eight 1
Liu Qingye seemed to have fallen into a bottomless abyss. He had no strength to struggle with his hands. He could only touch a handful of soft things. What were these? Was it his nightmare? It had completely surrounded him. He was really tired after such a long time. It was better to fall asleep like this.
Just as he was thinking vaguely, someone pulled him hard, trying to pull him out of his dream. He felt that the force had caused his wound to tug, as if his entire chest was being torn apart. He couldn't help but cry out in pain, but salty water poured into his mouth.
After a while, he seemed to be flying, being carried by someone, and he didn't know where to go. He couldn't tell whether it was the wind or the arrows that whizzed by his ears. But after a moment, he heard someone calling his name, and the voice would not let him sleep any longer. He opened his eyes slightly and saw a pair of emerald green eyes. "Ah... Dan... Dan Ying..." He struggled and held Dan Ying's hand - just hold it like this, hold it until the end of the world...
The end of the world, he thought vaguely, and said: "It's so nice to meet you... Will you come with me?" But Dan Ying didn't answer, as if he was about to leave. He was anxious: if Dan Ying left, he would be in a sea of fire and swords again, how could he do that? "Dan Ying... Dan Ying, don't go..." He held the hand tightly, "Dan Ying... I said I don't like you... That's not true... Not true... I... I have liked you for a long time... Do you know that on the day I turned eighteen... I saw you in a mirage... I will be with you all my life... Dan Ying..."
He said everything in his heart in one breath, and suddenly he felt extremely relieved. It was as if the wound was not so painful anymore, and he woke up. But when he looked around, Dan Ying was nowhere to be found. It was Aunt Dali smiling at him! He blushed with shame and stammered, "Auntie... I..."
Dali knew what he was thinking and said with a smile, "Oh, you said something in a daze, but Auntie didn't hear it. Auntie is old and confused, and her hearing is not good."
When she said that, Liu Qingye felt embarrassed, but he was lying there with nowhere to hide. He tried to turn his body, but it pulled on the wound, causing him to sweat coldly on his forehead due to the pain.
Dali quickly pushed him down to lie down, pulled the quilt over him, and said, "You are good in everything, young man, except that you are not happy. Miss Dan Ying helped you in with injuries all over her body, and she stayed by your side for three days and three nights without any rest. Don't you know how she treats you? If you don't say some nonsense in your dreams, you are really sorry for her! If Moller doesn't beat you, your aunt will!"
Liu Qingye blushed to his ears, but when he heard that Dan Ying had been guarding him for three days and three nights, he felt sweet and worried at the same time, and asked, "Then...Dan...Junior Sister, is she now..."
"Don't worry!" Dali said, "Miss Dan Ying is doing very well. Zai and the others told me about the battle at the Ajizi River a long time ago. I'm afraid it has spread all over the grassland by now. You have all become heroes on the grassland. The Kazakhs lifted Miss Dan Ying up and threw her into the sky many times, shouting something... Oh, I don't understand the Kazakh language, but I just thank her anyway."
Liu Qingye smiled slightly and said nothing.
Dali seemed too happy, and continued to talk to herself: "You just woke up now, and you missed the celebration party last night. It was really lively! The most satisfying thing is that you captured several Junggar bandits alive from the Ajizi River. One of them, I heard from Moler that he shot you with an arrow. He was a guy who looked like a leader. When you were shot by him, Miss Danying flew back to the other side of the river, whipped him unconscious and brought him back. Oh, what were we talking about? Yes, those captured Junggars, everyone tied them up in the field, dug out their hearts, and sacrificed them to the master and other tribesmen..." At this point, she remembered the massacre of the Junggars in the village a few days ago. Her expression was filled with grief and indignation. She recited a sutra and said, "Oh, God, it's not that we are so cruel, but the Junggars are really unforgivable!"
Liu Qingye closed his eyes wearily, imagining the night festival on the grassland with flames rising to the sky - if it were him, he would also cut these bandits into pieces. No, no matter how he punished them, it would not be enough to repay Dan Ying... the harm they had caused to Dan Ying.
