The dust settles

Chapter 23

I don't know where my brother found a craftsman who made the door so well.When it is closed, it is so heavy and stable, but it is very easy to open it.The wheels under the door leaf rumbled like thunder, and the gate swung open.The people in the fortress came out in full force, and placed a handful of fried wheat with a strong aroma in front of each hungry person who fell to the ground.After finishing this matter, it is already time for the sunset to hold the mountain.When the fainted people woke up in the evening wind, they all found a handful of wheat falling from the sky.After eating this little food, they all gained strength.

Standing up, under the reflection of the ambiguous light at dusk, one by one, we waded across the small river, turned over a gentle ridge, and disappeared from my eyes.

The butler coughed behind his back. I didn't think he had caught the wind or caught a cold. "

Just say what you have to say. "I said.

"If it's not you, but the young master, I dare not say what I think of."

I know he's telling the truth.But I still ask, "Because I'm a fool?"

The butler shivered and said, "I want to be honest, you may be a fool, or you may be the smartest person in the world. Either way, I'm your man."

I wanted to hear him say that the young master is a wise man, but he didn't say that.I felt cold, and it seemed that I was such a fool.But at the same time he showed me his devotion, which was a great relief.I said, "Say it, whatever comes to your mind, just say it."

"Tomorrow, at most the day after tomorrow, our guests will be here."

"Just get ready to welcome guests."

"The best preparation is to make them think that we are not prepared for anything."

I laughed.

Knowing that chieftain Lashepa was coming, I took a large group of people and went hunting up the mountain with advanced weapons that would make many chieftains terrified.On this day, our relative Lashepa chieftain walked towards the border amidst the dense gunfire.On a small hill, we watched Toast Lashepa and his party walk towards the fort, while firing guns into the sky until they entered the fort.We don't need to go back right away.The servants lit a fire on the top of the hill and roasted rabbit meat for lunch.

I also took a nap on the grass in full bloom with rhododendrons.I followed the example of those veteran hunters, and covered my face with a hat to block out the strong sunlight; originally, I was just pretending to sleep, but unexpectedly I fell asleep.Everyone waited for me to wake up before eating those rabbits.Everyone was overfed, sitting on the blanket of grass, and no one wanted to get up immediately.The people on the nearby pastures brought cheese again.In this way, we don't even want to get up.

What a season for those who have a full belly!

A gentle breeze blows over the pasture.The white strawberry flowers are delicate and bright, blooming in all directions from our front.The occasional appearance of one or two yellow dandelions is even more bright and eye-catching.From the thick green woods came the cuckoo call.One, one, and another.One sound is brighter than the other, and the sound is longer than the other.Our people were all lying on the grass, imitating cuckoo calls.This is a good sign.Everyone believes that the first time you hear a cuckoo call in a year, you will be in the same state as you are between now and the next cuckoo call.Now, our situation couldn't be better.At the foot of the mountain, someone was looking at our full barn of wheat.On the mountain, we shot rabbits with good weapons that no one else had ever used in war. We ate and drank delicious yogurt. We were lying on the grass when the cuckoo called.

This is great.

I exclaimed: "Great!"

So, first the butler, and then the others, knelt beside me.

They believed me to be a man of great fortune.They knelt around me, that is to say, from today onwards, they are all people who have given their allegiance to me.I waved my hand and said, "Get up, you all." That is to say, I accepted their allegiance.This is not simply kneeling, this is a ritual.Having this ceremony is very different from not having this ceremony.It's not the same at all.But I don't want to break it.I just waved my hand: "Go down the mountain!"

Everyone jumped on their horses, cheered, and rushed down the mountain.

I think our guests must be looking at our mighty and majestic team.

I am very satisfied with what Dolma has done for me.

She put a mountain of food in front of every guest, food that couldn't be eaten by three stomachs.The guests didn't seem polite either.Only people who are very full, who can't hold any more food in their stomachs, get that silly look on their faces.

Sangji Drolma said: "They won't be hungry even if they don't eat for three days."

I said to her, "Nice job."

Dolma blushed a little. I wanted to tell her that one day, I would lift her slave status, but I was afraid that it would be meaningless to say it.The butler went from behind me, around the front, into the room where the guests were staying.Dolma looked at me and blushed again.She fried the wheat and entertained the guests very well. These two things gave her the confidence she used to have when she was by my side.She said: "Master, don't look at me like you used to. I'm not the Dolma I used to be, I'm an old lady."

She giggled, and when women laugh, they look silly.I thought, I should express something to her, but how to express it.I'm not going to sleep with her again, but I can't just tell her that today's day is the way I want it.Being in a dilemma, the butler walked over with a big fat man who was walking with his feet in his arms and the soles of his boots were making swishing noises on the floor.

Dolma whispered in my ear: "Toast Lashepa."

