Ban Rui lowered his head and did not dare to look at Xie Mengxia. He only glanced at him and vaguely felt that he looked pretty good.
She lowered her head and listened to the teachings of the instructing mother-in-law in the building, with a shy look on her face: "You are as weak as a slave."
"What the hell, Prajna Paramita." Xie Mengxia had a splitting headache: "Which one is Prajna Paramita, the Prajna Paramita one?" He reached out and rubbed his brows: "I get a headache when I hear your name, I'll change your name ."
Xie Mengxia didn't read much, and when he did, he just ate it like a meal. The rest of it was hard to come up with a catchy name.
He thought again and again and said, "Let's call her Huoyun. Yes, you will be called Huoyun from now on."
Ban Rui almost vomited a mouthful of blood. What kind of name was this? But he still bowed softly and weakly: "Thank you, Master, for giving me this name."
Xie Mengxia laughed loudly, and with a wave of his hand, he asked the renamed Banwei, now Huoyun, to help him wash up.
In the dead of night, a group of camels and horses walked through the lonely and deserted moonlight.
The cold wind blew across the desolate land, and the ground sifted by stars and moonlight was covered with mottled shadows.
Hulu River is about ten miles away from Shipan City. It can be said to be close or far.
No one in this group of camels and horses spoke, only the clatter of horses' hooves fell crisply into the night.
The walnut trees on both sides of the Hulu River grow thickly. In spring and summer, the tree crowns are wide and shaded, which is slightly spectacular.
But at this time of year, the eucalyptus trees have lost all their leaves, leaving only the empty crown. Looking up, you can see the full moon and stars at a glance.
Most of the dense forest of reeds on the river beach has withered. The withered and yellow reeds lie on the ground and creak when stepped on.
A damp and cold mist rose from the river, covering the towering beacon not far away.
The leader made a gesture, and the camel and horse team behind him stopped immediately.
Everyone turned over and dismounted, soothed the packhorse and lay on the ground, looking into the distance with solemn expressions.
A man bowed and rushed to the leader's side, took off the quiver on his leg, bent his bow and gestured into the distance.
As soon as he loosened his grip, the arrow flew quickly into the sky like a pale star and plunged into the reeds.
There was a violent swaying in the reeds, and a few plump water birds made strange calls, and flapped their wings like crazy, passing over the low river surface, then flying into the night sky and rushing to the other side.
At the same time, the lights on the beacon not far away were bright, and several arrows shot like raindrops over the river.
A bright light suddenly lit up on the arrow, illuminating the river as bright as day.
After a while, the light on the arrows went out, and the arrows fell into the river one after another. They were stirred by the ice-cracked river water and released a wisp of white smoke.
The man whispered: "Master Sabao, the river is extremely icy at this time of year, and there is no cover on both sides. The slightest movement will alert the garrison on the beacon."
This person's breathing is long and continuous, and his voice is broken. He is a practitioner.
The leader was short and fat, like a round ball when squatting on the ground. His Chinese was jerky and his voice was low: "Brother Li, is there any other way?"
The man looked up at the sky and thought for a while: "In another hour, at the first quarter of the day, it will be the changing of the beacon guard, and there will be time for a stick of incense. Let's cross the river quickly and don't delay. Once we enter Changle Mountain, we will be safe." ”
Sabao nodded in agreement, and the man hurriedly told everyone to rest where they were.
Under the moonlight, the shallow river water sparkled, and the subtle gurgling sound flowed in the night.
After half an hour, everyone relaxed a little, but the man suddenly turned his head and looked at the path he came from, his eyes flashing with light.
He gave a low greeting, and everyone woke up, stretched their posture, and looked towards the way they came.
The sound of horse hooves was approaching quickly, and there seemed to be a lot of them.
The atmosphere suddenly became solemn and solemn.
Another team of camels and horses approached, and when they saw that the place had been occupied by others, the newcomers were stunned, obviously not expecting this situation.
This camel and horse team was Han Changmu and his party. They stayed up until the dead of night and arrived at the Hulu River.
Helian Wenyuan, the leader, jumped off his horse and looked at the people in front of him warily. Without saying too many words or actions, he retreated to Han Changmu and whispered: "Young master, it seems that he is also going to cross the river."
Judging from the appearance of these people, they must be some merchants smuggling contraband and hiring guards.
Han Changmu nodded nonchalantly, got off his horse and said, "Ignore them, the guard changes at midnight, let's go first."
He didn't have the time to delve into the details of these people, let alone pay attention to these wandering guards.
He knew that when wealthy merchants, such as the Zhou family, went about their business, they often hired impressive guards, mostly people from the bodyguard bureau and the military.
And these people in front of them are obviously just ordinary guards, they know some kung fu and have more experience in horse racing.
Helian Wenyuan looked solemn: "Okay, sir, let's go to the front first. It will take less than half an hour to change the guard."
Watching Han Changmu dismount, Meng Sui, Yao Yao and others also came down one after another. They did not talk to each other, but followed Helian Wenyuan forward in a tacit understanding.
