Xu Peng walked toward He Yi but did not stop beside him. Instead, he passed him and headed east.
He Yi noticed and instinctively followed him with his gaze. Then he heard Xu Peng say, “Help me find my arrow.”
The two of them searched the area for the feathered arrow Xu Peng had fired and missed with earlier.
They found it quickly. Xu Peng still wore his usual stern expression, but he did not blame He Yi or even complain.
He Yi could not help sighing inwardly. It seemed he had judged a gentleman by a petty man’s standards. Seeing his cousin’s cold face all the time made it easy to forget that Xu Peng was actually cold outside and warm inside.
The snow leopard probably knew it had caused trouble. It sat a short distance away looking aggrieved, its huge tail clamped in its mouth.
He Yi could not bear seeing it like that, so he discussed their options for continuing the hunt with Xu Peng. “Could another herd still come by? Or should we wait until dusk and try again?”
Xu Peng was about to answer when the snow leopard twitched its round ears, spat out the tail in its mouth, and even stepped on it with one paw. Then it called “Aowoo” toward them, spun around, and sprinted away. Within moments, its figure disappeared among the rocks.
He Yi could more or less guess what the snow leopard had gone to do, but he did not dare say it aloud in case he was wrong. He could only find somewhere to sit with Xu Peng and discuss what to do next.
He really had been a little too confident about hunting. Without Xu Peng there to guide him, He Yi would not have known what to do at all. He had basically come along for the excitement. So he asked humbly, “Older Cousin, what do you think of what I suggested just now?”
“I’ve walked through this mountain no fewer than ten times. There isn’t only one water source, and different goat herds are good at communicating with one another. I doubt they’ll come back this way for several days. We could wait until dusk and still see nothing,” Xu Peng said.
“Then… stake out a different water source?”
“They’ll only be more alert than before. It won’t be easy.”
Did that mean they had no chance at all? They had come all this way and He Yi had nearly died of exhaustion. Xu Peng did not look as though the trip had cost him much effort, but hunting wild goats had been Xu Peng’s purpose in coming here. Now that they could not achieve it, He Yi did not know whether it would delay something Xu Peng needed to do.
He Yi asked again, “Are there any other birds or animals around here we could hunt?” At least then they would not have to go back completely empty-handed.
Xu Peng looked around. “Dholes. But they usually move in packs of more than ten, and they’re extremely aggressive. Once they latch onto you, they’re troublesome.”
“Or could we set a snare trap now?” A foothold trap could not be made on the spot, but a snare only needed bamboo… No, wait. This place was so barren there were barely any trees. They really might not be able to find bamboo here.
He Yi fell into thought. Xu Peng shook his head, clearly considering other options as well. For a while, neither spoke.
Then a faint but familiar animal call came from the distance. Both men looked toward the sound. Before long, the snow leopard appeared ahead, racing toward them. To their surprise, it was dragging a horned animal in its jaws.
When it stopped, He Yi looked closely and saw that the snow leopard was carrying a male wild goat whose neck was bleeding and which had already died. It was fairly robust, with long, slightly curved horns.
“…” So he had guessed correctly. Smiling, He Yi walked over, dropped to one knee beside the snow leopard, and patted its furry head. “Snow Leopard, you’re incredible.”
The snow leopard dropped its prey, licked the blood from its mouth, and narrowed its eyes while shoving its head enthusiastically into He Yi. It looked delighted.
Xu Peng was rendered speechless by the goat. Then he watched He Yi and the snow leopard nuzzling together as though no one else existed, and his expression became difficult to describe.
*
The return trip took at least an hour longer than the journey out. Even though they were eager to get back and process the goat as soon as possible, so they walked faster, and even though He Yi’s climbing technique had improved, transporting such a large animal added a great deal of weight and difficulty.
The route was steep. After draining the goat’s blood, Xu Peng initially tied it to his own back and gave the carrying basket to He Yi. Later, however, some parts of the route became extremely difficult to climb, especially the descents, and the rope system could only bear so much weight. He Yi suggested tying the goat onto the snow leopard’s back instead.
The snow leopard shook its head, suppressed its urge to start eating on the spot, and allowed them to secure the goat to its back.
It made for an extraordinarily strange sight. If an ordinary villager saw it, there was no telling what bizarre story would spread afterward.
With the load redistributed, however, their journey finally became much smoother. By early afternoon, they were back at Xu Peng’s home atop Peak B.
The moment the wild goat was unloaded, Xu Peng dragged it away to butcher it without stopping to rest. Since the snow leopard had bitten through its neck, the hide could no longer be considered intact, though it was not so badly damaged that it could not be sold. Xu Peng scraped the flesh and other material from the removed hide, soaked it in a softening solution, then fetched a bone cleaver to deal with the organs, bones, and meat.
He Yi and the snow leopard watched in fascination. Xu Peng’s arms were solid and powerful as he wielded a long, rectangular steel blade with extraordinary skill, opening the goat’s belly, severing the head, and chopping through bone.
“Still watching? Go pick some cherries from the garden for me, wash them, and take them into the kitchen.” Xu Peng could not stand being stared at continuously, so he sent He Yi off to work.
Unfortunately for him, He Yi left but the snow leopard remained crouched there watching.
Xu Peng glanced at the leopard, selected more than half of the raw meat, and tossed it onto a leaf. He lifted his chin to indicate that it was for the snow leopard.
The snow leopard walked over to Xu Peng, brushed its tail across his back, and looked steadily up at him for a while.
Xu Peng lowered his head and gave it what he considered a friendly smile. Unexpectedly, the snow leopard immediately took half a step backward, then turned without hesitation and went to enjoy its raw goat meat.
