boyutpedia Chapter 5 Smashing the Dry Pot
Chapter 5 Smashing the Dry Pot
"Who are you?"
Although he knew that the person who came was Wu Laowai, who had saved his life, he still wanted to go all out with the act.
Chen Tuo still pretended not to recognize him.
"Hey buddy, let's not beat around the bush. I'm here for your broken ginseng. There are two grouse and a snow hare in the sack. Shall we trade?"
Wu Laowai wasn't sure if Chen, the educated youth who was breaking ice in the river, had really been burned out.
But what decent person would be chiseling ice to catch fish in the Hetao River at minus thirty degrees Celsius in the evening?
If Chen Tuo hadn't possessed a treasure, Wu Laowai wouldn't have come.
A century-old ginseng, let alone a damaged one.
Even a thin piece of cloth is a lifesaver in the bitter cold of winter in the Xing'an Mountains.
If you take a piece of old ginseng under your tongue, you won't freeze to death even if you sneak into a thick, dusty place.
"Snow rabbit and grouse, in exchange for ginseng scraps?"
"Yes! They're all fat rabbits and chickens that have fattened up for autumn!"
"No trade!"
"If I, Old Wu, hadn't dragged you back from the snow, you little rascal would have been stuck in the snow long ago!"
"Uncle Wu, if that's what you're saying, then I'll give it to you for free! As for the ginseng, I don't know if I have any left, I have to go back and look for it..."
"Given away for free? I can't accept that! I wouldn't dare accept it!"
Chen Tuo, who was breaking ice in the river, offered to give it away for free, but Wu Laowai, who came to take advantage, dared not accept it.
They are among the few semi-original inhabitants of the Songling Forest Area.
Wu Laowai knew all too well how difficult life was in Songling, which was almost a no-man's land, during the winter.
Songling area is also known as Songling County.
It stretches 350 li from east to west and 150 li from north to south.
Even though it had been attacked by the Japanese once.
But forty years later, apart from a limited number of river channels and wetlands, it is still covered by forests.
The forest coverage rate in the entire area is over 80% and nearly 90%, which is the target set by the forest farm.
The entire Songling Forest Area is characterized by a small population, limited land, abundant trees, and a large number of livestock, with almost all grains produced relying on external transportation.
The private plots opened by each forest farm are mostly used to grow supplementary crops such as potatoes, cabbage, and radishes.
Although Wu Laowai does not work at the forest farm.
But as a semi-native of Songling, he, like the hunters in the mountain settlements, also had a food ration.
In the forest area, in the frigid Xing'an Mountains during winter.
Although the grain rations provided by the forest farm and forestry bureau are substantial, they are not enough to ensure people can safely get through the winter.
The primary method is quantitative management, supplemented by land reclamation for farming, fishing, hunting, and mountain activities; this is also the survival guide provided by each forest farm.
If Chen, who's been brainwashed by the fever, were to try and extort money from me, I wouldn't be able to live like this anymore...
I don't want it if it's free.
Chen Tuo ignored Wu Laowai and continued chiseling ice on his own.
She was being entangled with a century-old ginseng, but didn't want to be blackmailed by Chen Tuo.
Old Wu simply put down the sack in his hand, lit his pipe, and started watching the commotion.
That's not how you smash a dry pot or dig out a dry pit...
At this time of year, the ice on the river is at least a foot thick.
If the water in the ponds of the river valley wetland is shallow.
It would be frozen by the entire wave, and the ice layer would be much thicker than a foot, a meter or a half.
Old Wu was just about to use his experience to say a few sarcastic remarks.
Chen Tuo, who was chiseling the ice, accidentally broke through the ice shell with a "crack".
"That bastard's got some serious luck!"
With a "crack," a "whooshing" sound came from the ice cave.
Without needing to hear the 'pop pop' sound from the dying crucian carp in the fishpond, Wu Laowai confirmed Chen Tuo's harvest.
Upon hearing this, Chen Tuo ignored Wu Laowai's sour remarks, took two steps back, and began to widen the entrance to the ice hole.
"Don't rush down. Let's try lighting a fire first. We just survived the snow, and now we're stuck in a stuffy cave. I'll have to pull you out again!"
