two 1
That night, Tashan hosted a banquet for Dan Ying, and she became Cao Mengsheng's disciple. Moller was extremely envious and said to Liu Qingye, "You and Miss Dan Ying are actually a family!"
Liu Qingye was already worried, and after hearing his words, he became even more annoyed, and said, "What's the matter? I'm not you. I don't want to stay with her every day."
Moler said: "I just envy you. Hey, how about this, I also take your master as my teacher, what do you think?"
Liu Qingye said in embarrassment: "This... This is not up to me..."
Moller showed a slightly disappointed expression on his face and said, "Then...then forget it..."
"What do you mean by forget it?" Dan Ying suddenly appeared from nowhere, rolled his eyes at Liu Qingye, and then said to Moller, "What he said doesn't count, what I said counts, I'll go talk to Master, I guarantee he'll agree." With that, he turned and ran. After a while, he came back, and sure enough, Cao Mengsheng also agreed.
Dan Ying said to Moller proudly: "Well, my words are still useful! The master asked you to pay respects!"
Moller was overjoyed. He immediately jumped up and saluted Dan Ying repeatedly, saying, "Thank you, Miss Dan Ying, thank you, Miss Dan Ying!"
But Dan Ying's pair of green eyes were wandering on Liu Qingye. Liu Qingye knew it clearly and felt his face flushed as he was being stared at. However, he pretended not to see it and concentrated on mending the clothes that were damaged by Dan Ying.
Dan Ying finally couldn't help but said, "Hey, Senior Brother Liu Qingye, let's go see Master with Moller, and then go horseback riding. Horseback riding at night is fun."
Liu Qingye's heart moved, and he almost agreed, but when he thought of Dan Ying's various unruly behaviors, he sneered and said, "Thank you, I don't have time, I need to mend my clothes."
Dan Ying stamped his feet, came up and grabbed his clothes, saying, "Hey, what's the big deal if you mend it tomorrow? Let's go riding. At worst, I can mend it for you tomorrow!"
Seeing her being so overbearing, Liu Qingye became even more annoyed. He snatched back the clothes and said, "I dare not trouble you. If you want to ride a horse, go ahead!"
It would not have been a big deal if he had just snatched it, as Dan Ying had held on tightly and he had used great force, and with a "swish" the clothes were torn in two. The two men each held half, and were first stunned, and then glared at each other.
Dan Ying threw his clothes on the ground, stepped on them twice and said, "Humph, if you don't want to come, then don't come. I'll go talk to Master. You're bullying me!" He turned around and ran out the door, shouting from a distance, "Mole, are you dead? Come with me!"
Liu Qingye watched as the two of them disappeared into the brightly lit venue in the distance. He sat down again with a snort and tidied up his clothes - they were so badly torn that they probably couldn't be repaired.
"What's wrong? Is the child upset?" Moler's mother, Ama Dali, came in from outside. She was a middle-aged, plump woman with a kind face.
"Nothing." Liu Qingye shook his head, "I was just mending clothes."
Dali smiled and took the torn clothes. "Mending clothes is not something you guys should do. Let me do it! Your wound just healed not long ago. It's late now. You should rest first."
Liu Qingye lost his mother when he was still a baby. Seeing that Dali was so gentle to him, most of his anger disappeared. He said, "Auntie, don't bother me. I have lived with my master since I was a child. I can do these things."
Dali Qiang pushed him down onto the felt and said, "Now that you are here, I will do it for you. Oh, your clothes are too torn. I can't mend them. I will make you a new one!"
Liu Qingye thought: It's all because of this unruly Miss Dan Ying, how hateful! Thus, he couldn't help showing a bit of anger on his face.
Dali saw what was on his mind. She took out some old clothes and unpacked them while saying, "Actually, you shouldn't blame Miss Dan Ying. She is also very pitiful. Her mother, our lady, gave birth to her but was unwilling to take care of her. She was not in good health when she was a child. If it weren't for me as a wet nurse, she would have died long ago."
