Half blood

The mountain was roasted by the fire, and the dark black stones gave off a dark red luster. The small hissing sound due to the heat expansion tested the nerves of everyone present. Li Xuan stared at the red stones, and whispered: Said: "Sprinkle with water."

There was a rush of water, and the clear river water in June was brought up with a wooden bucket, and all of it was poured on the dark red stone.When the water touched the surface of the stubborn stone, it instantly turned into a cloud of white gas, and then the soldier standing on the side holding the hammer waved the sweat on his forehead with his hand, and shouted loudly: "Ah heh!" The ten-jin-heavy iron hammer hit the rock with a clang, and flames splashed all over the place.

Li Xuanneng heard the sound of the boulder cracking, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, and shouted again: "Add fire." The tongue of fire sprang up, like a serpent of a giant python, licking frantically.Accompanied by another loud bang, the boulder was completely shattered, and there was a rumbling sound, and a tiankeng was suddenly opened in the mountain. If you want to dig through it, you only need to blast it several times. up.

All the disgraced soldiers cheered, sighed, and shouted.In fact, they also knew clearly in their hearts that they would not know until three days later whether the dike was useful.But they just wanted to be happy, and this small success gave them the best reason.So they laughed, made noise, and waited, waiting for the storm after the tranquility.

Li Xuan was also smiling, his face was tanned by the hot sun for the past few days, but his brown eyes looked brighter.He turned his head to look at Li Xiuqi who was smiling, and felt warm in his heart.He stretched out his sweaty hand, grasped Li Xiuqi's wrist, and said in a low voice: "Come with me, I have something to show you." Then he pulled Li Xiuqi to the other side of Xingchuan Mountain.

The farther you go, the farther away you are from the crowd, and at the end you can only hear faint cheers, and the night by the river is even more moving. You can see one round of bright moon hanging in the sky, and another round submerged in the blue waves of the river. , the river is half rustling and half fiery red.Li Xiuqi followed behind Li Xuan silently, not knowing what he was going to show him, but he didn't really want to know that much, he felt that just walking along the river would already be a great joy in life .

After walking for a while, Li Xuan stopped behind a big rock, looked around, then mysteriously took out a cylinder from his arms, and said, "I went to find that white-haired man a few days ago. The old man, I told him not to use you as a medicine man to mess around all the time, and stab you with a few gold needles and silver needles at every turn. Then the old man mentioned to me that the sixth day of June is your birthday, and today happens to be On the sixth day of June, I want you to be two years older than me. This year happens to be a weak year, so this birthday should not be hasty. But the situation in the south is different, and I can’t hold a decent birthday party for you. I thought about it, Then I used the gunpowder that Big Brother Wei gave us to make you a loose flower tube," Li Xuan said as he put the cylinder on the ground, and opened the guide rope with his hands.

"But this is the first time I have made this thing. I borrowed a book called "Fire Play" from Gastrodia, and made it according to the book. I don't know if the amount is right, and the technique is right. No, I need one tael of nitrate, two cents and five cents of sulfur, and coal, charcoal, and iron. These things are easy to get, and they are all in gunpowder, but I also need eggplant ash. I didn’t get this, so I can only get I replaced it with fir-shaped wicker. I don’t know if it will work, and it’s possible to make it into a squib.”

After speaking, he lit the guide rope with a torch, then grabbed Li Xiuqi's wrist and dragged him behind the big rock.The stone was not big, barely covering the two of them, and the two of them stood next to each other tightly behind the stone, and could feel each other's heat and heartbeat.Li Xuan suddenly panicked, he pressed the restless heart in his chest with a guilty conscience, only then did he realize that he was still holding Li Xiuqi's wrist.For a moment, he was reluctant to let go, so he held it secretly, feeling as if he had a small bamboo shoot in his hand.

He looked out again, and saw that the guide rope attached to the cylinder had long been burned out, but the sound of the artillery was still not heard.Li Xuan was a little discouraged, thinking that the cannon was too embarrassing, even if it rang once, it would be good.But the cylinder just stood on the ground, motionless.

Li Xuan rubbed his nose in embarrassment, came out from behind the stone, and said, "I didn't expect my skills to be so incompetent, I'm really a squib..."

Li Xiuqi also came out from behind the stone and said: "Your Highness, don't think so, I like this gift you prepared for me very much. I always forget my birthday, thank you Your Highness for taking it to heart ..." Li Xiuqi's clear eyes were filled with moisture under the moonlight, and there was an unspeakable emotion inside. Li Xuan just looked at it, and felt uncomfortable in his heart. He thought to himself, if no one treats Li Xiuqi in this world Well, then he will treat him twice as well alone, more than all the people combined.

"Then I threw this squib into the water, but I was so mad that I wouldn't even make a sound." When the squib heard that Li Xuan was about to throw it into the water, the squib was frightened, as the saying goes Said that water and fire are incompatible, how can it roll into the river and be bullied by the water?Then there was a crackling sound, and Shi Ke blew himself into the sky without shame.

Li Xuan only felt that the sky suddenly brightened, and a burst of red light reflected half of Li Xiuqi's face. When he looked up, he saw the shadows of flames all over the sky, and a flower of three colors bloomed above his head. The flower rose to the sky and split into several pieces. Then it fell down all of a sudden, the eyes were full of colorful colors just now, but in just a moment, there was only a faint trace of gray left.

Li Xuan blinked, and said: "This cannon is a bit strong, but it's too fleeting. It always makes people feel a little regretful."

