At the end of the path, you can vaguely see smoke rising from the chimneys of birds.
The tired figures who had been busy in the fields began to pack up their farm tools and headed home one after another.
A pair of good-looking brothers came to Qianjia Village.
One person was walking in front, and the other was riding a snow-white mule that was nearly as tall as a person.
The mule was very handsome, without a single stray hair on its body. A priceless red gold bell hung around its neck, and the clear tinkling sound could be heard with every step it took.
As soon as the two appeared, they attracted the attention of the farmers.
The older one was wearing a dark blue robe, a scarf on his head, and wooden clogs on his feet. He was thin and had a flower seal on his waist. He must be a young scholar who was studying abroad. The younger one looked about eleven or twelve years old. He didn't look like the older one, but he was also a handsome young man with red lips, white teeth, and deep features.
Maybe his ancestors had some foreign blood, his facial features were more profound than those of ordinary people. At first glance, I thought he was a bright girl, but when I heard the young man address him, I realized he was a young man.
"My humble abode is simple, and I'm sorry to trouble you two gentlemen to stay here for one night."
Muramasa led the two into the side room.
Qianjia Village is a small village with less than a hundred households. The most respectable and clean house in the village belongs to Muramasa's family.
Upon hearing that the two gentlemen wanted to stay overnight, he warmly invited them to stay at his home and asked his wife to clean up the side room.
Qishan took out a piece of silver and gave it to Muramasa, asking them to prepare a few days' worth of dry food for him, boil a pot of hot water for bathing, and the rest as a thank you gift. Muramasa smiled and weighed the silver, estimated it, and said it was no trouble. Before leaving, he asked if he wanted to get some fresh grass for the mule.
When hearing Muramasa mention the mule, Qishan's expression became unnatural for a moment: "No, that mule is not a living creature, it is a creation of my brother's spirit."
Muramasa understood as soon as he heard it, and his expression became even more respectful.
Ding-ling-ding-ling—
The familiar sound of bells approached.
Qi Shan opened the window to let out the foul air in the room, and when he looked up, he saw Chen Tang holding the mule in one hand and teasing it with a handful of grass in the other.
I could vaguely hear Mr. Shen whispering to the mule.
"Moto, why don't you eat it? Have a bite, I picked it especially for you..."
Qishan: “…”
Speaking of this mule named "Motorcycle", he had the illusion that he couldn't breathe.
No one expected that a strange phrase - "speeding like wind and lightning, great luck motorcycle" - could actually condense into a snow-white mule!
Mr. Shen rode on it happily.
"Mr. Qi, do you want to get one too?"
Qishan decisively refused.
Not to mention that he doesn't know how to use that spiritual word. Even if he can use it successfully, the effect may not be the same as that of Mr. Shen.
Most importantly—
No matter how good-looking a mule is, it is just a mule, and he won’t ride it!
“Then do you want to ride together?” Chen Tang raised his hand to cover his eyes to block the glaring sun and offered another suggestion.
Qishan refused again.
He would not ride this stupid-looking mule even if his legs were broken.
Shen Tang shrugged, not forcing it.
With a low-profile sports car (mule) as a means of transportation, her feet were finally freed. Passing by an unknown tree that looked like a banana tree, she bent down on the mule's back and reached out to break off two leaves.
One piece is carried on the shoulder to block the sun.
He handed one piece over to block Qishan's head.
"Mr. Qi!"
The sunlight above his head was blocked, and Qishan turned his head when he heard the words.
Shen Tang threw the leaf to him.
"then!"
Seeing Chen Tang shielding himself from the sun and being afraid of the light, he smiled helplessly.
"Why should a good man fear such suffering?"
"I'm not afraid, but there's an old saying - a white complexion hides a hundred uglinesses." Chen Tang adjusted the angle of the big leaf, carrying the leaf and smiled, "A tanned complexion is uneven, which damages the beauty."
Qishan: “…”
The two walked for several hours before they saw any human habitation.
