The hillside remains quiet late at night.
Many people in the camp at the foot of the mountain have dispersed, and the campfire has become much darker, but there are still some people who are reluctant to leave and still gather around the fire, singing and dancing, as if they have endless energy and enthusiasm.
"What..."
The cry of sheep came from behind.
The Sanhua Empress held the rope with one hand and stood next to the sheep. She gently stroked the sheep's neck with her other hand and talked to the sheep in a low voice.
If you don’t listen carefully, you might think the picture is beautiful.
After listening carefully, I realized what she said was:
"Sheep, sheep, be good..."
"Don't run around at night...
"There's a ghost here.
"It'll be fine tomorrow.
"I'll eat you tomorrow."
Song You's face was expressionless, and his heart was unmoved. He only held a bowl in one hand and a water bag in the other, pouring water into the bowl.
"Gulu..."
There was a slight sound of water.
Sanhua Empress heard this, stretched her neck and looked in this direction, and saw that the bowl in the Taoist's hand was her own bowl, and the water was almost half of the bowl. She wanted to pretend not to know, so she turned her head away. Unexpectedly, she thought He turned his head back again, hesitated for a moment, and then walked over consciously.
"It's time for Sanhua Empress to drink water."
The soft and thin voice came from her own mouth.
After finishing speaking, he took the bowl from the Taoist's hand, raised his head and drank it in a few mouthfuls.
After drinking, he held the bowl in his hands, thoughtfully.
It feels a little strange.
When you turn into a human, you seem to drink water very quickly.
"..."
Sanhua Empress smashed her mouth, turned around and put her small bowl back into her bag. Then she came back and said to the Taoist: "Taoist, tell me, can Sanhua Empress and the horse run every day and win every day?" One sheep back? Then we will have many sheep."
"That's not good."
The Taoist said to her calmly.
"Why?"
"Because this is a grand event on the grassland, organized by the grassland people. We are outsiders. Being able to win a sheep is already a sign of their generosity. We can't be too greedy." Song You said, "And Empress Sanhua is very generous." Awesome, if you keep fighting with others, it will look like you are bullying them."
"Miss Sanhua is amazing!"
"Yes, powerful people will be very charming if they are more generous."
"Charming~"
"Just likeable."
"Miss Sanhua is adorable!"
"Of course,"
"Then Sanhua Empress will not go for the next two days, but she will go on the last day." The little girl said as she quietly glanced at the Taoist, "Why don't you win another horse and come back? Horses are more expensive than sheep."
"We already have a horse, let's give that horse to someone else." Song You looked at her with a smile, "Sanhua Empress is so powerful, there is really no need to fight with those children."
"right……"
"What do you think, Sanhua Empress?"
"Miss Sanhua, I think you are right."
"Sanhua Empress is generous."
"Miss Sanhua is powerful and generous!"
Sanhua Empress muttered to herself, and then turned her head and looked behind her at the sheep she had won today, and possibly the only one she had won, and asked: "Then how are we going to eat this sheep tomorrow?"
"I'm afraid we won't be able to finish such a big sheep."
"right……"
"then what should we do?"
"then what should we do?"
"What does the Sanhua Empress say?"
"What should the Taoist say?"
"Since it is the sheep won by Empress Sanhua, it is naturally up to Empress Sanhua to make the decision."
"Since it is the sheep that Sanhua Empress and Ma'er won together, it is natural for Sanhua Empress and Ma'er to make the decision." Sanhua Empress said, turning to look at the horse next to her, "What does Ma'er say?"
However, the bay horse just stood silently, gnawing grass on the ground and ignored her.
So after just looking at it for a moment, she had no choice but to look back, faced the Taoist and thought for a moment, and then said, "We can make bacon out of the endless sheep."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, it's hot now, so we can't make bacon."
"Miss Sanhua is very smart."
"Then what else can we do?"
"Then what else can we do?" Song You imitated Sanhua Empress's habits, and also imitated her words and added, "Sanhua Empress is very smart, and she will not be able to trouble her with trivial matters."
"Miss Sanhua is very smart..."
Sanhua Empress repeated what he said, and as soon as she finished speaking, she immediately said: "We can go down below and sell the sheep for money, so that we can keep it with us forever!"
"Miss Sanhua is really smart."
"Then Sanhua Empress will sell it tomorrow."
"Then tomorrow..."
The little girl repeated it habitually, but she stopped mid-sentence and raised her head to stare at him.
Song You smiled and said, "I'm with Empress Sanhua."
"OK!"
"Miss Sanhua, please sleep."
"Empress Sanhua is not sleeping." The little girl turned back to look at Ye beside her, "Empress Sanhua saw someone selling rabbits down there today. Rabbits can also be sold for money."
"..."
Song You was quite helpless, but he didn't want to care about it, so he could only say: "Then I wish Empress Sanhua a prosperous harvest."
"OK."
There was an explosion of smoke.
The little girl in front of him had disappeared and was replaced by a calico cat, turning its head and not knowing where to look.
Song You sighed and lay down silently.
In early March, the moon was as silky as silk.
As soon as you open it, the sky is filled with stars.
The Taoist closed his eyes.
"What..."
From time to time there are sounds of sheep bleating around me.
The sheep was restless all night.
