Mo Dongyang

From Xinxiang to the south, it takes less than a month to reach the vast southern region of the country. The fleeing convoy has about 50 people. A few of the refugees were pulling crude and heavy ox carts without any cover, and most of the rest were walking on foot. In addition, there were some old and weak women and children among them. The speed of the team is not fast. Walking and resting, the head of the carriage pulling the front is always yelling at the slower and slower convoy, spitting everywhere, and shouting, if this They moved forward at a snail's pace, and before they reached their destination, the entire team was either captured alive by bandits, or buried alive by the Tartars going south.It's a pity that these vicious warnings were still effective at the beginning. Maybe the boss talked too much and scolded too much, so no one took it seriously anymore. The team became more and more scattered. After an hour of rushing, the team will drag on longer and longer, and you can't even see the beginning and the end.At this moment, the principal had to jump down from the driver's seat, swearing furiously, but in the end, all the anger turned into a pool of dirty phlegm on the ground, and the principal had to stop the convoy. The pace is so fast that everyone rests in place before starting on the road again.

At this time, in the carriage belonging to the master, there will always be an old woman wrapped in a cotton blanket tremblingly getting out of the carriage, pointing at the tired people in front of her with a trembling and bloated body, or pointing at Sang Huai. He mumbled, or scolded bitterly, clasped his hands all day long, and raised his head to the gods and gods, thinking that with this large group of useless refugees, he would be captured alive by the tartars and eaten as an appetizer sooner or later.And there will always be someone in the convoy who will choke, you don’t have to worry about being choked if you want to make a snack with your old meat, and then the crowd will burst into laughter, and the old woman will rush into the crowd with an angry face to meet them debate.This kind of drama must happen every day, and it is the only fun in this long and boring journey. Every time at this time, Qi Xin and I will sit next to each other and watch them booing and laughing. Another day passed by.

The old lady is the mother of the chief, and the only person in the team who can enjoy the carriage. Apart from lying in the carriage or eating or sleeping, she complains to the people in the team, and her mouth is never idle.After more than ten days, everyone is used to it, and almost no one cares about the ominous words she said.

In short, this team is like a mess of loose sand. Everyone always takes care of their own affairs. The fellow villagers may still get together to chat a few words on weekdays, but for me and Qi Xin, two foreigners, they always stay away from each other. Maybe they I don't understand why two women appear here, no husband, no children, no one to rely on, ragged clothes, and taciturn.Maybe they think that we two weak women from other places are very miserable, but they are too busy to take care of themselves, facing the poor people who don't know their origins, they can't do anything, and they don't want to cause trouble again.

More than ten days have passed, and I am still trying to adapt to such a precarious life, although my current state is much better than the beginning.But the long journey, the short journey and the lack of respite made me more and more restless.The wilderness can't be cleaned, the environment is dirty and messy, and I can only do simple washing with cold snow water every day.In the middle of the night, with the sky as my bed and the ground as my bed, I always curl up in Qi Xin's arms and try my best not to care about the inexplicable movements around the forest.Qi Xin has been taking care of me meticulously along the way, and I have been telling myself not to get sick, to take good care of myself and not to worry Qi Xin, but these days, I still underestimated my willpower, The exhaustion of the journey all the way made my physical strength and appetite go from bad to worse, until the night before yesterday I suddenly found that my body started to have a low-grade fever.

Don't let Qi Xin realize that she is suffering from the cold!

I swear against the discomfort in my throat and the dull pain in my temple.

"Why are your hands so hot?"

As dusk approached, the convoy finally stopped on a deserted forest slope. The exhausted people didn't even have time to rest. After taking off their bags, they hurriedly collected firewood and made a fire near the forest, and set up camp for cooking.Qi Xin dragged me to find a quiet corner. After sitting down, she couldn't help frowning, stretched out her hand to touch my forehead and said worriedly.

"It's okay, maybe it's because I was in a hurry and got hot."

I hastily tore off the hand she was stroking on my forehead, cleared my dry throat and argued.

"How did your throat become like this!"

She couldn't help but clenched my hands tightly, frowning even tighter.

"I'm thirsty, just drink some water."

Guiltyly, I picked up the kettle at hand, but she snatched the water away.

"Don't drink the snow water, I'll find some hot water for you."

Qi Xin sighed, took off her overcoat and put it on me, then stood up and walked towards the blazing bonfire not far away.And I, looking at the gradually darkening scenery around me, couldn't help shivering.The faint pain in the head, the chills in the body, the discomfort in the stomach, the dryness of the throat, and the exhaustion and soreness of the body, I had to wrap myself tightly in Qi Xin's warm cotton coat.Consciousness gradually blurred, and I felt my eyelids getting heavier and heavier. I struggled to see the petite figure walking back and forth in the crowd clearly, but my eyes were still unable to focus.I want to tell Qi Xin not to bother to ask others for hot water anymore, because I'm used to drinking that cold water, but I find that I don't even have the strength to speak.The light in the eyes changed from lines to dots until they disappeared.I gave up struggling and closed my heavy eyes.

