Aijia Kefu: Your Majesty, please avoid

Chapter 161 The Sparrow's Way of Hospitality

In front of Su Qingyuan, the handful of medicinal herbs wrapped in straw paper did not emit flames, only a thin wisp of white smoke floated out, exuding a choking smell.

But after a while, white smoke also rose from the pile of snake corpses, wisps and wisps, soon filled the air.

All the soldiers held their weapons tightly and watched vigilantly the group of snakes "dancing" outside the circle, everyone felt their scalps go numb.

Later, white smoke also rose from the dry grass in front of Su Qingyuan, almost covering her whole body in the smoke.

In addition to the choking herbal smell, there is some damp muddy smell in the air, and the aroma of... roasting meat.

A soldier in golden armor came to Gu Lingxiao's side and asked in a low voice, "Commander, what are you doing, ma'am?"

Gu Lingxiao frowned, and said after a long time: "Probably I want to eat grilled snake meat!"

The soldier nodded, and suddenly realized: "No wonder. ——The emperor and the empress are really affectionate, and there are barbecue seasonings in their purses!"

When Lu Li heard this conversation, he couldn't laugh or cry.Looking at the way Su Qingyuan muttered to the pile of snake corpses, he didn't know what to say.

Then let's not say anything, it seems good to have a full meal before dying.

—Don't tell me, it smells really good!

In the smoke, Su Qingyuan slowly stood up.

Lu Li reckoned that the snake meat was almost roasted and ready to eat.

Su Qingyuan went to the fire to find two thin wooden sticks that were not burnt out, and sure enough, she went back and picked up half a roasted snake, held it up to her eyes and looked at it carefully.

Lu Li couldn't help but said, "Hey, you can't eat alone! Everyone is starving, why don't you let the soldiers go first?"

Su Qingyuan raised her head and rolled her eyes at him, then lifted the half roasted snake - and threw it out of the fire circle.

Lu Li could clearly hear the soldiers breathing in regret.

Su Qingyuan heard it too, raised her head and smiled "I understand you" to the soldiers.

At this time, Gu Lingxiao suddenly exclaimed: "They ran away!"

When everyone looked closely, they saw that the group of snakes near the half roasted snake suddenly turned around after a short commotion and fled in all directions.

Because the circle of fire was still there, the group of snakes basically ran in the other direction after entangled in a mess for a while.

The soldiers were dumbfounded.

Su Qingyuan smiled at them and said, "What are you still doing in a daze? Hurry up and throw out the grilled snakes! This is not the time to be distressed, how many delicacies do you want to eat after saving your life?"

All the soldiers woke up like a dream, and hurriedly threw the pile of roasted snakes out.

Chaos immediately broke out outside the circle of fire, with countless snakes twisting and biting each other, and fled in all directions in a panic.

Because the situation was too chaotic, many snakes bumped into the fire ring, and some even broke in. The meat on their bodies was "hissing" and they were still crawling.

All the soldiers hurriedly swung their knives to kill, and caught some by the way, and threw them into the firewood pile.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the dense snake formation outside the fire circle had disappeared without a trace, only some dead or half-dead were still lying here and there.

All the soldiers of the Golden Armored Guards breathed a sigh of relief, looked at each other and laughed.

Su Qingyuan threw herself into Lu Li's arms and fell down, "Damn, you scared me to death!"

Lu Li hurriedly picked her up, carried her to the original rock and put her away, and asked with amused yet distressed voice, "Are you afraid?"

Su Qingyuan nestled in his arms and refused to look up: "I never want to see those crap again in my life!"

At this time, the soldiers laughed and pulled out the snakes cooked in the fire ring one by one.Someone courteously took a few and sent them to Lu Li and Su Qingyuan: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, try it, it's delicious!"

"Go! Drive!" Su Qingyuan roared in a rough voice, even refusing to lift her head.

Lu Li couldn't help laughing, and it took him a long time to tell the wronged soldier, "You stay away and eat, and you are not allowed to mention snakes in front of your mother!"

The soldier agreed to retreat, and Su Qingyuan slowly poked her head out: "Let them clean up the surrounding area!"

