The dust settles

Chapter 37

The purple clothes floated down from the window. Although it was frozen hard, once it touched the killer named Dorji Rob, it softened and even the ice on it melted.This killer is not a good killer.He has been here for so long, it's not that he doesn't have the chance to make a move, but he keeps thinking about why he wants to make a move, and the result is that he can't do it for a long time.It was different now, the purple dress had helped him, and two strands of hatred for the Maggie family had come together in one person.In the severe winter night, the scabbard and knife were also frozen.Standing under the seemingly indestructible official village of Mai Qi's house, with his sword in his hand, he heard a loud clang in the night sky, which made ice freeze in the bones.The killer went upstairs, and he walked upstairs according to my wish, with a cold light on the knife.At this time, his choice is also my choice. If I were a killer, I would follow the same route as him.The chieftain was going to die anyway, and the man who was about to take the chieftain's seat was energetic and aggressive. The killer came to his door and pulled the latch with the tip of a knife. The door was like a startled woman "ah!" "A cry.There was no light in the house, and the killer stepped into the dark abyss behind the threshold.He stood still, waiting for his eyes to see something in the darkness.Slowly, a hazy mass of white emerged from the darkness, yes, that was a face, the face of the young master of the Maiqi family.Purple Clothes didn't hate this face, what he hated was another face, so he wanted to turn around immediately.The killer didn't know this, but felt a mysterious force pushing him out.He steadied himself and raised the knife. If he didn't strike this time, maybe he would never have enough courage to raise the knife.He didn't have enough hatred in the first place, but this land stipulated that people like him must avenge their loved ones.When fleeing in a distant place, he has enough hatred.When they came back and knew that their father had actually betrayed their master and ended up like that, the hatred began to slowly fade away.But he had to raise the knife of revenge against the Maiqi family, and use the cold light of revenge on the knife to illuminate their frightened faces.Yes, revenge is not only to kill, but to let the person who was killed know which avenger killed him.

But today, Dorji Rob had no time to wake up the eldest son of the chieftain's family and tell him whose son had come back for revenge.The purple clothes pushed him to find the old chieftain.The killer's knife went down to the vague shadow on the bed.

The person on the bed snorted sleepily.

As soon as the killer stabbed down, there was a soft puff in the darkness, and the hatred on the purple clothes disappeared.The killer Dorji Rob was killing people for the first time. He didn't know that there would be such a soft sound when a knife stabbed into a person's body.Standing in the darkness, he could smell the smell of blood, and the slain man let out another sleepy sound.

The killer escaped from the house, and the knife in his hand was covered with blood, so there was no light.He went downstairs in a panic, his clothes fluttering behind him.Guanzhai was as quiet as if everyone had been killed.Only the foolish young master of Mai Qi's family lay on the bed and yelled: "Killer! The killer is here!"

Tana woke up and covered my mouth tightly. I bit her hand hard and shouted again: "Killer! Killer Dorji Rob is here!"

Anyone who said in this shout that he had not been awakened would be lying.One window after another was lit.But when they heard clearly that I was yelling, they all lay down again.One window after another fell back into darkness.Tana said bitterly: "Well, it's not enough just to be a fool's wife, do you want me to be a madman's wife?"

Tana is not really worthy of being a lover.The young master of the chieftain's family was stabbed deeply in the stomach, but she didn't feel it at all.I told her: "My brother was stabbed in the stomach by the killer."

She said, "My God, you hate him so much. It's not that he wanted to rob your wife, it was your wife who went to him. Didn't you say he was a girl?"

I said, "I stabbed my stomach with a knife, and not only blood, but also feces came out."

She turned away and ignored me.

At this time, the killer fled outside the official village. He lit a torch and yelled in the square that he was the son of so-and-so who died in the hands of Mai Qi's family. What was his name? He came back to take revenge.He shouted: "Look carefully, this is my face, I am here for revenge!"

This time, everyone ran outside, looking at the man downstairs, who shone a torch on his face.He yelled on horseback.He threw the torch on the ground, and there was a sound of hooves in the dark night, which sounded far away.

