Chapter 3 Chapter 2 The Mysterious Dagger

Pei Siqing's hand was trembling, and a gleaming dagger was held in the trembling hand, naturally trembling lightly, his eyes were flowing, it seemed that the dagger was more alive than Pei Siqing himself. After that big storm, Pei Siqing was obviously getting closer to death day by day. He understood this, and his companions who were still with him also understood this. Of course, the vultures circling in the sky understood it better than anyone else. Pei Siqing licked his chapped lips—in the face of death like this, would killing a camel speed up death?Or delayed death? If you don't kill the camel, is there any hope of escaping?

They had already killed three camels, and it turned out that the blood and flesh of the three camels allowed them to survive for another ten days in this vast, endless desert.Now, only the last camel is left! That camel was docilely lying on the ground. As long as the owner yelled, it would immediately stand up and wait for the master's orders. When the sharp dagger in Pei Siqing's hand approached its neck, it didn't even blink its eyes. Obviously, death is nothing to it. Pei Siqing didn't make a move immediately, his thoughts were extremely chaotic, thick and thick sweat rolled down from his forehead, making his vision a bit blurred, so he simply closed his eyes.

Ever since he led a camel caravan to flee into the desert, he felt that when the desert was smooth, the white sand grains were no different from the white clouds in the sky. The sand is a devil, the evil spirit of the devil, attached to the sand, and can do any terrible things. A mighty camel team, two hundred and eighty-eight selected camels, carrying a variety of goods, the main thing is to produce many kinds of silk and brocade carefully woven by skillful hands, and there are many, many, in the The goods that are popular in the far west began to march west. When they set off, what everyone thought in their hearts was: a year later, the camel team will return with a full load of gold and silver, diamond cat's eyes, and gold and silver from the far west. The value of all kinds of goods will be ten times that of when they set off!

Although the road is long and there will be hardships of various kinds along the way, ten times the profit is enough to drive people to travel long distances. Pei Siqing, one of the largest merchants in Chang'an City, has gone this way for the third time. He knows that in the smoothest case, it will take at least a year before he can return.So, when he left his mansion, he kissed his beloved wife and children again and again.And secretly made an oath - when he rode away and looked back at the magnificent gate and the majestic mansion, he said to himself: This is the last time!Enough is enough, there is no need to leave your hometown and abandon your warm family to accumulate wealth!

However, when he was thinking this way, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have had the same thought in the same situation last time, and he couldn't help being a little confused, so he rode the horse faster to get rid of the trouble in his heart. In Chang'an, Pei Siqing was not only a big businessman and rich man, but also very famous.He is also superb in martial arts, close to the middle age, but as strong as a leopard, he is good at wielding a dagger, but no one has ever seen his dagger, he will never draw the dagger out of its sheath easily, unless it is time for him to kill when.

And when he was about to kill, that person had no possibility of escape, so everyone who had seen his dagger died. Except for himself, it can be said that no one has seen what his dagger looks like, even Rouniang is no exception. Rou Niang is Pei Siqing's wife. Everything about her will be introduced in detail later. I haven't even seen Rou Niang, so it's more natural for others to see her.One night, during a heavy snowstorm, Pei Siqing came back from a bodyguard agency and drank with a few friends in the bodyguard firm. As soon as he entered the room, a rush of heat hit his face, and he threw off his dark purple cloak all of a sudden, and the snow on the cloak , as soon as it hits the ground, it turns into water droplets.As usual, Rou Niang rushed out from the inner hall to welcome him in.Every time you enter the mansion, the temperature rises a little bit, and there are hot charcoal pots everywhere, and the charcoal fires are flickering, making the severe cold warm.

When he arrived at the bedroom, Pei Siqing had already taken off his boots and put on soft shoes. He untied the dagger tied around his waist, as he did every night, pressed the dagger to his heart, and closed his eyes for a while. Of course Rou Niang knew that in this short time, he must be thinking of something, but she didn't know what he was thinking. Any woman's curiosity is very strong, Rou Niang is not ordinary, but she is no exception. She once asked: "You hold the dagger to your heart, what are you thinking!" Once or twice, Pei Siqing didn't respond, as if he didn't hear Rou Niang's question at all.

For the third time, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked directly at Rou Niang. His eyes were full of light, and when Rou Niang retreated in fright, she couldn't stand still and fell to the ground, but he turned a blind eye to it and did nothing But he came to help her, and closed his eyes again.Only then did Rouniang know that this question cannot be asked!She was a smart woman, sure enough, never mentioned again. But not mentioning it doesn't mean you don't want to know.At this time, she saw Pei Siqing pressing the dagger to his heart again. Under the candlelight, Pei Siqing had a drunken face, and he looked extraordinarily handsome. Maybe it was Rou Niang's eyesight, or maybe it was the multi-colored gems on the dagger scabbard. , Under the reflection of the candlelight, Pei Siqing's face seemed to have a layer of precious light, faintly flowing.