Lu Li smiled and said, "Don't worry, they will eat cleanly."

Su Qingyuan was worried: "You can't eat the ones that were roasted with the spells earlier!"

Lu Li nodded and rubbed her head: "They know how to measure."

Lu Li finally sat up straight slowly, raised his head, "Really all gone?"

"They're all gone," Lu Li said with a smile, "With our little witch, we can always come back from adversity."

Su Qingyuan suddenly sighed, and said with a wry smile: "Sometimes I feel that I should thank my mother. If she hadn't pushed me to that point, I wouldn't have learned any damn witchcraft; if it wasn't for relying on Witchcraft saves my life, I've probably died several times already."

Lu Li echoed, "We should thank her."

Su Qingyuan gave him a blank look: "Thank you! If she hadn't stolen the child away, we wouldn't have to travel all the way to this ghostly place!"

"You're right." Lu Li smiled.

Su Qingyuan pinched the back of his hand habitually, but didn't even leave a red mark.

Lu Li knew that she still had lingering fears, so he couldn't bear to tell the truth, so he patted her on the back lightly, and asked with a smile, "How much confidence do you have in that witchcraft before it's done?"

Su Qingyuan thought about it seriously, and said with a smile: "Seven points."

"Seven points?" Lu Li was a little surprised, "Since you are seven points sure, why do you say something like 'eat a whole snake feast before you die'?"

Su Qingyuan chuckled: "When I'm unhappy, I want to scold people, and even I don't know what I scolded at the end—is it important?"

"Swearing? Isn't that a curse?" Lu Li was very surprised.

Su Qingyuan smiled and said: "Not all witchcraft needs spells. Most of the time, the only function of spells is to announce to the people next to me, 'I know magic spells, I am very powerful, you all have to worship me, and I will follow you. You incompetent mortals are very different...'."

Lu Li couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.

Su Qingyuan added earnestly: "So the content of the spell is not important at all. Xiao Lizi once told me a joke - when his brother was learning divination, his favorite spell was 'Man is iron, rice is iron. steel, there is no soup in the bones' and 'the sky is dark, the wild is vast, you eat grass, I eat sugar'."

Lu Li smiled a few times to save face, and then pretended to be casual and asked, "Which little plum?"

Su Qingyuan froze for a moment, then suppressed her smile: "The dead one."

"Dead?" Lu Li frowned.

Su Qingyuan exhaled heavily, as if she didn't care: "Yes. Aunt Nian said that he escaped from the tunnel to cover me and died. I didn't believe it before, but I asked Luoxia later, and she said it was true. of."

Lu Li was sad for a long time, and changed the topic: "I hear you, Xiao Li still has a senior brother? A student of divination? Where is that senior brother now?"

Su Qingyuan shook her head and forced a smile: "How would I know, I'm not familiar with him!"

Lu Li frowned and pondered for a long time.

Su Qingyuan stood up slowly, took two steps and then stood still, turned her head and smiled bitterly: "My legs are still weak!"

Lu Li hurriedly stood up, bent down and picked her up: "Go back to the tent to rest first?"

Su Qingyuan was about to nod when she suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes.

Soon, four or five horses galloped along the mountain road, and they arrived in front of them in the blink of an eye.

Lu Li had no choice but to put Su Qingyuan down, stood up straight and looked at the person coming.

The gold-armored soldiers hurriedly gathered together, taking a posture of guard.

Su Qingyuan took a closer look: among the visitors, there were old men with white beard and white hair, some pale and thin youths, and some childish-looking children.One of the women who covered her face with a bamboo hat seemed to be the one who appeared in white last night.

Interesting.

Lu Li looked calm and didn't intend to speak first.

The two sides looked at each other face to face for a long time, and finally the other party lost his temper: "Ling Lan'er said, you came here last night, and you also attracted all the snakes on this mountain?"

Lu Li was expressionless: "I'm afraid you guys are more clear about how the snake came here."

The woman in the bamboo hat beat her horse and took two steps forward, and said in a deep voice, "I don't intend to play around with you either—we raise snakes, which are specially used to deal with outsiders with malicious intentions! Since you saw it last night Awesome, you should get out of the mountain immediately, why are you still dawdling here and refusing to leave? What is your purpose of entering the mountain, so that you can even risk your life?"