The torch was slowly extinguished on the ground, and the chieftain shouted to give chase.I said, "I can't catch up. Let's save him, he's not dead yet."

"Who?" The old chieftain's voice sounded terrified.

I laughed and said, "It's not you, it's your eldest son. The killer stabbed him in the stomach, and the blood and feces flowed on the bed together."

The old chieftain said, "Why didn't he kill me?"

He didn't need to ask, and I didn't need to answer.Or he himself said: "Yes, I am old, and I don't need them to do it."

"He thinks so," I said.

Father said: "How do you know what other people think, a fool?"

Tana whispered in my ear, "You scared him."

"It's because I'm a fool that I know what other people think." I replied.

The chieftain asked someone to support him and went to the heir's room.The scene in front of me is exactly as I said, the house of the young master is full of the smell of blood and excrement.His bowels were coming out.He put his hands on the wound, closed his eyes, and hummed sleepily.That humming sound made people hear it, as if being killed with a knife was a very comfortable thing.Many people called his name in their ears, but he didn't answer.

The old chieftain's eyes swept around the room, and finally landed on my wife.I said to Tana, "Father wants you to call."

"Yes, maybe you'll wake him up," said the father.

Tana's face flushed, she looked at me, and my brain started to swell, but I still said something that was life-saving.Tana yelled, and Tana said, "If you hear me calling you, just open your eyes." But he still closed his eyes tightly and didn't intend to open them.Lama Monpa can only treat diseases that are invisible to the eyes, and there is nothing he can do about such terrible wounds.The wound was dealt with only after the executioner was sent.The two executioners stuffed the intestines back into their stomachs, put a bowl full of medicine on the wound and tied it with a cloth band, and my brother stopped moaning.Lao Eryi wiped off the sweat from his head and said, "Young Master, the pain is gone now, the medicine has worked."

Toast Maiqi said, "Okay."

It was beginning to light up.My brother's face was like a blank sheet of paper.He fell asleep deeply, with a childish look on his face.

The chieftain asked the executioner if he could be cured.

Lao Eryi said: "If the shit doesn't come out, it will."

Eryi said bluntly: "Father means that the young master will poison his own feces to death."

Chieftain's face became paler than his brother's.He waved his hand and said, "Let's leave, everyone." Everyone filed out of the young master's room.Eryi looked at me with excitement in his eyes, and I knew he was happy for me.One of Tana's hands gripped me tightly, and I knew what she meant.Yes, as soon as my brother dies, I will be the chieftain of Maiqi.I don't know whether to be happy for myself or feel bad for my brother.Every day, I went to my brother's room two or three times, but I didn't see him wake up.

This year's spring came quickly, as soon as the wind in the sky turned, it took only two or three days, and the willow branches by the river began to turn green.After another two or three days, the wild peach blossoms in front of the mountain and by the ditch opened bustlingly.

In just a few days, the dust in the air was pressed down by the fragrant water.

My brother lost weight day by day in bed, but my father regained his energy.He no longer puts on heat overnight.He said, "See, till I die I can't let go of my burden." He said that as if he had only one son.Before the son died, he started to stink.When my brother started to smell bad, the medicine prepared by the executioner could suppress the bad smell.Those are strong herbs.Later, the smell of vanilla was still strong, and the stench also came from under the wooden bowl on my brother's belly.The combination of the two smells is very pungent, and no one can resist it. The women all vomited in a daze, and only my father and I can stay in it for a while.I can always stay longer than my father.On this day, my father stayed for a while and then withdrew.Outside, the servants fanned him with cypress smoke to repel the bad smell.Father coughed loudly from the smoke.At this time, I saw my brother's eyelids began to tremble.He awoke at last, and slowly opened his eyes; he said, "Am I still there?"

I said, "You're still in your own bed."

"Enemies, knives, the knives of the Maiqi family's enemies."

He sighed, touched the wooden bowl on his stomach, and smiled weakly: "This man is not good at swordsmanship."

