My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 146 Strangest of Strange Things

The group chatted as they walked down the mountain, put their prey away, and prepared to wait together until dawn.

None of the men were sleepy.

They huddled around the fire, reminiscing about their past battles against the wolf pack.

They talked about how they outwitted and outmaneuvered the wolves back then.

Everyone was in high spirits.

Chen Ling listened from the side and also found it interesting.

He was covered in blood and sweat, which made him very uncomfortable. After listening for a while, he didn't stay any longer and took the dog home to wash up and go to sleep.

After daybreak, around nine o'clock, the thick fog finally dissipated completely.

Chen Ling then took his wife and sister-in-law out to the brigade to see the wolves being distributed in the village.

At this moment, the courtyard of the brigade was filled with people.

On ordinary days, this place is the most crowded place, except for the area in front of Cui the Cripple's door.

There is a flat open space outside the brigade, paved with gravel.

The villagers living nearby like to gather here for meals, or to sew shoe soles and do needlework. They often chat and gossip here, making it quite lively.

Today's wolf-sharing event is also taking place here.

Poultry and livestock that had been killed by the bites were also placed in the open space.

At this point, the marks that each family made came in handy.

The women picked out their own wives one by one, and then stood aside, not in a hurry to leave.

They chatted idly, talking about what happened last night, and also waited to see who would be the wolf.

Some people simply brought their dolls to see what wolves looked like.

Many children have never seen a wolf.

He ran around the dead wolves, shouting, "Eat wolf meat! Eat wolf meat!"

When Chen Ling arrived with his wife and sister-in-law.

Wang Lishan was squatting on a stone mill with one half missing, talking enthusiastically to someone.

"You wouldn't believe how ferocious the dogs at Fugui's house are. Even with twenty or thirty wolves standing in front of them, they weren't afraid at all. They just pounced over and in the blink of an eye, they were right next to the wolves, opening their mouths to bite. Good heavens, with that bite, the wolf's neck was bitten so badly that it slumped down like a limp noodle, and it was as dead as could be."

"After biting one, it would bite the next, making the wolf look like a chick. When the lead wolf saw this, its right eyelid twitched, and it turned around and tried to run up the mountain."

"The rich family's dog led the chase, as fast as the wind."

"We can't just stand by and watch now. Don't forget we brought hunting rifles. We're not pushovers. We're thinking, 'We'll come into our village, wreak havoc on our livestock, and think we can escape? No way!'"

"I just followed behind the dogs, raised my gun and started shooting, one shot after another, making the wolves howl. It was so exhilarating."

"What? Afraid? What's there to be afraid of? I'm not even afraid if they chase me up the mountain."

"At that time, I only had one thought: to beat all those bastards to death, skin them alive, kill them, and take them to the county town to exchange for flour."

"Hehe, I'll make pancakes as soon as I get back, and eat them for three days straight to satisfy my craving."

Wang Lishan became more and more enthusiastic as he spoke, gesturing with both hands.

The men and women around them listened with great amusement.

When they saw Chen Ling and his family approaching, they all stopped talking and greeted them warmly.

He then continued to praise the two dogs.

Upon hearing this, Heiwa and Xiaojin straightened their backs and walked with an air of arrogance and pride.

The village dogs also barked excitedly.

Even Wang Laishun said that last night, thanks to these two dogs, who led the village dogs, they were a great help.

Otherwise, with such thick fog, forget about hunting wolves; you wouldn't even know where to start chasing them, as you couldn't see which path they were taking.

Let alone trying to snatch these chickens, ducks, and sheep back from the wolves' mouths.

On the other hand, there were no dogs relentlessly chasing after them.

How can a man catch a wolf? In the past, wolf-hunting teams all rode horses.

"Fugui, after we've finished dividing the wolves, are you going to set traps on the mountain?"

"I'll go, anyway, I've finished my work in the fields and I don't have anything else to do."

"Do you have any clips at home? If not, I'll bring you one."

"Yes, of course we have clips. We keep several at home."

The main methods for hunting wolves are shooting and setting wolf traps.

Although the wolves were dealt a heavy blow this time, we still have to be vigilant and keep setting traps.

People living deep in the mountains can find wolf dens, and some even try to ambush them, only to be angered and have the entire pack of wolves killed.

However, you need to be careful when you go there, and make sure the wolves don't smell your presence.

The same applies to setting wolf traps. They must not be exposed to human scents, nor should the wolves smell the rust of the traps. Usually, the smell of cow dung or donkey dung is used to mask the odor, otherwise, given the wolves' intelligence, they will not fall for it.

As soon as I smelled it, I went far away from it.

These are all experiences from previous games against Wolves.

How would an ordinary person know this if they've never dealt with wolves?

