The highland barley harvest festival in Tibet was even livelier than the sunlight on Snow Mountain. Beside the chieftain's tent, the bonfire leaped a zhang high, making the glass eyes of the Wooden Ox gleam brightly. Huwa squatted behind the ox's rump, puttering around, when suddenly with a "crack," the ox's tail whipped out a string of sparks—he had actually stuffed dried mugwort between the gears, grandly calling it "warming the Wooden Ox."
"Does the little rascal want to turn the divine ox into a whole roasted bull?" Zhang Yifan grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him over to the bonfire, only to see Huwa clutching half a piece of charred sugar cake—the very one Xiaoxiu had tucked inside the Wooden Ox's belly. "Speak! Did you steal my 'Snow Mountain Rations'?" Huwa stuck out his tongue. "I only tasted a bite! The sugar cake was covered in Snow Beetle Shell Powder, it made my tongue tie itself in butterfly knots!"
The chieftain walked over holding a bowl of highland barley wine, the taiji-patterned jade pendant at his waist gleaming faintly in the firelight: "Honored guest, have a taste. This is wine brewed from highland barley protected by the 'Huwa Divine Ox'." Zhang Yifan had barely taken a sip when he started coughing from the spiciness—taking advantage of his inattention, Huwa had sprinkled chili powder into the wine jar. "Well, you little mischief-maker! You even dare to mess with the chieftain's wine?"
Chapter 26