A crow in the desert

He lowered his head and smiled: "No."

Li Yue raised his eyebrows: "Yes."

The crow ignored him, and the two slept in an empty room in the city that night. The next morning, after eating some dry food, they walked a few kilometers out of the city gate and saw a shepherd. The crow was overjoyed and asked a few words. The herdsmen who happened to know the whereabouts of Loulan Kingdom.

Li Yue was full of hatred and anger. He rushed forward and wanted to beat the shepherd to death, but the crow stopped him and said to the shepherd, "Go on, my brother has mental problems and likes to bite people."

After hearing this, the shepherd went a little farther away, and said that after the beginning of spring this year, the river outside Loulan City completely stopped flowing.After the shepherd finished speaking, he got another reward and left waving his whip.

The crow looked around, and at the end of the sky, a cloud-shrouded peak appeared faintly.The crow smiled and said, "He is very smart, let's set off now."

Li Yue shook his hand and said loudly, "I'm not going."

The crow smiled and said: "Then let's say goodbye here." He bowed his hands to Li Yue and went away.Before he took a few steps, he was bumped from behind suddenly, and his waist was hugged tightly.The crow was stunned for a moment, and could only say: "Okay." Hearing Li Yue's quick panting, the crow slowly touched his shoulder, chin, and cheek with his backhand, trying to push him away, and said softly: "Okay Li Yue Yue, don't hug me."

Li Yue didn't say a word, hugged him tightly, and said after a while: "Do you know that I like you?"

The crow was stunned, a little dumbfounded: "I know, you told me."

Li Yue had nothing to say, so he could only let go of him slowly, looked straight at him, his eyes were dark and shining, and after a while he said softly: "If I kneel on the ground and hug your leg, please don't look for me." Him. Will you stay?"

The crow smiled wryly: "No, you wouldn't do that kind of thing either."

Li Yue was silent for a while, then said: "Then I will go with you."

Seeing the tear stains on his face, the crow couldn't bear it, and said softly: "Actually, you don't have to force yourself."

Li Yue suddenly changed his anger, and said: "I saw him, and I will kill him first. I will make you a pair of ghost ducks." After saying this, he went straight away.

The crow didn't know whether he was telling the truth or angry words, so he had to follow quickly.

Heartbreak

The two walked west all the way. After leaving the desert, vegetation gradually formed on the ground. Along the way, there were many nomads wearing foreign costumes. Although they did not speak the language, they were very hospitable.The two inquired with each other, and they were able to find out the whereabouts of King Loulan.It turned out that Li Su led tens of thousands of people to relocate. The journey was quite rough, and most of the subjects were killed or injured. Finally, they came to the border of Gaochang Kingdom.King Gaochang was unwilling to accept them at first, but later he agreed for some reason.

When the two entered Gaochang State, they saw men and women wearing animal skins and walking on the street with their limbs bare. Occasionally, one or two people wearing silk robes were shyly selling goods or carrying goods on the street. It's from Loulan.Presumably, although they have integrated into Gaochang Kingdom, their status is not high and they are often bullied.

Li Yue was very annoyed when he saw it, and said bitterly: "My brother is too incompetent. He gave his people to others as slaves, but he himself is happy."

Crow didn't see Li Su yet, so he didn't say a word.

The two stayed in the inn in the evening. The inn was just a few adobe houses, with a few piles of straw piled up in the room, which could be regarded as beds. The store is busy.The young man suddenly saw Li Yue and was speechless in a daze.Li Yue also looked at him very familiarly, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him.The boy didn't say anything, and went to work on his own.

Li Yue and Wu Ya rested in the room for a while, and because they thought the food in the restaurant was rough, they went outside to buy some food such as bread, sauced mutton, wine, etc., spread them on the floor, and ate them to their heart's content.Suddenly a thin voice came from outside: "Second Highness, is it convenient to talk?"

Li Yue was taken aback, and immediately got up, opened the door a crack, and saw the boy.Li Yue looked him up and down, and the young man hurriedly said: "The slave was working in the palace before, and I met His Highness a few times, but His Highness doesn't remember the slave."

Li Yue nodded and let him in.The young man knelt down and kowtowed after entering the door, and said: "There are people from Gaochang Kingdom outside, the slave failed to salute in time, please forgive me, Your Highness."

The crow laughed and said, "You have lost your homeland, and you still talk about these red tapes, sit down and have dinner together."

