Chapter 280 – Princess of the Prairie Rules the World – Sick (05)
“Greetings, Chief.” After saluting Tuoba Jingyao, Aqi greeted Bai Tang warmly. “Good morning, Bai Tang! I just went to your tent to look for you, but you weren’t there. So you were with the Chief all along!”
Bai Tang was already blushing from being caught in an intimate moment with his lover. Now that Aqi blurted it out so casually, the boy wished he could dig a hole and bury himself in it.
That’s just how people in the tribe were—most were passionate and straightforward by nature. They didn’t like playing mind games. They said whatever was on their minds. If they didn’t get along, they fought it out, and once the fight was over, they were back to being good brothers.
Aqi was one of them. He slung an arm over Bai Tang’s shoulder and sneakily asked what was going on between him and Tuoba Jingyao, how far they’d progressed. The little squirrel was so shy, he couldn’t even lift his head.
“N-no, there’s nothing like that, it’s totally normal~”
In truth, they hadn’t done anything inappropriate—at most, just a few hugs. Not even a kiss. Well… that moment just now didn’t count.
Rong Ningjing watched from the side with growing alarm, breaking into a cold sweat for the clueless Aqi.
Kid, the Chief is staring daggers at you. Can’t you feel it?
She quickly tugged at the oblivious Aqi’s sleeve. Tuoba Jingyao’s expression was darkening by the second, and his eyes were locked onto Aqi—more precisely, on the hand Aqi had draped over Bai Tang’s shoulder.
If it had been anyone else, it would’ve just looked like two bros chatting. But in Tuoba Jingyao’s eyes—whose intentions were not so pure—Aqi was clearly trying to steal his boy.
The young man had already been claimed. How could he let anyone else get close?
Tuoba Jingyao shot Rong Ningjing a cold look, his voice like ice: “What are you doing here?”
Rong Ningjing thought everyone in the tribe was pretty nice—except for Tuoba Jingyao. Just facing him made her tremble.
“W-well, the little cutie is new here, right? We were worried he might not be used to things yet, so we came to help him get familiar with life in the tribe…”
It took all her effort to finish explaining, and meanwhile, Aqi kept teasing Bai Tang, who refused to say a word. He peeked up at Tuoba Jingyao and then turned back to say, “Wow, Tang Tang, you’re amazing—the Chief hasn’t taken his eyes off you~”
“R-really?!”
Under Aqi’s constant teasing, Bai Tang glanced over at Tuoba Jingyao—only for their eyes to meet. His face instantly turned an even deeper shade of red. That porcelain-pale face with a rosy flush made even Aqi, standing next to him, feel tempted to plant a kiss.
“Tang Tang, come here.”
Tuoba Jingyao beckoned Bai Tang over.
He pulled Bai Tang into his arms and said coldly to Aqi, “Aqi, you seem quite free today. Why don’t you go help shear the tribe’s sheep?”
The tribe had communal livestock, and every household was required to send someone in rotation to help take care of the shared cattle and sheep.
Tuoba Jingyao then turned to Rong Ningjing.
“Since you’re feeling better now, you can go too.”
With that, he didn’t bother to look at their expressions and simply walked off with Bai Tang in his arms. As he left, Rong Ningjing and Aqi could vaguely hear him gently asking Bai Tang what he wanted for breakfast.
Rong Ningjing let out a sigh of resignation.
“Looks like I’ve been caught in the crossfire.”
Aqi wasn’t great with literary expressions and only half-understood what she meant, but he remained cheerful as ever.
“Isn’t it just shearing sheep? Come on, let’s go!”
It wasn’t until they arrived at the pasture that they found out Tuoba Jingyao had actually given the original sheep-shearers the day off. In other words, all the sheep-shearing for the day had been left to just the two of them.
Aqi looked at the massive herd and swallowed hard.
“Just the two of us…?”
Rong Ningjing snapped, “You see a third person around here?!”
People say that lovers can get ridiculously jealous—but seriously, she hadn’t done anything! She didn’t even get a chance to pinch that little cutie’s cheeks today!
“Forget it, let’s just get to work,” Rong Ningjing sighed, rolling up her sleeves and resigning herself to fate.
As they worked, they chatted.
Only after Rong Ningjing pointed it out did Aqi finally realize that Tuoba Jingyao had abused his power for personal reasons. Still, he didn’t quite believe it.
“No way. The Chief is the most impartial and strict person I know.”
Seeing she wasn’t getting through to him, Rong Ningjing looked out at the endless sea of sheep and sighed.
“Whether it’s a personal vendetta or impartial justice, I’ve already accepted my fate. Today, I, your sister here, will lay down my life for the gentleman.”
“Relax, relax. The Chief didn’t say we had to finish today anyway—and we couldn’t even if we tried. Winter’s coming, so we’ve got to get these sheep sheared quickly.”
As Aqi thought about the coming winter, a bit of worry crept into his heart. Every winter, both people and livestock would die. He could only hope that this year, the tribe would suffer fewer losses.
Rong Ningjing had seen memories of past winters through the original host’s mind. Her mood darkened as well.
In her mind, she saw one vivid life after another, bright smiling faces—now all gone.
Rong Ningjing stopped talking and silently focused on shearing the sheep.
On the other side, Bai Tang sat by a large pot, cradling a bowl of fresh sheep’s milk. He took a small sip, and warmth spread from his throat to his belly. In this late autumn weather, nothing felt more comforting than this kind of life.
Tuoba Jingyao was beside him, flipping flatbreads over the fire. When he judged the timing just right, he grabbed a handful of black sesame seeds and scattered them on top.
A fragrant aroma filled the air, and Bai Tang’s face lit up with delight.
