Chapter Ten: The Sweating Blood Horse

  Li Qin turned his head to look, and saw a large group of barbarians standing on the edge of the empty land. The leader was a short and stout Han man, behind whom stood twenty or so more Han men, each holding a club in their hands. The barbarian who had run out of the village earlier was also among them, presumably these men were the helpers he had called to come and settle accounts with Tang Biao.

  A stout and sturdy Han man in his forties, with a large head and short neck, his round brain seemed to be directly inserted into his square body. His two legs were bandy, as if they had been riding horses for years. He was dressed in luxurious clothes, and at first glance, he looked like a wealthy barbarian.

  A stout and tall Han man walked towards Li Qian, with one hand on his chest and slightly bowed, saying: "This good fellow, I am Liu Sheng, I don't know how to address you?"

  Li Qin held the long stick in his arms and returned the courtesy, saying: "I am Li Qin from Fu Jiao Village."

  He didn't mind signing up, but Zhao Bajin next to him was anxious and shouted: "Li Dazui, why did you report your name, be careful of revenge."

  Li Qin turned his head and looked at him, thinking: "Even if I don't reveal my name, can't Tang Biao recognize me?"

  Liu Sheng walked up close and pointed at the scoundrels on the ground, saying: "These disgusting things, Li brother taught them well. Even if you don't take action, I will."

  Liu Sheng, the head of the Da Liang Qiang tribe, was a man of great experience and knew how to handle people. He turned around and told his subordinates: "Send these guys back home, I'll cover their medical expenses. When they wake up, tell them that if they have any grievances, they can find me, Liu Sheng. Don't go looking for anyone else."

  Li QIN saw Liu Sheng's generous and unrestrained manner, and his heart was delighted. This man is indeed generous and looks quite wealthy. He himself was worried that the leopard skin wouldn't sell, ordinary people couldn't afford such a luxury item, so he might as well sell it to him!

  Li Qindao said: "Brother Liu is chivalrous, but these few stinky fish and rotten shrimp can't stir up any waves. Brother Liu doesn't need to take them to heart."

  He took down the bundle on his back and said to Zhao Baxian: "Uncle Zhao, let me have a place, I'll buy leopard skin."

  Liu Sheng watched as his men carried away Tang Biao and the others, and was about to turn around and leave when he heard Li Qin mention leopard skin. He walked over and asked, "Leopard skin? Is it tanned? If the craftsmanship is poor during the tanning process, it would be a waste of good material."

  Li Qin took out the leopard skin and said, "The leopard we caught the night before last hasn't been treated with saltpeter yet, it smells very bad, I'm afraid it won't sell for a good price." He held up the leopard skin to let Liu Sheng see.

  Liu Sheng looked at the leopard skin and said with joy: "It hasn't been treated with nitrate, great......" Before he finished speaking, he let out a loud sneeze and coughed several times, his voice becoming hoarse. He continued, "Just what I need!" and coughed again several times.

  Li QIN saw his face was flushed and thought: "He looks like he's caught a cold. This year, it's called a wind chill."

  Liu Sheng took the leopard skin, turned it over and said: "The bloody smell is so strong, very good, I just need a piece of raw, untreated fierce beast skin that has just been peeled off!"

  Stroking the leopard skin, Liu Sheng said: "Brother Li, since you want to sell the leopard skin, why not sell it to me? I'll give you two shi of top-quality millet. What do you think?"

  Liu Sheng said that the millet is actually wheat, and the good millet is small millet that has been shelled. Even if the leopard skin is of high quality, it's not worth eating or drinking, but millet is a good thing to support one's family. As for two stones (a unit of measurement), even in Fuping, let alone in the state capital, it would be a good price for unprocessed leopard skin.

  Ke Liqin heard him say "just like I use", and knew that Liu Sheng had special requirements, specifically wanting leopard skin that had not been treated with nitrate and still had a bloody smell. In that case, there was no need to hesitate.

  Li Qin furrowed his brow and said: "This... this..."

