The dust settles

Chapter 1

1. Wild Thrush

It was a snowy morning, and I was lying on the bed when I heard a group of wild thrushes calling outside the window.

Mother was washing her hands in the copper basin. She soaked her long, white hands in the warm milk and gasped for breath, as if making her hands beautiful was a very tiring task.She tapped the edge of the copper basin with her fingers, and with a loud sound, the milk in the basin made fine ripples, and the buzzing echoes of the drums flew around the room.

Then, she called Sangye Dolma.

The maid Sangji Dolma came in with another copper basin.The pot of milk was put on the ground.Mother called softly: "Come on, Duoduo."

A puppy babbled out from under the cabinet, turned somersaults underground, wagged its tail at its master, and then buried its head in the copper basin.The milk in the basin made it almost breathless.Mrs. Toast likes to hear this kind of voice that if she loses a little love, she will drown others.She listened to the sound of the puppy suffocating while drinking milk, and washed her hands in clean water.While washing, I told the maid, Dolma, to see if my son is awake.Yesterday, I had a little fever, and my mother slept in my room.I said, "Mom, I'm awake."

She walked to the bed, touched my forehead with her wet hand, and said, "The fever has subsided."

After finishing speaking, she threw me away to look at her fair but somewhat old hands.She does this every time after grooming.Now, after she finished washing, she watched her hands show signs of aging day by day, while waiting for the sound of the maid pouring water downstairs.This kind of waiting is always a little bit on tenterhooks.The water poured from the high basin and fell onto the flagstone floor downstairs. The sound of disintegration made her body convulse uncontrollably.The water was poured from the fourth floor, and it really smelled like broken bones, which was a bit thrilling.

But today, the thick snow sucked that sound out.

When the voice sounded, the mother's body still trembled a bit.I heard the maid Dolma's beautiful mouth murmur: It's not the master who fell down by himself.I asked Dolma, "What did you say?"

My mother asked me, "What did the little hoof say?"

I said, "She said she had a stomachache."

Mother asked Dolma: "Is it really a stomachache?"

I answered for her: "It doesn't hurt anymore."

Mother opened a tin can, put one little finger in, scooped a bit of grease, and rubbed it on the back of one hand, and put another little finger in, scooped a little grease and rubbed it on the back of the other hand.A spicy smell immediately filled the room.This skin care product is made of marmot oil and pig pancreas plus mysterious Indian spices offered by the temple.Mrs. Toast, my mother, is very good at expressing disgust.She made such an expression and said, "This thing actually stinks."

Sangji Dolma held an exquisite box in front of her, which contained the jade bracelet on Mrs. Tusi's left hand and the ivory bracelet on her right hand.The wife put on the bracelet, twirled it around her wrist and said, "I've lost weight again."

The maid said, "Yes."

Mother said, "What else would you say besides this?"

"Yes, ma'am."

I thought Mrs. Toast would have given her a mouthful like everyone else, but she didn't.

The maid's face was still flushed with fear.Mrs. Toast went downstairs to have breakfast.Dolma stood by my bed and listened attentively to his wife stepping on the ladder to go downstairs. Then she reached into the quilt and pinched me hard. She asked, "When did I say my stomach hurts? When did I have a stomachache?" gone?"

I said, "Your stomach doesn't hurt, I just want to splash water harder next time."

It worked so well that I puffed up my cheeks and she had to kiss me.

After the kiss, she said, she dared not tell the master.I stretched my hands into her arms, a pair of bunny bumping breasts in the palm of my hand.There was a deep and hot vibration somewhere in my body or in my head.Dolma broke free from my grasp, and said, "Don't dare to tell Master."

This morning, for the first time, I felt a pleasing heartbeat from a woman.

Sangye Drolma scolded: "Fool!"

I rubbed my dirty eyes and asked, "Really, who the hell is that i...idiot?"

"What a complete fool!"

After finishing speaking, she didn't help me get dressed, but left a red spot on my arm that looked like a bird had been pecked by it, and walked away.The pain she left me was very fresh and very exciting.