Li Xiuqi also raised his head, looked at the faint imprint left in the sky, and said, "Actually, looking at it from a distance, everything is so short-lived. You think the fireworks are short-lived, but compared with the ages, we are How long can you live, but it is just a short time, no longer than this fireworks. But if you look closer, mayflies have a short life, and they live and die at night. Compared with them, this fireworks is a lifetime."

Li Xuan listened quietly, he didn't quite understand what Li Xiuqi said, but he felt that these words must not be good, what good could be about life and death?He then said: "I think we will be able to live. It was Rong Nuo who said that I have the appearance of an emperor and I will not die. If I don't die, I won't let you die. As for your illness ..." Li Xuan paused, and then said: "When I return to the capital, I will find you a good doctor. Don't underestimate the imperial physicians in the palace, they are all capable people."

Li Xiuqi smiled and said, "Your Highness, I'm sorry. I'm skeptical about Miss Rong's other words, but I completely believe in this sentence." Li Xuan then grinned, and said: "Today, you should rest early, and tomorrow The villagers are going to be moved to the mountain." Li Xiuqi nodded, saluted, then turned and walked towards the camp.

Li Xuan stood on the spot, looked at the figure that was fading away and sighed softly. He didn't know what he was looking forward to. Obviously, this appearance was already very good, but he just wasn't satisfied. He wanted More, he wanted to get closer, "Damn it..." He cursed in his heart, and said to himself: "Li Xuan, Li Xuan, what are you thinking, he is your father's son! Cousin’s son, you are the cousin, put away those weird thoughts in your heart!” Then he took a deep breath and began to recite silently: “The destiny is nature, the willfulness is the way, and cultivating the way It is called teaching. The Dao is one that cannot be separated even for a moment, but it is not the Tao. Therefore, a gentleman is cautious about what he does not see, and fears what he does not hear..." While chanting, he walked along the path to his room go.

On the second day, Li Xuan and Li Xiuqi went to the village together.Another day is the ten days that Rong Nuo said.Today's river is quiet, the surface of the river is as smooth as a mirror, and there is not a trace of waves.But the villagers still remember that time decades ago, when the river was so calm, but just when they were unprepared, there was a strange wave, which engulfed the entire village at once.

There are no people in the village anymore, most of the people packed up their belongings early and went to the mountain, only a few households remained and refused to leave for a long time.I saw a few people sitting in front of the door frames of several houses with cigarette poles. All of them had faces as yellow as wax, standing motionless in front of their own small house.Li Xuan looked at the appearance of these people, and suddenly had a cold thought in his heart. He felt that these people were just waiting to die.

Li Xiuqi said: "I'm going to persuade these families, you go ahead and see if there are still people who haven't left."

Li Xuan nodded and walked forward.He suddenly found a house that looked strangely familiar to him. The two low and dilapidated rooms were connected together, and there was a big hole repaired with new blue tiles on the roof of one of them.

These few blue tiles made Li Xuan immediately recognize that this was the house where he and Li Xiuqi hid from the rain that day.So he walked forward, and as soon as he approached, he heard an old coughing sound from inside. He quickly knocked on the door frame and called, "Is the old man there?"

There were sparse sounds in the room, and the door was opened with a creak. The white-bearded old man leaned out of the room, his cloudy eyes saw the person coming, narrowed into a line, dumb He said in a low voice, "Isn't this little brother? Why are you here today?"

Li Xuan arched his hands and said: "Old man, why are you still here? Haven't you heard? There may be a flood tomorrow, so hurry up and hide in the mountains!"

When the old man heard this, he lowered his cloudy eyes and murmured: "I know, I know...but this is my house, this is my home, I want, I want to keep it...Zhi After my son left, I asked me to guard this house, this is our house..."

For a moment Li Xuan didn't understand what this meant, and didn't know who Zhi'er was, so he said, "Old man, this house has no legs, so it won't go anywhere. The house is dead and the people are alive." Yes, you can go up the mountain first, and it will not be too late to come back after tomorrow. If something happens to you while you stay here, what is the use of this house?"

The old man waved his hand and said: "You don't understand, you don't understand... I have lived alone for more than 80 years, and I have been alone for so many years. Everyone died, all died in that water, Zhi'er is gone, and Da Mao and Er Mao are gone too. I'm the only one sitting in that little tub."

"That wooden basin was made of mahogany, and it was specially made for Zhi'er to have Ermao. In the end, my poor Ermao didn't use it once, and I used it. He floated on the river for three days and three nights. I just crawled in the basin by myself, crying my eyes out. In the end, I was discovered by a dirty fisherman. That kind man used a boat pole to get me out of the basin and into the boat. When we got on the boat, the basin floated down the river...and then disappeared..."

The old man suddenly raised his head, leaning towards Li Xuan with a wrinkled face, his sunken cloudy eyes suddenly flashed a frightening light, "Say, do you think I'm still a human? Run for your life and let your wife and son die in the water. I am not human at all. I have lived alone for so many years. It is time. They, they are coming to pick me up..."

The old man said more and more quietly, and finally seemed to be talking to himself.Li Xuan didn't know how to comfort him for a while, he lowered his head, thinking about how this old man came here for so many years.The old man stopped talking, turned around and walked into the dark room.

Li Xuan said: "Old man, you, are you really not leaving?"

The old man shook his head lightly, and said hoarsely, "I won't go, I'll stay here..."

Li Xuan knew that no matter what he said, it was useless, so he sighed softly, bowed to the old man with his back turned, and said, "Old man, I'm leaving, take care of yourself alone." The room responded , as if through decades of time, sighed in this empty room.