Chapter 8 Chapter 7 A Fragmented Story

In the cursive script of Chinese characters that he recognized, he knew that the name of the protagonist of the story was Pei Siqing. By the way, it was the mighty Chang'an Dahao Pei Siqing who led the camel caravan westward and encountered a strange storm in the desert at the beginning. His story has been sorted out, but it has not undergone much "artistic processing". It is believed that there is a person who wrote down his story in that kind of weird words, and he annotated, explained and supplemented it.Naturally, the supplements he made will not have the whole story to see, so they are unavoidably fragmented.

However, in the fragmented plot, it is also possible to piece together a story in general. In the story, there is a main female character named Rou Niang. Rou Niang became Pei Siqing's bride when she was fifteen years old. Before Rou Niang, Pei Siqing naturally had a wife (because he had children). I didn't mention what happened to my wife—in ancient times, women in China had no status, were dispensable, and were not noticed, unless they were especially favored by men, like Rou Niang. But the way Pei Siqing got Rou Niang was terrible.Judging from the incomplete plot, Rou Niang turned out to be the fiancée of a very outstanding young man.

This young man is from the martial arts world, and he has sworn brotherhood with Pei Siqing - for any kind of relationship, both parties must take an oath to prove this kind of relationship. The poisonous oath that Pei Siqing punished at this time was that if he violated the oath, he would die of hunger and thirst in the desert. But it probably didn't take long before Pei Siqing killed his sworn brother. The reason, presumably, was because of Rou Niang—a weak woman in ancient times. After her fiancé died suddenly, the only way out was to find another man. Pei Siqing was The best object.

After marrying Rou Niang, Pei Siqing was also afraid of her own vows, so for a long time she did not dare to go west and cross the desert to do business.But after a long time, his fear gradually dissipated, and he led the camel team west again. During this westward journey, he encountered a storm, struggled in the desert for countless days, and even killed the last camel—the description of this process is quite detailed. (Of course, everyone can know that Pei Siqing did not die in the desert. If he died, this passage would not be left behind.) (How he survived in the desert can also be pieced together in his supplementary notes, which will be written later.)

Among the known stories, it can be known that he has a very favorite dagger. Only he knows the origin of this dagger. Originally, he was going to think about how he got this dagger before he died. It must be a very sweet memory as you can imagine. But in the end, when he finally couldn't hold it anymore and couldn't move half a step on the desert anymore, he remembered the bad thing he didn't want to think of the most. All the incidents and details of what happened to his heart are vivid in his mind. He hopes to die soon and don't think about the whole thing again, because he knows that he has already fulfilled his oath, and after going through such painful struggles , he finally died in the desert, he didn't know whether he died of starvation or thirst, it didn't make any difference, death was the same anyway, what made him still struggle to know was that he didn't know his soul Is it possible to never leave the desert, and to wander in the desert?

As he was trying to figure this out, he heard the laughter and voice of his sworn brother again, all so clear that he could hear clearly: "Don't worry about it, because you don't have Soul, you are not human, where did you get your soul from?" He wanted to protest loudly, but of course he couldn't make a sound—even if he shouted in his heart, he couldn't do it. He already felt death invaded his body, and he heard a very strange sound. He should be very familiar with this kind of sound, but at this moment, it sounds very strange: How could it be possible to hear the camel bell of "Ding Ding" at this time?

Wasn't the last camel killed by him?It must be the camel's spirit teasing him, he doesn't have a soul, the camel might have. However, the voice was approaching rapidly, Pei Siqing tried his best to figure out what was going on, but it was useless, his eyes were blood red, and then the red was rapidly dimming, and before it was completely dark, it seemed very eye-catching. There was a flash of colorful light, and then there was incomparable darkness, and at that time, he was completely unconscious. Afterwards, thinking back, he thought that if death is like that, then death is actually not terrible, it's just that he didn't know it all of a sudden.

