Before dark, Jade Mountain River herded the cattle, sheep, and horses scattered across the nearby slopes, rooting around for grass, into the Heated Livestock Pen. Then he took a fairly fat sheep out of the Heated Livestock Pen and put it in the open pen outside.
The Heated Livestock Pen had a roof and was essentially a wooden house. Although no fire was lit inside, the body heat of the cattle and sheep kept them warm together. The open pen was the most common kind, fenced with wood on all sides with a gate left in it, used for resting in spring, summer, and autumn, or during the daytime in winter.
Once inside the open pen, the sheep began bleating loudly out of loneliness or fear.
"We'll find somewhere to lie in ambush now," Jade Mountain River told Li Long. "That wolf is very cunning. It might watch for a long time before coming over. So we'll have to wait in the snow for a very long time!"
"That's fine. I've had milk tea, eaten meat, and relieved myself. I can wait." Li Long knew Jade Mountain River was giving him a reminder. He smiled and said, "It's fine. Whatever happens today, I have to show that wolf what we're made of!"
Jade Mountain River nodded and went to get ready.
With his previous experience, Li Long once again lay beside the pile of sheep droppings, banking some snow along both sides of himself. Jade Mountain River had supplied him with a sheepskin coat and a sheepskin mat to lie on. It was quite luxurious.
Lying in the snow, Li Long soon felt the cold, but having ambushed wolves with Harimu before, he felt that this chill was actually less intense than it had been then.
Spring and the thaw