Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 148 Hitting the female leopard with a sledgehammer

After the heavy snowfall, everything was silent, only the smoke from cooking fires could be seen, and the chirping of swallows and warblers was not heard.

There were only two or three people on the street sweeping the snow in front of their doors, silently piling the snow under the fence.

When it was time for workers to go to work and students to go to school, a group of people suddenly appeared on the street, chatting and eating in groups, walking straight towards Dongtunkou.

Wang Biao and Liu Tianen carried shovels on their shoulders and led Xu Feng and Jin Yumantang out of the house. As long as it snowed in the Northeast, students would have to bring shovels or shovels to school the next day to clean up the playground and roads along the way. of snow.

Like when Xu Long and Xu Ning were in school, they had to carry bundles of firewood to school to burn the stove every week.

But now there is no need, because the forest farm will bring two or three loads of firewood to the school every week. Then the principal will lead the male teacher and the older students to chop firewood and play, as if it is a physical education class.

Xu Chunlin, Xu Long and other forest farm workers were not idle either. Because the locomotive specially used for snow clearing had been repaired in the provincial capital, they were afraid that the commuting train would derail.

So the workers had to walk to the forest farm and clear the snow from the train tracks along the way. Although it didn't take much effort, it was quite time-consuming.

Xu Ning was at home with nothing to do, so he turned over the leather in the lower room and took a look at the three bear bile hanging on the beam.

Two of the three bear gallbladders were taken by Xu Ning, and the smaller one was taken by Xu Chunlin and others. This value can be used to build five houses, but it contains shares of Li Fuqiang, Wang Hu, Wang Erli and others, so Xu Ning didn't have much money, so he could barely build three rooms.

He was a little restless after being a cat at home for two days.

Although it was quite relaxing to stay at home and not have to do any work, just focus on eating and drinking, but not running to the mountains these days made him feel very uncomfortable and itchy.

On this day, just after breakfast at Lao Xu's house, Wang Biao, Liu Tianen and Wang Hu came to the door. When they entered the house, they excitedly greeted Xu Ning to leave.

Liu Lizhen asked where they were going, and Wang Biao told them about going to the Hetao to pick out female leopards and throw pike.

Xu Feng rushed over, hugged Xu Ning who was putting on leggings, and begged: "Second brother, I want to play too, please take me with you, second brother..."

Liu Lizhen turned her head and said: "You take it away for her, so that you don't have to worry about me at home and let me be quiet."

"Okay, you go and put on the cotton-padded jacket." Xu Ning nodded.

"Yeah! My second brother is so good..." Xu Feng turned around and looked at Liu Lizhen, grinning and saying happily: "My mother is also good, hehe."

"Tie up your legs. Don't run around when you go up the mountain, you know? Follow me and follow my second brother." Liu Lizhen instructed.

"Yeah!" Xu Feng responded and rummaged through the cotton-padded jackets, scarves and handbags in the closet.

Xu Ning looked up at Wang Biao and asked, "Biao, have you gone to borrow Bongbingzi?"

Wang Biao replied: "I'm thinking of borrowing it later."

Xu Ning shook his head: "You and Tian En go now, carry the pickaxe, and go directly to Tunxi to wait after borrowing it."

"Hey!" Wang Biao didn't ask why, he just nodded and turned around and dragged Liu Tianen out.

Xu Ning leaned on the edge of the kang, changed his legs and put on his leggings. He glanced at Wang Hu and said, "Huzi, go home and get your gun and bring thirty bullets."

"Got it."

Since Xu Feng followed him for a walk in the mountains, Xu Ning would have to let Jin Yumantang follow him to have fun when he went to find Li Fuqiang later. Leading two and a half grown-ups and three children, armed with two guns, he was prepared and would not make any mistakes.

Xu Laowen finished tying Xu Feng's leggings and gave a few instructions. Xu Feng nodded in a muffled voice, then rushed to Xu Ning, took his hand and walked out, already impatient.

At the right time, Wang Hu climbed over the wall with a gun on his back, and then the three of them walked towards Tunxi.

After Li Fuqiang stood at the entrance of the courtyard and saw the three of them, he heard Xu Ning calling him to take Jin Yumantang up the mountain to play together. Jin Yumantang jumped up in excitement after hearing this.

Children living in the countryside at the foot of the mountain, although very close to the mountain, have strict upbringings and will not let the children go into the mountains alone. If they sneak into the mountains to play, they will definitely get a beating when they get home!

At this time, Wang Biao and Liu Tianen ran over carrying Bian Gongzi and Xi Ya, gathered together with the others, and headed towards Shuangfengling.

There were no rivers, creeks or puddles in Shuangfengling. They walked along the road less than two miles to Shuangfengling, then turned west and passed through an old forest with low terrain, heading straight for the northeastern branch.

There is a river two miles south of the Northeast Fork. It is said to be a river, but in fact it is a small stream. The water flow is crystal clear, with rapid and slow flow speeds. This kind of water quality can be drank directly, and under the stones of the creek There were many female leopards and crickets crawling around.

Crayfish, also known as freshwater crayfish, look a lot like crayfish. They live in mountain streams and rivers, hiding in rock crevices with a water depth of about 20 centimeters. They have extremely high requirements for water quality. They come out at night and hide during the day, and they like the dark. Light and drought tolerant.

There is a famous dish in Northeast China called cricket tofu, which is extremely delicious.

As for the female leopard, it is another name for the female forest frog, and the male forest frog is called Gongouzi. In the Northeast region, the collective name for male and female forest frogs is Hashma.

