When Big Spot and Little Spot saw the two children running towards them, they leaped off the Lele cart. Qiqige and Jiya were tackled by the mountain otters, their faces licked until they felt prickly, but they couldn’t bear to let go of Big Spot and Little Spot’s big furry legs.
In the end, it was Bahu who pulled them away. Seeing Qiqige and Jiya’s faces covered in wet saliva, he frowned and pointed, “Go wash your faces, now.” Big Spot and Little Spot eat raw meat outside, and their mouths smell really bad.
Big Spot and Little Spot also wanted to go along, but Bahu didn’t allow it. He didn’t want them to get too excited and accidentally knocked the children into the river.
Once again seated on the Lele cart, he reminded Qiqige and Jiya, “Little Spot’s belly is big, there are little ones inside, don’t press on its belly.” He wasn’t sure how long mountain otters carry their offspring, but he had checked before. Little Spot’s nipples were hanging down and swollen, which meant she was close to giving birth.
They had left home in March, and now it was only mid-May just two and a half months. They had traveled from the mountains in the west to near the foothills, walking for over a month. It was clear that Big Spot and Little Spot had taken a wrong turn. Given their estimated journey of one month, Little Spot’s offspring were probably no more than two months old.
Similar to the gestation period of dogs.
When they arrived home, Big Spot and Little Spot didn’t rush into the house. Instead, they circled around the yurts, sniffing the air and marking their territory with urine. The dogs at home came out to greet them, wagging their tails furiously around Big Spot and Little Spot, even Da Huang, who had been occupying the doghouse with her puppies.
Bahu waited at the door with Qiqige and Jiya, and only when Big Spot and Little Spot finished marking their territory did they all enter together, followed by a group of dogs.
Mi Niang had heard the commotion early on. Big Spot and Little Spot let out a low growl as soon as they returned, and she stood by the door, peering out through the crack. “Is Big Spot and Little Spot back?”
“It’s them, quite clever. They found their way back and didn’t get lost on the road.” Despite the hardships, there are countless wolf packs on the grasslands, and there are tigers, snakes, jackals, and wolves in the mountains. It’s a mystery how they managed to return.
“I’ll go slaughter a sheep.” Bahu rubbed Little Spot’s belly, thinking that he would need to make a separate nest for her in the next few days.
Big Spot and Little Spot were both starving. As soon as the sheep offal was poured into the basin, they buried their heads in it and gulped it down greedily, looking disheveled. Only after finishing the basin of sheep offal did they lick their mouths, drink a few sips of water, and then lie down to sleep in a place close to the yurts.
In the middle of the month, with the moon high in the sky, even without oil lamps, the path underfoot was clearly visible. Inside the yurt, it was a bit darker. Two oil lamps were placed on the table, and the family finally had their meal. Outside the yurt, there were the sounds of dogs and mountain otters gnawing on sheep bones, accompanied by the dripping of saliva.
As the excitement subsided, Bahu began to joke, “Big Spot is really something. It had a comfortable trip in the mountains and didn’t care about the pregnant beast.”
“Or maybe it got kicked out by someone else.” Mi Niang glanced outside. “But the siblings have a good relationship. They didn’t leave anyone behind and took care of each other all the way back.” One is virtuous, and the other deserts their spouse.
“Given how they behaved when they wanted to leave, I thought they wouldn’t come back.” Bahu sighed. “But it’s good. It’s not in vain that we raised them. They still have a home in their hearts.”
After Big Spot and Little Spot returned, Bahu and his two kids were excited for a full five days. Every morning, they would wake up and look for Big Spot and Little Spot, and before going to bed, they would check on them again. At night, if they needed to use the bathroom, they would peek into the nest. Bahu slaughtered two sheep a day, reserving one sheep specifically to cook for the dogs and mountain otters. He hoped that overnight, Big Spot and Little Spot would inflate back to their winter size.
It wasn’t until the sixth day after Big Spot and Little Spot returned that Little Spot gave birth to two little mountain otters in the nest. Much of the attention that had been showered on Big Spot and Little Spot shifted to the two cubs.
