Chapter 290 Windfall
The sounds of two camel bells came from the north. Lao Wan drove the camel and ran wildly following the sound of the bells. However, a huge rock blocked the way. The shadow of the camel was still visible a moment ago, but after it passed the two huge rocks blocking the way, the shadow of the camel disappeared, and the sound of the camel bells was getting farther and farther away.
Lao Wan stared at the sun and looked back. Only two of his tribesmen followed him. The others had disappeared.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
"I didn't catch up, big brother, let's wait a moment." The man who came later took out a wooden whistle and blew it to guide the lost person.
Lao Wan pricked up his ears and listened. The two lonely camel bells merged with the deafening camel bells in the distance. Now he could not tell the location of the wild camels.
"It seems that a caravan's camel was lost. Has it been found again?" asked the man blowing the whistle.
Lao Wan rubbed his face. He didn't say anything; it was obvious. Last month, when they had come to the desert to search for wild camels, they had seen the two camels with bells hanging from their necks, mixed in with the rest of the herd. They had been chasing them for eleven days, almost reaching Loulan. Fearing they would fall into the hands of the Loulan people if they continued, they had no choice but to stop and wait for the herd to return. Afterward, some retreated to Yumen Pass to restock their supplies, while others remained at the edge of the Gobi Desert. It took ten days for the herd to finally return.
Five days ago, a caravan was passing through the Gobi Desert. Two female camels, each with a copper bell, heard the noise and rushed into the desert overnight, only to emerge again the next evening. Lao Wan, then a caravan owner, came up with a plan. He pulled the camel hair out of the bells and led most of the group into the Gobi Desert, hoping to attract the camels by ringing the bells.
However, the two camels seemed to be deaf and did not come near at all. Until today, when the loud sound of camel bells was heard again in the Gobi Desert, the group of wild camels slowly moved north.
"Brother, what's the situation?" The eight missing people came over one after another.
"Some have passed through, and some have not yet arrived." Lao Wan found traces of the camel herd and judged from the hoof prints that there were still some wild camels in the desert.
"Let's get out of the Gobi Desert and follow my second uncle to chase the camel herd left in the desert." Lao Wan made a decision. If they chased into the Gobi Desert at this time, they might not be able to get out until dark, so it was better not to take the risk.
Elsewhere, Sui Yu's caravan, leading the way, was heading east, following the hoofprints that hadn't yet vanished. From sunrise to sunset, the hoofprints on the Gobi Desert slowly vanished as the wind picked up in the evening.
Zhang Shun picked up the gong and struck it. The caravans following behind responded one after another. The camel caravan slowly stopped, and today's journey ended here.
The servants were busy with their work, and when it was dark, the smell of rice wafted across the Gobi Desert.
"It's time for dinner." Xiao Chunhong shouted.
"I'm coming." Zhang Shun responded, but did not move. He counted the bundles of grass on the ground again, poured two baskets of radishes for feeding camels and horses and put them aside, picked a bag of dried red dates and threw them into the basket, then clapped his hands and went to eat.
The servants in charge of tying up the camels and horses were already eating with their bowls. Zhang Shun sat down and said, "The radishes and dried dates have been distributed. Just take today's portion after you finish your meal."
Ah Niu had rice in his mouth and couldn't respond, so he could only nod to show that he understood.
In the distance, a large group of camels were traveling at night. The two female camels walking in front would make a "buh" sound from time to time, and occasionally, the camels behind would respond with two buh sounds.
It was late at night and the camels and horses were asleep on the ground. The birds perched on the boulders landed silently to pick up the shredded radish that the camels and horses had dropped.
The faint sounds of two camel bells were getting closer and closer, waking up the slaves who were dozing off on night watch. They stood up suddenly and stared at the dark Gobi Desert with wide eyes.
The sleeping camels woke up and became restless. They stood up and stared in the direction of the sound like humans.
"What's going on?" Sui Yu woke up. The tinkling of camel bells drowned out the sounds not far away. Seeing the camel agitated, she immediately stood up and ordered, "Burn the fire a little bigger and wake everyone up. Is there a snake crawling over here?"
