anything." For now, he just needs to stay with me. ”

The wife didn't think so, muttered and began to complain, and fell asleep after a while. The mine owner couldn't sleep after tossing and turning, maybe his wife's snoring was really loud, maybe his curiosity was actually heavier. He was like a clumsy conspirator, and he made up his mind to find out Mei Qing's origins. The venerable mine owner was just about to fall asleep with such determination when he heard the sound of camel carts outside.

Who the hell is coming so late? The mine owner jumped out of the high bed, lifted the corner of the curtain and peeked out, and his wife turned over and continued to sleep.

Although it is not really visible in the night, it can be discerned from the outline and shape that this is not an ordinary camel cart, two fat and tall white camels snorting in the fog with yokes, and the saddle is unusually wide and tall, more than three times the average size. The roof of the car seems to have the eagle emblem, and the four corners are hung with dangling ribbon embroidery. Two stout men each rode a smaller camel to guard the cart, and although they appeared to be unarmed, no one would want to provoke such a man.

The two warriors got out of the camels, opened the doors of the carts, and respectfully stretched out their arms to help the people inside. Judging from her figure, this is a tightly wrapped slender woman, she seems to know the way, and as soon as she gets out of the car, she rushes eagerly into the salt mine camp. The samurai kept a fixed distance not far behind her, and scanned the movement around her vigilantly.

"Mei Qing, Mei Qing, it's me!" the woman knocked on the door excitedly, "My child, open the door!"