The most nutritional value of this hash ant is the oil in its belly, which has high value in terms of nourishment, medicine or beauty.

Hash ants mainly inhabit mountain forests, ponds, puddles and other places. They have similar habits to other frogs. They will hibernate in the cracks of rocks in winter.

Before hibernation, that is, in the fall, they will accumulate a belly of fat for the winter. When they wake up in the spring, their stomachs will be empty. At this time, no one will catch hash ants because there is nothing in their stomachs.

The best time to capture it is in autumn and winter. If you shine a flashlight before autumn, it will be motionless and waiting to be caught. In winter, they like to hibernate under stones. As long as they hit a big stone with a sledgehammer twice, they will be stunned. If you remove the stone, you can see them floating on the water.

Although the journey was relatively long, Xu Feng and Jin Yu Mantang did not complain. Instead, they followed Xu Ning and others with great interest and walked forward with their eyes shining.

As for the Bongbingzi carried on the shoulders of Wang Biao and Liu Tianen, it looks like a large spear, about 1.23 meters long.

This glacier is different from those of later generations that welded steel pipes. It is made of old elm wood with a bowl-mouth diameter. The head is first sharpened, put on a steel head, and then wrapped with a layer of iron to fix it. At the upper end of the glacier There are one or two finger-thick wooden sticks running across the handle made of old elm wood. After Xu Ning led everyone to the Northeast Fork, he walked two miles south. It was already past nine o'clock.

When Wang Biao and Liu Tianen saw the Hetao, they smiled, greeted Xu Ning and others, and ran quickly towards the Hetao.

This river is called Xiaoshi River and flows along the mountains from south to north. The source of Xiaoshi River is deep in the mountains south of Gongyao Ridge.

"Second brother! Shall we start the whole process?" Wang Biao said impatiently.

Liu Tianen put down Bongbingzi, "Second brother, what should we do? Should I use a sledgehammer?"

Xu Feng chirped: "Hey, you two can't just hang out for a while, just listen to my second brother's arrangements. If you continue to be so anxious, I won't bring you two here next time!"

"Pull me away..." Liu Tianen rolled his eyes.

Xu Feng pursed her lips and grabbed Xu Ning's arm, "Second brother, look at my brother, he told me to get out."

Liu Tianen's eyes widened, "Who told you to get out? I asked you to stay aside."

"Then why don't you just let me go..."

Xu Ning smiled and said: "You two, stop making trouble, let's go forward, there's nothing to do with this."

"Got it."

Xu Feng was like a silly elder sister, waving her hands in front of her and striding forward, as if everyone behind her were her soldiers.

Xu Ning and others picked up rain boots, nets, sacks and other items and followed behind.

Walk forward fifty or sixty meters and you will see a shallow puddle.

This shallow puddle is not big, only about three or four square meters, but there are six or seven large rocks in the puddle.

Xu Ning pointed at the puddle and said, "Just leave it here!"

"Second brother, should I go down and swing the sledgehammer?" Wang Biao volunteered.

"Okay, be gentle when you swing."

"OK."

Li Fuqiang handed him the rain boots. While Wang Biao was wearing the rain boots, Wang Hu and Liu Tianen bent down to pick up the net. The two set up the net at the lower reaches of the stream to fix the stones. This was to prevent any fish that slipped through the net from escaping. .

This net was made by Li Fuqiang using nylon mesh bags used to hold eggs and cans. Wool was tied to the larger holes to make the holes smaller, just enough to catch the hash ants.

Wang Biao put on his rain boots and took a big step into the water, "Hey, I...the water is getting cold."

"Haha, don't you want to do it yourself?" Wang Hu gloated.

Wang Biao gave him a sidelong glance, "What do you know? This is calling a scholar to die for his confidant. It's uneducated!"

"You are very educated." Wang Hu curled his lips and said.

Xu Ning smiled secretly, thinking that this is how a scholar dies for his confidant?

Li Fuqiang handed him the sledgehammer on the shore. Wang Biao took it and stood downstream, swinging the sledgehammer toward a stone.

clang!

A crisp sound came, making people's ears buzz.

"Biao, you don't have to use so much force." Xu Ning ordered.

"Hehe...Second brother, aren't I holding my family back so much? Give it a few shakes to cheer me up."

Wang Biao handed the sledgehammer back to Li Fuqiang, and then reached into the water with his bare hands to move the big stone.

"This water is so cold!"

Wang Biao used a lot of force to lift up the big stone, and then he saw that the originally clear water suddenly turned turbid.

Everyone stared at the water without blinking. Li Mantang pointed at Wang Biao's crotch and shouted: "Female leopard! Uncle Biao, it's stuck under your crotch."

Wang Biao lowered his head and took a look. There was indeed a female leopard, with her yellowed belly turned over and her hind legs straightened, lying flat on the water and floating.

He grabbed the female leopard and threw it to the shore. "You're so big, second brother, take a look!"

Xu Ning lowered his head and glanced, "Well, there must be a lot of them here, let's fix them quickly."

"OK!"

This female leopard is slightly larger, with her hind legs stretched out as long as a hand, and there must be oil in her belly.

Wang Biao caught three in a row, and Wang Hu and Liu Tianen, who were blocking the flow from behind, also caught two smaller ones. Xu Ning asked them to release them for the little toads, otherwise they would have nothing to eat in the coming year.

Then Wang Biao used a sledgehammer to knock on the remaining rocks and found six or seven female leopards and two male dogs. Li Fuqiang collected them all on the shore and threw them all into the sack.

(End of this chapter)