"Strange," Lu Li smiled calmly, "Didn't your people kindly invite us here?"

Ling Lan'er, a girl in a bamboo hat, let out a sneer: "Invitation? You really know how to put gold on your face!"

Lu Li raised his eyebrows slightly: "Why, isn't it an invitation? If you don't welcome us, why did you tamper with our carriage in the outer town and help us attract so many'foodstuffs'? The descendants of the god sparrow treat it' Do outsiders with malicious intentions need to be entertained before being released from the mountain?"

"Do you really dare to think about those snakes?" Ling Lan'er asked angrily.

Su Qingyuan grinned: "Thank you sister for your hospitality, we are very full! The snakes in this mountain are more delicious than those in other places!"

Ling Lan'er was furious, and raised her whip to greet her.

Holding the bloody long knife in her arms, Su Qingyuan smiled and did not move.Lu Li watched calmly, and didn't intend to block her.

The old man raised his whip and stopped Ling Lan'er's whip: "Don't mess around."

Ling Lan'er stepped back resentfully, and stared at Su Qingyuan angrily.

Su Qingyuan moved her lips and said silently: "It's boring."

The old man clasped his fists, and said in a deep voice: "The people of the subjugated country dare not live carelessly, so they have always been reluctant to meet outsiders. There are many offenses. Please forgive me."

"It's easy to say." Lu Li said calmly, still not saying much.

The old man said again: "Originally, the old man is from the lineage of the priests of the god sparrow. Now he is the head of the clan, and he can still say a few words about the affairs of the clan. If you come here for something, you might as well tell the old man to know."

Lu Li frowned slightly, and Su Qingyuan said impatiently, "I already told you last night! Didn't Sister Ling Lan'er tell you?"

"Who is your sister!" Ling Lan'er said angrily.

Su Qingyuan spread her hands: "Then sister Ling Lan'er will be fine."

Ling Laner seemed to be angry, the patriarch hurriedly stopped her, and asked in a deep voice: "You said that the mother clan has a blood relationship with the sparrow?"

Su Qingyuan curled her lips: "If I had known that the sparrow man was so fierce, I wouldn't have come to such a ghostly place!"

"Girl, come here." The patriarch suddenly beckoned.

Su Qingyuan was not afraid, holding the blood knife, she took a few steps forward steadily, stood in front of the horse, and raised her head.

The patriarch suddenly bent down and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"A Yuan—" Lu Li panicked.

Su Qingyuan stood still.

The patriarch suddenly jumped off the horse, stood face to face with Su Qingyuan, and said in a deep voice: "You have practiced charm, but you haven't gone deep into it, so it can only be regarded as an entry level."

Su Qingyuan avoided his gaze and nodded reluctantly.

The patriarch withdrew his hand and said again: "You have taken the Wuzhi Xuhun Pill."

Su Qingyuan frowned slightly, and faltered vaguely.

The patriarch became more serious: "Wuzhi Xuhun Pill is the ultimate holy medicine of Shenque, and the formula has been lost. Even 20 years ago, there were only a few people who were given this medicine—where did you get it from?" of?"

Su Qingyuan couldn't answer, so she could only perfunctorily say: "A friend gave it to me."

The patriarch suddenly became excited: "Friend? What kind of person? Is...is it His Highness?"

Su Qingyuan's brows were tightened.

She really didn't know the "Third Highness" of Shenque.

The patriarch didn't get an answer from her for a long time, and his old face was flushed with anxiety.

Lu Li walked over slowly and took Su Qingyuan's hand: "Our friend is indeed a descendant of Shenque, but he never revealed his identity in Shenque. So the foolish couple don't know if he is the patriarch or not. The 'Third Highness' in the general population."

The patriarch was stunned for a long time, and finally lowered his head sadly: "Where is he now?"

Just as Su Qingyuan was about to answer, Lu Li laughed and said, "That friend is naturally free and easy, and his whereabouts are erratic, who knows where he is now!"

The patriarch looked at him, and asked in a deep voice: "Where do you two come from? When and where did you meet that friend?"

