"Ali! Why are the circles under your eyes so dark? Have you not slept well these past two days?"
"Uh? Priest Ancestor?..."
"Main God above, it's all Aguda's fault! He insisted on holding some kind of tribal wedding with the local Hebian Tribe, making a racket for half the day. Then, once Pearl entered the tent, he made a racket all night. All I heard was him howling over there! These damned tents don't block sound in the slightest. The Jurchen Tribes under him, and this bunch of Mongols too, really had nothing better to do. They all ran over to eavesdrop at night, and listened straight through till morning!..."
"Ah?? Priest Ancestor, Brother Aguda is a man with ideas. Making a big show of it and marrying into the local Hebian Tribe isn't a bad thing. Haven't the Hebian Tribe been much friendlier to us these past two days? Oh, I get it! Priest Ancestor, you're... envious? Brother Aguda's stamina really is frighteningly good!..."
"What? What envy?! I'm not. Don't talk nonsense! Ali, I simply didn't sleep well, same as you..."
"But the sheep-whip soup you're drinking right now?..."
"Cough! Ali, eat your milk skin properly! Once you're done, come walk around the fortress with me. I want to look at this Mongol tribe's altar..."
The grasslands in September carried a trace of chill, and Huli Ping Fortress was always filled with the rank smell of cattle and sheep. Even the things they could eat could hardly be separated from sheep.
Maha Aguda had made a great fanfare of it, actually formally marrying Bule's daughter Pearl according to tribal custom and fixing the status of marriage alliance, which left Bule rather pleasantly surprised. However, on the matter of the "levying men and levying horses" trade, he kept hemming and