“We don’t have time for that now. Our first task is to get the herdsmen to another pasture as soon as possible,” Mahal said.
Winter finally arrived and the pasture here had become almost bare. The herdsmen had to herd the goats to another pasture 30 kilometers away, and spend a long winter there. As for the families without goats, they could stay here or send a few members to go with the migrating group.
The Xiaos and the Lius had no goats, so they could just stay in the base for a quiet winter. The potatoes were ripe, the flour and cabbage were well stocked and the pickles were ready in the jars. With two meals a day, they could get through this winter easily without doing extra work.
But Ye Xiaoxian didn’t want to waste time on hibernation. She believed there was a way to earn money in winter.
She knew the locals would plant things like garlic chives under the earth. So she asked the men to dig a cellar and sowed the seeds bought from the market in it. She also heard that there were snow lotuses in the Tianshan Mountains. Such plants could serve as precious medicine and be sold at a high price to foreigners.
Besides, the southern women were good at needlework. Even Liu Qianqian could sew a beautiful handkerchief. So Ye Xiaoxian purchased some fabric for them to sew into hankies and scarves which could be sold in the market in spring.
…
Dilly also stayed at the base rather than following her family to another pasture. Learning this, Ye Xiaoxian visited Dilly with some baked buns and asked whether there were any other ways to make money. She wanted to keep herself busy instead of sleeping all day in the yurt.
Dilly was a good storyteller. The local stories and legends she told were so fun and culturally distinctive that they attracted Ye Xiaoxian very much. As for earning money, Dilly thought Ye Xiaoxian had done enough in this aspect and should have a good rest in winter.
But if Ye Xiaoxian was really energetic, she could ski on the mountain with the locals, which was an interesting tribal event. It wouldn’t hurt if she fell because the soft snow would be very thick.
…
When the first snow fell on the tribe, the Xiaos and the Lius were wild with joy. They had thought the snow would freeze their necks, but in fact it was the opposite. It was warmer when it snowed. The yellow grassland had turned into a white snowfield. What impressive scenery! The children threw themselves into the snowfield excitedly while the adults hesitated. But after the servants rolled themselves in the snow, the others also began having fun.
Ye Xiaoxian lay down on the field and felt its softness. Then, she started a snowball fight with Xiao Baozhu, laughing just like a child. She found that she hadn’t laughed so happily for a long time.
…
While Ye Xiaoxian was playing in the snow, Xiao Baoshan was staying in the desert, which had become drier and colder. Just like Idiot and Fool, he was busy serving food and cleaning tables in Longmen Inn. He was honest, strong and steady when he did his work. He tried his best to satisfy the customers’ needs, though he didn’t like to talk. The customers thought he wad boring and dull and always asked him many questions, but he just smiled in reply. Although it was winter, the customers were as numerous as usual, especially on the days of monthly auctions.
Jin Xiaoyu was fierce to Idiot and Fool. When they did anything wrong, she would whip them as punishment. But facing Xiao Baoshan, she was always smiling gently and speaking sweetly.
The more carefully he worked, the more she wanted to distract him. “Dumb, are you tired? Let me wipe the sweat for you.”
“It’s not your duty to feed the horses. Why are you helping Silly with this again? Oh, you’re really dumb.”
“…”
Xiao Baoshan didn’t remember who he was and had nowhere to go after recovering, so he just stayed here as a worker. Being the sixth employee in the inn, he was given the name “Dumb”.
He had been rather disinterested with Jin Xiaoyu.
When she wanted to wipe his sweat, he would decline immediately, “No, thanks.” Then, he would use his sleeve to wipe it by himself.
When she wanted to stop the others from pushing work on him, he would just smile faintly. “I’m fine with it. They’re busier than me.”
Dissatisfied with his indifference, she sometimes punished him with cleaning up the horse manure. He would do so at once and even scrape the mangers clean. All her attempts to soften his heart failed as a result. Sometimes she felt so angry that she threatened to drive him away, though she didn’t want to really. Dumb was so honest, upright and lovely. No one could be better than him for her to flirt with.
…
At the last auction of that year, numerous tomb robbers and collectors gathered in the inn again. Jin Xiaoyu was still the host of the event. Most were regular guests and some were there for the first time. Among the newcomers was a man called “Wolf King” who was a tomb robber and martial artist with some fame.
He got a wicked idea when he saw Jin Xiaoyu on the stage. When she was giving an opening speech, he interrupted, “As I see, apart from these dead treasures, there is a living one on the stage. That’s you, Miss Jin. I heard that the owner of Longmen Inn was a great beauty and my eyes prove that today. Miss Jin, may I ask which is more precious, these treasures or you? What about giving us a price and a chance?”
Jin Xiaoyu stared at Wolf King fiercely. “Mr. Wolf, if you don’t want to sleep in the desert at night, please obey the rules here. If you have a fever in your brain, you can drink some mung bean soup to cool off. But if you have a fever in another organ, get out of here and find a prostitute in Da’an county. Don’t talk nonsense here!”
But her words didn’t irritate Wolf King at all. Instead, he felt she was as hot as a little chili and wanted to conquer her right away. After all, he claimed himself as “the world’s first lady killer” and believed he could get any woman he desired.
He said confidently, “Oh, you’re hot, aren’t you? I like it. Give me a price. Let me see whether I can afford it.”
Then, he turned to the others and hooted, “Hey guys! Do you want to bid for Miss Jin? Why don’t we show our bids here? I’ll put all my treasures here and add 100 silver taels!”
Among the guests, many had been eager to flirt with Jin Xiaoyu, but they hadn’t had a chance because they couldn’t defeat her and her people. Now, backed by Wolf King, they also began cheering and whistling.