Just like the young people in the county who ride motorcycles to ambush wolves in villages where they often appear, they often come up empty-handed.

They always cursed the wolf for being too cunning afterward.

Actually, they were too stupid and inexperienced. They didn't pay attention to the wind when they set up an ambush. When the wind blew, the human scent carried to the wolf's nose, so how could the wolf be fooled?
"The wolves are being divided up, everyone line up."

Wang Laishun shouted, and the scene became even more lively.

The wolf distribution was mainly for the people who went to hunt wolves last night.

Most of the time, it's a group of several people sharing one wolf.

Whether you sell it or eat it, it's up to you.

Someone like Chen Ling killed two wolves by himself, and his family's dogs also killed several others.

In the end, six wolves were distributed among them.

This was only because Chen Ling refused to take more, and Wang Laishun gave less.

He thinks all you need from this thing is the skin; there's not much meat to eat.

And after killing the wolves, the day to go hunting in the mountains was drawing ever closer.

There are plenty of good things in the mountains.

The remaining wolves can be distributed among the villagers.

...It was so lively when they were dividing up the wolves.

This was the first time the village had ever hunted so many wolves, and everyone was very happy.

Those with a sweet tooth would immediately ask Wang Lixian to help them skin and butcher the meat.

Wang Lixian is widely recognized as a skilled fighter.

With a few people helping out, they quickly separated the wolf skin from the meat, gutted it, removed the internal organs, washed the stomach and intestines, and cleaned the bones thoroughly.

The entire wolf pelt, including the head and tail, was intact, without a single hole pierced through it.

Everyone applauded when they saw it.

The bright red wolf meat has bulging muscles in chunks, covered with a thin layer of milky white fascia. When the fascia is cut open, the strips of meat are thinner than beef, brighter red than dog meat, without the greasiness of pork, and without the strong gamey smell of mutton.

Just looking at this wolf meat is enough to make your mouth water and whet your appetite.

But can you really say how good wolf meat tastes?

Actually not.

It's used for grilling; the meat is tough and has a strong flavor.

When boiled, the meat becomes a bit softer, but the flavor is much stronger than that of dog meat, and it's still very hard to chew.

Whether it tastes good or bad, some people just love it.

Some older people who have eaten wolf meat say they really like it.

Chen Ling didn't understand either.

If it were for my own family, I'd use more seasoning, marinate it for a longer time, and simmer it for a while; I figured the taste would be acceptable.

"Zhenzhen, do you want to eat wolf meat?" "No."

"Alright, if your sister won't eat either, then let's skin her and keep the meat to feed Heiwa and Xiaojin."

The family talked and stayed outside the brigade until almost one o'clock, past noon.

They were just waiting for Wang Lixian to completely skin the six wolves.

Before going home, Chen Ling drove the oxcart over and took the wolf meat back.

They also took the remaining internal organs from the skinning of other villagers.

Nobody eats a wolf's heart, lungs, and intestines, so they're perfect for feeding dogs.

After returning home, the young couple were in no hurry to cook lunch.

They hung the wolf pelt out to dry in the yard.

Before drying wolf pelts, you must first check if the flesh has been scraped off completely; otherwise, the pelt will spoil.

After scraping it clean, when drying it, stretch the wolf skin out and hang it up, with the fur facing outwards, the tips of the fur downwards, and the roots of the fur upwards, and drape it over the clothesline.

Use a thin stick to gently tap from top to bottom to remove dust and dirt from inside the fur.

That's it, just process it a few times.

the next day.

When Liang Yuemin and his son came to the house, they were surprised to see the wolf skin hanging in the yard. After asking Chen Ling, they learned that they had hunted wolves the night before last.

After hearing the story, the two of them stamped their feet anxiously in the courtyard, regretting that they had missed such a 'grand event'.

These days, Liang Yuemin often brings his father over.

He sought out Chen Ling to play chess and go fishing.

Or perhaps you could stroll around with his few wildcats.

I didn't come yesterday morning because of the fog, and now I regret it terribly.

I heard that Chen Ling went up the mountain yesterday afternoon and set up wolf traps.

They kept saying they'd bring a few clips with them when they came tomorrow to set them up on the mountain.

Chen Ling ignored them.

He grabbed the fishing rods and buckets and called them to go fishing at the reservoir.

However, Chen Ling wasn't very lucky today.

I fished for over an hour, it was almost 10:30 in the morning, and I hadn't caught a single small fish.

Liang Yuemin and Qin Rongxian's fish baskets were almost full.

This made him extremely depressed.

If he still couldn't catch anything, he took out his slingshot and went to shoot water birds.

"Comrade Chen Fugui, your newspaper has arrived."

