Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Hypomagnesemia
From the moment they set off, they never stopped along the way.
Even eating was done on horseback, gnawing on flatbread.
No wonder Uncle Sangtu said that morning meal was their only hot food for the next few days—it really was true.
Xie Changqing was fine, but Batu looked green around the gills.
When they’d taken the winter route before, he’d always ridden in the ox cart.
Before, he thought riding horses looked so impressive, but now he just wanted to lie down in the ox cart.
The time was too long, and the pace too fast.
“Come on, go sit in the ox cart for a while.” Xie Changqing reached over to take his reins, nudged Lightning’s flanks, and led Little Black toward the ox cart.
Batu perked up and gripped his reins tightly: “No, no need! I’m fine, Aha, I can keep going!”
But Xie Changqing saw right through his pretense.
Knowing he was just being stubborn like a child, putting on a tough front—his mouth was the hardest part of him.
Xie Changqing sighed helplessly: “…Alright, I want to go up and rest for a while. Come with me.”
This wasn’t entirely a lie, as he really did need to go check on those little lambs.
“Oh!” Hearing this, Batu became honest and obediently followed along.
Once in the ox cart, he immediately collapsed on it and let out a long sigh of relief.
Xie Changqing glanced at him with amusement and went directly to the back.
“Aha? Aren’t you sitting!?” Batu immediately sat up again.
“I’m going to the back ox cart.” Xie Changqing waved his hand: “I need to check on the lambs.”
Before they set off, he had given the lambs another enema.
The three ewes recovering from serious illness were also in the ox cart, so they weren’t completely separated anymore.
Seeing him arrive, Sangtu’s wife quickly made room: “All three lambs have had bowel movements and eaten some milk.”
It was rare for them to have good appetites. When Xie Changqing went to look, the healthiest little lamb was even sneakily eating grass.
Xie Changqing carefully examined them all, then also checked the three ewes: “Good, they’re basically fine now.”
They were lucky to survive—if they had set off even one day earlier, none of them would have made it.
“That’s good, that’s good.” Sangtu’s wife looked at him and pulled out two pieces of dried beef: “Here, here, Changqing, take these to eat.”
Xie Changqing couldn’t refuse and finally had to accept them.
But he didn’t eat them, going straight to give them to Mother: “I already ate. These two pieces are for you all.”
Tana also couldn’t bear to eat them, saving them for Batu and Duoduo.
“Why don’t you come up and rest too?” Tana patted the ox cart—there was still empty space.
The ox cart carrying them was pulled by a tall, strong horse that Sangtu had arranged, fast and smooth, much better than their old horse.
Xie Changqing shook his head, not getting on: “I need to get used to it eventually.”
In this family, he was the pillar now. Everyone else could collapse, but he couldn’t.
“Ah…” Tana’s eyes filled with tears, looking at him with both heartache and pride: “Then be careful…”
“I know.” Xie Changqing gently patted Lightning and went straight ahead.
Lightning ran fast, and Xie Changqing felt the wind blowing against his face, very refreshing.
He didn’t know what it would be like to ride that wild stallion!
Taking advantage of having no one around, he touched his medical kit.
He had just checked—the ewes and little lambs had basically all recovered.
[Level 1 Medical Kit]
[Points: 6]
[Reputation: -258]
[Available for exchange: Ampicillin, Magnesium Sulfate]
There were also grayed-out oxytetracycline and montmorillonite powder, but his reputation wasn’t high enough to exchange for them yet.
“So that’s what reputation is for…” Xie Changqing thought about it, then clicked on “other” and discovered that if needed, he could input drug names himself.
But currently he couldn’t exchange for any of them anyway, so nothing showed up.
But his points were now 6, and he still had half a dose of ampicillin left.
Xie Changqing immediately felt at ease. With this medical kit, he could travel with complete peace of mind.
Even when they reached the winter pasture, he could accumulate more by treating more animals.
Thinking this way, Nuomin’s trip seemed rather wasteful.
Just as he was thinking, Sangtu called out to him from ahead: “Changqing!”
Xie Changqing quickly rode forward, puzzled: “What’s wrong?”
“Come look at this cow, what’s wrong with it!?”
That cow had somehow started lifting its head and pricking up its ears while walking.
Then it would suddenly run wildly, and now it was convulsing directly, stumbling, and had fallen down.
Hearing this, Xie Changqing immediately frowned: “Let me see.”
The cattle and sheep didn’t care at all—when this cow fell, they just kept going forward without stopping.
It was only Qiaoba and Sangtu working together who managed to drag the cow to one side.
Xie Changqing went forward to examine it. The cow was breathing rapidly, and when he touched it, he found obvious muscle tremors.
Especially in the muscles of its limbs, eyelids, and ears.
Even with just a light touch, he could feel the muscles continuously twitching rapidly.
“Mm.” He had a pretty good idea and bent down to listen to the cow’s heartbeat.
Sure enough, irregular heartbeat, very rapid.
“Hypomagnesemia.”
“Ah?” Sangtu looked at him somewhat blankly: “Then, then what do we do? It’s not contagious, is it?”
Hearing anything related to blood, he felt it must be particularly troublesome.
Xie Changqing shook his head and said calmly: “It’s fine, not contagious. In autumn and winter, the magnesium content in pasture grass decreases, so external supplementation is needed anyway. And now we’re on the winter migration route—cattle and sheep consume a lot during migration, so hypomagnesemia is very normal.”
He directly exchanged magnesium sulfate from the medical kit, spending another point.
Then he took some and mixed it into a 25% magnesium sulfate solution, injecting 30 milliliters into the cow.
Before long, the cow gradually calmed down.
“Put it in the ox cart for now. After it rests a bit, it can continue running on its own.”
Of course, he also needed to supplement the other cattle and sheep with some magnesium sulfate.
Logically, after autumn arrived, the veterinarian should have supplemented the cattle and sheep promptly.
This was naturally Xie Yu’s negligence.
After Sangtu and the others loaded the cow into the ox cart, they let out a long sigh of relief: “Thank goodness we have Changqing!”
Otherwise, how could they say that the veterinarian was the pillar of their ranch?
The ranch could be missing anyone except the veterinarian!
Xie Changqing smiled and looked toward Uncle Qiaoba: “It’s getting dark. When we rest by the creek, I’ll mix some water for all the cattle and sheep to drink.”
To prevent this problem from happening again.
“Good.” Qiaoba had already sent people to set up camp: “I sent Haierte and seven others ahead. They should have arrived by now.”
Those people didn’t need to manage livestock, so they ran much faster.
But before they even reached the place, they saw Haierte running quickly toward them: “Uncle Qiaoba!”
He ran very urgently, almost instantly reaching them: “Nuomin says she couldn’t get the medicine! What do we do!?”