Chapter 15 Section Fourteen

Death...death.I shouted to the birds in the air. Dead... dead... dead.The flock of birds responded quickly over my voice.Observation of birds intensified my desire to pursue juggling troupes. I found myself adoring birds and despising all living things under the sky. In my opinion, the closest way of life to birds is the magical art of walking on a rope. The rope stretches high in the sky, and a person rises up like a cloud and walks on the brown rope like a cloud. I think a walking rope artist is a real free bird.Near the outskirts of Pinzhou, I noticed a strange atmosphere in the surrounding villages. White mourning banners can be seen everywhere, and the chaotic and sharp music made by the drummers spread far to the official road. There were very few people, which also deepened my doubts.The first disaster that comes to my mind is war, perhaps a war between the newly enthroned Duanwen and the old subordinates of the Western King Zhaoyang.But Pinzhou City, which appeared at the end of my sight, showed no signs of war. The city was quiet and solemn under the afterglow of the setting sun. The blue-gray houses, khaki-colored temples and towering nine-story pagodas still radiated a mysterious atmosphere in summer.

There was a young man holding a long bamboo pole and wandering around some old trees. I saw him raise the bamboo pole to the bird's nest on the tree. The completed bird's nests fell down one after another, and then the boy smashed another one. He began to pick up the contents of the nest with a bamboo pole. I saw a pile of broken eggs falling on the dirt road. A dead bird with its feathers shed and its belly distended.The strange behavior of the boy caught my attention. I jumped over the ditch and ran towards him. I found that the boy stopped moving. He stared at me with wide and frightened eyes, and turned the bamboo pole in his hand to aim at me.Don't come here, do you have the plague?The boy yelled at me.What plague?I stopped in a daze, looked at me, and said, how could I have the plague?I wanted to ask you what the hell happened here?Why did you destroy the bird's nest for no reason?Don't you think birds are the greatest living creatures?I hate these birds.The young man continued to use the bamboo pole to pick out the rest of the bird's nest. It was a pool of dried meat and a piece of blackened intestines of an unknown animal. Mother said that these birds brought the plague to the village and killed my father and second brother.Only then did I know that the disaster in Pinzhou City was a huge plague.I stood in front of the young man in a daze for a long time without saying a word. Looking back at Pinzhou City in the distance, I seemed to vaguely see the white shadows of countless mourning banners. Now I realize that the mysterious mist over the city is actually a light of disaster.

The city fought for eleven days. It is said that King Xinxie and the son of King Bei fought. Thousands of dead soldiers were left. The corpses were piled up on the road. No one transported them to the graves. The weather is so hot. , the corpses are rotten and smelly.The boy finally threw away the bamboo pole in his hand. He seemed to have let go of his guard against me, and described the plague with great interest. He said that the corpses were rotten and smelly, and flies and rats burrowed into the stomachs of the dead. Go, and these birds also flew to the city in groups, and the animals were fed, and the plague spread.do you understand?This is how the plague began.Many people died in Pinzhou City, and many people died in our village. My father died the day before yesterday, and my second brother died yesterday. My mother said that our mother and son would die in a few days.Why don't you leave here early?Why not run away?Can't escape.The young man bit his lip, a drop of tear suddenly appeared in his eyes, he lowered his head and said, my mother won't let me run away, she said we have to stay at home to observe mourning and filial piety, and if we die as a family, we will die together.I shuddered inexplicably, I took one last look at the mourning boy, and then quickly ran up the official road.The boy said loudly from behind, guest officer, where are you going?I want to tell him that I have trekked all summer just to find traces of juggling classes in Pinzhou, and I want to tell him everything, but there is no way to talk about obscure and esoteric topics.The young man stood between a new grave and several mourning flags, sending me away from the disaster with envious eyes.what can i say to himFinally, I imitated the song of birds to say goodbye to him:

Dead... dead... dead.I missed the opportunity to reach Pinzhou City again, and now I have lost my destination, and the whole summer journey seems absurd and foolish.When I stood at the fork in the road and looked around blankly to choose the direction of wandering, a carriage came crazily from Pinzhou City. The driver was a man with a shirtless upper body. I heard his weird and passionate singing, live well, die Well, it's best to bury it in loess.The carriage came galloping, and a group of black flies gathered above the head of the driver. I finally saw clearly that what was loaded on the carriage was a pile of rotting corpses. Among the dead corpses were young soldiers who died in battle, as well as civilians. Five or six-year-old child, I noticed that the dead child was holding a bronze dagger tightly in his arms.