Lu Li said calmly, "My husband and I have lived in the capital for generations, and we met that friend by chance in the capital—speaking of which, the time we have known each other is actually not that long. The rare thing is that friend is affectionate and righteous, so We hit it off and became best friends.”

Su Qingyuan was watching him open his eyes and talk nonsense, and was stunned for a moment.

The patriarch was very excited, grabbed Lu Li's hand and said, "The Third Highness has been a child who values ​​love and righteousness since he was a child! It must be him, it must be him!"

"It turns out that he is the Third Highness of Shenque!" Lu Li seemed to be very emotional.

The patriarch wiped the corners of his eyes, and sighed with a wry smile: "Where is there any 'God Sparrow' now, and where is there any 'Third Highness'! It has been more than 20 years... Now this is the Zhuque County of South Vietnam in name, but even There is not even a serious county guard. The city is full of ruins and the land is desolate, so it is no wonder that the Third Highness does not want to come back..."

Lu Li sighed and didn't answer his words.

Su Qingyuan felt weird in her heart, she just pretended to be sad, and bowed her head in silence.

The patriarch held Lu Li's hand, wiped his tears and said with a smile, "Since you are a friend of His Highness the Third Highness, of course you are our honored guest." ——If you two are not too short-handed, please come to the clan for a few days, and let the people of the Shenque clan chat with each other. .”

Lu Li smiled and said, "The foolish couple are trying to disturb you, so they won't be polite to the patriarch."

The patriarch was overjoyed and hurriedly asked someone to lead the way.

Gu Lingxiao and the others led the horse over, and Lu Li carried Su Qingyuan on the horse together, and walked with the patriarch in the bridle.

On the way, the eight or nine-year-old child kept sticking to the two of them, rubbing their legs from time to time.

Su Qingyuan felt a little uncomfortable, and was about to remind Lu Li to avoid it, when the child suddenly reached out and grabbed the knife in her hand: "How did this thing become red? Show me..."

Su Qingyuan didn't move, but the child suddenly screamed and fell off the horse.

Ling Lan'er hurriedly dismounted to help him up, and asked anxiously, "What's wrong with you? Have you been tricked by them?"

The child rubbed his butt, raised his head in confusion and stared at Su Qingyuan.

Su Qingyuan flattened her lips innocently: "Is it reasonable to mess with other people's things?"

The patriarch ordered Ling Lan'er to help the child get on the horse, reprimanded him a few words, and smiled at Su Qingyuan: "Young son is ignorant, madam, don't blame me."

"No problem." Lu Li responded for Su Qingyuan.

The patriarch stared at the knife for a long time, and suddenly asked with a smile: "Where did Madam get this knife? Could it be a gift from a friend?"

Su Qingyuan turned her head, smiled brightly at him, and asked: "Why, don't I look worthy of such a knife?"

The patriarch hurriedly said: "That's not true, it's just that - this saber has a strong evil spirit, it really doesn't look like a young woman's thing. Madam Guan's appearance and demeanor don't look like warriors, how could it be..."

Su Qingyuan hooked the corners of her lips: "Old man, if you can become the patriarch, you must have something special. The sparrow is good at divination, and you must be one of the best——An old man who is good at divination wants to know something, just directly Just ask the hexagrams, why is there any need to ask the root cause of everything?"

The patriarch laughed: "Divination is not fairy art, how can you know everything? Forget it, if Madam doesn't want to talk about it, the old man will not be ignorant."

Su Qingyuan shook her head triumphantly, then squinted her eyes and smiled and asked: "Actually, the patriarch has already made a divination before meeting us, right?"

The patriarch hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Su Qingyuan pretended to be indifferent, and continued to ask: "What is the result of divination?"

The patriarch smiled and said: "Madam is really exquisite! It doesn't matter if I tell you - the old man has already known through divination a few days ago that there will be distinguished guests from the clan. gone."

Su Qingyuan curled her lips, and said dissatisfiedly: "Knowing that we are not enemies, you still send so many snakes to meet us!"

The patriarch blushed a little, paused for a moment before laughing and said: "Be careful sailing for ten thousand years, we have no choice but to do so. The sparrow has no malice towards the honored guest. If the snake gets out of control, someone from the clan will go to rescue the honored guest from danger."

