Chapter 48#
Chapter Forty-Eight#
The afternoon on the prairie was exceptionally quiet and peaceful. Cooking smoke rose from the felt tents, and the air was filled with the aroma of meat fat and green grass.
Xue Jingci gathered all the herbs Pei Huang had collected into his arms and walked out of the tent to dry them.
Unknowingly, the two had lived on this plateau for nearly half a month.
The herdsmen of the prairie were hospitable. Seeing that Xue Jingci was pale as if suffering from a serious illness, they had lent them this felt tent to live in for free.
But maintaining basic livelihood couldn’t rely entirely on the help of others.
Pei Huang hadn’t mentioned leaving again. Every day at dawn, he would follow the herdsmen out to hunt and then take the prey to the market to sell. Once, he accidentally discovered a sea of golden lotuses and immediately saw a business opportunity.
This herb could clear heat and reduce swelling. The herdsmen often suffered from internal heat and toothaches because they ate too much meat, and drinking water infused with golden lotus could alleviate much of it.
Pei Huang also took the golden lotuses to the market to sell. After exchanging them for money, he bought several pieces of woolen felt to replace the dried grass originally spread on the ground, finally making the entire tent warm and comfortable.
Xue Jingci finished drying the herbs and stood up to walk toward the village chief’s house.
The village chief was an old man with a white beard named Tawa.
In his youth, Tawa was the most courageous hunter of his generation, having once hunted and killed a wolf king alone.
His eyes were as sharp as a torch. Upon seeing Pei Huang and Xue Jingci, he smelled the scent of wild wolves on them and guessed they had also fought with wild wolves. He immediately showed a look of admiration and even took the initiative to lend his bow and arrows to Pei Huang.
As payment, Xue Jingci agreed to spend time playing with his grandson and granddaughter when he was free. Tawa’s children seemed to really like this beautiful outsider.
Entering the tent, Xue Jingci saw a young girl kneeling before a Buddhist niche.
The niche faced the snow mountain to the north. The herdsmen here believed that a deity lived atop the snow mountain, and one would receive protection as long as they prayed sincerely.
This scene reminded Xue Jingci of the small Daoist temple in Donglai Village.
Hearing movement, Bayar immediately turned around.
Sunlight spilled through the skylight at the top of the tent, and one ray happened to fall on Xue Jingci, covering his fair skin with a layer of golden light.
His features were cool and his gaze was calm, like a deity walking down from a snow mountain.
Bayar instinctively wanted to bow to Xue Jingci, but just as she bent down, she remembered this person was a guest staying in the village to recover from an illness.
She felt a bit embarrassed and stood there rubbing her hands.
Xue Jingci only thought she was a bit constrained in front of a stranger and proactively waved to her, handing her the golden lotuses in his arms.
“Your grandfather asked me to come teach you to identify herbs.”
Bayar took the golden lotuses, sniffed them curiously, and gestured to ask Xue Jingci what they were.
Xue Jingci explained softly. Although they didn’t speak the same language, Bayar was a diligent student and slowly understood the wonders of this herb.
“Where’s Gege?”
Xue Jingci didn’t see Tawa’s grandson and asked instinctively.
Bayar laughed sheepishly, gesturing a pair of scissors with her fingers and saying “ka-cha” with her mouth.
Xue Jingci lowered his eyes. He had long heard from Tawa that Gege had a mischievous nature.
Today the women in the village were gathered to shear sheep; he must have gone there to join the fun.
He didn’t ask further and sat down to continue teaching Bayar how to use an abacus.
This teaching lasted until evening.
The familiar cooking smoke and aroma appeared again. Life on the prairie was simple; besides herding, it seemed to be these three meals a day.
Bayar pointed to the fire stove in the center of the tent, then pointed to a leg of lamb hanging by a thin string and covered in salt, inviting Xue Jingci to stay for dinner.
Xue Jingci shook his head and got up to leave.
Nowadays, Pei Huang was out for most of the day, and they only ate dinner together.
Xue Jingci walked out. Passing the large willow tree at the entrance of the village, he suddenly saw Gege, who had been missing for a long time.
Gege was standing stealthily under the tree, reaching out to rub the system’s head.
