This Torreya grandis tree is very old and bears many fruits. Even though Gao Mingcheng is nimble, he cannot pick all of them.
But he was not greedy, mainly because he only had a small pocket and if he picked too many, he wouldn't be able to put them all back.
By the time we had almost finished picking, it was already noon.
They had to take cars, climb mountains, and look for traces of prey, all of which took a lot of time.
Gao Mingcheng looked around and thought for a while, and decided not to go and meet up with Gao Guobing and the others. He prepared to make a fire and barbecue by himself.
Before going out, he brought matches and salt. With these two things, he could make a fire and grill meat at any time.
He first found a water source, and then picked up some dry firewood. At this moment, the mountain was full of fallen leaves and dead branches, so it was easy to find firewood.
Soon, a fire was lit, and the processed rabbit meat was placed on the fire and slowly roasted.
Staying alone in the deep mountains, the surroundings were extremely quiet, with occasional faint sounds from the fire. The rabbit meat was roasted in the flames, and hot steam gradually rose. After the fat was squeezed out, a sizzling sound immediately came out.
People who are not used to this silence may feel scared, but Gao Mingcheng is used to it. He is not afraid, but inevitably feels a little lonely. At this moment, he misses Black Tiger and the elf.
With the company of the two dogs, he felt a lot more relaxed when going into the mountains to hunt. Black Tiger's calmness and Elf's playfulness always made him smile.
Gao Mingcheng smiled and lowered his head to take care of the fire. Since there was no big firewood, he could only add some firewood from time to time to maintain the temperature of the fire.
Under the combined effects of time and temperature, the rabbit meat stuck on the branches was finally cooked and exuded a meaty aroma.
However, since it was grilled over an open flame, there were traces of burnt and smoked parts on the surface of the rabbit meat. Gao Mingcheng took out a dagger and cut off that part before eating it.
The roasted rabbit meat is only marinated with salt, so the texture is a bit ordinary, but it is fresh and has a burnt aroma when eaten hot.
After eating a whole roasted rabbit, Gao Mingcheng carefully put out the fire to ensure that a single spark would not start a prairie fire.
"Let's go and continue looking for wild boars!" Gao Mingcheng encouraged himself, holding a bag of Torreya nuts in one hand and a yellow muntjac he had hunted before in the other.
This yellow muntjac is a male, not small in size, weighing about 50 to 60 kilograms.
Gao Mingcheng hadn't caught a yellow muntjac for a while, so he was quite happy after getting this one.
As for the wild boar, this time he didn't plan to hit a big wild boar, but a small one, one weighing no more than a hundred pounds.
Without a hunting dog to lead the way, Gao Mingcheng can only rely on his own experience and luck to find prey.
Gao Mingcheng followed the traces left on the ground and walked forward. The further he went, the more difficult the mountain road became. When he saw that there were mostly bare rocky mountains in front of him, Gao Mingcheng knew that there would be no prey ahead, so he could only change direction and continue looking.
After searching for more than an hour, Gao Mingcheng finally made a discovery. He did not find the herd of wild boars that were active during the day, but he found a wild boar cave!
The cave was hidden behind a cluster of evergreen vines, but it had rained a few days ago and the ground was wet, so there were obvious footprints left at the entrance.
More than a hundred meters away, Gao Mingcheng put down what he was holding, then quietly approached the cave with a gun.
He looked inside carefully. The light was dim, but he could still see clearly what was inside. A group of wild boars occupied this natural cave and were sleeping soundly.
Gao Mingcheng's movements were extremely light, and even when he got close to the cave, he did not wake up the wild boars. He looked at them one by one, and finally chose one of the right size.
With a gunshot, the sleeping wild boar was instantly awakened and ran out like crazy.
At this time, Gao Mingcheng had already hidden himself. After all the wild boars in the cave ran away, he leisurely went in to collect the spoils.
Although it's a bit unfair, it's also a kind of hunting.
Gao Mingcheng picked up the wild boar that was killed by one blow. He estimated that it weighed about 120 kilograms. This weight was quite good. Even if he walked in the mountains with the wild boar on his back, no one would question him.
Since he had hunted a wild boar as he wished and the time was almost up, Gao Mingcheng walked towards the place where they had agreed to meet.
He carried a wild boar on one shoulder and a muntjac and a bag in the other hand, and returned with a great harvest.
After about half an hour, he arrived at the meeting place, and someone was already there.
They are the person in charge of the forest farm and Director Chen and others.
They were sitting on a huge rock to rest, with their prey piled at their feet.
