The light drizzle in the middle of the night soaked the dry grassland, causing the Lele carts to slide on the road surface, made slippery by the rain. Coupled with the casualties from yesterday’s thunderstorm, the authorities announced that they would rest in place for a day and resume the journey the next day.
After staying up all night, everyone lay down in the Lele carts to sleep. Mi Niang dressed Qiqige and Jiya in thick clothes and hats, leading the two chattering kids to stew the meat. With the cold weather, the meat wouldn’t spoil, but the lamb heads needed to be eaten soon. The ribs and lamb legs could be salted and marinated, but the heads couldn’t be seasoned inside. If left for too long, they would start to smell.
Baoyin brought over a basket of beef and saw Mi Niang being circled by the two children. She called out, “Sister, I brought you some beef.”
“Sister-in-law is here.” Mi Niang stood up. “How’s everything at home?”
Baoyin shook her head. “I’m not sure. Some of our sheep have gone missing, and some have ended up in other people’s flocks. All I know is that we’re missing fifty-three sheep after the count. I don’t know if they’ve been lost or what.” She placed the basket in the basin. Last night, she heard that Qiqige and Jiya liked eating lamb brains, so she brought over some big bones. The marrow in the beef bones was fragrant, and when stewed, it could be scooped out with a spoon.
“If your older brother has time, let him come over to our sheep flock and have a look. It’s not uncommon for different flocks to mix, but they should be easy to find.”
“The cow that broke its leg was slaughtered this morning. He’s driving the Lele carts to sell the meat. He’ll come over in the afternoon.” Baoyin’s family also had things to attend to. She asked Mi Niang to make room for the beef, then she took the basket and went back home.
The sheep’s head stewed for half a day, and the beef bones stewed for another half a day. She cut the beef tendon into chunks and cooked it in beef bone soup with spices to make braised meat. The longer the braised meat soaked in the soup, the richer the flavor became.
With five people and twelve dogs, plus two wildcats, they ate meat for all three meals a day. They didn’t even touch the rice, noodles, or steamed buns. By the time they were ready to depart, there were only ten lamb legs left and the lamb sausage hanging in the Lele carts.
“Now you won’t crave meat on the road, will you?” Mi Niang asked. They had been eating meat so much that even her lips had developed blisters from the heat.
“We’ll still crave it. If we have ten lamb legs and a basket of sausages, we won’t need to slaughter sheep on the way back,” said Bahu.
He added, “Once we’re home, we’ll slaughter more sheep and make more sausages. Sausages are delicious and easy to carry while traveling.”
Mi Niang nodded in agreement as she chewed on her steamed bun. For Bahu and the two children, a meal without meat was not considered a proper meal.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, and they encountered several groups of people coming from different directions. The more people they met, the safer it felt at night.
When they reached the turning point, just like the previous year, Mi Niang and the children went back with the officials, while Bahu took the cattle and horses to pull the grass.
“Does it usually rain here in mid-September?” Bahu asked when he saw someone. He grabbed a handful of dry hay from the haystack, and seeing its quality, he felt relieved.
But he relaxed too soon. Uncle Muren led him to another haystack and said, “It rained here too, and the rain was quite heavy. Half of the sun-dried grass got wet. After the weather clears, we’ll flip the grass over, but there’s still a lot that’s moldy and rotten. Bahu, this year’s hay is not as abundant as last year’s. If the winter is long this year, we might not have enough grass for the livestock to eat.”
“It’s alright, I’ll go to the capital city and buy more corn to stock up,” Bahu thought about going to buy corn earlier; if he waited too long, the price might go up. “But it’s not winter yet. I’ll leave half of the people here to continue cutting grass, and before it snows, I’ll come back with cattle, horses, and camels to haul the grass.”
He circled around the haystacks and exclaimed, “Hey, where’s Ajima? Didn’t he come back with you guys?”
“He did come back with us. That lad is quite capable and doesn’t mind hardship,” the old man looked around, “I saw him this morning. Where did he run off to?”
“No need to look for him, I’ve seen him,” Bahu spotted Xi Jil, and the person he was blocking should be Ajima. This brother-in-law of his was quite responsible.
Feeling assured that everyone was fine, Bahu nodded when Ajima came to greet him. Once all the grass was loaded, he rode back home.
