sbdcsierra Chapter 1862 Survival in the wild
Chapter 1862 Survival in the wild
Chapter 1862 Survival in the wild
When the car returned to the Zhao family compound, only the old lady and Li Tongyun were home. Everyone else had gone to the Zhang family's villa to grind flour after lunch, leaving the old lady and the young girl at home to look after the house.
The Liberation truck stopped at the main gate, causing the dogs in the backyard and west yard to bark. Li Tongyun, who was embroidering with the old lady in the east room, was startled, craned her neck to look out the window, and said, "Who is it? Oh dear!"
"What's wrong, Xiaoyun?" the old lady asked. Li Tongyun replied, "Grandma Jiang, my brother and my Jun brother are back."
"Really?" Upon hearing this, the old lady subconsciously stuck the needle into the embroidery in her hand, and while lifting her legs off the kang (a heated brick bed), she said, "Why are you back so early?"
An old man and a young boy arrived outside the door with a little black bear and a little fat black bear. Li Tongyun was also holding a little lynx in her arms.
Upon seeing Zhao Youcai and his three companions, the old lady hurriedly asked, "Second brother, why are there only you few? Where are the boys?"
"They're up on the mountain," Zhao Youcai replied casually, then asked, "Auntie, are there any leftovers from lunch?"
Zhao Youcai and his group rushed back without having lunch, and were now starving.
Hearing Zhao Youcai's words, the old lady hurriedly said, "You haven't eaten? I'll start a fire and make you some noodles."
“Okay.” Zhao Youcai said without hesitation, “Auntie, please give our family two more poached eggs.”
As soon as Zhao Youcai finished speaking, Zhang Yuanmin said, "Grandma Jiang, you don't need to bring us. Just get some food for my uncle."
"Aren't you going to eat?" Zhao Youcai asked. Zhang Yuanmin replied, "Uncle, it's already two o'clock. We need to hurry back with our stuff."
"What's wrong? What are you going to do?" The old lady asked hurriedly upon hearing Zhang Yuanmin's words.
“We’ve finally seen the clubs,” Zhang Yuanmin said. “We need to find a place to stay in the mountains for three to five days.”
"Live in the mountains?" the old woman exclaimed in surprise. "That's such a hardship! Why don't we come back tonight and go again early tomorrow morning?"
“No, Grandma Jiang,” Zhang Yuanmin explained to the old lady in a low voice, “Today we’re watching the big truck, and it will take two days to move it. If we can’t move it, we can’t go down the mountain.”
"Oh dear." Hearing Zhang Yuanmin say this, the old lady frowned and said, "Then how will you live? It's so hard for you!"
“It’s alright, Grandma Jiang,” Zhang Yuanmin said. “We’ll build a shed, and I also have a stove at home. We can take it with us when we get to my house.”
"Then you'll need to bring some food, right?" At this point, the old lady didn't even bother to cook for Zhao Youcai anymore, and only asked Zhang Yuanmin, "What will we eat on the mountain these days?"
"My brother said to bring noodles and rice." As soon as Zhang Yuanmin said this, the old lady hurriedly said, "Noodles, rice... then we also need vegetables."
With that, the old lady turned and went inside to start working.
The Zhao family has a large population and a lot of food stored up, including bundles of noodles, each weighing two jin (approximately 1 kg).
As the old lady packed the noodles into a bag, she said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Yuanmin, we have some salted goose eggs that haven't been cooked yet. Wait for me to cook them for you, okay?"
“Grandma Jiang, we’re out of time, we don’t need it,” Zhang Yuanmin said. Li Baoyu, who was standing next to him, said, “Take the raw ones, we’ll go up the mountain and cook them ourselves.”
"Hmm?" The old lady was taken aback, and then she heard Li Baoyu say, "Freshly cooked food is delicious, and it's still hot with broth."
"Then take it." After saying that, the old lady laboriously pulled a small jar out of the bottom shelf of the dish rack.
Seeing this, Li Baoyu and Xie Chen quickly stepped forward to help the old lady pull the jar out.
