who and the rivers and lakes

This small oasis suddenly appeared at the end of the desert, like a beautiful mirage, and like a spring emerging from the dry and cracked land.The dry air gradually infiltrated with a trace of fresh moisture, and even the fire-like sun above the head was covered by the warm mist.

The camels lined up in a row, shaking the copper bells under their necks, taking steady steps, unhurriedly, walking towards the beautiful oasis, casting long and thin shadows on the golden sand dunes along the way.

This is a caravan across the desert.The camels caught in the procession carried heavy loads, and a man was riding on each of the camels in front and behind.In order to resist the scorching sun and wind and sand in the desert, they are covered from head to toe in black coarse cloth robes.

The camel team walked very slowly, but kept moving forward.As we get closer to the oasis, we can clearly see the city wall rammed with loess, and a few tall green trees that are rare in the desert are exposed in the city wall.

The man at the head turned the reins and stopped by the side of the road, waiting for the camel behind him to catch up. He patted the shoulder of the rider above, pointed to the oasis in front, and said, "Young Master Zhongyuan, Qiongta Town is in front of you. Your destination, and it's time for us to break up."

The rider on the second camel, imitating the others, also covered his whole body with a burqa.He pulled the burqa on his head, revealing a pair of bright eyes, with a quiet smile in his eyes, and said to the man in the head: "Thank you for taking care of me all the way, otherwise I would be lost in this desert." His voice was as clear and gentle as his eyes, and it made people feel trusting.

The man at the head patted the Central Plains man on the shoulder again, and said, "I should be the one to say thank you. If you hadn't helped us drive away those Xixia people pretending to be horse thieves, let alone goods, we wouldn't even be able to keep our heads." " He jumped off the camel while talking, and waited for the Central Plains people to get off the camels, and then said: "My good brother, we will meet later." He said no more, took the reins from the Central Plains people, and then got on the camel, Lead your own caravan to continue the long desert journey.

The Central Plains man covered his head and face with his burqa again, turned his head to look at the endless desert around him, and walked forward.He didn't seem to be walking fast, but he seemed to have walked a long way in the blink of an eye.On the sand behind him, only shallow footprints were left, instead of deep footprints like ordinary people.

Qiongta Town is the largest oasis in this desert, and it is also the junction of Xixia and Liao from the Central Plains, but it is not as prosperous as the usual transportation hub, because this desolate desert blocks many merchants , was also ignored by officials.

Walking through the town gate, there is a main street. There are various small shops crowded on both sides of the street, and the goods are quite complete.There are often people coming and going on the road, and they seem to be busy with something.Although this ordinary town is not rich, everyone is living peacefully and peacefully with each other, as if they are living alone, completely unaffected by outside wars and frauds.

The only conspicuous place in Qiongta Town is a half-person-high clay niche standing on the side of each house, which does not worship gods and Buddhas, but offers a long snow-white silk scarf and a bowl of clear water.

People from the Central Plains walked silently on this street, mingling with the passing crowd.At first glance, he looked no different from the people around him, but after a second look, he seemed completely different.He has pulled down the burqa covering his head and face, his bright eyes are still calm, his gentle and delicate face seems to be incompatible with the roughness of the desert, but his straight nose and the corners of his mouth are drawn, showing that he is more beautiful than the vast desert. A deep and strong will.He shouldn't have appeared in this small town that almost no one knew about, but he happened to be in it. Although he had been used to running around for many years, this time even he himself had a dreamlike feeling of fantasy.

This boundless desert, this pearl-like oasis in the desert, and this peaceful and lonely town really give people an unreal feeling.

However, the people and things on this street are real within reach. Not far from the extension of the street, there is a flag hanging high, with a few words written on it with the wind: "Wusan Inn".Wusan Inn is on this street, and it is also the only inn in Qiongta Town.The Central Plains man stood in front of the inn, looked at it, and walked in.

The front hall of the inn is also used as a tavern, there are only two tables of regular customers, drinking rough wine, eating small dishes, and gossiping in low voices.A shop waiter, dressed in coarse cloth, leaned crookedly in a corner and dozed off.Sitting behind the counter was the shopkeeper. He was obese, with thin eyebrows and thin eyes. His left hand seemed to be disabled. It was tucked into the sleeve and bent on his chest.The shopkeeper lowered his head, flipping through the ledger with his right hand to make plans.The abacus was old and damaged, and was crackled by his fat hand, and it seemed that it would fall apart at any time.Looking at the situation, there are not many customers in this store, and I don't know how he has so many accounts to settle.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the shopkeeper raised his head, a gratifying smile appeared on his chubby face, and a pair of clever little eyes quickly looked up and down the Central Plains people who walked in.He looked at it once, and seemed a little unable to believe his eyes, so he looked up and down carefully, and then said: "Guest officer, you have come from a long way? Do you want to stay in the hotel? This hotel not only provides guest rooms , also serve drinks and food.”

