Shepherds and lice are almost lifelong companions; even the khan and the khatun have plenty of these creatures on them. Perhaps because their bodies are well-nourished, the lice on them grow even fatter!

However, only Ethan Brooks's family does not have this companion. Whether it's Sarah Miller, Emily Clark, or Ethan Brooks, none of them have these plump little friends!

The fur robes of their family always retain their original color, never smeared with grease from eating meat, and most importantly, the boots worn by the three of them are always the kind shaped to fit the foot, never like other shepherds who simply wrap cowhide around their feet, leaving footprints almost indistinguishable from those of a big ox.

But what truly sets Ethan Brooks's family apart from other shepherds is their food!

While shepherd families all eat wild vegetables, only Ethan Brooks's family cooks the wild vegetables, chops them up, adds wild onions, wild chives, salt, squeezes in a bit of sour plum juice, and finally pours over some melted marmot fat before eating.

They don’t just pick the vegetables and stuff them straight into their mouths like other shepherds.

Even the beef and mutton that the herders have eaten for thousands of years tastes best when prepared by Ethan Brooks's family!

Especially the mutton boiled in plain water by Ethan Brooks's family, dipped in their own salt-pickled chive flowers—anyone who has tasted it has nothing but praise.

And the marmot roasted by Ethan Brooks has long been praised by the lucky shepherds who have tasted it as a delicacy fit only for the gods.

So, most of the time, the marmots eaten by Ethan Brooks's family are not ones Ethan Brooks tricked out of Big Fatty, but rather ones given to Ethan Brooks by tribesmen who caught more than two marmots, hoping that when he roasts his own, he’ll roast theirs as well.

When Ethan Brooks returned from the hills carrying a tall bundle of firewood, Sarah Miller had already watered the breeding rams, and the rams had been taken by shepherds needing to breed their flocks. For the next ten days, Ethan Brooks wouldn’t need to go out to herd sheep.

Emily Clark was already up, sitting on an old sheepskin at the entrance of the tent, playing with stones. If you looked closely, you’d see that the stones Emily Clark played with were all crystal clear, as white as solidified mutton fat, with a gentle luster flowing across their surfaces.

Sarah Miller was sitting by a wooden post at the tent entrance, weaving a cowhide horsewhip.

This whip was very long, a full two meters. It was specially commissioned from Ethan Brooks's family by Bi Su Teqin. As long as they could finish this long whip, their family wouldn’t have to pay sheep to the tribe this year.

Ethan Brooks stacked the firewood, washed his hands, and took over the whip from Sarah Miller to continue weaving. Sarah Miller didn’t have enough strength, nor was her force even, so the whip she wove was a bit loose.

That’s how Sogdians work—not only crude, but also unattractive.

Ethan Brooks rolled up the leather strips and started weaving again.

This thing is very precious. In the whole tribe, or rather, among all the tribes in the area, only Ethan Brooks can weave a truly good leather rope. Any whip woven by him would be inlaid with all kinds of precious gems by the goldsmiths of the tribal royal court, with a golden tip and ruby or sapphire anti-slip dots on the handle.

Every Uyghur noble takes pride in owning such a horsewhip.

This is also one of the reasons why Da Apo Gesalu has never dared to harm Ethan Brooks, and why Bi Su Teqin deliberately protects him. As for Bi Su Teqin saying he thinks highly of Ethan Brooks, anyone who believes that is a fool.

It’s rather sad to say, but the Uyghurs have been nomads for so many years, yet they still can’t even weave a proper cowhide rope.

They’re still stuck in the primitive era of three-strand braiding—one over two, three over two, endlessly repeating—while Ethan Brooks has long since mastered four-strand braiding, five-strand flat braiding, magic braiding, and other advanced techniques. Among the dozens of small surrounding tribes, only he can weave a strong, sturdy, and perfectly round cowhide whip.

While Ethan Brooks was busy working, Emily Clark, bored of playing with her white stones, kept climbing onto Ethan Brooks's back. She liked blowing into her brother’s ear, and even more, biting the back of his neck with her mouth missing two teeth.

According to Sogdian custom, now that Ethan Brooks is thirteen, he naturally becomes the master of the tent they live in.

That’s right—strictly speaking, everyone living in this tent belongs to Ethan Brooks, including Sarah Miller and Emily Clark.

If Ethan Brooks became a true Tiele, then even Sarah Miller would become Ethan Brooks's wife… regardless of whether Ethan Brooks was her own son!

In fact, a son marrying his mother doesn’t necessarily mean marrying his biological mother, but some Tiele people don’t seem to care. Later, it seems, not many enforced this prohibition, and eventually, no one cared at all.

But the habits Ethan Brooks developed long ago would never allow him to do such a thing, or even think about it. Even the slightest hint of such a thought in his mind would make Ethan Brooks feel he was no longer human.

This is why Ethan Brooks is so determined to have Sarah Miller take Emily Clark to the Jiesiga tent. If the tribe suffers a major population loss, the khan will, without hesitation, give Sarah Miller to another Uyghur to bear children, and Emily Clark will naturally be sent to Da Apo Gesalu’s tent. When the child turns eight, she’ll be able to serve men.