"Auntie—" he asked, "Where is Junior Sister Dan Ying now?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Dali said, "your brother who has a lot of ideas said that the Junggars could invade so repeatedly, so there must be a camp nearby. We must destroy this camp so that everyone can have peace. So early this morning, a large group of people including your master, Miss Dan Ying, Moler, Asu and others set out to the north to look for this camp, and they haven't returned yet."
"Oh, so that's the case..." Liu Qingye was slightly disappointed - it turned out that in Dan Ying's heart, fighting against the Dzungar Khanate was more important, and revenge for her people was more important... Alas, how could he expect her to always be by his side?
Aunt Dali had no idea what was on his mind. She looked at the sky outside, stood up and said, "It's noon already. Auntie still has to prepare dinner. You should take a rest first." After that, she turned around and went out.
Liu Qingye stayed alone in the room, thinking about his thoughts randomly. He didn't know how long it had been, and then he saw someone pushing the door and bringing in food. It was Li Mingxin.
Seeing that Li Mingxin had lost a lot of weight after not seeing her for three days, Liu Qingye couldn't help but call out, "Senior Sister...you..."
Li Mingxin was startled and almost dropped the food basket in her hand. Liu Qingye then noticed that her eyes were red from crying and couldn't help but wonder: "Senior Sister... what are you doing..."
Li Ming hurriedly lowered her head, took a few quick steps forward, put down the food basket, and said, "Junior brother, you...your lunch..." Then, as if Liu Qingye would eat her, she ran away.
Liu Qingye propped himself up and called out "Senior Sister" several times, but she ignored him. Liu Qingye couldn't help but wonder: What did I do to offend her? Without thinking too much, he got out of bed and stumbled out to chase after her.
It was noon, and the grassland was extremely hot at this time. The ground in the field was almost smoking from the sun, and no one went out at this time.
Liu Qingye's wounds were affected with every step he took. He could barely run a few steps at first, but later he had to hold on to the wall and walk one step at a time. He had not moved a few feet when he was already sweating profusely. But he was sensitive and kind by nature. Seeing Li Mingxin's condition, he was determined not to ignore it, so he refused to stop and walked forward step by step. After moving a few more steps, he saw Li Mingxin rushing into the house opposite the field, so he gritted his teeth and followed.
When he reached the door, he was completely exhausted. He stretched out his hand to knock on the door, but his legs went limp and he fell down beside the door. Then he heard someone in the room say, "Why are you doing this?" It was Fu Chatao's voice.
Li Mingxin did not answer, but just sobbed softly a few times and then forced herself to hold it back.
Fu Chatao said, "I see you've been like this every day for the past three days. If you have something on your mind, you might as well speak it out."
Li Mingxin wiped her tears and spat, "I don't need you, a dog Tartar, to care about what's on my mind."
Fu Chatao smiled slightly and said, "Hey, if you don't want me to care about you, why do you hide here every day when you cry?"
Li Ming thought to himself, "My uncles and aunts are all busy, so naturally I am the one who will guard you, you dog."
Fu Chatao laughed and said, "Oh? Really? Why do I feel as if the girl is afraid of being seen crying by others, so she hides here to cry? Alas... I am trapped here by you, and I will definitely not spread the news that the girl cries all day long - well, the girl is afraid of seeing people, but she is willing to come here to cry, you don't treat me as a human being."
Li Mingxin spat, "Bah, you Manchu Tartars are not human beings, but beasts. You are all heartless beasts. Apart from killing and arson, what else do you know?"
"Miss, what you said is not right." Fu Cha Tao said, "We Tartars were also born by our mothers and raised by our parents. My father and my mother love each other very much. How can you say that we know nothing except killing and arson? Besides, we didn't kill or burn anything. Even if my father led the army to fight, it was inevitable to kill people. My mother is a devout Buddhist and eats vegetarian food all year round. How can you generalize?"
Li Ming thought to himself, "You Tartar dog, you are still talking nonsense when you are about to die!"
Fu Chatao smiled and said, "People who are about to die often see things more clearly - girl, I guess you are trapped by love!"
Li Ming was stunned for a moment, then angrily said: "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Fu Cha Tao said: "How am I unclean? I have been locked up here by you for many days, and I have seen it most clearly - you like your junior brother, but he has someone else in his heart, right?"
