Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 10 Missing
The logging season ends in three days, which is actually extended.

Yan Hui felt that this might be related to his fourth uncle requesting the goods in advance.

Fourth uncle asked for the goods in advance. The forest farm felt the trend of rising timber prices and of course wanted to cut more timber in a few days.

But Yan Hui was a little worried. The warming weather was irreversible. The snow at the foot of the mountain had almost melted. Although it had not melted on the mountain yet, the wet snow was not solid at all. Snow had to be able to freeze to be slippery and suitable for pulling carriages and sleds.

Yan Hui came over that day, and Gao Bo complained to Yan Hui about this matter. Yan Hui said it would be better for everyone to stop working for a while.

"There's no point in arguing with the forest farm," Gao Bo sighed. "We in the wood gang are used to this kind of thing. It's happened frequently in previous years."

"What should we do? If the snow is not hard, the carriage will not be able to move at all, and it is not safe." Yan Hui was a little worried. He thought about it for a long time and felt more and more that the extension of logging time was related to him.

"It's not that there's no solution," said Gao Bo, who has worked here for decades. "Normally, we'd come down around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, but that's no longer possible. The snow isn't solid enough in the afternoon, so we have to come down at night. After dark, around 8 p.m., the temperature will be low enough, and we'll have no problem getting down the mountain then."

"How are we going to get down the mountain in such a dark place?"

"The moon was a crescent when you first arrived, but it's gotten bigger these days and it's quite bright in the snow. It's not a problem."

"That's dangerous too. What if we encounter a tiger at night?"

"The tiger doesn't dare to attack the cavalry." Gao Bo was not worried about this. He was still worried about the car getting stuck.

Thinking of this, Gao Bo glanced at Yan Hui and felt that Yan Hui was still a child.

"Then is there anything I can do to help?" Yan Hui did not interrupt again. It was obvious that he could not change what happened next.

"Have you finished your work these past few days?"

"Well, I have nothing to do for the next week."

"Then I really need you to come over and help," Uncle Gao pointed at Uncle Wang. "Old Wang has always had a fixed cooking time. As soon as the loudspeaker sounds, he'll be cooking for us. I'm worried something might happen to him if he suddenly changes the time. You can stay with him for the next few days. Stay with him until we get back, and then we can eat together. I bought some meat on credit at the store, so yours won't be a problem for what we eat these days."

"I don't mind the food and drink," Yan Hui nodded, "but I'll listen to you. I'll stay here with Uncle Wang for a few days. By the way, when you're done, where are you going?"

"There's a place to live at the foot of the mountain. Half of the people in our Wood Gang have never married in their lives. We all live together, so you don't have to worry."

"Okay." Yan Hui thought for a moment and added, "Uncle Gao, I don't know much about the climate in the north, but it's definitely warming up these past few days. Even if it's a little cold up in the mountains, it'll probably be hard to get down. If things don't go well today, could you guys have a good talk with the forestry department?"

"It depends on the situation." Gao Bo said with a smile.

The next day, everyone went up the mountain late.

Normally, we would have to go up the mountain at three or four in the morning, but that was unnecessary now. We could wait until daybreak to go up the mountain, as we would be empty anyway.

That day, Yan Hui discovered that the little thatched house had become more populated. Many people had brought down items from the mountain, including some medicinal herbs.

The people of the Laomu Gang know how to identify ginseng, pick herbs, and hunt. These are all basic skills.

Having dealt with mountains all their lives, they understand mountains better than they understand people.

Yan Hui didn't know much, but he also knew about ginseng.

The people from the wood gang wrapped the ginseng in moss and waited to go down the mountain in two days to sell it to people who collected ginseng. This was also a considerable income.

These people put the ginseng in the house, each of them keeping it like this, without worrying about it getting lost. This also shows that they really trust Yan Hui.

Yan Hui came over after lunch. It was difficult for him to communicate with Uncle Wang, but he could play with the dog.

There is a small stream 100 meters in front of the thatched house, and there is water flowing at this moment.

You definitely can't expect to find live fish in a place like this, as no fish can survive the winter. But the water is very clean and you can drink it after boiling it.

With nothing to do, Yan Hui filled the water tank with water, boiled some water in a large pot, let it cool down, and then fed it to the horses.

There were four horses in the stable who did not go up the mountain today. Yan Hui knew that two of them were pregnant. There was hay in the trough, so he came here to feed and water them.

As I was feeding the baby, the loudspeaker started playing again, the familiar song "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy".

Everyone here can sing a few lines and has been listening to it for decades.

After pouring water for the horse, Yan Hui suddenly thought of something and hurried to the thatched house. Sure enough, he saw Uncle Wang coming out to get firewood.

"Uncle Wang, they will come down the mountain late tonight, so there is no need to rush to cook." Yan Hui came over and stopped him.

"A hot meal," Uncle Wang emphasized, "a hot meal."

Seeing that Uncle Wang insisted, Yan Hui didn't say anything.

