flapping wings

Qi Ping sat exhausted on the trunk of the crooked-neck tree by the cliff, his whole body was on the verge of falling, as if he could fall directly from the sky with just a slight breath.

Looking at the pursuers who kept surrounding him, Qi Ping licked his chapped lips, squeezed out a bit of saliva, and moistened his throat.

"I want to drink water." Qi Ping began to make a condition as a matter of course: "It's better to have a roast chicken."

Seeing that the leader's expression became a little ugly, he shrugged: "Half is fine."

After a while, it seemed that no one was in the mood to reply to him. Seeing that the atmosphere was getting more and more awkward, Qi Ping had no choice but to say, "Okay, a piece of sesame seed cake."

"You know we're here to catch you, right?" Xiao Wu gritted his teeth and looked at the little bastard in front of him. He still couldn't forget Xiao Liu's appearance when he died.

They all grew up together. Although they are not close to each other, anyone who has only such a "relative" in this world will forget the unhappiness in the past.

"Of course I haven't forgotten." Qi Ping grinned treacherously, blinked and pointed to the abyss under his buttocks: "So if I accidentally fall, you can only go back with a pile of rotten meat resurrected."

"I advise you to cooperate now, it's still very uncomfortable to feel that life is worse than death," Xiao Wu waved his hand: "Do you want us to catch you or come here by yourself?"

Qi Ping looked down, the mist filled the air, and it was impossible to judge how high the cliff was, but it was probably more than enough to blow his brains out and make him completely unrecognizable.

Lush and lush plants faintly flashed from the mist, and there was no telling how likely he was caught by the fluffy canopy along the way, and then landed unharmed at the bottom of the valley.

He looked at the people in front of him again, thinking of the bodies of the Qi family who had been tortured beyond human form, he suddenly felt that it would be nice to be thrown to death.

Therefore, he was full of confidence and shouted: "You might as well take a gamble and see how I will choose."

"I bet no matter what conditions you meet, you won't obediently go with us, so it's obviously useless to continue the stalemate." Xiao Wu took a step forward and said with a faint smile: "Mr. Qi, I only advise you In a word, it is possible to be alive, and it is really impossible to come back after death.”

Qi Ping bit his lip fiercely, and was poked at the sore spot on the spot, even though he looked calm at the moment, he couldn't help feeling a little hesitant in his heart.

Live or die?

Seeing Xiao Wu who was leading the people walking towards the edge of the cliff, he moved his butt back, his eyes filled with hesitation.

He has a master and a brother, even if it is dangerous, he believes that these two people will come to the dragon's lair for him.

The crooked neck tree is rooted in the soil and rocks, and the root system absorbs the little nutrition to maintain its own growth.

No matter how tenacious they are, how tough they are, and how solid they look, it has to be admitted that for them, maintaining their own lives is already very difficult.

At this time, when another life weighing more than 100 kilograms is on its shoulders, the final result is often that they all die together.

So before Qi Ping could make a decision on his own, he heard a click, and then his ass was empty, and he fell straight down.

The expressions of the pursuers on the cliff became sluggish, obviously unable to think about what to do next?

"I'll go back with you guys, come and pull me!" Qi Ping started scratching his arms, trying to grab a chance of life, he realized clearly that, no matter what, he wanted to live.

But there was no chance at this time, and Ya Ding was getting farther and farther away from him, Qi Ping closed his eyes resignedly, "Goodbye, master and brother, villain Mu Xiaoque."

"If you scold me again, I'll throw you down," Mu Xiaoque said in a weak voice, he grabbed the edge of the cliff with one hand, and put his arm around Qi Ping's waist with the other.

Qi Ping opened his eyes suddenly, and the moment he saw Mu Xiaoque, he hugged Mu Xiaoque's waist tightly with his arms: "Why did the villain come here?"

"Hold on tight," Mu Xiaoque ordered, and let go of Qi Ping with the other hand, and kicked Qi Ping on the smooth cliff while hanging on the bottom of his foot, and bounced upwards with both hands at the same time.

"Brother Mu, run," the moment they climbed to the top, Xiaobao rode a wild boar and dashed through the encirclement, causing people to turn their backs on their backs.

