Bahu first took Qiqige to the river to wash his hands, picking out the rotten grass leaves from under his fingernails, but the greenish color on his fingertips just wouldn’t wash away.
Wen Yin carried Jiya over like he was holding a blanket. “It’s just some grass juice, not dirty. Just leave it be. You’re almost rubbing the child’s hands raw.”
Bahu ignored him, wiping the water off Qiqige’s hands with his sleeve before taking Jiya over.
Fortunately, it was already dusk when they returned with the child. During dinner, Mi Niang didn’t notice the child’s hands, but he couldn’t escape a scolding when washing his face at night.
With a burning ear, Bahu took two eggs and sat by the fire, covering the eggs with ash and roasting them by the fire.
In the middle of the night, when Mi Niang woke up to take the child out of the felt bundle to urinate, Bahu heard the sound and poured half a basin of water before slipping two eggs, their shells charred yellow, into his pocket. “Wash your hands. I roasted two eggs.”
Mi Niang wasn’t hungry, but the cold wind woke her up. She covered the two sleeping children with a blanket, put on a wolf fur cloak, washed her hands, and followed Bahu outside.
“So many stars,” she exclaimed.
Bahu, accustomed to it, didn’t find anything particularly astonishing. The time with the most stars would definitely be in the summer, but then there were many mosquitoes. At this time, the insects were still in their eggs, buried in the soil.
He peeled the eggshell and handed the first bite to her lips, only eating after she took a bite. There weren’t many people at night, and most of the night watchmen were already asleep. Bahu embraced Mi Niang’s shoulders and whispered softly, “I miss having you accompany me during the night watch.”
“I’ll keep you company for the latter half of the night,” Mi Niang thought it was simple enough, but then she heard his suggestive tone, indicating it wasn’t just any night. She recalled the times before they had children when he would deceive her into wandering in the vast night sky and the sparse autumn breeze.
She pretended to be clueless, not uttering a word even when her shoulder was bumped.
“I know you’ve figured out what I mean.”
Mi Niang snatched the half egg from his hand and nibbled on it like a mouse nibbling on grains, completely ignoring his words.
“Sigh, when we didn’t have children, we hoped to have them, but now that we do, we find them troublesome,” Bahu sighed.
Qiqige and Jiya could now sleep for two hours straight without waking up. If they really wanted to do something, they could still find time, but Mi Niang just thought about it in her heart.
They shared the two eggs, and Mi Niang scooped half a bowl of butter tea cooked over the fire, clearing her throat. Seeing Higil and another servant walking over, she turned her head and asked, “Are you going to sleep tonight?”
“I will. I’ll sleep in the latter half of the night. I’ll go back when the rotation comes,” Bahu replied, seeing Higil and getting up with support from his legs. “Is it time?”
“Yes, we’ll go and call for the replacement now.”
“Alright, I’ll go wash my face and feet.” Bahu let Mi Niang go in first, then walked with Higil and the others towards the river. Before they reached the river, he felt a pang in his heart and looked straight ahead. He remembered washing his hands with the children earlier in the evening on this side. He recalled a half-height hill directly ahead. If there was something behind it, it would be well hidden.
The other two also stopped in their tracks, born and raised on the grasslands, they had a certain sense of danger. For example, now, the hairs on their arms were standing on end.
“Back up, don’t turn and run,” Bahu advised. They couldn’t afford to show their backs to the wolves. There was a river in between, which was advantageous for humans. If something entered the water, there would be noise.
Bahu estimated the distance to the felt bundle, but there was still no movement on the other side of the river, and the feeling of being watched disappeared. Just when he thought his senses were wrong, the dog sleeping among the sheep suddenly began to bark wildly, followed by the sheep’s cries of distress.
“The wolves are here!” Bahu ran back quickly, shouting as he ran, “Get up, the wolves are here, grab your bows and arrows.”
His bow and arrows were by the fire, and when he got there, someone had already rushed out. There was the sound of children crying from his family’s felt bundle. He glanced back, grabbed the short knife from the Lele cart, and ran towards the flock of sheep.
The wolves went berserk with the dogs, but once humans got involved, the dogs gained the upper hand. However, when the fight ended and Bahu counted the wolf corpses, he also saw the body of a dog, some from other families, and some from his own.
With so many people and a wolf pack coming unexpectedly, eight puppy dogs, including Rascal, who slept among the sheep, had their ears bitten off. Bala, perhaps busy protecting the puppies, had his buttocks bitten, and one dog, resembling Alse wolves, didn’t die in the jaws of the wolf but under the arrows of humans.
Bahu held Rascal, while Higil held Bala. Behind them followed six puppy dogs, while Da Huang sat beside the puppy with a pierced neck without moving.
“Mi Niang, bring out the golden wound medicine,” to prevent her from worrying, he added, “The dog is injured.”
First, they sprinkled the medicine powder to stop the bleeding. Bahu boiled two pieces of cotton cloth to bandage the wounds and then brewed the herbs from the jar. “Mi Niang, watch the fire. One puppy died; I’ll go dig a hole to bury it.”
“What about Da Huang and the Alse wolves?” Seven puppies returned, and so did Bala, but Da Huang and the Alse wolves were still missing.
“They’re fine.” Bahu picked up a shovel and hurried over, but didn’t see the three dogs. Someone directed him, and he stepped over the corpses of wolves and sheep, following the blood trail. Da Huang and the Alse wolves were digging in the soil.
Bahu didn’t say anything. He went over and dug a shallow grave along the path they had dug. After digging a hole about as deep as his calf, he buried the puppy. He also pulled out the arrow, and the dripping blood slid down the grass leaves onto the ground.
