Therefore, Qule rarely communicated with Mrs. Buku, but Buku's two children were very interested in her. Whenever they had time, they would pester her and ask some weird questions in awkward Chinese.
Fortunately, Qu Le has good patience. No matter how curious their questions are, she will answer them patiently and slowly. If she really can't answer them, she can only bring Buku to the rescue.
Fighting and quarreling along the way, driving the bullock cart for a day and a night, they finally arrived at their destination.
The central part of the Southern Wilderness Plain is a large barren plain. As far as the eye can see, only sparse weeds can be seen. Occasionally, there are a few short trees standing in the middle, standing like a flock of chickens. It is very abrupt. Occasionally, crows fly in the sky.
It's really desolate here.
The altar where the grand ceremony was held stood alone in such desolation.
The altar is built in a square shape and is paved with white marble. There are eight huge round stone pillars around it. The pillars are carved with totems of mighty and ferocious beasts. It is said that these ferocious beasts are the patron saints worshiped by the people of southern Xinjiang.
.
Qu Le glanced at the ferocious beast on the pillar from a distance, and felt her heart skip a beat. She was so frightened that she quickly looked away. As expected of the Southern Xinjiang people who are known for their brutality and ferociousness, even the patron saint they enshrined was so scary.
She didn't dare to look at the altar any more and took the initiative to help Buku's family build a tent.
They were not the first ones to arrive. Before they arrived, many people had already set up the tents and were chatting and laughing around the fire in small groups. Qule helped Buku’s family set up the tents.
They were about to start cooking. Buku happened to see an acquaintance and immediately went up to say hello. Mrs. Buku was preparing ingredients and the two children were collecting firewood. Qule looked around, lifted the barrel, and spoke to Mrs. Buku.
He said hello and walked towards the river.
This tent area is close to the river. Qu Le walked through the large and small tents with a wooden bucket. All around were Southern Xinjiang people walking back and forth. There were men, women, old and young. The number was much unexpected. A rough estimate was that there were at least nearly two thousand.
people, and this number is increasing rapidly.
Qu Le washed his face by the river and wiped off the water droplets on his face with his sleeves. When he raised his head, he suddenly found a pair of green eyes staring at him from the other side of the river!
She was so frightened that she sat down on the ground. Could it be that the werewolf was chasing her?
People from southern Xinjiang continued to come to the river to fetch water, and the sound of people around them dragged Qu Le's frightened soul back. She calmed down, opened her eyes and carefully looked at the empty plain again on the other side of the river...
Up, nothing.
Was it her imagination just now?
Qu Le rubbed her eyes vigorously and stared at the other side of the river for a while, but still saw nothing.
It seems to be really an illusion.
Wow, what a false alarm.
She breathed a long sigh of relief, picked up the wooden bucket full of water, walked through the crowds, and found the Buku family who had already lit the fire. They called her over with a smile: "Ale, come on, there are freshly baked goods."
Good bird eggs!”
Qu Le took the fragrant roasted eggs and thought to herself that she was really overthinking it. It was hundreds of miles away from the Red Scorpion Pass. How could the werewolf catch up? Haha, what a unfounded worry!
As night gradually fell, the aroma of dinner filled the air. The Buku family ate soup rice and some homemade kimchi brought from home.
Qu Le finished a large bowl of rice in a few seconds. She said hello to Buku, and then started wandering around. She wanted to take this opportunity to look for the Lan clan members. She had already asked Buku, Lan
The clan's carriage is engraved with a blue butterfly emblem, which is the emblem of their family and is easy to identify.
She looked around as she walked, but she didn't find anyone from the Lan clan. Instead, she ran into an unexpected acquaintance.
Qu Le opened her eyes wide in surprise: "Sang Yue, why are you here?"
"Of course I'm here to participate in the Eve Festival. Although I have been away from southern Xinjiang for many years, this can't prevent me from coming back to visit my old friends, right?" Sang Yue smiled cutely, and the silver jewelry on her body jingled gently in the night wind.
"What about you? Didn't you go to Butterfly Valley? Why did you come here suddenly? Did you come here with the Lan clan?"
When she mentioned this incident, Qu Le immediately became sleepy. She scratched her hair in distress: "Don't mention it, I met a group of wolves on the way to Butterfly Valley and almost became their meal. Don't mention it.
If you find a member of the Lan clan, I will be lucky to be alive to see you!"
Sang Yue was very surprised and asked what was going on. Qu Le told her the hard story of being kidnapped by a werewolf on the mountain.
After listening to her story, Sang Yue said apologetically: "You should have spent the night at the Red Scorpion Pass, and walked over the mountain to Butterfly Valley at dawn the next day. You should have been able to leave Crescent Mountain before dark.
, I also forgot to remind you at that time, I made you suffer, I'm sorry."
At this point, Sang Yue couldn't help covering her mouth and snickering, her eyes curled up into crescent moons: "Actually, you are already quite powerful. Although the wolves on the crescent moon rarely hurt anyone, they fall into their hands.
There has never been a living person who has come back alive, you are definitely the first in history!"
