Chapter Twenty-Two Bouncy and Springy

  Thank you very much for your pure and kind reward, thank you very much.

  "What does Ou Si Qing mean?"

  As he walked, Li Xian asked Ou Siqing.

  "This is the name given by my mother, and my mother is a Han Chinese."

  Ou Si Qing Qing flashed her beautiful eyelashes, walking while kicking the thick snow on the ground with her deerskin boots. Her two hands were clasped behind her back, and she walked with her head down, answering: "Ou Si means grass, my mother said that small grass is the most resilient, not afraid of wind or rain. Qing Qing actually means green, these two words are not in our Khitan language."

  She raised her head and took a glance at Li Xian, it was clear that she relied heavily on her mother.

  The grass is green

  Li Xian smiled and said it was a pretty good name.

  "Your mother is very knowledgeable."

  Li Xian smiled and said.

  Ou Si Qing nodded, and with one kick, a small wooden stick flew out. The deerskin boots kicked into the snow, stirring up a flurry of white snowflakes. As the wind blew, the snowflakes stuck to her face, cool but not uncomfortable.

  "Alright, it's here."

  Li Xian stopped at a relatively high place in the open terrain, then took down the horizontal knife from his back. The knife was tied to his back because, relative to his height, the three-foot-long horizontal knife couldn't be hung at his waist. Seeing him draw out the knife, Ouyang Qingqing subconsciously retreated a step: "What are you doing?"

  "Rape first, then kill!"

  Li Xian said something vicious, but he didn't plan to do anything to Ou Siqing. He started chopping at some low-hanging branches, and in the snow-covered ground under the sunlight, the young man's knife-wielding movements were indescribably handsome and elegant.

  Ou Si Qing was two years older than Li Xian, but she was still a clean and pure girl like snow. So Li Xian's intimidation had no power over her, because she simply didn't know what evil was.

  She found a stone, swept away the remaining snow on it with a wooden stick, and sat down with her buttocks, resting her arms on her knees and supporting her chin with both hands. She stared at Li Xian chopping firewood in a daze, seemingly very interested in that boy whose long hair was blown by the wind. Every time Li Xian chopped down, the branches broke off, and the remaining snow on the branches flew around him, as if he were in the falling snow. Ou Si Qing stared at Li Xian with a mesmerized expression, she was a bit silly, not because of infatuation, but because she couldn't understand why that boy's face looked so... solemn when chopping firewood.

  That's right, it's solemn.

  It seems he is not chopping firewood, but doing something very solemn.

  A knife flashed out a piece of silver light, and in no time Li Xian had collected a large pile of firewood.

  "I got it!"

  Ou Si Qing suddenly clapped her hands and said: "You want to start a fire and then lure Dalang and the others over, right?"

  She was very proud and arrogant that she had seen through Li Xian's plan, although normally people should have thought of this method a long time ago. She figured it out a bit late, but it didn't stop her from thinking she was smart, nor did it stop her from thinking Li Xian was very smart.

  "You're really amazing, how come I didn't think of this method?"

  Li Xian turned away, ignoring her.

  "You haven't told me your name yet?"

  Ou Si Qing jumped down from the stone and squatted on one side to help Li Xian pile up firewood.

  Li Xian

  "Is your surname Li? My mother's surname is Chen. She said her hometown is in a place called Jiangnan, which is especially beautiful."

  "Is your surname Chen?"

  Li Xian paused for a moment, took out his flint and steel to light a fire.

  "Right"

  Ou Si Qing Qing crouched on the ground, blinking her eyes and said: "Mother said that one day a large number of strong thieves came from the north, broke into her home in Jiangnan, killed many people, and took away their houses and food. Mother said that her family had many tall houses with high city walls, but they couldn't stop the thieves from breaking in. Because there were many bad people in her family who opened the door to let the thieves in. Later, many people protected mother from escaping Jiangnan, running all the way out of the Great Wall and into our tribe, where Ye Ye fell in love with mother at first sight."

  She smiled shyly: "Is this word, love at first sight."

  Li Xian smiled and nodded: "Yes, your mother was very unfortunate, she lost her home. But she was also very lucky, because your father gave her another home."

