I do not know how long I slept, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself back on the stone in the main room. The room was very quiet, and the fire in the stove was burning brightly. The youth was not there; I did not know where he had gone.
I shook my head and gave a wry smile, but when I looked down, I saw that there were three layers of thick cotton quilts piled on me no wonder I felt chest tightness and could hardly catch my breath. I lifted my legs and used both my hands and feet to push aside the top layer. This simple action left me feeling weak and sore all over.
I raised an eyebrow and touched my forehead: sure enough, I was running a fever again. It seemed that my time spent in the wind and snow yesterday had been too long.
Thinking of last night, I could not help but close my eyes and sigh. The youth’s behavior was truly bizarre living among wolves, eating raw mutton, and howling at the moon. It was a pity, I thought, as I opened my eyes and tugged slightly at the corner of my mouth, that I still did not know the youth’s name.
Just then, the door creaked. I turned my head and was surprised to see a stranger, a young man wearing a leather cap and a long felt robe with cinched cuffs. He looked to be in his twenties and was carrying a bundle of wooden strips. After nudging the door open with his shoulder, he walked straight to the window.
I coughed softly. The young man’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He turned back, and after our eyes met for a moment, his cheeks turned slightly red.
“H-hello…” he stammered, speaking in an oddly accented Han official language. “I… I am…”
I found it amusing and told him that I could speak the Rongdi language.
“Ah, I see…” The young man let out a long breath, set down the wooden strips, and scratched his head with a shy smile. “I am Lawang, a warrior of the Akenite tribe. With the wind and snow continuing these days, the leader heard constant wolf howls from the Holy Mountain and worried that the nearby herdsmen might be in trouble, so he sent us out to patrol. When I passed by your place, I saw a large patch of blood on the snow behind the house from afar, and I was so worried that I… came in without your permission.”
At this, he looked a bit embarrassed. “I apologize.”
I shook my head to indicate it was fine. I was about to ask Lawang if he had seen the youth, but the iron pot on the stove suddenly began to bubble and hiss.
“Ah!” Lawang slapped his forehead. “I almost forgot!” He ran over in a flurry and took a bowl of pitch-black paste out of the pot. The pungent smell was so suffocating that I couldn’t help but frown.
“This is the medicine the Shaman told us to always carry on us. If you have a headache or a fever, just drink a bowl and it will surely be better! Do you… want to try it?”
Looking at Lawang’s sincere eyes, I hesitated with a furrowed brow but ultimately reached out from under the quilt. I had no strength left, and I wanted Lawang to help me up, but the silly lad simply placed the bowl directly into my hands—if I hadn’t reacted in time, I would have dropped it.
Lawang didn’t seem to notice anything wrong. “It’s just a bit bitter, but if medicine isn’t bitter, it isn’t effective. Don’t the Han people have a saying? Something about the most effective medicines for illnesses all being very bitter.”
“…That is, ‘good medicine is bitter to the taste but good for the illness,'” I said weakly. “Help me up.”
“Oh! Ah!” Lawang touched his nose and hurried to take the bowl back. Only after helping me sit up did he hand it back to me.
The bowl contained a mass of mashed roots; one could no longer tell what kind of plant it had been. I sighed and drank the whole bowl in one go. Even though I was used to bitter medicine, this concoction far exceeded my expectations. I couldn’t help but hiss, my face contorting.
Lawang scratched his head and took the empty bowl back. “Well… I’ll go reinforce your windows. There will be a blizzard later; your current windows won’t be able to withstand it.”
My tongue was numb and my throat tightened with every swallow. After a moment, I asked in a hoarse voice: “By the way, where is that youth?”
“Youth?” Lawang looked completely bewildered. “What youth?” He measured the window with the wooden strips and, just as he was about to pick up his hammer, he paused again. “Was there someone else in your courtyard?”
I was startled, my eyebrows raised: had he… left again?
Lawang nailed down the small window and, seeing me staring blankly, added, “When I arrived, I saw only you.”
I thought for a moment, described the youth’s appearance, and asked Lawang, “Do you know someone like this?”
