Chapter 50
Chapter 50: Worse Than Killing Him
Chaolu turned his head away, avoiding their gazes.
There was nothing he could do about this situation.
After all, who could have predicted that the Ninth Pasture, which had been in such desperate straits, would somehow turn things around?
They clearly had no veterinarian left…
Lost in thought, he suddenly heard Idel call out: “Chaolu.”
Idel was the eldest son of the Sixth Pasture’s leader. Chaolu quickly responded and spurred his horse forward.
“Are you certain… the Ninth Pasture has no veterinarian?” Idel frowned, staring at him with suspicion.
It had been Chaolu and his group who had said this originally—Idel had never confirmed the information himself.
But looking around now, he really couldn’t see any traces of other pastures nearby.
Counting the yurts, this pasture indeed had far fewer than in previous years.
If it were anything else, Chaolu couldn’t be sure, but about this he had no hesitation: “Really, Dr. Xie ran off himself, and he took…”
He took Germa, Menggen’s mother…
Of course, he didn’t say the rest, because Menggen was already glaring at him menacingly.
“…Mm.” Idel gently stroked his horse’s mane, but didn’t hurry to leave. Instead, he slowly came to a stop.
The others didn’t understand what was happening. Some continued forward, while others also gradually stopped.
Some had already stopped, but the livestock behind them kept moving.
For a moment, the group was in disarray.
But soon, Idel made his decision: “Chaolu, you go.”
“Hm?” Chaolu didn’t quite understand.
A flash of disgust crossed Idel’s eyes, but his expression remained pleasant: “You’re familiar with Qiaoba. Go tell him that since they’ve only built this few yurts in this area… like this, we can temporarily share the same pasture with them. Our veterinarian and medicine can be shared temporarily.”
This was already the most generous offer Idel could make.
Before Chaolu could react, Idel changed his mind: “No, first say we can share the veterinarian. If they want to haggle, then mention the medicine…”
A look of embarrassment crossed Chaolu’s face, and he seemed troubled: “Idel…”
Never mind whether Qiaoba and the others would agree—when they left, things had gotten so tense. How could he possibly be the one to say this?
Moreover, Chaolu had always believed that after leaving, he would definitely live better than he had at the Ninth Pasture. He would lead all the herders who followed him to a good life.
But now, Idel was asking him to go back and beg Qiaoba and the others to take them in?
No, this was worse than killing him!
Unfortunately, Idel’s decisions brooked no objection.
And the others were getting excited too, looking at him expectantly: “Right, it would be great if we could just live here directly.”
“They don’t have a veterinarian—they’ll definitely agree!”
“These yurts only take up a small area. We could live nicely on that patch to the right!”
“I want that area below the big slope! There’s definitely still lots of grass under that snow hollow.”
“…Haha, this is really great. This place is close to the water source too—the livestock won’t have to run far to drink water.”
Their chatter left Chaolu with no choice but to go, even if he didn’t want to.
He turned around, hoping to get support from Menggen and the other herders who had originally left the Ninth Pasture with him.
Unexpectedly, Menggen and the others were all gazing at this pasture with eyes full of longing and greed.
Right, all of this should have been theirs—they should have been here all along!
Qiaoba had been about to go back and continue eating meat, but suddenly noticed: “Hm? Someone’s coming.”
“It’s Chaolu.” Sangtu spat, calling it bad luck, and immediately wanted to roll up his sleeves: “He dares come back! I’m going to beat him to death!”
When Chaolu and his group had left, he had been in the sheep pen watching his lambs.
By the time he heard the news, Chaolu and the others had been gone for quite a while.
In that situation, Chaolu had essentially ripped the soul right out of the Ninth Pasture.
If Xie Changqing hadn’t stepped up in time, they would probably have been forced to agree to squeeze into a winter pasture with another group.
Squeezing together easily led to friction.
There had been precedents before—squeezing together often led to only one path for maintaining friendly relations: merger.
Therefore, the memory still made Sangtu furious.
“Don’t panic.” Qiaoba held him back, saying calmly: “What do you think Chaolu is coming here for?”
And the other people from the Sixth Pasture had all stopped traveling too.
They stood silently in the snow, gazing toward this side.
The snow was still falling heavily, and the livestock worked hard to push aside the snow on top with their noses, looking for grass underneath to eat.
Sangtu got angry again seeing this: “That’s our grass!”
As they spoke, Chaolu had already approached.
His face was grim, but after looking up, he forced out a smile: “Uncle Qiaoba, udaan ula!”
“Udaan ula” meant “long time no see,” but Qiaoba had no intention of making small talk with him: “Tell your people to move quickly. Don’t let the livestock eat the grass from our pasture.”
“…” Chaolu hadn’t expected that Qiaoba, who had always been such a good-natured person, would be so cold to him. The smile on his face froze: “This, well… Uncle Qiaoba, this year’s snow is particularly heavy. Look, it’s not even New Year yet, and the snow is already this deep…”
“I have eyes, I can see!” Sangtu gave him no face whatsoever, shouting at the top of his lungs: “So hurry up and leave, before the snow gets too deep for you to move and you freeze to death in front of our pasture!”
He was quite gleeful about it, making no attempt to hide it: “Serves you right! When Haierte went to tell you to take the Aoter route, you said you wouldn’t go. If you were so stubborn, why didn’t you just winter on the other side of the mountain!?”
“…” Chaolu put away his smile, wanting nothing more than to whip him to death, but he took a deep breath and endured it, ignoring him and continuing: “Uncle Qiaoba, Idel said that our Ninth Pasture currently has no veterinarian, and with this year’s heavy snow, the livestock can easily get sick…”
The more he spoke, the more confident he became, finally finding the courage to look directly at Qiaoba and the others.
But the next second, he froze: Qiaoba and Sangtu’s faces and eyes were clearly written with mockery.
“So, so perhaps we could just live together. Idel’s idea is that we live over there…” Chaolu, unnerved by the smiles on their faces, began to stutter.
But he still gestured vaguely with his hand toward their right side: “Then we could share the veterinarian. If the livestock get sick, we could just call out…”
He had originally been quite confident, because he believed this proposal was one Qiaoba and the others had no reason to refuse.
But…
“Hahahaha!” Sangtu burst into laughter, laughing so hard he could barely straighten up: “Oh ho ho ho hahahahaha…”
Qiaoba couldn’t help laughing too, and Batu was confused at first but then imitated Sangtu, laughing until he was doubled over.
Hearing this commotion, Idel and the others frowned as they looked this way: “…Have they gone mad?”
“Perhaps they’re too happy hearing that there’s a veterinarian,” someone muttered.
Just as they were discussing this, a group of riders appeared ahead: “Ibert! We’re back!”