Seeing Gao Mingcheng coming over, Director Chen immediately said with a smile: "As expected of someone who has hunted a black bear, you went into the mountains to hunt alone and got so much."
When Gao Mingcheng hunted a black bear, he took it to the county to sell it. The person who was most active in buying bear meat at that time was Director Chen.
Gao Mingcheng smiled, put the wild boar and muntjac on the ground, pointed at the bag and said, "I accidentally found a Torreya grandis tree. There were still fruits on the tree, so I picked some."
The head of the forest farm was surprised and said, "You walked quite far!"
He walked forward, opened his pocket, looked at the green fruit inside, and said, "This fruit needs to be processed before it can be eaten. Do you know how to process it?"
Gao Mingcheng said he knew that this thing was similar to a walnut. The outer skin had to be fermented first, then removed and dried, and then fried. After it was cooked, it could be peeled and eaten.
Gao Mingcheng's bag weighs no more than 20 to 30 kilograms. After removing the false skin, drying and frying, it will be even lighter. It would be considered quite good if it could hold two to three kilograms of fruit.
Although Gao Mingcheng said he knew how to deal with it, the head of the forest farm, perhaps because he was afraid that Gao Mingcheng didn't know, or perhaps he was deliberately showing off, explained the method in public, and finally said: "Because the distance is long and the quantity is small, our forest farm does not have a special place to go into the mountains to pick the fruit for processing."
Director Chen said, "This Torreya grandis has been around in our area since ancient times. People in the past even called it Juren fruit. How about this, can you get some saplings and plant some in the forest farm?"
The head of the forest farm naturally nodded when his boss said so, and said, "The fruit of the Torreya grandis tree is its seed, but it takes eight years from the germination of the seed to the fruiting."
At this time, Torreya grandis nuts perform averagely in the market economy due to their yield and fame. Even if someone wants to plant them, they will give up because it takes a long time for them to bear fruit.
After hearing this, Gao Mingcheng decided to plant a batch of crops in Xiaofushan.
If it can be grown successfully, it can be an economic crop. Even if it fails, his loss will not be big.
Just as everyone was smoking and chatting, Gao Guobing and his friends finally came back.
Gao Guobing had a smile on his face. He and Xiao Jinfeng each carried a wild boar and walked towards this side with difficulty.
When he put the wild boar on the ground, Gao Guobing swung his arms and sighed, "I'm old now, and my physical fitness is not as good as when I was young."
Xiao Jinfeng smiled and said, "If Director Gao hadn't accidentally fallen, it would have been no problem for him to carry a wild boar by himself."
After hearing what he said, everyone looked at Gao Guobing's body and found that his pants were covered in mud, and there were mud and scratches from tree branches on his palms.
"Old Gao, why don't you take it easy!" Director Chen said with a laugh.
Gao Guobing smiled helplessly. He was so eager to hunt that he didn't pay attention to his feet and slid down the slope. Fortunately, the slope was gentle and there was no big danger. He just hurt his butt a little.
"We all have a good harvest today, but after the prey dies, we have to open it as soon as possible. So after we go down the mountain, we will simply process the prey in the forest farm staff compound, and then several leaders will take it back." said the person in charge of the forest farm.
Then he personally helped Director Chen to take the important prey, while Director Chen himself took the first yellow muntjac that was caught. That yellow muntjac was smaller than Gao Mingcheng's, and after peeling and removing the internal organs, there was not much left to eat.
However, the yellow muntjac is also a kind of deer and has high nutritional value.
As they were in a hurry to get down the mountain, Gao Guobing and his companions had not yet caught their breath before they had to continue carrying the prey down the mountain.
Gao Mingcheng wanted to help, but he was too busy to do so.
Seeing Gao Mingcheng's thoughts, Gao Guobing deliberately said: "I can do it without your help."
Gao Mingcheng did not hesitate any more and said, "Then I will go down the mountain first, and then come back to pick you up."
This time Gao Guobing agreed, and then he saw Gao Mingcheng going down the mountain nimbly, as if the wild boar on his shoulders and the yellow muntjac and Chinese torreya nuts in his hands were weightless.
Gao Mingcheng went down the mountain quickly just as he said. Seeing that he was far ahead of everyone else, Director Chen couldn't help but praise him: "You are indeed a young man, with endless energy! I was the same when I was young! I could carry heavy objects and climb several mountains with ease!"
The head of the forest farm immediately agreed, and said that even now, Director Chen's physical fitness far exceeded that of most people.
Director Chen felt very comfortable being flattered and laughed out loud.
They were talking as they walked down the mountain, but Gao Mingcheng had already gone down the mountain ahead of time.