Yes, the scabbard of that dagger is studded with precious stones, blue ones are as deep as the sea, red ones are as delicate as blood, green ones are tender and white, and white ones are dazzling, each of those gemstones is priceless—but Pei Siqing has more than Say to others again and again: ten times more gems, if I exchange this dagger, I will not exchange it. At this moment, Rou Niang felt unavoidable jealousy in her heart. Ever since she was forced to fall by Pei Siqing's gaze that time, she suddenly had an idea: this dagger, he sees it better. Treating her seriously, was it a woman who gave it to him?

Rou Niang remembered that after he returned from his first trip to the west, he had this dagger, was it given to him by a western woman? She heard him talk about Western women, with green eyes like a wild cat, hair like tiny golden threads, plump enough to make men dizzy, and when singing and dancing, they are like demons descending from the earth. Could it be the dagger given to him by such a western woman, which is why he cherishes it so much? When jealousy arises in a woman's heart, she will behave strangely, and Rou Niang is no exception. At that time, she wanted to reach out several times, and snatched the dagger from his hand.But in fact, she was sitting there without moving at all!Although jealousy bit her heart like a poisonous mosquito, she also knew the terrible result if she did that.

She knew that although he loved her lightly and tenderly, he was definitely not obedient to what he said. Moreover, everyone knew that Pei Siqing, a great man in Chang'an, loved a woman. It was one thing, but telling him to listen to a woman was another .In the minds of great heroes and heroes, women seem to be another kind of person. Women can be submissive, delicate and charming, but they must never make gestures in front of men and interfere with men's affairs. Rou Niang has heard this kind of thing a lot; because of the hatred of a sword, Liu Daxia first killed his beloved woman, and then went to the deep mountains to concentrate on practicing swords. Three years later, he was ashamed of a sword and was killed In front of the woman's grave, she cried bitterly for three days and shaved her hair to become a monk; Yang Daxia killed all his wives and concubines in order to show his loyalty, because they once knew some secrets that they should not know... Pei Siqing is a great hero, and his behavior is the same as that of other great heroes. Rou Niang knows the status of women in their hearts, so she dare not make a move. When Pei Siqing opened his eyes again, Rou Niang stretched out his hands - often at this time, he would hand over the dagger to her, and she would hold it and place it carefully under his pillow. Pei Siqing put the dagger into Rou Niang's hands, Rou Niang tried her best to make her voice sound natural, pretending to ask casually, even though she had thought about this question a thousand times in her mind just now. She said, "Who gave this dagger to you?" Pei Siqing also sounded like an inadvertent "hmm". There was a smile in Rou Niang's voice, which sounded very soft and touching: "A woman?" Pei Siqing didn't make any sound, and didn't look at Rou Niang. Rou Niang amplified the laughter in her voice, which sounded even more fascinating: "In Chang'an City, everyone said that the dagger of Hero Pei is so sharp that it makes me laugh. I haven’t seen it before, let’s see if it breaks my hair.” As she spoke, she was still smiling -- no matter how majestic Pei Siqing's expression was, sometimes he would tease her in the boudoir.Just like a child, he is very obedient. When he buried his face in front of her chest, he seemed no different from her child. Therefore, when she said this and wanted to pull the dagger out of its sheath at the same time, she had no doubts, thinking that she would definitely be able to see how sharp the dagger was. But she was wrong! Even though she moved in the middle of her words, Pei Siqing's reaction was surprisingly quick. Before she could exert any strength, she suddenly exclaimed, as if a red-hot streak had been added to the wrists of her hands suddenly. In her exclamation, her hands seemed to no longer exist, and the dagger in her hand naturally fell down. The dagger didn't hit the ground, not even on the bed, because Pei Siqing's shot was too fast, so he immediately retracted his hand and caught the dagger. Rou Niang was horrified, looking at her wrist, her body was as stiff as wood and stone.She saw two deep red marks on her wrists, and it was only then that she began to feel numbness from her fingertips, making her know that her hands were still connected to her wrists . With very slow movements, she withdrew her hands, waiting for her husband's scolding. But Pei Siqing didn't scold her, but after putting the dagger under the pillow, he said in a very calm voice: "A dagger is a weapon, and it's a bad thing to unsheath a weapon, don't try it again!" At this time, the tingling feeling spread all over Rou Niang's hands, she lowered her hands, and loudly agreed: "Yes." This incident that happened in the bedroom was spread out somehow, maybe there was no such incident at all, but because Pei Siqing had such a dagger, someone made up such a story.Regardless of the circumstances, everyone knew that Pei Siqing had such a dagger. Naturally, in the bustling streets and alleys of Chang'an City, where people are like flowing water and vehicles are like