Blue, Red and White Dark Abyss Cauldron

Chapter 232: Beast Mountain Sheltering from the Snow (2)

Zhang Hou was not only lazy, but also liked to do some unexpected and strange things. When he was a slave in Jiaoshan, there were no women in the slave house, only men. Zhang Hou couldn't bear it and peeked at the fair-skinned men taking off their clothes and bathing. After Wu Sheng and Zhou Weide knew about this, they often made fun of him.

When herding horses, they used a small tent that two people shared. Everyone joked that Zhang Hou was not allowed to enter other people's tents to prevent him from having evil eyes again.

Zhang Hou said: "What do you mean someone else's tent? This is my tent."

Chu Xiaomu said: "This is the tent that Shunzi and Xiaodouzi set up. How come it is yours?"

Zhang smiled cheekily, "They paired up with me and Wu Sheng first, and they will pair up with their own later."

Su Mishun and Ling Weidou quickly shook their heads and said, "We'll take ours first, and then yours next."

Zhang Hou smiled and said, "That's okay. It won't be too late to set up my tent after the fire pit is dug." Although he is smooth and lazy, he is also quite generous most of the time.

Chu Xiaomu looked up at the sky and said in surprise, "Oh, it's getting late. The fire pit hasn't been dug yet. It looks like we don't have time to set up the tent today."

Zhang Hou was surprised and said, "If we don't set up a tent, who will live in this tent?"

Chu Xiaomu said: "Of course whoever rents it will live in it."

"No, no..." Zhang Hou shook his head and said, "We are a team. We can't take credit for what we did. Otherwise, it will be detrimental to the unity of the team."

Chu Xiaomu pretended to ponder for a while and said, "What you said makes sense. Why don't we go by age? From oldest to youngest, or from youngest to oldest. It's up to your brother Houer to decide."

Zhang Hou was speechless immediately, because the two oldest members of the ten-man team were Wan Gang and Zhou Weide, and the two youngest members were Ling Weidou and Zhou Weiyi, so it was not his turn anyway. But if he insisted on assigning the position to himself, he could not find a reason at all, and he was speechless for a while.

Chu Xiaomu laughed and said, "Brother Hou'er is Brother Hou'er after all. He is not only loyal but also kind-hearted. It is settled. Douzi and Xiao Yi'er will live in this tent tonight. They are the youngest of the two."

Zhang Hou was so stunned that he couldn't utter a word. A gust of cold wind blew, making his teeth chatter from the cold.

They worked until it was completely dark, then dug the fire pit, spread a circle of dry grass and wood in it, and started a warm fire. The horses were very smart, and when they saw the people making a fire, they led the young horses to the fire pit one after another to keep warm, while the adult horses walked away on their own and huddled together to keep each other warm.

Zhang Hou was afraid of cold by nature, so he had never slept in the snow. He thought he could sleep peacefully like other people near the fire, but the cold wind hit him and it was freezing cold. He regretted that he should not have been lazy. If there was a sheepskin tent to shelter him, he would definitely not suffer from the freezing cold.

The heavy snow that had been falling was getting heavier, and it seemed that there was no sign of stopping. The weather was also getting colder, and even the southern slope where everyone was located was not immune to the wind. Although everyone had a fire pit to keep warm, the coldness around them seemed to be entangled and solidified on everyone's body, and no matter how hot the fire was, it could not be driven away.

Chu Xiaomu had put on two winter coats like everyone else, but he was still too cold to sleep. He couldn't help but worry: "We are too cold to sleep staying by the fire, I wonder if the horses can withstand it." He was worried and simply turned over and sat up, ready to go check on the horses.

As soon as he moved, Yingdan, Lin Zhen and others also sat up. It turned out that everyone was unable to sleep because of the cold.

Zhou Weide cursed, "What kind of weather is this in Beast Mountain? It's so cold! Do you want us to freeze to death here?"

Wu Sheng said, "It's not this cold on the grassland. Why did you come to this mountain of birds and beasts for no reason?"

Lin Zhen said: "The grassland is flat, and it will only be colder when the wind blows. But it is rare to get this cold suddenly."

Chu Xiaomu said: "Everyone take torches and go see what's happening with the horses outside."

Wu Sheng muttered, "People are about to freeze to death, how can they have the energy to take care of those horses?" Even so, he still honestly found a torch and lit it.

When they arrived at the gathering place of the horses, they saw many horses spinning in the snow because they could not stand the cold, and they looked very scared. Many horses were lying on the ground, and they looked like they were sleeping.

Chu Xiaomu's heart was pounding, and he had a bad feeling. When he got closer, he saw that most of the horses lying on the ground were military horses. They were all frozen to the point of unconsciousness. When he touched their noses, they were also cold to the touch, and they were obviously dead. Wild horses have long hair, which can still withstand extreme cold, but military horses have much shorter hair, so they naturally cannot withstand it.

Chu Xiaomu felt extremely heavy-hearted. He looked around the herd and found that these military horses and wild horses, either seven or eight, or ten or twenty in number, were all huddled together to keep warm. However, several weak military horses on the outside had been frozen to death without anyone noticing.

The more he looked at it, the sadder he became, and he couldn't help but shed tears.

Yingdan, Lin Zhen and others came to report with gritted teeth, saying that they found several horses frozen to death, including military horses and wild horses.

According to rough estimates, about 10 to 20 military horses died from the severe cold overnight, and even several wild horses with thick hair died.

Heavy snow fell from the sky in large flakes, covering the dead horses with a thick layer, making them look pitiful and miserable.

However, how long will such cold weather last? Can the horses that have not been frozen to death survive tonight, or tomorrow night, or the night after... None of the ten people have a clue, and Chu Xiaomu is even more confused and anxious.

Yingdan said: "Xiaomu, you have to think of a solution quickly. If we don't keep the horses warm, they will probably freeze to death here..."

But these more than a thousand military horses almost covered the entire hillside. And his own horse herding team only had ten people, how could he solve the current difficulties?

Chu Xiaomu had no idea what to do and looked around in confusion. The vast Beast Mountain was covered with snow, but it was still bright in this cold, starless and moonless night.

He looked at the dry grass and withered trees all over the mountain, and suddenly a bold idea popped up in his mind. He shouted: "Quick! Set fire to the mountain!"

Everyone almost thought they had heard it wrong and asked him what he meant. Chu Xiaomu repeated, "Set fire to the mountain!" He walked to a clump of dry grass, removed the snow covering it, and extended the torch into the grass. Soon it caught fire.

The dry grass slowly burned and began to spread in all directions, with heat rising.