Wild 1979: From Fishing and Hunting to Becoming a Literary Master

Chapter 85 Deer Blood Feast

Wearing wet wool felt socks inside their big boots, they, along with Wu Laowai, drove the wolf pack toward the snow-covered slope not far away.

Chen Tuo did it with great ease and comfort, while Wu Laowai on the other side also stood tall and proud.

Without the two of them last night, the reindeer herd at the Dobukur Evenk settlement would certainly have been lost.

But the actual situation was far more serious than Wu Laowai had anticipated.

For Bailong, last night, her tribe's young and strong men were almost wiped out by the wolf pack.

For all the hunters in the ditches and ponds, last night, life and death were separated by only a gust of white wind!

As hunters in the mountains, they are not afraid of hunting at night, but they are afraid of being surrounded by wolves in the blizzard at night.

When they went down the mountain to look after the reindeer herd in the deer pen, the group only brought hunting bullets, about a dozen or twenty rounds per person.

Last night, a pack of wolves appeared in the ditch, and the Evenki hunters had just set up their hunting stance.

Who would have thought that the mountain wind, carrying fresh snow, would whip up a white blizzard in the mountains.

The wolf pack began to harass sporadically in the blizzard, and dozens of young Evenki men were already prepared to die in the snowstorm.

This is the nature of natural disasters in the mountains; when you really have to face them, there's nothing you can do.

They rode up the mountain to retrieve ammunition and call for help.

The settlement on the mountain has been reduced to a few able-bodied men and women, with the majority remaining elderly, women, and children.

If the wolf pack takes advantage of the white blizzard to launch a surprise attack on the settlement, then the reindeer herding tribe of Nadobukur will become a thing of the past.

Last night, before Chen Tuo and Wu Laowai scattered the wolf pack, Bai Long and dozens of hunters were preparing to fight the wolf pack hand-to-hand.

If the two of them don't appear, the wolf pack's all-out attack will begin soon.

As a result, Chen Tuo recklessly insisted on going up the mountain overnight, while Wu Laowai, under the influence of alcohol, tried to show off, but ended up saving the Evenki hunters in the ditch.

As dawn broke and the wind stopped, there was no need for two people to surround and encircle them.

The Evenki hunters, who had just faced death, mounted their horses.

They didn't use guns; instead, they swung the wolf-beating mallets that hung from their whips and began chasing down the scattered wolves.

"Uncle Lao Wai, thank you so much for coming up the mountain overnight. Without you, our tribe would be finished..."

The white dragon that galloped in on horseback no longer possessed the dashing spirit it had shown in the Hetao region that day.

His white fur coat was covered in frozen snow and ice, and he looked disheveled.

The white horse beneath him was covered in bloody claw marks and bite marks, clearly indicating that it had fought a close battle with a pack of wolves.

Recognizing Wu Laowai from afar, not only Bai Long came up, but also Su Dao and Morigen, whom Chen Tuo was familiar with.

These two came to Songling on reindeer sleds. Last night, they hunted a pack of wolves, and they were responsible for leading the pack on foot.

Having spent the night in the wind and snow, the hem of his fur coat was frozen stiff, making his journey through the snow rather comical.

"Old Wai! Brother Chen Tuo! Without you guys, we'd probably be doomed in the mountains..."

After getting close, Su Dao patted Wu Laowai twice, and without any hesitation, he took out a wine flask from Wu Laowai's arms and took a big gulp.

"I have to thank your brother Chen Tuo for this. If he hadn't insisted on going up the mountain overnight and bringing me here in a sedan chair, I wouldn't have bothered with that opium den..."

Even though he was already sober, Wu Laowai, who had almost died in the opium den last night, was still filled with lingering fear.

The terrifying thing about an old opium smoker is not that he can't see, but the extreme cold that comes with it.

Wearing a cotton-padded coat and a cloak, they were not afraid of wind and snow.

But exposed hands, feet, and head are not allowed.

If you can't cover your face, within a few hours, you'll be frozen from head to toe in an old opium pipe. Just thinking about how you die is terrifying.

Of course, if you happen to meet someone like Chen Tuo, who knows nothing but knows how to drag dozens of kilograms of coal up the mountain.

