With a bang, Li Xu felt that all the blood in his body surged to his head, and it exploded, emitting countless golden stars. Big, small, five-pointed, and cross, just like the bamboo joints exploding in the fire during the New Year.
The moment was short, but colorful. He didn't dare to move or move the girl's arm away. He only dared to lie there quietly, trying his best to control the rise and fall of his chest while breathing.
Don’t look at anything inappropriate, he desperately told himself in his heart. However, his eyes couldn’t help but move slowly, scanning the top of the felt bag that was red by the flames, and slowly focused on the girl’s face. That was a beautiful face.
, almost the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in the world. Delicate skin, long eyelashes, and a pair of delicate lips...
Li Xu looked at it as if he were looking at a piece of precious southern white porcelain. He didn't dare to touch it. He was afraid that if he touched it, it would fall to the ground and break into pieces. He didn't dare to think too much, because the girl was like this
Incomparable beauty, as hard to desecrate as a lotus flower. He could feel a moist and hot impulse swelling deep in his soul, but he had no idea what he should do next...
The truth is always beyond people's expectations. When you start to despair about the future, hope often comes quietly. At midnight, just when the traders were exhausted, a large group of sheep appeared out of thin air on the grassland directly in front of them.
The flock, it was a real flock, tens of thousands of them, "floating" like white clouds over the withered grass. The traders were so stunned that they forgot to cheer for a moment. Where there are sheep, there must be shepherds.
Such a large group of sheep means that an unprecedentedly wealthy tribe exists here! After all the hardships everyone suffered on the way, they will immediately reap rich rewards!
Before they could recover from the shock, three shepherds wearing maroon leather coats with numerous bells tied to the corners of their coats and horses approached quickly. Two in front and one behind, keeping about fifty steps away from each other.
One of the first two men bent a bow and the other held a horn, and they led the war horses about twenty steps away from the caravan.
"Guests from afar, what wind brought you to Su Chuobu's felt tent?!" The man holding the bow raised his voice and asked in Turkic language that was very fast but as long as singing.
Now among the countries on the Great Wall, the Turks are the most powerful, and other tribes have attached themselves to them. Therefore, the Turkic language is almost the common language of the northern tribes. The traders who often travel among the tribes outside the Great Wall can each deal with one or two for the purpose of trading.
Sentence. After hearing the shepherd's question, everyone quickly removed their hands from their weapons and showed each other that they had no ill intentions. As the leader of the group, Sun Jiu rode forward slowly, pressed his left shoulder with his right hand, and bowed.
, and then answered in Turkic and Chinese in turn: "The autumn wind blew us from the Central Plains, and we traveled thousands of miles just to share the goods with our friends!"
"Distinguished guests, the Central Plains is more than a thousand miles away from here, and there are mountains and rivers blocking the way. Who will be your guide, and who will show you the location of our felt bags?" The man holding the bow bowed slightly in return, but refused to release the arrow.
Leaving the bowstring, the questioning tone was full of alertness.
It’s no wonder that the herdsmen of the Lin tribe are suspicious. The weather here is much colder than that of the Central Plains. Every August, snow has begun to fall in the sky. Therefore, Han traders who are not familiar with the grassland will never dare to venture into the depths of the grassland after August. But now.
It was already the beginning of September, and Qiu Xue had already played two or three games. In the eyes of the shepherds, the identity of Sun Jiu's gang was really suspicious, and they looked more like spies of the hostile tribe than a caravan.
Before Sun Jiu could explain to the herdsman why he dared to go deep into the grassland during this season, Hao Laodao, who was leading the way, had already cursed at the top of his voice impatiently, "Su Chudu'er, have you forgotten two months?"
Is that the old Dao of the Hao family who drank a jar of wine with you by the fire? Is this how your family taught you to treat guests?" (Note 1)
When the shepherd heard the scolding, his face was stunned for a moment, and then he showed a bright smile. The bow in his hand was still raised, but the arrow was loosened from the bowstring. He changed his tone and said to Hao Laodao: "You
You are a member of the Hao family (a wolf in Turkic language, also refers to a guard, an honorific). I remember your drinking capacity. But there are no permanent friends on the grassland. Yesterday you left the tribe with Hada, and you might have turned around and left with a bow and arrow in hand.
Come!"
"We have bows and arrows, but they can only shoot at the local dogs blocking the road. We have swords and guns, but they can only be used to deal with the bandits cursed by the Changsheng Heaven. I, Sun Jiu, a native of the Central Plains, and my friends will never give up our swords and arrows.
Stained with the blood of kind people!" Sun Jiu bowed again and negotiated in Turkic language, "You can ride behind us and see if there is any smoke and dust splashed by horse hooves on the grassland. Friends may deceive you, your eyes
But he will never betray his master!"
When the herdsman saw that Sun Jiu spoke so frankly, his guard gradually disappeared. The herdsman who was called Su Chudu'er by Hao Laodao spurred his horse forward, bypassed Sun Jiu, and ran straight to the back of the caravan. The other two men
The herdsman still held the alarm horn, but his hand slowly lowered to the front of the saddle.
After galloping in a large circle for about two miles in the left, right and back directions of the caravan, they found that there was indeed no sign of the arrival of the large group of people. Su Chudu'er quickly ran in front of Sun Jiu, put away his bow and arrows, and bent down to the horse's head.
, "Reckless Duer apologizes to the elder, you are indeed friends. Jackals are rampant after the autumn comes in the grassland, so I have to be careful!"
After that, he turned around and shouted a few words to the shepherd farthest from the caravan, ordering him to quickly return to the tribe to deliver a message to the clan leader, saying that distinguished guests were coming from afar. Then he stretched out his arms and made an invitation gesture to all the traders.