"Don't break it while you're handling it," the old lady said. "I'll cook it for you, take it with you."
“We’re going to be late, Grandma Jiang,” Jie Chen said. “I’ll carry this jar in the carriage; it won’t break even if it’s jostled around.”
Upon hearing this, the old lady said, "There are still more than ten raw chickens on that dish rack, you can take them too."
"Here you go." Li Baoyu said, opening the refrigerator door and revealing the red sausages they had brought back.
"Grandpa, I've got the sausages." Li Baoyu greeted Zhao Youcai. Zhao Youcai said, "Take them. Take whatever you like from this place."
Zhao Youcai's words were somewhat sarcastic, but Li Baoyu didn't seem to notice. After taking the sausage, he went to get the wine barrel.
Pickled vegetables and soybean paste were stored in small buckets. This was all thanks to Wang Meilan, who led a group to Xishantun before the Lunar New Year to purchase all the dried radishes in Xishantun. Otherwise, the Zhao family wouldn't even have any pickled vegetables.
After clearing the house, the group went outside and swept up all the scallions and vegetables with dipping sauce in the garden.
There's no way around it; even if you can make a fire and cook in the mountains, you can only eat simple food. You can't stir-fry or stew dishes.
Zhao Youcai stood by the window in the outer room, watching the old lady and Li Baoyu busy themselves. They had just been saying they wanted boiled noodles with poached eggs, but now even the pickled vegetables were gone.
"Grandpa!" Suddenly, Li Baoyu's cry of "Grandpa" brought Zhao Youcai back to his senses.
"Yes," Zhao Youcai responded subconsciously, just as Li Baoyu strode towards the front of the house and said, "Didn't Third Uncle say you should get me two packs of good cigarettes?"
Zhao Youcai's lips twitched. Regardless of what he thought, he could only turn around and walk into the inner room.
Li Baoyu quickly followed Zhao Youcai into the east room. He watched as Zhao Youcai opened the cabinet on the kang (heated brick bed) and took out a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes.
Zhao Youcai looked at it, thought for a moment, and then stuffed the Hongtashan cigarettes into the cabinet.
Zhao Youcai wasn't stingy; he immediately took out half a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes.
There were six boxes of Zhonghua cigarettes inside the torn packaging. Zhao Youcai thought about taking out two boxes to give to Xing San.
But just then, a large hand reached out from the side and snatched half a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes. Almost at the same time, Li Baoyu's voice rang in Zhao Youcai's ear: "Grandpa, then I'll take it."
"Damn it..." Watching Li Baoyu's hurried departure, Zhao Youcai didn't even have time to say "Leave me a box."
Zhao Youcai chased after them out of the house, just in time to run into Zhang Yuanmin and Xie Chen carrying fried dough sticks and boards onto the cart. Seeing Zhao Youcai come out, Zhang Yuanmin called out, "Uncle, quickly give us a hand."
Zhao Youcai then teamed up with Li Baoyu, and the two of them worked together to lift poles and planks onto the back of the Liberation truck.
Zhao Youcai only stopped when Zhang Yuanmin called a halt. In his busy work, he completely forgot about saving himself a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes.
"Uncle, Grandma Jiang, Xiaoyun, we're leaving!" With these words from Zhang Yuanmin, the Liberation truck sped away in a cloud of dust.
Watching the Liberation truck disappear around the corner, Zhao Youcai suddenly remembered his Zhonghua cigarettes. But by then, it was too late to catch up.
Just as Zhao Youcai was feeling frustrated, Li Tongyun said to him, "By the way, Uncle, the other day my brother-in-law's mother-in-law came over. It seems her brother-in-law went missing. My sister-in-law Ma Ling wasn't home at the time..."
Before Li Tongyun could finish speaking, Zhao Youcai flung his hand away and said, "So be it."
After saying that, Zhao Youcai turned around and went back to the courtyard, leaving the old lady and Li Tongyun looking at each other.
After leaving the Zhao family compound, the Jiefang truck first went to the large pancake shop and bought twenty jin of large pancakes. Then it went to the convenience store to buy twenty jin of bald-head pancakes, but found that they were out of stock.