The two cubs were also siblings, with lighter fur. Their ears were black on the back and brownish-yellow on the inside, different from Big Spot and Little Spot’s ears. When Big Spot and Little Spot were young, they also had black ears, but as they grew up, only the tips and edges of their ears remained black.
The male cub had a tuft of black fur on his chin, while the female cub had a small black spot just above her nose, perfectly positioned between her eyes, making her look quite silly.
“Black Chin and Black Nose,” Qiqige named them rather bluntly, unwilling to brainstorm.
Jiya was dissatisfied. The three-word name didn’t roll off the tongue as smoothly as two-word names. “Beard and Ink Spot.”
Bahu found these names cumbersome. In his opinion, it would be better to go along with the naming convention for Big Spot and Little Spot: Big Black and Little Black. However, he had no say in naming the little mountain otters. Neither Qiqige nor Jiya managed to win the argument, so they compromised and came up with names through mutual agreement. The male was named Da Hu (Big Beard), and the female was named Xiao Mo (Little Ink).
Upon hearing the names, Bahu ruffled Qiqige’s hair. “Truly my daughter. We think alike.” It was obvious that Qiqige had settled on the names Big and Little.
In the house, there were three mother cows and their calves, while outside in the pasture, there were hundreds more. The mother cows had also started calving. This wasn’t something Bahu needed to worry about but to prevent the two children from disturbing the peace at home with their constant chatter, he hired workers again. He sent Qiqige and Jiya away, accompanied by Ajima, to guard the cattle. Their daily wages were calculated based on the number of cows calving, with six coins per cow, divided equally among the three children.
With the footsteps fading away, the courtyard finally became quiet. Mi Niang sat on a chair, weaving flower ropes, with four already placed on the table beside her.
The wooden door creaked open, and she glanced up, seeing Bahu carrying a basin, knowing he intended to take the diapers to the river to wash. “Don’t rush, come and help me first,” she said.
“Despite your orders, what talk of helping?”
Mi Niang smiled slightly, finding his words obedient, “My head itches, bring me the horn comb to untangle my hair. I always end up feeling more annoyed when I comb it myself.”
The flower rope in her hand was tied into a knot, which she casually placed on the table. Leaning back in the chair, she tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and enjoyed Bahu’s gentle combing and scalp massage, feeling so comfortable that drowsiness began to set in.
“Seven more days,” she counted the days on her fingers.
“Hang in there a little longer,” Bahu said. Although he hadn’t experienced confinement after childbirth, just seeing Mi Niang confined to the felt bag for a month made him feel suffocated. If he were confined to the felt bag for a month without being able to bathe or eat anything other than soft and bland food, he would probably be sulking every day.
Mi Niang sighed, “Even Da Huang can leave its den now. I know, caring and virtuous Bala is looking after its puppies in the doghouse again.” Growing increasingly frustrated as she spoke, she turned to glare at the man with resentment, “Why didn’t I have such good luck?”
A few days ago, he envied the Alse Wolves, and today Mi Niang envied Da Huang again. Bahu was about to burst into laughter, holding her face and kissing her cheek playfully, “Because you didn’t grow fur all over your body. Although Da Huang has had puppies, it still goes out for a walk every day, drinks water by the river, and basks in the sun outside the doghouse… Ouch!”
“I’ll strangle you,” Mi Niang gritted her teeth. She was already annoyed, and he was fueling her fire. “You’re so annoying.”
Licking his lips that were just touched, she spat out a mouthful of saliva disdainfully and took a pretentious sip of water.
The man’s eyes darkened as he stared at her lips glistening with water, lamenting, “Did I eat shit?”
Mi Niang ignored him. Despite her anger and pinching, Bahu’s hands couldn’t stop their work. “Keep combing,” he said softly as he lifted his hand to scrape her scalp with the horn comb.
“Once you’re out of confinement, I’ll go see Doctor Zhao and see if we can get some medicine. We already have three children, which is enough. Shall we stop having more in the coming years?”