As for whether there will be a soul after death, since he is not really dead, he has no way of knowing. At that moment, the most disappointing thing was probably the corpse hawk hovering in mid-air. This kind of big ugly bird usually inhabits somewhere. They are very sensitive to the breath of death. Death, there are traces of them everywhere, they hover in the air, stalking death, the shadows they cast on the sand, like the hand stretched out by the god of death, snatching away life bit by bit. However, this time, the corpse hawks did not succeed. Several corpse hawks landed beside Pei Siqing, looking sideways at him. The corpse hawks obeyed the rules of the universe very much!It will never peck a living person, as long as the person is still alive, it will not touch him.

And they are extremely accurate in judging the life and death of humans and animals. As soon as a person dies, their extremely sharp, iron hook-like beaks will peck it off immediately.The first peck of the carcass eagle must be to peck at the cap of the human spirit, and a deep hole can be pecked out in one fell swoop, allowing them to slurp the brains that are still warm. This is very important, because if those corpse hawks had already started to move, the three camels would not run towards Pei Siqing again—it was meaningless to run towards a dead person, since the person was dead, the desert would not It is the best destination, no need to bother.

And the Corpse Eagle still stood guard, which proved that the person was not dead and still alive, so he couldn't be seen dead. Of the three camels, only one was ridden by a man in a white robe with his head covered in the middle—that was the best way to alleviate the ravages of the fierce sun after living in the desert. The person on the camel lifted the reins, and the camel immediately changed its running direction.It was a very handsome camel, its coat color was darker than that of ordinary camels, it was dark brown, and it ran fast and steadily. This can be seen from the "ding ding" sound of the camel bell hanging from its neck. This is so regularly proven.