“Blue eyes and curly hair?” Lawang shook his head, then nodded after a long silence. “I do know of one, but… she has been missing for seven or eight years.”
“Missing?”
“Yes,” Lawang pursed his lips. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of her, but her name was Yaru, the fourth Eji (Consort) of the Wolf Lord.”
“I never met her, but the elders say she had a pair of beautiful sapphire-like eyes. Had she not been abducted, she would have undoubtedly been the greatest beauty on the grasslands.”
“…I see.” I nodded, feeling somewhat distracted.
Tie Zhu had told me once that after the fourth Eji and her young teqin (prince) were exiled to the Far North, they went missing during a blizzard. Calculating the ages, if that young teqin were still alive, he would be fourteen or fifteen years old today. Thinking back on the youth’s strange behavior, I couldn’t help but think of the legends of “bear children” or “wolf children.”
—If the young teqin had been swept away by the blizzard and adopted by a pack of wolves, then… was that strange youth Yaru’s son?
“Are you looking for someone?” Lawang was simple-hearted. “I can send an eagle message to my other brothers and have everyone keep an eye out.”
That would be a good method.
But after considering it for a moment, I shook my head and declined his kindness—the youth was with a pack of wolves, and his behavior was far from ordinary; it was better not to alert too many people. Furthermore, I had come to the Far North to escape conflict. If that youth truly was the Wolf Lord’s teqin, it was hard to say how much trouble it would cause if the old Wolf Lord died in the Southern Territory later on.
With that, I shook my head and thought of something else. “By the way, Lawang, do you know… wolves?”
“Wolves?”
“Just…” I didn’t know how to explain. Last night, the youth had clearly misunderstood my meaning and given the big white sheep to me as food. “If a wolf gives food to another… wolf, what does that mean?”
“That?” Lawang thought about it and laughed. “It might be a mother wolf taking care of her cubs, or… it could be a male wolf courting.”
I: ?
“But that seems a bit early. Wolves usually go into heat in late winter, doesn’t that take another month or so?” Lawang said, wiping some wood shavings off his face. “Why? Did you see that? Perhaps the female wolf was just too beautiful and specifically attracted the male.”
I coughed. “Are there only… these two situations?”
“That’s right,” Lawang nodded. “Wolves are actually quite possessive of their food. In the wild, after capturing prey, when the Wolf King eats, the other wolves can only watch.”
I: “…”
“Actually, wolves are quite good to their mates,” Lawang said as he nailed the last wooden strip onto the window, unable to help himself from sighing. “Loyal, unyielding, and they know how to cherish their own.”
“You didn’t know? Although the Wolf King holds absolute authority in the pack, they will often share the first bite of food with the Wolf Queen.”
“When the wind and snow get heavy in winter, the Wolf King will even block the wind at the entrance of the den for the Queen and their cubs! Such responsibility!”
Seeing him like this, I couldn’t help but tease, “Your Uhante must be very happy.”
Uhante is the Rongdi word for wife, more intimate than terms like Eji or Ezhi; it is like the Han term “my lady.” Hearing this, Lawang’s face flushed. “I… I haven’t taken a wife yet. The Akenite tribe is far away in the Far North, and no women want to marry here.”
“Of course, men don’t… either…” He stole a glance at me and added quickly, “I absolutely do not mean to look down on you.”
I shook my head and smiled to show I didn’t mind. Seeing me smile like that, Lawang’s face turned even redder. He stood up from the window. “Y-your windows in these rooms, I-I-I have reinforced them all! You keep the fire burning and rest well; I’m going to fix your courtyard wall!” With that, he walked out in a rush, tripping over his own feet.
Watching the door slam shut, I finally couldn’t help but let my shoulders shake with muffled laughter the men of the grassland were truly interesting.
Afterward, Lawang reinforced the courtyard wall for me and hauled the carcass of the big white sheep onto the patrol coal cart, letting his comrades dispose of it. This was a custom of the grasslands: livestock killed by wolves were generally not eaten; they were taken far away into the snow and left for the Eternal Heaven to judge. They would either be eaten by the wolf pack and other wild beasts, or they would rot in the ground to nourish the pasture for the coming year.
