Chapter 122: Camel Harness
"Are you still chasing?" Zhao Xiping asked.
Sui Yu glanced back, then at the three figures still walking in the distance, and said, "We've come this far, let's chase them a little further. At least we have to confirm if it's him, so we have a better idea and it won't be a wasted trip."
The two camels lifted their hooves and continued forward. The shadows cast across the desert grew longer and longer. At noon, a dark shadow crouched beneath the camel's hooves. Sui Yu was sweating. She took off her wolfskin and draped it over the camel's hump, squinting at the three figures drawing closer.
"Are your relatives here to see you?" The tall monk turned around and said, "Do you want to go and say goodbye?"
Sui Wen'an paused, turned around, raised his hand to cover his forehead, and moved his gaze from Zhao Xiping to Sui Yu. He had some guesses in his mind that Sui Ling's body might have been discovered, or perhaps Sui Yu had guessed something, so he chased after him.
"It's him." Zhao Xiping said. He recognized the scar on Sui Wen'an's face.
Sui Yu pulled the reins, slowing the camel. She looked around and saw only the three people ahead of her in the desert. No one from the Sui clan was there. Perhaps something had happened along the way and separated them. But she didn't want to know. As long as she was sure Sui Wen'an was still alive, she considered the trip a success.
Sui Wen'an waved his hand, turned around and continued walking. The mundane affairs of the world had nothing to do with him anymore.
Sui Yu watched for a while, then she pulled the reins and the camel turned around. Seeing this, Zhao Xiping followed and walked back.
The two groups of people were walking in opposite directions and the distance between them was getting farther and farther.
The sun shifts, and the shadows cast by it become longer and longer.
At sunset, Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping returned to the Gobi Desert. The couple got off the camels, and the two camels went into the desert to look for dry grass under the yellow sand.
"Judging from the hay left on the road, they all traveled together before leaving the Gobi Desert." Zhao Xiping lowered his head and searched nearby, curiously asking, "What happened along the way? Why aren't we seeing anyone else? Are they all dead? That can't be the case. There's no blood on the ground, and we didn't encounter any carrion birds along the way."
"Maybe they parted ways." Sui Yu said, leaning against a huge rock.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, an old man who went out of the city to herd sheep found Sui Ling's body. According to the old man, it was dug out by the sheep. He was so scared that he went into the city to report to the police.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the news spread. Uncle Niu went to the government office to identify the body. Afterwards, he went to find Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping. He wanted to claim the body and declare it to be Tong Huaer, but he wasn't sure if that was right. He wanted to ask Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping for their opinions. However, before they could come to a conclusion, the housekeeper of the Duwei Mansion and the maid took the body away. Only then did Sui Yu realize that it was Sui Ling who had died.
Captain Hu did not intend to pursue the matter. After Sui Hui learned the news, she wanted to pursue the matter but there was no way. I was half a slave, and it was up to my master to decide whether to give me away or beat me to death.
When Sui Hui found Sui Yu to inquire about Sui Wen'an's whereabouts, Sui Yu guessed something. Uncle Niu said that Tong Huaer left the city on New Year's Eve, and Sui Ling died outside the west city gate. In addition, she had seen Tong Huaer hanging around outside the Duwei Mansion, so she speculated that Sui Ling was probably killed by Tong Huaer.
Zhao Xiping came over with two broken wooden arrows and said, "It seems we were right. They really wanted to kill Sui Wen'an. I found a few marks, but no blood. They must have intended to kill him, but failed."
It was Zhao Xiping's idea to catch up. He had previously harbored a deep hatred for corrupt officials and their families, but after encountering Sui Wen'an on the battlefield and learning that his military exploits were meant to free his people from slavery, his opinion of him changed considerably, and he even developed a certain respect for him. He couldn't bear to see him die at the hands of the people he felt so guilty about, yet so desperately defended. However, he was about to give up before reaching the Gobi Desert, when Sui Yu insisted on continuing. The two of them turned back to Yumen Pass, replenished their provisions and water, and then, carrying two bundles of hay, rushed back through.
Sui Yu took out her water bag and sipped the water. A mouthful of clear water moistened her cracked lips, and she swirled it around in her mouth before swallowing it. She looked at the vast desert and said, "What does it feel like to cross the desert?"
"I don't know about the desert beyond. I only know what's happening on both sides." Zhao Xiping pointed north and said, "Do you believe there's a river in the desert? Where there are rivers, there are oases and mountains. Yiwu, Cheshi, Yanqi, and many other small kingdoms all live in places with rivers, bordering the desert. To the south, the closest to us is Loulan, which used to be Ruoqiang. The small kingdoms here are close to the snow-capped mountains, similar to Dunhuang. Rivers formed by snow water flow down, and wherever there's grass and land, there are people living."
Sui Yu felt a yearning in her heart. She handed over the water bag, looked at the desert under the sunset and said, "I want to go over and take a look too."
The existing ancient countries are becoming fewer and fewer. Not to mention geological changes, even wars can easily lead to the destruction of an ancient country.
"They are not as strong as our Han Dynasty. What's so good about them?" Zhao Xiping said proudly.
"I heard from merchants that across the desert is a plateau where the Great Yuezhi live. The soil there is fertile, and there are precious medicinal herbs, food that we don't have here, Ferghana horses, and even jewelry." Sui Yu glanced at the man and asked, "Do you want to go there and make a fortune?"
Zhao Xiping heard the hidden meaning and snorted coldly, "Being the emperor is better. Why don't you want to be the emperor?"
Sui Yu ignored him.
