Chapter 208 Spending the Night in the Mountains
To avoid being disturbed and having their prey stolen, Sheng Xiping and his companions didn't set traps near the forest farm today, but instead took a long walk.
It was almost six o'clock, and it would probably be close to ten o'clock by the time they left the woods and returned to the forest farm.
"Let's not go home tonight, let's find a place to stay in these mountains for the night."
Tomorrow morning, we'll first go to the vicinity of that warm spring and see if we can ambush any more prey. Then we'll return along the same route, and whatever we've caught in the snare, we'll drag it back.
Sheng Xiping glanced at the sky and calculated the journey. He felt that going back would be too much trouble, so it would be more convenient to stay overnight in the mountains.
When hunters go into the mountains, they may not encounter any prey or any particular situation.
Sometimes we go too far, and sometimes we get so engrossed in chasing prey that we get lost, so we have to spend the night in the mountains. That's all normal.
In the past, when Sheng Xiping followed his master into the mountains, he often lived in the mountains.
However, the others didn't have much of this experience, and everyone was quite excited when they heard they would be living in the mountains.
“Okay, okay, then let’s stay in the mountains for one night.”
They're all young lads, the kind of people who're fearless and carefree. So what if they want to stay? What's the big deal?
If you want to stay in the mountains, you can't choose a place near the rocky cliffs, because the wind is too strong there and it will be very cold at night.
So, at Sheng Xiping's suggestion, the group went to the valley with the warm spring mentioned earlier and found a sheltered, sunny spot on the hillside.
Before it got completely dark, everyone quickly cut down trees, stripped bark, and cut grass to build a temporary shelter.
The makeshift shelters in the mountains don't need to be too nice; they're just simple wooden poles about the thickness of an arm, with the branches crossing over each other for stability.
Then add some shorter wooden poles to form a cone-shaped main body.
Then they covered it with birch bark and dry grass to shield it from the wind and snow, and the simple shelter was built.
In some places, this is called a fairy pillar, while in others it is called a "cuo luo zi".
Sheng Xiping and his six friends could easily build a shack.
It took less than an hour to cut down the trees and peel off the bark.
The roof of the shack was not covered with bark or thatch, but left open for ventilation.
The group built a fire inside the shack, and the smoke drifted out from the top.
Changbai Mountain itself is a dormant volcano with abundant geothermal resources, and there are countless warm springs of all sizes in the mountain.
In winter, the warm spring water does not freeze and continues to flow from below, forming a stream along the valley.
By the firelight, the group skinned the two musk deer and then cleaned them near the warm spring.
Make a few cuts on the meat with a knife. There are no other seasonings, only salt, so just sprinkle some salt on it.
Then the prepared deer is fixed to a tree branch about the thickness of a thumb and placed over a fire to be slowly roasted.
When grilling meat, you can't rush it. You have to turn it frequently and grill it slowly, bit by bit, so that the inside is cooked through.
As the meat is grilled at high temperatures, the fat inside slowly seeps out, forming small bubbles on the surface of the meat and gradually releasing an enticing aroma.
The group ate lunch in the morning, wandered around in the mountains in the afternoon, and ended up spotting musk deer again.
In order to hide and avoid being discovered, they didn't dare to light a fire or eat anything in the afternoon. They endured until now, and were already starving.
The enticing aroma of roasted meat at that moment was enough to make anyone's mouth water.
"Is it ready yet? Can we eat now? Oh no, I'm starving!"
Pan Fusheng stared at the sizzling, oily meat in front of him and kept muttering to himself.
"No, bake it a little longer, otherwise it will give you diarrhea."
We're in the mountains, we don't have any medicine. If we get diarrhea, it could kill us.
Sheng Xiping glanced at the meat and realized it wasn't cooked enough, so he told Pan Fusheng and the others not to rush and to make sure the meat was thoroughly cooked before eating.
"The steamed buns are ready, you can eat them first."
During the Lunar New Year, most families eat steamed buns, so they must have brought steamed buns with them when they went up the mountain.
Sheng Xiping was in charge of grilling the meat, while the others skewered steamed buns on branches and grilled them over the fire as well.
Those steamed buns were easy to bake; in no time, the outside was baked to a golden brown and crispy, while the inside remained warm and soft.
"Brother, what are you saying? If there's meat, who's going to eat the steamed bun first?"
Pan Fusheng and Zhang Zhijun let out a wail. The meat was right in front of them, and they were so hungry they could hardly stand it. Who had the appetite to eat steamed buns?
Sheng Xiping smiled upon hearing this, took out a knife, and sliced the meat off piece by piece, placing it on a piece of birch bark for Zhang Zhijun and the others to eat first.
"Eat it with steamed buns, and there's hot water in the teacup, don't drink cold water."
At this point, no one cared about formalities anymore; they simply reached out, grabbed slices of meat, and stuffed them into their mouths.
"Mmm, mmm, delicious, so delicious, so fragrant."
When people are starving, anything will taste good. Of course, musk deer meat is indeed delicious and can also be used for medicinal purposes.
Medical books record that musk meat is warm in nature and sweet in taste, and can treat abdominal ailments.
And so, they grilled and sliced the cooked meat, eating grilled meat with steamed buns, and drinking snow water when they were thirsty.
Musk deer are not very big, only about 20 pounds each. After skinning and gutting them, there wasn't much left. In the end, both musk deer were roasted and eaten.
Everyone enjoyed the meal immensely, and by the end, they were all rubbing their bellies and saying they were stuffed.
After a satisfying meal, it's time to sleep.
The group was covered with birch bark and dry grass, with a layer of animal hide blankets on top. Even though it was snowing heavily underneath, they didn't feel cold at all.
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