Outside the window, how brightly the snow shines!

There was the cheering sound of the house slaves' cubs chasing the thrush.And I was still on the bed, lying between the bearskin mattress and the pile of silk, listening to the maid's footsteps down the long corridor. It seemed that she really didn't want to come back to serve me.So, I kicked off the quilt and yelled.

In the land under the chieftain's jurisdiction, no one knew that the son born to the chieftain's second woman was a fool.

That idiot is me.

Except for my own mother, almost everyone likes me the way I am.If I were a smart guy, I might have died a long time ago, and I can't sit here and just think wildly over a bowl of tea.The chieftain's first wife died of illness.My mother bought it for the toast from a fur medicine merchant.The toast had me after he was drunk, so I had no choice but to be willing to be a fool.

Even so, no one in a radius of hundreds of miles does not know me, and it is all because I am the chieftain's son.If you don't believe me, try to be a house slave, or the most intelligent son of the common people, and see if anyone will know you.

I am a fool.

My father was a chieftain conferred by the emperor who governed tens of thousands of people.

So, if the maid didn't come to dress me, I would yell.

The person who waited on me came half a step late, and as soon as I stretched my legs, the satin quilt flowed onto the floor like water.What a flowing thing the handi silk from beyond the overlapped pass.Ever since I was a child, I have never understood why the land of the Han people is the source of the silk, tea and salt we need so much, and it is also the source of power for us chieftain families.Someone told me it was because of the weather.I said, "Oh, it's because of the weather." I thought, maybe, but it can't be just because of the weather.So why doesn't the weather turn me into something else?
As far as I know, all places have weather.It's getting foggy.It blows.The wind heats up, and the snow turns to rain.The wind turned cold, and the rain turned to snow again.The weather changes everything, and you have to blink when your eyes bulge to see it turn into something else.At this moment, everything changed back to how it was before.

But who can not blink at any time?
The same is true when offering sacrifices.The god's mansion enjoying the incense is behind the lingering smoke, the red lips on Jin's face are about to open, laugh or cry, suddenly there is a bang of drums and trumpets in front of the temple, which makes people tremble in fright, in the blink of an eye , The gods restrained their expressions again, and returned to the solemn state of carefree and joyless.

It snowed this morning, the first snow since the beginning of spring.Only spring snow can be so moist and dense that it won't be blown away by the wind immediately, and only spring snow can spread so far and gather the light of the world.

The light of snow all over the world converges on the silk on my bed.I was very worried that the silk would run off with the light.Sadness of farewell welled up in my heart.The flickering light pierced my heart like an awl, and I burst into tears.Hearing the crying, my nanny Deqin Mocuo stumbled in from the outside.She is not very old, but she likes to look like she is old.She became my nurse after the birth of her first child, for her child died shortly after birth.I was three months old at the time, and my mother anxiously waited for me to make an expression of knowing that I had come into this world.

For a month I was determined not to laugh.

For two months no one could make my eyes respond to any call.

The chieftain's father said to his son as he usually issued orders: "Smile at me." Seeing that there was no response, he changed his gentle tone and said very severely: "Smile at me, smile, you heard me! ?"

He looked so funny.I grinned, and a stream of saliva fell from the corner of my mouth.My mother turned her face away, remembering that my father was like this when I was with me, and the tears couldn't stop streaming down her cheeks.When the mother got angry, the milk dried up.She simply said, "For such a doll, let him starve to death."

The father didn't care too much, and asked the housekeeper to bring ten silver dollars and a pack of tea leaves to Deqin Mocuo, who had just died of an illegitimate son, so that she could serve a dish of fasting monk tea and make a small ashram for the dead baby.Of course the housekeeper understood what the master meant.I went out in the morning and brought the nurse here in the afternoon.When she reached the gate of the village, several vicious dogs were barking wildly, and the steward said to her, "Let them know your smell."

