Chapter 46
Chapter 46: A Round Little Ball
Hearing this, everyone turned to look.
Qiaoba was the first to react, asking in surprise: “Eris? What’s the urgent matter?”
“My cattle! The calves! Haha, both of them have started eating!” Eris excitedly rushed in, his full beard trembling on his face. “Changqing, come quickly and see if they’re better!”
Before, they looked like they were on death’s door, not eating grass or drinking water.
He had been thinking that if they still weren’t doing well today, he’d move both of them out and let other cattle live in the shelter instead.
After all, it was a proper shelter with a roof that could keep the other cattle warmer.
But unexpectedly, when he went to check on them this morning, both cattle had already started eating grass.
“Hehe, they ate the grass I gave them earlier and are still eating the dry grass!”
Xie Changqing had just finished eating and was quite full, so he immediately put down his bowl and stood up: “Really? Let me go see!”
He was about to follow him out when Nuomin stopped him: “Hey, scarf and hat!”
That’s right, Xie Changqing still wasn’t quite used to having to gear up every time he went out here. He immediately stopped to put on his gear properly before following him out.
As soon as he lifted the door curtain, the bone-chilling wind made his eyes sting.
“The snow’s gotten heavier again. Oh my, it’s really cold.” Eris rubbed his hands together and pulled his neck down into his collar.
Lightning happened to be outside. It was quite clever, using its nose to push aside the snow to eat just the grass tips underneath.
“Still being picky about your food at a time like this.” Xie Changqing gave it a light pat and laughed: “Come on, let’s go. There’s plenty for you to eat back home.”
You should know, his family only had two horses, and Batu treasured them like precious gems.
Not just Lightning—even Little Red was the apple of his eye. He’d love nothing more than to let them eat only the tenderest grass tips every day.
He’d never let them eat grass mixed with ice and snow.
Lightning seemed to understand and ran even faster, as if wanting to finish quickly and go home to eat fresh grass.
When they reached Eris’s place, Xie Changqing went straight to the cattle pen.
“Look, these two are quite lively now.” Eris casually tossed the reins aside, and the horse trotted back to the stable on its own. “Hehe, are they all better now?”
Xie Changqing looked them over. Previously, both cattle had been infected with infectious rhinotracheitis, showing symptoms of difficulty breathing, nasal discharge, elevated body temperature, and conjunctival congestion.
“Before, they just wouldn’t eat anything—nothing at all!” Talking about this still gave Eris a headache. “I thought both cattle were going to die…”
“When cattle are sick, their appetite decreases or even disappears completely, so not eating is normal.” Xie Changqing examined their eyes, breathing, rumination function, and body temperature.
Finding everything normal, he also breathed a sigh of relief.
Eris was still a bit worried: “It’s just… the way they are now… it’s different from usual. Could it be that, you know… that final… final burst of energy before…”
“You mean a final rally before death?” Xie Changqing laughed and shook his head: “No, during their illness they felt unwell and wanted to sleep. Now that they’re better, they feel relaxed and comfortable, so they appear very lively. This is normal.”
It had nothing to do with a final rally—they were simply excited because they’d slept too much before.
“Oh…” Eris let out a long sigh of relief.
Actually, if these two cattle really died, he wouldn’t panic. What he feared was an epidemic—if many cattle died one after another, he’d be beyond tears.
Just to be safe, Xie Changqing still added some medicinal powder to their feeding trough: “This will stabilize their condition. If they start having diarrhea or breathing difficulties again, come find me right away.”
“Alright.” Eris nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Before leaving, Xie Changqing remembered what he’d said earlier about wanting to clear out the cattle pen: “Keep these two cattle separated for now. Don’t rush to let them live together.”
Although these two sick cattle showed improvement in symptoms, they might still carry the virus and become potential sources of infection, so recovered cattle still needed enhanced management and monitoring.
Worried that Eris might not understand, Xie Changqing paused: “They look better on the surface, but they’re not completely recovered inside. They could still infect other cattle.”
This scared Eris quite a bit, and he nodded repeatedly, promising he absolutely wouldn’t let them mix with other cattle.
Xie Changqing yawned—he was truly tired: “Alright, I’ll head back first.”
Having barely slept all night, he could fall asleep even sitting on horseback now.
“Hey, wait!” Eris made him wait, turned around, and brought out a wrapped piece of beef jerky: “Here, here, you’ve made several trips for this!”
It felt quite heavy in his hands. Xie Changqing quickly tried to refuse: “I don’t need this much…”
“You do, you do.” Eris stuffed it into his basket and grinned at him: “This is the most fragrant piece of jerky I roasted, specially saved for you. Take it home and try it!”
As he spoke, he patted Lightning’s rear to make it run faster.
Xie Changqing thanked him and headed straight home.
Just as he rode up the small hill, he saw Batu bundled up like a dumpling, standing at the door and looking in this direction.
Seeing him, Batu immediately jumped up: “Aha! Aha! My aha is back!”
A round little ball ran out from inside, also bouncing along with him: “Aha! Aha!”
Looking closely, Xie Changqing realized the round ball was Xie Duoduo.
He immediately laughed and sped up to run over.
As soon as he dismounted, Xie Duoduo threw herself at him, hugging his legs tightly: “Aha!”
“Hey!” With her hugging his legs, Xie Changqing couldn’t take a step, so he simply scooped her up into his arms and bounced her a bit: “Oh my, you’ve gotten heavier.”
Xie Duoduo giggled and wasn’t afraid of snow going down her neck, stretching out her hands to pat the snowflakes on his head and face.
“Aha, I’ll get your medical kit!” Batu was quite clever. He excitedly took down the medical kit and brought it inside, then ran back out to whisper to Xie Changqing: “Someone’s crying inside!”
Huh?
Xie Changqing was a bit confused. Could Tana be crying? That didn’t seem right.
Thinking this, he walked inside, with Xie Duoduo stretching her little paws to help lift the felt curtain.
But the felt curtain was a bit thick, and she couldn’t lift it.
Then someone from inside reached out to lift the felt curtain, and Nuomin looked out: “Changqing, you’re back.”
“Mm.” As soon as Xie Changqing entered, he saw Qiqige had just finished getting dressed.
Tear stains were still visible on her face, and her clothes were completely different from before.
Beside her was a pile of bloody gauze and a man’s Mongolian robe—that was from Alatan.
“I happened to have some clothes that were too small, so I gave them to her.” Nuomin smiled and pulled Qiqige forward two steps: “Take a look? How does it look?”
Xie Changqing looked her over. It had to be said…
After washing up, Qiqige was quite pretty—clear eyes, a small thin face, a high nose bridge above cherry lips, rosy cheeks. Though somewhat chapped, she was still quite attractive.
The clothes were certainly more presentable. Though they were Nuomin’s old clothes, the material was good, and…
They didn’t seem small at all—they fit perfectly.
Xie Changqing glanced at Nuomin. Obviously, she had deliberately said they were too small to make it easier for Qiqige to accept.
“Abu told me about Qiqige’s situation.” Nuomin came over and pulled him aside, lowering her voice: “But I want to tell you something…”