The driver slapped his horsewhip at me, and he laughed wildly for no reason and said, "You also get in the car, get in the car, and I'll send you to Luan Graves together."Subconsciously, I retreated to the side of the road, dodging the rampaging corpse truck.The driver was probably a lunatic, he looked up to the sky laughing and drove through the fork, the carriage ran out for a while, the driver suddenly turned around and shouted to me, don’t you want to die?If you don't want to die, go south, go south, don't stay.Go south, maybe only go south now.My escape route is now in disarray.I stumbled on the road leading to Qingxi County, my mind was empty, only the brown rope at the foot of the walking rope artist was left, it jumped up and down in front of my eyes, like a floating water wave, like an illusory brocade Like the last lighthouse on the sea of ​​night.

In front of the Baoguang Twin Pagodas in Qingxi County, I found traces left by juggling troupes here, a pool of monkey dung on the ground and a broken red felt boot often worn by artisans.I asked the monks guarding the tower where the vaudeville troupe was going.The monk's answer was cold and far-fetched, he said, came and went.I asked him where he went, and he said, how can the pure eyes see the whereabouts of common things?Ask the wanderers in the bazaar.I turned around and went to the fruit seller to buy some pears.Fortunately, the fruit seller is as keen on southern acrobatics as I am. He described the wonderful performance a few days ago with relish, and finally pointed out to the guide with a scale that it was a pity that they only performed in Qingxi for one day. They said that they had to go south, and the class said they wanted to find a Qingping world to set up camp. Where is the Qingping world?The fruit vendor sighed, and he said that Fengguo is the most peaceful now, and they probably went to Fengguo.A lot of people are running there, as long as you have money to buy the guards on the border, you can escape from the damn Xie Kingdom.I split the wooden pear in half with a small awl knife I picked up, stuffed one half into my mouth, and threw the other half on the ground. The fruit seller looked at me in amazement. He might have noticed that the way I eat pears is unusual.How did you get hooked on juggling classes?The fruit vendor said, looking at you eating pears, you look like a prince in the capital.I didn't answer the fruit seller's question. I was thinking that my dream of traveling thousands of miles was destined to be full of tragedy. It's getting farther and farther away.Just go and go, it's nothing.I muttered to myself.

What did you say, sir?The fruit vendor stared at me curiously and asked. Do you like to walk on a rope?I said to the fruit seller, you remember, one day I will be the best rope walker in the world.I returned to the square in front of Baoguang Pagoda and sat on the stone steps of the temple until dark. The faithful men and women who came to burn incense and worship Buddha gradually returned. The monks were busy cleaning the incense ash in the furnace and the residual candles on the altar. Come to me and say, come back tomorrow morning, the first pilgrim is always lucky.I shook my head, I wanted to tell him that worship has lost any meaning to me, I am facing a real dilemma, devout incense can't save me, the only one who can save me is myself.

When the night comes, Qingxi County is quiet and cool. The air here is much cleaner than that of Pinzhou. There is a faint fragrance of mint grass and Zhilan. I think this is because of the lakes and mountains in the north of Qingxi County. Blocked the plague bacteria in Pinzhou City.Now a quiet and ordinary night seems hard-won, I feel a kind of deep sleepiness, dimly heard the gate of the temple was closed heavily, I heard the monks who chanted at night knocking on the wooden fish, and then I He leaned against the yellow wall of the temple and fell asleep.In the early hours of the morning, I vaguely felt someone put a thin shirt on me, but I didn't open my eyes. I was really tired.

My loyal servant Yan Lang came to me with the dawn. When I woke up and saw him sitting still with my feet in his arms, and his hair was covered with dew from the night, I suspected that I was still dreaming. middle.I couldn't believe that Yan Lang followed me again and slept with me overnight in Qingxi County. How did you find me?I can smell every breath on His Majesty, no matter how far away, I can smell it.Does Your Majesty find it strange?Does Your Majesty think I look like a dog?How far have you walked?As far as your majesty walks, so do I. I silently hugged Yan Lang, he was ragged and wet.I hugged Yanlang like a life-saving straw that was lost and found.The long talk after the farewell that followed was trivial and comprehensive. During the conversation, I keenly felt that the master-servant relationship between me and Yan Lang was disappearing. Now we are like a pair of brothers in need who share the same roots.In the noisy inn in Qingxi County full of refugees who moved south, I made the most important and brilliant decision in my life.I told Yan Lang that my wandering journey was over, and I wanted to stay in Qingxi to practice hard walking rope skills, and then perform in public on the Laba Festival. I said that two people can also form a juggling class, and I will undoubtedly become the best in the world walking rope artist.

