Chapter 35
Chapter 35: Protection of the Eternal Blue Sky
As for words of gratitude, Suhe didn’t speak them aloud.
Because this kind of bond couldn’t be expressed with simple words.
Before leaving, Xie Changqing told Nuomin to have someone go to his house and tell his mother.
After all, he hadn’t had time to explain in detail before leaving, and now suddenly having to travel so far, he was afraid she’d worry at home.
As soon as Xie Changqing and the others left, Nuomin mounted her horse.
“Nuomin, where are you going?” Sangtu’s wife had just finished tucking in her son when she heard horses neighing outside and quickly chased out.
“I’m going to tell Tana that Changqing went out with my Abu.” Nuomin gripped the reins, ready to set off.
Sangtu’s wife made a sound of understanding and thought about it: “Why don’t I come with you? Look at you—it’s not safe for you to go alone.”
She still had two injured people at home, so Nuomin refused without hesitation: “I’ll be fine—I ride fast. You take good care of Haierte.”
Both of them had leg injuries and shouldn’t be left unattended.
“But you…” Sangtu’s wife was about to say more when Nuomin had already cracked her whip and quickly rode away.
When Nuomin reached Xie Changqing’s house, she was still quite far away when she heard Batu shout: “Mama! There’s a horse! It must be Big Brother coming back!”
He didn’t even have time to tie his scarf before running out quickly.
The little guy’s ears were really sharp—Tana hadn’t even managed to catch him as he slipped away like a loach and ran right up to Nuomin.
Seeing it was Nuomin, he immediately looked dejected and peered behind her: “Where’s my big brother?!”
“It’s like this…” Nuomin dismounted and looked at Tana, who had come out to meet them. “Changqing went with my Abu…”
Hearing that Xie Changqing had gone along, Tana just nodded.
Her heart felt somewhat bewildered as she barely suppressed her fear and nervousness, inviting Nuomin to come in and sit.
But Nuomin shook her head and declined: “I need to get back. I’ll come again tomorrow… Oh, and we added clothes for Changqing—he’s using a scarf and mittens…”
Only then did she notice the fox fur being sewn on the bed.
It turned out that after Xie Changqing left, Tana had been working on it the whole time.
She felt sorry for Xie Changqing having to brave the wind and snow, afraid he’d get cold.
It was just too bad he’d left in such a hurry…
“Oh, that’s good, that’s good…” Tana nodded, feeling somewhat lost and helpless.
Nuomin paused and looked at her seriously: “Don’t worry—my Abu will definitely bring Changqing back safely.”
Lifting the curtain, the wind outside carried snowflakes that hit them in the face.
In this kind of wind and snow, Xie Changqing and the others were making their way forward.
“We can only push as hard as we can right now.” Qiaoba led the way at the front, keeping his voice down. “If the snow gets deeper later, it’ll be very slow going.”
Once the snow was past their knees, the horses couldn’t run and could only walk slowly.
Sangtu made a sound of agreement: “No problem, let’s go. Changqing, keep your head down—the wind won’t be as strong that way.”
They formed a line formation so the people behind would have less wind resistance and could go faster.
Everything else was fine—Xie Changqing just felt that with the extra layer of clothing, it was really hot.
After riding for a while and getting colder, he gradually felt the benefit of the extra clothing.
His hands, which had been frozen earlier, were now nice and warm.
All around was silence, with only the sound of wind and horse hooves.
There were no stars in the sky—they could only rely on Qiaoba to navigate.
“Don’t worry, I’ve traveled this road so many times!”
As the saying goes, an old horse knows the way.
When it came to this route, Qiaoba was no different from an old horse.
He could make the round trip with his eyes closed.
Because they were galloping the whole way, they were actually going faster than when they’d traveled to Aoter.
But after riding hard for two hours, Qiaoba called out and stopped.
Having spent so much time with horses, Qiaoba understood their nature very well—he knew that right now, the horses needed to rest.
“We’re not tired, but the horses need to rest.”
Their horses were their partners, their teammates.
Finding a sheltered spot, they stopped to rest.
As usual, Qiaoba and Sangtu dismounted first to confirm it was safe before calling Xie Changqing and Hailetu over.
“I brought some hides—here, everyone sit on these instead of directly on the snow. It’s very cold.”
As Sangtu spoke, he pulled several hides from his basket and tossed them over.
These hides had all been sewn and had very thick fur.
Normally they could be used as mats, when it was cold they could be used as wraps, and at night they could be used as blankets—extremely useful.
Xie Changqing didn’t actually feel cold, but it was good to rest and drink some water.
“According to what Suhe said, they crossed the mountain during the day, so logically, if they’d been walking continuously, they should have reached this area by now.” Qiaoba frowned as he gazed into the distance.
But until now, there was still no sign of them.
Sangtu sprawled flat on his mat, looking up at the sky lazily: “They’re probably resting. People traveling during aoter generally don’t travel at night.”
After all, the convoy stretched too long, and it was easy for people and livestock to get separated.
In this kind of snowy weather, once you got separated, you were easily attacked by the wild animals following behind.
“Ah? When traveling during aoter, wild animals follow behind?” Xie Changqing was somewhat surprised.
Qiaoba made a sound of agreement and carefully checked his gun: “Almost always—they get quite a few every year.”
Pastures like theirs that traveled during good weather and arrived without losing anyone were extremely rare.
“Two years ago, we lost a little lamb halfway—it got carried off, and we couldn’t even chase it down.” Hailetu still sounded indignant talking about it.
He was still just a kid after all—he still remembered what happened two years ago.
After resting, they fed the horses some grass and water, then packed up to continue.
“Let’s ride a bit more—to that bend up ahead. If we still don’t meet them, we’ll just build a fire and sleep, then continue at dawn.”
But this time, after riding for just an hour and a half, before they’d even reached the bend, they saw light flickering in the distance.
Sangtu stood up on his horse and shouted loudly: “Hey—there!”
Someone immediately responded excitedly from over there: “Su—he?!”
Both groups were excited and quickly picked up speed to meet.
But when they could see each other clearly, the people from the Tenth Pasture were confused: “Huh? Qiaoba?”
Everyone looked behind them but couldn’t find Suhe.
Their hearts sank.
Seeing their expressions, Qiaoba knew they’d misunderstood and quickly explained: “Suhe’s fine!”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, then heard Qiaoba continue: “He just fell into a pit, broke his leg, cracked his head—but he’s not dead!”
“…” They weren’t sure if this counted as consolation.
The leader, Alatan, asked them why they were traveling so late at night and how they knew Suhe was injured.
Hearing that Qiaoba had come to deliver Suhe’s message, Alatan immediately threw himself on the snowy, muddy ground and performed a deep bow: “By the Eternal Blue Sky above, I, Alatan, will remember this kindness.”
You had to understand—this was the grassland.
A few people traveling together was already extremely dangerous, let alone on a snowy night like this.
Not encountering wolves on the road was pure luck.
“Hmm?” But Sangtu noticed something wrong and asked in confusion: “You got separated? How come there are so few of you?”