Lan'an County, Langzhou, with barren mountains along the coast.
The shouts of the local natives came from the mountains.
"That way!"
"Stop it!"
"Ran……"
Several young and strong natives were chasing a bay-red horse all over the hillside.
The sound of bells echoed in the mountains.
But if you look closely, it's not so much the natives chasing the horses as it is the horses walking the natives.
The native people run like the wind in the mountains. When chasing horses, they naturally chase the horses non-stop in the mountains. But it stands to reason that humans cannot outrun the horses. As long as the horses run wildly, the mountains and forests are complicated and dangerous, and it only takes a moment. This group of natives can't even see its shadow.
This horse doesn't.
I wanted to run slowly, not in a hurry, and keep a certain distance from these natives.
When the natives are far away, it slows down, and when the natives are close to catch up, it only speeds up slightly, giving people the impression that it can catch up if it grits its teeth and exerts more force.
Even so, the natives were soon out of breath from exhaustion. They propped up their thighs with their hands, bent over and gasped for air, unable to run any longer. Every time at this time, it stops to eat grass slowly, and even walks out a little when it finds that its figure is blocked by trees.
The two eyes on both sides of the head have a wide field of view, which can fully support it while eating grass and observing the movements of these natives.
Every time it gives them hope, it makes them despair.
"This horse seems to be messing with us!"
"Grandpa, I still don't believe that I can't catch up!"
"Push it to me!"
Several natives ran forward again.
This time, the bay-red horse did not run up the mountain, but ran down the mountain with elegant little steps.
In the coconut grove at the foot of the mountain, a young Taoist priest was carrying a bag across his body. There was a calico cat in the bag, walking towards the bay-red horse.
"Xilulu..."
The bay-red horse stopped beside the Taoist, and suddenly became silent and well-behaved. Once it came behind the Taoist, it stopped moving.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
Song You touched its neck.
The horse was silent.
The cat poked his head out of his robe, turned to glance at his horse, then turned back and stared seriously at the movement in the grass.
Several natives emerged from the grass and forest one after another, and were stunned when they saw the bay-red horse standing next to the Taoist. The Taoist was stroking its neck and talking to it.
"Eh?"
The natives couldn't help but look at each other.
Although they and Song You didn't understand the language and had difficulty communicating, seeing this scene, they knew that the bay-red horse had found its owner. It was not an ownerless wild horse, nor was it lost. In this way, it was neither a vicious person nor a vicious person. So he left, complaining again and again.
Song You continued to stroke the bay red horse's neck and said with a smile: "It seems that the time you stayed there was not much less boring than us at sea."
"puff……"
The bay-red horse snorted.
At this time, the clothes on his body were getting heavier and lighter, and the calico cat had jumped down to the ground, still holding a small flag in its mouth.
"Canopy..."
Several streaks of black smoke fell to the ground and turned into large wolves.
"What does Sanhua Empress want?"
"This group of people chased Empress Sanhua's horse all over the mountain. It was so abominable that Empress Sanhua also asked a few wolves to chase them around." Mao'er put down the command flag and said seriously.
At the same time, several wolves had jumped out.
"Ouch..."
Immediately, there were shouts and exclamations from the natives.
Suddenly there was another sound of running in the forest.
Song You did not stop her, but asked out of curiosity: "Empress Sanhua herself is often chased away by others, so why do we never see Empress Sanhua doing this?"
"That's different!"
The cat turned and raised its head to stare at him.
"how to say?"
The Taoist touched the horse's neck and met her eyes.
"People themselves want to chase cats away. Cats themselves want to be chased away by people. And the ones they chase are Sanhua Empress, and Sanhua Empress doesn't care about them."
Even though Mao'er spoke intermittently and stumbled, Song You could sense what she meant.
For some reason, my mind suddenly recalled the scene of one night seven or eight years ago, not long after leaving Yidu, when they camped out in the mountains and watched the stars, with the calico cat and the horse cuddling up to sleep.
At that time, calico cats rarely slept with Taoists.
Most of the time, it was the horse next to her.
"It's really rare for Sanhua Empress to have a kind heart." The Taoist said with a smile, "But they don't know how powerful our horse is. They just think it is an ordinary horse without an owner, just like Sanhua Empress on the beach. Just like they wanted to pick up the valuable fish and shrimps when they saw them, they also wanted to take the horse home. In fact, the intention was not bad. The Sanhua Empress could take the horse's thoughts more seriously than herself, and things that she didn't mind were It’s great to be willing to seek justice for Ma, but in this matter, you can also tolerate these people just like you tolerate others.”
"puff……"
The horse snorted as if in agreement.
"?"
The cat stared at him for a while, then turned its head and stared at the maroon horse. After thinking for a while, it shook its head a few times, lowered its head, picked up a small flag in its mouth, and called the wolves back.
"Empress Sanhua thinks you are right..."
The cat came back with the small flag in its mouth, held the Taoist's legs and stood upright, raising its head high and raising the small flag, signaling for him to put it back in the bag.
"Sanhua Empress follows the good and follows the flow."
"Follow what is good~"
One person, one cat and one horse turned around and walked towards the beach.