How to practice?Yan Lang was silent for a long time, and then asked a series of practical questions, where can I find a teacher who teaches?Where can I find rope equipment and open space?No need for those things.I pushed open the window of the inn and pointed out to him the two jujube trees in the yard. I said, did you see those two trees?They are the best rope racks God has given. You just need to find me a brown rope as thick as a thumb, and I can start practicing tomorrow.Your Majesty, go down the rope, then I will learn to ride the log.Yan Lang gave me a knowing smile at the end. The logs can be seen everywhere. He said, His Majesty walks the rope in the air, so I will step on the logs on the ground.Everything started on that morning in the late summer and early autumn. I remember that the sky in Qingxi County was very blue and high, the sun was very red, and the lodgers in the inn were still sleeping soundly in the early autumn wind. The sour jujube tree climbed up, stood staggeringly on the volley rope, and fell heavily, and then I climbed the rope from the tree on the right, and fell heavily. The frenzy is so tragic, Yan Lang looked up at me, his thin face covered with crystal clear tears.The little girl standing in front of the inn is probably the owner’s daughter. She watched me sleepily watching the scene where I was just learning to walk the rope. At first the little girl clapped her hands and laughed, but suddenly she let out a frightened cry. , the little girl was crying and ran to the inn, the little girl was running and yelling, Dad, come and see that man, what is that man doing?

