This was the first time Li Ye and Mu Mu saw a prairie woman. Through a short conversation, they discovered that the prairie people were not as unreasonable as the rumors said.
Just like them, they need to hunt, wear fur coats in cold weather, and go out to run for a living even in cold weather.
The woman glanced at the three people, turned around, walked to the snow on the right side of the official road, and pulled out the feather arrow from the hare.
Like Li Ye, he looked at the wear and tear of the arrow clusters, then grabbed the rabbit in the snow and carried it in his hand.
Li Ye looked at her quietly and suddenly asked, "Why do you come here to hunt?"
The woman raised her head and glanced at him, but didn't answer.
I came here with Ma Tianyun and Mu Mu just to survey the terrain. I didn't expect to meet people from the grassland tribes. This was not the result he wanted.
The prairie woman glanced at him and said, "Why can't you come?"
Li Ye said: "This is the place of the Five Domains, and there will be a war soon."
The woman said: "This was my hometown many years ago. It was only after we left that it was occupied by the government in southern Xinjiang. Why can't I come back?"
Mu Mu looked at her and asked seriously after a long while: "But the grassland barbarians have been away for so many years and are now under the government management of Southern Xinjiang. What will you do if a war breaks out?"
Li Ye looked at her and thought that Mumu was indeed a little witch, and she dared to ask such an idiotic question.
As expected, the woman looked at Mu Mu as if she were an idiot, and said with a smile, "I'll go back over there when there's a war."
Li Ye shook his head and laughed silently twice.
"Where do you live? Get in the car and I'll give you a ride." Ma Tianyun understood Li Ye's thoughts and looked at the woman and shouted.
Mu Mu waved to her and said, "Sister, come up here and chat with Mu Mu for a while. I'm very bored."
The woman was stunned for a moment, then walked to the carriage and climbed into the carriage.
In just a moment, the chatter of two women could be heard in the carriage. Li Ye glanced at Ma Tianyun and waved, "Keep going."
Ma Tianyun nodded and flicked the riding crop in his hand.
After talking through the car curtain, Li Ye felt that the woman on the grassland was interesting. She had a temper similar to Ma Tianyun's, and was frank and enthusiastic.
Mu Mu looked at the woman sitting opposite and said softly: "The two armies will be fighting in the spring next year. If my sister is fine, it's best to leave here as soon as possible. If you have nowhere to go, you can follow me back to Nanyun City."
Li Ye shook his head when he heard this, thinking about the war between southern Xinjiang and the grassland tribes. What does it have to do with women?
And you want to invite her back to Nanyun City with you? However, he has loved Mumu since he was a child and has no way to oppose her idea.
The carriage went all the way south. After a few miles, the woman opened the curtain and said, "We are here. If you don't mind, go in and have a cup of milk tea."
Li Ye raised his head and took a look at the sky. He felt that there would be no place to spend the night if he went further, so he called Mu Mu to get out of the car.
Then he untied the reins from Ma Tianyun, pulled three military horses one after another, followed the woman, got off the official road, and walked into the snowy field.
Not far from the official road, Li Ye discovered that there was a hill in the depths of the vast wasteland. There was a small cave under this low hill.
If the woman hadn't brought the three of them here, they would never have noticed this place while sitting in the carriage.
The woman only invited the three of them to be guests, but she did not expect that Li Ye would lead the horses over. It seemed that she wanted to spend the night here. She lowered her head and thought about it but could not object, so she allowed the three of them to follow her into the cave.
The cave doesn't look very big from the outside, but it still feels spacious when you get inside, at least much larger than the lobby of the inn. Li Ye and Mu Mu followed the woman, while Ma Tianyun led the horses to the entrance of the cave to feed them.
The woman lit a fire, making the dark cave suddenly brighter.
Li Ye took Mu Mu to the fire that was still smoking, and added a few branches to it. The cave gradually became warmer.
The woman fumbled around in the package beside the fire for a while, then took out a large piece of dried meat and handed it to Mu Mu. Mu Mu thanked her obediently, and Li Ye took out the kettle and prepared to boil water for tea.
Mu Mu tore a piece of dried meat and handed it to Li Ye. Li Ye took a bite and felt that there was little salt in the dried meat and no spices. It had a completely different taste from the dried meat he had marinated.
Although it was tasteless when chewed, it had the aroma of the grassland. This was the first time for Li Ye to eat meat from the grassland, and he and Mu Mu couldn't help but eat it with gusto.
