Chapter 328 - Ze Yitongs New Family Member (1/2)

Although Tibetan herdsmen already have affordable housing, grazing forces them to migrate within a certain range. Some families still retain the custom of migrating according to the seasons. There are still scattered yurts deep in the Naqu gra.s.sland.

This afternoon, in the heart of the gra.s.sland, the burning clouds dye the sky into fascinating colors. Ze Yitong’s mother finally herds the sheep back. A black spot shows up in the distance. It must be Ze Yitong’s mother Dun Zhu.

“Nana, nana, look! Mom is back!” Ze Yitong has the blush of people living on plateaus. An old lady with small pigtails opens the door curtain made of wool and gets out of the yurt.

Because of her age, Ze Yitong’s nana has poor eyesight. She squints and looks into the distance for a long while, but she still doesn’t recognize the woman herding the sheep back on the horse. Only when the woman comes closer, does she realize that it is Ze Yitong’s mother.

“Dun Zhu, you come back late today!”

The woman doesn’t get off the horse as usual. She waves to her daughter.

“Ze Yitong, come and help me.”

Ze Yitong runs over and sees another person laying powerlessly on her mother’s back. If it were not for the horsewhip binding them together, the person would have fallen down long before.

Herdsmen’s staple food is milk and meat. Although Ze Yitong is very young, she has great strength, even her nana who seems to be very weak is very st.u.r.dy.

After helping her mom put the person on the horse down on the ground, Ze Yitong finds out that it is a beautiful woman. Her skin is more delicate than milk. She has black hair and is in a dirty white dress. Ze Yitong puts the woman’s hair apart and sees that the woman frowns with her eyes closed. It seems that she is suffering from great pain in her sleep.

“Mom, who is she?” Ze Yitong notices that the woman has nothing besides her neat clothes and the small pearl on her wrist.

Dun Zhu is busy rus.h.i.+ng the sheep into the sheepfold and doesn’t have much time to answer Ze Yitong’s question, “I found her by the lake. Maybe she was robbed. Nothing on her can confirm her ident.i.ty.”

The woman has a slender skeleton and fair skin, which is not the typical look of a Tibetan. Dun Zhu shakes her head. This female tourist was so bold and got into the Naqu gra.s.sland alone. Dun Zhu hopes that she is not harmed although she lost all of her belongings.

Seeing her mom is busy, Ze Yitong slaps to call out a big dog that helps herd the cattle and sheep.

With the help of the dog, the little girl finally drags the unconscious woman back into the yurt.

Her nana is cooking dinner, so Ze Yitong takes up the responsibilities of a hostess and cleans up the dirt on the woman.

What is this dress made of? It looks beautiful and mud can’t stick on it.

Ze Yitong covers the woman with a blanket after seeing her clothes are thin, then runs out to help her mom.

When Ze Yitong returns to the yurt, the woman is still not awake. Her nana is making “fragrant mutton”. The delicious “fragrant mutton” makes Ze Yitong’s mouth water just by thinking of it. Nana only makes such delicious food when Dun Zhu is at home. She says that Dun Zhu is the backbone of their family, so she must make sure that Dun Zhu eats well.

To make the “fragrant mutton”, you need to boil potatoes to medium well and cut them into small pieces after peeling and drying. Nana has already finished these preparations. She is now cutting the Chinese onion. After the oil in the pan smokes, nana fries the Chinese onion for a short while and pounds it into pieces in a stone container.

Then, she puts cold water into curry powder and blends them into a paste. Then the paste is put into the boiling oil to make the oily curry. Like the Chinese onion, the oily curry will be used in the future steps.

The mutton is chopped into pieces and fried with Tibetan b.u.t.ter. After that, it is stewed in the pot.

After putting the mutton in the pot, nana goes to make b.u.t.tered tea, leaving Ze Yitong to check on the mouth-watering mutton. The “fragrant mutton” is very difficult to cook. Ze Yitong hasn’t had it for two or three months and misses it a lot, so she refuses to leave the pot.

The yurt is gradually filled with the smell of the cooked mutton. Dun Zhu opens the wool door curtain and comes in. Nana pours her a bowl of the b.u.t.tered tea. Dun Zhu feels much relaxed after taking a sip of the delicious tea and looks at the woman she saved. She finds that the woman has an abnormal blush on her face.

“She is having a fever.” Dun Zhu doesn’t know how long this woman lied unconsciously by the lake. It must be the cold water that gives her the fever. They still have some brown sugar at home. Dun Zhu asks Ze Yitong to make some ginger tea with the brown sugar for the woman.

Ze Yitong jumps over and touches the woman’s forehead. It is burning hot. Although Ze Yitong doesn’t want to leave the pot of mutton, she has to go and make the ginger tea.

After seeing the mutton has been cooked thoroughly, nana puts potatoes, oily curry, salt, ginger, fennel, cloves, pepper, Tibetan nutmegs and other ingredients into the pot. She blends the stew with a small stick. The fragrant mutton will be ready to serve right after all of the ingredients are cooked.

All three in the yurt are busy, and Ze Yitong quickly helps the rescued woman drink down the ginger tea.

The woman’s fever doesn’t go away for the whole night, which makes the fragrant mutton less tasty for Ze Yitong. They only have three women in their family while Dun Zhu is the only one who works. Ze Yitong’s nana rushes Dun Zhu to sleep because she still needs to graze tomorrow. Then, nana and Ze Yitong take turns to take care of the rescued woman.

Ze Yitong stays next to the woman until it is after midnight. Teenagers like her sleep for a long time. Ze Yitong falls asleep before dawn, but she vaguely feels her nana trying to wake her up.

It turns out that the rescued woman has been awake. Nana is touching her forehead.

“My name is Ze Yitong, and my mother said that my name stands for olive. What about you?” Ze Yitong goes to schools and speaks Mandarin of Huaxia.

The woman frowns, “My name? ……I can’t remember.”