The people in the inn generally thought that I was an idle, run-down boy. In their view, my daily practice of walking the rope was just a hobby. They watched from the window, pointed at Yan Lang and me, mocked or made judgments.I turn a blind eye to this, I know that I am on a high-altitude cable, and their walking dead will remain forever in the world of mortal mud, I know that only when I am on a high-altitude cable, can I have the confidence to defy the earth again All living beings, dominate my new world, I know that I have picked up the last dream of my life on this brown rope.I found that my high-altitude balance ability is so excellent and magical, and everything is self-taught. When I walked the long suspension cable easily on a drizzly morning, the whole world floated silently under my feet.The autumn rain in September fell on my face bit by bit, and the sad past re-opened in my heart like a broken flower and stamen. I stood in the middle of the suspension rope with tears streaming down my face, letting the rebound force of the brown rope shake me up and down. What a free and joyful artifice that body and soul leap up and fall together, a wonderful art that I was born with and that life has obliterated.I finally became a bird that can fly, I saw my two wings fluttering against the rain line, and now I am finally flying. Look at me, you look at me.I shouted ecstatically to the crowd below, take a good look at me, who am I?I am not Mr. Liu, I am not King Xie, I am a unparalleled rope walker, I am a rope walker.Go King... Go King... Go King.There was a roar of laughter from the people in the inn, who probably didn't bother to share my joy and passion.I heard someone say sharply and contemptuously, don't look at him, a monster pretending to be crazy.I know that these ordinary people can't understand everything about me, so I called Yan Lang's name loudly, Yan Lang, have you seen me?Did you see my dream come true?Yan Lang was actually standing under the jujube tree, looking up at me with the pedal and the rolling wood in his arms.Your Majesty, I have seen, I have been watching you.The compassion on Yan Lang's face made my heart skip a beat.The owner's daughter was named Yusuo. She had just turned eight years old that year. She wore two round buns and wore a red cloth shirt. She walked like a light and proud young fox. It is like a red lotus budding on the pond.When I was shaking on the suspension rope, I always heard the scream of Yusuo, and the little girl always leaned on the stone steps to watch my every move, her laughter was reserved and shy, and her scream was so clear and loud People are speechless.The proprietress of the inn is a skinny, grumpy woman, who is said to be the stepmother of the little girl Yusuo. Whenever Yusuo's screams sounded outside the inn, the proprietress would rush over from the kitchen or the toilet and grab the girl by the hand. With a ring in a bun, he raised his hand high and slapped the girl on the mouth.I'm so sick of you still screaming here.The proprietress grabbed the girl by her ring bun and pushed her to the hut. You are a slob, and you run away if you are told to work. The proprietress said, what the hell are you calling here?If you like this kind of bad tricks, just sell you to a juggling troupe.Looking down on the courtyard of the inn from the high suspension cable, the little girl Yusuo is like a poor bird in the net. Many times, her tear-stained face secretly rises from the broken wall of the hut, innocent and innocent. His obsessive eyes still fixed on the two strangers who practiced arts.I don't know why the jade lock reminds me of Concubine Hui when I first entered Xie Palace, and I gradually developed a special feeling of love and pity for this poor little girl.Yan Lang's affection for the little girl seems to be better than mine.I found warmth and pain in the way he looked at Yusuo.I'm afraid of all women, but I love this girl.Yan Lang's voice sounded very sad, I couldn't guess what he was thinking in his heart, he was thinking about someone other than me, and it was an eight-year-old childish girl, this was the first time.I remember that child sex was prevalent in the court, but I was still inexplicably surprised that this kind of thing happened to Yan Lang.Yusuo also seemed to like Yan Lang very much, so she began to pester Yan Lang secretly to teach her how to ride the rolling log.As long as the proprietress of the inn relaxes for a while, Yusuo will hold Yan Lang's hand and start experimenting on the rolling log.The little girl is as talented as a swallow, and I saw that she would soon be able to handle the rolling logs with ease. I saw her little face flushed with joy, and her little mouth opened wide in surprise.Yusuo habitually wanted to scream but didn't dare to, so I saw her grab Yan Lang's belt tassel and stuff it into her mouth. Cute, happy and pitiful at the same time.I don't know what caused the disturbance that night.Throughout the autumn, I always go to bed early and get up early to practice the art of walking rope during the day. I blow candles to sleep very early, so I don’t know if Yan Lang tricked the little girl Yusuo into his bed, or if Yusuo ran away by herself. I came to Yanlang's sleeping bunk.It was about five o'clock in the morning, and I was suddenly awakened by a rude and low-pitched scolding. There were two innkeepers and husband and wife standing in front of me. The woman was cursing in the most vicious Qingxi dialect, and the man was holding an oil lamp , he was moving the oil lamp to the corner of the sleeping bunk.With the help of the dim light, I finally saw clearly that Yan Lang was curled up in the corner with the little girl Yusuo in his arms.Yan Lang's eyes were half-closed, his pale face showed a mixture of pain and confusion, and the little girl in his arms was still sound asleep. who are you?The innkeeper put the oil lamp close to Yan Lang's face, and shouted sullenly and disdainfully, all the businessmen went to prostitutes to prostitute women, how dare you flirt with Yusuo?She is my daughter, she just turned eight years old!Who are you guys?Where is that dirty bastard from?I haven't touched her.Yan Lang looked down at the sleeping little girl, he said, I am not a dirty bastard; I just like her, and now she is sleeping soundly, please don't scare her with loud noises.Are you still afraid of noise?Yes, you are afraid of noise.The innkeeper suddenly sneered, he pushed away Yan Lang's hand that was trying to cover the oil lamp seedlings, and stared at Yan Lang intently.Then I heard the innkeeper cut into another topic, you can think about this scandal yourself, he said, do you want to go to court or settle it in private?I haven't touched her, I really haven't touched her.I just hold her and watch her sleep.Yan Lang muttered.Leave these deceitful nonsense to the court.Do you want me to show the guests at once your dirty tricks?As