sbdcsierra Chapter 114 The Pig Galaha, the Joy of Warming by the Fire
Chapter 114 The Pig Galaha, the Joy of Warming by the Fire
I've helped the dog identify its leader.
Da Hu stood upright, his eyes fixed intently on the gutted wild boar. The helper dog followed behind Da Hu, and even Hua Er didn't step forward to compete for the first bite.
Li Ju'an breathed a sigh of relief, cut off the pig's heart, split it in two, and threw the largest piece to Da Hu, saying, "Well done, Da Hu! You've done a great job this time. Next time you hunt a pig, you'll get to eat pig's heart too."
Big Tiger stared intently at the pig's heart, then grabbed it and began to tear it apart and devour it. He tossed the other half of the pig's heart to the dogs, who then gathered around and began to tear at it, biting and eating it haphazardly.
In hunting, hunting with dogs is the easiest and safest method; hunting dogs are a hunter's second life. This time, the dog gang merger went smoothly, and he now has 11 dogs, making him one of the top dog gangs in the village, second only to the Sun family in terms of numbers. However, the Sun family doesn't have a good lead dog, while he has two. If Sun Weimin knew that his gang merger had succeeded, his eyes would be red with envy, and he would go to great lengths to borrow one of his lead dogs.
Song Desheng used a knife to cut open the pigskin, simply wrapped it around a wooden ski, and made it into a wild boar skin ski. He used the ski to pull three wild boar meat pieces onto the sled, patted the mule's rump, and said, "Brother Li, you bought so many dogs, how are you going to feed them? Can you afford it?"
Hunting dogs have huge appetites. Without meat as a staple food, each dog would need to eat two to three pounds of cornmeal, bran, or wheat bran every day. Let alone family settlements, how many households in the entire Xing'anling region could afford to raise them?
Lu Zhiqiang understood this principle best. Back then, the old master of the Lu family raised eight dogs. Keeping dogs meant they had to go into the mountains; without meat, they had to hunt every day. It was said the dogs were helping the Lu family, but in the end, the dogs weren't raised well, and some were even killed by wild boars, causing the old master immense distress.
Li Ju'an wasn't worried about this problem. He said, "A good dog will hunt other dogs and find its own food in the mountains. We just need to follow up and provide backup. Don't hold Da Hu back; we still need Da Hu to support the family."
Lu Zhiqiang paused for a moment, then burst into laughter: "You're quite comfortable being kept by a dog. You little rascal, do you even have a conscience?"
"Of course! Don't forget our good fortune, we're now on the big bandwagon and living the high life."
The three men stared intently at Da Hu, who was unaware of what was happening, but he sensed that their gazes were hostile.
After Li Ju'an finished rambling, he felt so hungry that his stomach was practically sticking to his back.
It was getting dark, and the mountains were dangerous in the dead of night. We had to get to the hunter's cabin as soon as possible.
There was a hunter's lodging in Wenxianggou. The three of them led a mule sled and a dog sled, found a sheltered slope and entered the old road, and wandered around the hunter's hut.
Hunters had visited this hut before; there were traces of a fire at the entrance, suggesting it happened a few days ago.
The three men put the cloth bags into the hut and began gathering firewood to start a fire. Lu Zhiqiang had brought the old man's small pot, so they had the pot, but not the pot stand. Li Ju'an looked around and tried to find two stones to stand the pot, but Tangzigou was too far away, and they would have to cross a long distance to find suitable stones. So he simply asked Lu Zhiqiang to go and find stones of the right size.
In order to divide the money among the shareholders, Lu Zhiqiang reluctantly went out to collect stones. He complained that he was not good at spear fighting, otherwise he would not have to do odd jobs. He also kept saying that after he came down from the mountain this time, he would definitely find a blacksmith shop to make a foldable pot stand.
"I'm exhausted. I was already hungry after killing the wild boar herd, and then I had to carry these heavy stones. I was starving."
The stones were found, and the pot was set up. Li Ju'an began to boil snow to make water, and used a scalpel to cut open the pigskin on the hind leg of the yellow-haired pig, cutting off the meat. The yellow-haired pig's skin was already tough, and after the body was frozen solid, it was even harder. He tried to cut it off with the scalpel twice, but he couldn't cut it off. He had to use force to chop the meat off piece by piece.
Song Desheng found a linden tree, intending to cut its bark to make a bowl. But as soon as he made the cut, he complained, "What a cold winter! It's like I'm scratching an itch on the tree."
