Chapter 217: Woman Mountain

Chapter 217 Woman Mountain

Li Huowang slowly leaned on his cane, pulling along Bai Lingmiao whose eyes were covered, walking not fast, after all, that broken leg had not yet grown back.

Fortunately, the ox cart was not fast either; having sacrificed speed for increased load capacity, it matched Li Huowang's current pace quite well.

"Is this Woman Mountain?" Li Huowang, squinting his eyes, placed a hand over his forehead, gazing at the hills in the distance.

Upon seeing those mountains, Li Huowang finally understood why this place was called Qingqiu, for not a single tree grew on these hills, all covered similarly by green grass, though this might also be related to the mountains here being relatively low; there were no towering peaks piercing the clouds here, these grass-covered mountains were all contiguous ranges of hills.

"Senior Brother Li, looking at them sideways like this, don't those mountains look like half of a woman's face lying down?" Sun Baolu asked excitedly, pointing over there with his finger.

Li Huowang looked carefully for a long while but ultimately shook his head; he simply could not see how those abstract hills resembled a woman. These low mountains were strange indeed, neither too many nor too few, just a cluster appearing abruptly, and the mountains were not connected to one another.

"This is the Year of the Moon; according to ancestral teachings, our family should be camping and grazing just one hundred li ahead; it won't be long before I meet them!"

Li Huowang did not care about what the excited Sun Baolu said; he cared more about supplies, having been in Qingqiu for so long with so many people, if there was nothing else to eat, they would have to eat the ox pulling the cart.

"Inside Woman Mountain, is there truly a market where one can buy grain? If we cannot buy grain, we will be left with nothing but drinking the northwest wind."

"Yes, without a doubt, herders within hundreds of li nearby who wish to trade goods will all go there to exchange; I even went there once when I was seven years old."

Through Sun Baolu's explanation, Li Huowang learned that in the vast and sparsely populated Qingqiu, for the circulation of goods, these nomadic Qingqiu people would select certain places to conduct transactions.

Over time, these places would form fixed gathering areas. The officials of Qingqiu also came to these places to collect taxes.

When Li Huowang, through his excellent vision, saw black dots the size of ants moving at the foot of the mountain, he knew the other party was not wrong; there were indeed people there.

"Let's go, let us all put on our veiled bamboo hats, so as not to attract the attention of others."

After speaking, Li Huowang put on his bamboo hat himself; his appearance now, with patches of red and white on his face, was no better than anyone else's.

The ox cart gradually approached Woman Mountain, and when they followed a small path into the interior surrounded by low hills, the view before them suddenly opened up.

A vast gathering place of tents, bustling with human voices, appeared before Li Huowang and the others.

The sound of hooves, human shouts, and donkey brays filled the ears incessantly; Li Huowang even had the illusion that he was attending a market fair.

In this lively market, many Qingqiu people dressed in ways vastly different from the Later Shu people were busily attending to their own affairs, shouting loudly.

With many animals came much manure; the peculiar scent of livestock drifted into everyone's noses, causing all to furrow their brows.

Whether due to prolonged exposure to sunlight or not, the biggest difference between the Qingqiu people and the previously encountered Siqi and Later Shu people was that their faces were very red, with heavy complexion spots hanging on the faces of men, women, old, and young alike.

The Qingqiu people were generally shorter than Li Huowang and the others; in short, they looked different in every way.

Each of them wore various rough-looking leather garments; on the women's braided hair and around the men's waists were tied some ground-down round fragments of bone.

Here, besides bones and hides, basically everything else that could be woven from grass was woven from grass; grass shoes, grass hats, and even grass baskets were all for sale.

Li Huowang's group had obviously attracted the attention of the Qingqiu people; facing outsiders, everyone scrutinized this convoy of carts with wary and indifferent eyes.

"Bang!" On the chopping block of a grass stall nearby, a cleaver was raised high and then chopped down forcefully, splitting a hairless, grisly dog head in two.

"Wu...." Mantou hung his tail and drooped his ears, hastily drilling under the ox cart in cowardice.

"Are you truly a Qingqiu person? Why do you feel like you look not quite the same as them." Li Huowang's gaze pierced through the black thin veil to look at Sun Baolu beside him.

"Because... my mother is from elsewhere." Sun Baolu's expression dimmed slightly upon saying this, but soon his eyes lit up instantly, and he hastily rushed forward through the crowd.

Running east and west through the crowd, finally, in his excitement, he embraced an elderly-looking Qingqiu person and said something.

Waiting until they were closer, Li Huowang only then discovered that what they were saying, he actually could not understand.

"Everywhere else allows for mutual communication, yet only this broken place actually has its own language." Li Huowang felt somewhat speechless; this would undoubtedly cause much trouble for the journey ahead in Qingqiu.

After exchanging pleasantries with that person, Sun Baolu returned to Li Huowang's side, saying with some excitement: "Senior Brother Li, without a doubt, that person is of my clan; my family is just not far ahead."

"Enough, even if not far, we must walk step by step; first help us buy some food, the provisions on the road are not enough." Li Huowang said, looking around at the lively market.

Now the language of the Qingqiu people was incompatible with theirs; regarding negotiations, they still had to rely on Sun Baolu who knew the Qingqiu tongue.

Sun Baolu nodded, agreed readily, and was about to turn and dive into the lively crowd.

However, Li Huowang called out to stop him. "Wait a moment, is there a place to eat here? The others are hungry too; let us rest for a while."

Soon everyone arrived inside a noodle shop; inside the grass shed hung strips of green noodles, as if walking into a forest.

Hearing Sun Baolu say, one pot for a group, if you want to eat noodles you cook them yourself, take however much you want to eat. The noodle toppings are charged by portion from the shop owner.

This eating method, very characteristic of Qingqiu, although none of the others had seen it before, did not hinder them from eating heartily; the noodles carried the scent of grass paired with spicy and numbing mutton topping, very appetizing.

The noodle shop was very lively, many people eating noodles; fortunately, with the barrier of the noodles, nearby people could not see Li Huowang and the others removing their bamboo hats.

"Where is Mantou?" Li Huowang, having had his fill of food and drink, suddenly discovered his dog was actually missing.

Just as he turned his head to search, he saw Mantou carrying something in his mouth coming through from beneath the noodle forest.

After spitting the thing in his mouth to Li Huowang's feet, he squatted down, sticking out his tongue and wagging his tail to request a reward from Li Huowang.

"What is this?" Li Huowang looked at a piece of ghastly white bone at his feet, asking in surprise.

The others did not recognize it, but Sun Baolu, being a local, obviously did; he hastily explained: "Senior Brother Li, this is horse bone; Qingqiu people raise horses and certainly eat horse meat too. The taste is very good."

(End of Chapter)