The nurse took out a piece of steamed bun from her bosom, divided it into several pieces, spit on each piece, and threw it out. The dogs immediately stopped biting and jumped up to catch the steamed bun in the air.After that, they ran around the nurse, lifted her long skirt with their mouths, sniffed her feet, and sniffed her legs, and confirmed that her smell was the same as that of the feeder. Then he raised his tail and shook it.A few dogs chewed, and the butler led the nanny into the gate of the official village.

Toast was very satisfied.Although the new nurse's face still had a look of grief, her milk spilled out and wet her clothes.

At this point, I was crying as loudly as I could.Mrs. Toast has no milk, but she still tries to stop the foolish son's mouth with the empty thing.My father leaned on the ground with a cane and said loudly, "Don't cry, the nanny is here." I stopped crying as if I understood.The nanny took me from my mother.Immediately I found full breasts.Her milk is like a fountain, and it is so sweet.I also tasted the taste of pain, and the smell of flowers and grass in the field.And my mother's milk is more colorful thoughts, making my little head buzzing.

My little stomach was soon filled to the brim.To show my satisfaction, I pissed on the wet nurse.The nanny turned her back and cried when I let go of the nipple.

Not long before this, her son who died in infancy was recited by the lamas, wrapped in a blanket of ox hair, and buried in a deep pool of water.

Mother said: "Unlucky, bah!"

The nanny said: "Master, please forgive me this time, I really can't help it."

Mother told her to slap herself.

I am now 13 years old.Over the years, the nanny, like many servants, has learned many secrets of the chieftain's family, so she no longer behaves so well.She also thought I was stupid, and often said to my face: "Master, bah! Servant, bah!"

At the same time, he spat out the things that he stuffed into his mouth—the wool in the quilt, the thread that came out of his clothes, and his saliva on the wall.It's just that in the past two years, she seems to have lost the strength to vomit to her original height.So, she simply made a very old look.

When I cried loudly, the nanny stumbled in and ran in: "Please, young master, don't let your wife hear you."

And I cried because it was such a joy.

The nanny said to me again: "Master, it's snowing."

What does snow have to do with me?

But I really don't cry.Looking out from the bed, there is a palpitatingly blue sky framed in the small window.She helped me up a little, and I saw the thick snow pressing heavily on the branches.I grinned and wanted to cry again.

She hurriedly said, "Look, the thrush is coming down the mountain."

"Really?"

"Yes, they're coming down the hill. Listen, they're calling you dolls to play with them."

So, I obediently asked her to put on her clothes.

God, look, I'm finally talking about the thrush.God, look at the sweat on my head.Thrushes are wild in our area.No one knows where they are when the sky is overcast.When the sky is about to clear, they all fly out to sing, and the singing is melodious and loud.Thrushes are not good at flying; they can only fly from high places to low places, so they don't easily go down to very low places.But it's different when it snows. I can't find food in my original residence, so I have to go to a place with people.

The thrush was pushed down the mountain by Haruyuki.

When eating with my mother, people kept coming in to ask questions.

First, the cripple butler came in and asked the young master if he was going to play in the snow later, if he wanted to change into a pair of warm boots, and said that if the master was here, he would ask for a change.Mother said: "Cripple, get out of here, hang that broken boot around your neck and get out of here!"

The butler went out, not of course with his boots hanging around his neck, or out of the way.

After a while, he turned in again and reported that the leper who had been driven up the mountain in Keba village could not find food in the snow and had come down the mountain.

Mother quickly asked, "Where is she now?"

"I fell into a boar trap on the way."

"It will come out."

"She can't get out, she's screaming in the hole."

"Then hurry up and bury it!"

"Buried alive?"

"Then I don't care, anyway, I can't let the leprosy break into the village."

After that, there is the matter of donating to temples, and the matter of distributing seeds to the people who cultivate my land.The charcoal was burning on the brass brazier in the room, and it didn't take long for me to sweat.

After doing business for a while, the tired look on my mother's face disappeared.Her face shone like a lamp burning within.I just looked at her vivid face, and didn't even hear what she asked me.So she got angry and said louder, "What did you say you want?"