Li Baoyu bought up all eight and a half jin of bald-headed pancakes left in the convenience store, plus ten jin of steamed rice cakes, five jin of shortbread, and all the luncheon meat and fish cans in the store.
As Li Baoyu emerged from the convenience store laden with bags and packages, he seemed to rediscover the joy of Wang Meilan and Zhao Jun's extravagant shopping spree.
After everything was loaded onto the vehicle, Li Baoyu remembered something and asked Zhang Yuanmin and Xie Chen, "Brother, Xiao Chen, do you think we should get two more dogs?"
"What are you going to do with that thing?" Zhang Yuanmin asked. Li Baoyu replied, "In case we run into wild boars or bears in the mountains..."
"Give me a break," Zhang Yuanmin interrupted Li Baoyu, raising his hand. "We're all over there making fires and doing all sorts of things, with dogs barking and nothing in between."
The grass is so tall now, you can't take your dog out to hunt anymore. Just give up. If you want to take the dog out, you have to feed it; are you going to feed it by hand?
Hearing Zhang Yuanmin say this, Li Baoyu fell silent, and the three of them got into the car and headed straight for Zhang's villa.
When the Liberation truck stopped at Zhang's villa, Wang Meilan and others were trying to persuade the donkey to stop.
The little donkey couldn't live in peace until the mule at home was sold.
In the morning, Ma Ling said she would grind flour to make pancakes for Zhao Jun, and the little donkey finally got a chance to shine.
After grinding flour all morning, Wang Meilan decided to go home for lunch around noon. She said she would untie the harness from the little donkey and let it rest in the shed next to it.
But as soon as you touch the donkey's harness, it brays and then keeps pulling the millstone without stopping for a moment.
But since it wouldn't rest, Wang Meilan and the others had to leave someone there to watch it. Left with no other choice, Wang Meilan slapped the little donkey twice, and only then did it behave.
When Wang Meilan and the others returned in the afternoon, the little donkey started working on its own again. It was so hard that it didn't need a whip to work hard, which moved Wang Meilan and the others deeply.
Just then, Zhang Yuanmin and his two companions arrived. They reported the situation on the mountain to Wang Meilan and also loaded half a bag of cornmeal into the car.
This cornmeal can be used to make porridge or flatbread on the mountain; it's suitable for both people and dogs.
Zhang Yuanmin pulled a cast iron furnace out of the warehouse. The furnace neck was connected to an integral furnace cylinder, which was really suitable for use in the mountains.
After the furnace was loaded onto the Liberation truck, Zhang Yuanmin also brought a small cart. It was still more than a kilometer from the jeep to the ginseng shed, and having a small cart was much better than carrying it by hand.
With everything packed and ready, Zhang Yuanmin and his two companions set off for Qing Shi La Zi after being seen off by Wang Meilan and others.
Li Baoyu floored the accelerator and sped for two hours and ten minutes before finally arriving at Qing Shi La Zi.
It was already 4:30 when the three of them got out of the car. Li Baoyu and Xie Chen started rummaging through the jeep, while Zhang Yuanmin used a chainsaw to cut the frying rods and frying plates on the spot.
When cutting fried sticks, Zhang Yuanmin saws at an angle, so that both cuts are sharp and easy to drive into the ground.
While Zhang Yuanmin was busy, Li Baoyu and Xie Chen had already filled a jeep.
Li Baoyu drove up the mountain, while Xie Chen stayed behind to help Zhang Yuanmin.
When Li Baoyu drove to the location, he honked the horn wildly, while Zhao Jun was still kneeling on the ground, carrying the snake that had transformed into a dragon.
Upon hearing the horn, Zhao Jun sent Wang Qiang, Zhao Jinhui, Li Ruhai, and Ma Yang to provide backup, leaving only Xing San to protect him.
When Wang Qiang and his three companions arrived at the location, Li Baoyu had already driven away in his jeep, leaving behind only a pile of supplies.
It took nearly an hour and a half for people to carry the cart and finally get all the supplies to Zhao Jun's side.
