(2)
Less than two days after they said goodbye, a pair of mysterious travelers appeared in the official road from the wilderness, the border fortress to Cangzhou City.
They each rode a horse and drove leisurely. They won't attract much attention when they're on the road, because in the eyes of others, these two are just running around like everyone else.
The further south you go, the more fertile the land becomes and the denser the population, making it easier for the pair of mysterious travelers to blend into the crowds.
If anyone really wants to find some clues from them, they will only focus on the woman with beautiful makeup, and will naturally ignore the man next to her.
Two horses usually walk in tandem, because the horse behind is carrying a man and all his belongings - a large gray cloth bundle, a sword with a scabbard wrapped in white cloth, and a sword. A gourd containing only wine and a long flute wrapped in a cloth bag.
His head was covered with a rag handkerchief, as if to cover up the flaw on the top of his head, all his hair was hidden inside. The clothes on his body were quite neat and decent. They were all made of layers of silk, and most of them were dark and deep colors. His hair was covered with dust, which made him look particularly bloated and cheap.
That's why the horse walks behind without having to pave the way for the woman in front. Compared with this good horse, which was very burdensome, the horse carrying this beautiful girl seemed much more relaxed. On her saddle bag was a lute and nothing else.
This woman's attire is also a light satin dress. The egg-colored floral skirt just reaches her knees. Under the skirt is a pair of shorts. One of the smart and delicate calves is wrapped with a string of copper bells, which will make a sound when walking. sound. Her eyes were decorated with dazzling makeup, as symmetrical and beautiful as a butterfly, with only her long eyes exposed and a veil hanging on her face.
The pony she drove was much lighter on its feet, so she often took the lead and often urged the man behind her impatiently and flirtingly: "Brother Aniu, walk faster. If you don't have time before dark, If you find a wine shop or hotel, it will be bad!”
The man would also respond kindly: "Yao Yao, don't walk too fast, be careful about bumping into people..."
In the eyes of passers-by, this is just another poor actor couple living all over the world. The husband spends all his savings on decorating his wife, just to win more applause and earn more money when she performs for others.
When necessary, such an actor and his wife will sell their appearance to obtain food and accommodation. Therefore, no matter how beautiful the woman is, it will not change her low status in the eyes of ordinary people.
Due to this attitude, the pair of mysterious travelers did not get too much attention. On the contrary, they received more cold looks and scorn from others.
"Brother A Niu" and "Yao Yao" only have each other along the way, both in reality and in their hearts. The world does not accept them. Only when they stop, find a small village or shop with people coming and going, and start to stop and sing, will people take a few more glances. Whoever touches the heartstrings will be rewarded with more silver.
When they had earned enough money, they continued on their way. No one knew who they were. Even in the eyes of other guests who accompanied them along the way, the couple were just ordinary actors who knew a few Xianbei pieces. The rest were unknown.
In other words, the travelers have not encountered any trouble so far. After all, everyone you meet on the road are just passers-by in the vast world of mortals. Even if everyone has a different status, they can still find the only common ground and understand each other.
This peaceful life lasts until the day you walk into Qunma Pass, the pass of Qunma Mountain. There, people will not remember that you were once a dusty person. They will only see that the rare guest in front of you is a beautiful actress who came all the way from Beizhen. .
Bai Feng originally didn't want to stir up trouble. He answered whatever the pass guard asked. He even didn't change his expression when he saw the other party holding a wanted order for himself and Murong Yan.
At first, when the pass guard saw that the other party had a clearance document from Yuyi Town, he was indeed very obedient and put Bai Feng and Murong Yan into the urn of the pass. Unexpectedly, dozens of soldiers were already standing inside to block him.
When the surrounding people saw this, no one came and went in a hurry. They thought they were catching a wanted criminal and were afraid of being implicated. Only a few people who had heard the two singers singing on the road were willing to stop for a while and ask questions. What happened.
The leading soldier has black hair and a curly beard, but he has thick eyebrows, big eyes, deep eye sockets, and a tall and narrow nose bridge. He is not very similar to the exquisite appearance of the Central Plains people, but is closer to the appearance of the Xianbei people. He said to several people who were questioning the two actors: "We haven't seen anyone who knows the music here for a long time. Now that we have caught two, how can we not stay and sing a song for us?"
Then at night, they held a small banquet in the pavilion of Wengcheng and built a high platform for Brother Aniu and Yaogu to play music, sing and dance on it to entertain them and relieve their worries.
It was supposed to be a wonderful night. After singing and dancing, everyone was very satisfied. However, a few soldiers took advantage of their drunkenness to deliberately pester Murong Yan. At that time, she was still barefoot, stepping on the wooden steps of the high platform and preparing to leave.
Just listen to them say: "We brothers have collected some money, little lady, can you stay with us for one night? Just one night..." After that, they rushed forward, grabbing Yao Gu's skirt and calves, tripping her to the ground. The other pawns also started to boo when they saw this.
Murong Yan panicked for a moment and did not dare to resist. She just looked at her Brother Aniu with sadness.
Bai Feng didn't intend to hold back at this time, and hurried up to drive him away, pleading: "Dear officials, I went to Cangzhou to teach art and preach. My wife, Yaogu, is also a prostitute, not a prostitute!"
It didn't take long for the whole room to burst into laughter. The leading soldier walked over, stopped his men from their foolish behavior, and said, "You guys, you are really drunk and cowardly!" Then he sent someone to arrest him. The drunken soldiers were dragged out and each was flogged ten times.
"Brother Niu, Aunt Yao, I did not teach you well and allowed my servants to be so rude. I really deserve to be scolded! Yang has been guarding Qunma Pass for more than ten years. It has indeed been a long time since he heard the songs of Beizhen. Just now I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that these boys were so rude..."
"Is Master Yang also from Xianbei?" Bai Feng replied as she supported Murong Yan, who was still in shock.
"My father is Han and my mother is Xianbei. I have just lived with my father since I was a child, and I almost forgot that I am also a Xianbei."
"Mr. Yang, the same is true for this little girl. I never thought that there would be someone with the same life experience as me here!" Murong Yan smiled in a daze, became a little weaker, and moved closer to Bai Feng.
"It's getting late, you should go and rest quickly, you have to hurry up tomorrow morning! Those guys also told me that you don't look like good people, which is nonsense! I hope that I can hear the songs sung by Yao Gu again in the future..."
Thanks to General Yang's kindness and his identity as a traveling artist, Bai Feng and Murong Yan were lucky enough to escape.
Their journey is far from over, every tomorrow is a new beginning.