I said, "Thrush called me."

Mrs. Toast immediately lost her patience and went out angrily.I drank my tea slowly, and in this respect, I had the airs of an aristocrat.While drinking the second bowl of tea, the tambourine and tambourine in the scripture hall upstairs were playing loudly, and I knew that Mrs. Tusi had gone to take care of the monks' livelihood again.If I hadn't been a fool, I wouldn't have spoiled my mother at this moment.These days, she is fully enjoying the power of chieftain.My father took my brother to the provincial capital to sue our neighbor Chieftain Wangbo.First, my father dreamed that chieftain Wangbo picked up the coral that fell off his ring.The lama said it was not a good dream.Sure enough, soon there was a small headman on the border who led more than a dozen family members to betray us and defected to chieftain Wangbo.My father sent someone to ask for a generous gift, but was rejected.The last time I sent someone to bring gold bars, saying that I would only buy the traitor's head, and the other people and land would be given to Chieftain Wangbo.As a result, the gold bars were returned.What else is there to say, if chieftain Wangbo kills someone who has meritorious service, his own people will flee in all directions like chieftain Maiqi.

Chieftain Maiqi had no choice but to take out the five-rank official seal issued by the Qing emperor and a map from a box inlaid with silver and beads, and went to the military government of Sichuan Province in the Republic of China to file a complaint.

In our Maiqi family, besides my mother, my father, and a half-brother, there is also a half-sister and a business uncle who went to India.Later, my sister went to the more distant England from that white-clothed country.It is said that it is a very large country, and there is a nickname called the Empire on which the sun never sets.I asked my father, is it always daytime in a big country?
Father smiled and said, "You fool."

Now they are not with me and I am lonely.

I said, "Thrush."

After speaking, he got up and went downstairs.As soon as I walked downstairs, several children of house slaves surrounded me.My parents used to say to me, look, they're all your animals.

As soon as my feet set foot on the flagstones in the patio, the future animals surrounded me.They don't have boots on their feet, and they don't have fur coats on their bodies, but they don't seem to be more afraid of the cold than I am.They're all standing there waiting for my order.My order is: "Let's catch the thrush."

Immediately, their faces glowed red.

As soon as I waved my hand and shouted something, I rushed out of the gate with a group of servants, a group of little house slaves.When we rushed from the inside out, a group of watchdogs were frightened and barked away frantically, adding to the joyful atmosphere of the morning.Very big snow!
The world outside is bright and spacious.My slaves also clamored loudly and excitedly.They kicked away the snow with their bare feet, picked up stones that were hardened by the cold, and carried them in their arms.And the thrushes were hopping around with their dark yellow tail feathers up, looking for food along the snow-free places around the base of the wall.

I just shouted: "Start!"

Just jumped on those thrushes with my little slaves.The thrushes couldn't fly higher, so they hurried to the orchard near the river.We stumbled down through the ankle-deep snow.The thrushes had no way to escape, and were hit by stones one after another.When I tilted my body, my head plunged into the fluffy snow.Those who were lucky enough to survive had no choice but to ignore their heads, and drilled their small heads between rock crevices and tree roots, and finally fell into our hands.

This is the battle I commanded in my teenage years, so successful and perfect.

I also assigned some of my men to go back to the stockade to get fire, some to go to the apple and pear trees to break dry branches, and the most clever and daring ones went to the kitchen to steal salt.The others stayed to clear the snow in the orchards for the winter, and we had to have a place for a wildfire and a dozen people to sit around it.Solang Zelang, who stole salt, is my confidant.He was the fastest to go and the fastest to come.I took the salt and told him, you can also help sweep the snow.He gasped and began to sweep the snow.He sweeps the snow by kicking with his feet, just like that, and he is much faster than those other guys.So when he deliberately kicked snow in my face, I didn't blame him.Even slaves; someone has the right to be pampered a little more.

For a ruler, this can be regarded as a truth.is a useful truth.That's why I'm putting up with the offense I'm about to do, giggling at the snow getting into my neck.

(End of this chapter)