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

Chapter 128 Are you dumbfounded now?

Chen Weidong asked Bingzi to grind the herbs into powder, and then asked Shitou to start chopping the meat, mixing badger meat, wolf meat, and bear meat, and then adding bean flour and corn flour and mixing them together.

Then add bear fat.

The dog food made with bear oil is very fragrant and dogs love it.

This time, they made about 300 kilograms of dog food, which had to be made in several batches. After more than two hours, the three of them finally finished making all the dog food.

Then Chen Weidong gave each of them about 70 to 80 kilograms. Shitou Bingzi and his partner only raised a dog, so the food was enough for them to eat for a while.

After Shitou and Bingzi left, Liu Xueting helped clean the pot.

"What are the little ones doing? I haven't seen them making trouble today!"

Chen Weidong asked Liu Xueting.

"Isn't this the book you bought in the county? The little ones are reading it."

"Reading a book?"

Hearing this, Chen Weidong came to the main room with great interest. As expected, he saw the little ones. Da Ni was holding Liu Ni sitting on a chair, and the other little ones were huddled together with their little heads together.

This book is the elementary school Chinese textbook that Chen Weidong bought at the supply and marketing cooperative. He also bought a few pens and a few small notebooks, but Liu Xueting did not take out all of them.

There are stickers on the Chinese textbook, and the little ones’ heads are crowded together and leaning upwards.

"Sister, what is this?"

"Sister, what is this?"

“So many villains!”

"..."

Chen Weidong sneered.

The little ones are at an age where they are curious about everything and they love to join in the fun. If I had known earlier, I would have bought a couple more picture books for them to read.

After Liu Xueting finished her work, she took out a pen and a notebook from the house and taught the little girls how to write.

The little ones were all very interested in getting pens and notebooks for the first time.

After a while, he started to draw on the notebook with a pen.

Chen Weidong held Xiaoliu and watched the fun from the side.

"Dad, the word 'Ni' is so hard to write. Can you give me a simpler name?"

Si Ni suddenly complained to Chen Weidong who was standing beside her.

"Don't you want to be called Sidan? Daddy will teach you how to write dan!"

"Okay, okay!"

Si Ni said happily.

Chen Weidong put Xiaoliu on the ground, then took the pen and wrote the words "Sidan" on the paper.

Now Si Ni was dumbfounded!
"Dad, I don't want to be called Sidan anymore! I don't want to be called Sidan anymore!"

"Haha, you're dumbfounded now!"

"Wuni, what are you doing?"

Chen Weidong was holding Xiaoliu and asked curiously when he saw Wu Ni working hard.

"Dad, Wu Ni is drawing a little man. This is dad, and this is mom..."

"Uh……"

After lunch, Chen Weidong fed the dog again and petted it twice. Then he added water to the pot, took a bear paw from the house and put it into the pot. He lit the fire and began to soak the bear paw.

The four bear paws were in Chen Weidong's hands. Bear paw is one of the eight delicacies and a top-level delicacy. It is also a Chinese medicinal material with rich medicinal value. It can be used to treat spleen and stomach weakness, various deficiencies, wind-cold and dampness, and other diseases.

Chen Weidong planned to eat one to share with his wife and children, and sell the rest.

Making bear paws is a time-consuming and laborious task. First, you have to cook them over low heat for five or six hours, then take them out and remove the skin and hair while they are still hot.

Chen Weidong put some charcoal at the bottom of the pot. Thinking that he had not yet given Li Shengli the money from selling the yellow muntjac, Chen Weidong explained things to Liu Xueting and then went to Lijiatun.

When we arrived at Li Shengli's house, Li Shengli and Wang Xiuli were sitting on the kang.

"Oh! Weidong is here! Come and sit on the kang." Wang Xiuli and Li Shengli greeted him hurriedly.

Chen Weidong sat on the kang without any hesitation, and then said to Li Shengli: "Brother Shengli, this is the money from selling the yellow muntjac."

Seeing the three great unity, Li Shengli's eyes lit up and he grinned, "Then Brother Shengli, I won't be polite to you."

Just as Li Shengli was about to put the money away, he saw Wang Xiuli glance at him, and then Li Shengli handed the money to Wang Xiuli reluctantly.

Chen Weidong sneered.

Then, he chatted with Li Shengli for a while before leaving.

Back home,
Chen Weidong was also staying up all winter on the kang. The little ones were not writing anymore and were playing around on the kang.

After dinner, I played with him on the kang for a while.
Chen Weidong felt that it was almost time, so he got up and went out of the house, preparing to take out the bear's paw and shed its skin and hair.

He walked into the kitchen, took out the bear paw, placed it in a basin next to him, let it dry for a while, and then began to peel and pluck the hair.

After cleaning the bear paw, set it aside.

Then he cleaned the pot, emptied the water out, scrubbed the pot, took out a pheasant from the cellar, chopped it into small pieces, and then went to the cellar to get a piece of pork, which he also cut into small pieces.

Prepare the other materials.

Then he heated the pot and added cold oil, using lard. After the oil melted, Chen Weidong put the onion, ginger and garlic in and fried them until fragrant.

Next, add the chicken to the pot.

Put the bear paw into the pot, add various seasonings, pour in half a bottle of strong liquor, then add enough water and continue to simmer over low heat.