When the camel approached, a few carrion hawks flapped their wings reluctantly, moved out of the way, but did not fly into the sky. Mostly they believed that this person must die, and they were too lazy to fly up and down again. The man turned over and dismounted from the camel. He moved very quickly. When getting off the saddle, he had already taken off the leather water bag next to the saddle. When he reached Pei Siqing's side, he turned Pei Siqing over and pulled out the leather pot. The stopper made the water in the pot form a very fine spring, pouring towards Pei Siqing's lips, and at the same time, he stretched out his hand to caress his lips, making his mouth open a little, so that the water could flow in. . The man was not sure whether he could be saved or not—the man was struggling on the verge of dying, otherwise, there would be no corpse hawk around him.Whether a person can be saved depends on whether he can swallow this sip of water. Anyone who has lived in the desert knows that this sip of water is truly life-saving water. The water poured into Pei Siqing's mouth quickly filled Pei Siqing's mouth, and when it overflowed a little, the man stopped pouring water, turned his head and glanced at the carrion hawks, and from their actions, we could get the truth of the man's life. It is the judgment of life and death. The corpse hawk fluttered its wings restlessly, and the man turned his head again. The first thing he saw was the dagger. Under the sun, the dagger seemed to be shrouded in a cloud of colorful light. Then, when the man saw Pei Siqing's throat, it suddenly started to throb, and the throbbing was very violent, as if it was about to burst out of his throat. The water in his mouth was disappearing rapidly, and with the rapid throbbing of his Adam's apple, it flowed from his throat. Suddenly, there was a terrible sound, which was indescribable. The man let out a breath, and began to pour a second sip of water into Pei Siqing's mouth. At this time, several corpse hawks had already flapped their wings and flew away. All this showed that Pei Siqing was saved at the last moment. The man poured three sips of water into Pei Siqing's mouth, and then backed away - about twenty steps away, and before he backed away, the man took away the precious light After retreating, the man pulled the dagger out of its sheath and looked at it. At that moment, he saw that the man's body shook, presumably due to the sharpness of the dagger. This person's face, under the cover of the white cloth, can't be seen clearly, only a pair of eyes can be seen, reflected by the precious light, these eyes are shining brightly, when the dagger is unsheathed, it is reflected by the cold light of the blade , the eyes are as deep as the ocean, if you look at these eyes intently, they are illusory and extremely elusive——the eyeballs of these eyes are actually light gray, extremely shallow, so light that it almost does not exist. This person must not be the first time to save a dying person in the desert, at least, this person knows what to do. Three sips of water into the body can make the blood that has been too thick to flow start to flow again, and death will leave.But these three sips of water will also cause people who have regained consciousness, and the first consciousness to recover is the feeling of thirst. All the flesh and all the bones in the body feel thirsty, and the thirst will drive people crazy. People who feel this kind of thirst will rush to the water regardless of everything, even if they know that if they stretch out their hand, that hand will be cut off. That hand will still naturally reach out to the water. And if he grabs water, he will drink it desperately, and as a result, his long-dried lungs will be filled with water, and death will come again—not dying of thirst, but drowning, just like a drowning person, his lungs are full of water. water. Therefore, when this person knows that the rescued person is about to wake up, he retreats first, and the person who regains consciousness will not have so much energy to grab water from such a long distance. Before Pei Siqing opened his eyes, he straightened up, already staggered, and stood up. Under the scorching sun, this wealthy Chang'an tycoon was completely naked. His skin, like a cracked field, had vertical and horizontal cracks that looked very deep, but there was no blood in those cracks. Seep out. He was tall and tall, standing staggeringly, with dry and withered hair entangled with his beard, it seemed that it was not easy to identify him as a person. His body still couldn't stand still, and his mouth and eyes opened together.The cry that came out of his mouth was: "Water." From his opened eyes, an eager and cloudy gaze shot out, all of a sudden, it was on the man's kettle, and then, something beyond the man's expectation happened. A man in such thirst can see through the leather jug ​​and see the water in the leather jug, and the water he sees gives him strength, and he suddenly—jumps forward, like a man falling from the sky. The monster came to this person in an instant, reached out and snatched the leather pot. The man let out an exclamation—although it was an exclamation, it was still very pleasant. It was a woman's voice, a young woman's voice. This young woman saw a man who was so tall, so thin that his bones protruded from each other, and looked like a ghost. After snatching the leather pot in one go, she didn't even have time to open it, and opened her mouth to the pot. He bit his mouth, Bai Sensen's teeth were so powerful, he bit off the spout with a "click". Then he gulped down the water. The young woman hurriedly called out, "Drink slowly! Drink slowly!" But at this time, there is no power in the world