readsfreenovel Chapter 235 A Strange Horse Born in the Snow
Chapter 235 A Strange Horse Born in the Snow
For several days, Chu Xiaomu and his friends were immersed in the sorrow of Shenma's death. They were so depressed that they lost their appetite, let alone taking care of the horses. Fortunately, the horses were very quiet, just staying beside the slowly burning wildfire, occasionally eating a few bites of dry weeds, and making no other noise.
They also seemed to know that Shenma was dead.
The little black colt was very weak and looked like it was only a few days old. It naturally could not chew the dry wild grass at this time, and even the lush and tender grass cut by everyone on the grassland could not be eaten. It could only be fed with mare's milk.
However, no one had experience in milking horses. Once they got close to a milk-producing mare, whether it was a military horse or a wild horse, they would run away quickly. The wild mares with worse tempers would even kick people with their hooves.
Once, Zhou Wei De was carrying a leather bag filled with water and wanted to squeeze some milk for the little black colt. Before he even touched the mare, he was kicked and fell. Zhou Wei De was so angry that he cursed and threw the leather bag far away, saying that he would never squeeze mare's milk again and didn't care whether the little black colt was dead or alive.
Yingdan said, "I think it's better to take the little black colt to the mare and let it drink milk on its own." Everyone had this idea before, but they knew that horses are protective of their calves and will not let a colt that is not their own to drink milk. Because they were afraid that the little black colt would be stepped on by the mare, they did not dare to take it over and let it drink milk on its own.
Su Mishun said quickly, "No, no, it will be bad if the mare steps on it. Let's go and milk it ourselves. Although it's more troublesome, at least it won't hurt it."
Zhou Weide said again: "If you want to go, go ahead. I'm not going anyway." He had gone to milk the little black horse originally because the horse had saved his life, but after being kicked by the wild horse, he just ignored it.
Su Mishun was afraid of being kicked by the horse and dared not say anything.
Chu Xiaomu thought for a moment and said, "Yingdan is right. I think we should take it to the mare and let it eat on its own. We should first find a military horse with milk. Everyone should be careful not to step on the little black colt. There is always a first time for everything. It doesn't make sense to keep feeding it even when it drinks milk."
After hearing what he said, a few people who originally held cautious opinions kept silent.
Chu Xiaomu held the little black colt in his arms and came to a milk-producing mare. He was about to calm the mare down so that the little black colt could feed on her milk, but the mare actually lowered her body and half-lay on the ground, allowing the little black colt to feed on her milk. Everyone was surprised and delighted when they saw this.
The crowd tried to put the little black colt on the wild mare to feed it. The wild horses immediately became very docile, leaning down to let the little black colt drink as much as it wanted. They had no intention of protecting the little black colt or bullying the little black colt. Chu Xiaomu thought that the little black colt might have some connection with the Shenma, so the other horses were very respectful to him. Thinking of this, he felt relieved. Although the Shenma was dead, at least something was left behind.
However, this was just Chu Xiaomu's wishful thinking. The little black colt was not born from any horse. Whether there was any other connection between the two, I'm afraid no one in the world knew.
Although the winter was cold, fortunately there were wildfires to keep warm, so there were no more horses freezing to death or frostbite. However, although the wildfires spread slowly, they burned several large mountains one after another, stretching for dozens of miles.
Fortunately, no evil beasts appeared, and the tense nerves of the people began to relax. When they had free time, they led the horses to run wildly on the hillside burned by the fire, one to get rid of the cold, and the other to kill time. The military horses were already very familiar with the people, and they would run wherever they were directed and obeyed the command; the wild horses were not obedient at first, but after running with the military horses more often, they gradually obeyed the command and ran along.
One day, a dozen spotted deer suddenly walked out of the forest and went to the hillside after a wildfire to look for food. Everyone quietly approached them, and shot all the dozen spotted deer to the ground with bows, arrows and spears. That night, they happily skinned and cut the meat, and from then on they had no worries about food; after a simple tanning, the deer skin was made into a dozen leather clothes, although crude, it greatly relieved everyone's suffering from the cold and snow.
The little black colt was well fed and well-drinking every day, and grew very strong, jumping and hopping around and looking very cute. Chu Xiaomu was the first person he saw when he opened his eyes, so he recognized him as his master, and spent every day around him except for feeding him.
Chu Xiaomu was followed by it every day. He couldn't drive it away or not, which added to his troubles. However, thinking of the life-saving grace of the Shenma to himself, the herding team and even the entire army horse group, he could only be more patient with the little black colt and dared not be impatient at all. Because in his heart, the little black colt's appearance next to the corpse of the Shenma must be the will of the gods.
In addition to looking after the horses, Chu Xiaomu also did not forget to look for medicinal herbs for Jinglan. However, the fire had left a charred black area, without even a living creature. How could there be any flowers or plants left? However, Deputy Commander Xiao said that this could only be accomplished with hard work, so he was not in a hurry.
After the heavy snow, the weather was sunny for a while. Although the thick snow on the mountain did not melt, it was much better than the snowy days. The horses were also more excited and active than the previous days. In addition to drinking snow and eating grass, they began to chase and play on the burned hillside. What was even more exciting was that several military horses and wild horses gave birth to foals in the heavy snow. These foals could stand and walk a few hours after they were born in the snow. A few days later, they were running and playing together. They were lively and cute, and seemed to be not afraid of the cold at all.
What is amazing is that the mares that gave birth to these foals include black and white mules, red and white xiongs, red and yellow mules, pale and mottled zhuim... their bodies and coat colors are completely different, and there are both military horses and wild horses. The foals born all have light red coat and a curved white spot on each side of their backs, just like brothers born from the same litter.
People held different opinions on this matter. Some said it was because of the cold weather; some said it was because of the hybridization of military horses and wild horses; Lingweidou even said it was because of the Beast Mountain, and he explained the reason in detail, saying that the spiritual energy in the Beast Mountain was abnormal, so there were more beast spirits, and these newly born ponies had white spots on their bodies, maybe they were infected by the abnormal spiritual energy.
Wu Sheng quickly told him that he was talking nonsense. The little black colt was also born in the Beast Mountain, so how could it be so black without a single stray hair on its body? Ling Weidou had nothing to say and had to shut up.
Everyone was talking, no one could convince anyone, and finally they all looked at Chu Xiaomu again. Zhou Weide said impatiently: "Mu Tou, tell me what the reason is."
Chu Xiaomu spread his hands and said, "Heaven knows, earth knows, gods know, and spirits know, but I, Chu Xiaomu, don't know." Everyone was so angry that they cursed.