Mu Mu thanked the barren woman, tore a piece of dried meat into her mouth and chewed it. Looking at her appearance, she didn’t know whether it was difficult or not.
It's still delicious to eat.
While boiling water, Li Ye took out the dried meat he made and handed it to the woman. He smiled and said, "I made this on Fangcun Mountain. How does it taste?"
The woman took the dried meat, was stunned for a moment, and asked, "Where is Fangcun Mountain?"
Mu Mu looked at her with a smile and said with a smile: "That's far away. It's deep in the Xixuan Territory. It takes two months to walk from here."
The woman raised her head and glanced at him with a confused look. It was obvious that although she had never been out of the Southern Territory, otherwise she wouldn't have such an expression?
Mu Mu chuckled and said, "How does it taste?"
The atmosphere relaxed and the three of them chatted quickly. Ma Tianyun settled the horses, walked to the fire and sat down, carrying an iron pot and preparing to cook meat porridge.
...
From the conversation, Ning Que learned that the woman belonged to the Yuezhi Royal Court, and her husband had been killed in the conflict between the Yuezhi Royal Court and the Lan Royal Court a few years ago.
After the grassland tribes attacked the southern border in the autumn, they took their nine-year-old daughter to this unattended vacuum to hunt.
Since there are neither people from the grasslands nor troops stationed in southern Xinjiang, the mother and daughter live a very comfortable life. They plan to leave here after spring and return to the tribes in the grasslands. .
There was snow all over the sky outside, and there was a fire burning in the cave, but it felt very comfortable.
Li Ye thought about what he had seen along the way and was a little puzzled. He asked, "Even if you mother and daughter are hunting, it is always unsafe to come to such a remote place and be too far away from the tribal people."
He has been hunting in the Tianshan Mountains since he was a child, and he is very aware of the dangers hidden in the distance.
The woman said: "There are too many people in the tribe. In winter, it is difficult to hunt for food."
Li Ye asked curiously: "Why?"
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly stood up, and Ma Tianyun, who had been sitting silently next to him, also looked at the entrance of the cave.
I saw a figure moving past the bright entrance of the cave. A short figure rushed in and shouted: "Mom, I'm back."
It was a thin little girl, wearing an animal skin jacket and an animal skin hat on her head. Her red face was full of joy and pride.
But when he saw Li Ye and Mu Mu, he suddenly became wary.
"Yue'er, I'm a guest." The woman stepped forward and took the two snow chickens she was carrying and threw them beside the fire. She took out a towel and carefully wiped the girl's face clean, then patted the girl with a smile. Slap her on the head.
Li Ye looked at the eight-year-old girl in front of him, but he remembered the scene when he met Mumu on Tianshan Mountain, and couldn't help but feel a little sad.
I thought that in such a cold weather, I could actually hunt two such big snow chickens. I couldn't help but be shocked. Thinking of the life in the Tianshan Mountains, I couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
"This is my daughter, Yueying." The woman proudly told Li Ye.
Li Ye looked at her with a smile, took out a piece of dried meat and handed it to her, saying, "Try this, I made it."
The kid didn't take it, but glanced at the woman. He waited for the woman to nod before taking it, holding it in his hand and taking a bite, then smiled with his eyes wide open like Mu Mu did back then.
Mu Mu pulled her to sit next to him by the fire and introduced himself: "I am Mu Mu, you will call me sister from now on, this is my brother, and this is Brother Ma."
The little girl was unprepared for Mu Mu and sat down next to her. She took off the animal skin hat on her head and put it in the woman's hand. She pointed to the kettle on the fire.
The woman was about to pour her water when Li Ye smiled and said, "Don't worry, it will be fine soon. Eat the dried meat and drink a cup of hot tea to help digestion." After saying that, he took out the tea leaves and put them into the pot, and then He took a few cups and placed them on the stones beside the fire.
Mumu smiled and said: "Eat slowly, there will be more after you finish eating."
"This girl is so cute." Watching Li Ye take off the kettle, Ma Tianyun put the iron pot up and started cooking porridge.
The woman stretched out her hand to straighten the little girl's coat, wiped off the snow stains remaining on it, and looked at her with a smile, as if she were looking at a piece of jade.
Suddenly she raised her head, looked at Li Ye and asked, "After spring begins, will the armies on both sides fight?"
"Maybe?" Li Ye looked at the expression on the woman's face and said, "The grassland tribes have occupied the three towns in southern Xinjiang. It is impossible for them to retreat, so we have to fight."