that can stop Pei Siqing from drinking water. Fortunately, there is not much water in the leather pot, so he won't drink to the point where he is drowned, so she yelled twice, and stopped called.Of course, she didn't know at that time that Pei Siqing couldn't understand her words, nor could she hear her voice.What Pei Siqing heard was the sound of water flowing through his throat and into his body. Most of the water in the leather jug ​​was drunk at once, and Pei Siguang was still licking the spout. He stood with his hair sideways for a while, as if he was reminiscing the taste of the water just now, and then his facial features moved together, contracting first, Then let go.At the beginning, his mind was in a daze, and he didn't know what happened, but at this time, he was fully awake. He knew: he was rescued! He suddenly jumped in front of that person again, and took a breath: "Thank you for your help, here—" When he said this, he looked around, and as far as he could see, it was still a desert with sky and sand, but he still asked, "How far is it from Chang'an?" The young woman couldn't understand his words either, but just looked at him steadily.At this time, while looking at each other, Pei Siqing noticed that under the cover of the white cloth, the eyes of the man were exposed, and the eyeballs were light gray like fog. He stretched out his hand to remove the white cloth from the man's head, the man was shocked suddenly and backed away.This action made Pei Siqing immediately know that this person was a woman, and he didn't reach out anymore, because he knew that there were many people in the desert, and women don't show face to others. At the same time, he also felt that he was naked and very embarrassed. Although Chang'an Dahao had rich experience, he had never been so embarrassed.At the same time, he saw his own dagger in the opponent's hand, and he pointed at the dagger eagerly: "There is no repayment for saving your life, if you like it, this dagger should be regarded as a small reward! " The young woman turned her head sideways, as if she wanted to understand what Pei Siqing was talking about, but she couldn't understand, she bent down, put the dagger on the sand, turned around by herself, and walked towards the camel, in a back pocket beside the saddle In the middle, he pulled out a very soft blanket, went to Pei Siqing, and put that blanket on the sand. At this time, Pei Siqing had already picked up the dagger, quickly picked up the blanket and wrapped it around his body. At this time, he also felt a strange stutter, and he said again: "Water, is there any more? Water!" The young woman twisted her head, made a gesture, and let out another whistle. A camel came over and knelt down in front of Pei Siqing. It was only at this moment that Pei Siqing was truly sure that he was rescued. Just now, one of the two feet had already entered the gate of hell. At this moment, he suddenly escaped from the sky again. The feeling of relief was indescribable. He stretched out his hand to caress his face, and really wanted to laugh out loud. But where his hand touched, there was a sharp pain like a knife cut on his face, which made him unable to laugh. Not only the place where his face was touched by the hand hurt like a knife, but when he took a step and wanted to ride the camel, every part of his body also felt like being cut by a knife, which made him feel sick. He, a big man, couldn't help but let out a terrible howl. The dry and cracked skin was originally numb and could not even feel the pain. At this time, the pain came back. He stretched out his hand to hold down the camel's head, the pain was so great that he couldn't do anything except gasp for breath, he couldn't move at all. The young woman obviously knew what was going on, and made a gesture to him to signal him to stay here, Fei Siqing suddenly cried out with a terrified expression: "No! Don't keep me here, I'm not afraid, no matter how painful it is , I want to leave the desert as soon as possible.” As soon as he gritted his teeth, he got on the camel, and the camel leaned back and stood up, and the tremor made him howl again—at that moment, he thought his body had been broken into hundreds of pieces ! However, he is not an ordinary person after all. Although the muscles on his face were distorted due to the pain, which made the skin on his face more cracked, after he sat still, he straightened up naturally. Underneath, he was sitting on a camel, and he still had a certain momentum. The young woman got on the camel as well, she was very agile, she whistled again, the camel moved forward, Fisherman clenched his teeth, even though the pain never eased, he not only did not howl, but he never even groaned Hum it again. The young woman on a camel went first, and he followed, with a camel behind.Pei Siqing noticed that he was heading south, so he asked several times in a hoarse voice, "Where are we going?" But the answer he got was words he couldn't understand, which made him understand that there was no verbal communication between him and the young woman. The young woman has been looking back at him. Her eyeballs are very light, so any color can be reflected in her eyeballs. When the sky is blue and white clouds, her eyeballs are blue. When the sun sets, her eyes are blue. In the eyes, it turned out to be a bright red, which was incomparably wonderful. Knowing that he was rescued, Pei Siqing thought: the oath he swore had not been fulfilled. He absolutely didn't want to think about that matter again, but the oath was not fulfilled, and he didn't starve to death or die of thirst in the desert, but this matter gave him a strange joy. That kind of joy surpasses that a criminal escapes the punishment of the