“…Thank you.” I bowed my head slightly, silently apologizing to the big rooster that had sacrificed itself for my stomach.
By the time everything in and out of the courtyard was taken care of, the sun had set. When Lawang had finished boiling the water, the sound of horse hooves and whistles came from outside the window. He brought the water kettle and warmed food to the bedside and said his goodbyes:
“My brothers are calling for me. Rest well, I am off.”
I nodded. My fever came and went, and with my mind occupied by thoughts of the youth, I was truly exhausted. Lifting my heavy eyelids and looking at the sky outside the window from a distance, I took a breath before turning to Lawang:
“It is late, and I fear it will be dangerous for you to travel at night.”
“Don’t worry, it will be fine,” Lawang pointed to the red glow in the sky outside. “Look, there are sunset clouds in the sky; the wind won’t rise tonight!”
I supposed he was right: “Morning glow keeps you home, evening glow takes you ten thousand miles.” So I nodded. “Travel safely.”
Lawang responded, knelt to perform a respectful Rongdi salute, turned, and went out, closing the door and windows for me. Hearing the door, I was just about to close my eyes when I heard a commotion outside; it seemed Lawang was talking to someone. Afterward, hurried footsteps sounded at the door again.
“Eji?” Lawang knocked on the door and entered without waiting for me to answer. Hearing that his footsteps were heavier, I opened my eyes and saw Lawang holding a very large basket.
The basket was filled with arrows fine arrows with well-made tail feathers.
“Leave these for self-defense,” Lawang placed the arrow basket at the door and waved at me. “Take care of yourself!”
I tipped up the corner of my mouth, finally feeling relaxed, and drifted into a deep sleep.
And when the last trace of evening glow was swallowed by the night, accompanied by the low hooting of a night owl, a figure slowly walked out of the forest—
He carried a sturdy, horned yellow goat on his shoulders. The fur on the goat’s back was yellow, while its belly was snow-white, and the tuft of hair on its rump was gray-black; it must have been the most beautiful one in the herd while it was alive. The goat looked to weigh at least forty pounds, enough for a common wolf pack to have a full meal.
Walking to the side of the small courtyard, he had already lowered the goat from his shoulders, prepared to throw it over the low wall into the yard. But when he looked up, he was surprised to find that the low wall had grown much higher in just one day; it used to reach only to his chest, but now it was as tall as he was.
The youth’s brows furrowed. A strange look flashed through his azure blue eyes, and then he sniffed carefully sure enough, he smelled a hint of a different scent.
He was a bit annoyed. He dropped the yellow goat on the snow outside the courtyard, turned, climbed the wall, and jumped inside, searching around aggressively.
After a thorough inspection, seeing that I was sleeping in the main room with no abnormalities and that there were no other strangers around, he breathed a slight sigh of relief. But when he turned his head, he discovered to his surprise:
The big white sheep was completely gone.
The youth blinked, his eyes filled with a trace of awe as he looked at me, and then that trace of awe instantly turned into pride. He patted his chest and let out a long breath:
It seemed that going out to hunt this yellow goat today was truly the right choice.
Otherwise, wouldn’t he have to go hungry tomorrow?
He walked around the courtyard wall, fumbled with the gate, opened it, and then went out to shoulder the now frozen yellow goat and bring it in. After checking one last time that there were no other anomalies in the yard, the youth turned, pushed open the door of the main room, and walked straight toward me.
I was sleeping soundly and did not know someone was approaching.
The youth reached out and gently brushed aside my black hair; his gaze fixed firmly on the dark red and purple wound on the side of my neck.
The youth leaned down, moved closer, and sniffed carefully. Smelling that familiar scent, he revealed a satisfied smile.
Then, he pulled off the only fox fur he wore on his body, crawled into the quilt, and pulled me tightly into his arms. Although his head was buried deep in the side of my neck, he indeed used his broad back to shield me on the outside just as Lawang had said.