  Zhao Ba Jin was anxious, two stones of good millet, being frugal and mixing in some coarse grains, would be enough for a family of three to eat for half a year. What's there to hesitate about? He pulled his sleeve, wanting Li Qin to agree.

  Li Qin said: "Not to deceive Liu brother, my family still owes other people's grain..." His family indeed owed Zhao Ba Jin's family two kilograms of bran.

  "How much?"

  Li Qin sighed and stretched out two fingers. Zhao Bajin, who was beside him, also sighed and thought to himself: "It's only two catties of bran, why bother haggling with him? What if the other party changes their mind again, wouldn't that be a disaster?"

  Liu Sheng hesitated for a moment, then said: "Two more stones? Alright, I'll add two more stones. How can we let Brother Li return the grain and have no rice in his own pot?"

  Zhao Ba Jin almost fainted, and added another two dan. Such a big hand, this is indeed top-grade millet, not the kind that hasn't been husked yet. He almost agreed on behalf of Li Qin.

  Ke Liqin shook his head, "As long as you're still raising the price, I won't rush to agree. Besides, everyone in the village helped with catching this leopard, and we need to distribute some of the grain to our fellow villagers too!"

  Liu Sheng suddenly started coughing violently, stretching out one hand to press his forehead. It seemed he was indeed ill, but his strong physique allowed him to hold on. After stopping the cough, he said: "Thanks for the help from fellow villagers, I should thank you. Then... then I'll add two more dan."

  He said so, but the other hand holding the leopard skin stretched out as if he didn't want to buy it anymore.

  At this point, Zhao Bazhen could no longer hold back, this was top-grade millet worth six stones, a price as high as the sky, even in the provincial capital it wouldn't sell for such a price!

  Zhao Bazhen saw that Li Qin had not yet agreed, and blamed Li Qin for not understanding business, randomly raising the price. He hastily said: "Alright, six stones is six stones, I'll take responsibility for answering on behalf of Li Dazhong's son!" Glaring at Li Qin, he thought to himself: If you don't go home and tell your father about this, you little scoundrel is too greedy, not willing to sell even at six stones, be careful that others won't buy it.

  Li QIN glanced at Zhao Ba Jin and nodded: "Alright, since Uncle Zhao has agreed on my behalf, then the deal is settled."

  Liu Sheng cleared his throat and laughed, saying: "Brother Li is straightforward. To be honest, this leopard skin with a bloody smell has great use for me, even if you raise the price to ten stones, I will have to agree, but this old brother responded immediately, I saved grain, Brother Li you lost out. Why don't Brother Li come to my house for a drink, we'll get along well, as for the grain, I'll let someone send it to your home, Fu Jiao Village is not far."

  Zhao Ba Jin heard this, his legs went soft and he sat down on the ground with a thud. He regretted it so much that he slapped himself twice, how could he be so big-mouthed? Just one extra sentence had caused Old Li's family to lose four shi of good millet, which was really unfair to them.

  Liu Sheng burst out laughing and said, "You guys, I've bought the mutton for this case. Give him some money and let him lead you to deliver grain to Brother Li!" His men responded in unison and pulled up Zhao Ba Jin.

  Liu Sheng tucked the leopard skin under his arm and said: "Brother Li, if you don't mind, how about going to my place for a drink?"

  Li Qin smiled and said: "It's better to obey than to show respect, so I'll trouble Brother Liu like this!"

  Liu Sheng nodded and said, "Brother Li speaks eloquently, he's a scholar! Unbelievable, in these times scholars are all unbelievable!" He coughed a few more times and accompanied Li Qin to his home.

  Liu's residence was not far from the market, and they arrived in a short while. As soon as Liu Sheng entered the courtyard, he shouted loudly to his family members to prepare wine and meat. He patted the leopard skin in his arms and said to Li Qin, "Brother Li, do you know why I spent a lot of money to buy this leopard skin?" His tone was somewhat complacent.

  Li Qindao said: "Brother doesn't know, is Liu brother willing to tell?"

