Guri was infuriated. As the tribal leader’s daughter, she had thought it would be Tarico’s honor to be chosen as her husband, but he didn’t appreciate it at all. Some time ago, Guri had even told her mother that she liked a poor man, though she had been opposed at once. Dati had said that the poor were either lazy or stupid, otherwise they wouldn’t live in poverty. She also warned Guri not to consider any poor man as her husband. Guri planned to rebel against her parents for him, only to be rejected by him first.
She said angrily, “Fine. It’s none of my business! I hope you and that woman die in the desert together!”
Tarico didn’t bother to talk to her anymore. He continued sharpening his arrows intently.
…
The Xiaos and the Lius were also packing up luggage. It was very windy and sandy in the desert, but in this era, there were no goggles or even any glass. So they could only wear veils to keep out the sand.
Ye Xiaoxian asked Li Hongmei to make several veils together with scarfs and cowhide boots. She herself was preparing food. What they would eat this time were mainly naans without anything inside. They were made dry and hard so that they could be preserved longer. She also made some dried vegetables which could be cooked into soup with rich vitamins.
Li Hongmei was still very worried. But every time she saw the calmness on Ye Xiaoxian’s face, she knew she couldn’t persuade such a woman. To relieve her anxiety, she did whatever Ye Xiaoxian and Xiao Baozhu told her, though she got tired eyes after several days of needlework.
The next day, they all got up very early. With worry or excitement, those who would stay offered to help load the goods.
Taller and stronger than horses, the camels were capable of carrying heavy things. When a camel seemed fully loaded, Tarico always had ways to add stuff on it, which amazed Ye Xiaoxian greatly. The loading capacity of a camel was virtually equal to that of a carriage!
After that, Tarico commanded the camels to kneel and told the people sit on the humps. So Ye Xiaoxian struggled to climb onto a camel. When the camel rose slowly, she felt like she was riding an elephant. Since the camel was tall, her feet were far from the ground. It felt as if she was flying.
After all of them were ready, Ji gave an order in the front. Then, the camels followed him obediently.
The others looked more than nervous. Li Hongmei burst out crying. “You must come back safely!”
“Mom, don’t worry. We will come back safely.” Ye Xiaoxian assured.
Xiao Baozhu also said, “Mom, we’re blessed by Heaven. Now that we survived our escape, we definitely won’t die this time.”
Li Hongmei wiped her tears which were streaming down her face endlessly. Liu Qianqian was also drowned in tears for Jia Zhenbo who set off on behalf of the Lius. Although they were not newly married, they had never been separated in over a month. How sorry she felt to leave him!
Jia Zhenbo told her that she should take good care of herself and that he wanted a child after he got back.
She was amused and began chuckling. She sniffed and said, “You’re so bad!”
Apart from the two families, some locals also went to see the camel team off. After all, 20 fully-loaded camels were just like 20 trucks carrying abundant goods in modern times. They seemed to be going to make a stir somewhere far off.
Guri was also watching the team on horseback from atop a small hill. When she looked down at Tarico, she gripped the reins more tightly.
Humph! She wished there would be bad weather — sandstorms or tornadoes — to swirl them up or bury them under the sand!
…
Across the Tianshan Mountains, there was less and less grass. The rivers were farther and farther behind. Then, they arrived at the tribe of the Flaming Mountains.
The Flaming Mountains were the hottest place in the country. But the temperature there was suitable for planting grapes and it was bearable at night. The locals liked to sleep on the roof. The tribe was famous for its grapes. The raisins and wine Ye Xiaoxian and her companions had purchased were right from there.
When the camel team passed there, the locals went out to watch. Some who knew Ji or Tarico approached to greet them.
Going through this tribe, they came to the desert. The Xiaos and the Lius had known there was a large desert on their escape and it seemed connected to Da’an county. If they walked on gravel roads, it would take them two months to reach Beihui city. But now, they only needed a month or 18 days if it went well.
Although the camels were slow, they were much steadier than horses. The sand in the desert was burning hot, radiating heat into everyone’s faces. Compared with the Tianshan Mountains, the season here seemed the other way around. Wong Wen and Wong Wu wanted to take off some clothes, but Ji shouted at them harshly. Since they had just come here, they couldn’t understand the local dialect. So Ye Xiaoxian translated for them, “He told you not to take off clothes, or you would dehydrate easily. It’s fatal to dehydrate in the desert.”
Wong Wen said, “But we’re too hot.”
“It’s very dry in the desert, so you won’t sweat a lot. Just listen to the senior.”
Li Chengru had told them to obey Ye Xiaoxian, so they could only bear the heat as they moved on.
The camels had been following Ji one after another. But somehow, Tarico rode his camel to Ye Xiaoxian’s side and went with her.
He asked, “How do you feel? Is it all right for you?”
She smiled. “Yes. It’s just the first day, after all.”
Tarico laughed wildly. “Then you have to hold on. We have many days to go in this desert. There will be only sand to see from here.”
She pointed at something like a cactus not far away and said, “Isn’t it a plant?”
He couldn’t help smiling.
The longer they went, the hotter it became. In the afternoon, Ji asked everyone to stop every once in a while. He said the camels also needed to take rests. When the camels rested, they would kneel on the sand and breathe slowly. Although they were big, they looked quite adorable. Ye Xiaoxian soon felt well-disposed toward them.
The camels needed water to refresh themselves, but they couldn’t drink too much at a time. With curiosity, Xiao Baozhu asked Tarico whether there was water in the desert.
He replied, “Yes. Sometimes there’s a lake. But it’s not fixed because both sand and water flow. So the lake is sometimes here and sometimes there. There is also water under trees as long as we dig deep into the sand. But as we have brought enough water, we don’t need to do that for the time being.”