dragons, when people in the market talk about the dagger of the great man Pei Siqing, they will never think that such a dagger will one day be used to kill camels, and, He still hesitated and raised his dagger, making it difficult to strike. Pei Siqing never hesitated to use this dagger. Several times, the enemies who fought him in decisive battles, who had never even seen what kind of dagger it was, died in a flash. Even before that: when he killed the first camel, he did not hesitate, and his decision was decisive, despite the protests of an old guide. The old guide who lived in the desert all year round and Pei Siqing had known each other for more than a day, and this guide had joined him on several trips along this road. Although Pei Siqing himself was qualified to be a guide at this time, he was well aware of the changes in the desert. Impermanence, it is always a good thing to bring an experienced person by your side. Walking on this road, there is always this old guide. (Pei Siqing naturally didn't know that the road the camel team took was later called the "Silk Road". He only knew that walking this road once could increase the value of goods tenfold.) When he decided to kill camels for the first time, the old guide dissuaded him with a trembling voice: "Boss, camels cannot be killed. Only camels can take us out of the desert and escape." Of course Pei Siqing knew that in the desert, compared with camels, people's ability to survive was far behind.This kind of soft and mature animal can not only stride and run in the desert, but also can endure hunger and thirst. It also has the natural ability to seek water in the desert. People have no camels in the desert, and they can be seen everywhere in the desert. The possibility of the white bones will be greatly improved. But at that time, he still pushed the old guide away with one hand, and with a "clank" sound with the other hand, he popped out his famous dagger, and raised it upwards first. The situation at that time was that there were still about 20 people and four camels left in his camel team, and those 20 people followed him from Chang'an, so naturally they all knew that he had a dagger that was well-known by everyone. Until now, they had been in a desperate situation for many days, and there was no sign of escape. When everyone's heart was covered with the shadow of death, they unexpectedly opened their eyes and saw this dagger. It was a late night of the last quarter moon—the desert was already very cold, and the daytime was sultry. Day by day, the dagger was raised high, and the cold light brought by it made everyone who saw it involuntarily. Lingling shivered. Then, in a flash, a camel beside him let out a mournful cry, and slowly fell down.The other three camels, as if they knew what had happened to their kind, also let out a few mournful cries. Naturally, someone came over immediately and filled the gurgling hot blood with a leather bag. First, he held a bag of hot blood in front of him. He only took a sip, then waved his hand and told others to take turns to drink: " Give it to the weakest..." Before he drank the hot blood, it had been three days, a full three days, and he hadn't had any water!Otherwise, how could he kill the camel?How could he not know the value of a camel in the desert? And after drinking this big mouthful of hot blood, his throat felt even more sad as if it was on fire, his chapped lips became even drier, and he could even hear the "pat" sound of his cracked lips. But he knew that no matter how sad he was, his life could continue after drinking a few mouthfuls of hot blood and eating roasted camel meat. They also have three camels.If in the desert, camels can be brought in and out of danger to find water, then four camels are the same as three camels. Everything was naturally caused by that inexplicable storm.There was no sign at all, and there was really no sign at all beforehand. By the time we knew something was wrong, it was already too late. Since the morning, the camel caravan has been moving smoothly. Pei Siqing is in the middle of the caravan, riding on a camel with a complete carving and saddle. The whole caravan is traveling in the desert at a slightly faster speed than normal. In the afternoon, after the noon break, the hundreds of people in the team were all in high spirits, and then, someone suddenly yelled: "Mouse!"So many mice!Look at the mice! Everyone saw that thousands of gray-brown desert rats rolled forward like a tide. It was a scene of catastrophe—Although Pei Siqing had never experienced it, he had heard that in the desert, whenever there was an abnormal phenomenon, it was a catastrophe, and he had to immediately defend against it. So, he immediately shrugged, stood up, and shouted: "Stop immediately, prepare to respond!" The leaders of the camel team are all people who live in the desert and know how to respond. They will make the camels lie down in the shortest time, form a circle, surround the people in the middle, and the people also fall down. The general storm , can escape. But this time the big storm didn't give them a chance to do so, and he saw an unspeakable sight in the middle of his words. Pei Siqing saw that there were countless mice stacked up into big balls, rolling forward, each big ball was about three feet high! What a monstrosity!Pei Siqing yelled involuntarily, but he didn't hear the yell himself.Because the cry of the strong wind has overshadowed his call!