Translator: Fan Translation Studio
Guri was furious. Tarico was getting busier. When she met him one day, he didn’t even bother to say hello to her. Among the people he hired, there were some women. The girl living nearby also worked for him and could earn one or two taels every month. With this salary, she became confident and proud and bought herself a new dress. One day, she even pretended not to see Guri when she said hello to her.
Guri went back home in a huff and complained to her parents. “Those outsiders think of themselves as the hosts of this land. Dad, you’re the tribal leader, the richest man in the tribe, but why do we get so little attention? Since those people came, our situation has been getting worse and worse. Dad, you must figure out a way to stop them from going on like this.”
Dati echoed, “Yes! Everything has changed overnight. Dilly was submissive before, but now she messes around with those guys and they also listen to her as if she were the tribal leader’s wife.”
Mahal said angrily, “Do you think I don’t want to drive them away? But they are backed by the Seventh King. I’ve been scolded twice for not treating them well. If I make any mistake again, I may be dismissed!” Then he added, “But don’t worry. I’ve asked an official to speak for me in front of the Seventh King, so I will also join this project in a while. If I participate, I will certainly get a big share.”
Guri said fiercely, “If so, I also want to have a high position in it. I can’t allow them to outshine us so easily!”
Dati also said, “As for me, I’d like to take all of Dilly’s work and have those guys obey me!”
“…”
However, no news had been heard from the official since returning. As the product lines became steady, the workshop was now on track. Seeing this, Li Chengru was relieved and went back to the town.
Life there was busy and full every day. The camel team had set off twice and come back safe under Tarico’s guidance. The two journeys proved a great success with greatly increased net incomes. Two main reasons could be concluded. First of all, the cotton, beef jerky, dried fruit, and some other crops had been improved by reprocessing; and secondly, there were many more camels than before. They had also brought a lot of porcelain and silk back.
In the blink of an eye, winter was just around the corner. After two more transportation trips, it was time for the herdsmen to migrate. Since camels were not used to an icy and snowy environment, they also needed to move to a warmer place. The pace of work also slowed down. After some locals left, the refugees still helped Ye Xiaoxian make dried fruit.
Tarico followed the migration group with the camels. Thanks to the climate, the grass on another pasture was still lush. Tarico and his several brothers took care of the camels together.
Soon, Mahal, Dati and Guri also arrived at the new pasture. Guri was reluctant to migrate at first, but she changed her mind when she knew that Tarico would also come here. She even asked her father to set up the yurts near to Tarico. Having been rejected by him, she didn’t like him as much as before. But she found it hard to let it go. She wanted a chance to prove that she was a good woman and that he was blind not to choose her. To get such an opportunity, she must try to approach him.
Tarico didn’t need to go to Beihui city now and could stay near the yurts to watch the camels. As such, he had a slow pace of life here. Every day, he lay on the grass and enjoyed the sun with his legs crossed. Sometimes, he went to the riverside to catch a fish which he would grill or simmer as a meal together with two naans. Sometimes, he drank with his brothers outside the yurts. Gulping down several cups of alcohol, he began to sing folk songs, his voice echoing through the sky.
Guri walked past Tarico deliberately several times, but she was always ignored. Tarico also sang duet love songs with others at times. When he started a song, there would be a woman interacting with him.
One day, a middle-aged woman responded to him and they began singing together. Half a mountain away as they were, they had great fun doing this. So, Guri also followed suit and tried to interact with him one afternoon. But, after she sang, he didn’t make a sound anymore, which irritated her very much. That night, she returned to the yurt and complained, “Tarico is a rascal!”
Mahal didn’t know her real feelings and believed she hated Tarico just like him. So he said, “Tarico has been rebellious since he was a child. He always goes against me as if I owe him something. Now with the king backing him up, he doesn’t show any respect to me.”
Dati said, “Without so many camels, they couldn’t have grown their business so well.”
Hearing that, Mahal and Guri exchanged a look at each other immediately. Judging by their expressions, they had the same idea in their minds.