Qule looked at her expressionlessly: "I just hope they can forget my existence and never come to me."
"I'm afraid it's difficult to do," Sang Yue smiled even more joyfully. "Wolves are very persistent animals. They will not give up easily on the prey they have targeted. If you ran away from them,
They will definitely come to you again, so you'd better be mentally prepared in advance to avoid not knowing how they died."
Qu Le was so frightened by what she said that the green eyes she saw by the river suddenly flashed through her mind. Although it only flashed by, she always felt very uneasy, especially after listening to Sang Yue's words.
Seeing her expression of being frightened and about to cry, Sang Yue smiled and asked, "What's wrong? The wolf hasn't even come yet, and you're frightened. You're too timid."
With tears in her eyes, Qu Le said tremblingly: "I, I, I, I... When I was fetching water by the river, I was so good, so good... I seemed to see a pair of wolf eyes staring at me from the other side of the river.
I, I, I, I... I thought it was just an illusion..."
Hearing this, Sang Yue's smile gradually faded, she narrowed her eyes and asked thoughtfully: "Have the pack of wolves caught up with you..."
Qu Le shivered even more: "I, I, I, I... what should I do?"
She wanted to cry but had no tears. She finally escaped from the wolf's claws. If she was caught again, she would definitely be cut into pieces! Just thinking about it makes me feel that it is so bloody and violent that I can't bear to look at it!
Sang Yue asked: "Where do you live now?"
Seeing Qule coming back with a little girl, Buku asked in surprise: "Who is this...?"
Qu Le gave a brief introduction, and Buku showed a clear expression and gave Sang Yue a friendly smile: "It turns out he is A Le's friend. Come and sit here. There are freshly roasted sweet potatoes here. You should
Will like it.”
In his opinion, Sang Yue was about the same age as his son, so he couldn't help but adopt the attitude of an elder.
Sang Yue was not surprised by this and blinked: "Thank you, I've just eaten."
She planned to let Qule spend the night in her tent. Before she came, she had told Qule about this idea. Qule was worried that it would be too much trouble for her, so he hesitated at first, but when she heard Sang Yue say: "If
If the wolves are really catching up, the people around you are likely to suffer disaster."
The Buku family are very kind, and Qu Le doesn't want to see them being implicated by him, so he has to accept Sang Yue's arrangement.
Qule said to Buku: "I plan to live with Sang Yue. I have caused you a lot of trouble these days. Thank you very much for your care. I will remember your kindness for the rest of my life."
She spoke so seriously and sincerely that Buku couldn't say anything to persuade her to stay, so he could only tell her a few words to take good care of herself.
Saying goodbye to Buku's family, Qu Le took the baggage he had just packed and left with Sang Yue.
Sang Yue tilted her head and looked at her, smiling innocently: "You're lucky girl. Most people in southern Xinjiang are very xenophobic. The chance of meeting a southern Xinjiang person who accepts and is willing to take care of foreigners is very rare. I didn't expect that.
It’s interesting that you have such a low chance of running into me.”
"Really? Don't you think this is because my personality charm is too great? But then again, what do you mean by 'me, a girl'? You are obviously younger than me, okay? You say such old-fashioned things at such a young age
If you say that, you are really a little kid!"
Sang Yue's fingers hooked into the long braid hanging down to her waist, with a slight dimple hanging on her lips. She looked really soft and sweet: "Are you really sure that I am younger than you? Then tell me, I have
How old are you?"
Qu Le immediately laughed. Based on Sang Yue's height up to her lower abdomen, she would rather say that she was only seven or eight years old. But she didn't want to hurt the child's self-esteem, so she gave a relatively comforting answer: "Look at your fresh face."
He looks young, no more than twelve or thirteen years old!"
"I remember you Han people have a saying, 'Don't judge people by their appearance.' Girl, you are judging people by their appearance, but you will suffer a loss."
Qu Le was confused: "Could it be that I guessed wrong?"
Sang Yue just smiled inexplicably and did not answer her directly: "You are still too young. You may get better after a few more years of training."
Hearing this, Qu Le was even more confused. It was really not like a little girl could say this. What was even more strange was that when Sang Yue said this, her expression was extremely natural and there was no trace of it at all.
It was a little bit abrupt, as if she was really much more mature than Qu Le. But before Qu Le could ask her doubts, she was interrupted by her words.
"Oh, we're here, I'll live here," Sang Yue lifted up the felt at the door of the tent and walked in first.
The location of this tent is relatively remote, and other tents around it are far away. The tent looks a bit small from the outside, but after Qu Le walked in, she found that it was much more spacious than expected. The tables, chairs, beds and mattresses were all made of cotton.
Everything is covered.
Sang Yue asked her to sit on the bed, lifted the copper kettle placed on the small stove, and poured two bowls of steaming milk tea, one for each of them.
Qu Le lowered her head and took a sip of the milk tea. The milk aroma was very rich. It was much stronger than the Hong Kong-style, Taiwanese-style and American-style milk teas she had drunk in her previous life. It felt very sweet when she first entered the mouth, but it would inevitably make her a little greasy after drinking too much. (To be completed.)