By this time, it was already dark in the forest, and bonfires and torches were lit around the area. The battle between Zhao Jun and the snake-dragon had reached its final stage—the last ginseng root.
Lifting sea cucumbers is delicate work, especially when it comes to lifting the sea cucumber whiskers. Working by the firelight is quite tiring on the eyes, and Zhao Jun had been busy all afternoon, so he was already exhausted.
But Zhao Jun was unwilling to stop at this point, as he was only missing one whisker, so he stuck two torches to the side.
After Zhang Yuanmin and his group arrived, they didn't disturb Zhao Jun. They started building a hut, or in wilderness survival terms, a shelter.
Previously, Zhao Jun had selected two trees side by side, and Zhang Yuanmin then nailed two sharpened frying poles, which had been cut to a point at the foot of the mountain, five meters away from the two trees.
Two trees and two poles, like four pillars, defined a plot of land of nearly seventeen square meters.
Then, deep-fried poles were driven into the four sides of the land. After the poles were in place, boards were nailed horizontally onto the tree trunk and the poles.
Zhang Yuanmin, Wang Qiang, Li Baoyu, and Xie Chen completed the task very quickly.
When the shelter was basically completed, Zhao Jun called out, "Third Uncle, moss."
He carried out the snake-dragon, complete with its whiskers and tail intact!
Everyone gathered around to see the results of Zhao Jun's afternoon of work.
When Zhao Jun was telling Wang Qiang and the others about the snake transforming into a dragon, Zhang Yuanmin, Li Baoyu, and Xie Chen were not present. At this moment, the three of them stopped hammering and came over to look at this rare ginseng seedling.
"Don't say that!" Li Baoyu exclaimed in surprise, "It really does look like a snake with legs."
“Then look!” Jie Chen said, “My brother Jun said it’s called a snake turning into a dragon.”
"How so?" Zhao Jun was also happy, and in his excitement, he recited the incantation for ginseng, saying: "Curled head and snake body, growing like feet on a mountain. No need to ask for a stick to explore, this ginseng has a resounding name."
"Good!" As soon as Zhao Jun finished speaking, Ma Yang next to him was the first to applaud. Seeing this, Li Ruhai quickly followed suit.
As the applause subsided, Zhao Jun carefully wrapped the snake-dragon with moss. Because its head was so brittle, he added several layers of moss.
Wrapped in pine bark and tied with hemp rope, another ginseng bun was placed in the shoulder bag.
By this time, the roof of the shack had been completed, and Zhang Yuanmin directed the tall Li Baoyu and Xie Chen to cover the roof and sides of the shack with tarpaulins.
On the other side, Xing San temporarily placed the stove brought by Zhang Yuanmin and the others in an open area and put firewood into the firebox. After the jar was placed on the stove, he lit the firewood with birch bark.
The buckets he brought from home had already been filled with water, and Li Ruhai squatted in front of one of the buckets, washing salted goose eggs.
The cleaned salted goose eggs were put into the pot before the water boiled. When the water boiled, Xing San opened two bundles of noodles and put them into the stewing pot, so that the salted goose eggs and noodles could be cooked together in one pot.
When the noodles and salted goose eggs were almost cooked, Xing San put the washed lettuce, cilantro, radish greens and chopped canned luncheon meat into the pot.
The aroma of the stew filled the air, making everyone and even the dogs around look tempted.
But there's no room for the dogs in this pot of hot noodle soup; we'll be lucky if we cook them cornmeal later.
Seeing that Zhang Yuanmin and the others had finished their work, the noodles were ready. Xing San took a soup ladle and first scooped the soup into each small bowl and basin, then gave each bowl and bowl a salted goose egg.
Afterwards, they picked out noodles, divided vegetables, and added luncheon meat. As bowls of hot soup noodles were served to everyone, no one cared about the heat and slurped the noodles into their mouths while grimacing and panting.
Fearing they wouldn't have enough to eat, Xing San added two more bundles of noodles to the pot. Under the firelight and steam, the group, feeling more at ease, began to laugh and chat.