Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 242 Tang Sanzang Enters the Demon's Den
I rode my horse to Team 9, where the layout was different from Teams 6 and 5.

Team 6 is a line running from the front to the back of the slope. Team 5 is divided into two parts: one part is the old Lu family house built around the pond, and the other part is a row of earthen houses built on the ridge, which looks like a lollipop when viewed from above.

Team 9 was built facing south on a small hillside. The terrain there was similar to that of Team 6, but the hillside of Team 6 ran north-south. According to the rule of building houses facing south, it naturally became a line.

The hillside of Team 9 runs east-west, so naturally all the houses were built on the south slope. Four or five rows of houses were built from the bottom to the top of the slope, but there were no front or back yards, only "left yard" and "right yard".

In other words, their yard and vegetable garden were built on both sides of the house, with their neighbors in front and behind.

I came here once before when Chen Fan taught how to cook soft-shelled turtles, and now that I'm back, I still find the layout of the houses very interesting.

Chen Fan rode his horse slowly along the dirt road, greeting the villagers standing by the roadside. He glanced at the paths on both sides from time to time and chuckled softly, "This place really does feel like a mountain house."

Zhang Wenliang laughed and said, "It's just a small hill, only a bit short."

His haul today was also quite good. Chen Fan specifically targeted the larger animals, but he didn't mind hunting them all, and he caught quite a few rabbits and badgers. Although he had to hand over a portion of his catch when hunting alone, the rest, if processed carefully and saved, could last him two or three months, making it a very fruitful day.

The two chatted and laughed, and soon arrived at a large open space at the top of the slope.

At this time, a large pile of prey was stacked on the field, but it was basically just a few kinds: foxes, weasels, badgers, and hares, but not even a roe deer.

That makes sense, though. Roe deer are too conspicuous to hide in a place like Lujiawan, which doesn't have many large forests. They might be found in the neighboring Qingshan Commune.

The prey before him was somewhat beyond Chen Fan's expectations.

Normally, it doesn't seem like much, just a few dozen scattered, unconnected groves of trees. But I never expected there to be so many things here. It seems the ecological environment here is quite good.

He didn't realize that sometimes things can be really dramatic.

As is well known, the first Wildlife Protection Law was promulgated in 1988 and came into effect in March of the following year.

So that year, many people and mainly organizations across the country rushed to carry out organized, large-scale hunting before the law took effect, and they were killing as many fish as they could, as if they wanted to kill them all in their lifetime.

Take the roe deer as an example. In 87, the national census showed that there were more than one million of them. However, within six months, one million disappeared. By the following year, it was almost impossible to see this once very common animal in the wild.

Continuing on, the number of roe deer did not increase but decreased. In the new century, the number of wild roe deer remained at around 10,000 for 20 consecutive years, and there was no improvement until Chen Fan's time travel. Compared to 1987, it was not even a fraction of that.

The roe deer is almost at the bottom of the food chain. With so many roe deer, there are many other wild animals. So it's not surprising that such a small place as Lujiawan can catch so much prey.

This was because the militia members were following the ancient adage of "attacking the big but not the small," otherwise they would have gained even more.

Upon seeing the two of them, Wu Fengfei and Zhong Zihong, the captain of Team 9, came forward to greet them.

Wu Fengfei immediately noticed what was on their horses and quickly said, "Company Commander, Teacher Chen, you need to process your game quickly, drain the blood, and skin it, otherwise it will start to rot."

Zhang Wenliang didn't stand on ceremony. He dismounted from the mule, took the two baskets off the ground, and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you."

Chen Fan also unloaded his two large sacks, and someone immediately carried them aside.

Two horses were led away to be fed, while the others gathered around to see what they had caught.

Zhang Wenliang's basket was fine; everything inside was clearly visible. Several women immediately carried the basket away and took knives to skin and debone it.

Chen Fan's two large burlap sacks, however, had a strong stench even before they were opened. Once the sacks were opened, a rich "body odor" burst out, causing people to involuntarily take three steps back.

That's why Chen Fan used burlap sacks instead of baskets to carry his prey.

Team 9 captain Zhong Zihong looked at Chen Fan in surprise, "Teacher Chen, you only shot foxes?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "No, it's just that I wanted to collect some fox pelts, so I traded my other prey with other teams for foxes."

"Oh, I see."

Zhong Zihong nodded in realization, then called out to the person beside him, "Ninth Brother, how many foxes did we catch today?"

A voice came from the crowd, "Three."

Zhong Zihong: "Take care of it, peel off the skin and give it to Teacher Chen to take away."

"okay."

Chen Fan opened his mouth wide and turned to look at Zhang Wenliang.

Zhang Wenliang laughed heartily, "Since Captain Zhong is so kind, you should accept it."

Chen Fan hesitated for two seconds, then said to Zhong Zihong, "Since Captain Zhong is so kind, I can't be ungrateful and I'll accept these few pieces of leather."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Zihong's smile widened, and he was about to speak when Chen Fan said, "However, since Company Commander Zhang and I are visiting, we can't come empty-handed. Consider the fox meat I brought as a gift; you can't refuse it." Hearing this, Zhong Zihong's face stiffened, and he said with a bitter expression, "Teacher Chen, you have 10 foxes here, and the meat is more expensive than the pelts. A fox pelt only costs two yuan, but a fox's meat can easily sell for more than two yuan. Aren't you just giving us money away? If the other teams find out, they'll gossip about me behind my back."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "I didn't say I refused when you gave me a fox pelt. Besides, it's just a matter of reciprocity, why be so calculating? If anyone says anything strange, let them come find me."

