By the time Li Long arrived at Harimu Winter Camp, Harimu's wife had already returned from Talihaal's home.
Nasen and Sasiken currently spoke the best Mandarin in Harimu's family, so Li Long explained the basics to them, and the two eagerly competed to translate for their grandmother and mother.
Learning that Harimu would only return with Talihaal in a few days, Harimu's wife simply nodded, then invited Li Long onto the kang for some milk tea.
Li Long waved a hand and said:
"I need to hurry back now. I'll go see Talihaal at the hospital again tomorrow morning. He might be a little nervous about being hospitalized, so I'll keep going to the hospital over the next couple of days. If anything happens, I'll come back and let you know."
With that, Li Long hurried off down the mountain in his Jeep.
At Qingshui River Village, Li Long spotted Meng Hai waving by the roadside.
He stopped, switched off the engine, and got out to shake Meng Hai's hand.
"Comrade Li Long, I heard a Jeep twice and figured it must be you, so I came over specially to wait and see. Ha, I really did catch you! What brings you..." Meng Hai asked in his rather loud voice.
"A friend in the mountains got hurt. I drove him to Stone City Hospital this morning, and he was admitted. I came back to let their families know."
"Is it serious?" Meng Hai's smile gave way to a solemn expression. "How did he get hurt in the mountains? Fell off a horse?"
"A wild boar gored him while he was hunting," Li Long explained. "The external injuries are pretty bad, but the hospital has treated them. The main problem was that the inflammation was hard to treat in the mountains."