Ghost Blowing Lantern II - Chapter 25 Gadfly (Part 1)

Needless to say, Ding Sitian’s look told me that the frightened cattle were running towards us. The cattle on the grassland were always gentle, but once they frightened the herd, they formed a group attack, which was more powerful than a runaway wild horse. It’s so fierce that hundreds of cows can’t stop them when they get mad, and even cars can be trampled into iron sheets.

I didn’t bother to ask why the herdsmen had exploded the herd, so I jumped up from the ground and kicked the fat man awake. However, the “chief” Lao Ni drank too much yesterday and couldn’t wake him up no matter how hard he kicked me. In desperation, I had no choice but to He and the fat man carried him. Fortunately, he slept with his clothes on, so all he had left was his clothes. He only grabbed his military satchel and followed Ding Sitian out of the tent.

It was already bright outside, and dust was rising all over the sky in the east. The sound of stampeding hooves was mixed with the wails and screams of the cattle in the herd, and they rushed towards us. There were a few loyal ones. The shepherd dog rushed over and barked at the frantic cattle, trying to help its owner stop the cattle, but at this time the cattle were already red-eyed, and their running momentum did not stop at all. In an instant, they trampled the dogs on the grass, and they were trampled into pieces. Got minced meat.

How could I have imagined such a formation? Seeing the cattle charging rampantly, it was too late to go to the side to avoid the collision and stampede of the cattle. But waiting in the distance, we would be crushed by the cattle’s hooves. We were shocked and stunned for a moment. With such little effort, even the voices were drowned out. In the chaos, Ding Sitian grabbed my arm and ran towards the back of the yurt.

I knew full well that I couldn’t run away from Jingniu with my two meaty legs, and I couldn’t ask Ding Sitian why she was running there. Although I was worried that she would lose her mind and run away from the fright, I still followed her with the fat man carrying Lao Ni. I ran over without looking back. Just from the sound, I could tell that the cattle behind me were getting closer and closer. The yurt they had just stayed in had been trampled. Within a dozen steps, they would be trampled to death by random hooves.

In despair, I discovered that a few steps ahead was a dry river ditch. This ditch had been weathered for a long time and had dried up for hundreds of years. The ditch was gradually eroded by sand and grass, and now it was only about one meter deep and half a meter deep. The remains of a wide gully were like a crack in the green velvet grass carpet. It was also one of several natural firebreaks on the grassland. Only then did I understand Ding Sitian’s intention. She led us to run here because she wanted to The group jumped into the ditch to avoid the collision of the frightened cattle.

The fat man and I carried “Chief Ni” and Ding Sitian stabbed him with all our strength. The four of us almost rolled into the dry ditch. As soon as we entered the ditch, it became dark above our heads. Sand, sand and grass clippings fell one after another, and the sound was deafening. The sound of hoofbeats made people tremble, and we covered our ears tightly. We don’t know how long it took before the howling and screaming cattle completely crossed the ditch.

“Chief” Lao Ni finally woke up from the torture. He sat in the ditch and looked at the three of us, bewildered and at a loss. What happened just now? At this time, “Lao Yangpi” and his son and daughter-in-law rushed over. They didn’t care about chasing the cattle. They were relieved when they saw that Lao Ni was fine. They pulled us out of the ditch respectively. Everyone talked about what happened just now. It turned out that Almost everyone drank too much last night. I don’t know who led the horses and knocked down the fence of the cattle pen before leaving. The largest herd of cattle in Barenzuo Banner is here. Fortunately, there are loyal shepherd dogs who are grazing around the cattle to keep them safe. They were not lost. The cattle were grazing on the grass outside the pen. Nothing happened in the morning.

When “Lao Yangpi” woke up in the morning, he found that all the cows had left the pen. This happened often and it was nothing to make a fuss about. So he called his son and daughter-in-law to come out and help herd the cows. As soon as they got behind the herd, something unexpected happened. One thing happened, a big gadfly appeared out of nowhere and bit a cow hard.

The cow’s tail usually swings around, mainly used to hit gadflies or mosquitoes in the grass. The gadfly is a kind of insect. It is actually divided into two types: meat-eating and vegetarian. The male only sucks grass juice, and the female The gadfly specializes in sucking the blood of livestock. It has a gray-black body and transparent wings. Compared to mosquitoes and flies, the gadfly is especially feared by cattle. This big gadfly probably escaped the blow of the cow’s tail whip and bit it firmly. It hit the sensitive part of the cow. The pain was so painful that the cow jumped up high, frightening the rest of the cows. They were knocked out like headless flies and rushed towards the yurt. Ding Sitian found that the cow exploded. After joining the group, he did not run for his own life and took the risk to rescue the three people who were still sleeping. Otherwise, everyone and the tent would be turned into turf now.

No one could stop the cattle when they were frightened, because the sound was so fierce that even the horses were frightened to the point where their legs were weak and they did not dare to chase after them. They could only let them run wildly on the grassland until they were exhausted. Stop, then the shepherd can catch up and chase the cow back.

After Lao Ni understood the whole story, he was so frightened that he almost lost his soul. If the educated youths had not sacrificed their lives to save him, he might have died in his sleep without knowing how he died. He was so grateful that he shook hands with us. How about Fatty and I? Have you ever seen the chief? Of course, unlike ordinary herdsmen, they don’t take the big-ass little cadre like Lao Ni seriously, but they feel that he is relatively easy-going and approachable, and saving people is a matter of course, so they don’t take credit for it.

“Chief Ni” then said to everyone: “Even Chairman Mao said – in this small world, a few flies hit the wall. I think it’s not a big deal if there are a few gadflies causing trouble on the grassland. We just need to recover the stray cattle as soon as possible.” That’s great, I will report the exemplary deeds of your pastoral area when I get back, and my superiors will also call on all pastoral and forest areas to learn from you, so don’t make any mistakes at this time.” After saying this, he looked at his eyes. “Old Sheeppi” asked him why he didn’t hurry up and chase those cattle?

“Old Sheepskin’s” wrinkled old face was colorless, with a lost expression. After grazing the cattle across the ditch, he divided into several groups and ran away. One group of them ran wildly towards the direction of the “Hundred Eyes Cave” deep in the grassland. Elsewhere, things were fine. As soon as he mentioned that place, “Lao Yangpi” felt frightened. Of course, he didn’t dare to tell Lao Ni directly for this reason.

I could see clearly from the sidelines and knew the difficulties of “Lao Sheeppi”. I didn’t believe that there was any “demon dragon” deep in the grassland. I immediately stood up and told Lao Ni that I would be responsible for chasing back the cows that ran to the west. It is not easy to create a model pastoral area in China. Can you please keep this matter quiet? Otherwise, the advanced model of “Old Sheepskin” will become a backward model.

Lao Ni nodded and said: “It’s okay for the educated youth to go over there to chase the cattle, but you have to be careful. After crossing Mobei, you will reach the national border. If the cattle run into Outer Mongolia, you will be in trouble if you want to get them back. That belongs to International incidents will cause huge losses to national property. For now, I will do my best to suppress this matter for the time being. I will wait for you to come back here. After counting the losses, I will go back and report to my superiors. The cattle are running away. A lot of calves have been trampled to death, and I think we must find a way to minimize the losses.”