After years of drought and war, there were only a few families left in Qianjia Village. There were few young faces in the whole village, only elderly people and young children who knew nothing about the world. Suddenly, two new faces came, and the news spread from the beginning to the end of the village. From time to time, naughty children would look around the village head's house.
Qishan went to see Muramasa for something, and when he came back he heard the laughter of Chen Tang and some naughty kids playing.
The two groups are "fighting".
A little boy, wearing clothes that had been washed so much that they looked bleached, rode on the back of a snow-white mule, holding a dry branch as a spear, looking very aggressive. Young Master Shen, on foot, held a stick to meet the enemy.
The two fought back and forth, and the fight was fierce. The other children, as "soldiers", watched the fight nervously on the side, clapping and shouting "General, you are so powerful!" from time to time.
Qishan: “…”
At first, I thought Chen Tang was just being playful - after all, young Master Chen was only a boy of eleven or twelve years old, and even though he had suffered the pain of exile, he was still naughty and hyperactive by nature - but after watching for a while, I realized that the strange child was also a bit interesting.
He asked Muramasa: "What is the name of this child? Which family in the village is he from?"
Muramasa replied, "Not a child from the village."
"no?"
Muramasa sighed, "I heard that he is a child from a wealthy family, but he has had a serious illness since he was young, and lives in a nearby farm to recuperate. He is said to be recuperating, but in fact he has been abandoned. The servants certainly don't serve him wholeheartedly. He looks very pitiful, and often sneaks out to play with the children in the village..."
Usually he would play until dark, and then the servants of the manor would come and take him back.
Qishan was a little curious.
"Disease? Where is the disease?"
Muramasa glanced at the happy child, carefully pointed to his head, and said, "I heard it's a brain disease."
To put it bluntly, he is a fool.
Qi Shan was slightly surprised and was about to speak when he heard several children burst into loud cheers.
It turned out that the child had "tricked" Chen Tang with a feint of the gun and stabbed the "lord" she was protecting.
Without any competition or bias, it hits the "lord" right on the forehead.
According to the rules of the game, he won.
Looking at his "lord who had died", Chen Tang had no choice but to spread his hands "helplessly", drop his weapon and "surrender".
"Alas, I lost."
To the winner goes the spoils.
The so-called spoils of war are thumb-sized pieces of maltose.
She opened the pocket of the pouch on her waist, took out a handful of maltose she had made out of boredom, and distributed one to each of the soldiers. This was called "rewarding the three armies." The "chief" who had made great contributions - the child who rode the mule steadily and wielded the gun in style - got three of the candies.
The other children couldn't wait to put the malt candy into their mouths, but that child didn't. He just held the malt candy in his hand and didn't know how to eat it.
This silly look is completely different from the high-spirited look he had when he was "fighting" on the back of a mule.
"You don't want to eat?"
Shen Tang squatted down and asked the child.
The child shook his head. He looked at the candy in his hand and hesitated for a while, then picked up one and handed it to Chen Tang.
He looked at her with sharp eyes, as if expecting something.
"You feed me?"
"Well, eat." said the child.
Chen Tang didn't mind the child's dirty hands. He opened his mouth and ate the candy he handed over, smiling and narrowing his eyes.
"Oh, it's so sweet, would you like to try it too?"
Seeing this, the child lowered his head, picked up the other one and put it in his mouth.
The last one was put back into the faded pouch around his waist.
The pouch is heavy.
Taking advantage of his perspective, Chen Tang vaguely saw that there was an exquisite tiger-head jade disk inside, with small seal characters engraved on it.
The other children went home contentedly, but this child, whose clothes had faded from washing, stayed behind and was taken by Muramasa to the main house to wait.
The weather in summer is extremely changeable. Not long after it gets dark, heavy rain begins to pour down from the dark sky.
There were lightning and thunder, and strong winds.
Chen Tang was reading by lamplight at night, memorizing the words of the wise man frantically.
At this moment, someone banged on the door.