law—what he escapes is the controlling power of the gods.He did such a bad thing, and he didn't even have to take an oath. He even thought further: Did he not do anything bad at all, that's why he failed his oath? When he thought about it, he opened his mouth to laugh, but there was another sharp pain, but that didn't stop him from laughing inside. That was probably the happiest laugh in his life.He's never had it so easy.Ever since he did that, no matter how much he forced himself to forget it, there was always a shadow in his heart, like a fish bone choked in his throat, it’s not that if he didn’t think about it, it would no longer exist . But now, under such circumstances, he didn't even die in the desert, so it can be seen that the poisonous oath does not exist at all! Since the poison oath doesn't exist, what's the big deal about killing someone? Pei Siqing's expression must be extremely strange at this time, because he saw that when the young woman in front turned her head to look at him, there was a look of surprise in her eyes. At this time, the sky was full of sunset, and the desert was very peaceful. Suddenly, Pei Siqing saw a strange scene. He saw a rather deep ditch. It is not surprising to see a deep ditch anywhere, but it is strange to see a deep ditch in the desert. Sand is flowing, like water, it must flow from high places to low places, so there can be no deep trenches in the desert - once there are, the flowing sand will fill it up! However, what appeared in front of his eyes was indeed a deep ditch. Not only that, but also, the camel had already walked into the deep ditch. The deep ditch stretched obliquely downwards. The ditch was very narrow. Looking from both sides, you can see that the sand on the two walls is moving upwards. There is a force in the ground that sprays the sand upwards, forcing the sand to fill the ditch. Pei Siqing was dumbfounded, the young woman turned her head and spoke loudly to him, as if explaining this strange phenomenon to him.However, Pei Siqing couldn't understand. The ditch got deeper and deeper, and Pei Siqing asked several times where he was going, but it still didn't help at all. At this time, the sky was getting dark. Although Pei Siqing jumped out from the gate of hell, his body was still extremely weak. He was beginning to lose his strength. He held on to the reins tightly to prevent himself from falling, but the sight of Still bursts of blackness. He wanted to ask for help, but before he made a sound, his whole body was like flying through the clouds, and he entered a semi-comatose state again. He enjoyed this situation very much, because many pains covering his body were not so obvious, like It is gradually going away. When he regained consciousness, what he felt was of course a coolness all over his body. That chilly feeling is extremely comfortable, like being in a mansion in Chang'an, although it is very hot, but Rou Niang is using the well water that has just been dredged from the deep well to shower him. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was, because the difference between this comfortable feeling and the life-and-death struggle was too far! He knew that when he was about to die, the skin all over his body was split terribly, the cracks were extremely deep, and what seeped out of the cracks was not blood, but a kind of light yellow water. At this time, the slightest coolness was seeping into his body from the cracks in the skin, making him feel extremely comfortable.He wasn't even sure if it was a dream, so he didn't dare to open his eyes, for fear that if he woke up, he would still be struggling in the desert. He took advantage of this time to think through everything quickly, until he was sure that after the disaster brought by the storm, he was finally rescued and did not fulfill the oath of punishment he had been punished in the past. He also remembered that he had been in the He took a slow and deep breath for the burst of wild laughter from the camel's back, and when he was about to open his eyes, he heard a rather hoarse, strange-sounding voice speaking with a Chang'an accent. : "Are you awake? You are really lucky. I heard that when it found you, the beak of the corpse eagle was less than a foot away from the top of your head?" Suddenly, upon hearing these words, Pei Siqing's joy was really indescribable. Before he even opened his eyes, tears were already pouring out.He is a well-known hero, and he was not happy to cry, but at this time, he couldn't control it at all. He didn't know who it was who spoke, but those few words penetrated into his ears, and the feeling they produced was extremely kind, and that kind of kindness made his nose sore and tears welled up. He opened his eyes, although tears made his vision blurred, but he still saw that beside him was a strange man with a wrinkled face, but his figure was surprisingly short. When he arrived, he immediately understood that it was a dwarf—a dwarf who was born much shorter than ordinary people. At the same time, he also saw himself lying in a groove about two feet deep, filled with a kind of green water, and his body was immersed in this green water, that kind of water. The extremely comfortable and cool feeling is naturally brought by this kind of green water.Moreover, that big groove like a manger was carved out of a whole piece of white jade - Pei Siqing was very knowledgeable, and he could tell at a glance that it was white jade of excellent quality. (Wen Baoyu exclaimed when sorting out the materials and reaching this part: "It's terrible, the whole white jade is used to make a bathtub, which is more luxurious than the Roman emperor. Where is that?") (Hu said: "If that place happens to be rich in white jade, that's