Chapter 91

  "Jema Agu, Xuda Lie left last night, you can't catch up!" Bambur shouted loudly.

  Qing Xia's footsteps suddenly stopped on the spot, her hand clutching that scribbled letter. She only felt a thread of bitterness, like wild grass growing wildly, the north wind was cutting and blowing, making people's cheeks ache, Qing Xia leaned against the tent pole and slowly sat down, her hand holding the letter trembling slightly.

  Xu Da Lie, how can you be so cruel and reckless? If something happens to you, do I have to spend the rest of my life filled with guilt and self-blame?

  "Jema Agu," Nakdo asked in a rough voice, "where did Xudalai go? What does the letter say?"

  Qing Xia only felt tired, she supported the pillar and slowly stood up, then walked into the camp and hastily began to pack her bags.

  "Jiema Agu, where are you going?" Bambur followed in, seeing Qing Xia packing her things, hurriedly ran up to her, grabbed her hand and asked loudly.

  Qing Xia patted Bambur's shoulder and said with a wry smile, "I'm not going anywhere else. From now on, I'll just live at your house, okay?"

  "Great!" Bambur exclaimed with joy: "Ama and Amoy will be thrilled, we've been wanting you to come for a long time."

  "Come and help me pick up."

  The three of them hastily gathered up the things Qing Xia used every day, and since there weren't many to begin with, they only filled a small bundle. They led out the black horse from behind the tent, and the three of them left Snow Slope, heading towards the village.

  "What's Jema Agu and Xuda Lie doing?" Bambur thought for a moment, still puzzled.

  "Come on, tell us then." Na Ke said hastily, with a straightforward tone.

  Qing Xia pursed the corner of her mouth, sighed, and said in a low voice: "He went to join the army, and didn't say specifically where he went. If your mother asks, just tell her that he followed the escort team to do business in Guannei to make money, so she won't worry."

  "Joining the army?" The two kids suddenly became excited and shouted loudly: "Wow! Xudalai is going to be a general? That's awesome!"

  Qing Xia shook her head slightly, with a bitter smile. "Generals die in battle, heroes fall after ten years. No one understands the cruelty of war better than I do. Xudalei, how can you be so reckless? Entrusting this old and young family to me, is it to tie my feet? The battlefield is unpredictable, and great military achievements are not easily won."

  "Let's go." He bid farewell to the two kids and went to Aunt Duohehua's home, where he settled down. The grass grew long, the auspicious snow fell again, and before one knew it, another year had passed, with a blanket of white snow covering everything, and the time slipped away like this.

  Xu Da Lie has been gone for a year, and in the blink of an eye, Qing Xia has also stayed in Baixi County for over a year. Xu Da Lie hasn't sent any news back home, and similarly, Yang Fen hasn't had any news either. Qing Xia sat in the small courtyard of Duoyi Flower's house, watching the vast expanse of fiery red clouds drifting by, feeling as though time had grown wings and flown away without a trace, leaving no signs to be seen.

  She put down the thread in her hand and smiled at Mrs. Hanba next door, saying, "That's it, just pull it inside and it's done."

  "Ah," said Hanba's aunt with a simple smile, stretching out her rough big hand to pull over Qingxia's hand, looking at them repeatedly, and then holding up her own hand high, saying: "These are all the same, how come mine is so clumsy?"

  Qing Xia smiled and said: "It's just a matter of practicing regularly, this is actually quite simple."

  "Alas, Hanba's aunt hastily shook her head and said: 'It won't work, it won't work.'"

  "Jiema Agu!" The sudden shout made Qing Xia stunned, she raised her head and saw Bambur and Nakdu riding horses galloping into the courtyard, jumping off their horses agilely and running to Qing Xia's front, shouting loudly: "Jiema Agu, come with us quickly!"

  Qing Xia and Han Ba's aunt stood up together, putting down the scissors, needles and threads on their knees. Qing Xia asked in confusion: "What happened? Why so urgent?"

  "We found a man under the crooked neck tree who seemed to be dying, and we found this on him." He handed Qing Xia a long scroll.

  Qing Xia saw the scroll, her eyebrows involuntarily raised, and a sense of unease suddenly rose to her heart. She quickly opened it, only to see that it was painted with a woman wearing armor, with flying eyebrows and eyes, and it was actually Lin Mubai's self-portrait painted by himself back then!

  "Where is he?" Qing Xia asked in surprise and hastily.

  Bamboo shoots quickly said: "Just by the big river bank of the crooked neck tree, go quickly, I see him exhaling more and inhaling less, 80% chance he won't make it."

  "Hurry up!" Qing Xia turned around and climbed onto the horseback, the two brothers rode one horse, leading the way far ahead.

  "Bamboo, what does he look like? How old is he?"

  He was about my age, thirteen or fourteen. His clothes were tattered and his face was smudged with dirt, so I couldn't see what he looked like clearly.

  Thirteen or fourteen years old? Qing Xia's eyebrows rose slightly, and she muttered to herself. However, she still followed behind the two people. Since this person could have this painting, it means that Ding He and Lin Mu Bai must have some relationship, and she couldn't just ignore it.

