Chapter 53
Chapter 53: Black Snow Brings Disaster, White Snow Also Brings Disaster
This cow was already on its last breath, clearly about to die. It was bleeding heavily from somewhere, though they couldn’t tell where it was injured.
Xie Changqing took a look first and shook his head: “It’s not going to make it. Kill it.”
“I’ll put it out of its misery.” Hairi was strong—with one stroke of the knife, the cow quickly stopped moving.
Sangtu took some snow and scrubbed the cow thoroughly.
There was plenty of snow anyway. After scrubbing well enough, once the cow’s blood had drained and the wound blood had coagulated, it was ready.
“Alright, let’s tie it up.”
He and Hairi tied the cow directly to the back of Hairi’s horse to drag it along.
“Perfect—dragging it once will flatten the snow, so it won’t be as deep when we return.”
The further they went, the more difficult the terrain became, and the more livestock they found on both sides.
Some had been gnawed by wild animals and looked terrible.
Some were still intact but already dead.
After traveling quite a distance, they had only found three that were still breathing.
“If we go further, we’ll reach the bend.” Qiaoba looked ahead and shook his head: “Let’s go back. Although it’s not late now, by the time we get home it’ll already be dark.”
Ahead was where they had met with Alatan—there was really no need to go further.
If they happened to encounter the wolf pack still feeding on livestock, that would be truly unlucky.
Xie Changqing also nodded, turning his horse around to head back: “Mm, let’s hurry back then.”
This trip had been quite rewarding.
All three of these cattle were quite sturdy.
“Tonight these cattle will all stay at my place. With today’s snow, tomorrow we definitely won’t be able to leave the house. I’ll process them all cleanly at home.” Sangtu smiled happily: “Then I’ll deliver them to your homes!”
Hairi shook his head, saying bluntly: “No need, I’ll carry them myself!”
When the snow got too deep, horses couldn’t go out—they’d have to rely on people to carry things.
Fortunately, Hairi was very strong, perfect for this job.
Qiaoba also smiled, thinking: “We’ll split these two cattle among the three families, and give that smaller one entirely to Changqing’s family.”
After all, everyone knew Xie Changqing’s family situation.
If it weren’t for Xie Changqing having some skills, forget meat—they probably wouldn’t even have flatbread to eat.
And if it weren’t for having Xie Changqing on this trip, they wouldn’t have dared venture this far.
If they got injured along the way, they really would have risked their lives for this bit of food.
So everyone had no objections.
Hairi looked and said seriously: “Give him this one.”
He was pointing to the largest cow.
Xie Changqing couldn’t help but laugh, waving his hands: “No need, no need…”
“Fine, then this one.” Sangtu didn’t hesitate, directly blocking his refusal: “Take it when it’s given to you! You’re young and don’t understand the situation.”
“Black snow brings disaster, white snow also brings disaster.” Qiaoba looked at the sky where snow continued falling endlessly, sighing deeply: “Changqing, you need to know that winter here is very, very long.”
This was a proverb—”black disaster” meant drought without snow, “white disaster” meant catastrophic blizzards.
Both had very serious consequences.
If it continued snowing this heavily, they would probably have to constantly clear snow from the yurt tops, the roofs of cattle sheds, horse pens, and sheep pens, and even the surrounding areas.
Otherwise, they risked being buried by snow.
People would have no rest day or night, possibly even busier than in spring and summer.
But due to the extreme cold, many people would inevitably be unable to manage too wide an area.
Gradually, they would be forced to abandon some livestock they could no longer protect, even most of their livestock, and finally, all their livestock.
In the face of desperation, they might only be able to save their own family members… though this was the worst-case scenario…
And throughout this process, food would be extremely scarce.
“Your family already has little stored grain. You’ll definitely need this cow.”
With him putting it this way, Xie Changqing stopped refusing.
Only now did he realize: probably, Qiaoba and the others had braved the wind and snow to come out precisely to help him stockpile food.
This one cow would be enough for his family to eat for quite a few days.
“Don’t think this looks like a lot of meat—it gets consumed quickly when you’re actually eating it. You need to stockpile more.”
In the past, Tana had always been the one who stockpiled the most grain. This year… sigh…
Xie Changqing sighed, white mist gathering and dispersing before his eyes.
He thought slowly: “When Alatan and his group were all trapped in that pit, others probably fell in too. Why don’t we go just a little further—just to the bend and then come back.”
After all, they’d come this far already.
“Alright.”
So they went a bit further in that direction, and unexpectedly made a new discovery.
“There’s a sheep here?” Sangtu jumped down from his horse and looked carefully: “Wait, let me see if it’s breathing… Hm? It’s still breathing!”
Xie Changqing went over to check and found it really was still alive: “Let me see…”
As soon as he touched it, the sheep tried to struggle, desperately kicking forward, but quickly cried out in pain: “Baa…”
“Its bleating still sounds strong!” Sangtu laughed.
Xie Changqing examined it carefully and understood why it had been abandoned: “Its leg is broken, and there’s a gash on its back.”
“Ah? They abandoned it just for that?”
Sheep weren’t as big as cattle—they could have just thrown it in the cart!
“It shows they were fleeing in panic.” Qiaoba pondered.
“Quick! Over here!” But it was Hairi calling out in a low but terrified voice: “My god!”
He rarely showed such surprise and terror.
Qiaoba and Sangtu looked at each other. Since Xie Changqing was busy disinfecting, bandaging, and suturing the sheep’s wounds and they couldn’t help anyway, they went directly to see what was happening.
Walking past the bend, the terrain dropped considerably, and the wind suddenly became much fiercer.
The wind whipped up snow that slapped their faces like being hit with palms.
But Qiaoba and Sangtu had no time to worry about that, because they could already see the hellish scene in the distance.
No wonder this area had been so quiet—in the distance, dark masses of wolves were tearing and gnawing at dead or dying livestock.
Though it was snowy ground, it felt like there was blood everywhere.
“Look over there.” Sangtu lowered his voice.
Qiaoba followed his gaze and saw a lone wolf.
It seemed to have been cast out—wherever it went, the feeding wolves would stop their actions and growl threateningly to drive it away.
But this lone wolf didn’t give up. It would occasionally launch sneak attacks, almost always successfully.
Sometimes it got half a sheep’s leg, sometimes a small piece of beef…
After succeeding, it wouldn’t eat immediately but would carry the meat aside, putting it all together, then come back for more.
“This…” Sangtu frowned: “This wolf—I think we’ve seen it before…”
Before he finished speaking, the lone wolf suddenly looked sharply in their direction.
“Don’t move.” Qiaoba held his breath.