Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 107: Three Strange Things in Northeast China: Women Holding Pipes

at this time.

Chen Weidong and Li Shengli didn't need to shoot. They only saw Shitou and Bingzi, one holding a shovel and the other holding a hoe. They used the shovel and hoe as hammers, one hammer, two hammers...

He hit the badger on the head with all his strength.

The badger hit one without making a sound.

The only badger that was hit by a shovel and still alive was about to escape when Li Shengli shot him from behind.

After a while, the four badgers lay quietly on the ground.

"Brother Weidong, Brother Shengli, do we still need to continue digging?"

Bingzi wiped the sweat from his head and said.

He asked this question not because he wanted to preserve the badgers' roots or protect their sustainable development. You have to know that the badgers almost made Bingzi unable to be a man.

Bingzi was probably the one who wanted to tear out the tendons and skin the badgers the most among the four.
But the hole below was being dug deeper and deeper, and they were afraid that the badgers inside would rush out in a swarm soon. Besides, Brother Shengli and Brother Weidong had already explained it clearly to them.

"Brother Shengli, this position is almost right now! You can use smoke now!"

After hearing what Bingzi said, Chen Weidong glanced at the pit the two men had dug and spoke.

Chen Weidong thought he was not as good as Li Shengli in catching badgers. In fact, Shitou was almost bitten just now, so Chen Weidong planned to use smoke to fumigate. However, the badger hole this time was different from the last hog badger hole. The last hog badger hole extended less than half a meter downwards and then dug a hole horizontally, which made it easier to fumigate with smoke.
But the badger this time was different. The hole was complicated, and they dug directly downwards at the beginning. Now, after four people's digging, the soil covering the top of the cave has reached two meters, but the bottom is still not seen.

If you use smoke when the first wave of badgers come out, it won't have much effect at all. You know, smoke goes upwards. If the badger holes are not usually deep, you can use smoke.

In a situation like this, it would be difficult to smoke out the badger unless we used a blower like that of later generations.

Fortunately, Chen Weidong chose to dig directly at the beginning, otherwise, after working for most of the day, the four people probably still thought there was no badger in the cave!
But now we have dug almost two meters, and now we are using smoke, the situation is naturally different! Of course, all this still needs to be judged by Li Shengli.

After hearing this, Li Shengli looked at the hole carefully, then shook his head and said, "Dig a little deeper."

"They must have been fed with dog food. The holes dug by this nest of badgers are damn deep!"

Li Shengli then spat and cursed again. He often dug out badgers, but rarely came across such a deep hole.

Then Shitou and Bingzi started digging carefully. Bingzi learned his lesson and held the hole tightly. The closer they got to the end, the more careful they had to be.

After all, this badger cave might have a badger king. You know, a badger king weighs thirty or forty kilograms. It would definitely be uncomfortable to be bitten by him.

Fortunately, no badgers came out at this time.

"Okay, that's almost it."

Li Shengli took another look and spoke.

Bingzi breathed a sigh of relief.

Then we prepared for fumigation. The two badger holes we dug at the beginning were smoked first, so we brought all the necessary equipment.

Li Shengli took out a large net specially used to catch badgers from his body, and then called Shitou. The two of them dug open the hole that had just been blocked, and then put the net on it.

Bingzi went to collect firewood, and Chen Weidong took the three dogs and stayed there to prevent any badgers from escaping from the cave.

After a while, Li Shengli came back with stones, and Bingzi also came back with a pile of firewood.

Then, Li Shengli placed the pile of firewood in the pit and lit it.

Suddenly smoke filled the air.

Chen Weidong and Li Shengli were guarding one entrance to the cave, while Bingzi and Shitou were guarding another entrance.
Shitou was holding a shovel, and Chen Weidong was holding a hoe.

This thing is better than a gun for dealing with these badgers!

After ten minutes, there was no movement in the cave. Chen Weidong and Li Shengli were not in a hurry because the smoke would take some time to take effect.

Sure enough, about twenty minutes later, I heard Bingzi yelling:
"Brother Shengli, Brother Weidong, the badger is out!"

"Kill every one that comes out, and don't let them damage the net."

Li Shengli reminded.

"okay!"

Badgers rushed out from Shitou and Bingzi one after another! Chen Weidong's side was very quiet.

Of course, the reason for this is very simple, because the smoke in the badger cave spread from Chen Weidong's side, so most of the badgers would of course run to other places.

As he was speaking, a figure suddenly jumped out from the badger hole.

"It's a raccoon."

Li Shengli reminded.

By the way, raccoon dogs, red pandas, and raccoons look very similar.

The raccoon in front of me has gray hair, short ears, a pointed mouth, a short and fat body, and looks very cute.

Chen Weidong looked at its cute appearance, especially its big head, and seized the opportunity to hit it directly with a hammer.