Liu Qingye was shocked when he heard this outside, and thought: Ah, could it be that Senior Sister is talking about this?
Li Mingxin was silent for a long time in the room, and sighed: "You...you saw it all? But, how come I didn't know? He never said anything...even Uncle Chen Qi...Alas, if it wasn't for this time, when he was so hurt and confused, but kept calling out Sister Danying's name...I...I don't know how long I will be stupid..."
Liu Qingye suddenly realized what was going on when he heard this: Ah, it turns out that my nonsense was not only heard by Dan Ying and Dali’s mother, but also by … Senior Sister and I used to have a close relationship, and I knew that she had a misunderstanding, but I didn’t explain it to her… Now that she has been hurt to this extent, it’s really… Alas…
"Isn't it true that those who are involved are often confused?" Fu Chatao said, "I think your junior brother is also very confused - but you only need to look at that day - the day when I was first captured by you, when he brought that Dan Ying girl back, his expression was as if he would jump up and fight anyone who dared to touch Dan Ying. Didn't you notice?"
Li Mingxin was stunned for a moment, and murmured: "I... I also felt that Sister Dan Ying was really pitiful at that time... If anyone hurt her again, I would fight with them... How could I have thought of..."
Fu Chatao said: "And later at the Thirteen Tribes Conference, he said he wanted to race horses on behalf of Dan Ying against Chief Reiza..."
"Horse racing?" Li Ming thought to himself, "At that time, Moller also...ah, why was I so confused...Moller loved Dan Ying with all his heart, and my junior brother's expression at that time was exactly the same as Moller's...I should have...Alas...why did it have to wait until now? I saw Dan Ying sister helped him back and stayed by his bedside day and night...I...I just felt bad at first and wanted to go for Dan Ying sister...but who knew, as soon as I entered the room, I saw him holding Dan Ying sister's hand and talking nonsense...what to say..." When she said this, she was certain that she had been dreaming for many days, and she couldn't help sobbing and crying.
Liu Qingye listened outside and wanted to go in and apologize to her, but then he thought: If my senior sister sees me now, it will only be more embarrassing... She is a face-conscious person. If I sit here for too long, what if Dali's mother and others find out and ask about the truth? I can't help but hide my senior sister's affairs... I'd better go back quickly! He thought about it and tried to stand up, but the wound on his chest hurt so much that he almost groaned. He quickly covered his mouth and slowly sat back down.
At this time, Li Mingxin in the room cried for a while, then wiped her tears and said, "It was all because of Uncle Chen Qi's talkativeness... He killed me..." Her tone was filled with shame, indignation and anger.
Fu Chatao laughed and said, "Yes, it was your talkative senior - you shouldn't have taken his joke seriously. Do you think that if he saw us, a man and a woman, talking in the same room, wouldn't he make up more stories?"
"You... Bah!" Li Mingxin was ashamed and annoyed, "No one would assign me to the same group with a Tartar like you!"
"Alas... here it comes again... here it comes again..." Fu Chatao shook his head and said, "There has never been a time when you saw me - there has never been a time when all of you saw me that you didn't have this attitude. Now that the country has been settled, the people live and work in peace, and the emperor also advocates that the Manchus and the Han are one family, why do you have to hate the Manchus?"
As soon as the topic turned to anti-Qing, Li Mingxin immediately lost her previous little girl attitude and said seriously: "You killed my compatriots, why don't we hate it?"
Fu Cha Tao said, "I know you like to bring up the Ten Days of Yangzhou and the Three Massacres of Jiading. Why don't you think about it? Prince Duoduo, who massacred people in these places, has been dead for many years. Prince Dorgon was stripped of his title and his property was confiscated after his death, not to mention the other old generals. You can't seek revenge on the dead. The living have no grudges against you, so why add new grudges?"
Li Mingxin was speechless after hearing his words. After a moment's silence, he said, "You have taken my territory, so we must take it back!"
"Occupy your land?" Fu Cha Tao said, "Now the emperor is just a Manchu. How is the life of the Han people different from that of the former Ming Dynasty? Moreover, since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, we have not valued foreign relatives and have not used eunuchs. Emperor Shizu even left a will that 'never increase taxes'. The lives of the people can only be better than those of the former Ming Dynasty. The world now is not inhabited by Manchus, and the Han people have been driven into the sea. How can we say that we are occupying your land?"