Su Qingyuan sneered, expressing her disbelief.

The patriarch twirled his beard and asked with a smile: "Madam's skill of driving snakes should be passed down from the witch clan, right?"

Su Qingyuan was startled, and then she was furious: "Are you spying on us nearby? You deliberately released snakes to watch us frightened, while you watched the fun by yourself? Is this how your sparrows treat guests?"

The patriarch was so embarrassed that he hurriedly bowed his hands and apologized.

Lu Li patted Su Qingyuan's hand, and said with a smile: "The patriarch has explained that after a big distress, he will be cautious in every way. If you are so persistent, people will laugh at us for being stingy!"

Su Qingyuan snorted heavily: "You are not stingy! You are 'gentleman and magnanimous', and I am 'only a woman and a villain are difficult to raise', are you done?"

Lu Li and the patriarch looked at each other and smiled, but the child from earlier answered angrily: "You can just scold yourself, why do you have to get involved with 'little people'? How 'difficult' is it for our children?"

Su Qingyuan was startled and laughed.

The patriarch wanted to scold the child again, but Lu Li laughed and said, "Jing's wife is a bit childish, she likes to quarrel with others the most, the patriarch is not to blame."

"It's true that you are still a child, haha..." The patriarch laughed, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Talking and laughing all the way, turning over a hillside, you can see a house courtyard with white walls and black tiles in the middle of the mountain, surrounded by green trees. It seems that there are always two or three thousand families.

Presumably, the people of Shenque Capital all moved here.No wonder there are many ruins on the road, but few rebuilt new houses.

Pointing to the building, the patriarch sighed to Lu Li: "The sparrow was once magnificent, but now it has become like this... There is no hope of returning to the country, and the official career has been cut off, so it can only live in a corner."

Lu Li pondered for a while, then said calmly: "Actually, the imperial court has no hostility towards Shenque. All the incidents in the past were caused by the instigation of the enemy country, and it was not the fault of the leader of Shenque. How can you not know that you are in a difficult situation?"

"Your guest means..." The patriarch was stunned.

Lu Li smiled: "This junior is lying."

The patriarch was a little excited, and wanted to ask, but felt that it was too presumptuous, so he had to temporarily suppress his thoughts.

The patriarch's residence is a very simple compound, no matter whether it is the appearance or the inside, there is no magnificence at all.

Su Qingyuan curled her lips, just when Ling Lan'er saw her, who immediately said angrily: "What do you mean? Don't you look down on our yard? Our patriarch is different from those domineering officials outside you. Same, you don’t like it, don’t you?”

Su Qingyuan squinted her eyes and said with a smile: "I didn't dislike this courtyard, but sister Ling Lan'er, you disliked me! ——I only dislike things that are prettier than me all my life, I don't know how my sister dislikes you." Is it the same?"

"Of course I don't..." Ling Lan'er stopped in the middle of her retort.

She didn't want to lose her momentum, and she didn't want to admit that the other party was prettier than herself, so she couldn't continue with this sentence.

Lu Li patted Su Qingyuan's hand to signal her to be quiet, then raised his head and asked the patriarch with a smile, "This courtyard is simple and elegant, it doesn't look like it was newly built. Could it be that this place existed before that accident?"

The patriarch nodded and said: "This is not far from the temple. This courtyard was originally the place where the royal family's children rested when they entered the temple to pray for blessings. After the capital was destroyed by Bingxuan, the people lived near the temple and this courtyard. ..."

"The temple? Is it not far from here?" Su Qingyuan couldn't help interjecting and asked.

The patriarch gave her a surprised look, and said calmly, "Of course it's not far away."

Lu Li pressed Su Qingyuan's hand, and said with a smile, "If you have faith, people's hearts won't scatter; if people's hearts don't scatter, the country won't perish. This divine bird may not fly its wings again in the future."

The patriarch looked up at him with excitement.

At this time, a little maid in the hall came out quickly and said anxiously: "The people from the Second Highness's side are here again, Madam can't handle it, the patriarch must think of a way!"

(End of this chapter)