Wu Laowai's words made sense. Chen Tuo stuck the ice chisel into the snow and started a campfire.
Seeing Chen Tuo plant a meter-long pine tree in the snow and set up a campfire, Wu Laowai began to look at him with suspicion.
There are no set rules for setting fires in the forest, but nobody sets fires like this.
Because the campfire stand can collapse, the sparks it generates can scatter in all directions and easily start a wildfire.
The common method used by the Songling people to start a fire is to stack matchsticks and tripods of different sizes on the ground and light them directly.
Others might not know how to start a fire, but the educated youth at the settlement were engaged in forest management and tending, and the people at the forest farm had specifically taught them how to start a fire.
Looking at the clumsily lit campfire, Wu Laowai was about to flee to avoid the trouble when Chen Tuo spoke up:
"Uncle Wu, take some fish back with you, and also take some back for the female doctor who saved me."
Chen, a former educated youth in the Songling Forest Area, might not know Wu Laowai.
But it's absolutely impossible not to recognize Da Lingzi, the pretty doctor from Songling Forest District.
"I don't need it! I'll just cut some broomcorn and take a few back with Dr. Hu."
Although the sound of crucian carp hitting the mud was incessant inside the ice cave.
But Wu Laowai knew that pheasants, rabbits, and river fish were only supplementary foods during the harsh winters of the Xingan Mountains.
Eating three meals a day is not only unbearable, but it also makes people less and less energetic.
They wanted to survive the harsh winter in the Xingan Mountains by eating meat.
Wolf meat, venison, rabbit meat, chicken, and fish are all prohibited.
Only the meat of wild animals with fat layers, such as bears, pigs, and badgers, can provide people with enough calories.
He refused Chen Tuobai's offer of fish again, and also subtly declined on behalf of the pretty doctor, Da Lingzi.
Wu Laowai ignored Chen Tuo and turned to cut down bushes and sweep branches on the bank.
Wu Laowai didn't cause any trouble, and Chen Tuo, who was eager to vent his rage, was happy to continue chiseling ice and catching fish.
After carving out a path along the shore large enough for him to go straight up and down, Chen Tuo carried two burlap sacks down into the ice hole.
The fishpond was about the same size as the gatehouse of the educated youth settlement where he lived.
Besides the crucian carp scattered all over the ground, there were also several large fish that were forty or fifty centimeters long.
As a thank-you gift, a palm-sized crucian carp seed is clearly not good enough.
Despite facing a food shortage, Chen Tuo was generous in repaying the debt of gratitude that saved his life.
However, the large fish covered in mud was not easy to catch, and I failed to catch it after several attempts.
He simply went up onto the ice and pulled an axe handle from the sled.
One stick at a time, and two large carp, one black carp, one catfish, and two mandarin fish about a foot long were flung onto the snow.
"Carp, pike, catfish balls, and mandarin fish? The old foreman's got your back! These two mandarin fish will fetch at least ten yuan at the forest farm canteen!"
The Dobukuer River in the Songling Forest Area is a tributary of the Nenjiang River, which in turn is a tributary of the Songhua River, which in turn is a tributary of the Heilongjiang River.
Therefore, the same "Three Flowers, Five Luos, and Eighteen Seeds" from Heilongjiang can be found in the Nenjiang River basin.
The appearance of the Aohua flower in the ponds of the Duobukuer River, the Xiaoyangqi River (a tributary of the Ergen River), and the two rivers is largely due to luck.
But there are many strange things happening in the Xingan Mountains.
It is equally bizarre that the only educated youth left behind at the Xiaoyangqi educated youth settlement was able to survive a night of freezing snow.
Wu Laowai could only explain these bizarre events by saying that Chen Tuo was lucky because he had the old gang leader protecting him!
"The forest farm canteen? They've already blacklisted me; they won't sell it for any amount of money!"
Thinking of the handprint that Chu Maolin forced him to put on his hand, Chen Tuo added another sentence.
"I'd rather feed them dogs than sell to them!"
Glancing at Chen Tuo, who was still holding a grudge even after being burned silly, Wu Laowai pointed to the two crape myrtle flowers on the snow crust and said:
"Dr. Hu probably won't accept your magnolia flower; you'll have to keep it for yourself..."