Li Mingxin was speechless.
Fu Chatao said, "Last time I told you that 'people are the most important, the country is second, and the emperor is the least important'. This is a famous saying of the Han people on state governance. After listening to Mr. Li's lecture, I have always kept it in mind - as long as the people live well, who cares who is the emperor?"
Li Mingxin couldn't find a word to refute for a moment, but how could she not refute such a perverse logic? She cursed: "Huh, Mr. Li, you actually said such a thing, no different from Wu Sangui, I hope he won't let me meet him, otherwise, I will have to kill him to commemorate the millions of compatriots who died in vain!"
Fu Chatao shook his head, knowing that it was useless to argue further, and changed the subject.
Liu Qingye leaned against the door and listened to their conversation. It seemed that Fu Chatao was a well-informed and talkative person. He quoted classics and told jokes one after another, and finally made Li Mingxin burst out laughing. Liu Qingye thought: It's good that Senior Sister is so happy. He felt that he had gradually regained his strength, so he stood up by the wall.
But at this moment, he suddenly saw a gray shadow flashing in front of him, and a man in a Confucian robe jumped in front of him like a ghost. Liu Qingye's heart shuddered: This man looks so familiar! But before he could think about it, the man suddenly poked his chest with a finger. Liu Qingye was shocked and quickly dodged, but he was seriously injured and not very flexible. Although he forced himself to fall to the side, he only saved his chest but not his shoulder. Although his Tanzhong was not poked, his Jianjing was controlled by someone, and he immediately lost half of his body - at that time, he was very close to the person who came, and he recognized this person: the "cross"-shaped scar on his face was Mr. Li, the staff member under Fu Chakang's account.
Liu Qingye was unable to move and could only shout with all his might: "Senior Sister! The Tartars are coming!" But before he could finish half of the sentence, Mr. Li's skills were so swift that he had already poked his mute point with one finger.
Li Mingxin and Fu Chatao were chatting happily in the room, and they didn't react for a while. Mr. Li had already rushed into the room. Liu Qingye only heard Li Mingxin shout: "Who——" and then "gulp" and fell to the ground.
He heard Mr. Li untying the ropes on Fu Cha Tao in the house, and knew that the two were about to rush out. He was extremely worried, and then he caught a glimpse of a hoe leaning against the door. He thought: I can't care about that. Master and the others are not here. If we let this traitor rescue Fu Cha Tao at this time, what if he is followed by a large group of Qing soldiers? We don't have hostages, and our friends in the Ale tribe will inevitably be massacred. Although I can't beat him, I still have to fight to stop him for a while! He struggled to stand up against the wall and threw himself towards the hoe.
He never expected that when he pounced, Mr. Li happened to jump out of the house carrying Fu Chatao. As soon as Liu Qingye grabbed the hoe, he was knocked out by Mr. Li. He first flew up a few feet, and then his back hit the well fence at the edge of the field. This time, his chest was overwhelmed, a fishy and sweet taste rushed to his mouth, and he vomited blood. But he was happy again - this time, by accident, his mute point was still sealed, but his shoulder well point was opened, and the blood flow was unblocked for a while, and the paralysis was completely gone.
Mr. Li probably didn't expect Liu Qingye to pounce, so his steps were a little slow. But Fu Chatao said, "Sir, Liu Qingye is seriously injured. Let's go see if he's okay." As he said that, he ran over first.
Just in time! Liu Qingye shouted inwardly, and at the same time, he grasped the hoe with both hands and swung it with all his strength, sweeping it straight towards Fu Chatao's head.
Fu Cha Tao was startled and dodged to the side, while he tried to grab the hoe. But Liu Qingye's footsteps swayed, and he changed from sweeping to stabbing, and he rushed towards Fu Cha Tao with the hoe.
Fu Chatao's martial arts skills were much better than Liu Qingye's, but his acupuncture points had been blocked for a long time, and the blood flow to his limbs was not smooth, so his movements were slow, and he was not like Liu Qingye who used desperate fighting methods. He couldn't avoid such an ordinary poke. If Mr. Li hadn't let out a light whistle and flew to save him, he would have been killed on the spot.