I heard that chieftain Lashepa is only in his 40s, but he looks older than my father.Maybe it's because of his obesity, walking on the flat floor, he was also out of breath.He still held a towel in his hand, and kept wiping the sweat off his face.It is ridiculous for a person who is so obese that he is panting after walking a few steps and has to wipe his sweat frequently.

I wanted to laugh, so I did.

From the way the housekeeper looked at me, I knew he told me that it was just the right time to smile.

This way, I don't have to greet uninvited guests first.

Chieftain Lashepa, with a lot of noise in his throat, said, "My God, is the one who is laughing my nephew?"

He also remembered the kinship we had had long ago.This man who had difficulty moving suddenly came to me, shook my arms as if he were a sleeping person, and said in a crying voice, "Nephew Maggie, I am your Uncle Lashepa! "

I didn't answer, and turned my face to look at the brilliant sunset in the sky.

I didn't want to see any sunset, I just didn't want to see him.When I don't want to look at something, I look up at the sky.

Chieftain Lashepa turned to the butler and said, "Oh my God, my nephew is really what the legend says."

The butler said, "You see it?"

Chieftain Lashepa said to me again: "My poor nephew, do you know me? I am your uncle Lashepa."

I spoke suddenly, suddenly when he didn't expect it.He thought that his foolish nephew would not dare to speak when he saw a stranger, so I said, "We fried a lot of wheat."

His sweat towel dropped to the floor.

I said, "The people in Lashepa's family have no food to eat. I fried the wheat for them, and they went home. If they didn't fry it, it would fall on the ground and sprout, and they wouldn't be able to eat it." I said this As we spoke, the strong aroma of fried wheat hadn't dissipated around the castle yet.Birds from many places were attracted to the castle by the aroma. At dusk, the birds sang and circled in the last light that announced the end of the day.

Having said this, I went upstairs to my room.

Upstairs, I heard the steward take leave of chieftain Lashepa.Toast Lasheba, who thought the Maiqi family's fools would be easy to deal with, stammered, "But we haven't said anything about it yet."

The steward said, "Didn't the young master mention Maizi just now?
He knows that you are not just visiting relatives.Get up early tomorrow and wait for him. "

I said to the two servants on my side: "Go and tell Dolma to get up early tomorrow. There are so many birds here. Feed them well." After I finished the order, I went to bed and fell asleep immediately. up.The servants put a towel on my chin, otherwise, in the dream, I would get wet with my saliva.

In the morning, I was woken up to the sound of so many birds that I never had before.

To be honest, I'm still a little out of my mind.During this time, every day I wake up, I don't know where I am.I opened my eyes and saw that the wood grains on the ceiling zigzag like ripples on water, and saw the fine dust suspended in the beam of light coming in from the window. I had to ask myself: "Where am I?" Then , Only then did I taste the sour taste of the overnight food in my mouth.Then, answer yourself: where is it.With that figured out, it's time for me to get up.I'm not afraid of people saying I'm stupid, but I don't want people to know about this kind of real problem, so I always ask myself quietly in my heart, but sometimes I can't help asking out loud.I was not like this.Before, when I woke up, I knew where I was, under which roof, and in which bed.

At that time, I was not as smart as I am now in many things, so I didn't have this problem.Not at all.In this way, my stupidity is not reduced, but transferred.Not stupid in one respect, but stupid in another.

I don't want people to see that I have become smarter in the original stupid way, and I don't want others to see in what way I am stupid.This situation has intensified recently.Most of the time, I only ask myself one question, and sometimes, it takes two to wake up.

The second question is: "Who am I?"

When this question is asked, the heart of the person who lost himself in his sleep is very bitter.

Fortunately, there was only one problem this morning.

I whispered to myself: "You are on the northern border of Maiqi's house." When I walked out the door, the sun had already risen high, and Toast Lashepa and his men were standing on the floor below.They are waiting for me to get up.Zhuoma ordered his men to use a frying pan in the middle of the yard to make the wheat more fragrant.The birds flew all around the fort.I called Dolma and she stopped.First, I sent someone to bring me a big bucket of fried wheat, and the servants also took some in their hands. When I withdrew the first handful of wheat to the birds, everyone threw the wheat into the air.In less than a moment, the spacious yard was filled with all kinds of birds.Zhuoma opened the heavy gate of the fortress, and a group of people followed her, throwing away the wheat, and went outside.

This scene left our guests dumbfounded.

I said, "The birds are starving to death in the territory of Chieftain Lashepa. Give them more food." After speaking, I handed the bucket to Xiao Eryi.This guy, who was always pale and had a dead face, turned blood on his face when he removed the wheat in the yard downstairs.

I invite the guests to have breakfast together.

Chieftain Lashepa no longer said that I was his nephew, but said: "We are relatives, and the Maiqi family is the uncle of the Lashepa family."