The postman arrived at the village entrance.

I've delivered newspapers to him a few times, and I've gotten to know him.

Seeing that he was here, he decided not to send it home. He took out a stack of newspapers from his bulging mailbag and walked over.

After delivering it to Chen Ling, he didn't rush to leave, but stood beside them with a smile, watching them fish.

"What newspaper does Fugui subscribe to? Let me see one."

Qin Rong leaned forward and glanced over, then spoke to Chen Ling.

Upon hearing this, Liang Yuemin was not to be outdone, saying, "I...I want to see one too, give me one as well."

So the three of them continued like this, reading the newspaper, fishing, and occasionally exchanging a few words with the postman.

It's quite pleasant to enjoy the dry autumn breeze.

……

The autumn sun shines high in the sky, and there are no clouds for thousands of miles.

While Chen Ling and his friends were fishing, several cars slowly drove up from the reservoir dam and into the village.

This is a visit from the city's television station.

In addition to the two interview vehicles, county leaders also came along. When they arrived in the village, they got out of the cars and put on airs, looking quite intimidating.

Such interviews are quite simple and can be completed in two or three hours.

The village was unusually lively again, with each household gathering together to chat about this and that, discussing which reporter was good-looking, which leader was young, and so on.

However, most people are still concerned about the relief funds and just hope that they can be disbursed as soon as possible so that they can feel at ease.

The leaders and reporters don't care about these things; even if they heard about them, they wouldn't pay attention.

They now surrounded Chen Ling and his group.

The county leaders seemed to know Qin Rongxian, and they kept trying to get close to him in their conversations.

The reporters from the city television station, however, were much more naive.

Judging from the appearance and demeanor of Chen Ling and the other two, they assumed they were there to fish at the reservoir. Their conversation was completely off-topic, and they even asked if they could fish for a while.

As a result, I didn't catch many fish.

However, they caught an old turtle in the pond on the other side of the dam.

However, although this turtle is not very big, its appearance is a bit peculiar, with small bumps all over its shell, which looks somewhat unsettling.

These young reporters were just having fun, more interested in fishing than fishing. They figured they could leave the turtle to Chen Ling since they couldn't take it with them.

Chen Ling glanced at it twice and thought it was too shabby, not as good-looking as the ones he raised in his own cave, so he refused to take it.

In the end, he was grabbed by the little kids who came over to join in the fun.

Chen Ling didn't catch any fish all day and caught nothing.

It was almost noon, and they were getting ready to call Qin Rongxian and his son back when suddenly a large splash of water erupted in the water, making a sound as if someone had suddenly dove in.

"There's a big fish!"

"Fugui, look! There's a big fish in the water here!"

"Forget it, I don't care if the fish are big or small. I've been sitting here all day and I'm hungry. I'm not going to fish anymore."

Chen Ling waved his hand, saying he was having bad luck today and the fish weren't biting.

Big fish it is.

Too lazy to go fishing.

It was the reporters who had been taking pictures and captured the scene.

They whispered to each other that when there was no news, they would take it out and make a feature about a water monster or something.

Chen Ling grinned when he heard that.

I think the reporters at that time were really naive.

Later generations fabricated water monsters not only to tell mysterious stories and boost ratings, but also to promote tourism in local areas, creating gimmicks to attract tourists.

He hadn't paid much attention to it at first, but when he got back and was talking to Chen Jiang's father, Uncle Niwai, he mentioned that there was some strange thing in the reservoir that was splashing a lot of water.

Could it be that the flood two months ago washed something over here?

Qin Rongxian and his son loved hearing these strange stories, so they kept asking if they had seen clearly what it was.

Old Niwai gave them a long talk.

"Hey, what are you talking to Fugui about here?"

“Secretary, I didn’t say anything, just about the thing in the reservoir, didn’t I mention it to you a few days ago?”

"Oh? Is that what happened? There's not much to say about it. On the day it rained, my second brother and I came to clean the eagle boat, and we saw it too. There was a long... When I shone my flashlight on it, I saw a shadow swimming back and forth in the water, creating eddies bigger than millstones."

Wang Laishun gestured and shook his head, saying, "Who cares what it is? There are plenty of strange things in the water. Let's just stay away from it and not provoke it."

"That's true, but this thing is really strange. Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I can hear splashing water. It's really loud and carries far. It must be this thing stirring it up."

Old Ni grinned, picked at the mole on his forehead, and shouted.

"Oh, I see. Then I'll go back and shout it over the loudspeaker, telling the kids in the village to be careful and stay away from the reservoir if there's nothing wrong with them."

"Well, it's good to announce it. What are you going to do?"

"Go and call the leaders and reporters to lunch; lunch is ready."

(End of this chapter)