  He could vaguely guess the identity of the Chen woman from Ouyang Qingqing's words, and she should be a member of the imperial family of Southern Chen. When the Great Sui destroyed Chen, she fled to Sai Bei to escape, but at that time, she herself might not have thought that she would end up living here. The Southern Chen had been extinct for more than 20 years, and Ouyang Qingqing was only 14 years old. Her mother went to Sai Wai when she was probably even younger!

  "Will it really bring Brother Dàlóng over?"

  Ou Si Qing didn't continue Li Xian's words, but instead asked a very practical question. For some reason, the smile that was still on her face just now instantly disappeared.

  "As long as that what's-his-name Andlang is still in the mountains, of course, if he hasn't gone to the other side of the mountain yet, he'll definitely see this thick smoke."

  Li Xian coughed while explaining.

  Although the pine wood is very wet and not easy to ignite, the pine wood is relatively flammable. Also, damp wood always emits a lot of thick smoke before it starts burning.

  "But don't expect to bring back your little grey one too."

  Li Xian patted his hands and stretched out his body.

  "I'm saying, apart from Dalang, will he bring others too?"

  Ou Si's legs were wrapped around her knees, her chin was raised, and her voice was very soft, as if she was afraid of being heard by others.

  "Someone else?"

  Li Xian furrowed his brow: "Don't tell me you have some enemy who's been chasing and killing all the way here."

  Ou Si Qing nodded vigorously: "Yeah, this time we came to the Yu Ren tribe, only bringing fifty soldiers. I don't know why, but after walking less than a hundred miles north, the Xi people's pursuit troops caught up with us, at least one thousand people. Along the way, we fought several times with those bandits, and now there are fewer than twenty people left by Ye Ye's side. Today he went to negotiate with Su Zhenbu's leader Su Zhen Xin Mi, without bringing me along, I quarreled with him for a few sentences and ran out."

  "You idiot!"

  Li Xian quickly scooped up the snow covering the fire pit, while fiercely glaring at Ouyang Qing: "You knew there were pursuers behind you, yet you still dared to run out on your own! If you want to die, go crash into a tree yourself, why drag others down with you!"

  Ou Si Qing was frightened by him and helped him put out the fire in a flurry. However, the burning pine branches were pressed down by the snow, causing the smoke to become even thicker.

  It seems to be proving that Ousiqing didn't lie, and the distant sound of a horn blowing in unison with this moment. The sound is still far away, but apparently, it won't take long for the cavalry to rush over like a pack of wolves.

  "Go!"

  Li Xian pulled up Ousiqing's hand and no longer took care of the fire, turning around and rushing out in the opposite direction of the horn. Although he was two years younger than Ousiqing, his strength was not comparable to that of an ordinary strong man. So Ousiqing's wrist hurt a lot, but she bit her teeth and followed Li Xian's back, running wildly.

  It would be better if there was no snow.

  Li Xian ran while looking back at the footprints behind him.

  If there was no snow, they could run in the direction of the horn's sound and hide somewhere, those Khitan cavalry would never think that they dared to do so. But with the ground covered in a layer of white snow like a mirror, doing so would be no different from going to their own deaths.

  Don't run out of the blood knight's camp!

  This is the second question Li Xian thought of.

  If it's really a thousand-man cavalry of the Xianbei, that would be a formidable force! Although it's possible for a hundred Blood Riders to take down a thousand-man team of Xianbei, given their elite status as Blood Riders, not many of them would survive either. Li Xian didn't want to drag others into his own troubles, and he was reluctant to use the Blood Riders to protect himself. Da Zonglong had not explicitly stated it, but Li Xian knew that the hundred elite riders were ultimately his, and he wouldn't sacrifice his future prospects for a selfless cause.

  I hope her boyfriend can find her first!

  Li Xian suddenly stopped, his footsteps abrupt. Ouyang Qingqing bumped into Li Xian's body and let out a cry as she fell backwards. Sitting in the snow, Ouyang Qingqing looked up at Li Xian with an innocent expression, but he didn't show any intention of helping her up. Li Xian crouched down beside Ouyang Qingqing and reached out to pull off the delicate deerskin boots from her feet.

