Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 21 Black Blind Man

Qu Shaoyang's cooking skills are truly amazing. Even without any seasoning, he can still stew the fish very deliciously.

The big pancake was also delicious, especially the one on the edge of the pot. It was a little burnt on the bottom and soaked with the flavor of the fish soup. It tasted so delicious.

Mu Ba worked hard and they all had big appetites. If there was something delicious, they would eat as much as they could without eating.

In the end, there was not a single pancake left.

"What a pity there is no wine. If there were a little more wine, we would be like a god." Someone said while touching his stomach after eating a full meal.

Muba are actually quite easy to satisfy, as long as they have enough food and warm clothes.

When we crossed mountains and seas and endured hardships to reach Guandong, wasn't it because life in our hometown was difficult and we were always hungry?

Although being a woodcutter is hard and dangerous, at least I can fill my stomach, which is good enough. How many people starved to death in my hometown?

"Wait for the raft to arrive in Andong. Once you've received your pay, you can eat whatever you want. There are so many delicious foods in Andong."

Li Yongfu stood up with a smile and walked towards the flower shed while talking.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they had nothing to do, so some went back to the garden shed to sleep, while others sat around the fire and chatted.

Qu Shaoyang said he wanted to fry the fish hair, so he used a spatula to break up the remaining fish in the pot, lit a fire at the bottom of the pot, and stir-fried the fish meat bit by bit.

During the stir-fry process, pick out the big fish bones and throw them to the bottom of the pot to cook.

The small fish bones become crispy after being stewed and stir-fried, so it’s okay even if you don’t pick them out.

Frying fish hair is a very laborious job that requires a lot of patience and good control of the heat.

After a long time, the moisture in the fish meat was finally fried dry and turned into golden crumbs.

Qu Shaoyang found a small porcelain jar from the flower shed, wiped it clean, and put the fish hair into it.

Half a pot of fish only yielded half a jar of fish hair.

After finishing all these, it was already late, so Qu Shaoyang put the porcelain jar back into the flower shed, tidied up, and lay down to sleep.

The old rehearsal had been going on for quite a while, and Qu Shaoyang had gradually adapted to this environment. He fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down, and soon began to snore.

In mid-May, the weather was already quite warm, but there were still cool breezes on the river bank and it was still chilly at night.

Just as everyone was sleeping soundly, a large and two small black shadows emerged from the jungle by the river, slowly approached the river bank, and kept searching for something on the ground.

This place was far away from the market town and there were no people around. Besides, they had to cook the next morning, so Qu Shaoyang and his friends didn't clean up the stove.

Unexpectedly, the black shadow wandered around the river bank for a long time. It seemed that it had eaten everything that was edible. When it couldn't find anything else, it actually crawled into the stove.

The makeshift stove had only three stones underneath and was not solid at all.

The guy pushed the pot over with a clang, and the pot fell over.

"Who? Who is outside?" Qu Shaoyang, who was sleeping, heard the noise outside, put on his clothes, came out of the shed, and shouted loudly.

If an ordinary petty thief had been frightened by Qu Shaoyang's shout, he would have run away.

However, the black shadow did not run away, but instead came towards the raft.

"Fuck, it's a black blind man."

It was moonlit outside, and when the black shadow moved, Qu Shaoyang could see clearly that it was not a petty thief at all, but a large black bear.

"Everyone, get up quickly, there is a black bear." Qu Shaoyang picked up the oar on the raft and shouted loudly.

When Qu Shaoyang shouted, everyone heard it. At this time, they didn't bother to put on outer clothes. Some of them rushed out with their bare chests.

"Don't panic, light a torch first. Even black bears are afraid of fire." The old crow, who was rowing the boat in front, came out of the flower shed with a long knife in his hand and said in a deep voice.

Although the black bear's eyesight is not very good, its hearing and sense of smell are very sensitive.

Seeing so many people suddenly appear on the opposite side, the black bear became alert and stopped moving forward. Instead, he opened his mouth wide and let out an angry roar, trying to scare everyone away.

With a beast roar, everyone felt half of their face go numb, their scalp tightened, and the numb feeling spread from the head to the back of the neck, and then down to the back.

This has nothing to do with a person's courage. It is normal for ordinary people to have this reaction when encountering a black bear.

"Hey, what should we do?" Someone was so scared that his legs were shaking and his voice was trembling.

"Don't panic, grab the oars, and hit the blind bear if it dares to come over. There are so many of us, how can we be bullied by a black bear?"

Shui Laowu was not at all flustered. He held the long sword tightly in his hand and stood in front of everyone.

With the oars in hand, everyone felt more confident, so they grabbed the oars on the raft and shouted in unison.

You know what, with twenty or thirty people shouting like that, the momentum is not inferior.

The black bear really didn't dare to go forward. He just took his two cubs and wandered around the stove for a long time. When he couldn't find anything to eat, he took his cubs away.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief only after the black bear walked away.

"Oh my God, I've only heard about black bears before, but never seen one. This time I finally saw one." Li Yongfu said with lingering fear.

"If only we had a gun, we could shoot that black bear to death and have some meat to eat." Someone in the platoon muttered.

"You are thinking of beauty. Black bears have thick skin and tough flesh. The power of the musket is not enough. It is impossible to kill them with one shot.

Moreover, Hei Xia Zi has a problem: he will go forward with a gun pointed at him.

If we really can't kill him with a gun, and piss him off, then at least a few of us will get hurt." Qu Shaoyang couldn't help but snort when he heard this.

What a joke, using that old musket to shoot a black blind man? You think it's not killing fast enough?
Other hunters are experienced in battle and have accurate marksmanship, but it takes several people working together and bringing hunting dogs to hunt black bears.

How many of them can shoot a gun?
Not to mention it’s pitch dark now, even a good hunter wouldn’t be able to hit the target with one shot, let alone them?
"Lenghu'er is right. Black bears are not easy to deal with. If you are not careful, they can hurt people.

We are here to pray for peace, we are not hunters, why would we cause trouble? Just chase them away, don't think about it."

Shui Laowu put away his knife, waved his hand, and signaled everyone to go back and rest.

"Be alert when you go to bed at night. No one dares to tell you whether the black bear is coming or not. Don't go out alone. Call someone if something happens."

What little sleepiness everyone had was scared away by the black bear, but it was only the middle of the night, what else could they do if not go back to sleep?

So, one by one, they returned to the flower shed and fell asleep again after a long time.

The next morning, when Qu Shaoyang was leading people to cook, he found that the fish viscera that Dalin and his friends had thrown away yesterday, as well as the fish bones and heads that everyone had thrown away after eating the fish, were all gone.

The big iron pot overturned and the stove was in a mess.

Only then did Qu Shaoyang understand what was going on.

I guess the mother bear with her cubs couldn't find food, so she came here following the smell of fish.

After all, this season is not like autumn. There are many wild fruits in the mountains, and fish intestines are also delicious for black bears.

When Dalin and the others were throwing away the fish entrails yesterday, Qu Shaoyang felt something was wrong, but he didn't realize it at the time.

This is not the future. There are many wild animals now. The fish intestines are smelly, so isn't it easy to attract wild animals?

(End of this chapter)