all right. If you use local materials, you can make a bathtub with white jade or make a bathtub with stone. There is not much difference.") (Wen Baoyu is still shaking his head: "Unbelievable—Is the bathtub still there?") (Naturally no one can answer his question.) Pei Siqing not only figured out that he was in a white jade trough, but also saw clearly that he was in a rather wide hall. There were four pillars in the hall, each of which was as thick as a person's arms, and they were all made of white jade. On the ground, there are square pieces of jade.The entire lobby was so majestic that even Pei Siqing, a tycoon from Chang'an who had seen the world, was speechless. His Adam's apple moved up and down for a while before he opened his mouth and made a sound: "Where am I?" The dwarf has been watching him, and when he heard him speak, the dwarf's facial features moved together, looking very funny, and the dwarf replied: "You are in the kingdom of heaven." Pei Siqing was stunned for a moment: "Heaven?" The dwarf smiled again with a very ridiculous look: "Yes, they call their place the Kingdom of Heaven." Pei Siqing was very puzzled again: "They?" The dwarf continued to wink, which seemed to be his habit.Pei Siqing knew that he had seen many dwarfs in Chang'an. They were trained to be funny clowns since they were young, and they lived in juggling troupes. This dwarf in front of him must be the same kind of person. , there is that kind of funny look, which makes people laugh. The dwarf said: "I came from Chang'an. Many years ago, I was rescued by the people of Heaven in the desert. The life here is so comfortable, so comfortable that I don't even remember how it was!" As the dwarf said, he picked up a leather jug ​​and unplugged it. Pei Siqing immediately smelled a scent of wine and flowers. Pei Siqing swallowed involuntarily. He took the leather pot in his hand, but he found that immersed in the green water, although his body was cold and extremely comfortable, he couldn't move.Not only could he not raise his hands, but he could not even turn his head. He was startled suddenly, and immediately looked at the dwarf. The dwarf stretched out the leather pot and aimed the spout at his mouth. Fortunately, he could still open his mouth. Like wine but not wine, like water but not water, the fragrant liquid juice, let out a long breath. Next, what the dwarf said made him mixed with surprise: "You can't move now, it's for your own good. When you were rescued, you only had one breath left. They have been living in the desert and know that you are in a situation like yours." How should people be rescued!" Although Pei Siqing never liked being unable to move his body, he had no choice but to groan. (You can't even move your body, which means you can only be slaughtered by others. Of course, a martial arts tycoon will never like it.) But the dwarf laughed: "You just broke through the death gate, there should be nothing to scare you, right?" Pei Siqing snorted again: "Why are you the only one? What about them? Where's the woman who saved me?" The dwarf's eyes rolled, and he answered irrelevantly: "I just said that the life here is very comfortable, and I don't even remember the years. That's for me, not everyone thinks so." For a moment, Pei Siqing didn't understand what he meant by that, and of course he couldn't respond. The dwarf said again: "Here...the situation in the kingdom of heaven... is a bit special..." He said something, but he didn't say where it was special. ?” Pei Siqing stared at the other party, he was very confident!If he came from Chang'an, he should know the name of Chang'an Dahao, so he said clearly: "My name is Pei Siqing." He expected that the dwarf would know his name, but he didn't expect such a strange reaction. He saw the dwarf's eyes suddenly opened wide, as if the eyeballs were about to fall out of them - it was naturally no longer the funny and funny expression he had been trained , but a real surprise.Then, he took several steps back. It turned out that he was clasping the white jade pot with both hands.After taking a few steps back, he gasped again, pointed at Pei Siqing, and wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth, he didn't make a sound, and immediately shut his mouth tightly again. Pei Siqing then asked, "You've heard of my name." Only then did the dwarf walk forward step by step, and when he came close again, he had completely returned to normal.Nodding repeatedly: "Naturally...Naturally! No one has heard of Chang'an Dahao, Uncle Pei!" When struggling to survive in the desert, there is no difference between a porter and a great man in Chang'an, but in different situations, different identities will have different roles. Pei Siqing understood this very well, so he naturally felt very proud. If it wasn't for his inability to move, he would definitely have taken actions that suited his status. After the dwarf approached, he fed Pei Siqing another three sips of fragrant wine, and then said, "Uncle Pei, the one who saved you is the mistress of the kingdom of heaven." His idea was very vague, just a concept, but then, the dwarf's words made the concept clear. The dwarf's eyes rolled: "The situation in the kingdom of heaven is very strange... There have always been female protagonists in the past, and there are more women than men, and there are so few men... Very few, very few... So few that I have been here for so many years, I don't know how many men there are. Because... all men are closely guarded, not everyone can see." Pei Siqing took a slow breath, he naturally knew that he was a man, a real man who was extremely strong. He also thought about what would happen between himself and that gray-eyed woman, the Mistress of Heaven.