Zhao Xiping didn't mention it again. He packed up his water bag, untied a bag of fried rice, and sat down with the two of them to eat. He said, "We're running low on dry food. We'll head back tomorrow."
Sui Yu had no objection.
As night fell, Zhao Xiping spread hay in the leeward area behind the boulder. He brought the camels over, and the two camels lay down. He held Sui Yu in his arms and slept next to the camels.
The wind blew at night, carrying sand. The camels blocked the way, and the yellow sand mixed in the wind fell down. Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping didn't lose anything.
When the sky was getting light, a thick layer of sand had accumulated on the camel's body.
The two camels woke up and lifted their hooves to get up. As they moved, Zhao Xiping and Sui Yu woke up instantly. The couple skillfully lifted the wolf skin and ran away.
The camel shook its hair, and grains of sand flew everywhere.
Sui Yu yawned, pulled back her sleeves, and rubbed her eyes with her wrist. She saw a pile of sand beneath the camel, covering its hooves. She looked at the uneven mound not far away and said, "With such strong winds, it's no wonder the mound has been shaved into this shape. Perhaps hundreds of years ago, this was a mountain, and the wind flattened it, then cut it into pieces, and over time, it formed the Gobi Desert."
"Where is the soil?" Zhao Xiping asked.
Sui Yu stamped his feet and said, "If you turn over the sand, there might be a thick layer of soil underneath."
"I'm just bored because I'm full." Zhao Xiping lifted her up with one hand and put her on the camel's back with a shake of his shoulder. "Here, it's cold in the morning. Put on the wolf skin and we're going back."
He rolled up the hay spread on the sand, shook off the sand and put it on the camel's back. Then he slung a bow and arrow over his shoulder, and Zhao Xiping turned over and jumped onto the camel's back.
A whistle sounded, and the camels walked into the Gobi Desert. The two men and two camels soon disappeared.
The brown wild sparrows that had built their nests in the mounds flew down after the sound of hooves died away, and rummaged through the sand for fallen fried rice.
Twelve days later, two camels came out from the other end of the Gobi Desert. One of the camels ran westward as if it was familiar with the route, and the other camel followed.
"There's a river to the west," Zhao Xiping said. "I heard someone say it's the same river that runs beneath the Great Wall."
The stream meandering through the desert has a slow flow, probably due to the dry season, as the water in the river is almost dry.
Sui Yu crossed the river and turned to look westward, her view obstructed. The river seemed to be cut off at its end by a protruding Gobi Desert. The river might have taken a detour or become an underground river. She wondered why the merchants hadn't chosen to follow the river; perhaps the detour was too long.
Suddenly, there was the sound of hooves from the east. The camels drinking water raised their heads. Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping looked over there. There was a lot of smoke and dust in the east, and it seemed that many people were coming.
"It's already mid-February? A caravan is coming so soon? They must be the Han merchants who came here last winter." Sui Yu muttered to himself.
The camel herd that caused such a commotion appeared, but they had no commercial goods on their backs, and they did not enter the Gobi Desert, but instead headed west.
"It's a camel harnesser," Zhao Xiping said. "Camels that give birth early usually give birth in February or March. If you find a wild camel herd around this time, the calves will just be born, and the mother camels rarely abandon them. If you catch a baby camel, you can kidnap the mother."
"Are you here to harness camels too?" the leading man asked loudly.
Without waiting for Zhao Xiping to answer, the other man looked at Sui Yu and said, "It's you. Are you planning to take the camels back home to raise?"
Sui Yu recognized the man, the camel seller from the East Market. She glanced at Zhao Xiping and asked loudly, "We just arrived today too. Can we go with you?"
The camels they brought went to the river to drink water, while the men walked further away, filling their empty water bottles. A camel seller in the East Market walked over to Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping and said, "My last name is Wan, you can just call me Old Wan. You said you wanted to go camel-trapping? You only brought two bows? No lassos? Where are the salt bricks and bean pods for bait?"
"We didn't know we had to prepare all this. This is our first time here." Zhao Xiping said. He looked at Sui Yu and said, "Why don't we go back to Yumen Pass and prepare everything."
Sui Yu nodded, and she said to Lao Wan, "Then you go first."
"Okay, I told you to buy my little camel a long time ago. Why do you have to suffer all this?" When Lao Wan saw the camel brought by Sui Yu, he walked over to take a look and said, "Did you buy this? It's been well raised. It's been five or six years?" As he said that, he leaned over to look at the camel's belly. There was no milk, and it looked like it had never given birth.
"Has the camel been in heat?" asked Lao Wan.
Zhao Xiping was unsure. He looked at Sui Yu, but Sui Yu was even less sure.
"How about I trade you two camels? Take the female camels, in their prime, into the desert. If you encounter a male camel in heat, it'll be like two virgins wandering into a bandit's den. You two might not be able to escape and die." Lao Wan wanted to use the female camels to lure the male camels back. He patted his mount and said, "I'll give you some of the noose, bean pods, and salt bricks. Come with us."
Sui Yu looked at Zhao Xiping, who nodded slightly and said, "But you still have to give us some dry food. The dry food we brought may not be enough."
"You two aren't here to harness camels, you're here to get yourself killed," Lao Wan muttered. He went to talk to someone else, and they divided up some dry food among the dozen or so people until they had enough to fill a bag. He threw the food over and said, "If you encounter a male camel in heat in the desert, especially one with a deflated hump, run as far as you can. Camels can eat people."
Sui Yu accepted the advice and thanked Lao Wan.
After filling the water bags and waiting for the camels to drink enough water, the group crossed the stream and walked into the desert to look for the wild camels.
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