“…” Was his smile really that frightening? The corner of Xu Peng’s mouth stiffened. He put the smile away and silently carried things toward the kitchen to prepare the meal.
The vegetable garden looked different from the first time He Yi had visited Xu Peng. Back then, most of the melons, fruits, and vegetables had not ripened, so he had paid little attention and could not easily identify them. Now he recognized bitter melon, yardlong beans, and eggplants. But there was a small tree at the edge covered in bright red round fruits that he did not recognize.
The garden was not large, so everything in it was easy to see. When Xu Peng said cherries, the fruit on that little tree seemed the likeliest candidate, except they did not look much like the cherries He Yi remembered from his previous life. These fruits were smaller and rounder, leaving him confused.
Could modern cherries simply be improved cultivars that looked very different from ancient ones?
He Yi picked one fruit and took it back to ask Xu Peng. In return, he received a contemptuous look, perhaps displaced annoyance, and confirmation that yes, he had indeed picked the cherries Xu Peng wanted.
He Yi became even more confused. He picked and washed a small basketful, secretly ate one, and still could not understand why these cherries were called cherries.
What He Yi did not know was that the fruit he had eaten in his previous life and the fruit he was picking now belonged to different kinds of cherry. These were Nanking cherries native to the region, while the larger cherries commonly sold in supermarkets in his previous life were European sweet cherries.
Elio’s Notes: 毛樱桃 is the Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa), a small red cherry native to northern and eastern Asia. The source contrasts it with the larger European sweet cherries He Yi knew from modern supermarkets.
Xu Peng accepted the basket of cherries and went back to working on the walnuts in his hands.
He Yi did not ask any more questions. He returned indoors and lay down on the daybed to rest. By then, the snow leopard had eaten its fill, groomed its fur, and wandered inside. When it saw He Yi sleeping, it tried to lie directly on top of him.
With that kind of weight, it did not even need to lie down. One paw planted on He Yi’s stomach was enough to crush all speech out of him.
He Yi hurriedly shifted over and gave it half the daybed, patiently explaining why it could not sleep on top of him.
As he explained, he once again had the strange feeling that a number of recent situations seemed vaguely familiar. He could not understand why. But he was genuinely exhausted and had no energy left to think about it. Once he lay down properly, he fell asleep almost immediately.
The snow leopard pressed close beside He Yi and took an afternoon nap with him.
Xu Peng also dozed for a while while the food simmered. When he woke, he put out the fire under the stew pot, while the other stove continued braising the offal in a red-spiced broth.
The aroma of mutton stewed with cherries successfully woke both man and leopard on the daybed. Their eyes were not fully open before they had already gathered around the small table.
Xu Peng fished out two walnuts still in their shells and tossed them directly onto the table. He Yi asked curiously, “You don’t want those?”
“They’re for removing the gamey smell.” Xu Peng had knocked several holes into the shells so the walnuts would absorb the odor. The kernels inside were probably soaked soft by now and not worth eating.
He Yi understood. The little cherries in the clay pot had shriveled but remained vivid red, staining both the meat and broth a faint cherry-pink. He Yi found the combination a little terrifying. He had never seen anything cooked this way.
“Why did you think of cooking cherries with mutton?” He Yi asked as casually as he could.
Xu Peng said, “When I bought the cherry seeds from a traveling merchant, he told me they paired well with mutton. People where he’s from often stew mutton this way. The cherry tree survived, and the fruit happened to ripen recently, so I thought I’d hunt a wild goat and try it.”
So this was Xu Peng’s first attempt as well. He Yi understood. When he saw Xu Peng pick up his chopsticks, He Yi did the same and took a piece of meat. The snow leopard immediately pawed at his hand, trying to snatch it. Since the meat had been seasoned, He Yi was still reluctant to let it eat any, but the snow leopard was unusually persistent this time. Unable to resist, He Yi finally let it have the piece.
Watching the snow leopard chew with its cheek fur puffed out and its head bobbing happily, He Yi thought perhaps the dish did not look so terrifying after all. He took another piece and tasted it himself.
The mutton had been cut into fairly thick pieces, but it had stewed long enough that the exterior was very soft while the lean center remained firm. The meat was tender, with hardly any gaminess, and he could even taste a little wine. The moment he bit down, rich sweet-and-sour juices burst across his tongue, both appetizing and deeply satisfying.
This was not merely “not terrifying.” It was genuinely delicious.
“Come to think of it, do cherries become sweet after cooking? The one I ate while picking was pretty sour.”
Xu Peng paused. “I added rock sugar…”
“…”
There had been more than twenty jin of mutton. Most of it went to the snow leopard since it had been the one to catch the goat, while the choicest four or five jin were used for the stew. The two grown men both ate until they were somewhat overfull.
The sighthound was eventually lured over by the smell as well, creeping slowly toward the room with its tail lowered. But with the snow leopard present, it only dared approach for a moment. The instant it received a bone, it disappeared again.
After they ate, He Yi volunteered to wash the bowls and pots, but Xu Peng looked at the sky, went into the kitchen, and brought out a small jar of red-braised lamb offal for him to take home.
“Go back. You’re not used to this work anyway. I can finish these few things in no time and then rest,” Xu Peng said, leaning against the wall.
He Yi knew that although Xu Peng sounded as though he were criticizing him for being slow, in reality he simply did not want He Yi going down the mountain too late.
“Then thank you, Older Cousin. I’ll come see you again next time.” He Yi smiled softly, picked up the jar, and left with the snow leopard, leaving behind Xu Peng’s little home with its own distinct charm.