Liu Qingye thought, what does Dan Ying's matter have to do with him? It's better not to listen. But he couldn't help but listen quietly.
Dali sighed quietly and continued, "I watched her grow up. I thought such a lovely person was destined to be a queen. But when Miss Danying was five or six years old, Madam taught her martial arts. If she didn't practice well, she would be punished. She had to get up early and go to bed late every day. Even when it snowed heavily, Madam would take her to Tianshan Mountain. This continued until Miss was ten years old and Madam passed away. Can you imagine that Miss at that time was no longer girlish? She was strong-willed, and she became even more irritable after fighting and killing every day. Madam's sister, Miss Wu, was entrusted by Madam to take good care of Miss, but look at her own daughter, she is also wielding swords and knives all day long, alas..."
When Liu Qingye heard this, he felt a sense of sympathy with Dan Ying. He thought that he had been studying and practicing martial arts with his master ever since he could remember, and he had never complained. In theory, it was for the great cause of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty. However, when he thought about it carefully, he had not witnessed the Ten Days of Yangzhou or the Three Massacres of Jiading. At best, it was just for revenge for his parents. Even for his parents, he had no impression of them... Overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty was so illusory, yet so heavy that it really weighed on him.
Dali touched Liu Qingye's head kindly and said, "So, you guys should be more open-minded and stop arguing with her. She is kind-hearted. Take my silly boy for example. He was herding horses for Master Tashan once and encountered a snowstorm. Miss Dan Ying happened to see him. Not only did she save him, she also pleaded with the master and did not pursue the lost horses. Moller was very grateful to Miss Dan Ying. Look at him. If Dan Ying said to go east, he would not dare to go west!"
Liu Qingye couldn't help but smile and thought to himself: You don't know yet, Moller is madly in love with Dan Ying and wants to marry her!
Seeing that he finally smiled, Dali said, "You kids should just get along with each other. Just take a rest. I promise you will wake up and your clothes will be ready."
In Liu Qingye's memory, it seemed that he slept so well at a rare night, as if he had his mother by his side, feeling extremely safe and warm. He didn't know when Moller and Dan Ying came back on horseback, nor did he know when Moller got up the next morning. When he woke up, the sun was shining brightly and a new set of clothes was placed beside him. He tried them on and was satisfied with everything.
Liu Qingye was touched. He thought that Dali's mother had not slept all night, so he should go and thank her!
Just as he was thinking, he suddenly saw Moller rushing in from outside and said, "Liu Qingye, go hide! Hurry up!"
Liu Qingye was puzzled and asked, "What?"
Moller pulled his hand and turned around to find a place to hide, muttering: "Alas, don't you know? You are in big trouble! You have angered Miss Dan Ying!"
Liu Qingye was stunned and shook off Moller's hand: "What are you talking about? What's the point? What do you mean I pissed her off?"
Moler stamped his feet, looking anxious as if his butt was on fire: "You are stupid! You refused to go horseback riding with her last night, and she was so angry that she drove the horse like crazy, running around outside for most of the night. If it weren't for the fact that Master Tashan and Master went to Kyakhta early in the morning, and the young lady didn't come back until the morning, otherwise, she would have scolded the master to death, and even I would have been beaten to death by my mother!"
"The Kyakhta tribe?" Liu Qingye asked in surprise, "What are they going there for?"
"How should I know?" Moller said, "The master and the master have been talking all night, speaking Chinese, about the Lantern Festival, the leader of the Kyakhta tribe wanting to form an alliance with the Qing Dynasty, and all sorts of other things - it's already this time, and you're still concerned about this? Miss Dan Ying has been yelling all night about punishing you, and just now she sent me to look for you. You're definitely going to get into trouble, so hide quickly and I'll say I didn't see you."
Hearing this, Liu Qingye sneered and said, "Discipline me? Would I be afraid of her disciplining me?"
Moller had already opened a cabinet, dragged out all the items inside, and pushed Liu Qingye hard, shoving him inside, saying, "Good brother, please don't make things difficult for me - I have to listen to Miss Dan Ying's words, but I, Moller, will never do anything to frame my brothers!"
