Chapter 24
Chapter 24: The Situation Doesn’t Look Good
Xie Changqing had been sorting herbs when he heard the shout and quickly got up and went outside.
Reaching the stable, Xie Changqing frowned.
“What’s wrong with Little Red?! Aha, Little Red keeps calling out!” Batu was so anxious he wanted to climb in and see what was happening.
Xie Changqing went forward to check and found the wound hadn’t split and there was no blood seeping out: “Nothing serious.”
Seeing him come, the chestnut horse whinnied pitifully.
In this condition…
Xie Changqing soothingly stroked its coat and said helplessly: “The anesthesia has worn off. It’s in pain.”
But this was unavoidable. After all, when the lone wolf had torn at it, the wound was too large.
Without anesthesia, there would have been no way to suture it.
It was lucky to have encountered him, or this horse would probably already be dead.
“Ah?” Batu’s eyes reddened as he looked at the chestnut horse with great distress: “Poor Little Red…”
“It’s fine, you don’t need to keep watching it.” Xie Changqing said, preparing to turn back and continue sorting herbs: “You just need to keep an eye on whether the wound splits open.”
As long as it didn’t do anything reckless, as long as the wound didn’t split or get infected, there basically wouldn’t be any problems.
Batu obediently said “oh” but didn’t leave.
He wanted to guard his Little Red!
Xie Changqing shook his head with amusement and went straight inside: “Alright, call me if anything happens.”
He sorted all the herbs he’d gathered today by category and picked out some weeds to throw away.
Each type of herb required different processing.
For example, these grass fruits could be directly dried and ground into powder, making them a seasoning.
Just then Tana came in, and Xie Changqing gave her several grass fruits: “These can be added directly when cooking meat. They’ll make the meat more fragrant and delicious, and more tender too.”
“Really?” Tana treasured them, very pleased: “That’s wonderful. I still haven’t touched that half side of mutton…”
Their house had nothing left. When Xie Yu and the others fled, they even took the seasonings, not leaving behind even salt.
What Xie Changqing and the others were eating now were all payment from the herders, like flatbread and goat milk.
Xie Changqing made a sound of agreement, his hand lightly tapping the table surface.
Food—this really was a problem…
Although Tana was very frugal and they ate sparingly, they could barely get by.
But winter was supposed to be the time for putting on good weight. Not eating enough could be very troublesome.
Other food… Xie Changqing thought of those mountains he’d seen while gathering herbs.
There was definitely lots of food in the mountains, but unfortunately he didn’t have a hunting rifle and couldn’t easily go up the mountain.
Tana could see his worry and comforted him instead: “It’s fine, we have enough to eat. Having this much is already very good!”
Compared to before, when they’d look at piles and piles of things but have nothing to eat themselves, sometimes going hungry, the current situation was much better.
And when the weather got cold, there would definitely be more livestock problems. When Xie Changqing went to see and treat them, there would be payment.
“One year, it snowed heavily here and quite a few livestock died…”
Mentioning that scene, Tana couldn’t help shivering.
That year was really cold. Xie Yu had to carry his medical kit and walk to treat livestock because the snow was too deep for horses to get out.
If it was like that here, you could imagine the conditions in the mountains.
The dead livestock were truly everywhere…
The weather was so cold that people died too.
No way to manage things before New Year’s, crying voices after New Year’s.
Hearing this, Xie Changqing frowned tightly and couldn’t help sighing.
There was no choice—herders lived like this, depending on heaven for their livelihood.
As they were discussing, Qiaomu lifted the curtain and walked in: “Oh? Processing herbs?”
“Yes, just gathered today…” Xie Changqing quickly stood up, looking at him in surprise as he placed a cloth bundle on the felt blanket: “This is…”
“These are some thick clothes we sorted out.” Qiaomu smiled and patted the bundle, gesturing for them to open it and look: “Many are clothes Nomin used to wear, figured they’d be just right for Batu and Duoduo now.”
Then there were two thick ones for Xie Changqing and Tana.
Xie Yu had been too ruthless—he’d taken everything with fur or hide.
“I looked today and saw clouds have passed over the mountain. The temperature dropped quickly today, and it might start snowing over there soon.”
Sitting on the bed edge, Qiaomu accepted the hot goat milk Tana handed him: “In my opinion, it might snow here this year too. Hopefully it won’t be too heavy… sigh…”
Otherwise, it would probably be another snow disaster.
The key thing was, once it snowed, livestock would easily have problems, and then Xie Changqing would definitely have to run around everywhere.
So he’d specially picked out a high-quality fox fur. Qiaomu put down his bowl: “Keep this carefully and be sure to wear it when the time comes.”
The cold here was no joke.
Once you fainted on the road from cold, you’d freeze to death directly.
Some people when they died would even strip themselves naked because they were so frozen they’d lost all sensation and no longer knew they were cold.
Xie Changqing nodded and seriously thanked him: “We were just discussing whether it would snow here…”
“I estimate it will.” Speaking of this, Qiaomu was truly grateful: “This year we’re lucky we left early, and this area has the best, deepest grass.”
Usually they set out late each year and moved slowly.
By the time they got here, all the good spots had been taken.
They could only keep going forward, getting more and more remote, until finally the grass was all yellow and gone, and the cattle and sheep could only nibble grass roots, becoming terribly thin.
“Today we reinforced and thickened your felt roof. When the snow gets thick, you must sweep the roof—don’t let it collapse…” After his reflections, as he left he reminded them repeatedly: “Process your herbs these next couple days. I’m going to town tomorrow and will be back in a couple days. Even if you see wild horse herds, don’t act rashly. Wait for me to return, understand?”
As for food, he really wasn’t worried.
On the grasslands, no veterinarian ever went hungry!
With this assurance, Tana let out a long breath of relief.
As long as they didn’t lack clothes or food, she really had no worries.
“So you still have to be your own master…” Tana muttered as she sorted through the clothes.
If Xie Yu were still here, this fox fur would definitely not go to Xie Changqing, and her clothes would have to be given to that Germa…
Early the next morning, Qiaomu left, taking no one with him.
Because it was far from here to town, traveling light and alone would be faster—others would just be burdens.
Xie Changqing watched him go into the distance, then turned to check on the chestnut horse.
To his surprise, the chestnut horse was actually in quite stable spirits.
It obediently let Batu pet its head. Although the wound still hurt badly, it had gotten used to it and even stuck out its tongue to curl around the tender grass in Batu’s hand.
“Let me see if the wound needs fresh medicine…” Xie Changqing uncovered it, and the chestnut horse flinched but actually ate the grass faster.
“There’s plenty, lots more, don’t rush…” Batu fed it while peeking his head over: “Aha, how is it? Is Little Red almost better?”
Xie Changqing frowned, looking at the tissue fluid that had seeped out.
He couldn’t say it directly, but this situation didn’t look too good…