Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 127 Wolf Oil
The master and his disciple laughed loudly, then came down the hillside and led their men to gather up all the wolf carcasses.

Wolves are good things. Their fur can be made into mattresses, cloaks, and hats, but the most precious thing is wolf oil.

This wolf oil is not the oil made from the fat in the body of an ordinary wolf, but a layer of membrane grown on its heart.

Peel off this layer of membrane and boil it into oil, then put it into a small bottle. It will last all year round.

Wolf oil is very effective in treating asthma. No matter how many years you have asthma, if you can get wolf oil, you will be cured soon.

But this kind of thing is not easy to get, and there is a saying among the people that "nine out of ten wolves have no oil."

Generally, wolf oil can only be found in some old wolves. Therefore, wolf oil is very precious.

Qu Shaoyang and his team killed more than ten wolves today. Most of the wolves sent to lead the charge were old wolves.

Therefore, the master and disciple were very curious about whether they could find wolf oil on these wolves.

The shack was too small to accommodate all the work, so after discussion the master and his apprentice decided to go down the mountain with the wolf carcasses.

It just so happened that when Liu Dongshan and his men arrived, they were driving a horse-drawn sleigh, so they loaded all the wolves onto the sleigh.

Jiang Chunfu drove the sled and the others led the dogs, and they returned to the village.

When they entered the village, they were unfortunately spotted by people again. There were more than ten wolves, which caused quite a stir.

Some people praised Qu Shaoyang for his bravery, saying that he could kill bears and wolves at such a young age and that he would achieve great things in the future.

Some people also said behind the scenes that Qu Shaoyang had killed so many wolves that he might have provoked the wolf pack, and the wolves might want to retaliate. In any case, there were all kinds of comments.

Of course, more people value benefits. Apart from anything else, these ten or so wolf skins can be worth a lot of money.

No wonder he is rich, the young man is so capable.

This winter, there are blind bears, wild boars, and wolves trying to steal their way home. How much money can we make from this?
Those families with daughters started to think about it again. They couldn't miss such a good boy, so they had to find someone to mediate.

On the other side, Qu Shaoyang, Liu Dongshan and others dragged the wolf back home and started skinning it in the yard.

To skin a wolf, start from the tip of its mouth and peel off the skin little by little.

In fact, you only need to be careful and take some effort to remove the skin on the head. Once the head is pulled out, turn over the neck, chop off the four claws, and then pull the whole thing down.

When only the tail is left, two people need to work together.

First, cut off the tail with a knife, peel off about an inch of bone, and then tie this section of the tail bone tightly with a strong thin rope.

Then one person wrapped the rope around his sleeve, and the other person pulled the tail hard.

After the fur on the tail is pulled off, insert a soft branch into the tail tube to speed up the drying process, and the skin is ready.

Wolves and dogs are of the same origin, so dogs won’t eat wolf meat or anything like that.

Although dogs don't eat it, people don't care. It's a rare opportunity to eat meat, so who cares what kind of meat it is? As long as it's not poisonous, you can eat it.

More than ten wolves finally found the legendary membrane on the hearts of three old wolves.

This is a good thing. Liu Dongshan carefully peeled off the film and preserved it, and took time to boil the oil.

After the dozen or so skins were peeled and the oil was scraped off, they were neatly arranged and put away. They would either be sold later or found someone to use for their own use.

It was freezing cold in the twelfth lunar month, and the wolf's fur was shiny and thick, very good, the best fur for anything.

After finishing all these, it was already late, so I quickly had dinner.

Discard the wolf's internal organs and chop the wolf meat into large pieces. Put it in a large basin and soak it in water overnight. Change the water again tomorrow.

Wait until all the blood has soaked out before stewing it in the pot.

So, the next night, everyone ate wolf meat. It was delicious when stewed, and with some chili in it, it tasted even better.

Both Qu Shaoyang and Liu Dongshan were afraid of revenge from the wolves, so in the following days, when they went to the mountains to hunt, they would bring a few more people with them, leading their dogs and carrying their guns. They would go early and come back early, and basically did not stay in the shack.

Although this is more difficult, it is less dangerous because you don't have to spend the night outside.

There are so many sets of traps, clamps, etc. on the mountain. Anyway, there is always some gain every time I go up. For Qu Shaoyang, this is enough.

When he had some free time, he took his friends and dog into the mountains to hunt and brought back a few wild boars.

I can’t say anything else, but there was always an endless supply of meat at home. The guys ate so much that their mouths were full of oil and they gained several pounds.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the twelfth lunar month has passed, and it is only a few days away from the New Year's Eve.

"Shaoyang, our family is still short of some New Year's goods, so why don't you take two of your men with you to Kuandian tomorrow?

Your mistress has made a list of what's missing, and you can just go over there and buy what's on the list."

On the evening of the 18th, while having dinner, Liu Dongshan discussed with Qu Shaoyang.

"Ah? What's missing? We don't have it in Maoer Mountain?" Qu Shaoyang was stunned when he heard it. He didn't understand why his master sent him to Kuandian.

Even if you want to buy New Year's goods, you should go to Tonghua. Why do you have to go so far to Kuandian?
"Why not go to Tonghua? It's closer."

"What do you mean by close? You have to climb over the mountains and take the mountain road to get there. You can't catch up with Kuandian.

Just drive the sled all the way down the river, it will be fast." Liu Dongshan rolled his eyes at his apprentice and said.

Qu Shaoyang thought about it and it was true. The river had been frozen for a long time, and the ice was several feet thick. If a horse-drawn sleigh was running on it, it would definitely break down quickly.

"Okay, then I'll go to Kuandian." Whatever the master says is what it is. There's nothing to be stubborn about.

On the morning of the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, just after breakfast, Liu Dongshan directed his men to start loading things onto the sled.

"Yes, load up the old year's sunken and yellow-haired goats. Also move the roe deer and venison up there.

In addition, put two wolf skins, two raccoon skins and two greyhound skins.

This bag contains mushrooms and fungus, and this bag contains pine nuts and hazelnuts. Put them all in and tie them tightly with a rope. "

Qu Shaoyang was dumbfounded when he saw it. Didn't they ask him to buy New Year's goods? Why did this look like selling New Year's goods?

"Master, what are you doing? Didn't you ask me to go shopping?"

"You silly child, when you go to Kuandian, don't you go to see Doctor Chen and his family?

It's New Year's Day, can you go empty-handed? They saved your master's wife, can't we bring some extra gifts to express our gratitude?"

Liu Dongshan couldn't help but sigh. His apprentice was quite smart in other things, so why was he so stupid now?

These days, there are always people coming to the house. Some of them ask about Qu Shaoyang's marriage in a roundabout way, while others come directly with matchmakers to propose marriage.

Liu Dongshan and his wife didn't know how to refuse, and they couldn't offend everyone around them.

So the couple discussed it and decided to send Qu Shaoyang away and let him go to Kuandian.

Under the guise of buying New Year's goods, the main purpose was to send things to Doctor Chen's family and to test the Chen family's attitude.

If the Chen family really wanted to form this marriage, they would understand after seeing the things.

The children of both families are already grown up, so after the 17th day of the lunar year, it is time to discuss marriage for Chen Xiuyun. The sooner it is settled, the sooner you can feel at ease.

(End of this chapter)