Chapter 98: Beimang Mountain
June 12, noon
An eagle's long cry in the air interrupted the conversation. The two looked up together and saw a red string tied under the eagle's feet. It was the eagle that often stood on Master Yan Qi's shoulder.
"Then the young master came back to look for you again?" Shen Kuo said.
"No, he's not going back, he's just letting it go back."
Xiao Ping took out a whistle and blew it. The eagle flew down upon hearing the sound, but it did not land beside Xiao Ping, but only stopped on the guardrail beside the pavilion. It was probably wary of Shen Kuo and did not approach.
"You can fly a falcon, too?"
"This was originally my eagle. That year, when I was delivering military intelligence in Taihang Mountain, I saw a young eagle tumbling down from a cliff, dying. I remembered that the young master often said he wanted an eagle, so I kept it by my side. Later, when it grew up, I could use this eagle whistle to summon it. Over time, Yong'er, the young master, and I were able to summon it to land and deliver military intelligence."
“Can it also carry messages?”
"Yes, if there is any military intelligence, tie it to the red string on your feet. However, important military intelligence still needs to be delivered by Yong'er and me."
Xiao Ping walked to the eagle and found that there was something hanging on its feet. She took it off and found it was a piece of silk.
"Is it a letter he wrote to you?"
Xiao Ping took off the silk without even looking at it, and threw it outside the pavilion, letting the mountain wind blow it away. Shen Kuo only saw the cloth rolling in the wind, with what seemed to be several lines of long and short sentences written on it, probably another poem.
"It's nothing but sorrow and guilt. I'm tired of it, so I'd rather not watch it." Xiao Ping turned back and said, "Now I only have one thing to do, which is to rescue Yong'er. It would be a help if Lao Liu could come back."
"Its name is Lao Liu?"
"That's right. When that young master had some free time, he arranged the hawks, dogs, and cats in his house into seats like brothers. I laughed at him at the time and said, you call yourself Xiaoqi, the flying eagle is called Laoliu, and the running dog is called Laoba, don't you want to associate with beasts? Now that I think about it, his words turned out to be a prophecy." She forced a bitter smile.
She wrapped up the piano and seemed ready to leave.
"Wherever you go, I will go. I will help you rescue Yong'er." Shen Kuo said.
Xiao Ping watched as joy flashed across Shen Kuo's face, then turned into an expression of embarrassment.
"Sir, I have already said that I have escaped death on this journey. I already owe you a lot. I cannot repay you even if I work as an ox or a horse in my next life. How can I ask you to help me again?"
"I'm not helping you, I'm helping the Song Dynasty. No matter if it means a narrow escape or a tenfold loss, as long as you are as heroic as Mount Tai, what is there to fear?"
He spoke passionately for a while, describing the love affair between his children as a sense of family and country, and forcibly gave Xiaoping an excuse.
Xiaoping walked closer and grabbed his hand. She felt Shen Kuo's hand trembling slightly. Then she leaned her head into his arms and heard his heart beating.
In the distance, a woodcutter was walking by carrying a load of wet firewood. He was halfway through chopping wood when it started to rain, and he was feeling unlucky. He looked up and saw two people hugging each other in the pavilion. Xiao Ping happened to be wearing men's clothes, and it looked like two men hugging each other.
The woodcutter could not help but curse the world for being corrupt and that men could do such things. No wonder the heavens would send down disasters. I am afraid that the end of the world is coming soon. The curses were heard continuously and carried into the pavilion with the wind. The two men realized what they were cursing about and quickly separated, smiling awkwardly. Then they left the pavilion together, found their own mounts and headed south.
Xiao Ping was dressed in men's clothes, riding a tall horse, with a sword on her waist and an eagle on her shoulder, looking heroic from a distance. Shen Kuo rode an old donkey that looked old and gloomy, and was half a head shorter than Xiao Ping, just like an attendant.
This time, they went to the place where Yong'er last disappeared - Beimang Mountain. As for why Yong'er went there, Xiaoping did not say, but it was probably because there were traces of Maitreya.
It was only a few dozen miles from Gongyi to Beimang. If it weren't for Shen Kuo's old donkey walking slowly, they would have arrived earlier. But at night, they still entered the mountain. The old donkey was tired and refused to go any further, so the two could only stop by the roadside to rest.
Before the sun set, they did not find a village in the mountains, but only a lonely, dilapidated courtyard. The two went to stay there, but when they got to the door, they found that the gate was dilapidated and the earthen wall had collapsed, and it seemed that no one had lived there for a long time. Shen Kuo knocked on the door, and the door panels fell off.
The knock on the door startled a few mice in the shabby house, and they came out. No one was seen. He went in first and found that the doors and windows were broken and could not block the wind, but the roof was intact and could block the rain. There were tables and chairs in the house, and there was a well in the yard. Although this place was shabby, it was bearable for one night, and there was no room for nitpicking now.
So the two of them led their animals in. Xiao Ping cleaned the house while Shen Kuo went outside to fetch water to brush the horses and donkeys, and then fetched another bucket of water for the animals to drink.
There was still some firewood in the house, so they didn't have to pick up wet firewood outside. The two of them boiled a pot of water on the stove. Unfortunately, there was no food, so they could only eat some dry food to fill their stomachs .
Shen Kuo glanced at Xiaoping sweeping the courtyard and repairing the windows. She was doing it very skillfully, as if no other village women were as skillful as her. It seemed that she had already gotten used to life in the countryside.
