When Shao Xuan and the others went to the grassland, Old He went to the Feng tribe and waited on a low mountain on the border of the tribe every day.
According to his agreement with the others, the people on the grassland should leave from here. However, one day passed, two days passed … Five days passed, and Old He didn't see any trace of those people.
On the tenth day, Old He didn't let his wife and grandson wait here with him. He would inform them when he saw them. The old lady was old and not a wanderer of the Yanjiao tribe, so she was not as healthy as Old He. The ten-year-old Ah Nai was asked to look after the sheep, so that they could get some food in return. After all, no one knew how many days they would have to wait to leave.
Old He knew that the grassland was very large and it would take time to come here, so he waited at ease at first. However, on the fifteenth day, Old He was really anxious. He was afraid that the team would forget him. After all, there were only three of them here, two of whom were old and one young. Did they think it was troublesome to take them with them?
Old He couldn't help but think about it.
The wanderers on the grassland were divided into several groups, so it was impossible for all of them to go the same way. The person Old He contacted did decide to go this way. However, after fifteen days, they didn't even see a shadow. Was it on purpose, or did they encounter trouble?
If it was the former, Old He would take his family and leave. He knew that there were only three of them, and the journey was long and dangerous, but he was willing to take the risk. However, Old He believed in the latter. He knew that people would not easily abandon their tribesmen, but if they encountered trouble … He heard that there was a war on the other side of the mountain. If the wanderers encountered it, they might be involved. Thinking of this, Old He was more worried. He would rather others forget about his family than be involved in the war. Once involved in the war, they would be killed.
It was rare for his indifferent temperament to become impatient. Old He still insisted on waiting on the mountain early in the morning with food until sunset.
When Old He went up the mountain, his ten-year-old grandson Ah Nai was helping Gua Er's family to look after the sheep. Including him, there were five people guarding the flock. In the past, there were only three of them. Sometimes, one of them could keep an eye on the flock. But recently, the tribe had been losing sheep. Sometimes, there were cows or horses. The livestock was uncertain, and most of the lost animals were the young ones.
The patrol team patrolled every day and night, but there were still cases of livestock being lost. Sometimes it was this house, sometimes it was that house. It had been more than ten days.
Some people said that they saw a pack of wolves moving around. Perhaps they were some cunning and swift wolves. There was a war between tribes on the other side of the mountain range. Therefore, in order to avoid the war, the wild beasts in the vicinity also moved around. Some of them crossed the mountain range and came here. Therefore, the patrol team had sent more people to pay attention to the traces of the wolf pack.
Gua Er was listless recently. His favorite calf was missing. He had planned to raise it carefully to fight with his friends next door. However, he didn't expect that the calf was missing when he went to the cow pen the day before yesterday. He didn't want to stay with his friends for the next two days. It wasn't easy for him to find a newborn calf. He had even prepared the best pasture, but it was gone in the end.
"Ah Nai, when do you think the wolf came in and took the calf away?" Gua Er asked with boredom.
"I don't know." After a pause, Ah Nai said, "I don't think it was a wolf."
In the past two years, because Gua Er promised Shao Xuan to take care of Lao He's family, his attitude towards Ah Nai was better. Even if he didn't let Ah Nai join their small group, he didn't feel sad for him. Sometimes when Ah Nai was bullied by others, Gua Er would help him out. Therefore, Ah Nai and Gua Er talked more.
"I don't think so, either. It may be a fox or an eagle. There are many animals that steal livestock on the grassland. They all like to steal calves." Gua Er said with a fierce look. He took out a bone knife and chopped it in the air, "If I know who stole it, I will chop it!"
After saying a few harsh words, Gua Er found that no one supported him. He turned his head and found that Ah Nai didn't listen to him at all. He was looking around.
"Hey, did you hear what I said just now?" Gua Er said with dissatisfaction.
Ah Nai didn't answer him, but asked, "Did you hear any sound just now?"
"What sound?" Gua Er thought Ah Nai was looking for an excuse.
"It's …" Ah Nai thought for a while, but couldn't describe it. He didn't intend to pay attention to Gua Er's complaint. He stood up and looked at the sheep that were eating grass not far away.
However, Ah Nai didn't want to pay attention to it, but Gua Er couldn't stop talking and continued.
"Hey, I heard that you are leaving. When will you leave? Where will you go? Can you see Shao Xuan again? If you see him again, ask him to carve a wood carving of a wolf for me. I will exchange cattle and sheep for it. The wood carving was taken away by my father and he didn't let me touch it. "Gua Er said to himself.
"Gua Er!" Ah Nai suddenly said.
"What?"
"One sheep is lost!" Ah Nai said hurriedly.
Hearing this, Gua Er hurriedly stood up and stood on the wooden stool next to him. He looked at the sheep and counted them. His family didn't have many sheep now, and the livestock lost recently were all calves. So Gua Er directly counted the number of calves.