Don’t be fooled by the raccoon’s gentle character and timid nature. It usually won’t attack others. Now that its nest has been robbed, it has become aggressive when it roars!
So, don't even think about grabbing it with your hands.

The most valuable part of a raccoon's body is its fur. Chen Weidong also holds this view and would not shoot if he can avoid it.

More than ten minutes passed.

After the four of them beat the badgers for a while, the surroundings became completely quiet.

Chen Weidong and Li Shengli caught a raccoon dog and a badger, while Shitou and Bingzi caught more, five badgers and a raccoon dog.

There were fifteen badgers and two raccoon dogs in total.

However, Chen Weidong and his three companions did not see the Badger King, so they continued digging. The cave had been smoked for so long, even if there were any badgers in the cave, they would have no fighting power.

After the four of them dug hard, they found nothing except a badger's granary.

"Okay, the main cave has been dug through, there should be no Badger King in Weidong."

Li Shengli said that he was frightened by Chen Weidong just now.

"Ah."

Chen Weidong nodded. He had only given a reminder before. It wouldn't hurt to be careful. Moreover, there was indeed a lot of dirt in that pile, and it was very likely that a badger king would appear. If there was anything to blame, it could only be because this nest of badgers were too good at digging.

Now the badger hole has been dug completely. Anyone who has dug a badger hole knows that a badger hole has many exits. It is too difficult to dig through them all. At this point, it is basically assumed that it has been dug completely. If there are individual badgers hiding in the branch entrances, it can only be said that they are not destined to die.

After gutting and bleeding the badgers and raccoons one by one, the four of them divided the prey.

Shitou and Bingzi both contributed greatly and the work was shared among the four of them.

Li Shengli asked for a raccoon dog and a badger, and the rest went to Chen Weidong and the other two.
Don't think that Lee Seung-ri is very generous. You should know that raccoon dogs are much more valuable than badgers, and Lee Seung-ri also asked for the food he dug.

Of course, if it weren’t for Li Shengli, they wouldn’t be able to find the badger hole. According to the rules of entering the mountains, there was no problem for him to take these.

After the distribution, the four of them carried their things directly to Li Shengli's home, which was close to Lijiatun, and Li Shengli could not carry so much food back by himself.

……

Lijiatun.

Chen Weidong and three others came to Li Shengli's home, treated the dogs' injuries first, and then packed their things and prepared to leave.

"Weidong, Shitou, Bingzi, don't leave. I'm having dinner at your brother Shengli's house today. Don't be polite to me."

Li Shengli hurriedly stopped the three people.

"Brother Shengli,... forget it."

Stone hesitated.

"Come on, stop wasting time! How could I possibly need that little bit of food from you?" "It just so happens that your sister-in-law is not here, so I'll let you taste my cooking skills and tell you that my cooking skills are not inferior to your sister-in-law's."

Li Shengli said very complacently.

"Shitou, Bingzi, you don't need to give food to Brother Shengli. We just dug up so much food for him. He really doesn't need us."

Chen Weidong said. And all the food just now was carried back by Shitou. Shitou is his younger brother, which means he also carried the food. It would be a waste if he didn't eat it.

"You guys do it first, I'll go and knead the dough. We're going to roll out the pancakes today. I'll stir-fry some venison shreds and make the pancakes."

After Li Shengli finished speaking, he washed his hands, went into the kitchen and started working.

The venison was from the sika deer that he and Chen Weidong had caught in Laoyugou. A piece of venison was hung on the beam of the house and was now frozen. Li Shengli soaked the venison in cold water to thaw it.

Then I washed my hands, dug out a few more scoops of noodles, added some water, and started kneading the noodles.

……

Chen Weidong knew that Li Shengli would not be able to eat for a while if he relied on himself, but the few of them dug three badger dens and their stomachs were already rumbling with hunger.

Chen Weidong informed Li Shengli, and then Li Shengli took out a griddle and handed it to Chen Weidong. He also found three stones and propped up the griddle outside the kitchen.

These three stones were prepared long ago and are specifically used to support the griddle.

Many people have it at home, and of course some use other things instead. Shitou and Bingzi were also very proactive. They ran out of the yard and brought in a pile of wheat straw.

When making single pancakes or pancakes, you cannot use firewood, only wheat straw or corn straw.

Wheat straw is the best.

"Brother Shengli, your cooking skills are really good!"

Chen Weidong looked at Li Shengli's skillful movements in kneading the dough and praised him.

"No, when I was young, my family was just like yours. I was the eldest of my brothers and sisters, and I usually cooked for them. I also cooked before your sister-in-law and I got married."

Li Shengli said with a smile.

Chen Weidong nodded. He was the youngest in the family. When his parents were busy, his elder brother and second sister would help him. He never cooked, and after getting married, his wife cooked for him. He learned all his cooking skills after his wife died.