The traders were already impatient with the delay, but they did not dare to run forward quickly. Following Sun Jiu and Su Chudu'er, they slowly approached the place where the smoke from the kitchen smoke was floating in the distance.
After half a stick of incense, there was a faint sound of wind and thunder from the sky and the earth. Smoke and dust rose in front, and more than a hundred war horses rushed in like a torrent. The vendors had never experienced such a big battle, and each of them turned pale, and their eyes were blurred.
He stopped and looked at Sun Jiu. As soon as the leader gave the order, everyone immediately abandoned their belongings and fled far away. Sun Jiu calmly chatted with the Su Chuan herdsman named Duer in Turkic language. The two seemed to be talking.
He was very speculative and burst into laughter from time to time.
The cheerful laughter made the vendors gradually feel at ease, and they pressed their hands on the handles of the protective daggers and continued to move forward. After a while, the oncoming torrent came closer and closer, and a sky blue pole was embroidered with a herringbone formation of high-flying swans.
The large banner was picked out from among the horses.
"Dear guests, please stay here for a while. My Aijin is coming to greet you in person!" Suchudur said in Turkic language. Then he rode forward and greeted the big banner from a distance.
The torrent slowly slowed down and came to a sudden stop where it was about to meet the caravan. A middle-aged man wearing a light green cloak with maroon yellow sheepskin trim around his clothes bowed to everyone and saluted: "The original brother from this
, the descendants of the White Swan welcome you!"
"The descendants of the White Swan respectfully welcome the original elder brother!" In front of the team, more than sixty strong men from the Xi tribe wearing yellow sheepskin jackets, with bare arms, and hair and clothes hems decorated with copper bells bowed at the same time.
"The descendants of the White Swan, Zhongyuan's elder brother came here to visit his brothers and sisters!" Sun Jiu bent down to express his gratitude. The vendors followed Sun Jiu's example and put their hands on their shoulders and leaned forward to salute. They spoke poor Turkic dialect with a southern accent and a neat movement.
The degree is far less than one ten thousandth of the other party.
Seeing the chaotic movements of the vendors, the leader of the Suchu tribe broke out into a smile. He turned sideways and waved back, and more than twenty women wearing colorful brocade shirts with silver bells on the corners immediately jumped off the horse.
, pouring out bowls of fragrant wine from the leather bag. The clan leader swung off his saddle, raised the first copper bowl and sent it to Sun Jiuma. The two women followed and opened a white hada with both hands.
More than sixty strong men dismounted at the same time, holding wine bowls and came to the vendors, singing as they walked. The songs were melodious and long, and the words in them were incomprehensible, but the melody contained a strong meaning of welcome.
Xu Dayan wanted to jump off the horse several times, but Li Xu held his arm tightly. Before heading north, his father had taught Li Xu many Turkic rules. Since the people of Lin are attached to the Turks, there must be some rules among them.
Not much different from the Turks. If Xu Dayan jumped off the horse at this moment, it would definitely leave a bad impression on the owner. Although other people in the caravan deliberately watched the two teenagers make a fool of themselves, they would probably also be affected if their business was affected.
I will not forgive the ignorance of young people.
Sun Jiu took the wine bowl from the patriarch, bowed, and first dipped a few drops into the blue sky with his fingers. He repeated it again and sprinkled the wine syrup to the earth. Finally, he picked up the wine bowl and thanked the patriarch.
: "Sun Jiu from the Central Plains would like to thank Changshengtian for arranging this opportunity for you and me to meet each other. Sun Jiu from the Central Plains would like the grassland to witness our friendship. Brothers of Su Chuobu, let us drink from this bowl together!"
When the clan leader saw that Sun Jiu and others did not neglect the etiquette of the Ping people, the smile on his face became even stronger. He took the white hada from the hands of the girl in the clan, raised his feet, and gently placed it on Sun Jiu's neck. Sun Jiuwan
He bent down and treated each other calmly in an extremely uncomfortable posture. It was not until the patriarch finished setting up the hada that he raised his wine bowl to drink with the patriarch, and then gently jumped off the horse.
After Sun Jiu and the clan leader had finished drinking the first bowl of wine, the vendors also took up their wine bowls and drank with the Suchu tribe's people. Then, they all dismounted and, with the help of the people from the tribe, led their mounts towards the tribe's settlement.
Dozens of Sino women accompanied them with singing, and sent the guests into the first fence of the tribe. Enthusiastic Sino men carried them on their shoulders, unloaded the vendors' goods, and placed them neatly into the tribe's special
The ones that were vacated were placed in several large felt bags near the center of the tribe.
The vendors were treated as distinguished guests, and all their fatigue was swept away. Especially Wang Mazi, Du Scaru and others, since they finished drinking, they stared straight at the women from the Xi tribe who were pouring the wine without blinking.
.Those women were not shy, but instead smiled back, and from time to time communicated with Wang Mazi and others by piecing together sentences using the simplest Turkic vocabulary possible.
"That bowl is dismounting wine. You must not dismount before drinking it!" The two teenagers walked at the end of the team and communicated in low voices. With many years of influence from his father, Li Xu also knew a few words in Turkic language.
The rules of the clan and the conversation between Sun Jiu and the clan leader just now were roughly introduced to Xu Dayan. Xu Dayan was confused, confused, and curious at the same time.
"You stood up for me that day and beat up Wang Mazi and Du Scaru. They have a grudge in their hearts and will definitely try their best to make the two of us look bad. When we enter the tent later, please pay more attention. Although the prairie people are straight-tempered, they are not friendly towards others in the clan.
The rules are very persistent." Li Xu warned in a low voice. Unknowingly, he and Xu Dayan had switched their roles in taking care of each other. (To be continued)