He gave me a weak smile, but I didn't know what to say to him, so I said, "I'll go tell them you're awake."

Everyone came in, but the women still couldn't help vomiting. The young master of Mai Qi's family blushed a little shyly, and asked, "Did I stink?"

The women were all out, and the brother said, "I stink, how can I stink?"

The chieftain held his son's hand and tried his best to stay in the house for a while, but he couldn't stay any longer.He was cruel, and said to his son: "You will not survive, son, don't suffer, and go early." After saying this, the old chieftain had tears streaming down his face.

The son looked at his father resentfully, and said, "If you had given up your position earlier, I would have been a chieftain for a few days. But you are reluctant. What I want most is to be a chieftain."

The father said, "Okay, son, I'll make way for you right away."

The elder brother shook his head: "But, I don't have the strength to sit in that seat anymore. I'm going to die." After saying this, the elder brother closed his eyes. The chieftain called him several times but he didn't answer, and the chieftain went out to cry.At this time, my brother opened his eyes again and said to me, "You can wait, you are not like me, you are not a person who is in a hurry. Do you know? I am most afraid of you, and the woman who sleeps with you is also afraid of you. Now, I don't have to be afraid." And he said, "Think how much I loved you when I was a kid, fool." Yes, at that moment, everything from the past came alive.

I said, "I love you too."

"I'm so happy," he said.After speaking, he passed out.

The young master of Maiqi's family never woke up again.A few days later, when we were all in a dream, he quietly went away.

Everyone shed tears.

But no one's tears are more sincere than mine.Although before that, the brotherhood between us in the early years has disappeared.I'm sorry for his last words.Tana cried too.In the middle of the night, she would stick close to me and slip into my arms.I know that this doesn't mean that she loves me, but that she is afraid of the new ghost of the Maiqi family, which means that she doesn't love my brother as much as I do.

My mother wiped away her tears and said to me: "I am very sad, but don't worry about my fool anymore."

Father was rejuvenated.

For his son's funeral, he personally arranged everything.His head was as white as a snow-capped mountain, but his face was reddened by the light from the cremation of his son's body.The fire on the cremation ground was very strong and burned all morning.At noon, the ashes became cold and were put into the jar. The monks escorted the ashes to the temple with blows and blows.The ashes should be kept in the temple and accepted for fasting and sacrificial offerings. Only when Living Buddha Jiga declares that the soul of the deceased has been completely stabilized can they be buried in the ground.Yes, the bones of a living person are cooling in the jar amid the hum of monks chanting the Sutra of Transcendence.The redness on Toast's face never faded.He said to Jiga Tulku: "Take care of the dead, I still have to work for the living. It's time to sow again, and I'm going to be busy with spring things."

39. Heart to the North
This year, one-third of the Maiqi family's land was planted with opium and two-thirds with grain.Other toasts do the same.After an unprecedented famine, everyone knew what to do.

I stayed at home for another year until my brother's ashes were interred in the Maggie family cemetery.

Father's enthusiasm for what the toast should do is higher than ever before.He is old, women are no longer attractive to him, he does not smoke opium, and only drinks a little alcohol.He also reduced most of the taxes paid by the people.There is too much money in Maiqi's official village.Chieftain Maiqi is stronger than ever, and no chieftain wants to compete with us.The common people have never lived and worked in peace and contentment like they do now. Never before have the common people and slaves in the chieftain's territory been so proud of being born on this land as they are now.One day I asked my father if I wanted to call back the crippled steward who was on the frontier, and he said without hesitation, "No, he'll just stay there, and when he gets back, I'll have nothing to do."

That day, the two of us drank tea together.

After drinking tea, he said again: "Whoever said that a fool's son is not good, I can say whatever I want in front of you. In front of your dead brother, I can't say what I want to say."

"Yes, you don't have to be wary of me."

The chieftain suddenly looked sad, and said, "God, you made me worry about my life after death." He said, "Maiqi's family is so powerful, but they don't have a good heir."

Tana said, "How do you know my husband is not a good heir?"