Not far from the foot of the mountain is the forest farm's compound, where there are warehouses and houses where employees live. Several employees are waiting there because they have been instructed in advance to deal with the prey hunted by their leader.
Gao Mingcheng let them take the prey aside to deal with it, and he returned to the mountains.
After he walked back and forth, he found that Gao Guobing and his group still had most of the distance to go!
Gao Guobing was indeed being stubborn. He had fallen and hurt his tailbone, and was feeling pain there.
After all, he is a bit older and has consumed a lot of physical energy while hunting in the mountains. Now he seems to be unable to do what he wants.
Old Song from the forest farm offered to help carry the load, but Gao Guobing saw that he was also carrying a wild boar and refused to let him help.
In this way, the group walked and stopped, and naturally did not go too far.
Gao Mingcheng hurried over and immediately said, "Uncle, Brother Xiao, put the wild boar down. I can carry it by myself."
Not to mention Gao Guobing, even Xiao Jinfeng breathed a sigh of relief.
But he still wanted to say, "Mingcheng, don't try to show off. This wild boar weighs at least 170 to 180 kilograms, and the mountain road is difficult to walk on. Let's carry it together."
Gao Mingcheng smiled and said, "It's because the mountain road is difficult to walk on that I'm carrying it alone. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing and I won't show off."
As he spoke, Gao Mingcheng carried the wild boar on his shoulders. The wild boar's rough hair pricked his neck, making him feel a little itchy.
The blood from the wild boar's wounds slid down his clothes, ruining them beyond recognition.
Originally, when going into the mountains to hunt, one should wear old clothes, but Gao Mingcheng was very concerned about his reputation and did not want to appear inappropriate in front of Gao Guobing, Director Chen and others, so he wore a coat of good texture. Although it was also half-worn, after a while, it completely became a piece of old clothing.
He carried the wild boar and continued to walk down the mountain briskly. This time, with his experience, he could walk steadily when he encountered difficult roads.
Gao Guobing, Xiao Jinfeng and others watched from behind, all with admiration on their faces.
Sometimes, Gao Guobing felt a little regretful. He regretted that when he sent Gao Hong to the army, he did not send Gao Mingcheng with him!
At that time, they had already moved to the county, and Gao Mingcheng was still in junior high school in the village. They interacted less frequently, and he didn't think about taking care of the child he had raised since childhood.
Oh, with Gao Mingcheng's physical fitness, if he joined the army, he would definitely achieve great things!
Although he often regretted it in his heart, Gao Guobing could only talk about it with Zhao Dongmei in private and could not tell anyone else.
All I can say is that it’s fate!
If his relationship with Gao Mingcheng had become so close earlier, then when he was planning for Gao Hong's future, he would have included Gao Mingcheng as well.
Gao Mingcheng didn't know what Gao Guobing was thinking, but in his previous life, Gao Hong had expressed his hope that Gao Mingcheng could transfer to the county to study in junior high school, and he also said that he hoped to join the army with Gao Mingcheng.
He carried the wild boar on his shoulders and went down the mountain smoothly, and naturally received praise from Director Chen and others.
Gao Mingcheng appropriately acted very strenuously. After dropping the wild boar on the ground, he supported himself on his knees with his hands, bent over, and gasped heavily.
After a long while, he finally looked as if he had come to his senses.
At this time, Gao Guobing had already come down the mountain. Seeing that Gao Mingcheng was very tired, he hurriedly handed Gao Mingcheng some water to drink.
Gao Mingcheng was thirsty and started drinking.
At this moment, the workers of the forest farm have already gone out together to help the leaders deal with the prey.
After hunting a wild boar, it must be bled. Otherwise, the blood will not flow after death, and there will be blood in the meat, which will look ugly and taste bad.
Now all we need to do is gut the pig and then peel off the skin.
Naturally, no one would take the pig skin and offal away, so they were left at the forest farm.
Gao Mingcheng's wild boar was the first to be processed. By now it had been skinned, leaving only the pig's head and feet, which were still hairy.
After Gao Mingcheng came down the mountain, he borrowed knives from the forest farm and neatly cut the wild boar into pieces. He also dealt with the yellow muntjac and then moved them into the bed of the pickup truck.
Next, he helped deal with the end that Gao Guobing hit.
Gao Guobing's shooting skills were pretty good and he hit the wild boar right in the head. But because the prey he killed was too big and the gunshot scared the herd of wild boars away, Xiao Jinfeng decided not to shoot and instead helped Gao Guobing get the wild boar down the mountain.
Gao Guobing also promised to give half to Xiao Jinfeng. (End of this chapter)
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