Aliman smiled as he placed the bedding on the kang (a heated brick bed) and said to Ye Yunxi and Fu Heng.
"Then we won't disturb our distinguished guests any longer, we'll be taking our leave now."
"Wait, Uncle Aliman!" Fu Heng called out to Aliman, who was about to leave.
Aliman turned around and looked at the young man who had called him, puzzled.
Fu Heng cleared his throat and said, "I didn't mean anything by it, but I just overheard you saying outside that this area is dangerous. Could you tell us what's going on around here?"
Aliman was a little stunned, then sighed and said.
"Alright, I'll tell you then. There's a pack of wolves on a mountain far away from here. They come down the mountain every few days looking for food. They know we have cattle and sheep here, so they come every few days."
There's another tribe not far away that always comes to cause trouble for our tribe. They insist on having a competition with us, and if we lose, we have to offer them cattle and sheep. If we don't, it'll be a fierce battle.
Lu Hengyi voiced their concerns: "What if you didn't compete against them?"
“We also tried not to compete, but they said that not competing would be disrespecting them and that there would still be a tough battle.”
Ye Yunxi became instantly interested when she heard Aliman mention that there were cattle and sheep.
"Uncle Aliman, do you have cattle and sheep here? Can I trade them with you for supplies?"
Aliman was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said.
"Yes, distinguished guests, as you know, our area is sparsely populated, and the most scarce resource is salt. If we're going to trade, we'll do it with salt. Do you have enough salt with you?"
Ye Yunxi also knew that they were not lacking in supplies, but they were very short of salt.
"Don't worry about that. How much is the exchange rate for cattle and sheep?"
"One sheep has 100 bags of salt, and one cow has 150 bags of salt."
Standing next to Ye Yunxi, Zhang Jing whispered to Ye Yunxi.
"Yunxi, this price is a bit expensive! Let's negotiate the price."
Ye Yunxi nodded and looked at Aliman.
“This price is a bit expensive. Fifty bags of salt for a sheep and eighty bags of salt for a cow. We don’t just have two. If we have extras, I would like to take five of each.”
Aliman's expression darkened when he heard Ye Yunxi bargaining. But when he heard that each wanted five heads, his face brightened slightly. He looked conflicted.
"Alright, alright, since you are truly sincere in wanting to buy our cattle and sheep, then we will sell them to you."
Seeing that he had agreed, Ye Yunxi continued.
"It's inconvenient for us to bring live animals on the road, so please help us dissect them. We'll pay you for the processing fee then."
"Alright, then we'll process it for you. Please come with me to choose your cattle and sheep."
Ye Yunxi nodded, inviting Fu Heng and the others to go and take a look as well.
The group followed Aliman out of the yurt and into the yurt.
Arriving at a place where cattle and sheep were kept in enclosures, Aliman pointed at the cattle and sheep and said to Ye Yunxi and the others with a smile.
"Distinguished guests, this is where we raise our cattle and sheep. Please take a look and see which ones you need, and our people will come and bring them to you."
Ye Yunxi nodded, looking at the cattle and sheep in the enclosure in front of her; they were all rather thin. It made sense; it was the apocalypse now, and even people had nothing to eat, so where were they going to find food to feed them?
Chen Zhe and his group looked at the cattle and sheep inside with considerable excitement.
Ye Yunxi selected several cattle and sheep that looked decent, and also chose a ewe that was producing milk. All the other cattle and sheep except the ewe were slaughtered.
Aliman was delighted to see that they had chosen another ewe. Now he could share the salt with the tribe.
Ye Yunxi selected the cattle and sheep and looked at Aliman, saying...
"Uncle Aliman, wait a moment, we'll go back to the car to get the supplies. If we don't have enough salt, can we use grain instead?"
Aliman nodded. "Okay. Then I'll have our men take the cattle and sheep down to slaughter them first."
"Thank you for your help!"
Afterwards, apart from Ye Yunxi, Fu Heng, Xuan Yu, and Lu Hengyi, the others returned to the yurt first.
Ye Yunxi and the others returned to the RV and asked Xuan Yu to bring out four hundred bags of salt and one hundred catties of grain. There were sweet potatoes, potatoes, and rice.
They each took some and headed towards their yurt.
Aliman was guarding the door when he saw them coming. He quickly instructed the tribesmen to go and fetch them.
Ye Yunxi told Aliman, "I'm sorry, we don't have much salt left. This is all we have. We brought other grains with us."
Aliman looked at the supplies and smiled as he spoke.
"It's alright, it's alright. I've already instructed the tribe to slaughter the cattle and sheep. We'll inform you when they're done. The ewes are temporarily kept in the sheepfold; you can take them with you when you leave tomorrow."
Fu Heng said politely, "Then thank you, Uncle Aliman."
Xuan Yu was a little worried. Since no one was there to keep an eye on things, he was afraid that the people here might not have received enough. So he spoke to Ye Yunxi and Fu Heng.
"Sister Yunxi, Brother Heng, you two go and rest first. I'll go with Aliman to see the slaughtered cattle and sheep."
When Lu Hengyi heard that Xuan Yu was going to watch Aliman's people slaughter cattle and sheep, he also wanted to go with him.
"Xuanyu, I'll go with you!"
"Okay, you can go ahead. Let us know if anything happens."
Lu Hengyi and Xuan Yu nodded. Aliman had someone take the supplies back first, while he took the two distinguished guests to see the cattle and sheep.
Ye Yunxi and Fu Heng returned to the yurt. When Chen Zhe and the others saw that it was just the two of them, they asked...
"Sister Yunxi, where are Xuanyu and Hengyi?"
“They followed Aliman to watch the tribesmen slaughter cattle and sheep. We ate something before resting after they returned.”
After speaking, Ye Yunxi and Fu Heng tidied their bedding.
Chen Zhe didn't say anything. They waited for a while, and then Xuan Yu came over.
Before Ye Yunxi and the others could ask any questions, Xuan Yu spoke up quite naturally.
"Sister Yunxi, the tribe has slaughtered all the cattle and sheep we asked for, and they sent me to call you over to take a look."
Ye Yunxi nodded. "Let's go take a look."
Chen Zhe and the others also wanted to go, so they went out with Ye Yunxi and Fu Heng.
They arrived at the place where cattle and sheep were slaughtered, where Aliman was already waiting.
Seeing them arrive, he smiled and said.
"Distinguished guests, the cattle and sheep have been slaughtered. Please inspect the goods."
Following Aliman inside, Ye Yunxi and Fu Heng saw that all the cattle and sheep had been plucked, and each one looked very thin. But fortunately, despite being thin, they still had quite a bit of meat on them.
Ye Yunxi turned to look at Aliman. "Uncle Aliman, could you please help us cut these cattle and sheep into different parts? We need to keep them whole because it's hard to fit them in our car."
Aliman thought of the distinguished guest's car, which indeed couldn't hold so many whole animals, so he said...
“Okay, no problem. Hey, Ada, Zaxi, Bam, you guys break down all the cattle and sheep.”
The men named Ada, Zaxi, and Bam agreed to Aliman's request.
They all began to break down the cattle and sheep into small pieces, one by one.
(I've only been updating once a day for the past few days, I haven't had time to write!)
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