Chapter 2249 Passion
After walking for two days, on the third day they saw grass on the edge of the desert. The team cheered. The further they went, the more grass there was on the ground. Although it was very short, it was still grass, right?
Manbao leaned against the car window and watched for a long time. Bai Shan came running up on horseback, holding her horse in his hand, and invited her, "They say there are wild rabbits up ahead. Do you want to go hunting?"
Manbao's eyes lit up, and he took his bow and arrow and left the caravan with them and ran away first.
Daji followed with his guards.
Da Yu rolled his eyes and called on his brothers to follow.
There aren't really that many rabbits on the grass, but it's rare to see green, so horse racing makes you feel much better. The land here is very hard, and the Gobi Desert and grassland are not very distinct. Manbao thought it must be very difficult to farm here.
"Look, that's the river!"
Everyone immediately stretched their necks to look. It was blue and it really was a river, a fairly large one at that. Everyone got excited and rode their horses towards the river. It was a winding river. They saw three traces of roads on the ground. Everyone couldn't help but look towards the heavy rain.
Da Yu identified the direction and pointed to the north, saying, "It should be over there."
That was also the direction the river came from, so everyone ran forward along the direction of the river. The convoy behind them also sped up and ran not far behind them.
Following the river, Manbao and his companions first saw scattered herdsmen grazing and herds of cattle and sheep, and then saw farmlands not far from the river.
Everyone's spirits perked up at the sight of farmland. Most people didn't live too far from farmland. Sure enough, after a while, everyone saw houses built of yellow mud. Smoke curled up in the air. Manbao subconsciously glanced at the sun in the sky, wondering, "How come there's smoke when it's not too early or too late?"
Dayu said, "This is dinner. They only eat two meals a day. Some families drink goat milk in the morning and eat in the afternoon, which is equivalent to one meal a day."
"Didn't you say there would be a lot of merchants passing through here?"
Da Yu grinned and said, "So when there's no fighting, they can still have a full meal in the afternoon. Otherwise, many families would just have milk tea and some naan bread in the afternoon when it's not cold and there's no fighting."
Bai Shan pointed to the farmland by the river and asked, "Don't they grow crops? The yield is so low?"
How would he know if it rained heavily and he had never farmed before?
"Anyway, they are very poor, much poorer than the people in our town."
That's why they think the town is perfect in every way and would never move.
As they were talking, their horses approached the village, or rather, it was a village because there weren't many houses and didn't seem to be many people.
The people in the village discovered them, and then they heard shouting and cheering, and many people ran out of the house. Before they could move, the children and teenagers in the village were already running towards them.
They ran up to them, clasped their hands together in a Buddhist salute, said something in a gibberish, and then reached out to pull their horses.
Manbao's eyes widened, and he turned to Bai Shan and said, "I don't understand what they are saying."
Bai Shan didn't understand either, but he could see the enthusiasm and smiles on their faces, so he didn't resist. Instead, he touched Daoli's neck and asked it to follow them.
Da Yu slowly let them help him lead the horse and said, "I don't understand either, but I know they are trying to attract customers. Let's go. There are so many people in our caravan and this village is so small. I guess every household will have to make room for us to stay. There is no need to compete for customers."
Manbao was curious and asked, "Haven't you lived in this village before when you passed by?"
"This village didn't even exist when I left before," Dayu said. "Looking at this house, it seems it was built during this period as well."
Yeah?
Manbao and his companions looked at the yellow mud houses on both sides of the road and found that although they were not in very good condition, they did not seem to have many signs of use and indeed looked like they were newly built.
When they entered the village, the adults came out to greet them and greeted them with smiles on their faces, using Buddhist rituals.
Dayu said, "Gaochang is a Buddhist country. This area is very close to Gaochang. These people might have escaped after the fall of Gaochang."
To those who smiled at them, Manbao and the others also subconsciously smiled back, then dismounted and returned the greeting with Confucian etiquette.
The villagers became even more enthusiastic and surrounded them to go in. The people who were crowded together even had a quarrel. Two strong women took advantage of their gender advantage to squeeze in and held Manbao and Zhou Liru's horses, pointing at their homes and gesturing constantly, wanting to take them home to rest.
Manbao smiled slightly and pointed outside the village entrance and said, "There are still people outside, so many, so many people."
Although they didn't speak the same language, everyone understood her gestures. Everyone subconsciously looked in the direction she pointed, and coincidentally, the carriage appeared faintly in their sight.
The villagers' eyes immediately lit up.
At first I was confused. Why were these guests just riding horses and not even carrying any luggage?
But now when they saw the carriage, they understood. It was a caravan, and it looked like a big one!
Dear guest!
So the villagers became even more enthusiastic. Those who had already grabbed Manbao and his friends' horses did not let go, but shouted a few times, while those who were squeezed behind and could not grab them had already run towards the convoy.
When the people who were called out of the house saw them, they didn't ask them why and ran out as fast as they could. In an instant, there was no one around Manbao and the others, and only the people who were still holding on to their horses were left.
Manbao and the others were not in a hurry, so they walked slowly along the road towards the village. The man who led their horses wanted to invite them into the house to rest first, but they declined.
They didn't dare to force it, for fear that they would be snatched away, so they could only follow closely.
When the convoy arrived, the people who had followed them around were stunned. They looked at the number of people, then looked at Zhou Man and the others, and were no longer in a hurry.
There are so many people, there is no need to fight for their turn, and it is obvious that these people are in the same group.
The villagers enthusiastically surrounded the convoy as it entered the village. Since no house could accommodate so many people and there were no shops here, everyone was stuck in traffic.
Finally, an old man came out and asked everyone to be quiet, then walked up to them and looked at them, as if he was looking for the person in charge.
Manager Li took the initiative to come out to negotiate, but he did not understand the Hu language, and these people did not understand Chinese.
So the two passers-by stood up, and Wei Xingren translated for them. Manbao and the others also came over to listen out of curiosity.
Gold and silver are rarely seen here, and copper coins are even less used. They prefer silk and tea, which are the hard currency in the Western Regions.
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