I could only hear the Taoist saying to the horse as he walked: "You must have learned bad things from Empress Sanhua..."
"Meow?"
"fine."
"Meow?"
"I'm thinking about when we should leave. There are still a few days before the Beginning of Autumn. Maybe we should stay here and wait until after the Beginning of Autumn before leaving. It's just a good time for Sanhua Empress to have more fun... find more food and sell the boat."
"Yes!"
The calico cat was instantly changed the topic.
In the next few days, Sanhua Empress continued her happy career on the sea. She often took the swallows and horses with her and walked along the beach for more than ten miles.
Previously, I also traveled to sea in Lilliput.
In comparison, there is a lack of a group of fish in the sea at this time. It is difficult to subdue a small fish. If you encounter a big crab, you have to call a team wearing armor to deal with it. If you want to dig out a nautilus from the beach, you have to fight. The little man who digs hard with a shovel, and the Sanhua Empress can easily get their exclamations and cheers, inevitably loses some fun. But on the other hand, all the proceeds from going to sea at this time will either go into the belly of myself and the Taoist priests, or they can be dried and made into my own future food reserves, or they can be exchanged for money in the market, which gives me another sense of accomplishment. .
In short, I am still addicted to it and can't extricate myself.
…
Before I knew it, it was the beginning of autumn.
The sun was approaching noon, and the lush coconut trees still cast a small shadow on the beach.
"Congratulations to Sanhua Empress for turning one year older."
"Well……"
"I took the small wooden boat to the boat market this morning and sold it. Miss Sanhua can guess how much it sold for."
"How much?"
"Take a guess."
"One hundred taels!"
"..."
Song You dug in the sand and buried the calico cat, and said to her, "Guess again."
"How much is that?"
"Three taels and six cents."
"Thirty-two or six dollars?"
"Yes, it's still three to six dollars."
"Then let's..."
The cat lay on her back in the sand pit without moving. The sand was buried up to her belly. She didn't resist at all. She just looked down, with some doubts in her eyes. But there was something more doubtful in front of her, so she didn't pay much attention and quickly continued. Jiang Taoist stared at him: "Then we don't have a lot of money?"
"It's equivalent to a trip on a boat, and it doesn't cost any money."
"Yes, yes! That's what it means!"
"Yes."
"Why did you bury Sanhua Empress?"
"..."
Song You covered the calico cat's chest with the last handful of sand. At this time, the calico cat had been buried until only its head was left. He also patted the sand to make it tighter. Then he stood up, but it was She didn't mean to answer her at all. Instead, she picked up a branch, stuck it in the sand, and went to cook.
After steaming, the skin and flesh of an Eastern Star Spot have cracked, and the fish meat is as white as snowflakes. Several sea crabs of different varieties are steamed as usual, and then steamed with sea urchin in eggs.
Mix some jellyfish and grill a few skewers of shrimp, and that’s today’s lunch.
Hearty and easy, all you need is a pan.
A rare birthday party without rats.
Sanhua Empress got up from the sand and shook the sand off her body. I don't know if she had shaken it clean. Anyway, she didn't care about what the Taoist did to her. She was very well-behaved and it tasted delicious.
After the meal, Song You began to pack his luggage, and Sanhua Empress also collected all the dried shrimps and fish dried on the rocks on the beach. By the way, she went to pick a few coconuts from the trees and prepared to take them away.
Early the next morning, the weather was still good.
The sun in the sky lit up like a rouge.
Song You was sitting cross-legged on the rocks on the beach, his body already wet with morning dew. The charm of the beginning of autumn overnight had made him feel a lot. Now he just sat cross-legged with his eyes open, watching the sunrise.
When it comes to magnificence and shock, it is still not as good as the sea.
Unfortunately, that is the reward of the sea that can only be obtained by those who go deep into the sea and are not afraid of strong winds and waves.
The sun is getting higher and the world is getting brighter.
"call……"
The Taoist who was sitting cross-legged by the sea exhaled a white breath, stood up slowly, patted his robe, and when he turned around, the little girl had collected all the felt blankets, and the quilt bag was bulging and was placed next to her.
The bay-red horse was already standing obediently waiting for him.
Song You picked up the quilt bag and carefully placed it on the horse. As soon as he stretched out his hand, the little girl handed him his bamboo stick.
"Thank you, Miss Sanhua."
"Unkind!"
"Let's go."
The Taoist walked forward, leaning on his bamboo stick.
The bay-red horse immediately swung its bells to follow, almost the same as when it first left Yizhou seven or eight years ago.
The cat still followed him with small steps, but reluctantly looked back frequently. From time to time, he would leave the road and jump to a high place to take a look into the depths of the ocean.
"There is quite a lot of sea along the way."
The Taoist did not look back, but seemed to know the reluctance in her heart and spoke.
"knew……"
The Sanhua Empress naturally knew.
But this was the first ocean she knew, and it also carried her first journey to the sea. She went to many countries on the sea and left from here. How could the sea in front of her be compared to this sea?
I just hope it doesn't change and remains like this.
At least don't change it until your next visit.
(End of chapter)