Whether the Five Regions Dynasty will fight with the grassland tribes is not a decision that Li Ye can make. How could he not know, but whether it will or not, in front of
Of course, this can only be said about a woman's face.
Ma Tianyun didn't say anything, but looked at Li Ye again.
The woman was stunned when she heard his answer, frowned, and asked: "If the southern Xinjiang army wins, will they invade the grassland?"
Li Ye looked at her quietly and suddenly asked: "I don't think this will happen. The army in southern Xinjiang just wants to get back its own town. Of course, this must be done when the grassland tribes withdraw from the three towns. If not, , just start fighting."
Mu Mu looked at the woman and asked curiously: "Do you have any relatives on the grassland?"
The woman leaned forward a little closer to the fire, crushed the animal skin hard, and muttered: "Since her father died, my mother and I have no relatives on the grassland."
When Li Ye heard this, his heart tightened, and he felt a sense of heartache.
Ma Tianyun was also stunned. He reached out to touch the little girl's face, but stopped mid-air.
Only Mu Mu didn't care and said carelessly: "It's okay. Mu Mu has never had parents since he was a child. After the best master left, my brother is the only person closest to me in this world... You don't have to be afraid. Come back to Nanyun City with me in a few days, you will be my sister from now on, and I will protect you."
This was the second time that Mu Mu said that he would take the woman and her child back to Nanyun City. This time, Li Ye felt no resistance in his heart, but instead felt a sense of warmth, as if this was how it should be.
Ma Tianyun nodded heavily and said with a smile: "What Mu Mu said is that you, mother and daughter, can walk north for a day tomorrow. There will be an empty and deserted inn there. After a few days, we will come back and take you back to the south." cloud."
The little girl named Yueying's eyes lit up and she couldn't help but move closer to Mu Mu. She looked at the woman expectantly, waiting for her decision.
The woman lowered her head and thought for a long time, then raised her head and looked at Li Ye and said, "Master, aren't you afraid that our mother and daughter will cause you trouble?"
Li Ye looked at Mu Mu, and Mu Mu gave him a confirming look, meaning that I have the final say on this matter.
Li Ye smiled lightly and said, "Don't be afraid of trouble. There are many places in the Five Realms. You can go wherever you want. Since we can meet in this ice and snow, it is fate."
The woman looked at Li Ye intently and said softly: "I'll think about it and decide tomorrow."
The little girl's eyes lit up and she felt extremely happy. She knew that her mother did not refuse in person, that is, she agreed to go to Nanyun, a big town in southern Xinjiang, with the young lady in front of her, a place she had longed for for a long time.
Ma Tianyun grinned, stood up, stirred the porridge in the pot, took out the dried meat, tore it into pieces and threw it in.
As night fell, the woman took two pieces of snow that the little girl had brought back to clean them up. She said that she might not be full just eating meat porridge, and it would be more delicious to bake the snow chicken in this weather.
Mu Mu and the little girl helped together. After a while, Mu Mu took out the spices and sprinkled them on the snow chicken, waiting for the meat porridge to be ready and roasting it.
"Finally, I can eat barbecue. You can't get this kind of thing in Nanyun City." Mu Mu took the little girl's hand and sat back by the fire. She handed a cup of tea that Li Ye had poured to her.
The little girl followed Mu Mu's example and blew a few breaths into the cup, then took a shallow sip and said with a smile, "This tastes so delicious."
The woman also sat back by the fire, picked up the teacup on the stone, looked at Li Ye and said, "This tea is a precious thing on the grassland."
Li Ye smiled and said, "If you went to Nanyun City, you would drink this stuff every day."
Ma Tianyun looked at the woman, smiled, and said, "This is the truth. There are expensive and cheap things in Nanyun City."
"Is the grassland fun? Mu Mu really wants to go and see it!" Looking at the little girl, Mu Mu talked to Li Ye.
"There are endless green grasslands, beautiful Haizi, and evergreen forests at the foot of the majestic Qingcheng Mountain. Countless wild animals live here. If there are no battles and deaths, the grassland is indeed a beautiful place."
The woman looked at Mu Mu, as if she were her own daughter, and smiled strangely.
Li Ye looked at Mu Mu's side face and said with a smile: "After the war is over, find a suitable time and my brother will take you to the grassland."
Mu Mu looked into his eyes and said, "Brother, are you serious?"
"seriously."
Mu Mu said: "Then wait until this war is over. Then take your sister with you and we will go together."
Li Ye smiled and said, "Let's go together."