I laughed out loud.Seeing me happy, they also showed happy expressions on their faces.

Finally it comes to food.

The second young master of Maiqi's family looked stupid when he talked about grain. This fool actually said that the warehouse of Maiqi's family was not filled with grain, but silver that was almost as heavy as wheat. "

Chieftain Lashepa stopped blowing the bellows in his throat, and he exclaimed, "Isn't that wheat as heavy as silver?"

I said, "Maybe so."

Toast Lashepa said decisively: "There is no such expensive grain in the world, and no one buys your grain."

I said, "All the grain in Maiqi's family is sold. It is for the convenience of buyers. The great chieftain Maiqi had the foresight to build the granary right in front of your house, just because he didn't want people who are hungry to go a long way."

Chieftain Lashepa calmed down and reasoned with the fool: "Food is food, not silver. It will rot after a long time. What's the use of storing so much in the warehouse."

"Then let the wheat rot and your people starve to death."

Our neighbors in the north couldn't take it anymore and said, "It's a big deal that some people will starve to death. Anyway, the chieftains won't starve to death."

I did not speak.

Toast Lashepa wanted to provoke me and said, look, the wheat seedlings are growing in the field, and in at most three months, our new wheat can be harvested.

The housekeeper added: "It's best to hurry before all your people starve to death."

I said, "Did the Lareba family hire a wizard to turn the poppies in the field into wheat?"

Toast Lashepa almost drowned in his own sweat.

We treat them well.

Then, send them across the border.When seeing off guests, we take great care not to cross the border.I promised our neighbors that no one would ever cross the border.When we parted, I said to Toast Lashepa, who could be said to be my uncle or nephew, "You will come again."

He opened his mouth, but he couldn't say the uplifting words, yes, he didn't dare to say: "I will never come again."

He took a few more breaths, and without saying anything, he rode his horse into the ravine.

We watched them disappear into the blue mountains beyond the border.

25. Female Toast

A few days after Chieftain Lashepa left, Chieftain Ronggong arrived.

Ronggong Toast is also our neighbor in the north, west of Lashepa Toast.

When it comes to Ronggong toast, we must talk about an interesting phenomenon in this land.We know that to a certain extent, the chieftain is an emperor, a local emperor.Every chieftain has more than one woman, but no chieftain seems to have had many children, eight, ten, never.The most common thing is that some chieftains marry one house after another, but still can't give birth to a son to inherit their throne.Every chieftain family has experienced this distress.This fate also fell on the Ronggong family.From many generations ago, no matter how many women Ronggong Tusi begged for and how hard he tried in bed, he could only get one son in the end.For this reason, they have been to Lhasa in the west and Mount Emei in the east, but to no avail.Later, they simply couldn't even give birth to a son.

In this way, strong and shrewd women will come out to take charge of the house.

Originally, the female chieftain was just a transitional method.The first thing she did when she came to power was to recruit her son-in-law. After giving birth to her son, she handed over the position to him.At this time, which chieftain has one or two more sons, and it is a good way out to send one to be a door-to-door son-in-law.

After the Ronggong female chieftain came to power, none of the son-in-laws who came to the door could make them give birth to half a man.Come to meet me, this is said to be the fourth generation of female chieftains.Rumor has it that she is amazing in bed.The first man died of consumption in only three years.The second lived longer, eight years, and bequeathed her a daughter.And she never recruited a son-in-law again.The chieftains were in an uproar, saying that we can't let Rong Gong be the head of a woman forever.The chieftains planned to launch an army crusade, so the female chieftain Ronggong had no choice but to recruit another man chosen by the chieftains for her.The man was as strong as a bull.

They said, "This time, she will definitely have a son."

However, news of the man's death soon came.

It is said that the female chieftain often recruited some dignified leaders, military officers, and even lamas under her to serve as bed servants, and happily lived like an emperor.Because of this, I've always seen this northern neighbor as smart.However, she also planted poppies all over the land, so that her people fell into famine in years without disasters.

The female chieftain Ronggong came when I was looking forward to her.

My men saw them as soon as they emerged from the horizon dotted with sparse old cypresses.

All afternoon, I stood on the watchtower.The procession of Ronggong female chieftain stopped when it was about to arrive.Between those cypress trees, there is a large piece of beautiful grassland, and on the grassland is a gentle stream. They stopped in that beautiful place, where I could see it at a glance, no matter how much I wanted to talk to my daughter sooner. Toast meet.They unsaddled the horses and let them out to graze.Afterwards, curling green smoke rose from the grass, and it seemed that these guys would have enough to eat before crossing the border.

I said to the housekeeper, "Who said female chieftains are not as powerful as male chieftains!"

The housekeeper said: "They will never bring a year's grain and stay there until winter."

(End of this chapter)