Chapter 14
Chapter 14: It’s Going to Snow
“Just like this!” Nuomin patted her horse’s back. Her horse had two baskets woven from grass hanging in front.
One on each side, wide, large, and flat, only bulging when filled with things.
“Very light but very sturdy, can hold so many medicinal herbs! I wove them before, very durable!”
Xie Changqing immediately took a liking to them and nodded without hesitation: “Woven from sedge grass? Nice, these look quite good! You’re really skillful!”
Sedge grass stems are thin, long, and tough, with good flexibility and elasticity, very suitable for weaving.
Woven into these fine baskets, they would be very durable without leaking and breathable, much better than his bag.
“That’s settled then.” Nuomin directly took hers off and hung them on his horse: “Use these two of mine for now, and I’ll weave two new ones to trade back later.”
She didn’t need them right now anyway.
Xie Changqing thanked her without being polite and started using them immediately.
Perfect timing—his bag was about to be full.
He rode Lightning to catch up with the ox cart and handed the bag directly to Tana for her to keep: “These are all medicinal herbs.”
“Alright.” Tana carefully received it and placed it on the ox cart, afraid of damaging it.
Xie Changqing found this amusing and told her that these herbs would need to be processed later anyway, so she didn’t need to be so careful.
But although Tana agreed, she remained the same.
There was no helping it—in her eyes, these were the foundation of their future livelihood!
Xie Changqing couldn’t persuade her otherwise, so he let her be. It wouldn’t hurt anyway.
With the two sedge grass baskets, he immediately felt much lighter.
It also saved a lot of effort when picking herbs.
These baskets were much easier than the bag. Just put something at the bottom to prop them up, and afterward he didn’t even need to hold them open with his hands—he could just throw things directly into the opening.
He didn’t even need to adjust them himself. There were two sides, and they hung on his saddle so they wouldn’t fall off.
For some particularly lush medicinal herbs, Xie Changqing didn’t even need to dismount—he could pick them directly from horseback.
Lightning discovered that following Xie Changqing meant it could eat all kinds of herbs it wanted, so it cooperated fully.
Xie Changqing even felt that although they had traveled a great distance today, and even though they would occasionally leave the group and return, with Lightning’s speed, they always stayed at the front of the group.
At first, Qiaoba was quite worried and would glance over from time to time.
Later, when he discovered that Xie Changqing was really picking medicinal herbs and was careful not to stray too far, he felt relieved.
“Changqing is so much better than Xie Yu.” Sangtu watched and couldn’t help but sigh: “If this were Xie Yu… we would have rested three times already today.”
Exactly! In the past when their Ninth Pasture made the seasonal migration, they were not only always at the back, but also the slowest.
Because they had to accommodate Xie Yu in various ways, and he would want to rest from time to time.
Everyone had complained about it, but in the end they could only accept it. After all, the veterinarian was too important, so they had to turn a blind eye to some things.
But now they discovered that veterinarians weren’t all burdens and hindrances.
Xie Changqing riding Lightning was very fast. He would be in front one moment and behind the next. When anyone encountered a problem, they’d shout, and Xie Changqing could quickly get there.
He handled things efficiently and could quickly spot any problems with the livestock.
From departure until now, they hadn’t wasted a single moment.
This was so rare!
“If we continue at our current pace, we’ll probably be able to cross that mountain by evening.”
Originally, according to Qiaoba’s estimate, they could only spend the night at the foot of the mountain tonight and wouldn’t be able to get to the other side.
Now it seemed they might cross the mountain before evening and still have some extra time to light a campfire.
Thinking this, Qiaoba cracked his whip: “Haierte! Come here!”
Before long, Haierte and several others set off ahead again.
This time it wasn’t just seven people, but a total of ten people with twenty horses.
They would go ahead to scout the path and also scare away wild animals.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, they would set up tents and wait for them.
Nuomin waved her long whip, running from front to back: “Everyone! Today we’re crossing the mountain to spend the night on the other side! Keep a close eye on the livestock!”
As she galloped, her movement was accompanied by the rising and falling barks of dogs, full of life and vitality.
Wiping away sweat, Xie Changqing, like everyone else, sat on horseback and raised his whip high, cracking it forcefully: “Crack!”
—This meant they had received the message.
In the past few years, they had never moved at such speed.
There would always be some problems along the way, but this time there were none.
Whenever any livestock had issues, Xie Changqing arrived in time to handle them, completely without delaying their progress.
Because of this, when everyone passed by Tana and the others’ ox cart, they would stuff some dry rations into it.
Some were flatbread, some were dried meat.
At first, Batu wouldn’t eat them, only letting Xie Duoduo nibble a bit.
But later, when he found there were gradually more, he swallowed his saliva and finally accepted the beef jerky Tana put in his hand.
While chewing on it, he still worried: “Ah, does Aha have some?”
“Yes.” Tana had specially saved the most fragrant and delicious part for Xie Changqing, patting it gently: “This is for your Aha, you can’t touch it.”
“Mm-hmm!” Batu nodded quickly, and Xie Duoduo, whose hands were covered in saliva from chewing, also nodded vigorously.
With everyone’s cooperation, just as Qiaoba had said, while it was still early, they reached the foot of the mountain.
When they started climbing, Xie Changqing stopped picking herbs.
Because Qiaoba had arranged for Nuomin to come over and watch him, not letting him leave the group: “The mountain conditions are different from the grassland. If you leave the group, you could encounter danger.”
If there were herbs that absolutely had to be picked, Nuomin would rather go herself than let Xie Changqing take the risk.
Xie Changqing had no choice but to give up: “Alright, then I won’t pick any.”
This mountain didn’t look big from a distance, but it was really not easy to climb.
Especially since this mountain usually had no visitors—only during the seasonal migration would people pass through.
This year they were again the first group, so you could imagine their progress couldn’t be fast at all.
In some places where horses couldn’t pass, Xie Changqing and the others had to dismount and lead their horses.
From time to time, Qiaoba and the others would cut away some long branches to prevent them from blocking the ox carts’ path.
When they finally climbed to the mountaintop, Xie Changqing also let out a long breath.
He stood at the highest point, gazing into the distance.
The endless grassland—he couldn’t even see the path they’d come from.
“That’s the Sixth Pasture over there.” Nuomin stood beside him, calmly saying: “They don’t seem ready to set off yet.”
At the distant horizon, a layer of clouds had already gathered.
Although not very obvious, standing on the mountaintop, you could see it clearly.
“We really couldn’t see it from our side… These clouds, tsk…” Qiaoba frowned, pondering: “In my opinion, in another two days they’ll cross the mountain, and it’ll probably start snowing soon…”
Sangtu laughed upon hearing this, somewhat gloating: “If they wait another two days to set off… that would be interesting! Ha!”