This dog hadn’t even lived for a year and didn’t even have a name. Bahu patted the covered yellow soil and inserted the arrow still stained with blood into the moist earth. “Da Huang, Alse Wolves, gone. May the heavens bless them. When you two meet them again in the future, they will be human.”
Da Huang lingered for a moment, carefully sniffing the scent of blood on the arrowhead, before emitting a mournful whimper and then turning to follow Bahu.
Those killed by stray arrows, Bahu couldn’t even seek justice for them. After returning, he named the remaining puppies and even tied different colored threads around their necks.
Dogs have better memories than humans. While the men were busy herding cattle and sheep and the women were busy taking care of children and the elderly, busy with three meals a day, they were unaffected by that night. However, the dogs would occasionally startle awake at night, and even when they slept, they might still whimper. During the day, they were much quieter.
Bahu skinned the sheep bitten to death by wolves, the wolves bitten to death by dogs, and the wolves shot to death by humans. He then cooked the meat and fed it to the dogs at home. When dogs from other households came, he fed them as well. Big spots and little spots also followed along and filled their bellies.
It wasn’t until they reached Lingshan that the dogs at home regained their spirits upon seeing familiar surroundings. Rascal and Bala’s wounds had healed, with Rascal missing an ear but still looking proud. It seemed to consider the missing ear as a badge of honor.
As for Bala, it was a seasoned warrior. After its wounds healed, it jumped back into the group of puppies, playing crazily as if nothing had changed.
They set off in mid-March and traveled for a month. By the time they reached Lingshan, it was mid-April. Qiqige and Jiya were just over two months away from turning one year old. They still couldn’t walk, but they crawled exceptionally fast when placed on the ground.
“Bahu, I’m going to tend to the beehive today. Take Jiya and Qiqige to herd the sheep,” Mi Niang handed him a large piece of felt. It was sewn together from four pieces of felt in the felt bundle, specifically for the two children to crawl on.
Bahu readily agreed. After Mi Niang left, he hitched the cart and took Ajima and the two children, along with Big Spots and Little Spots, to the sheep. Today, there were people coming to settle debts, with both the big and little sheep being counted for the repayments. Bahu only took a ledger and crossed off the names of those who had repaid their debts.
“Master, come take a look,” Higil called out.
“Ajima, keep an eye on Qiqige and Jiya, don’t let them pick up grass and poop pellets from the ground and put them in their mouths,” Ba Hu instructed as he walked towards the sheep flock. While listening to people talking, he also kept an eye on the activity there. He saw Ajima pulling Qiqige and Jiya back to the center of the felt-like picking up balls, dragging them back one after another, only to see them crawl away again. He looked tired just watching.
Higil also watched, glancing at the children and then at the dogs racing like at a horse race. “Master, you should find someone like Bala to come back and take care of the children. Full of energy all day long. Don’t talk about two children; they could handle eight children well for you.”
“Yeah, wait until Da Huang’s puppies are born. Let’s see if Bala can still handle them,” Bahu handed the ledger to Higil. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll come to you.”
Higil gladly accepted and assured him repeatedly, feeling honored to receive such trust from the master.
Bahu whistled, and the big black horse racing with the dogs turned around and ran over. With one hand holding a child, he said to the sweaty Ajima, “Take a break. I’ll take Qiqige and Jiya for a ride.”
The man mounted the horse, placed the two children in front of him, took off his robe, wrapped Qiqige and Jiya inside, and tied them to himself. Seeing the fearless expressions on their little faces as they laughed and danced, he thought, “They are indeed my offspring; they have fearless courage.”
But he didn’t dare to run too fast, gently urging the horse forward. A string of dogs followed behind, barking as they ran. The horse, stimulated by the commotion, also neighed. Whenever he tried to speed up, he was forced to slow down by the reins.
The horse wasn’t as fast as the dogs. After a run, Qiqiige and Jiya’s little faces were still flushed with excitement. They were even reluctant to be taken down from the horse.
“The horse is tired. Let the horse rest. Dad will carry you to ride the big horse again tomorrow.” He thought about how this year he would select two young horses. By the time Qiqige and Jiya were four or five years old and could ride, the two young horses would have grown into big ones suitable for riding.
“The horse…”
“Yes, the horse!” Bahu held the two children and glanced around. Who just spoke?
“Come on, call dad.” He turned the two children around so they faced each other, sitting face to face. “Call Dad. If you call me, I’ll carry you to ride the horse.”
“The horse—” Qiqige shouted loudly, even pointing her chubby fingers behind her.
Is she speaking already? Is she really speaking already? Bahu was stunned, and it wasn’t until he received a slap on the hand that he snapped out of it. Qiqige was twisting her body, trying to crawl over to find the horse.
“Call Dad!” Bahu threw a stone to drive away the big black horse. Since he couldn’t evoke the same response from the little girl, he caught Jiya instead. “Son, your sister can talk now, can you? Come on, call dad. Call him.”
Jiya just looked at him, but when she was urged to call out, she started yelling and pushed away her dad’s dark face to go play with her sister.
Bahu had to accept it. His eldest daughter could speak now, and her first word was “horse.”
When Mi Niang returned by cart, she saw the two children reaching out to her with joyful smiles. She gritted her teeth and hugged both of them tightly. However, she noticed Qiqige pointing to the horse, wanting to go over there while chanting, “Horse, horse, horse…”
“My daughter can speak?” Mi Niang looked at Bahu in pleasant surprise.
Bahu nodded. Yes, she could speak, but all she could say was “horse.” He had tried carrying them around on his back like a horse in the felt bundle, but he hadn’t managed to teach them to call out for Dad.
