Once out of the mountains, Li Long felt that it was even colder here-the sort of cold where the wind cut through your clothes and chilled you to the bone.
He had worked the hardest of them all, so everyone let him ride on the horse-drawn cart while the others walked or led the deer. After sitting for a while, Li Long got off again. Walking was better. At least he wasn't so cold when he walked; moving his body and joints generated some warmth.
It was already afternoon when they left the mountains. As they passed the Qingshui River, they could see cooking smoke and the occasional person beside the road. Those people watched their party curiously. After all, even here at the foot of the mountains, where Mongolian gazelles could be seen, wild red deer were still a rare sight.
The hind followed reluctantly. Whenever she tried to stop, Li Junfeng gave her a swat with a switch. Fawn was much better behaved. Though it hopped from side to side now and then, it kept following them.
This young red deer was considerably bigger than the two Fawns Li Long had sold in autumn. It had probably been born early in the year too.
By the time they turned from Qingshui River Township toward the County Town, the sun was only a pole's height above the horizon. Li Long reckoned it would be nearly dark by the time they reached the County Seat at this pace. Still, whatever else, they were out of the mountains now. He hadn't lived on the plains for a while, and with rolling slopes and dark green pine forests no longer filling his view, he found it a little novel and unfamiliar.
Every so often, a vehicle passed along Wuyi Road, stirring up