  Liu Sheng pulled his hand, saying: "Come on, follow me, I'll show you something precious. To be honest, I have a fine horse, which is a good breed from Dayuan, with red fur and a rabbit-shaped head, it's a real sweat-blooded precious horse!"

  Li Qian was taken aback for a moment and said: "This horse is called Chi Tu?"

  Liu Sheng blinked his eyes and smiled: "Chì Tù? Good name, when it gives birth to a foal, I'll name the foal Chì Tù. My horse's name is Huǒ Tàn, I brought it to the grasslands and let it mate with the lead wild horse, which was also a Sweatblood Horse, fierce as fire, impossible to capture... I had no choice but to let Huǒ Tàn seduce it, if I couldn't get it, getting its son would be fine too..."

  Liu Sheng spoke to himself, somewhat vaguely, but Li Qin also understood. It turned out that Liu Sheng's sweat-blood horse was a mare, and after mating with a wild horse, she became pregnant with a foal. So it seemed that the reason Liu Sheng bought the leopard skin with a bloody smell was very clear - it was to tame the horse, making it not afraid of the fierce beast's scent.

  As they spoke, they arrived at the backyard stable. The Liu family's stable was very large, and almost the entire backyard, except for a few main houses, was all stables.

  Li QIN looked at the backyard and thought: "If Liu Sheng lives in the backyard, he is indeed strong-willed, but the taste is a bit too strong."

  Liu Sheng led Li Qin to a horse stable closest to the main house, and in this stable there was only one horse, which was the very Fiery Coal he had mentioned.

  As soon as he entered the horse enclosure, Li Qin saw the charcoal and couldn't help but exclaim "good". Then he saw that the horse behind the manger was extremely handsome, with a tall and majestic skeleton. Regardless of other aspects, just looking at its appearance was enough to make people feel delighted!

  Sweat-blood horse is the ancient Chinese name, if using modern name, it should be called Akhal-Teke horse. This is the most expensive and purest blooded horse in the world, whether in ancient or modern times, it belongs to the national treasure level of precious horses.

  Upon hearing Li QIN's praise, Liu Sheng said with a smile: "Of course it's good. I've spent my whole life selling horses and among the fine horses I've seen, this one ranks second. The first is its husband, unfortunately, I couldn't catch it."

  With a pleased heart, Liu Sheng walked over to touch the fire coal, but forgot that he still had the leopard skin under his arm. The fire coal was a fine steed, but it was domesticated from an early age and not a wild horse, so it was very afraid of the bloody smell of wild beasts and neighed as it shied away.

  Liu Sheng was a short man with long arms. When the horse dodged, he accidentally fell onto the feeding trough and started coughing violently.

  Li QIN looked at the charcoal and thought: "Is this the mother of Chi Tu Ma? Why are there tears in her eyes, was she scared to cry? No, it's not fear, but conjunctival congestion and swelling, causing tears. She's sick, got horse flu. Nowadays, no matter what disease the horse gets, as long as it's contagious, it's called horse plague."

  He helped Liu Sheng up and said, "Brother Liu, your fire coal has gotten horse plague...hmm, you seem to have gotten it too!"

  Li QIN soon found out that Liu Sheng seemed to have caught a cold, but unexpectedly it was equine influenza contracted from the horse. Equine influenza is not only limited to horses, it can also be transmitted to humans, and after humans contract equine influenza, the symptoms are similar to those of catching a cold.

  Liu Sheng straightened his waist, throwing the leopard skin far away to avoid startling the horse again. He said, "It's all right, just stand up straight and we can get through this. We've encountered situations like this before."

  Li Qian frowned and said, "It's true that it can pass through with a bit of effort, but this plague will cause the mare to miscarry. Your Fire Charcoal is pregnant with a foal, isn't it? It needs to take medicine! I think at least two doses are needed, and by tomorrow, the illness should show improvement!"

  "Take medicine? I'll be fine tomorrow!" Liu Sheng was shocked, then showed an ecstatic expression, and suddenly grabbed Li Qin's hand, shouting: "You can cure horse plague? You're proficient in witchcraft?"

  ——

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