The two chatted, and soon they saw that Li Shengli's noodles were almost ready, so Chen Weidong started to light the fire and heat the griddle.

Shitou hurried into the house and moved a low table to the next to the griddle.

They are all children of farmers. Even if they have never cooked, they have seen their families making pancakes and pancakes, so they know what needs to be done.

Li Shengli rolls the pancakes, and Chen Weidong is responsible for frying them.

The two of them divided the work and cooperated, and soon more than 30 single cakes were baked.

"Okay, you guys go into the house and wait for a while, I'll go cook." Li Shengli said.

Li Shengli entered the kitchen, took out the thawed venison, and took out a kitchen knife. Soon the venison had turned into a pile of shredded meat.

Then I found a dozen dried chili peppers and cut them into shreds.

Prepared onions, ginger and garlic.

After lighting the fire, Li Shengli scooped a large spoonful of bear oil and put it into the pot. This bear oil was shared last year with hunters from several villages around. The share was small, so he usually didn't want to eat it.

Li Shengli remembered that five or six hunters were fighting against a blind bear. One of the hunters was attacked by the bear before its death and was accidentally hit by a palm. He was almost dying at that time and lost most of the money to his family.

After the oil was hot, Li Shengli put the shredded chili peppers in, and after the aroma came out, he added the onions, ginger and garlic.

Stir a few times, then add the shredded pork and start stir-frying.

A strong aroma of meat filled the kitchen. The shredded pork was stir-fried over high heat, and it was done very quickly.

Because there was a lot of food fried, Lee Seung-ri put it directly into the bowl.

He carried the basin into the room and placed it on the kang table.

Without being reminded by others, Li Shengli took another handful of green onions and scooped some bean paste from the jar.

Spring onions for dipping sauce.

This is an indispensable side dish on the Northeastern dining table.

"Come on! Let's go to the kang and eat!" Li Shengli greeted with a smile.

"Brother Shengli, the stir-fried pork shreds you cooked are so delicious! They are almost as delicious as our brother Weidong."

Stone said with a smile.

"Go away! Do you know how to speak?" Li Shengli scolded with a smile.

The four of them burst into laughter.

None of the four of them took off their shoes. They had been running on the mountain road for the whole morning. If they took off their shoes, they might not be able to eat.

The last time Chen Weidong went to Shitou’s house, the smell was enough to cure his thirty-year-old rhinitis.

……

"Everyone, eat!"

Li Shengli greeted with a smile.

Of course Chen Weidong was not polite. He directly picked up a pancake, picked up a few pieces of shredded meat with chopsticks, put them on the pancake, put a scallion on it, rolled it up, and started eating it in big mouthfuls.

Shitou and Bingzi were no longer polite. They picked up the pancakes and followed Chen Weidong's example, putting shredded meat on them, rolling them with green onions, and started eating.

The four of them chatted, ate and drank together. Especially this time, they caught so many badgers. Everyone was very happy. Li Shengli was even happier. He felt that he had made a great contribution to these dozen badgers.

So, he was in high spirits and kept raising his glass to invite everyone to drink.

"What kind of wine is this?"

Chen Weidong asked, this wine is different from ordinary homemade wine, there should be something added in it, but he can't taste it.

"This is a tonic wine I brewed myself. Try it and see how it tastes."

"Not bad!"

Chen Weidong nodded.

The four of them ate meat and drank wine with big mouthfuls.

After a while, Li Shengli's daughter-in-law Wang Xiuli came back and joined the drinking party.

Many Northeastern women drink alcohol. Smoking, drinking and playing cards are very common things for Northeastern women.

In other places, women who smoke, drink, and play cards may be considered bad women, but in the Northeast this is a very common thing. One of the three strange things in the legend is women holding a pipe in their mouth.

This is all caused by the environment in Northeast China.

In this regard, his wife is different! But Chen Weidong had never let her taste it before.

……

The four of them were in high spirits, and Li Shengli frequently raised his glass to invite everyone to drink. He was the oldest person present, so everyone naturally gave him face. As a result, they finished less than half of the pot of meat.
As mentioned before, the drinking capacity of people in Northeastern China is only okay, but drinking is just like their personality: they all like to drink quickly.

Look, Li Shengli is a typical example. He didn't even eat a few bites of the food but drank seven or eight bowls of wine in a row.

This bowl is a small bowl for drinking wine. A bowl of wine is about one or two taels, which is about eight or nine taels, or one catty. Wang Xiuli also drank a bowl.
This wine was brewed by his own family, but he was the first to get drunk! Bingzi was dizzy, but Chen Weidong and Shitou were much better.

Chen Weidong didn't know whether it was because he was used to drinking to relieve his sorrows in his previous life, so his alcohol tolerance increased now.

(End of this chapter)