People from the Central Plains don't care about the shopkeeper's probing eyes, thinking that this place is remote, and it's rare to see travelers from far away places.He smiled slightly and said: "I'm staying in the store, please open a private room for the shopkeeper." He spoke concisely and clearly, and never said a word that was useless, but it didn't sound abrupt and rude, maybe because he There is often a modest smile on the corner of his mouth, which is particularly reassuring.

The shopkeeper was stunned instead, staring straight at him, as if he still couldn't believe that this young guest who looked dusty but had a detached temperament really wanted to stay in the shop, and seemed to be secretly guessing and weighing the origin of this guest in his heart and purpose.

Seeing that he didn't respond for a while, the people from the Central Plains reached out and tapped on the counter lightly, and said, "The shopkeeper?"

The shopkeeper suddenly woke up, couldn't stop apologizing, and quickly lowered his head, trying to hide the bewilderment in his eyes.People from the Central Plains saw his demeanor, but they were very self-cultivated. They didn't criticize or investigate carefully, they just stood in front of the counter and waited quietly.

The shopkeeper raised his head again, with a flattering smile on his face, cleared his throat, stretched out the right hand that had just moved the abacus, took a booklet, opened it, picked up a pen again, and asked: "Excuse me, sir. Honorable name?"

"The surname is Zhan, and the name is Zhao." The Central Plains man said.

The tip of the pen paused, and a piece of it was wet on the paper. The shopkeeper raised his head and smiled apologetically, stretched out his right palm to wipe the notebook, and wrote down the customer's name neatly, stroke by stroke.

He moved out of the counter awkwardly, and said to Zhan Zhao: "Young Master Zhan, I will take you to the guest room right now."

Zhan Zhao followed behind him and said, "Excuse me, are you the shopkeeper Wu?"

The shopkeeper looked back at Zhan Zhao, then at the banner outside the shop, and praised: "Mr. Zhan is a good guess, the villain is Wu San."

Zhan Zhao didn't care about his blatant flattery, and just smiled.Wu San walked past the waiter, stretched out his foot and kicked him heavily on the calf, and cursed: "Liuhuai, you have a distinguished guest, and you are still dozing off, go and boil water quickly, and bring it to the Tianzihao room to freshen up for the guests."

The shop waiter was kicked to the leg, but he didn't react much, but he heard that he was a distinguished guest from the Tianzihao room, so he immediately opened his eyes, stared firmly at Zhan Zhao's face, and then ran to the back hall like a fly.Even the guests at the two tables who were drinking and chatting raised their heads in response, looking Zhan Zhao up and down with impunity.

Zhan Zhao's expression remained the same, but Wu San felt embarrassed at first, and apologized again and again, saying: "Mr. Zhan, people in our small place have never seen such an outstanding character as you, so it is inevitable that you will be rude. Please invite me Don't blame me."

Zhan Zhao smiled and said, "It's okay, shopkeeper Wu, please lead the way."

After entering the guest room, it was fairly neatly arranged, but the air in the room was turbid, as if no one had lived in it for a long time.

Zhan Zhao looked around, stretched out his hand to open the window, let in the warm and fresh air in the evening.

He unbuttoned the outer burqa, and put the things he had been carrying on the table, a small bundle and a sword.The sword is hidden in the simple and unsophisticated scabbard, it seems plain and dull, but there seems to be a mysterious connection between the sword and the owner of the sword, the same sharpness, the same calm as a rock, and the same trust in each other , and even attached to each other.This is a good sword that looks ordinary, but definitely not ordinary.

Wu San silently looked at the sword on the table, and silently glanced at the owner of the sword. There was determination in his eyes, but also unspeakable sorrow. It seemed that he had made up his mind to do one thing, but because of another He hesitated about things.

The author has something to say: If there are no accidents such as review, online review, Internet crash, etc., a chapter will be updated every day at 13:00 pm and 19:00 pm, thank you for reading!