The rice will not go bad if you keep it in the pot once it is cooked, so you can just steam it. Yan Hui just needs to remember to turn off the fire in advance.

It was very difficult to get along with Uncle Wang, and Yan Hui was always cautious.

After returning to the house, Yan Hui wanted to steam rice, but found that there was no rice left.

He thought that people here ate rice every day, but in fact the staple food here is sweet potatoes, corn and the like.

Uncle Wang was holding a rusty, blunt knife, preparing to cut large pieces of sweet potato and cook them.

"Uncle Wang, these sweet potatoes are not washed." Yan Hui saw that each sweet potato was covered with dirt.

"What is sweet potato?" Uncle Wang looked up at Yan Hui.

"What do you call this?"

“This is a sweet potato.”

"Ohhh, sweet potato, this needs to be washed before cooking."

"Wash it." Uncle Wang thought for a moment and nodded.

"Uncle Wang, please sit for a while. I'll go wash up."

Yan Hui was familiar with the area and knew how much food these people needed. He picked up a large winnowing basket, filled it, and carried it towards the stream. Since becoming a porter, his physical strength has increased dramatically. After more than a month in the Northeast, Yan Hui's leg injury has completely healed. After all, at his age, he recovers quickly.

Thinking of this, Yan Hui lifted up his pants and looked at his legs. He pinched them hard, but it didn't hurt.

He used to work as a porter and his legs hurt every day, but he never said anything. Recently, he came to the forest farm to rest for a while and finally recovered completely.

He moved it twice in total. When he came back from the first trip and saw Uncle Wang in a daze, he felt relieved and went to the stream to wash the sweet potatoes.

The water was clear and flowing. It was around four in the afternoon, the time when the snowmelt was plentiful, making it easy to wash the sweet potatoes. In less than 20 minutes, Yan Hui had washed all the sweet potatoes, filled a dustpan, and returned to the thatched cottage.

Uncle Wang was still sitting there in a daze.

When Yan Hui came back for the second time, Uncle Wang had already cut the big sweet potatoes in the winnowing basket and put them into the pot.

Sweet potatoes can't be stacked too high, so cooking them requires two large pots. Yan Hui immediately started helping after returning, and soon both pots were ready and the fire was lit. Today, in addition to the sweet potatoes, we also added some bacon to the pot. As for the pork Gao Bo mentioned, we could just stir-fry it after they came down. Then, we'd chop a couple of cabbages, and it would be ready in no time.

Yan Hui noticed that Uncle Wang was staring at his bag in a daze.

His bag was indeed filled with old clothes and other things, and he always carried his money with him, so he was not afraid of Uncle Wang seeing it. Feeling that Uncle Wang was worried, he opened his bag again and took out all the clothes inside to show Uncle Wang.

"No. No." Uncle Wang looked at the bag in a daze.

Yan Hui wanted to ask Uncle Wang about his story, but in the end he didn't get it. Uncle Wang's thoughts seemed to have entered another world, and he couldn't hear what Yan Hui said at all.

The sweet potatoes were not cooked until it was completely dark. Yan Hui put out the fire and went out to look at the mountain.

Not cold enough.

Yan Hui is very afraid of the cold. After coming to the Northeast, he has been looking forward to the arrival of spring, but now he hopes that spring will come two days later.

No, three days late.

Yan Hui just waited like this, not daring to leave the area. He had seen a wild wolf a week ago, and he was already a little traumatized.

The two big yellow dogs also had sweet potatoes for dinner. Yan Hui was worried that the dogs would choke, so he broke the sweet potatoes into pieces and fed them to them little by little. The dogs were not picky eaters at all.

Yan Hui has plenty of time.

The dogs had eaten their fill and returned to their dens. Yan Hui waited until half past eight, but still no one came down from the mountain.

At around nine o'clock, Yan Hui was waiting in the house when someone knocked on the door. Yan Hui immediately ran over and excitedly opened the door, but when he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and shouted, "Who's knocking?"

"I'm Old Sun from the forest farm!"

Yan Hui opened the door upon hearing the sound, and saw people from the forest farm outside.

"Hey, kid, you're here?" Old Sun recognized Yan Hui. "Where are Old Gao and the others? Did they say what time they'll be coming down today?"

"Uncle Gao said we should wait until the snow is frozen solid." Yan Hui went out to feel the temperature, "I don't think it's cold enough now."

"It must be colder in the mountains."

"I guess Uncle Gao and the others have already started to go down the mountain," Yan Hui said, also a little worried. "Uncle Sun, should the forest farm send someone up the mountain to check?"

"There are only a few people at the forest farm?" Old Sun shook his head. "It's not cold here, and they have so many people. Even if a car got stuck, they wouldn't all be trapped. It would just take some time."

"Ah?" Yan Hui was a little disappointed. He thought the forest farm would send someone to check it out.

"Do you know what is the most frightening thing in the deep mountains and old forests?" Old Sun asked as if he had noticed something.

