Chapter 55
Chapter 55: Tattling
They had only set up one felt tent this year, so there were some leftover pieces of wood, which now came in handy.
“Great!” Hairi Le happily came over and reached out to catch them.
Following Xie Changqing’s instructions, he used these two pieces of wood to prop up the stable roof, then stood them straight up.
The roof was all felt, so it had good flexibility. Propping it up like this didn’t cause it to split—just made the middle arch upward somewhat.
This way, the support poles created a slope all around.
“Good, this will do.” Xie Changqing patted the support pole, and after confirming it wouldn’t budge, he nodded with satisfaction: “This way, when we clear snow next time, it won’t be so difficult.”
Just like the felt tent top, they could directly knock it and let the snow slide down the slope, instead of having to scrape it off bit by bit.
Hairi Le nodded, rubbed his hands clean with snow, and jumped directly onto his horse.
“Hey? Hairi Le! Stay and eat some meat…” Tana called out to him.
But he wouldn’t listen at all, shaking his head like a rattle drum, and spurred his horse to gallop away quickly.
Xie Changqing couldn’t call him back either, and shook his head helplessly: “That kid.”
Thinking Hairi Le would stay for dinner, Tana had taken out a few extra flatbreads, but now they weren’t needed, so she put them back.
No choice—with the heavy snow, they had to save what they could.
While it wasn’t time to eat yet, Xie Changqing took a broom made of ji ji grass and began sweeping the snow on the road.
No matter how heavy the snow, he definitely had to go out every day.
At minimum, the snow in front of the stable had to be swept so it wouldn’t interfere with his riding.
He didn’t need to sweep it completely clean, but at least it couldn’t be too thick.
This ji ji grass broom was quite convenient to use.
Ji ji grass stems and leaves were tough, and brooms made from them had a large sweeping area and high work efficiency.
Before long, Xie Changqing had swept all the way down to the bottom of the slope.
Beyond the bottom of the slope, it had already been cleared by others, so he could finish and go back.
That evening they ate horse meat that Sangtu had brought. Tana didn’t cook much, but she added grass fruit, making it very fragrant.
“Eris came to the house today.” Tana dipped flatbread in the soup while telling Xie Changqing: “He said Ar’s cattle are also sick and asked if you could find time to go help take a look tomorrow.”
Originally Eris had wanted to wait for Xie Changqing to return, but after waiting a long while without seeing him come back, and needing to hurry back to clear his tent top, he didn’t wait.
Hm?
Eris’s cattle were the two that had gotten infectious bovine rhinotracheitis.
For him to come notify them, could it be that Ar’s cattle had also gotten this disease?
Xie Changqing frowned and nodded: “I’ll go take a look tomorrow morning.”
“Also, I noticed… Chagan’s and Sangtu’s families, their stables this year aren’t big enough…” Tana looked at Xie Changqing somewhat hesitantly: “Our stable is quite spacious. If they don’t have enough room later, should we let them keep some horses with us?”
Take Sangtu’s family, for example. At the time, they’d focused all their attention on the sheep, and because some sheep were just recovering from illness, they’d even built an extra sheep pen.
With all the other things that came up afterward, they didn’t build more stable space.
It was fine for now, but if the snow got heavier and the horses couldn’t go out for long periods, being too crowded would easily make them restless.
“Good, I’ll go take a look tomorrow and talk to them about it then.” Xie Changqing nodded, thinking this was quite good.
After all, they only had two horses now but were living in such a large stable—it was indeed quite wasteful.
“…Baa.” The sheep being kept in the corner lay down and bleated softly.
“Oh! It made a sound!” Batu jumped up immediately, excitedly carrying his meat soup over: “Aha! It made a sound!”
Xie Changqing couldn’t help but laugh. Of course it would make sounds—it was a sheep after all.
Speaking of this sheep, Tana was still somewhat worried: “I saw its leg was broken, and there’s such a long gash on its back… can it survive?”
If it couldn’t survive, they should slaughter it early to save some meat.
Otherwise, if it got thin and weak, there’d be hardly any meat left when they killed it.
“It can survive.” Xie Changqing nodded and said calmly: “It’s quite tough. Keep it, and when spring comes, feed it more grass—it should get stronger.”
This sheep was truly impressive. Even other cattle had frozen to death, but despite such serious injuries, it had stubbornly pulled through.
“Alright.” Tana listened to him, and glanced at Batu: “Then later we’ll have Batu feed it more grass. Don’t put it in the stable—just keep it in the felt tent where it’s warm.”
After all, this was their family’s only sheep!
When Xie Changqing heard this, he immediately laughed: just now she was talking about killing it for meat, and now she was being tender-hearted.
Tana really was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted.
After they finished eating, it soon grew completely dark.
Xie Changqing was in the tent changing the sheep’s medicine and preparing some ointment for backup use.
Batu took Xie Duoduo and snuck out. Xie Changqing thought they wanted to play and didn’t pay attention.
But unexpectedly, they’d gone to rub Lightning down with snow.
Xie Duoduo worked on the bottom while Batu stood on a horse stool, working hard to rub Lightning’s saddle area and mane.
Lightning really enjoyed this feeling, staying obediently still and occasionally swishing its tail.
When Xie Changqing came out to call them to sleep, he saw that Lightning had been washed completely clean: “Wow, very clean! So impressive!”
“…Mm!” Batu nodded vigorously.
He’d really put in effort. Despite all this snow outside, he wasn’t cold at all—he’d even rolled up his sleeves from getting so warm.
Xie Duoduo, bundled up like a ball, hadn’t really helped much, but she was also very excited, nodding hard: “…Mm-mm!”
Lightning was also very happy, nuzzling Xie Changqing’s hand with its head.
Xie Changqing reached out to pet it a couple times, but the Little Red beside them immediately got upset.
It also came over, whinnying and reaching out its tongue to lick.
“Haha.” Xie Changqing quickly petted it too. It whinnied again, swishing its tail and tilting its head to look at Batu and the others.
That expression was exactly like it was tattling: Look at them—they only gave Lightning a bath and not me!
Batu clearly understood too and laughed loudly: “You didn’t even go out!”
With the deep snow outside and grass hidden under the snow, Lightning ran around and could easily pick up bugs and lice, so it needed frequent washing.
But Little Red stayed home every day recovering from its injury, eating well and getting plump. It was clean every day—why would it need washing?
But Little Red didn’t care—it wanted it anyway!
It nuzzled Xie Changqing and licked his hand, even pushing Lightning aside to monopolize the affection!
Lightning glanced at it but didn’t compete, silently stepping back.
Tsk, how embarrassing for a horse!
Xie Changqing laughed heartily and patted its head: “Alright, I’ll give you a bath next time too!”
“Okay, come back inside quickly, it’s cold out there.” Tana lifted the tent flap and called them: “You still have to go to Eris and Ar’s tomorrow to look at their cattle. Come sleep quickly!”
Xie Changqing had to go out running every day, which really worried her.
“Alright, coming.”
When Xie Changqing and the others went inside, they saw Tana sewing gloves for him again.
“Mother, you should sleep early too.” Xie Changqing watched her sewing carefully and worried about her eyes: “Do it tomorrow.”
“Okay, I’m almost finished.” Tana smiled and told Batu to tuck Xie Duoduo in properly: “It’ll get colder later. I’m making you some hand covers with the leftover wolf fur so your hands don’t get frostbitten.”