The linden bark, frozen solid, took him a lot of effort to cut. The three of them sliced wild boar meat into the boiling pot, sprinkled some salt from their cloth bags, covered the pot, and placed the cornbread, cornbread buns, and sticky rice cakes they had brought with them on the lid rack. The steaming water bubbled and sizzled, wafting a rich aroma of pork that wafted straight into their noses.
The happiest moment when we go into the mountains on a snowy day is right now. The three of us are exhausted from hunting wild boars, starving, and at this moment, any meat we put in our mouths tastes delicious.
Li Ju'an broke off a twig to use as chopsticks around the pot, and began stuffing large mouthfuls of sliced pork into his mouth, his cheeks bulging. One bite, and mmm, this little bite was so delicious, he couldn't resist any amount of bear paw meat!
The three of them ate heartily, not bothering to speak. After finishing the pork slices, Li Ju'an used two sticks to hold the pot by its handles, listening to the sizzling sound as he placed it on the snow, intending to drink some broth. In the freezing cold, the boiling water turned lukewarm, and the temperature was just right when he drank it.
A gust of cold wind blew, and Lu Zhiqiang belatedly realized that there was a block of ice in his crotch: "Damn, who put ice in my crotch?"
He had been fiercely battling the sow with his spear, so engrossed in the fight that he hadn't felt anything amiss, though he had worked up a sweat, his crotch drenched in it. Now that it had cooled down, a slight breeze had made the sweat in his crotch freeze, and when he pulled down his pants and started to move, he howled in pain.
Li Ju'an and Song Desheng looked at each other and burst into laughter.
Night falls.
Night falls early in the Xingan Mountains, filled with the sounds of various wild animals, which are quite terrifying.
In the pitch-black snow-capped mountains, there were the howls and screams of wild beasts, the trembling sounds of fighting, and the calls of night owls that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
Li Ju'an didn't understand either. Why was the night owl making such a racket instead of catching mice at night? Wasn't it just trying to scare people?
Big Tiger led his nine pack dogs and began frantically digging snow caves in the snow beside them, trying their best to dig and crawl into them. The snow caves dug by the hunting dogs were deep, insulated, and windproof. The pack dogs all loved to spend the night inside the snow caves.
The three men sat around the fire, warming themselves, and lay down on the snow with the pigskins they had cut off. Then they began to cut ham to pass the time.
Galaha generally refers to the sheep's hind leg joint bone, also known locally as sheep's knuckle. Children love to play with it. Currently, the three of them don't have any gazelles or deer, only pigs. They have galaha for cows and pigs, but they're too big for children to play with, and even adults find them too large.
All three were strong, robust young men with large hands. Li Ju'an used an axe to crack the bone at the joint of the blond-haired boy's hind leg, removing the meat and tendons, and then rubbed it in pig's blood to dye it red. After this, it was big enough to pick up and play with.
Song Desheng dragged over a sled, wanting to try his hand at the cannonball. But after two blows with the axe, his hands were shaking so badly that not a single bone was broken off. The pain brought tears to his eyes.
Lu Zhiqiang laughed as he made sarcastic remarks. He smacked five Galahas on the ground and said, "These things, I'll bring them to my cousin later. They're definitely a symbol of wealth."
He held one in his hand, tossed it upwards, picked up another from the ground, and then went to catch the one that was thrown down from the sky.
The most difficult part is that you have to throw them all up at the end and pick them all up. The gameplay is similar to tossing stones.
People from the Xingan Mountains didn't have many entertainment options when they were young. Playing with glass marbles and clapping were their only source of fun. Back then, if someone had glass marbles, picture cards, pieces made from burning rubber molds from beer bottle caps, or clapping, they would be the envy of other children and a symbol of wealth.
Lu Zhiqiang had big hands, but the pig's bones were also big. In his last attempt, he couldn't hold on and the two bones fell to the snow. A black leopard in the snow cave saw them and lunged out to snatch them and gnaw on them. Lu Zhiqiang chased after the pig angrily, shouting, "Li Ju'an, control your slippery dog! It's infuriating!"
Li Ju'an laughed and shouted, "Black Panther! We won't give it to him, we'll pick it up and give it to me."
Black Panther really did widen his clever dog eyes, then turned around and handed Galaha to him, making Lu Zhiqiang both angry and envious. He glared at Li Ju'an and insisted that he sell the dog to him at a discount.
Song Desheng teased him, saying, "With a spear like yours, you'd have trouble even stabbing an old sow, and you'd end up sweating all over your crotch. Who knows if it's sweat or you peed your pants from fear? You couldn't even keep a hunting dog alive."
Lu Zhiqiang was indeed provoked. He stood up and shouted, "You just wait. I'll get you a good gun this time so you'll be envious."