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

Chapter 164 Laba Festival

Especially the deer living in the wild in Northeast China, their numbers are getting fewer and fewer.

It just so happens that these days, sika deer breeding has not yet officially become popular. Some people may have the idea of ​​doing it, but it is difficult for people to survive, so who has so much energy to take care of these things?

For hunters, it goes without saying that they can just hunt in the mountains. Why bother?

And it’s not that easy to raise.

Although Chen Weidong had never personally raised sika deer in his previous life, he had come into contact with some farmers who raised sika deer and had some experience. Moreover, these days were not like the later generations, with all kinds of approvals and so on, which was troublesome.

Originally, he was thinking about catching some small sika deer to raise, but although the idea was good, it was not easy to catch them alive!
"Brother Weidong, how do we catch him?"

Shitou was a little confused when he saw the sika deer below. It was difficult to capture it alive except by shooting it to death or injuring it. Even though the doe was pregnant,
It affects the speed of the doe, but at this distance, no matter how slow the dog is, it cannot catch up with it. Once the deer escapes, it will be difficult to catch up with it.

Of course Chen Weidong also understood this truth. He looked at the pregnant doe carefully and frowned slightly.

Suddenly taking a look at the surrounding terrain, Chen Weidong's eyes lit up.

"Shi Tou, follow me first!"

Chen Weidong said something in a low voice, picked up his things, hunched over, and walked slowly away.

In order not to disturb the doe, Shitou walked very carefully. He followed behind, imitating Chen Weidong, trying his best not to get touched by any leaves and minimizing the noise he made.

After finally walking a little further away, he let out a long sigh.

The three dogs followed the two men quietly.

"Go up the mountain and find Fujiko to make a condom!"

Chen Weidong ordered in a low voice.

When he heard that they were looking for rattan, Shitou's eyes immediately lit up: "Using rattan to make a noose, what a good idea!"

In this mountain, there are many wild grape vines between the trees and on both sides of the ravines. One vine can climb more than ten meters and is flexible. It is easy to repair it and make a noose or something.

Although Chen Weidong and Shitou had ropes in their bags, they were not long enough.
The frightened doe has just found a safe place and usually will not leave immediately. This time is enough to do a lot of things.

The two men walked further along the ravine and soon found a large bunch of mountain vines. Neither of them could tell the name of the vine, but the vine was very flexible. They picked up the knife, chopped and pulled it a few times, and in a short while, they had collected a lot of vines.

They squatted on the ground and twisted the vines into a rope. Both of them knew how to make a noose. To put it simply, it was a knot that became tighter and tighter as it was pulled. The only difference was that the material of the rope or wire rope was replaced with the vine.

It didn't take long for the two of them to make more than twenty of them.

Chen Weidong and Shitou each carried some and returned quietly.

They first went to the hillside opposite the doe, climbed up a tree and looked around where the doe was.

It was a gently sloping area at the edge of the forest, and was mainly covered with grass and some bushes. The doe was frightened and ran away, and the only option was to go to the gaps in the bushes.

After a careful look, I found that these twenty or so vine snares had blocked its escape route. I could drive the dog over here without worrying about not being able to catch it.

"Be as gentle as possible, we will act separately!" Chen Weidong said.
After getting down from the tree, one of them took a dozen traps and came to the path that the doe must have taken to escape.

The rattan snare is placed in the gaps of the bushes. The approximate height of the doe's head when running is estimated, and the opening of the snare is erected and expanded. As long as the doe's head enters the snare, it can be tightened by pulling hard when running forward, and the snare will be put around its neck, preventing it from breaking free.

Deer are very alert, so the two of them set up traps far away from each other. That's it.

After a while, Chen Weidong saw the doe stand up, and then he pricked up his ears and stood still for a while.

If there is any abnormality, turn around and run away immediately.

Fortunately, Chen Weidong had thought it through carefully. The three dogs, Black Tiger, White Tiger and Big Yellow, were also tied up. The doe did not notice it and after a while she squatted down and started eating tree bark again.

~

Finally, Chen Weidong and Shitou set up all the traps. Chen Weidong and Shitou returned to their previous position, ready to untie the dog's rope and use the dog to drive the deer towards the trap.

However, before he reached the place where the dog was tied, he heard the rustling of leaves.

The doe jumped out in surprise.

"Shitou, what's going on?"

"Brother Weidong, I...I accidentally slipped!" Shi Tou stood up and explained.

"fine!"

Chen Weidong did not blame Shitou because the doe ran in the direction where the two men set the trap.

The pregnant doe was seen running wildly. Chen Weidong and Shitou focused their attention on the doe. It must be said that the deer ran very fast on the snow and arrived at the trap in a blink of an eye.

Chen Weidong and Shitou watched clearly as the doe's head went into the rattan trap and continued to move forward. There was a short tree blocking the way ahead, so the doe leaped forward and the opening of the rattan trap was pulled by half.

As if the doe felt that the vine noose hanging around its neck was a hindrance, she stopped, shook her head, and took two steps back, trying to get her head out of the opening of the noose. However, the more she shook it, the smaller the opening of the vine noose became, and her head could no longer be pulled out.

"It's on, hurry over!"

Seeing this, Chen Weidong said to Shitou, and then he immediately ran towards the doe, and Shitou ran even faster.

Hearing the noise, the doe was startled again, turned around and ran. This run completely tightened the vine snare, strangling its neck, and pulled its body back to the ground even though it jumped up.