Hearing footsteps, Gege withdrew his hand and turned to run away quickly.
Xue Jingci walked over quickly and saw the small cat sleeping soundly on a branch.
However, its head had been messily painted green with grass juice, looking very funny.
Xue Jingci picked it up with some distaste and carried it to the nearby stream to wash.
Halfway there, the cat woke up groggy and asked, “Host, where are we going?”
Xue Jingci said calmly, “To give you a wash.”
Hearing about a bath, the cat instantly woke up and struggled to jump down. “No need, right? I’m clearly very clean!”
“Is that so?”
Xue Jingci held it over the stream water. “See for yourself.”
The cat looked down and saw its green fur in the reflection, and instantly began to meow and scream.
“Aaaaah who did this? Was it that brat Pei Huang!”
After saying this, the cat was momentarily stunned, then shook its head and said, “No, he’s grown up; he wouldn’t do such a thing anymore.”
Xue Jingci had been using his hands to scoop clear water to wash it, but froze upon hearing this. After a long time, he asked, “Did he do it before?”
The cat immediately complained, “Of course, back in Donglai Village. Does Host remember? There was an old maple tree where we lived that dropped leaves every day. You made that brat sweep them every day. I was afraid he’d be lazy, so I nestled in the tree to supervise him. Once I fell asleep…”
“He actually crushed the herbs you picked and used the juice to draw on my head!”
Xue Jingci shook his head: “I don’t remember that.”
The cat shook the water droplets off its head. “He was still somewhat in awe of you then and washed me clean before you returned from herb picking.”
As they spoke, Xue Jingci washed the grass juice off the cat’s head. On the way back, he saw the large willow tree again.
He felt a bit dazed, as if he saw the fiery red old maple tree in Donglai Village.
When the two returned to the felt tent, Pei Huang had already boiled water and was cutting dried beef leg into small pieces to stew in a pot.
Hearing footsteps, Pei Huang instinctively looked up.
Life here was peaceful, away from the troubles of the cultivation world. Xue Jingci’s face finally had a bit of color, but compared to ordinary people, it was still excessively pale.
Pei Huang withdrew his gaze, picked up a jar, and handed it to Xue Jingci. “I saw someone selling honey at the market today, so I bought some. After you finish your medicine tonight, you can take a spoonful and stir it into water.”
Xue Jingci reached out for the jar.
Their fingertips nearly touched, but Pei Huang quickly pulled his hand away.
The meat in the pot began to tumble, making a “poo-doo-doo” sound.
Soon the beef leg was stewed until soft and tender. Xue Jingci and Pei Huang picked up their chopsticks to eat.
After a few bites, messy footsteps suddenly sounded outside, accompanied by the faint, nervous cry of a woman: “A sheep is missing!”
Hearing this, Pei Huang immediately put down his chopsticks and said, “I’m going out for a bit.”
He picked up the bow and arrows hanging on the wall, took a torch soaked in sheep oil, and hurried outside.
Xue Jingci put down his chopsticks and didn’t continue eating.
The cat jumped to the side of the pot and whispered, “He hasn’t even finished his meal; why is he running out?”
Xue Jingci rubbed its head and explained, “Every evening, the herdsmen have to drive back the cattle and sheep grazing outside. Now that one is missing in the count, Pei Huang probably went to help find it.”
The cat nodded and stuck out its tongue to lick the beef bone soup in the small bowl.
The little berry also followed suit. After taking a taste, its eyes lit up, and it actually flew straight into the pot and took a huge gulp.
It was small, but possessed a massive power. With one light suck, it took away more than half of the beef bone soup.
Xue Jingci quickly reached out to stop it, pinching its small hand and saying, “Leave some for Pei Huang.”
Pei Huang didn’t return until late at night.
He lifted the tent curtain quietly, afraid of disturbing Xue Jingci’s rest. Who would have thought the man was still sitting by the table waiting for him.
The sheep oil torch had burned for a long time, leaving only a weak flame. Their gazes met, almost intertwining with the flickering fire.
Pei Huang asked hoarsely, “Why are you…”
Xue Jingci picked up a bowl. “Waiting for you to eat.”