A few months ago, she was a famous courtesan in the capital who could only play the piano, chess, and books, and sing and sing songs about the wind and the moon. But now she chopped wood to make fire, washed pots and boiled water, and worked very hard. Shen Kuo watched from the side and could not help but hate Mr. Yan Qi, who did not know how to cherish such a virtuous and intelligent woman.
Just as I was feeling regretful, I heard an eagle's cry, and the eagle fell from the sky with a hare in its talons.
"Good Lao Liu." Xiao Ping, who was chopping wood, cheered. The eagle threw the rabbit at Xiao Ping's feet, then flew outside to wait on the low wall. Shen Kuo picked up the rabbit, drew out the short sword Xu Chong had given him, and wanted to skin it, but he didn't know how to start.
Xiao Ping took the rabbit with a smile: "Is this short sword given to you by Xu Jieji? This knife of several feet is good for killing people in battle, but how can it be used to peel off fur?"
She took out a small knife from her side and peeled the rabbit skin swiftly. She cut two rabbits first, threw one to the eagle named Lao Liu and the other to the wild cat named Xiao Jiu. Then she found a branch and built a fire in the house and roasted the rabbit.
Shen Kuo sat with her by the campfire, waiting for the rabbit to be roasted and for their wet clothes to dry.
At this time, the sky had completely darkened, and outside it was covered with thick clouds and drizzling rain, and there was not even a trace of moonlight. Shen Kuo was sitting opposite the fire, and when he saw her face, which was illuminated by the firelight, he was surprised to see how beautiful she was.
Xiao Ping probably noticed Shen Kuo's gaze on her face, so she just lowered her head.
"I didn't expect that your piano-playing hands could do this kind of work so skillfully."
"The hands that play the piano? Sir, you underestimate me. I also have the hands that kill people." She placed her hands by the fire and looked at them. The five slender fingers were blood-red in the firelight. Judging from how skillfully she used the knife just now, it was probably true that she had killed someone.
"You are truly the most clever and studious woman in the world."
"Ah, it's not that I really want to learn these things..." Xiao Ping said leisurely, "My sister and I have been lonely since childhood. Mr. Yan chose us and asked us to learn to sing and play, sing and dance, and swim. If we wanted to infiltrate that sect, we learned to poison, kill, and learn ventriloquism. However, since the young master liked hunting, I learned to fly a falcon. If he liked to write lyrics, I learned to compose music. If he wanted to be a wanderer, I learned to be a village girl. If he wanted to live in seclusion in the countryside, I learned to wash clothes and cook. I'm afraid I haven't learned anything for myself in my life."
Xiaoping still felt sad after saying this.
"And yet you are so special."
"Especially? I just feel that I have a bad luck."
"There's one thing I don't know. Why did Yong'er disappear in this area? I think this place is far from the capital, and it's not like the Maitreya sect's ghost-playing places in the market."
"When I was in that sect, Saint Lady also sent people here, but I don't know why. This time, it was Mr. Wen who found some clues and sent Yong'er here."
"And she disappeared?"
"Well, there must be something strange hidden in this Beimang Mountain?"
"How can we find her in this vast mountain?"
"With Lao Liu here, we will naturally find her. I hope it's not a corpse. If she is dead, I will not live either. Alas..." Xiao Ping sighed.
"Maybe, it's not as bad as you think. Although she is missing, it may not be related to Maitreya. It's hard to say, did she just take the opportunity to escape?"
"No, you don't know her. This sister looks like me, but her temperament is very different. Maybe she went to Maitreya first, and became a saint for a long time, so she became a little stupid. She is usually stubborn and taciturn, but she is not scheming. She will definitely not run away."
"She has a completely different personality from you."
"I had always thought that she had been pretending to be a saint for a long time, and her personality had become cold and aloof, and her mind had become simple. However, she was the first to see that the young man was a sentimental person who could not stand loneliness and could not be trusted. She once told me that the young man was a playboy and would not be able to remain loyal. At that time, I laughed at her for her childishness and ignorance of true love in the world, but she was right..."
"She is actually very good at judging people?"
"She also told me that although she had only met you a few times, you were loyal and righteous, and a good person who could be trusted."
"She really said that about me?"
"In fact, you two are a perfect match. You are both people who keep your word. You are not like those who say they are affectionate but are actually cold and indifferent."
Seeing that the rabbit was about to be burnt, Xiao Ping cut the rabbit into pieces and shared them with Shen Kuo.
After eating the rabbit, Shen Kuo took out the "Wood Classic" from his arms and flipped through a few pages.
"How did you steal this book?"
"I didn't steal it. Yong'er stole it. I only asked her to pretend to be me to say goodbye to you, but she said you must want this book, so she stole it and gave it to you while Yu Jing was in a mess."
"Does she really understand my thoughts?"
"She is also a thoughtful person, she just doesn't like to talk."
"She came here alone. Even if the Maitreya Sect is here, how can she find them?"
"No need to find them, they will find Yong'er."
"How can I find it?"
“All you need to do is go to the mountain and play a piece of ‘The Ten Bodhisattvas’. If there is a Maitreya nearby teaching people, they will all understand and will come to guide them.”
"We can also find them this way?"
"No, if Yong'er is already here, I will be exposed if I show up again."
After drying their clothes, they leaned against a wall to rest. When it was dawn, Shen Kuo woke up and the fire had gone out. Xiao Ping was outside preparing the horses.