The old opium den is nothing special; as long as you can build a fire and light the coals, you can stay in the old opium den all day without any problems.

But who the hell would bring firewood, coal, and diesel fuel when they actually go hiking in the mountains?

If you bring nothing, unless there's a large pile of pine torches nearby, you won't be able to light a campfire even with firewood and fire, and you'll still freeze to death.

In Wu Laowai's view, his thoughts and preparations for going up the mountain last night had nothing to do with him.

Even without Chen Tuo as a partner, an old mountain dog like him would still have died in the mountains.

"Huh? There's a smoke storm on the mountain? How did you two get out here?"

Unlike Chen Tuo, Wu Laowai, and Bai Long, Su Dao and Morigen would travel back and forth across the Yangtze River dozens of times every winter.

Every few times they would encounter white-haired winds and old smoke storms, but they were able to get through them safely thanks to their heavy reindeer hide tents.

With tents made of double-layered reindeer hides, they can stay in the opium den for several days once it's set up and a fire is lit.

If you don't have a tent, you can try lying down next to a reindeer.

But Su Dao and Morigen had never tried it before.

Because of the extreme cold in the White Wind and the Old Smoky Pit, which can even freeze reindeer to death, no one dares to joke about the extreme cold of the North.

"This kid walked out with his head down, pretty tough, right? Right? It's his father, isn't it?"

Speaking of Chen Tuo's braving the white smoke from the opium den last night, Wu Laowai, who was with him, also looked very proud.

Braving the old opium den is not a foolish thing for an ordinary person to do.

Let alone humans, even wolves would freeze to death in the blinding white wind!

"Hey, I was just worried because I heard gunfire coming from the mountains."

Unaware of the sarcasm or teasing in Wu Laowai's words, Chen Tuo became quite polite.

"Chen, you should think carefully about what I said in Hetao. You live at the foot of the mountain and I live on the mountain. It won't stop you from finding a wife down there..."

After Wu Laowai finished his performance, Chen Tuo was very polite, but Bai Long, who was riding on horseback, misunderstood the purpose of their visit.

She thought that Chen Tuo had taken a liking to her, which was why he rushed up the mountain to rescue her that very night.

"Kid, this is feasible! One up the mountain, one down the mountain... If you're capable, Bai Long can even introduce you to girls from other settlements..."

Thinking about how he almost froze to death in the mountains last night, Wu Laowai's words became anything but serious.

The white dragon on horseback once again confused a joke with the truth.

"That's great! Uncle Su Dao's daughter, Su Mo, hasn't found a man yet!"

Su Daoben should have explained Bai Long's words to Chen Tuo and Wu Laowai.

But no one knows what he was thinking; he just stood aside, smiling without saying a word.

Seeing Wu Laowai's serious expression and Su Dao and Mo Rigen's smiling faces, Bai Long misunderstood again.

"The Evenki horse-taming tribe and the Daur dog-taming tribe in Songling also have beautiful girls around my age, and I can introduce them to you..."

Wu Laowai didn't chime in, Su Dao and Mo Rigen just watched the show with smiles, but Chen Tuo, the main character, couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop introducing yourself, I'm starving after playing all night, could you get me something to eat first?"

Apart from the piece of fried bear meat he ate on the way up the mountain last night, Chen Tuo didn't shovel bear oil into his mouth like Wu Laowai did.

That stuff was so greasy that it made Chen Tuo lose his appetite. A piece of fried bear meat coated in bear fat and so salty was enough to make him lose his appetite.

What he craves most right now is light and refreshing frozen fish slices, or raw fish.

Looking back at the tribesmen wielding whips to beat wolves on the snowy plain, Bailong pointed to the deer pen and said:

"After they finish hunting the wolves, we'll go back to the mountain and eat the best reindeer meat. Uncle Su, could you go and help us choose a male reindeer from this year?"

Upon hearing that Bai Long wanted to choose the male reindeer from that year, Wu Laowai looked at Su Dao and Morigen with a mocking expression.

These two old geezers, their fur coats frozen stiff, simultaneously let out not-so-kind laughter...