"No, master, don't panic. It's a camel or horse with a bell hanging on it, or it could be someone who's lost and looking for us." Gan Da explained, "We have knives..."
As they were talking, the sound of heavy and rapid hoofbeats echoed nearby, followed by short cries from the camels. The servants rushed over, pulling out thick, burning firewood from the fire. As soon as they could see a shadow, they hurried back. The camels were mating, and the male camels were furious. They didn't dare approach.
"What's going on?" Sui Yu asked.
"There are wild camels coming." said Ganda.
"No, I heard the sound of camel bells before. Is it possible that a caravan is carrying uncastrated male camels?" Qingshan asked.
"The camels I brought out were female camels and castrated male camels." Song Xian continued.
Xu Da Dangjia and Li Da Dangjia also came over. They both denied that there were any male camels or even female camels in the caravan. They were all castrated camels.
Qingshan firmly believed that he heard the sound of camel bells.
The two camels approached each other and kept sniffing the ground. Sui Yu took a glance and saw that their stomachs were empty. She was about to call for someone to feed them, but she realized something was wrong. There were no such thin camels in the caravan.
"Ah! Little camel!" Green Bud shouted.
"It's a herd of wild camels coming." Song Xian exclaimed.
"It's Eggshell!" Sui Yu recognized it in the light of the fire. She clapped her legs excitedly and said, "Eggshell and its mother are back with their cubs. Zhang Shun, hurry up and feed them."
"I just said I heard camel bells." Qingshan defended his judgment. He felt in his pocket, pulled out a handful of dates, and threw them over. "I didn't expect you could find them again. They must have suffered a lot out there. Yeah, they even gave birth to two baby camels. Did you and your mother bite through the ropes and run away last year just to have babies?"
The two little camels were alert. They hid under the mother camel's belly and were indifferent to the dates thrown on the ground. However, Eggshell and her daughter were not polite and ate them one by one happily.
"The food and supplies are here, please make way." Zhang Shun shouted.
The crowd moved aside, and a large bundle of grass was thrown on the ground, followed by broken radishes and half a basin of soybean meal. Immediately afterwards, Li Wu poured another basin of water.
As soon as the basin of water fell to the ground, the two female camels rushed in and swallowed the water in big gulps. It looked like they hadn't had water for seven or eight days.
"The wild camels are coming." Xiao Chunhong said in a low voice.
The onlookers retreated tacitly, and seven wild camels walked into the firelight one after another. There were five female camels and two half-grown baby camels. They all went to drink water first, and a basin of clear water was soon empty.
"Master, would you like some more water?" Li Wu asked.
"Wait a minute, don't overfeed them. Keep them hooked with fodder and water and see if they'll follow the caravan tomorrow." Sui Yu glanced at Eggshell and her daughter with their cub and said, "Eggshell and her mother are coming back with the cub, so they're definitely going back with us. These wild camels probably came back with them of their own accord."
Boss Xu sneered.
"What are you laughing at? Do you think I'm talking nonsense?" Sui Yu asked, "Just wait and see, these wild camels will probably follow us."
"Are these two camels with bells on them the ones that escaped in the Gobi Desert last year?" asked Li Dadang. He was puzzled. "Why did they come back after escaping? Just to have a baby? And then they came back after the baby was born? I just don't believe it."
"After wandering outside for a year, I still feel that life at home is better." Sui Yu blew a whistle, and Eggshell, who was chewing a radish, looked up at her. She blew another whistle, and Eggshell walked towards her while chewing the radish.
"I raised this one myself. I held him in my arms all the way home from the moment he was born. We rode the same camel together." Sui Yu stroked the sticky, tangled hair and praised him, "Well done. I'll brush and bathe you when we get home."
Xu Dadang was jealous. He sighed heavily and said, "Let's go. It's still a while before dawn. Let's sleep for a while."
After the crowd dispersed, Gan Da and Gan Er took a rope and, taking the opportunity of feeding red dates, they grabbed the broken rope hanging on the camel's neck and retied it.