Sabao and the others were stunned.
The Li brothers mentioned by Sabao originally wanted to step forward and stop him, but he didn't want this group of people to approach. He realized that although these people looked scattered, they made no sound when they stepped on dead branches, and they were quiet all the way. It's scary, let alone footsteps, you can't even hear breathing.
This group of people are all good players and cannot be offended.
He lowered his head and said something to Sabao.
Sabao's expression changed, he looked at Han Changmu and his group with fear, and took the lead to take a step back.
Everyone looked at each other and retreated wisely, leaving a narrow path.
Han Changmu and his party led the horses and walked to the river without looking sideways. They found a place sheltered from the wind and backlit. They all sat cross-legged and waited quietly.
Along the way, Yao Yao unexpectedly saw two acquaintances. It was the mute woman who performed a dance on the boat and pretended to be deaf and mute, and was called the Holy Messenger, and the other was the old man who played the huqin.
I don't know if these two people really forgot about Han Changmu or they deliberately pretended not to know them. When they saw the two of them, their expressions didn't even change and they didn't even look at them.
Yao Yao's expression froze and he became wary.
She thought for a while, then quietly moved to Han Changmu's side, and gently raised her chin.
Han Changmu raised his eyebrows, indicating that he had also seen it.
The night gradually deepened, the stars became brighter and brighter, and the moonlight became a little darker, leaving only a few faint gleams.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Helian Wenyuan nodded slightly towards Han Changmu.
Han Changmu made a gesture to Meng Suige and others.
Several people stood up together, walking briskly, but the packhorse made no sound when walking.
Sabao and Brother Li took a closer look and saw that the hooves of the pack horse had been wrapped in a thick felt blanket at some point.
The two looked at each other. These people looked like they were very experienced.
The sound of water was rushing, and the Hulu River seemed to be flowing slowly in the distance. When I walked in, I saw that under the moonlight, the water was flowing like water and rushing rapidly.
The river was ice-cracked and biting. Even though several people wore leather boots that reached to their knees, the chill still seeped in after stepping in the river for a long time.
Several people held the reins tightly, comforted the trembling horses, and walked steadily to the other side step by step.
The mute woman known as the Holy Messenger looked at this scene and narrowed her slightly upward eyes.
She obviously recognized Han Changmu and they were just pretending not to recognize them.
She watched Han Changmu and his group walk to the middle of the river, but she could only hear the sound of the river flowing just like before, and no waterfowl were disturbed. She couldn't help but frown.
What kind of group of people are they? How can their kung fu be so deep? When they walk like this in the water, the water splash they bring up is extremely small and weak.
The Hulu River is narrow and the water is only knee-deep. When the reeds on both sides of the river are lush, driving horses across the river is the least likely to be discovered.
Han Changmu and others moved very quickly and reached the other side without alerting the garrison in the beacon.
There was no time to straighten their soaked clothes, so they got on their horses and rushed to Changle Mountain. They had to hide in Changle Mountain before dawn so as not to be discovered by the garrison in Fengyi.
Upon seeing this, Sabao and his group saw that the time for changing of the guard was almost over, so they no longer hesitated and followed closely across the river.
The whole road is an unobstructed wilderness, with withered reeds lying on the ground, withered poplars, and dried red willows. The dim light of the stars and the cold moonlight fell down, as if they were rippling on the clear waves.
He urged the horse to gallop, and the cold wind cut on his face like a knife, which was cold and painful.
But several people didn't feel cold. They rushed all the way in fear, and their backs were already covered with sweat.
Yao Yao stretched out his hand and wiped it. His forehead and temples were covered with sweat, turning the dust on his face into mud.
Suddenly there was the neighing of horses behind him, and Han Changmu suddenly felt something was wrong. When he looked back, he saw that someone from Sabao's group had frightened the horse.
This was a sudden disaster. Naturally, the garrison in the beacon was alerted. Several lighting arrows were shot into the sky, clearly illuminating the group, leaving them with nowhere to hide.
Helian Wenyuan shouted loudly: "Go, go, go quickly, go quickly, enter the mountain, quickly."
As soon as the voice fell, long arrows shot out like rain.
Although Han Changmu and his entourage were not killed in a hail of guns and arrows, they were all outstanding players. They held their swords tightly with one hand, deflected the flying arrows, held the reins tightly with the other hand, and urged the horses to gallop. .
The sound of horse hooves behind him became more and more rapid and chaotic, and occasionally someone screamed, and someone fell off his horse and fell into the river, causing water to splash everywhere.
Han Changmu and his group didn't even look back, they just rushed forward.
Don't say that they didn't think about rescuing each other. In such a situation, even if they wanted to, they couldn't.
Just like this, he moved forward crazily without breathing for a moment, and finally escaped this wave of sharp arrows, and got into the endless Changle Mountain.
Just as he stopped to take a breath, a neighing sound came from not far away.
Sabao's group was also an unusual horse team. They were actually escorted by Brother Li. They also crossed the Hulu River, ran through the boundless wilderness, and hid in Changle Mountain.
