Chapter 587: Whatever She Says, You Always Think She's Right

The crowd gasped in shock upon hearing it—Xiao Dan Dan had actually been wounded by the Kucha Kingdom's king?

Tuan Tuan's little face immediately fell: "Is this turtle king just idle? Why would he shoot Xiao Dan Dan?"

"Turtle... turtle king?" Sa Dike twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Little miss, that's the king of the Kucha Kingdom, not some turtle king."

Tuan Tuan hummed: "Xiao Dan Dan is so well‑behaved, yet he shoots him with an arrow—that's a villain! A big villain!"

The crowd: "......"

The hunters looked at each other, never having imagined that the giant who had been troubling them for days had been struck by an arrow fired by the king himself.

The old hunter rubbed his hands and cautiously began: "Little miss, since this—since Xiao Dan Dan listens to you, could you…"

He paused, seeming to ponder the proper way to phrase his request.

"Could you let him leave here? Then we could live as we did before."

Tuan Tuan tilted her head, looked up at Xiao Dan Dan: "Xiao Dan Dan, do you agree? To go somewhere else?"

Xiao Dan Dan lowered his head, his big eyes fixed on her, and extended a thick finger, pointing at Tuan Tuan.

Tuan Tuan blinked: "You mean, follow my instructions?"

Xiao Dan Dan nodded vigorously.

The hunters rejoiced, and the old hunter hurriedly pulled an object from his chest, cupped it in both hands, and handed it to Tuan Tuan.

It was a delicate bone‑carved hunting hawk, its wings slightly spread, its beak hooked, and two black beads set in its eyes, emitting a faint glow in the sunlight.

"Little miss, if you can take him away, I will give this to you."

He paused, his tone becoming solemn: "The Western Regions are full of mountains and hunters; if you encounter trouble in the mountains, take this out, and the hunters will all help you."

"Because only those who have rendered great favor to the hunters can obtain it."

Tuan Tuan glanced at the bone‑carved hawk in his hand, then looked up at Xiao Dan Dan.

"Xiao Dan Dan, are you willing to go with me?"

Xiao Dan Dan's large head bobbed hard, and a low "woo—" came from his throat, as if saying "willing."

Tuan Tuan grinned: "Alright, then I'll take him away!"

The hunters instantly cheered, leapt up and embraced each other, their voices louder than when they had chased Xiao Dan Dan: "Finally we've sent him off!"

"Now we can hunt again!"

"No need to move away anymore!"

The old hunter, fearing Tuan Tuan might regret, thrust the bone‑carved hawk into her hand: "Thank you, little miss!"

"If anyone asks about its origin, tell them it was given by the Golden Valley hunters."

Tuan Tuan took the hawk, examined it repeatedly, and happily slipped it into her sachet: "Thanks, everyone!"

Sa Dike, however, wore a gloomy face: "If we let him follow us, how much will he eat!"

Xiao Ningyuan gave him a sideways glance.

Xiao Ningxun leaned down and whispered: "Tuan Tuan, tell Xiao Dan Dan to stay by the roadside with us, and not frighten others."

Tuan Tuan nodded, turned, raised her small hand, and pointed at the slope beside the road: "Xiao Dan Dan, walk over there, okay?"

Xiao Dan Dan looked in the direction of her finger, bobbed his large head, rose from the ground, took big strides, and in a few steps reached the top of the slope.

The crowd looked up and saw a massive silhouette standing silently on the slope.

Yet at this moment, there was no trace of terror in its eyes; instead it resembled a well‑behaved child waiting.

"Let's go!" Xiao Ningxun led with one hand holding Tuan Tuan and the other pulling Kang An: "Depart!"

Everyone quickly took their positions.

Sa Dike cracked the whip, "Forward!"

The carriage moved forward slowly.

Tuan Tuan and Kang An perched at the carriage window, poking out their small heads toward the slope.

Xiao Dan Dan was following step by step, and the two little ones waved at him joyfully.

"Xiao Dan Dan! You're moving so fast!"

Xiao Dan Dan heard the shout, his steps faltered briefly, he raised his big hand, and, imitating them, waved his arm.

Sa Dike turned his head and glanced: "If anyone else sees this, they'd be scared to death."

Xiao Ningyuan smiled: "Isn't that perfect? With him here, he's more useful than the Golden Camel Tribe's bells."

The carriage reached a bend in the mountain road, and suddenly a donkey cart turned out ahead.

The cart was piled with several bulging sheepskin bags; the driver was a man in his thirties, his face covered in stubble, eyes bloodshot, clearly having gone several days without sleep.

He saw the convoy, his eyes lit up, raised his hand and shouted: "Hey! Stop! Do you want to buy salt? Fine salt!"

Xiao Ningyuan was startled: "Salt?"

Sa Dike was also taken aback: "Isn't Kucha's salt a government monopoly?"

"Indeed!" the driver chuckled wryly, turned and patted the sheepskin bag: "This is all salt from our tribe's salt lake; you needn't worry, it's no worse than the government's."

He sighed: "If you don't buy, I'll have to risk taking it farther away to try my luck."

"Risking?"

Xiao Ningxun's mind stirred, and she lifted the carriage curtain to ask: "Brother, don't you usually trade this salt?"

The driver shook his head: "Where would we dare? The salt mines belong to the government, the salt lakes are remote and scarce; they don't care, so they leave it alone."

"But if we tried to trade it, the authorities would have arrested us long ago."

Xiao Ningxun asked: "Then what is this?"

The driver sighed: "You may not know, our Wusun tribe has guarded a mountain salt lake here for generations, living off its salt."

"We never lack salt for ourselves; the surplus can't be sold, but we can trade some with neighboring tribes."

"Though life is modest, we can still be self‑sufficient."

"But just a few days ago, the Salt Lake actually dried up overnight! Not a drop of water remained."

Everyone was stunned; how could a single lake be completely drained in a single night?

Xiao Er asked, "Is it that the lake was originally very small?"

The coachman shook his head, "It's not small at all. We've been here for over a hundred years; if it were small, how could the whole tribe survive?"

Lu Qi thought for a moment, "Then it must be that a fissure opened in the ground and the water leaked away."

The coachman shook his head again, "Gentlemen, if that's truly the case, even this little salt wouldn't be left; it would have all been flushed away."

Tuan Tuan poked her little head out of the carriage window, "Uncle, are there a lot of big‑belly fish in the lake that drank all the water?"

Kang An also squeezed out of the window, "Tuan Tuan, right!"

Xue Tong laughed, "Whatever she says, you always think it's right."

The coachmen were stunned by Tuan Tuan's remark, "Fish? Little girl, the water is very salty; there couldn't possibly be any fish!"