As for the wild camels, no one dared to touch them, let alone force them. If they alerted the enemy and angered the rutting male camels, the loss would be huge. They could only hope, as Sui Yu speculated, that after dawn, these wild camels would be willing to follow the caravan.
Zhang Shun and Qingshan walked around with torches in hand and looked from afar. There were four male camels in total, and there were thirty-seven female camels in their camel caravan, which was enough to keep them busy until dawn.
Sure enough, when it got light and people woke up, one of the four male camels was still busy working, and the other three had all woken up from their estrus. They were too tired to stand up and knelt on the ground, gasping for breath.
After the last male camel was done, Zhang Shun used fodder and water to lure the other four male camels away, while the others hurried to bundle up the goods.
Everything was ready, and after feeding the camels again, the caravan set off.
Eggshell and her daughter followed the camel herd with their two little camels. The other seventeen wild camels followed without hesitation, but they did not approach the caravan and shuttled across the Gobi Desert at a distance of half a mile.
Yes, Eggshell and her daughter brought back a total of twenty-one wild camels, not including their cubs.
The four male camels finished eating the grass on the ground, rested for a while, and caught up.
They walked for a whole day and stopped to rest at dusk. A group of wild camels saw the caravan stop and looked at it from afar. Only when they saw people carrying hay and spreading it on the ground did they come closer.
After seven days, the shortest male camel couldn't stand it anymore and left quietly one night.
However, three days later, when the caravan was about to leave the Gobi Desert, a large group of wild camels caught up with them. When the male camels smelled the scent of the female camels, they went crazy.
"Hurry, hurry, run!" Zhang Shun struck the gong. "Don't worry about the camel. Take the horse with you. The camel can't be lost."
The caravan took a detour and left, leaving behind a group of camels engaged in a fierce fight on the Gobi Desert.
Half a day later, people from Lao Wan's tribe came chasing them exhaustedly on camels. They had been chasing for seven days and only caught eight camels. The camels were about to escape, but for some reason they went crazy and ran east again. They could only follow them.
"Shopkeeper Yu, long time no see." Seeing the sneaky people outside the Gobi Desert, Lao Wan sighed. When he saw the dozen or so familiar wild camels mixed in the caravan, he was completely speechless.
"Are you catching wild camels?" Sui Yu asked.
"We've spent two months in the Gobi Desert chasing these wild camels." Wan Xingshan smiled bitterly. "Do you have any female camels in your caravan?"
Sui Yu nodded. She pointed to the movement in the Gobi Desert and said, "The female camel in there belongs to me and Mr. Song. The male camel was caught up with us half a day ago."
"You guys are really brave." Wan Xingshan pondered for a moment and said, "How about we help drive these camels to Yumen Pass and then we split the profits in half?"
Sui Yu agreed, as her camel could not withstand the hardship any more.
Using the huge rocks in the Gobi Desert, Lao Wan and his team tied trip ropes. After everything was arranged, Zhang Shun led people to drive away the wild camels, and others shot arrows to intimidate them. When the exhausted wild camels retreated, the group of camels entered the encirclement.
After some trouble, 31 out of 48 wild camels were caught and divided equally between the two families. Sui Yu suggested releasing one male camel, and then the Sui and Wan families each got 15 wild camels.
As for Song Xian, she only traded with Sui Yu for a male camel to take back for breeding, and didn't get involved in the division of camels. Her family had countless camels, so she didn't care about them. Of course, she also wanted to show off in front of the Wan family uncle and nephew. They looked down on her before, but now they couldn't compare to her.
"Congratulations, Shopkeeper Yu has made another fortune." Boss Xu said with a sour look on his face. "Another thirty-seven camels, almost enough to make a small caravan out of the customs."
Sui Yu smiled and said, "Don't be jealous. Next time you go out of seclusion, bring two female camels with you."
"Then we'll lose another four thousand coins." Boss Li continued, "Forget about getting rich quick. Now that we've sold these horses, let's do some business with Boss Song. Boss Song, how much are camels now?"
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