After filling the bottom of the stove with charcoal, Chen Weidong left the kitchen, ran to the dog pen to take a look, and then went back to the kang. The next day, after getting up early, he washed his hands and went into the kitchen.

I took a look at the bear paw first, then added charcoal to the bottom of the stove. It takes a lot of time to stew the bear paw to make it delicious. Generally, it takes at least ten hours to stew it to make it taste better.

The bear paw is stewed until it is mushy, and the bones can be picked out directly with chopsticks. The remaining bear paw meat is like jelly and crystal clear.

Don't worry, just keep stewing.

……

Chen Weidong fed the dog when suddenly the door of the yard started banging.

Liu Xueting responded and opened the door.

Chen Weidong turned his head and saw an old man with disheveled hair and dirty body.

"The boy from the Chen family!"

The old man was holding a handful of water, his body trembling slightly. When he saw Chen Weidong, he shouted in a muffled voice.

The voice sounded very familiar.

Chen Weidong frowned, took a closer look, and was slightly surprised. This turned out to be the old hunter Mancang from Lijiatun!
When I went to Lijiatun a while ago, I saw him and a few hunters who had killed a cannonball and were dividing the meat in the village.

He seemed to be in good spirits. How come he looked like this after not seeing him for a few days?

"Especially since I don't know him well! Why would I come to look for a young man like him? If I had to look for someone, I should look for his father, Chen Guangtian!"

When Chen Weidong saw Uncle Mancang, he was somewhat curious.

At this moment, Uncle Mancang's gray hair was a mess like a chicken coop. In this cold weather, he didn't even wear his usual deerskin hat. His hair was stuck here and there by something unknown, and his rough face was covered with dirt.

His worn cotton jacket was torn in several places.

From a distance, the whole person looked very depressed.

Chen Weidong quickly put down what he was holding and ran over, and asked Uncle Mancang to come in and sit down.

Liu Xueting also went to pour water at this time.

Uncle Mancang turned sideways and did not go in. Instead, he said in a hoarse voice, "I'm not going in. Come out and talk."

Chen Weidong was slightly startled. Although there were many reasons for not entering someone else's house, there was only one reason to turn sideways and not enter in the village.

That's a dead person!

In the countryside of Northeast China, people are not allowed to enter other people's homes after a person dies. However, as this is unlucky, it cannot be said openly, so it has become a custom to express it by leaning sideways.

Chen Weidong closed the gate and followed Uncle Mancang to the back corner. He whispered, "What's going on? Whose family is in trouble?"

Chen Weidong's heart was also in suspense. Of course he was worried that something might have happened to his relatives.

Uncle Mancang lit a cigarette with shaking hands and said in a trembling voice: "Yang Fugui from your village is gone."

Chen Weidong sighed.

Yang Fugui is an old hunter in Jiuqu Village, over 50 years old. He always carries a Hanyang-made rifle with holes filled with molten iron on his back to play with the children in the village.

A while ago, Dani and her friends came over to talk about him, saying that he was a very kind person with a very good reputation and popularity in the village.

How can it just disappear like that?
"Master, what's going on?"

Chen Weidong asked.

Then Uncle Mancang took a puff of his pipe, his sunken eye sockets suddenly turned red, and then he began to speak.

"The night before yesterday, an old leopard came to our village, killed two dogs and took away a sheep. You should have heard about this from Li Shengli!"

"Ok!"

Chen Weidong nodded. He went to Li Shengli's house yesterday and heard Li Shengli talk about it. However, due to the concern that the old leopard might hurt people, the village arranged for five or six hunters to form a hunting team to go up the mountain.

In fact, it is very normal for wild leopards to break into villages and steal sheep in the Greater Khingan Range, especially when the mountains are blocked by heavy snow. Even decades later, Chen Weidong has seen many similar news reports.

Because every winter when the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, the food in the mountains is covered by thick snow. It is icy and snowy, and it is difficult for wild animals to find food in the mountains, so they take the opportunity to sneak into the village to harass poultry and livestock.

Mountain beavers, weasels, foxes, wolves and even lynxes will visit the small mountain village during the coldest days of winter.

"I led the hunting team and took our guns to the mountain to catch it overnight. However, the old leopard was very cunning and escaped. The old leopard jumped along the old forest all the way to the Bald Mountain in front of Lijiatun. The cat refused to come out of the mountain no matter what."

Chen Weidong's brows immediately frowned.

Bald Mountain, as the name suggests, has no trees or grass, only dense thorn forests. These thorn trees are not as tall as old poplars and willows, and are only slightly taller than humans.
But it was extremely dense, and coupled with the terrain, the old leopard got in and couldn't get out. For a while, people really couldn't do anything about it. Moreover, Bald Mountain has many rocks, and it is very difficult to walk on a snowy day.
"Yesterday, the village organized a few experienced hunters to patrol the mountains during the day to see if we can find an opportunity to kill the old leopard."

"We will arrange hunters with guns to seal off the mountain at night and prevent people from approaching, so as to avoid being attacked by the hungry old leopard."

At this point, Uncle Mancang's face darkened.

"Yang Fugui from your village and I have been sworn brothers since we were young. This time, I was the one who organized people to go up the mountain. Last night, the two of us were responsible for guarding the foot of the mountain on the east side of Bald Man's Head and not letting anyone go up."

(End of this chapter)