"Hmph, Moller, what are you doing!" Suddenly, a red lightning flashed at the door. Dan Ying's leather boots kicked away the belongings that Moller had thrown on the ground. He stood still, his face full of a smug and arrogant smile.
"I..." Moller was stunned.
"Junior brother is helping me find something." Liu Qingye said coldly.
"Oh?" Dan Ying held the whip in his hand and swung the tip of the whip into a golden circle. "Really? I think you are afraid that I will punish you, so you hid in the closet. My loyal Moler, did you catch you?"
Liu Qingye threw his sleeves and said, "What a joke!"
Dan Ying smiled, walked forward, pointed the whip at Moller's nose and said, "So, it was you, the traitorous boy, who betrayed me and wanted to hide him? It seems that you are itching for trouble!" As he said that, he pretended to hit Moller.
"Wait a minute—" Liu Qingye stepped in front of Moller and said, "How are you going to deal with it? Am I afraid of you? This has nothing to do with Junior Brother Moller."
Dan Ying's green eyes flickered as he looked at Liu Qingye with a smile and said, "When did I say I would punish you, brother? Wasn't it because you refused to accompany me to go horseback riding yesterday? I think your wound must not have healed yet, so you don't dare to ride at night. Now it's daytime, brother, you won't dare, will you?"
When Liu Qingye heard her say that she "didn't dare", even though he knew she was trying to provoke him, he couldn't help but raise his head and said, "What's there to be afraid of? I'll go horseback riding with you."
Dan Ying's brows immediately lit up with joy: "Okay, a gentleman's word is as good as a whip to a horse, let's go!" He immediately stepped out of the Moller family's door.
The three of them walked to the stable of Dan Ying's family. One of Dan Ying's scarlet rouge horses had already been prepared and tied to one side. There were also a few horses in the stable, without saddles, and they were not taken out at this time. They were obviously newly captured wild horses. They were unruly and kept running around the stable. When they saw someone approaching, they neighed and raised their front hooves, as if threatening to trample the person to death if he came close.
Dan Ying pointed at the horse fence and smiled at Liu Qingye, "How are they? These are all good horses that my father has brought. You can ride whichever one you like."
Liu Qingye looked at the wild horses that were puffing with air, and was indeed a little scared, but he refused to show any fear. He pointed at a tall black horse and said, "This is it!"
Dan Ying looked at the horse, then turned back to look at Liu Qingye with a look of surprise on his face, and it was hard to tell whether it was pride or admiration.
Moller rushed over and grabbed Liu Qingye's arm and said, "Brother, this horse is Black General. It has been captured for several months and no one has tamed it. Several riders have been injured. If you do this..."
"Mole!" Dan Ying shouted, "Why are you talking so much? You must be getting angry!"
Moller was stunned for a moment, but still couldn't bear to see Liu Qingye suffer, so he said, "But Miss, this..."
Liu Qingye waved his hand, signaling Moler to shut up, and said to Dan Ying: "I'll choose this horse! I'll race with you. If I win, you can never hit Moler casually in the future."
Dan Ying rolled his eyes at him and said, "Okay, let's compete, but be careful not to break your neck!"
"Hmph, you don't need to worry about it!" Liu Qingye said coldly. Before he finished speaking, he tapped the ground with his left foot, took a deep breath, and flew across the sky like an eagle, heading straight for the black general in the stable.
Moller and Dan Ying were stunned. But before they could come to their senses, Liu Qingye had already mounted the black horse and grabbed the horse's mane. The horse neighed and stood up, trying to throw off its rider, but Liu Qingye held on tightly with both hands and legs, and no matter how it kicked and jumped, it would not leave the horse's back. The black general could no longer bear it, and ran wildly in the stable with all his hooves. Liu Qingye held the horse's neck and did not let up at all.
Dan Ying was terrified, and Moller almost rushed into the stable to help. However, as a herdsman, he knew that if he rushed in, he would only be killed by the horses' hooves.