The chieftain changed his face, and he said: "Let him take the position of chieftain Ronggong first, and then see if he is worthy to be chieftain of Maiqi."

Tana said, "That depends on who dies first, you or my mother."

My father said to me: "Fool, take a look, don't talk about governing many people, even a wife, you can't control her."

I thought for a while and said, "Please chieftain allow me to leave you. I'm going to the border."

My father said, "But let's make it clear that I lent you the land on the border, and you will give it back to me as soon as the chieftain dies."

The chieftain laughed too much, and said: "Have you heard that chieftain Maiqi is immortal, he will live in this world for 1 years with the money in the warehouse."

Chieftain said: "I feel that I am getting stronger and stronger."

Tana said to the chieftain: "If word like this spreads, the killer will come again. Last time, he killed your son just because you acted like you were about to die."

The chieftain looked forward to our early departure.He allowed me to take with me the same crew I had when I first went to the border.The two boys, Suolang Zelang and Eryi, have no problems, and Dolma doesn't seem to want to leave her silversmith.I sent for the silversmith and told him to come with us.But he refused.He said that the chieftain will invite many silversmiths to make silverware, and has promised him to be the team leader.I said, then you two have to separate, because I don't want Zhuoma to be a cook forever.I asked Dolma if she wanted to be a lowly cook all the time, but Dolma just shed tears and didn't answer.I know she doesn't want to be a cook.On the day of departure, I was satisfied to see Zhuoma standing in the queue with a little softness behind her back.I asked Eryi to lead her a blue horse.Also, I got the clerk from my father.

When our horse team meandered away, looking back at the official village of Maiqi’s family, I suddenly had a feeling that this majestic building would not stand for long.Behind, the wind brought Mrs. Toast's voice, but no one could hear what she was shouting.I asked the clerk, if the old chieftain didn't die, wouldn't my mother die too?

The clerk said with his eyes, how can there be an immortal body?master.

We all know that souls are constantly reincarnated.The death we speak of refers to the body in this cycle of reincarnation.Who really knows what happened in the previous life and the next life.I asked the clerk: "Why does my father think that he will not die?"

He said with his eyes, power.

Look, as soon as the clerk is around, I'm the smartest person in the world.On the way, the clerk wrote a poem dedicated to me.The poem reads like this:
You'll put a bit in your mouth,
There will be scars at the corners of your mouth;
There will be a saddle on your back.

There is also a pack bag on the saddle;
someone sings to you,

Sing about your inner hurt.

someone sings to you,

Sing to your inner sunshine.

The lame butler came to meet us halfway.

He greeted me with the grand ceremony of greeting a toast.

"Let me take a good look, the young master has been gone for two years."

"It's been such a long time."

"Hello everyone."

"I brought Sangye Dolma back too."

The butler's eyes were a little red, and he said, "Master is really a good man, as long as you come back, as long as you are all well."

Tana said: "What's the use of it, we go away and we come back."

The butler smiled and said, "Madam, don't worry, the young master will become the toast."

This night when I was halfway there, there was moonlight outside the tent.After Tana fell asleep, I got up and walked in the moonlight.The spear in the sentry's hand gleamed coldly behind the rock not far away.I coughed as I walked past the butler's tent, and walked further away.Soon a man came out of the steward's tent and went in the other direction.Looking at the back, it looks like Sangye Dolma.I laughed.When she first married the silversmith, I felt very uncomfortable, but now, this feeling is gone.She and the butler are people I like, so let's call them together.The butler came to me and said, "I heard the young master's voice."

I said, "Get up and look at the moon."

The butler smiled: "Then take a good look at Chuang." I looked at the moon.This is the north, the plateau, and the moon is bigger than where Maiqi's official village is located.Here, the moon is in the sky within reach, and the moon is slightly swaying in the sound of the gurgling stream.The butler's voice seemed to come from the moon: "Every time there is a message from Mai Qi, I am worried that you will not come back."

I don't have to look at the housekeeper's face, his words are sincere, not to mention it's such a moonlit night, people don't choose to lie at this time.I said, "I'm back."

(End of this chapter)