The young man refused again and again, until Li Yue opened his mouth, and then he sat down.He was a servant in Gaochang Kingdom, and it was rare to see meat, and he didn't even look up when he ate it.Although Li Yue and Wu Ya were eager to inquire about Li Su's whereabouts, it was not easy to rush them at this moment.Seeing that all the steamed buns, wine and meat on the ground had bottomed out, the young man touched his lips, said with shame, and said: "When the people of our country came here, more than half of them were dead or injured, and the rest got sick again, which is not a good thing. The king of Gaochang closed the city gate, forbidding us to enter the city, and even shot us with arrows. Later, the king went to see the king of Gaochang alone. I don’t know what he said. The king of Gaochang agreed to open the city gate and let us enter the city. sick."

Li Yueqi said: "He has always been clumsy with words, how did he persuade King Gaochang?"

The young man sighed: "We cured our illnesses in the city, and each of us looked for ways to make a living. Because we are foreigners, we will inevitably be squeezed out by the locals, but there is nothing we can do. We were expecting the king to stand up for us. The imperial decree was promulgated, saying that King Loulan voluntarily deposed himself as a minister and obeyed the rule of King Gaochang."

Li Yue snorted, very disdainful.But the crow said: "In order to protect his subjects, he is willing to be the king of subjugation, which is really admirable."

The young man wept and said, "Our people don't resent the king. On the day the king was buried, all Loulan people in the city came out to attend the funeral, and the streets were full of mourning."

Both Crow and Li Yue were stunned, and Li Yue said, "Who? Who will be buried?"

The young man said: "Your Highness, don't you know? The king came to the city a few days ago, he was not acclimatized, and died suddenly. His mausoleum is in the south of the city, and the soil on the tomb is not yet dry."

Li Yue snorted, with a very complicated expression on his face. Although he hated Li Su for taking everything from him, he never thought that Li Su would die like this.After staying for a while, he went to see the crow.Seeing the crow sitting there quietly, there was no emotion on his face.

Li Yue pushed the crow and said, "Hey, don't do this, just cry if you want to."

Crow's expression was like a dream. He looked at Li Yue, smiled lightly, and asked, "Why am I crying?"

Li Yue said: "Because Li Su is dead."

Crow wondered: "Who? Who is Li Su."

Li Yue said loudly: "My elder brother, King Loulan, your lover."

The crow nodded, stood up staggeringly, his eyes were scattered, and he walked out blankly: "I still want to look for him. He is alone in the desert, so pitiful." He went out lightly. .

Seeing that he was a little out of his mind, Li Yue panicked at the moment, so he had to follow behind him.When the two left the inn, the wind outside was fierce and snowflakes were flying.Li Yue was wearing a bearskin robe, and still felt cold to the bone.The crow was only wearing a piece of unlined clothing and lost one of his shoes and socks, but he walked like flying and ran out of the city.

Li Yue feared that he would freeze to death, so he pulled him desperately from behind, and persuaded him, "Where are you going?"

Crow's cheeks were reddish, his eyes sparkled, and he said softly, "I'm going to Loulan, I want to see Li Su." He was sloppy and galloped along the street, but lost his mind and didn't know the direction. lock up.Li Yue grabbed his arm, saw that his body was cold and his breathing was disordered, so he had to forcefully pull him into the inn, and said loudly: "Li Su is dead, you can't find him anywhere."

Crow gritted his teeth, held the door frame with his hands, and fell to the ground with a sloppy footsteps. He slowly curled up, hugged his head and face with his hands, and trembled violently.

Sitting next to him, Li Yue could only hear him gasping for breath and his teeth creaking. He didn't know whether it was crying or cold.Li Yue forcibly dragged him to the straw, covered him with a quilt, and comforted him with kind words for a long time.Seeing that he kept curled up all the time, as if he couldn't hear a word, he had no choice but to go to sleep.

Li Yue and Li Su are brothers who grew up together. Although the relationship is not very deep, after all, they have been together day and night.Hearing Li Su's death suddenly, Li Yue was also very emotional, and he sighed for a long time before falling asleep.

The next day Li Yue got up first, and he crawled to the side of the crow, only to see the crow sitting in a pile of straw, his eyes wide open, his face haggard.Li Yue called him a few times before the crow came back to his senses, and said dumbly, "Yes." His voice was hoarse and dry.

Li Yue expected him to be sad, but he didn't know how to persuade him. After thinking about it, he said: "Let's go and see my eldest brother's tomb."

Crow lay down slowly, covered his head with a quilt, and whispered, "No."

Li Yue only felt that Li Su's death was very strange, and he had to go to the mausoleum to feel at ease. He told his shop assistant to take good care of the crow, while he went south for more than an hour, and he saw a mausoleum next to it. There are auspicious beasts carved in stone, and there is another temple in which the body of King Loulan is enshrined.This posture also has the demeanor of a king of a country.

Li Yue squatted in front of the grave and looked at it. Because of the cold weather, the sacrifices on the table had not yet rotted.He couldn't see any results for a while, and seeing no one around, he found a shovel from the temple and went to dig the tomb.

the ground is soft