  They weren't far apart to begin with, and after a short while, they arrived at the riverbank. The big river had already frozen over, and Qing Xia followed the Bamur brothers as they quickly ran under the trees, where they saw a young man lying in the snow, his whole body stiff and his face pale, almost frozen to death. Qing Xia took one glance and felt that the other person looked somewhat familiar, but couldn't recall where he had seen him before. He said to Nakamu, "Nakamu, carry him on your back, let's head back."

  "Alright," Nakudo exerted great strength and lifted the young man up with one hand, asking Qing Xia: "Jiema Agu, shall we head home?"

  "No," Qing Xia shook her head and said, "He won't last that long, take him directly to my tent."

  Several people quickly carried the young man to Qing Xia's tent on the snowy slope, where Bambur lit a fire and Qing Xia administered first aid after hypothermia. Fortunately, the child was young, and his breathing stabilized in no time, narrowly escaping danger.

  Qing Xia let out a long breath and said to Banbur and Nake Duo, "You two go back home first and tell Mother about it so she won't worry. Then bring over a set of clothes."

  The two of them agreed and left. Qing Xia stayed in the tent, looking at the pale-faced young man. When she was doing CPR on him earlier, she clearly saw the countless scars on his body, including arrow wounds and knife wounds. Who could have inflicted such cruelty on a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy? And why did he have Lin Mu Bai's painting on him?

  At this moment, the feeling of being stared at suddenly rose, and Qing Xia turned her head to look. She saw that the young man had already woken up, but he didn't open his mouth to speak, only coldly staring at her, with a probing, observing, cautious, and slightly defensive gaze in his eyes. Like a wolf cub trapped in a trap, its first reaction was not to pounce forward fiercely, but to cautiously observe the surrounding situation. Qing Xia had no doubt that if she showed even a hint of ferocity now, this young man would rush up like a leopard and fight her to the death, perhaps even before that, he would stir up the ashes and throw a handful of dirt at her.

  Deeply sunken eye sockets on his lean cheeks had a hint of wind and frost, Qing Xia looked at the inquiring eyes of this young man, smiled slightly, but in her heart, a faint bitterness slowly rose, in this chaotic world, wanting to survive was really very difficult.

  "It was my two younger brothers who found you, what's your name?"

  Qing Xia used his warmest voice to say, but the boy's vigilant expression not only didn't fade away, but instead became even colder as he asked: "You are the person in the painting."

  It's not a question, but a complete affirmation. Qing Xia knew that saying anything else would be useless, so she took a deep breath, nodded and said: "Yes, I have met Lin Mu Bai before, and I also want to know where you got this painting from."

  "Is this the work of Wen Shilin, the great master?" The young man's eyebrows rose slightly, with a hint of heroic spirit. His narrow eyes narrowed and slowly closed, his brow furrowed as if in thought. After a moment, he opened them again and nodded, saying: "Indeed, it is the style of ###'s painting."

  "What about this painting?" Qing Xia furrowed her brow, carefully choosing her words before finally asking in a low voice: "Where did you get it from?"

  The young man glanced at Xia with a slanted gaze, silently and wordlessly, seemingly not intending to respond to her words. His tattered and dirty clothes couldn't hide his extraordinary aura, and he suddenly spoke in a low voice: "Being able to see you is also fate. I don't dare forget the great kindness of saving my life, so I'll take my leave now." After speaking, he lifted the curtain and was about to walk out.

  "Halt!" Qing Xia suddenly shouted loudly, his hand moving as fast as lightning to grab the youth's slender shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed instantly, and he involuntarily loosened his grip. Upon closer inspection, a faint thread of blood was visible on the youth's shoulder, indicating that the injury was not light.

  "I won't ask who you are. Here, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, so don't worry about being pursued to death. You're injured this badly, on a bitterly cold day like today, going out would be certain death." Qing Xia said in a low voice, his eyes flashing with a hint of fierce intensity.

  The young man clenched his fists, with a faint hint of pain between his eyebrows. After a long time, he still shook his head and said softly: "Thank you for your kindness, but I still can't stay here."

  "Where can you go?" Qing Xia suddenly stood up from the ground, grasped the young man's wrist and said sternly: "If you had somewhere to go, you wouldn't have run all the way out here!"

  A thread of sorrow suddenly rose slowly from her chest, and many past events rushed through her mind. She tightly grasped the boy's palm, and a strong sense of guilt and self-blame was eating away at her heart like a giant insect. The boy curiously turned his head, slightly raising an eyebrow.

  "Do you think I won't be able to guess who you are if you don't say it? Qing Xia's face was calm, with a faint smile, her hands tightly grasping the boy's hand. Finally, she said in a low voice: "I and your older brother, as well as your sister, we're all friends."

  The young man suddenly turned his head, staring at Qing Xia fixedly. After a long while, a layer of icy mist rose in his bright eyes, and he hastily turned away. A drop of water fell along his lean chin onto Qing Xia's hand.

  "I know everything." Qing Xia held the young man's hand tightly and said firmly: "I'm not capable, I couldn't save them, but now, I can't ignore you."

  Outside, the wind howled like a ferocious beast. The world was so vast, and individual abilities were insignificant, but it was this coincidence that gave her an opportunity to pardon him. Qing Xia took a deep breath and said softly: "Stay here to recover from your injuries, and later you can do whatever you want, I won't stop you."

  "Jiema Agu, we're back!"

  The curtains opened with a rustling sound, and the wind and sunlight outside poured in together.