  "Ah! What are you going to do?!"

  Ou Si's legs kicked out involuntarily, but were grasped firmly by Li Xian's strong hands: "Don't move! If you don't want to die, be honest!"

  This time Li Xian really gritted his teeth and said it out loud, so he really startled Ouyang Qingqing.

  The little foot was wearing thick woolen socks, a bit damp but not smelly at all, instead it had a faint scent that was hard to describe. The feeling of holding the foot in my hand was also nice, very round and soft.

  Unfortunately, Li Xian doesn't have time for romance now.

  He quickly took off the deerskin boots on Ousiqing's other foot, then took off his own boots and handed them to Ousiqing, saying unequivocally: "Put them on!"

  Ou Si Qing didn't know what Li Xian was planning to do, but she still immediately stretched out her hand to take the boots.

  Patter

  The boot slipped out of his hand and fell into the snow.

  "That... smells a bit."

  Ou Si's face turned red as she said.

  Li Xian was furious: "If you don't believe me, I'll take off my socks and stuff them in your mouth!"

  Ou Si Qing quickly and nimbly put on Li Xian's boots, although she was the same height as Li Xian, but her boots were more than one circle smaller than Li Xian's. In fact, this wasn't because Li Xian's feet were bigger than hers, but rather that Li Xian wore a pair of adult boots. No one in the Blood Riders would do needlework, and the boots Li Xian had worn from Youyang had long since been ruined. Now he was wearing Chao Su Ge's boots, not because Chao Su Ge treated him the best, but because Chao Su Ge was relatively short.

  After putting on Li Xian's boots, Ou Si Qing stood up and moved around, feeling very awkward.

  Li Xian quickly tied Ou Siqing's boots together and hung them around his neck, then stood up barefoot and pointed in a direction, saying to Ou Siqing: "You run that way, that's the direction you came from, you should be able to meet your brother Andlang."

  "How about you?"

  Ou Si Qing Qing Wen.

  Li Xian pointed in the opposite direction: "I'm running that way."

  Ou Si Qing immediately understood Li Xian's idea - he wanted to lure the pursuers away!

  "No way!"

  Ou Si Qing Qing shouted.

  "It doesn't matter whether you can make it or not. If I don't die, remember to return my boots; if I don't die either, I won't take your boots as a keepsake."

  "Be quiet!"

  Li Xian stopped Ou Siqing's persuasion, took a deep breath and said seriously: "We can't outrun the war horses if we run together! There are many pursuers. Although they can split up to chase us, running separately is much safer than running together! You're wearing my boots, if the pursuers are stupid, they'll come after me. If they really split up to chase us, it's just bad luck for both of us."

  He rubbed his eyebrows: "Today, my luck is already very bad, and I've run into a jinx like you, so rest assured, the probability of chasing me will be higher. Also, aren't you climbing trees quickly? Run for a while and then climb up to find a secluded place to hide! If neither of us can die, think again about what you can do to repay me with your body."

  Before Ou Si could finish speaking, Li Xian slapped her buttocks with a loud smack: "Run quickly!"

  Ou Si's tears flowed down, staring blankly at Li Xian, her body motionless.

  "You don't run, I'll run!"

  Li Xian didn't care about Ousiqing's tears gushing out like a spring, took a deep breath, and suddenly sprinted out. He ran barefoot in the snowy ground, with only the sound of wind whizzing past his ears, he didn't look back to see if Ousiqing was following him as he said, but he knew he absolutely couldn't stop, because he didn't want to die.

  Damn it!

  How could I have done something so stupid!

  While running, Li Xian scolded himself fiercely.

  I've lived cautiously for twelve years, if I die like this, it's too unjust!

  His movements were as swift as a hunting leopard, and he plunged into the woods.

  Feels good, quite elastic.

  This was Li Xian's last words to Ouyang Qingqing before he turned around and sprinted forward.

  P.S: If you don't collect books, Li Xian will use his mind power to mobilize his spiritual energy to launch a night attack on your JJ, guaranteed to make you wet the bed...