Chapter 45
Chapter 45: Hot Meat Soup
Hearing this, Xie Changqing thought they’d been discovered.
But before he could turn around, a group of people swept past them from behind like a tornado.
The leader even whistled at him: “Hey!”
The moment he saw clearly, Xie Changqing’s eyes widened slightly: “A…”
Qiaoba looked at him and asked in surprise: “You know him?”
“He’s Agula.” Xie Changqing looked back somewhat hesitantly, very puzzled: “But isn’t he from the Sixth Pasture… how come…”
But people from the Tenth Pasture had already caught up. Xie Changqing stopped without hesitation: “Harile, get back on your horse and hide Qiqige.”
“Okay.” Harile listened to him very obediently, nimbly changing horses, then spreading out the felt blanket Sangtu handed him, wrapping himself and Qiqige together.
Just as they got properly covered, Alatan and the others caught up.
Someone looked puzzledly at Harile: “What’s this?”
“I’m cold.” Harile glared at him and said grumpily: “Aren’t you cold?”
“…Cold.” True, if he had the option, he’d want to wrap himself in a felt blanket too.
Alatan looked meaningfully at Xie Changqing and cracked his whip: “Alright, stop talking. We need to hurry and chase them.”
Seeing Xie Changqing’s confusion, he explained in one sentence: “They’re the ones who led the wolves here.”
After saying that, they too swept forward like the wind.
Only after their figures had completely disappeared did Qiqige poke her head out with a long sigh of relief.
“I wonder how they led them here…” Sangtu muttered: “So that means people from the Sixth Pasture are also doing aoter?”
“Yes.” It was Qiqige who answered, her voice thin and weak but very clear: “They’re later than us. It was only because they saw them stop that Erdun said to stop and rest…”
But unexpectedly, chaos broke out afterward.
That group came charging over on horseback, while Erdun and the others were still sleeping in their tents.
Even Zhuo Lige was in a sorry state, barely managing to climb onto the cart.
On the contrary, Qiqige, who had been sleeping by the cart wheel, suffered less and managed to hang onto the cart’s edge and run along.
Otherwise, it was questionable whether she could have escaped at all!
“The Tenth Pasture was already close to the mountains, and the Sixth Pasture was even some distance from them, so they were even closer to the mountains.”
Thinking about it this way, it wasn’t surprising that they could attract wolves.
Especially this Agula—he was quite cunning to begin with.
Qiaoba snorted: “They’re always causing trouble, constantly scheming against this one or that one. Really annoying!”
“Exactly.” Sangtu shook his head, expressing his incomprehension: “With all that effort, wouldn’t it be better to cut more grass or gather more firewood?”
Xie Changqing completely agreed—their pasture was still the best.
Although some people had left, those who remained were basically people with feelings and loyalty.
Thinking about it this way, maybe it was actually a good thing that Chaolu and the others left!
They didn’t stop anymore and headed straight forward.
By the time they returned to their own pasture, everyone’s spirits relaxed.
Still from far away, someone with sharp eyes saw them and called out warmly: “Qiaoba! You’re back!”
Some who were eating breakfast invited them to eat together.
It must be said that Xie Changqing and the others were really hungry, but Sangtu said to go eat at his house: “My house definitely has horse meat to eat. My wife definitely had that horse butchered and ready.”
Just Suhe’s horse—the blood had already been drained, making it extremely convenient.
“This early in the morning, after being blown by wind all the way, my heart is cold. I need a bowl of hot meat soup!”
Thinking of meat soup, everyone’s fatigue disappeared completely, and they all became excited.
They didn’t stop on the road and went straight to Sangtu’s house.
Sure enough, lifting the felt curtain, rich meat fragrance hit their nostrils.
“Oh my, what perfect timing.” Sangtu laughed heartily while entering and taking off his Mongolian robe, shaking off the snowflakes: “I really hit it lucky.”
Since they’d run slower on the return trip, snow had accumulated in a layer.
His wife came forward with a cloth towel, patting the snow off their clothes: “Don’t take them off. It’s warm inside and cold outside—don’t catch a chill from the temperature difference.”
The hot and cold could easily cause illness. Xie Changqing had originally wanted to take his off to shake the snow, but hearing this, he stopped.
Qiqige took a piece of cloth towel, but instead of using it on herself, she came forward to help him brush off the snow.
“Hey?” Suhe widened his eyes and asked in surprise, lifting his upper body: “Aren’t you that… that… what’s her name?”
Compared to her earlier nervousness, perhaps because she felt secure now, Qiqige looked at him timidly once but stubbornly denied: “You’ve got the wrong person.”
Wrong!?
Suhe looked at Qiaoba, trying to get confirmation from him: “This, where did she come from?”
“Haha.” Qiaoba looked at Qiqige reassuringly and laughed: “No need to hide it from him. It’s better that Suhe knows—he can help cover for you later.”
He roughly explained Qiqige’s situation. Suhe thought for a moment and nodded: “Ah, I see. Zhuo Lige has this problem… sigh!”
But Zhuo Lige was usually decent to the herders and did contribute to the pasture.
It was just a personal quirk, and besides, it was with the parents’ consent, so this matter was really hard to judge…
“Well, you can stay here from now on. At least you can live.” Suhe looked at Qiqige and shook his head: “But don’t go out wandering around. Don’t let Zhuo Lige see you, or I won’t be able to protect you.”
“Alatan threw her clothes in the snow.” Xie Changqing didn’t let Qiqige help him wipe and took the cloth towel to do it himself after sitting by the fire: “To Zhuo Lige, she’s already dead.”
That was good too.
Qiaoba still wanted to talk about their trip to notify the Tenth Pasture first, but Sangtu’s wife had already brought up sheep milk.
Suhe waved his hand: “What’s the rush? Eat first!”
They’d been running back and forth and were clearly exhausted. How could he keep them talking endlessly?
Hot sheep milk, paired with crispy baked flatbread, plus a big bowl of meat