the innkeeper spoke, he yanked the thin blanket off the little girl's body, and what was exposed under the oil lamp was Yusuo's naked and thin body.Yusuo finally woke up, she rolled from Yan Lang's legs onto the bunk, accompanied by a scream of frightened fear, I don't want you, I want Uncle Yan Lang.I saw Yan Lang's hands stretched out to the little girl stay in the air, and then drooped down.He began to ask me for help with a look of grief and indignation. I believe that Yan Lang might have done something inarticulate, because I recalled some anecdotes about eunuchs and concubines being kept in private, and everything is not surprising. . How much do you want?I asked the sly innkeeper.If you go to Qingxi's brothel to buy a young Pogua, it will cost you ten taels of silver.The tone of the innkeeper became gentle and obscene. He whispered to the proprietress who kept cursing for a long time, and finally set the price of this threat. In the face of your regular customers, give nine taels of silver, he said, It's cheap enough to spend nine taels of silver to buy my daughter's integrity. is cheap enough.I looked at Yan Lang, who lowered his head in shame.An evil yet tender thought suddenly came to my mind, so I asked the innkeeper again, if I bought your daughter and let her go with us, how much would you charge?I'm afraid the guest officer can't afford it.The innkeeper was stunned for a moment, then he put up his five fingers with a smirk, and said that he would not sell it for fifty taels of silver.It was not easy for me to raise her from a young age, so selling her for fifty taels of silver is cheap for you. Ok.I will make up fifty taels of silver.After I finished speaking, I stepped forward and picked up the jade lock. I wiped away the tears on the little girl's face, and then handed her over to Yan Lang.hold her.I told Yan Lang that she is a member of our new juggling class. From now on, if you teach her to walk on a rolling log, I will teach her to walk on a rope. This poor child will be on the right track.In order to raise fifty taels of silver, Yanlang and I rushed two hundred miles to the palace of Tianzhou Nanwang Zhaoyou in a starry night.Zhaoyou was both surprised and terrified of my sudden arrival. He is a cowardly and secluded feudal lord, obsessed with perpetual calendars and astrological cloud maps all day long.Even in such a secret meeting, he still had two unpredictable and profound astrologers to accompany him. Finally, when he found out my intentions, he said with a sigh of relief, it turned out to be fifty taels of silver.They told me that Sirius and White Tiger are about to collide, and a fireball is about to fall to the boundary of Tianzhou. You can leave Tianzhou after you get the money. They told me that you are a king Xie who has been reduced to a commoner. It was the falling fireball.So please take the money and leave Tianzhou to go elsewhere, please take the disaster elsewhere.We were silent on the way back to Qingxi from Tianzhou.We all half-believe Nanwang Zhaoyou's statement about star fortune, but there is a reality that is unquestionable. In the Nanwang Palace in Tianzhou, I have been reduced from a prominent emperor to a terrible disaster star. I am falling and burning, bringing new catastrophe to the doomed land of Xie.If it is true that I escaped the world but the world cannot escape me, then I will hate it for the rest of my life.On the way back to Qingxi from Tianzhou, I had a new load of begging silver on my horse. I didn't feel ashamed, and I no longer regretted my journey of begging for silver.In the vast fields in the south, the grains have been harvested by the farmers. I looked under the sky, which was desolate and open. I saw countless haystacks that were blackened by the rain, and saw a few shepherd boys driving their cattle up the solitary mound. Graves, now I suddenly realize that it is destined to be a difficult journey in the world, just like a shepherd boy grazing in wasteland and graves, just to find a hidden and unknown grassland. On the way back to Qingxi from Tianzhou, I understood for the first time that a person represents a star. I don't know if I am falling or rising, but for the first time I feel the fire all over me, they are between the thin clothes and the wind and dust Burning faintly, burning between my weary limbs and my peaceful mind. The sold little girl Yusuo left the inn on a little gray donkey.That day she was wearing a new purple eggplant-colored dress and bright red shoes, and she was biting a piece of rice cake in her mouth.The little girl Yusuo who was sold had a face like a spring peach, laughing and laughing happily all the way, someone recognized that she was the little girl from the Mao's inn, and they asked, Yusuo, where are you going?Yusuo raised his head proudly and said, go to the capital, go to the capital to ride the rolling log.It was a day before the Laba Festival, and the weather was strangely mild and warm. We embarked on the road of performing arts in advance, a total of three people, me, Yan Lang and the eight-year-old Qingxi girl Yusuo.We later chose the capital city as the destination of our wanderings, entirely in order to fulfill the long-cherished wish of the little girl Yusuo.Three people rode two donkeys, one big and one small, and took a brown rope and two rolling logs to leave Qingxi County for the central part. The first court performance of the Walking Suo Wang Juggling Class was on the streets of Xiang County, and the performance was an unexpected success.I remember when I was jumping lightly on the high-altitude suspension line, a magical red cloud floated in the sky, and it seemed to be parading above my head, guarding a juggler who was born as a king.The crowd gathered on the street to watch burst into endless cheers, and someone threw copper coins into the money bowl with both grace and gratitude.Someone stood on the wooden building and yelled at me, walk, jump, do somersault, do somersault again! On the streets of Xiang County, where the air is full of indulgence and the smell of money, I have completely divided my life into two parts. The part as an emperor has turned into fallen leaves and rotted quietly under the walls of Daxie Palace, while the part of me as a generation of peerless entertainers Turned out on the nine-foot suspension cable.What did I hear on the suspension cable?I heard the weeping and cheering of the north wind, and I heard my former people shouting ecstatically below, walk the rope king, walk, jump, and somersault.So I actually walked, jumped, rolled, and didn't move while I was standing on the rope.What did I see standing on the rope?I saw my real shadow being rapidly magnified by the setting sun in Xiang County, and I saw a beautiful white bird take off from the depths of my soul, flying freely and arrogantly over the heads of the world and the boundless sky.I am the king of ropes.I am a bird.