Dow and Carbon-Based Monkey Breeding Guidelines

Chapter 405 The Man Who Blows the Magic Flute

The old man turned the stick slowly, letting it stir in the broth to keep the heat even.The shiny steel surface of the machete reflected half of his face like a mirror.The quality of the knife is excellent.In today's world, even a peasant girl rarely encounters such a high-quality sword, and she can't help but wonder why it appeared on a robber.

"It seems I have no choice," said the old man.

A group of dozens of people surrounded them.Their smiles were fierce and obscene, and one of them walked around the campfire, trying to drag the peasant girl away from her position.

"Hey, hey!" the man with the gold ring hissed. "It's not funny," he said, "you didn't hear me?"

The person who dragged the peasant girl hurriedly let go, and backed away fearfully and cautiously.

"My fellows never know the timing," said the man with the gold ring, "and are forever hungry like wild dogs, never learning the importance of waiting. But they're assiduous when they're working, and so are they when they're having fun. .”

He waved his hand and asked those laughing people to sit a little away from the bonfire.The three girls who were chained were also driven there.They were all barefoot and covered in bruises.One had a rough leather cord around his waist.She had apparently been hung from the horse by the rope, and had several bloodstains from it.When she was driven tremblingly into the crowd, several people stretched out their hands and squeezed her horrible body.The other two were treated the same, but they were both silent, except for a vague, suppressed sob at rare moments.Someone pushed them to the ground and surrounded them.

"Stop it," said the man with the gold ring. "Can we please these lovely grandparents? Guys, that can be done every day, as long as you like. But now this loving Grandpa is going to tell a story, so can you bear with me a little longer?"

"I'm only interested in his granddaughter's story tonight," said one of them.The roar of laughter drowned out the howling winter wind.

Again the man with the gold ring stopped them. "That depends on how the grandfather behaves tonight," he said. "We've got to keep our word—but it's a bit of a dull winter's night, damn it. I think you'd all like something to keep warm."

"I would like to dedicate the food to these gentlemen to enjoy." The old man said wisely.So some men came up and took away the broth and all the food.They took many fine silver dishes from the goods outside the willows, and used them to serve soup and cut meat, and feast on them.

A golden bowl was filled with broth, and sprinkled with croutons, and offered to the man with the gold ring before the campfire.Instead of grabbing pieces of meat roughly with his hands like his accomplices, he scooped up bread and soup with a spoon.He tasted it slowly, and said, "Your craftsmanship is not bad. And this meat, it's a surprise that it didn't come from a graveyard."

"It's venison, sir. I'm not lying."

The man with the gold ring put down his spoon.His sharp, wolf-like eyes looked back and forth across the old man's face through the mist of broth.

"You don't look like an old man from the village," he said.

"People always have some days when they are young and proud."

"Worked with a nobleman?"

The reserved and gentle smirk appeared on the old man's face again.That expression is very cryptic, only the peasant girl can distinguish it.Fire flickered in his dark, pupilless eyes.Under the dancing tongue of fire, tiny shadows squirm like snakes and ants.

"I have had the pleasure of meeting a king," he said, "as never before or since."

The man wearing the gold ring laughed disapprovingly, and the suspicion in those cold eyes was replaced by contempt and disgust.He stroked the back of the knife with his right hand and said, "You speak very loudly, old man. It makes me wonder whether your previous assurance is true. But maybe what you said is true, because the king is all liars, scum, fools, madmen, Coward...you only need to see a king with a slightly normal mind, even a monarch who rules a cesspit, he can be regarded as unprecedented."

The old man stared silently at the campfire.The man with the gold ring taps his spoon on the side of the bowl: "I think we can get started."

The peasant girl raised her head.These outsiders have aroused her dislike, if the old man is not present, she has already planned to call Feilong to come.But she hesitated again, because she never revealed her real body to the old man.When she was still hesitating, the old man had already told the story of Zou Yi from the beginning.Brief and quick this time.When he mentioned that the Zouyi clan had gone into hiding in the mountains, the man wearing the golden ring laughed.

"It seems that this is a strong and cowardly person." He commented, "But killing someone made him frightened like this. If he is really unbeatable, he should also kill those pursuers."