Qiqige and Jiya had no memory of living in a brick and tile house for a winter. Suddenly seeing a house different from the felt tents, they were stunned. As soon as the door opened, they exclaimed in amazement, exploring every room with their dogs, from inside to outside, from front to back, from where people lived to where the sheep stayed.
Feeling exhausted, they sat down on the doorstep, their little red faces filled with excitement.
“Come on, time for a bath,” Mi Niang moved the bathing tub inside and poured half a bucket of hot water to throw the siblings in. They hadn’t bathed for a month on the road, and the dirt on their bodies was thick.
Not only the children but she too needed it. After coaxing the two kids to sleep, she estimated she spent an hour washing herself.
The three of them lay down on the warm Kang and took a nap while Bahu returned, and she got up to cook. Since chickens didn’t lay eggs in winter, Mi Niang slaughtered the fattest hen and plucked it for chicken soup. In the back pot, she filled it with water, and after eating, it was Bahu’s turn to bathe.
After washing the dishes, she was about to leave when she was stopped by someone in the bathing tub grabbing her wrist. “Don’t go, sit here and chat with me.”
The person standing looked down at the long worms beneath the water, then glanced up at the man, reminding him, “Your child isn’t asleep yet.”
The man drawled, “Oh,” pretending to be clueless. “I just wanted to chat with you. What does it matter if the child is awake or not?”
“If the child is awake, I’ll be with the child. I don’t want to chat with you,” Mi Niang followed his lead, but before breaking free from his grasp, she cast a sideways glance at the water.
While lying on the Kang, Mi Niang could still hear the sound of water next door. Chatting with the child was intermittent, with one sound after another. After a month of traveling, they had been taking turns sleeping with the child at night and catching up on sleep during the day. Forget about sharing a bed; even when they were groggy and barely awake, they only called each other for meals. She turned over, mustering up some energy to hum a little tune and coax the child to sleep.
But Qiqige and Jiya had napped too long in the afternoon and hadn’t slept with their dear father for too long. After Bahu pushed the door open and walked in, their half-closed eyes widened immediately.
“Daddy!” Qiqige sat up and called out in a childish voice, while Jiya didn’t make a sound but stretched out her little arms for a hug.
Bahu responded first and then frowned. “You’re not asleep yet?”
“The child wants to chat with you,” Mi Niang chuckled, shifting inside the Kang to make room for the three of them.
Normally, Bahu cherished the two little ones, but tonight he seemed a bit reluctant. He blew out the oil lamp and said dismissively, “It’s dark now. Shall we sleep?”
“I don’t want to sleep,” Jiya rolled into her father’s arms, grabbing his ear and murmuring words only he could understand.
There was a dog barking in the yard, and Qiqige sat on her father’s belly and shouted loudly, “Da Huang!”
“It’s dark now, don’t speak so loudly,” Bahu pressed her back into the blankets. She was already over a year old and sitting on his stomach made him short of breath.
Da Huang heard its little master calling and ran to the door, scratching at it and howling to announce its arrival.
“Da Huang.”
“Howl.”
“Da Huang.”
“Howl—”
“Da Huang! What’s all the fuss about in the middle of the night?” Bahu teased, scaring off the dog but unable to deter the two children. He sighed heavily, deciding to ignore them. He turned his head to glance at the person lying against the wall and nudged her with his foot. “Mi Niang? Are you asleep?”
“No,” she replied, simply not wanting to comfort the children.
“Okay, don’t sleep.”
Turning over, Mi Niang looked out the window at the moonlit contours outside and asked deliberately, “Why shouldn’t I sleep?”
“Because… I want to talk to you,” he said with a smile in his voice.
It felt like a long time had passed, but the two children finally quieted down. Bahu carefully moved them to the end of the Kang and squatted beside Mi Niang, grasping her ankle. “Are you asleep?”
Mi Niang bit her lip and didn’t speak, feeling the tingling sensation of his touch moving upward. She couldn’t help but flinch.
“Just talk, don’t fidget,” she scolded him.
The man didn’t reply, his mouth too busy to be idle in conversation.
“Are you tired?” Mi Niang whispered to him as the Lele carts. approached the alley, leaning close to his ear. “If you are, let me take over.”
“I’m tired,” Bahu replied without hesitation.