"Lishu, come, drink some water."

A stream of warm water instantly entered my dry throat, making me feel the warmth that I haven't seen for a long time as if lying in an ice cellar. I slowly opened my eyes, and Qi Xin's face, which was flickering under the firelight, came into view.

"Fire, so warm."

I smiled weakly looking at the fire that was lit at the side at an unknown time, the surroundings were extremely quiet, and the sound of dead branches and fallen leaves crackling, crackling, burning and breaking seemed to become the sound of nature at this moment.

"The mother in charge made the fire, and she boiled the water."

Qi Xin hugged my head in distress, and carefully wiped away the drops of water that kept falling from the corners of my eyes.

"Why do you treat me so well?"

The tip of the nose was sore without warning, and more tears flowed from the bloodshot eyes.But I don't want to be so weak in front of her. I am older than her, and she is just a child in front of me. I should be stronger and stronger to protect her and take care of her. Whether in the palace or outside the palace, I have never done it, and I have neglected my duties.But she, whether it's from the first time I met her to the present, has always played the role of the person who takes care of me.It's as if the characters that were meant to be ours were reversed from the start.Just like now, in order to hide my embarrassment and bitterness, I have to hold her thin waist tightly and bury my head in her arms, in order to get more comfort and warmth.

"Because Lishu is the best for me!"

Qi Xin paused for a moment, as if she was seriously thinking about my question, and after she figured out the answer, she stroked my hair over and over again, as if she was comforting a depressed cat curled up in her arms.

I couldn't help laughing, and turned to look at her innocent face.

"It's you who treat me best, you said the opposite."

"I don't care, anyway, Lishu is the best for me!"

Qi Xin's serious face made me laugh out loud again, but laughter couldn't make my illness better. The carefree laughter touched my dry itchy throat, causing violent coughing after another.

"When did that mother-in-law become so helpful?"

I had to bring out the mother in charge to divert Qi Xin's attention from my illness.

"Maybe I saw something on my neck."

Her frown has never been relaxed, and the people not far away in front of her gather in twos and threes beside the scattered fire, whispering or resting, as if no one cares about the two lonely women here.Qi Xin sighed again, lowered her head and carefully pinched the coat on my body.

"do not do that."

I held her face in my hands, trying to smooth her frowning brows over and over again with my thumbs.

"Sleep, my body will be fine."

"It's windy at night, and it's cold in the snow. Sleeping in this wasteland, no matter how much you rest, it won't help!"

She was so distressed that she wanted to wrap me into her body, as if I would be less cold this way.

"If you can rest in the carriage for one night, you can recover well, but..."

The light of the fire gradually weakened, and I saw the solemnity written on her half-dark face, and the light from the horse lantern shone in her eyes looking at the carriage parked in the wild forest.

I can't understand what's in it.

"You stay with me, tomorrow will be fine."

I pulled her off and covered her with half of the cotton coat I was wearing.

"Hold me to sleep."

I leaned into her arms coquettishly.

"Ah."

She giggled and hugged me tightly.

It was late at night, and the fires in the wasteland gradually died out because there was no one to add firewood, leaving only a few weak green smoke rising from the burnt fires.The people in the snow have already slept on the ground. The wind, food and sleep during the day, and the fatigue of the journey have made them exhausted. It is so easy to fall asleep. The rare rest is less of the daily worries, the constant vigilance, and the greed. People would not wake up so easily. At this moment, they were like corpses lying in disorder in the silent wilderness, losing the ability to perceive danger.

The encroaching cold air around made Tianling Gai's body in severe pain, and I had to wake up from the drowsy dream. Even though my whole body is weak and weak at the moment, I still feel the person beside me trembling, tense. She hugged me tightly, as if trying to insert me into her body.

"Qi..."

I was short of breath and tried to open my mouth to call her name, but before I could finish speaking, my mouth was quickly covered tightly by a cold, wet hand.

The darkness of the night makes it impossible to see five fingers, but I saw a few pairs of blue eyes floating in the air of the wild forest like will-o'-the-wisps in the cemetery, fierce and cold.The thick, low, and regular breath is near and far away, vague but creepy.I couldn't hear any sound of walking in the snow, but my cold sweat fell suddenly, and I even found that my heart was beating more violently than her beside me.

No one can make those voices, only beasts!