This time the force was quite strong, and the doe couldn't help but let out a scream.

But its life was in danger, so it could only rush around, trying to break free.

After all, it's not a rope or anything like that, it's just some mountain vines.
The reason why Chen Weidong couldn't wait to run down when he saw the doe's head temporarily unable to get out of the circle was because he was worried that the mountain vine might not be strong enough and would be broken. If the doe escaped, it would be difficult to catch it again.

At this moment, the two grown men were as agile as two leopards. They leaped and charged to the ravine in a few steps, leaped over, and climbed up the opposite slope.

The doe rushed back and forth, screaming continuously, and the sound of her screams changed as her neck was strangled.

Fortunately, the two of them finally rushed over.

Shitou was quite ferocious. He came directly to the doe and tightly clamped his hands around her neck. An adult doe weighed only about 150 to 160 kilograms, and faced with Shitou who was as strong as an ox, she couldn't break free at all.

Seeing the doe opening her mouth and almost gasping for breath, Chen Weidong quickly took out the prepared rope from his waist.

Tie a knot around the doe's neck, adjust the tightness, tie it up, and tie it to a small tree nearby. Then take a knife and cut the mountain grape vines.

"Shi Tou, take off your inner clothes!"

Chen Weidong looked at the doe struggling and immediately spoke to Shi Tou.

Stone:"???"

"Deer are rather timid, so don't let them get frightened and have a miscarriage!" Chen Weidong explained with a smile.

"okay!"

Although Shitou didn't understand the relationship between the two, out of trust in Chen Weidong, he quickly took off his cotton jacket, put the clothes inside on the doe's head, and then put on the cotton jacket himself.

The doe was covered with a hood and blindfolded, and she immediately became quiet.

"Brother Weidong, this is amazing!"

Stone gave a thumbs up.

Chen Weidong ignored Shitou's praise and sat down on the side, gasping for breath. He was a little out of breath from the sudden burst of high-intensity exercise after running over from the opposite slope.

Seeing that Shitou still had some strength, Chen Weidong asked Shitou to bring the dog over.

As soon as the three dogs saw the deer, they wanted to bite it, but were stopped by Chen Weidong.

~

Then the two of them walked back, leading the sika deer. Ordinary wild sika deer would not listen to people's commands. Even if they were led by a rope, they would just jump around in fright and run away. It was very tiring to do this.

But now that the sika deer has been blindfolded, it has become much more obedient. In fact, this is because the sika deer feel more secure in the dark. Of course, this also applies to some other animals.

Chen Weidong and Shitou led the pregnant sika deer all the way back to the village, and they didn't even have time to collect the traps they had set before arriving.

Chen Weidong did not raise the deer in his own home, but first raised it at his parents' home, because deer are naturally timid.

Chen Weidong's family has six dogs, and with so many people, it is not suitable to raise them. It also helps to give his parents something to do to avoid constant quarrels.

Of course, all this is temporary. If Chen Weidong wants to raise sika deer well, he plans to build a small deer farm when he has time.

~

Don't be greedy, children, Laba is the new year.

Little kid, don’t cry. We will kill the pig after Laba Festival.

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the Laba Festival.

On this day, according to historical records, Laba Festival has been used to worship ancestors and gods since the pre-Qin period. People pray for a good harvest and prosperity of people and livestock on this day. In the traditional sense, this day also conveys the signal of entering the "New Year", and every household begins to "get busy with the New Year". People begin to write Spring Festival couplets, cut window flowers, go to the market to buy New Year pictures, lanterns, firecrackers, incense and candles, etc., and prepare for the happy Spring Festival.

There is a folk saying that goes, "Children, don't be greedy, because after Laba Festival it will be the New Year."

Two days ago, Chen Weidong and Shitou captured a pregnant doe alive in Laoyugou. After Chen Weidong's careful care, the doe came back to life.

In the past two days, apart from collecting the traps with Shitou, Chen Weidong has not been to the mountain.
Because, Laba Festival is coming.

In Northeast China, people attach great importance to Laba Festival. Every year, they cook Laba porridge, eat Laba rice, and pickle Laba garlic.
On this day, Chen Weidong and Liu Xueting got up early and began to prepare Laba porridge.

In his previous life, when Chen Weidong celebrated Laba Festival, his wife and children had already left him, and his little six also died. Today, Chen Weidong even made Laba porridge himself.

There were more than a dozen ingredients in total, including big red beans, small red beans, corn crumbs, longan, red dates... and lotus seeds. Chen Weidong bought them all at the supply and marketing cooperative early yesterday morning.

After everything is ready, pour the beans and lotus seeds, which are harder to cook, into the pot first and boil them.

When the beans are roughly 70% cooked, add the crushed corn, and finally the rice, red dates, longan, and lily.

Add old rock sugar, which has a special aroma that can enhance the flavor of the porridge.

Then cover the pot with a lid and place a rag on top.

Liu Xueting is responsible for cooking.

Soon, a rich aroma wafted out.

The children smelled the aroma and were awakened by their greed. Those who could dress themselves happily put on their clothes and came to the kitchen panting.

Those who don’t know how to put on clothes can only cry for their mothers while lying on the kang.

"Dad, what are you cooking? It smells so good!" The conspicuous Bao Sini rushed to Chen Weidong and asked, hugging his neck.

(End of this chapter)