"Yes," Yan Hui thought for a moment, "I heard there are Siberian tigers."

"Huh?" Old Sun was stunned for a moment, then cursed with a smile, "Silly boy, a Siberian tiger wouldn't bite someone from the woodworking gang. The people in the woodworking gang all have chainsaws in their hands. Once they turn on those things, any Siberian tiger would be scared away."

Old Sun looked up at the mountain and said, "The most frightening thing in the mountains is a heavy snowstorm. Heavy snow can completely block the mountain, making it impossible to go up or down. In the winter of 1987, the Mubang team went up the mountain and encountered a heavy snowstorm. They didn't come down for three days. After they were rescued, four people and seven horses were killed."

"Ah!" Yan Hui was stunned when he heard it.

"Do you know how the second-in-command of our forest farm lost half his arm? It was that year when he went up the mountain to rescue people. He was pulling a sled with one hand. There were seven people lying on the sled. He dragged the seven people down from the mountain. After he got down, half of his arm was frozen and had to be amputated." Old Sun sighed, his eyes never leaving the mountain. "The old guys in the wood gang are always in danger. These past few days, there hasn't been much. At most, the horses got tired and the cart got stuck."

"There's such a thing." When Yan Hui first arrived, he had seen the man Uncle Sun mentioned. At the time, he thought he was a disabled soldier, but he didn't expect there was such a heroic story. This immediately changed his impression of the forest farm.

"Actually, Lao Gao and the others aren't worried about what happened these past few days. They're just anxious to get the money and rest at this point."

As they were talking, under the moonlight, they both saw from afar the wooden gang walking down the mountain.

Gao Bo and his group went down the mountain together, and things were not as simple as Lao Sun said. Two of the sleds got stuck today, and two were broken.

Normally, the wood gang members would go down the mountain separately, but today was a bit different. The sleds ahead of them kept getting stuck, or got stuck, so the team gradually joined together and helped lift the sleds when they encountered a pit.

It took a full three hours to walk down the mountain.

After reaching the foot of the mountain, they didn't waste any time and pushed the sled together to the forest farm. Yan Hui and Old Sun from the forest farm also helped. It took them half an hour to walk these short few hundred meters.

When they arrived at the lumberyard, both the men and the horses were exhausted, and the people from the lumber gang and the forestry farm started fighting.

Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will only be harder than today. The snow on the top of the mountain is fine, but the further down we go, the worse it gets. If it weren't for everyone's professional ethics, we wouldn't even want to bring this batch of wood down.

Finally, the foresters, realizing the objective situation wouldn't allow it, agreed to the timber gang's request. Bring all the equipment down tomorrow, and the logging season will be over. We'll settle the bill the day after tomorrow morning!

Yan Hui knew that the people in the forest farm would definitely be dissatisfied, and dissatisfaction meant that the price of timber might increase, so Yan Hui thought about telling his fourth uncle the news.

While they were still discussing matters for the next day and the day after tomorrow, Yan Hui made a temporary trip back.

Back at the residence, Brother Shan and the car were not there. They were probably drinking at the foot of the mountain again and would not come back until tomorrow morning. Even if Yan Hui wanted to help his fourth uncle again, he would have to wait until tomorrow.

Back at the lumberyard, Gao Bo and the others were already heading back, so Yan Hui followed them. He had already eaten with Wang Bo, but his bag was still at the straw house, so he had to go get it and say goodbye. It looked like they would be parting ways the next day or the day after tomorrow.

On the way back, everyone was in a good mood. After a year of hard work, it was finally time to rest. Many people discussed plans for the day after tomorrow. It was said that one of the brothers in the Wood Gang had a child attending university in Fengtian, and he wanted to go see the child, which made others envious.

"Let's cook the meat tonight. I think the weather is warm. If we don't cook it today, it will go bad tomorrow." Gao Bo looked at a brother next to him and said, "You cook it. Lao Wang is not good at cooking."

"Uncle Wang." Now they were already at the door. Yan Hui suddenly thought of something, trotted into the house, looked around, and called out, but Uncle Wang was nowhere to be found!

Yan Hui immediately ran out of the house: "Uncle Gao, I don't know where Uncle Wang went!"

"Ah?" Gao Bo panicked when he heard this and immediately shouted to everyone, "Hurry up and tie up the horses! Old Wang has gone somewhere. Hurry and look for him!"

When everyone heard this, they became a little anxious. Some people went to tie up the horses, some went into the house to look for him, and some people gathered around.

Yan Hui briefly described what happened today. Gao Bo said, "Xiao Hui just came out to help us push the sled. It's only been an hour since then. If Lao Wang had come out at the beginning, he would definitely have seen us. I guess he didn't see us when we were at the forest farm, so he wanted to look for us. In other words, he should have been out for no more than half an hour."

Having said that, Gao Bo immediately began to give orders, asking three or five people to look for the way up the mountain, and asking another three or five people to take another route.

(End of this chapter)