In the middle of the night, there are ghosts wandering in the mountains. Sometimes they shuttle among the tents below. They look from tent to tent without knowing what they are doing. Sometimes they run to harm other people's cattle and sheep. When they are discovered, a large group of them are startled by the barking of dogs. The bold prairie man had no choice but to run away in a hurry. Sometimes he ran to the top of the mountain and passed by the Taoist. However, before he could get close to the Taoist, he was frightened by a puff of smoke from a calico cat that came out of nowhere and fled.
…
Early next morning.
The blue sky is clear and clear, with no clouds in the sky. As far as the eye can see, the ground is green and the sky is blue, monotonous and boring, and boundless.
The Taoist patiently packed up his things as he did every day before, and then went down the mountain with the bay red horse, Sanhua Empress, the sheep she had won, and the hare she had caught all night.
The mountain line is gentle, and several figures are slowly going down.
The trade of cattle, sheep and horses is an important part of the grassland trade market, and there is a dedicated area for selling livestock.
Especially horses.
The best horses in the entire Dayan are produced here, and this is the biggest grassland event of the year. Even though the north is in chaos and there are monsters everywhere, if General Chen hadn’t urgently returned to the border to take charge last year, the Saibei people’s cavalry might have crossed over at any time. Here, there are still businessmen from all over the country coming here from different routes to see if they can use various methods to pick up some leftover horses bought by the government.
The market is bustling with people.
As Song You walked along, many people recognized Sanhua Empress and the bay red horse that won the first prize at the horse racing meeting yesterday morning, and wanted to buy this unattractive horse. However, before Song You could refuse, Sanhua Empress He rejected them seriously and asked them if they wanted to buy sheep and rabbits.
This little thing is really smart.
Then the group of people walked to the market where the sheep were sold. Sanhua Empress ran there alone and stared at others for a long time, wanting to know how much a sheep cost and secretly learning the skills of selling sheep.
Most of the buyers are businessmen from other places.
Most of the sellers are local herders.
Mandarin and local dialects are mixed.
Some people negotiated the price in a low voice, while others touched their hands secretly.
If the person negotiating the price could understand it, she would rely on her hearing to stand in the distance and stare at the others, eavesdropping carefully.
If someone touched someone's sleeve, she would run over and quietly lift up the other person's sleeve to look inside. When she meets a kind person who stares at her blankly, she will raise her head to look at them and ask questions. When she meets a bad-tempered person who scolds her, she is like an ordinary dog being driven away. Like a cat, it ran away quickly as a matter of course, distanced itself and stared at him again.
After spending a lot of time, I finally sold the sheep.
A few rabbits were sold quite smoothly.
Because the rabbits caught by Sanhua Empress only have a few small holes in their necks, compared with those shot with arrows, the effect on the fur is less, and the selling price is also very good.
People often ask them how they caught it.
Sanhua Empress all said she caught it herself.
After selling out and leaving here, Empress Sanhua held the money heavily in her arms, feeling full of accomplishment.
Although there was still no expression on her face, in the eyes of Song You who knew her well enough, the pride was almost as high as three feet high.
After selling the cattle and sheep, you still have to go to the officials and ask.
Although Lin Chang knew about the ghosts in Turtle City in the north, he thought that the sources of information were mostly local legends, which were naturally not as accurate as the government. Just like last night, Lin Chang said that those ghosts don't eat people, but the officials also said that they scared many people to death by getting sick. After listening to it, it became clear that in any case, we really can't just listen to one family's words on this kind of thing.
So I headed to the middlemost tents.
When I happened to walk here, I met the young official who asked the master last night why he didn't go to the north to eliminate the demon. Song You had also spoken to him a few words when he asked about the details of the Grassland Meeting.
The young official still didn't know that he was almost killed by the evil ghost last night, but he had just been deceived and frightened by the ghost, so he was very cautious. Hearing that the Taoist was going to visit the ghost town, he couldn't help but look at him with suspicious and wary eyes. It wasn't until the Taoist said that he didn't want anything and just wanted to inquire that he told him with his youth and arrogance.
The ghosts in Turtle City were indeed transformed into generals.
Over the years, there have indeed been no cases of cannibalism.
Just because it doesn’t eat people doesn’t mean it doesn’t harm people.
There are many cases related to them.
Soldiers and bandits are sometimes hard to tell. Even though Dayan's military laws are strict, and the northern frontier army is especially strict, conflicts between officers and soldiers and the people are still unavoidable.
What's more, he turned into a ghost.
Not every household in this grassland has herds of cattle, sheep, and horses. Most of the people are also living a hard life. Ghosts come out and harm other people's livestock. In the smallest case, it harms the assets. In the worst case, it may cause a family to be destroyed. Starved to death in winter.
But this kind of thing is not uncommon.
This is what armies everywhere do.
Some officials knew about it and turned a blind eye, while others were upright and unwilling to tolerate it.
What's more, the ghosts gathered together, and the ghost spirit was too strong, turning a piece of land into a wasteland, and officials like them were also in a difficult situation.
In addition, people and ghosts have different paths. Some people have weak yang energy and weak horoscopes. If they accidentally encounter evil spirits, they may become seriously ill or die of fear on the spot, but they don't know whether they are harming others.
When the government receives a report, they naturally cannot sit idly by and ignore it.
Dayan's various laws and regulations are quite strict and thoughtful.
It would be dereliction of duty if you didn't send someone to see and deal with it, but some of the civil experts you invited were killed by ghosts.
It's really complicated.
I went to ask others and it was probably the same.
Song You sounded more and more curious.
(End of chapter)