Zhong Zihong was speechless and could only look to Zhang Wenliang for help.

Zhang Wenliang chuckled and said, "Okay, you guys take care of the hides for Xiao Chen. By 'take care of,' I mean tan them. Then we'll send the hides directly to Teacher Chen later."

Zhong Zihong nodded immediately and said seriously, "No problem. Old Peng in our team used to work in the provincial hunting team. He broke his leg and came back from the hunting team. He knows how to tan leather, and his work is no worse than that of a regular factory. I'll have Old Peng process these fox pelts in a bit."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan became interested. He hadn't expected that Team 9 would have someone like this.
Zhang Wenliang nodded, then said to Chen Fan, "Even if it's a gift delivered to your door, there's no reason to send 10 fox meats at once. This gift is enough to marry a wife. Which young lady from Team 9 have you taken a fancy to?"

Upon hearing this, the people around burst into laughter and started to jeer.

“Teacher Chen, the girls in our Team 9 are quite pretty. Since you’re not married yet, why don’t you look for someone in our Team 9?”

“We not only have beautiful girls here, but also excellent land for building houses. Look at this hilltop, you can choose any location you like. Old Yang from Team 6 will give you a two-acre yard, but we'll give you a six-acre yard, three times bigger than his.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wenliang immediately waved his hands impatiently, "Go away, go away, you're just making trouble. If you try to poach people now, Old Yang will tear me apart."

Another burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.

Zhang Wenliang stopped the men, but the married women who were busy nearby started to stir things up again, each one eager to watch the excitement and shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Teacher Chen, I have four nieces. Just say the word and I'll bring them out for you to choose from."

"Go away, you think you can get all the good things? My nieces are no better than yours."

Some didn't even make a sound; they just called out, "Xiaofeng, Xiaoli, Xiaoqing... Teacher Chen is here! Come out quickly!"

Laughter and greetings filled the air, and a group of girls were playing around nearby, seemingly shy, but none of them left.

Chen Fan was naturally speechless. He was just delivering some fox meat, and now he was being treated like Tang Sanzang who had entered a den of demons.
Then he glanced at someone next to him and thought, "It's all Zhang Wenliang's fault!"

Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he shouted, "I'm only 16 this year, I'm still young. But Company Commander Zhang should have been married a long time ago, you should go find him!"

Zhang Wenliang, who was watching Chen Fan make a scene from the sidelines, suddenly froze, glaring at Chen Fan through gritted teeth, "You little bastard, you're not being fair."

Before Chen Fan could speak, an older woman shouted, "Don't push anyone! Neither of you are getting away today!"

This remark was met with another burst of laughter.

After the laughter subsided, Zhang Wenliang said to Chen Fan and Zhong Zihong, "Neither of you should be so generous as to give them all away, nor should you refuse anything. I'll be the referee. You take four of Teacher Chen's ten foxes, and we'll each take two. That's enough to get the gist of it."

Upon learning that they would only accept four pieces of meat, Zhong Zihong felt relieved and immediately nodded, "Okay, let's do it that way."

They had all discussed it and agreed, so Chen Fan naturally wouldn't force the meat out of them, and that was settled.

Zhong Zihong then smiled and said, "Teacher Chen, I heard from Liu Jujiang in your team that you are a master chef. Could you give me some pointers?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "That's just Master Liu being too kind. When it comes to preparing a banquet, I can't compare to him."

Wu Fengfei laughed from the side, "That's still better than us."

Chen Fan was about to be polite when Zhang Wenliang pulled him away, saying, "Just go and take a look. We'll be eating later!"

Hearing this, Chen Fan felt it made a lot of sense.

Meanwhile, on a row of shelves, prey were being skinned upside down. Once skinned, the prey were taken to a cutting board on the other side, chopped into pieces, and then washed with hot water.

Along with the steam, several kinds of fishy and pungent smells filled the entire field and spread in all directions.

Chen Fan looked around and whispered to Zhong Zihong, "The game has a very strong fishy smell. Simply washing it with hot water won't remove much of it."

First, soak the meat in clean water several times to remove all the blood. Then blanch it in hot water with ginger, scallions, and wine to further remove any unpleasant odor. Finally, stir-fry it with spices and then simmer it over low heat to minimize the fishy smell.

As Zhong Zihong listened, he nodded. After Chen Fan finished speaking, he immediately raised his head and called over two women, repeating Chen Fan's words.

Then he smiled at Chen Fan and said, "Teacher Chen, is there anything else you need to tell me?"

Chen Fan shook his head. "There's nothing else. This is just like turtle. The key is to remove the fishy smell. As long as you get rid of the fishy smell and stew the meat until it's tender, that's fine. As for the method, it's not important."

Zhong Zihong laughed and said, "It has to be Teacher Chen. I learned another trick today."

(End of this chapter)