Mi Niang was first shocked, then fell silent, her heart surging with emotions, unable to speak for a long time.
“What are your thoughts? Don’t stay silent. I know you love children, and I do too, but with more children, we won’t be able to take care of them properly. There will inevitably be negligence and favoritism. If you still want to have more children, let’s wait a few years. When Qiqige and Jiya are around ten years old, all three children will be able to go to private school, and then we can have another one.”
“Don’t go to Doctor Zhao.”
Bahu nodded. “I wasn’t planning on going to him.” Lingshan and Xushui were too close, and they both knew people there. If Doctor Zhao couldn’t keep his mouth shut and leaked information about his wife and children, it wouldn’t take a day for the news to spread throughout the area, and they would become the subject of gossip again.
With this matter settled, neither of them mentioned it again. However, unable to stop thinking about it despite the silence, Mi Niang couldn’t sleep anymore. Her eyes wandered around, and she noticed the five flower ropes on the table. She spoke up, “The puppies Da Huang gave birth to are the same age as our youngest son. When you go out later, tie these five flower ropes around their necks.”
“Is there anything special about that?” Bahu recalled whether there were any cattle or sheep giving birth on the same day as Mi Niang, as well as the horses and camels they released into the wild. Even if they were born, he wouldn’t have known.
“No special reason, just to commemorate a rare coincidence,” Mi Niang said, calculating that all the puppies in the house were born from Da Huang, with one litter per year. They already had enough dogs at home. “Da Huang is so big now. Can she still be spayed?”
As soon as Bahu heard her, he understood her meaning. Once these five puppies were grown, they would have nearly twenty dogs at home. If Da Huang kept giving birth, they would have to give away the puppies.
“It should be possible,” he replied, not very sure. The main issue was that the Alse wolves was too big, and it would take several people to hold it down.
Bahu chose a sunny day, thinking that the Alse wolves might not have the mood to eat after being spayed. In the morning, he slaughtered a sheep to feed it well. In the afternoon, when the butcher arrived, he covered the unsuspecting dog with a felt blanket. ChaoBao and Xi Jil, along with two male servants, immediately rushed over to hold it down when they saw what was happening.
“Leave its nose uncovered. Don’t suffocate the dog for me,” Bahu said in a soft voice, afraid that the Alse wolves would bear a grudge if it recognized him. So, he didn’t lay a hand on it and instead spent money to hire a butcher.
At first, the Alse wolves growled in anger, but soon it began to whimper. Dogs sunbathing on the hillside heard the commotion and ran back, but when they reached the door, they saw the butcher washing his knife in the river. ChaoBao and the others squeezed out of the dog crowd as if nothing had happened.
Bahu deliberately drove all the dogs, including Da Huang, far away, making sure they wouldn’t see.
“Your dogs are all strong and sturdy,” the butcher squinted, looking around. “I see there are still puppies inside. Will you sell them?”
Da Huang shook his head. “They’re all raised at home. I’m not selling.”
“Where are the mountain otters?”
“They’re not for sale either.”
“You’ve done well with everything you’ve had,” the butcher repeated, first the cattle, sheep, horses, and camels, then the dogs and mountain otters. The family’s holdings had gradually expanded, and everything they raised thrived. It was truly enviable.
After the butcher left, Bahu went into the house to check on the Alse wolves. Earlier, Hubble had been awakened and was crying, but now he was quiet, indicating he had been comforted.
Golden medicine was sprinkled on the wounds of the Alse wolves. Unable to reach behind to lick them, it could only snarl menacingly at its pups as a threat.
But Bala wasn’t afraid of it. Wagging its tail, Bala circled around the Alse wolves, happily sticking out its tongue as it crawled into the dog’s nest, pulling the five puppies into its embrace.
Five puppies were not enough; among the dozen or so dogs, only Bala, a male, was still intact. Bahu rubbed his chin as he squatted outside the dog nest, patting its fat buttocks. “Don’t be smug. One of the female dogs at home has given birth, and you’re next to be neutered. Why wag your tail? Silly dog.”
