Chapter 235: Ah-ma (2)

After walking for another hour, the rundown old tent in the horizon was finally right before them.
This was a small hillock and the old tent had been set up where the hillock blocked the wind. The broken parts of the tent had already been patched up by someone using dried grass.
Not too far off from the tent was an area cordoned off by a line of short fences, corralling two thin-looking horses and a few old sheep.
The bleating of the sheep was transmitted across the plains thanks to the blowing winds.
By this time, the sky was already beginning to darken. However, there were no lights shining from the tent. As they stood outside, they could hear someone coughing and a woman speaking in a hoarse voice.
He Changdi’s heart had long frosted over in the bleak freezing winds of Liangzhou, but it seemed like the woman’s rough voice had slowly warmed it up.
His eyes seemed to carry more passion than usual as he stared at the tent, which had almost been swallowed in darkness. His deep gaze was currently filled with warmth.
He stood outside the tent for who knows how long. Finally, the tent flaps lifted, and a middle-aged woman walked out.
Darkness had already fallen. Clothed in some thick furs and fabric, the woman couldn’t even see the newcomer’s face. She could only vaguely make out a rough silhouette.
“Ah-ma.”
He Changdi mumbled from the corner of his mouth.
The middle-aged woman had just come out to toss some water and wash some bowls. When she looked up only to see two dark shapes standing not too far away, she cried out sharply and fell to the ground.
He Changdi quickly went forward to help her up.
Up close, the middle-aged woman could finally make identify the silhouettes as two young Han. She immediately relaxed and tried speaking to them in the barbarian language.
He Changdi replied to her in the same language. He was so fluent that he sounded exactly like someone born to it. The middle-aged woman then happily welcomed He Changdi and Laiyue into the tent to talk.
The barbarians living out here in the borders of Liangzhou were always friendly and welcoming. They would treat those who could speak their language like their own family, with honesty and enthusiasm.
This quality of theirs, whether in his past life or present one, had never changed.
It was also due to this fact that they lacked caution against others, and in a few years, would be completely decimated by the Tuhun.
The middle-aged woman lifted up the tent flap, and a strange odour immediately filled He Changdi and Laiyue’s nostrils.
This was due to the tent not being aired out for a long period of time, keeping all sorts of mouldy, stale smells within.
Laiyue couldn’t resist the urge to pinch his nose. When he turned to look at his master, he found that He Changdi’s calm expression hadn’t changed a single bit, as if he was already used to this nausea-inducing odour.
When Laiyue saw his master’s calm, he could only lower his hand and bear with the odour as much as he could.
There were no lights in the tent, so it was even darker inside.
He Changdi turned around to give Laiyue an order: “Light a lantern.”
Laiyue felt his way to the short table placed in the middle of the tent before taking out an oil lantern from his bag and lighting it up.
With the flickering light of the lantern, the dark insides of the tent were instantly filled with a yellow glow. Using that dim light, He Changdi could finally see his surroundings clearly, including the face of the barbarian woman standing across from him.
The barbarian woman’s eyes had widened and she was looking at that small oil lantern in disbelief. After staring in a daze for a moment, she quickly waved her hands and reached out to extinguish the lantern’s flame.
“Ah-sai, there’s no need to light a lantern; lantern oil is very expensive!” The barbarian woman said anxiously. ‘Ah-sai’ was a respectful term for esteemed gentlemen in the barbarian language.
The barbarians worked only by the natural light of the sun and slept when the sun set. They didn’t have any money to spare for luxuries like lantern oil. To buy a lantern and the fuel needed for one, they would have to visit a Han family or go to the Tuhun markets. Furthermore, a single bottle of lantern oil cost half a sheep. Most barbarians wouldn’t be able to afford one.
Lantern oil was an absolute luxury for them.