As Tuoba Jingyao handed the flatbread to Bai Tang, Bai Tang also offered him a fresh bowl of sheep’s milk.
“Ah Yao, you have some too~”
The young man held the milk in both hands. Just the smell alone made it seem sweeter and richer than anything he’d ever tasted before.
He watched Bai Tang nibble on the sesame flatbread in small bites, his cheeks puffed out, eyes closed, his face full of contentment. The sight filled Tuoba Jingyao’s heart with joy.
“There’s more. If it’s not enough, I’ll make more for you,” Tuoba Jingyao said.
Bai Tang opened his eyes and smiled, eyes curved like crescent moons.
“I’m going to eat a lot, you know~”
“No matter how much you eat, I can provide for you. I won’t go broke feeding you,” Tuoba Jingyao said—yet another way of expressing his affection.
Bai Tang, of course, knew exactly what he meant. He turned his head and continued chewing on his flatbread, mumbling softly, “You said it yourself~”
The atmosphere was light and sweet, the air filled with warmth and affection.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the sheep-shearing duo…
In modern times, Rong Ningjing had studied veterinary medicine. During her internship at a zoo, she was assigned to care for the gentler animals, since she was still a beginner. Among them were sheep.
While she was shearing one of the sheep, she noticed it was unusually thin, and its body temperature seemed a bit high.
Her heart sank.
Could it be sick?
In a flock of sheep, if even one gets sick and it’s not discovered or treated in time, the illness can easily spread. With winter fast approaching, if the tribe were to lose a large number of cattle and sheep, how would they survive the season?
She called Aqi, who was shearing sheep nearby, and had him hold the sick animal down while she tried to get its mouth open.
Sure enough, the sheep was sick—and not mildly so.
Its tongue already had several pus-filled sores. It was clearly contagious ecthyma (orf), a highly infectious disease among young lambs. If they hadn’t caught it in time, who knew how many more sheep would’ve been affected?
Rong Ningjing immediately told Aqi to go inform the rest of the tribe so that more people could help inspect the flock and determine how many sheep had already been infected.
Aqi understood the seriousness of the situation. He dropped his usual joking demeanor and ran straight toward the tents without delay.
Since this involved the tribe’s communal property, it was, of course, necessary to inform Tuoba Jingyao.
Tuoba Jingyao told Bai Tang to return to the tent while he went to check on the sheep.
Suddenly, a soft, fair hand tugged at the hem of his clothing.
Tuoba Jingyao looked down and met a pair of eyes filled with concern.
“I want to come too,” Bai Tang said.
Sorting through sick sheep was an exhausting job, and Tuoba Jingyao didn’t want Bai Tang to wear himself out.
But Bai Tang insisted.
“I want to do something for the tribe too.”
To those delivering the message, Bai Tang came across as someone who was grateful and willing to give back, which only improved their impression of him.
Unable to refuse him, Tuoba Jingyao had no choice but to bring Bai Tang along. Inwardly, though, he felt both relieved and happy.
The fact that Bai Tang wanted to help meant he was starting to feel a sense of belonging to the tribe—and that meant he was less likely to leave.
When they arrived at the sheep enclosure, many tribe members were already helping to catch the animals. Because the sheep were uncooperative, it wasn’t easy to hold them still, pry open their mouths without harming them, and inspect their tongues.
The scene around the flock was rather chaotic. Rong Ningjing was keeping track of the confirmed sick sheep, recording them and separating them from the healthy ones to be quarantined.
Seeing the situation, Bai Tang rushed over to help as well.
However, Bai Tang didn’t know much about sheep diseases, so he turned to Rong Ningjing to ask about the symptoms.
Rong Ningjing replied, “So far, we’ve only found a few sheep in the flock showing signs of contagious ecthyma.”
After she spoke, Rong Ningjing suddenly realized that such technical terms might be difficult for ancient people to understand, so she rephrased it in simpler language: “In other words, it’s sheep mouth disease.”
The main symptom was ulceration and pus-filled sores inside the sheep’s mouth.
Bai Tang nodded and called out mentally to Qiu’er and Xiao A.
“Qiu’er, Xiao A, the sheep are sick. Can you help me identify which ones are infected?”
“No problem, leave it to me!”
Since Bai Tang rarely asked for help, Qiu’er puffed up with pride and patted its chest, determined to complete the task perfectly.
Xiao A added, “This will take a little time. Please be patient, Host.”
With Qiu’er and Xiao A’s assistance, the pace of identifying sick sheep increased significantly.
Most of the infected sheep were lambs—soft and fluffy—who should have been lively at their age. But now, they were listless and sluggish due to illness, their eyes sunken, looking as if they could die at any moment.
Bai Tang couldn’t bear the sight. While everyone else was busy checking the flock, he quietly approached one of the sick lambs and locked eyes with its wet, tear-filled gaze.
“Baa~~~”
The lamb was pleading. The lamb was crying.
Its body ached with illness, constant and relentless suffering.
“Baa~~~”
It hurts… it hurts so much… I’m so hungry…
With pus-filled sores in their mouths, the lambs couldn’t eat. Their bodies grew weaker by the day, tormented by pain and starvation. Under the weight of both, they were barely hanging on—just waiting to die and be freed from their suffering.
Seeing the tears in the lamb’s eyes, Bai Tang felt his own eyes begin to sting.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll heal you,” he whispered.
Using the cover of the lamb’s wool, he discreetly activated his healing ability.
Fifteen minutes later, the virus had been cleansed from the lamb’s body. No longer in pain, the now-healthy lamb bleated happily at Bai Tang and even stuck out its tongue to lick him.