Chapter 23
Chapter 23: This Is Bad
Facing Xie Changqing’s puzzled expression, Agula smiled: “If you change your mind, just bring this to the Si—cough, to the Sixth Pasture and find me.”
He figured he’d probably been seen through anyway, so he didn’t bother hiding it anymore.
“Hmm?” Xie Changqing raised his eyebrows in surprise and couldn’t help laughing: “Didn’t you just say you were from the Ninth Pasture?”
“Ah, please don’t mention it…”
Agula wasn’t stupid. He sighed helplessly.
From when Hailte had left to when he came back with the old horse—only the Ninth Pasture could have managed that…
Thinking of how he’d boldly claimed to be from the Ninth Pasture earlier, Agula’s old face reddened: “Cough, well, I didn’t really mean to…”
The main thing was, his reason for coming out wasn’t very honorable. He’d originally wanted to lie his way through it.
Sangtu beside him glanced at him sideways but said nothing.
Still lying? His underwear had been completely seen through!
Seeing that Xie Changqing still wouldn’t take it, Agula simply reached out, pulled open the herb basket, and stuffed the bell inside: “Anyway, thank you so much this time!”
If Xie Changqing was willing to come later, that would naturally be even better. If not, that was fine too.
Consider this bell his thanks.
Although his leg was injured, Agula managed to mount up with effort—quite nimbly too.
The old horse was slow, but at least it wasn’t injured, which was much better than the chestnut horse.
More importantly, it was stable.
Someone injured like Agula couldn’t handle bumpy rides, so riding the old horse was just right.
Thinking this way, Agula didn’t feel bad anymore. He even cheerfully waved goodbye to Xie Changqing and the others.
After he’d gone far away, Xie Changqing and the others prepared to head back too.
“Whoo, whoo whoo whoo!” Hailte hurriedly dug out the bird eggs, excitedly saying: “Come, come, quick, they’re all cooked!”
Good grief, Agula had finally left.
Hailte hummed: “I wasn’t going to share the bird eggs with him!”
These were what his Abu had climbed trees to get—very nutritious.
They each took one, and the remaining four all went to Xie Changqing.
“No, you all share them…”
Sangtu stopped him, wincing from the heat of the bird egg while saying: “You, you keep them, take them back… for Batu and the others…”
There was still a little child at his house who needed nutritional supplements.
Without getting stronger, how could the child survive this harsh winter?
Since he put it that way, Xie Changqing accepted them: “Alright… thanks.”
He peeled one himself and tasted it.
He had to admit, these bird eggs were really tiny.
But they were plump and full, like carefully carved amber.
After blowing on it, he popped it whole into his mouth.
It was truly fragrant. Though small, the white and yolk had rich, layered textures—from the initial crispness to the subsequent tenderness, leaving one with endless aftertaste.
Hailte savored it so much he even sucked his fingers, extremely excited: “Abu, let’s get more bird eggs next time!”
“No ambition!” Sangtu felt like this bird egg was like nothing—not even enough to pick his teeth: “If we’re going to get something, let’s get a whole bird!”
Best to catch a big one and roast the whole bird—now that would be truly fragrant!
They walked back laughing and eating, really like they were on an autumn outing.
When they got home, Tana and the others had been waiting for a while.
Seeing him stop, they all came forward.
Some took the herb baskets, others led the horse. Batu was extremely excited: “Aha! Mama saved goat milk for you!”
“It’s still warm. Come in and drink it quickly.” Tana was all smiles, about to step forward to unpack the baskets and carry them in one by one.
Suddenly a pair of hands reached over. Haerile picked up two baskets at once and went straight in without looking back.
“…Eh!?”
Before Tana could react, Nomin was already laughing: “Let him carry them! Haerile is very strong!”
It would be troublesome to unpack the baskets and repack them. Haerile thought it was more convenient to do it himself.
Xie Changqing also smiled and stepped aside to let Tana see behind him: “Mama, look at this.”
“Oh my!” Tana’s eyes widened in shock at the tall, handsome chestnut horse: “This… this is?”
“I traded our old horse for it.” Xie Changqing briefly explained about saving Agula: “He couldn’t ride this horse anymore and had no use for it, so we traded.”
Tana was overjoyed: “So… this horse is ours now?”
“Yes.” Xie Changqing nodded and smiled: “But we can’t use it right now. We have to wait for its injury to heal.”
Of course. Tana circled the chestnut horse twice, looking again and again, absolutely delighted.
My goodness, it was so well-fed and robust…
She even opened its mouth to look at its teeth—excellent condition, in its prime, the most useful age.
“So good, this is really wonderful…” Tana truly hadn’t expected they would just like this own their first horse: “Don’t worry, I’ll take very good care of it!”
Just like Lightning, which stayed at Nomin’s place and could only follow along to graze.
But at their house, Batu and Duoduo went out every day to pick the freshest, most tender grass tips for it.
They wouldn’t even accept slightly older grass!
They’d raised Lightning with such a glossy, smooth coat, very sturdy.
Xie Changqing smiled. Instead of rushing to process the herbs, he first led the chestnut horse into the pen, then discovered that some of the medicine on it had fallen off during the walk, so he disinfected and reapplied medicine.
The anesthesia probably hadn’t worn off yet—the chestnut horse had quite a good appetite.
When Batu and the others brought tender grass, it ate very happily.
“Aha, I like this horse!” Batu looked up at it excitedly: “Can I ride it in the future?”
“Of course.” Xie Changqing patted his head, smiling: “But you’ll need to grow taller first.”
Otherwise he couldn’t even climb up, and the horse would bully him.
“…Ah?” Batu was shocked: “Horses bully people too?”
Shouldn’t horses all be their good friends and helpers?
“That’s hard to say.”
Some horses had gentle temperaments, others had more personality.
But without exception, they all needed to submit to their master before they would serve them.
Batu nodded thoughtfully: “I see…”
At dinner time, Xie Changqing took out the bird eggs, warmed them up, and gave one to each person, even little sister got one.
“You keep them and eat them yourself!” Tana immediately pushed the bird egg back into his hands.
“I already ate! We ate these at noon.” Xie Changqing firmly refused, his attitude very determined: “And Batu and the others need to get stronger.”
Right now he was so skinny, nothing like children on the grasslands should be.
Take Hailte—he wasn’t much older than Batu, but he was very sturdy and dared to ride horses between the two pastures by himself.
Batu gripped the bird egg and nodded vigorously: “Aha, I want to get strong too, I want to help you too!”
He really wanted to become Aha’s little helper!
“Good.” Xie Changqing smiled and told him to eat while it was hot: “Then drink lots of goat milk and get stronger.”
The family ate dinner happily together. Batu saw it wasn’t dark yet and ran to see the horse again.
Since Xie Changqing had returned, he’d run back and forth almost ten times and wasn’t tired at all.
Xie Changqing went to process herbs as usual, but unexpectedly, after a short while he heard Batu’s terrified shout: “Aha! This is bad!”