Mr. Li picked up Fu Cha Tao and threw him behind him, and at the same time, he rushed forward to grab Liu Qingye's hoe. He expected that Liu Qingye's next move would be to pull back the hoe and sweep him down, so his right hand had been waiting for him. However, Liu Qingye seemed to be standing unsteadily, and instinctively used the hoe as a crutch to support himself, so he grabbed nothing. When he was about to make another move, he suddenly heard Fu Cha Tao groan behind him and fell to the ground. He turned his head and saw a long sword piercing his temples.
Liu Qingye glanced at the person who came, feeling dizzy and saw that it was Wu Shuiqing. It turned out that she had been recovering from her old injury since she came back from Shanshan, so she had not been out that day. She heard the noise in the field and rushed over. She first stretched out her hand and slapped Liu Qingye's acupoints, then shook her wrist and stabbed with the long sword, swishing and swishing, attacking Mr. Li's throat, chest and lower abdomen respectively.
Liu Qingye knew that Mr. Li's Kung Fu was unfathomable, and Wu Shuiqing was no match for him. He had difficulty even walking at the moment, so he should quickly unblock Li Mingxin's acupuncture points, let alone help him. So he supported himself with the hoe, gritted his teeth and rushed into the house. He finally got to Li Mingxin, but because he had no strength left, he struggled for a long time before unblocking Li Mingxin's acupuncture points. When Li Mingxin drew his sword and jumped out of the house, Wu Shuiqing was already in a state of defeat.
Li Mingxin shouted, "You bastard, don't hurt my mother!" and pounced on him.
At this moment, Liu Qingye only felt a burning pain in his chest. He looked down and saw that his clothes were already soaked with blood. He felt dizzy and almost fainted. Fortunately, Dali Ama and others were also alarmed and ran out of the house to support him.
Dali said, "Child, who is that?"
Liu Qingye wanted to explain what a "traitor" was, but Dali probably didn't understand, so she answered, "Evil man." He stared at the battle in the arena intently - he saw Mr. Li dodging and swerving, and every move was powerful, and every move could kill Wu Shuiqing and her daughter. He was extremely anxious and wanted to help. However, every time Mr. Li's palm hit Wu Shuiqing's vital point, he seemed to deliberately deviate a little, fearing that he would hurt her. Liu Qingye was puzzled, not knowing what this traitor was up to.
The fight lasted for about a hundred moves when Li Mingxin suddenly cried out. The scimitar in her left hand was knocked away by Mr. Li. She was about to make a follow-up attack with her right hand, but Mr. Li's sleeves had already wrapped around her wrist, and the scimitar in her right hand slipped out of her hand immediately.
Seeing his sister being restrained, Liu Qingye cried out, "Aiya!", pushed Dali aside, and rushed forward with the hoe in hand. Wu Shuiqing also swung his sword diagonally, cutting Mr. Li's arm. But unexpectedly, Mr. Li did not want to fight, and he lifted Li Mingxin and jumped back steadily for several feet, and supported Fu Chatao with his other hand and said, "I have no intention of causing trouble, I just want to save my young master - I will take him away now, and after walking thirty miles, I will naturally release this girl."
But Wu Shuiqing and Liu Qingye were unwilling to obey, and both of them were about to step forward. Although the Ale tribe members did not know why the fight was going on, they were determined not to allow the invaders to abduct Li Mingxin, and they surrounded him with pitchforks, sticks and horse whips, shouting at Mr. Li to release him.
This scene did not faze Mr. Li. He did not say anything more, picked up a person in each hand and jumped out of the circle. Although Wu Shuiqing was chasing him closely, he also ran out of the field.
But at this moment, there were a few loud laughs in the air, and another person jumped into the arena. When Liu Qingye saw him, he was horrified - this was Mang Keshan under Fu Chakang's command! Behind him, with horses' hooves clattering and flags fluttering, more than a hundred Qing soldiers had already arrived at the village entrance, and in the blink of an eye, they pressed on to the arena in a black mass.