"The enforcers of that realm possess powers he does not understand."

"The mountain people you speak of? Are they ghosts or elves?"

"More like gods."

The man wearing the gold ring let out a "hiss".The expression on his face changed suddenly, and he said in a deadpan voice, "The gods are just a hoax."

"You think so." The old man said uncertainly.

"If they aren't the greatest liars, they are the greatest lies, aren't they?" said the man with the gold ring. "Look what life we ​​live. If the world was held up by eight gigantic pillars, and the The gods made it. What are they doing now? Or do they suddenly not care about us at all? The land of mist, where they used to say the gods lived, but who has seen it? Huh? Peffin Na! Have you ever seen the gods?"

"I've seen their wooden gods!" a man seated far away raised his voice and replied, "their butts are round enough! And smooth! You'll have to drill a hole!"

"That's too hard!" said another.

"Stuff it with leather pads and bread, you idiot! You and a woman will get stuck!"

They laughed like crazy.The peasant girl sat quietly where she was, feeling puzzled.She saw the old man's eyes turn to her, with a strange knowing smile on his face.

"I don't know much about the gods here," said the old man, "but I do see you, with blood on your hands and heavy words."

The man wearing the gold ring looked at him curiously. "Heavy," he repeated, "I was only joking, old man. We should all take it easy, there's no escape anyway."

"Some things can only be said in jokes, and that's because they are too heavy, sir. Understatement is only a trick of form."

"You do love storytelling," the man said. "Go on. What happened to our murderer stuck in the mountains?"

"An adventure... On a certain night, when he was sleeping in the cave, he heard the sound of talking from outside. At this time, he had been away from the world for ten years, and he had never heard a word from an outsider. He was full of surprise He stood up and peeked at the situation outside. With the bright light of the full moon, he saw a group of young women bathing and playing in the mountain lake..."

The audience laughed again.The man scraped off the oil stains on his lips with the ring on his left hand, and said with a smile: "I guess he has his eyes on one or several of them."

"As you expected, sir. Among the young women with mysterious backgrounds, he saw a black-haired woman. Her beauty was unprecedented in the world, and her demeanor was like the incarnation of the moon. That's what made Zou Yishi suddenly possessed. He stole the lightest and most beautiful clothes from the shore, and hid in the bushes to wait. At dawn, all the women put on their clothes, turned into various birds and flew away, only the black-haired woman could not find her lake water She had to stay alone in the lake in the blue veil dress. At this time, Zou Yi stepped forward and chatted with the woman. She asked him to return the clothes, but... I don't think I need to go into details about how he chose. That matter It happened, and you gentlemen can't guess it."

The old man used a wooden stick to stir the bonfire, so that the weakened flames would re-emerge and burn violently.Pointing to the fire with his stick, he said, "O love. The fire of redemption, the light of sin."

Those people were all breathless with laughter.The old man just raised his eyebrows indifferently.He went on to say: "Now Zouyi is no longer alone. He feels that this is some kind of fate, which guides him to repent. And the mysterious woman - who claimed to be the fiancée of a dragon king - is now gone. and became his wife. They decided to leave the mountains together, and go to a new life where no one could find them. So they went west, after many hardships, and finally came to the westernmost area of ​​​​the continent. There, the mountain people The rule of the king is the weakest, and the laws of the central monarch are difficult to reach. They found a shelter in the local famous family. This is the middle-aged Zou Yi, but his martial arts have been honed in the mountains, and he has become a member of the family. The eldest son's martial arts teacher. Soon after, his wife became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy."

The old man spoke unhurriedly.At this time, it was past midnight, the stars began to dim, and there was a faint red light in the sky.The man wearing the gold ring shook his head slightly, showing a very inconspicuous tiredness.

"A lucky story," he said, "but where's the mythical part of it? Because the woman turns into a bird when she puts on the dress?"

"Because of their children."

"Oh, a beloved of God's blessing."

"Do not."

The old man paused for a while amidst the howling of the winter wind.With an almost resigned smile on his face, he said when the wind ended, "That's a crazy baby."

(End of this chapter)