The moment the wild boar fell down, Mu Xiaoque grabbed Xiaobao's sleeve, stepped on the lightness kung fu and swaggered away from the crowd.

When they returned to the cave, they all felt like they were surviving a catastrophe. They gnawed on the hard and greasy roast venison, but felt it was more delicious than any delicacies from mountains and seas.

Mu Xiaoque glanced at Qi Ping's worn out palm, lowered her eyes and said nothing.

"Brother Seven, we saw the trap you left behind in the forest." Xiaobao looked at Qi Ping with an adoring expression, "When did you make that?"

"I made it during the two days of fleeing," Qi Ping swallowed the venison that was scratching his throat, "I spent a few nights in the woods making this thing when I was out hunting, after all, I was well prepared."

After finishing speaking, he rubbed against Mu Xiaoque, and asked with anticipation on his face, "Am I powerful?"

Mu Xiaoque turned her head and looked directly into his eyes, and finally nodded seriously after a long while, then without giving Qi Ping a chance to bluff, she got down to business, "When do you plan to go down the mountain?"

"The sooner the better," Qi Ping sighed, "I can't stay in this broken forest for a day, but how do we get out of the mountain? The mountain is surrounded by them."

"Let's break through," Mu Xiaoque said, "They are seriously injured now, so it shouldn't be a problem to break out now."

After filling their stomachs, the three left along the mountain road swaggeringly. Since Mu Xiaoque woke up, Qi Ping and Xiaobao regained their confidence, and they didn't care at all whether they were pretending to be powerful or not.

However, the trip out of the mountain went smoothly this time, not to mention ambushes on the way, even the people surrounding the mountain disappeared.

Qi Ping couldn't help stretching, and finally saw the sun again.

After walking down the mountain for a while, they arrived at Yong'an City. Qi Ping and the others didn't even have the mood to look at the customs, so they went down to the roadside stall led by Mu Xiaoque to eat a few big meat pies and a bowl of wontons, and then went straight to The largest local inn settled down.

Qi Ping looked up at the word Beishan on the signboard of the inn, and recalled that the largest restaurant in Mission Hills City seemed to be also called Beishan.

Mu Xiaoque noticed Qi Ping's gaze and kindly explained: "Behind Beishan is a mysterious neutral force in the rivers and lakes. Below it are restaurants, inns, brothels and gambling houses."

"How mysterious?" Hearing Qi Ping's question, Mu Xiaoque also looked up at the golden signboard shining in the sun, "It's so mysterious that no one knows the exact name of this faction."

After asking for three upper rooms, Qi Ping smelled the smell of sweat as soon as he entered the room, and he fell directly on the bed without hesitation.

In the past few days on the mountain, he basically didn't close his eyes, and he was already extremely tired at this time.

...............

The moon was in the middle of the sky, the room was pitch black, Mu Xiaoque lay on the bed and looked at the top of the bed.

He has been staring straight at it for more than two hours, as if he wanted to see the Big Dipper twinkling in the night sky through numerous barriers.

After lying down for a long while, he finally got up and put on his coat, picked up the wine jug that was often hung on his waist to refill wine, pushed the window and jumped up to the roof.

"Not asleep yet?" He stepped on the tiles of the bedding without making any sound, and he walked slowly towards the slightly lonely figure sitting in the corner of the roof.

Hearing the voice, Qi Ping quickly raised his sleeves and wiped his face, then asked in a nasal voice: "You have suffered such a serious injury, why haven't you rested yet?"

"Jueqian, Xunsi came up to drink and enjoy the moon," Mu Xiaoque walked up to Qi Ping and sat down, uncorked the pot and took a sip.

The wine burned all the way down the esophagus into the stomach, making people warm up. He handed it to Qi Ping: "Drink?"

"Seeing that you don't usually drink too much, you have such a big jug hanging upside down," Qi Ping took a few gulps from the jug before handing it back again.

"The only relic left by the old man is hanging on his body," Mu Xiaoque touched the scratched body of the pot with his fingers.

Although the two words written on it have been smoothed, it can be vaguely distinguished as "Bu Huan". He sighed and said, "When you are in a bad mood, drink a few sips."

"What kind of wine is in it?" Qi Ping took a few sips of wine and his whole body became hot, "It's so strong."