Pei Huang wanted to say something but was stuck. Realizing what happened, he found he was still holding the tent curtain with one hand.
He quickly let go of the curtain, afraid the cold wind blowing in would make Xue Jingci cough again.
“Oh.”
Pei Huang hung the torch on the wall, and the tent was instantly filled with a bit of light.
The cat had long since fallen asleep on the woolen felt, its snoring intertwining with the sound of boiling water in the pot.
The warm aroma drifted into his nose. Pei Huang lowered his head and held the bowl to eat.
He usually ate very quickly—Wu Huai always mocked him for eating like a starving ghost—but today he chewed every piece of meat carefully.
Only after hearing Xue Jingci put down his bowl did he look up and say, “Go to sleep. I’ll clean these up after I finish.”
Xue Jingci looked at him steadily for a while and asked, “Are you still going out to keep watch tonight?”
Pei Huang gave a sound of affirmation, picked up the bowls and chopsticks, and went outside the tent to wash them.
Life here was very primitive, and not many people could cultivate. Pei Huang was afraid of attracting attention and rarely used magic.
He rolled up his sleeves. After washing the bowls and chopsticks, he walked toward the outskirts of the village and leaped onto the large willow tree.
From here, he could have a panoramic view of the entire village. If any wild beasts approached, he would be the first to know.
Pei Huang looked around and found no signs of wild beasts. His gaze then fell back onto Xue Jingci’s felt tent.
Not until the light from the torch inside the tent was completely extinguished did he withdraw his gaze.
The next day, Pei Huang wanted to follow the herdsmen out to hunt again, but was stopped by a man.
This man was Saihan, who had lost a sheep the previous night.
In his early years, he had led merchant caravans traveling far and wide, and had even engaged in maritime trade.
Unfortunately, the ship encountered wind and waves. Although he got his life back, his leg was crippled, so he had to return to the village to be a market merchant.
Saihan smiled at Pei Huang. He had been to many places and was proficient in various dialects, so speaking with Pei Huang was actually very smooth.
“I’ve seen the animal skins you sell at the market. The workmanship is fine and the fur is intact, but unfortunately, they aren’t rare items for the locals, so you can’t get a good price. In a few days, a caravan will pass by. Sell them then, and the price can increase several times.”
Pei Huang thanked him. Saihan then warmly invited him to eat. Seeing him shake his head, Saihan simply pushed him down and went out to invite Xue Jingci to come along.
His wife Utuya had a personality exactly opposite to Saihan’s—she was a shy and delicate woman.
Having heard her husband talk with Pei Huang about purchase prices, she thought for a moment and took out an account book from the room to give to him.
Seeing Pei Huang’s confusion, Utuya smiled and said, “You’re a newcomer and don’t understand the prices of things; it’s easy to be cheated.”
Only then did Pei Huang take the account book and look through it seriously.
Flipping to one of the pages, he suddenly saw a fiery red maple leaf tucked inside and couldn’t help but pick it up to study it carefully.
Utuya was originally a bit shy, but seeing Pei Huang unable to put the maple leaf down, she said with some pride, “Saihan brought it back. I’ve lived under the snow mountain all my life and had never seen such a beautiful leaf.”
Pei Huang smiled: “I’ve seen it; it’s very beautiful.”
He kept holding this leaf, unable to bear putting it down.
If it were anything else, Utuya would have generously given it as a gift, but she really liked this leaf. She was determined to take it back yet felt embarrassed to speak up.
Not until footsteps sounded outside the tent did Pei Huang snap out of it and put down the maple leaf.
Seeing Utuya staring intently at the maple leaf with a conflicted expression, he let go and apologized.
Xue Jingci saw from a distance that Pei Huang was holding something like a treasure. Walking over, he asked, “What are you looking at?”
With that, he looked down and saw the maple leaf tucked in the account book, saying with confusion, “It’s just a leaf.”
Utuya closed the account book and turned to prepare the meal.
Xue Jingci saw that smear of red disappear and looked at Pei Huang, asking, “Do you like maple leaves very much?”
Pei Huang fell silent.
After a long time, he finally looked into Xue Jingci’s eyes and nodded seriously.
“Yes, I like them very much.”