"No. You counted wrong. None of the calves are lost." Gua Er was relieved and said.
When Gua Er was about to laugh at Ah Nai for not knowing how to count, he heard Ah Nai say: "It's not a calf, it's a big one! I counted four times. It's really lost! It was still here this morning! "
"Impossible!" Gua Er didn't believe it and counted. Although he liked to play, he also clearly remembered the number of livestock raised by his family. He knew how many were consumed every day and how many were born.
After counting, one was indeed missing.
There were four people watching in other places. Although they didn't watch the sheep but looked at other places, as long as the sheep didn't run away, it was fine. Gua Er ran over and asked the four people. None of them saw the sheep leave the flock.
Everyone was here, but he didn't see any wolves or foxes. Was it an eagle?
He looked up to the sky and didn't see any birds. Even if an eagle came down to catch the sheep, it would make some noise. But Gua Er didn't hear it.
"Hey, Gua Er, what are you looking for?" A little girl of the same age as Gua Er's neighbor came over.
"It's none of your business!" Gua Er was anxious now and his tone was not good.
Knowing Gua Er's temper, Doya didn't intend to ask him, but turned to ask Ah Nai next to her.
Ah Nai had a good impression of Doya, so he told her what had happened just now.
Knowing the whole story, Doya didn't want to ask Gua Er to have a horse race. Her family lost a sheep yesterday. It was not too small or big.
"What are you going to do?" Doya asked.
"Gua Er, go and talk to your father. If your mother is at home, you can talk to your mother." Ah Nai advised.
"No, I'll look for it first!" Gua Er didn't want to find his father who was patrolling now, nor did he want to wake up his mother who was sleeping. His mother had a younger brother or sister in her belly and needed to rest. Moreover, he hoped to find some clues and then tell the adults.
"I'll go too!" Doya swung her horsewhip, rolled up her sleeves and followed him.
Ah Nai looked around and said something to the nearest shepherd. Then he chased after Doya and Ah Nai.
The shepherd didn't care about it. The children in the tribe ran around all day and nothing happened. There were patrols at the border, so they didn't worry.
When Ah Nai and Gua Er were looking for the missing sheep, Old He, who was standing on the low mountain, finally saw a team. The leader was the one who had contacted him.
Old He, who was very happy, hurried over, only to find that the people in the team were very tired and had many injuries. There were two seriously injured people in the team and he didn't know how many days they could last.
They encountered the war on the other side of the mountain. However, they were lucky to be alive here.
Originally, there were 32 people in the team. Because of the scuffle between the tribes on the other side of the mountain, three people couldn't follow them here. As for the two seriously injured people in the team, if they couldn't survive, there would be five people.
This wanderer team had been walking at the border of the tribes. Therefore, even if they were seen by the patrols, as long as they were not bloodthirsty people, they would be fine. Old He wanted to take them to his home, but now it was a sensitive period. The people of the Feng tribe wouldn't let suspicious people enter the tribe. Therefore, Old He ran back to get some herbs for the injured people.
"I also brought some food. You can eat it first." Old He handed over the half leg of lamb in his hand. It was definitely not enough for these people. But at least there was food. It was good for everyone to have a bite after roasting.
When they were talking about the situation in the team, a patrol team of the Feng tribe rode over quickly. Gua Er's father was in the front.
"Old He, have you seen Gua Er?" The man was so anxious that his forehead was full of sweat.
"No, what happened?" Old He had a bad feeling and his voice was trembling.
"A sheep was lost at home. Gua Er didn't even tell us. He directly took Ah Nai and Doya to look for it! But we haven't seen them yet! "
Old He's legs were soft. Ah Nai was the only child left in his family. If something happened …
"Look, look … look, I'll look for it too!" Old He said with trembling lips.
The patrol team looked at the nearly 30 wanderers in front of them who were full of blood and asked, "Did you come from the mountains? Have you found any abnormal situation, such as wolves and other beasts? "
"There were indeed wolves and foxes running here, and … ah!" The man who spoke thought of something and said with a frightened face, "There was also a kind of big worm. I heard that it was originally sleeping around the mountains. It was awakened by the war over there. It came out and ate many people. One of our team was dragged into the ground by them. I don't know if they came over. "
"Worm? Stone worm? "The man asked.
"Not stone worms. They have sharp teeth and are a little flat. They have many feet on their bodies. They don't leave any holes where they drill. They will block them with soil. We have been digging for a long time …" The man who spoke cried. When they saw their companion being dragged into the ground, they all went to dig. However, their speed was not as fast as that worm's drilling speed, so they only dug out soil.
Worms that drill into the ground? Without leaving any holes?!
The patrol team was shocked. They looked at each other and saw the suspicion in each other's eyes.
The livestock lost in the tribe might not be wolves or other beasts on land or in the sky, but a threat from the ground!
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