"Xinghuacun," Mu Xiaoque took another sip, "A cup of Xinghuacun will make you forget your past."

The two were silent for a moment, Qi Ping turned his head without saying a word, then rubbed his eyes secretly, "Ahem, I'm just playing here! Just leave if you have nothing to do!"

Mu Xiaoque turned a deaf ear and looked up at the starry sky, drinking lightly.

"I just miss home," Qi Ping cleared his throat, "I miss my master and brother, the pheasants and houses in the mountains, and the candied fruit and dried fish in the town."

"Go back when you're tired," Mu Xiaoque's voice still contained no emotion, neither comforting nor persuasive, just listening to him continue: "I'll go back to that town and maybe visit you when I'm done. .”

Qi Ping couldn't help belching, he patted his chest, took a few deep breaths, then turned his head and said calmly: "But if you beg me, I won't leave."

"Why did I ask you?" Although it was a question, there was no surprise or doubt in Mu Xiaoque's tone, as if she knew that the other party would have this answer, and he just continued.

"Did you forget that you said I was the bait?" Qi Ping turned his head and rested his chin on Mu Xiaoque's shoulder, his red and swollen eyes were full of sincerity: "I want to stay, help you, and protect you."

Mu Xiaoque looked away and lowered her head, and tied her fingers around the rope tied to the jug, "If you want to help me, you must not only be prepared to lose your life, but also have the awareness to stain your hands with blood."

He looked at Qi Ping's hand on his sleeve, stretched out his hand and held it in his hand, with the palm facing up, rubbed the scars all over it and asked in a low voice: "When you deal with the wicked, you will eventually become a part of him, Are you not afraid?"

"I'm afraid," Qi Ping curled up his hands, the scars on his palms reminded him how many people he had killed all the time.

Those people not only died by his hands, but also died in his heart, as long as he closed his eyes, he could see all kinds of death.

He couldn't sleep, even at this moment when he was extremely tired.

"Why did you kill someone?" Qi Ping grabbed Mu Xiaoque's hand, "Family? Moral? Responsibility?"

"Family? Responsibilities?" Mu Xiaoque glanced at her tightly grasped hand, then at Qi Ping: "It's also for myself."

"I can survive for myself," Qi Ping frowned and looked at Mu Xiaoque: "For the more than 50 lives of the Qi family, in order not to bring trouble to Master and Senior Brother, and to protect you, no matter how legitimate the reason is, , I'm still afraid."

"Well, I was so scared that I cried," Qi Ping immediately retorted, "I didn't cry, hiccup!"

Mu Xiaoque let go of his hand with a soft sigh, stood up and looked at the starry sky above her head: "Tomorrow I will send someone to secretly take you home, this place is destined not to belong to you."

Qi Ping frowned more and more tightly: "Why are you so stupid, hiccup! At this point, I can't get out of my body anymore. If I leave safely, it's just you who are behind me to carry all this for me."

"There are too many burdens to carry, and I don't care if you are one more."

Hearing this, Qi Ping stood up abruptly, and faced himself with Mu Xiaoque's shoulders: "Who do you think you are? Superman? Hiccup! Mu Xiaoque, listen, I won't hide, my I'll do it myself, hiccup! Carry it!"

After finishing speaking, Qi Ping punched himself hard on his chest a few times and left angrily.

Mu Xiaoque looked at his back in a daze for a moment, he sat back on the roof and looked up at the moon, brought the jug to his lips and took a sip.

The breeze blew by, and the loose hair was swept in the wind. Mu Xiaoque once again raised the jug to her lips, only to realize that she had been sitting here for a long time, until all the wine in the jug had entered her belly, not a single drop was left .

Maybe it was too tired, maybe there was a brazen person who said that he wanted to protect him, reminding him that there was once such a person who said he would protect him.

In short, Mu Xiaoque was a little sad.

"Can you go back and rest? Don't you know you were injured? Why did the dog drink so much?"

Qi Ping went to the room again, and jumped into his guest room with the drunken Mu Xiaoque on his shoulder, and said shamelessly, "I'll punish you to sleep with me tonight."

The author says:

Crying secretly and being caught, Qi Ping hides his face and escapes