Guri asked, “What would happen if he had no camels?”
Mahal’s eyes lit up. “Without the camels, he’d become a nobody, as poor as he was before!”
Guri got excited. “Without the camels, he’ll be a sinner. The Sixth King, the Seventh King and Little Ye won’t trust him anymore.”
Dati realized something. “Wh-what do you want to do?”
Guri turned to her mother and said, “Mom, don’t you want to stop them from stealing the show? Without the camels, they can’t do business and thus can’t steal your thunder.”
Dati asked in surprise, “Do you want to poison their camels? But Mahal, didn’t you ask an official to speak for you in front of the Seventh King so that you could be a senior member among them?”
“Bah!” Mahal said. “None of the outsiders are trustworthy. I regret giving him the gigot now. He’s not on our side and won’t speak for me, or he wouldn’t have kept me waiting for several months and given me no message.”
This made sense.
He went on resentfully, “Now that I can’t join the project, I must give them a hard time. Humph, as long as we kill the camels, they won’t be able to run their transportation business anymore!”
Guri began to keep a close eye on Tarico. Slowly, she noticed a pattern – if Tarico sang a song in the afternoon, it meant that he was in a good mood and would drink with his brothers at night. Among his brothers, two were from the Central Plains and the others were locals. Every time they drank alcohol, they would drink themselves jovially into oblivion.
Guri sneaked there twice and once made a noise on purpose, but none of them noticed her. That emboldened her greatly. One day, Guri and Mahal prepared some poison which was usually used on wolves. People often took such poison with them in case of accidents. Guri and Mahal mixed the poison with water, planning to sneak to where the camels were and sprinkle the liquid onto the fodder.
It was very dark that night. The wind screeched in their ears as if a devil was roaring. While Guri was exceptionally bold, Mahal was somewhat nervous. So Guri said she could do it alone and comforted her father, “We don’t need to be afraid of those people. They always drink themselves unconscious and have failed to notice me twice. Dad, wait here for my good news.”
So, Mahal stopped halfway and let her go alone. He watched her go forward secretly. Since it was too dark, her figure soon disappear into the distance.
With his hands clasped, he prayed, “The god of Tianshan mountains, please bless my daughter and help her complete the task. If it goes well, I will use two goats to repay your kindness.”
The night was quiet except for the occasional wind. After waiting for quite a while, Mahal suddenly heard Guri’s scream from the distance. “Ah! You, you… ah…”
In such darkness, the panicked and miserable cry made his flesh crawl immediately. Had she encountered wolves?
Mahal ran over hurriedly, but then, he heard Guri’s voice again. “I didn’t do anything. I…”
“What’s in your hand?” a man said in a broken local dialect. Mahal guessed he was not a local.
“This is…”
“It’s poison, right?”
“Well…”
“If it’s not, then feed it to your goats!” the man then said.
Guri panicked. “No, I can’t feed it to my goats.”
“Then what on earth is it? If you don’t tell me, I’ll feed it to you!”
“This is… poison… It-It’s for wolves.”
“For wolves? Then why did you bring it here?” the man questioned her loudly.
Guri fumbled helplessly for words. Knowing that the plan had failed, Mahal hurried back to his yurt to avoid getting himself involved. As for what those people would do to Guri, he was powerless to care about that. Even if she told them he was her accomplice, he wouldn’t admit it.
Guri was taken to Tarico’s yurt. The oil lamps inside were lit up again. Sitting there, Tarico and his brothers looked at her angrily.
It was Wong Wu who brought her in. He said, “This woman came here twice before today. I thought she wanted to see Tarico, so I pretended not to notice her. Only now do I know she came to feel us out. She thought we were drunk and wanted to poison our camels. I’ve never seen such a cruel woman! How can she have the heart to kill the camels?”
Wong Wu and Wong Wen had taken care of the camels for a long time and had become emotionally involved with them. Although the camels looked bulky, they were more than lovely. They worked as hard as the cattle and never complained. They ate only grass but produced fortune.
