Chapter 59
Chapter 59: My Father Once Hunted Wolves
Once they left, Xie Changqing became even more confused.
Because they kept going forward, and even after they’d gone quite far, Qiaoba and the others showed no signs of stopping.
And this direction was vaguely heading toward that trap from before…
Seeing his confusion, Qiaoba explained: “We’re planning to check on that trap along the way and bring some food over.”
He had arranged for people to keep watch in this area these past few days.
Originally Qiaoba was going to come himself, but then Hairile kept clamoring to come: “His father said he’d go instead, so Hairile wouldn’t make a fuss.”
So now the one guarding here was Hairile’s father, Chagan.
If it weren’t for this, when Hairile got stubborn, even Qiaoba couldn’t control him.
Xie Changqing nodded thoughtfully: “About what Nomin mentioned before, regarding people coming to our ranch…”
He had told Qiaoba about this at the time, saying they should be on guard.
“Mm, we haven’t found anyone yet.”
So they specifically brought guns out today – first, they wanted to train Xie Changqing, and second…
They were also sending a warning.
After all, their ammunition was limited, so accomplishing two things at once was the most economical approach.
Xie Changqing didn’t mind these things – as long as he could learn something, it was all good.
The snow was very deep. After leaving their residential area, it became increasingly difficult to travel.
The horses basically could only follow behind them, and they had to rely on Hairile and Sangtu working together to clear the path ahead.
“This snow isn’t right, something’s really wrong…” Qiaoba said, shaking his head: “If it keeps snowing like this, we won’t need to worry about people trying to steal from our ranch.”
With this much snow, no one could even make it to their area.
“Indeed… I went up the slope today to look – the river surface is covered with snow, so it must be frozen quite thick.”
If the snow kept falling like this, many livestock would probably die this year.
Especially the Sixth Ranch – they had already suffered heavy losses, and they’d dropped quite a bit of hay along the way during their journey.
“It’s lucky they lost some livestock, otherwise they’d starve to death anyway.”
After all, the Sixth Ranch had arrived latest, and their winter pasture was quite remote with poor grass that was now all buried under snow.
“Eris was telling people about it too.” Qiaoba looked at Xie Changqing with a smile while catching his breath: “He said you told him to tell everyone that grass buried under snow shouldn’t be fed directly to livestock.”
Xie Changqing made an affirmative sound and roughly explained Al and Eris’s cattle situation: “…Even if you feed it, you can’t completely switch to grass – you have to adjust gradually.”
Grass also couldn’t be fed wet, as it could easily harm the stomach.
“I see…”
As they talked, they reached the location.
But once they arrived and looked around, all they could see was white snow everywhere – there was no sign of anyone!
“Chagan! Chagan!”
They looked around but really couldn’t find him.
Hairile got a bit anxious and climbed up a small slope to call for his father.
“…Hey, here.” This voice actually came from underground not far away.
They quickly followed the sound and walked over. Just as they got close, they saw Chagan bending over and emerging from under the snow.
He yawned and said somewhat helplessly: “How did you all get here? In this deep snow.”
Qiaoba looked around and, confirming he was alright, felt relieved: “We brought you some food – wrapped in fur, see if it’s still warm. We also brought you some liquor…”
Chagan didn’t care about anything else, since he could survive just fine eating flatbread.
But when liquor was mentioned, his eyes immediately lit up: “Really? Let me see!”
He led them into the shelter, and it had to be said, this place was truly well-hidden.
“Since the river surface froze, sleeping in the snow was still quite cold, so I got some ice…”
This place was close to the river anyway. A few days ago when the snow wasn’t deep yet, he moved ice every day from morning to night, building himself a shelter.
“I’ve slept in mountain caves before – it’s warm inside.”
Xie Changqing touched this ice shelter – how curious! Outside it was freezing cold, but inside the ice shelter it really didn’t feel cold.
“I made a ground fire.” Chagan was truly talented. If he’d made a fire outside, it definitely wouldn’t have stayed lit, but making one inside this shelter, he managed to heat the ground until it was nice and warm.
Of course, he couldn’t make it too big – he only burned enough to heat some water and warm up his sleeping area.
So inside the ice shelter he’d also laid out felt blankets and fur, making it quite comfortable and definitely much warmer than outside.
It was just too small – only three people could fit inside at once, so Sangtu and Qiaoba went in while Xie Changqing and Hairile waited outside.
The ice shelter had thick snow on top with a small opening left, and snow would occasionally fall in, then Chagan would poke upward with a stick.
To Xie Changqing, it looked like a little insect occasionally poking its head out of a hole – quite amusing.
“Your father… is really amazing…” Xie Changqing was quite impressed, he’d really learned something.
Hairile lifted his head, proud yet somewhat shy as he smiled: “…Mm! My father once hunted wolves!”
He patted the clothes he was wearing excitedly: “This wolf pelt I’m wearing was hunted by my father!”
Wearing it was especially thick and warm!
Hearing this, Xie Changqing couldn’t help but feel envious.
Wolf hunting…
After a while, when Chagan had drunk some liquor, they all came out together.
Hearing they were going to teach Xie Changqing to shoot, Chagan volunteered: “Come, come, I’ll teach him!”
Sangtu immediately got anxious: “We agreed I’d be the one teaching!”
“Oh come on, what’s there to learn from your couple of shots?” Chagan, with the liquor making him bold, pulled Xie Changqing along: “Come, come, I’ll take you over there to practice.”
He found two boards and threw them to Hairile, telling him to go set up targets.
Then he called Xie Changqing over to teach him some basics and small techniques.
Xie Changqing listened very carefully, following his instructions step by step.
Originally Chagan thought he’d have to repeat the instructions many times, but unexpectedly, Xie Changqing understood immediately and learned everything at once.
“Hey!?” He looked at Xie Changqing with surprise, his eyes full of undisguised delight: “You… not bad at all!”
When he’d taught Hairile before, he’d taught and scolded, scolded and taught, and sometimes when he got really angry he’d even slap him a couple of times.
But with Xie Changqing, none of that was necessary.
He only occasionally needed to give a bit more guidance, like how to aim at the target more accurately, how to pull the trigger more precisely, how to minimize recoil…
Xie Changqing even drew inferences, studying how to hit moving objects…
Sangtu, listening nearby, got envious and would occasionally chime in with a comment or two.
But his ideas differed somewhat from Chagan’s, and as they talked, the two started arguing.
As they argued, they started fighting…
Xie Changqing held his gun, watching in amazement as the two men pulled off their belts, threw open their Mongolian robes, and started… wrestling in the snow.