Chapter 193 The house was robbed
The wind was a bit strong, blowing the snow onto people, and Lin Heng's hands and feet were cold.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of firewood in these deep mountains and forests, and we found a lot of it easily.
When he came back, Li Baiquan also started the fire with pine resin.
The weak flame swayed in the wind, but fortunately there was enough pine resin to keep the fire strong enough to keep it from going out.
After adding firewood, the flame finally grew bigger and the three of them felt a little warmth.
It’s just that the wind was too strong. It was hot in the front and cold in the back. I couldn’t warm myself up at all and was still shivering.
Grandpa Gao rubbed his hands and said, "Hurry up and build a shelter, otherwise we won't be able to make it. Find some trees nearby, and if you can't find any, just cut them down."
"Well, this is the only way." Li Baiquan nodded.
"Woof woof~"
Xiongba howled and shook his fur, and he was almost turning into a big white dog.
Lin Heng had already collected a lot of wood, so he could not expect to be comfortable at night. He just needed to build a cone-shaped shelter to survive temporarily.
Find a cane and three pieces of wood as the main frame, and then continue to fill the gaps with wood.
First the big wood, then the small wood, and finally the rotten leaves or moss to complete it.
Even with three people working together to build it, it still took a full hour.
After it was built, the three of them couldn't wait to get into the shelter.
Li Baiquan rubbed his hands and sighed, "It's finally warm, it's really amazing."
"I was too careless today. I let my guard down too much."
Grandpa Gao shook his head. Fortunately he woke up in time and narrowly escaped death.
Lin Heng didn't say anything. He was roasting by the fire and thinking about his wife and children.
It was really thrilling today, and I almost died.
As their bodies gradually warmed up, the three of them's stomachs began to growl.
We traveled light today and didn't bring much dry food, which we ate long ago.
"It's really like when it rains it pours, the ship is late and encounters headwinds!"
Lin Heng smiled bitterly. They didn't encounter any prey on the way back at night, so even if they made a fire, they would still be hungry.
Grandpa Gao shook his head: "We can only make do with it for one night, there is no other way.
If it wasn't snowing we could go hunting and find something else to eat. But with this much snow there's no point in going out."
Lin Heng and Li Baiquan also understood that they could only starve.
But it was too hard to bear. When one was hungry, one would feel anxious and weak all over, and would wish one could eat three cows.
Grandpa Gao was the one who could endure it the most, because he had experienced being hungry for half a month and only drinking water. As a veteran, he had overcome all kinds of difficulties and obstacles.
Although Lin Heng looks young, he has lived two lives and has experienced hunger. During the worst period of his previous life, he made a living by picking up garbage.
So even though he felt uncomfortable, he could still endure it.
Although Li Baiquan looked older than Lin Heng, he was actually the youngest among them. He was so hungry that he tossed and turned, sighing.
The look he gave Xiongba was like that of a hungry wolf, and Xiongba was so scared that he hid behind Lin Heng.
Li Baiquan shook his head and sighed, "No, next time I will bring more food no matter what. I will never go hungry even if I am beaten to death. Eating bran is better than this."
This night was destined to be difficult. There were no beds, and the three of them could only sit on two logs and sleep with their knees on the fire.
I was so hungry that I fell asleep at around 10 o'clock in the evening and woke up at 6 o'clock the next morning.
It was still dark outside. The three were hungrier than yesterday, and Xiongba was also whimpering with hunger.
There was no firewood left in the house, only some charcoal burning.
When I walked out of the shelter, there was still light snow outside, but it was much lighter than yesterday, so it could be called a light snow.
I was hungry after a whole night, so I didn't need to rush and just got some firewood to continue roasting.
When it was light at seven o'clock, Li Baiquan ran out impatiently and got some "life-saving food" to eat.
The so-called life-saving food is the fruit of the Pyracantha tree, which is bright red with a sour taste and is easiest to find in the mountains.
Li Baiquan handed the pyracantha fruit to the two of them and said with a smile: "When you are hungry, this thing is sweet. The old saying is true. If you are hungry for three days, even pig food will taste delicious."
"This won't provide much nutrition. Let's just shoot some birds."
Lin Heng picked two large handfuls, went outside the shelter and swept out an area of exposed soil, then scattered the pyracantha berries in.
He couldn't stand eating only this, even if it was just a sparrow.
Back in the house, Lin Heng looked at Grandpa Gao and said with a smile: "Grandpa, lend me your gun. Let's hunt some meat to replenish our energy before we go."
"good."
Grandpa Gao agreed and handed the double-barreled shotgun to Lin Heng.
Lin Heng took the gun, looked at it, and set it up facing the open space outside.
Within a few minutes, two sparrows came outside, but this was certainly far from the time to shoot.
I continued to wait. Ten minutes later, three or four green-bearded crickets and five or six sparrows came. The number was almost the same.
Lin Heng was about to shoot when two turtledoves flew over from the distance. This made him happy and he pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Snap!
Bang!!
With a loud bang, countless tiny pieces of iron sand flew out, and wherever they went, none of the birds could fly into the sky.
All of them were knocked to the ground, motionless, deader than dead.
"It's done!"
Lin Heng was delighted and said quickly, his mouth was watering when he saw these things.
"I'll pick it up!"
Li Baiquan rushed out and picked them all up.
Two turtledoves, four green-bearded crickets, and six sparrows.
“Just throw it into the fire and roast it. There’s no need to pluck its feathers or anything.” Lin Heng threw the turtledove in first.
The hair was burning with a crackling sound, and a burnt smell like burning nails came over, which all three of them felt was particularly fragrant.
Grandpa Gao and Li Baiquan also threw in sparrows and green-bearded catfish.
The sparrows matured first. The burnt hair was scraped off with a knife to reveal their burnt yellow skin. They were then cut in half with a knife, and the internal organs and the head were fed to Xiongba.
The three of them picked up the meat and started chewing it, even the bones made a crunching sound.
The feeling of hunger was so unbearable that they just wanted to fill their stomachs and not let go of any energy.
There was no seasoning or salt in the dish, but the sparrow with its earthy smell tasted like a delicious meal in the mouths of the three people.
The sparrow, the green-bearded fox and the turtledove did not let go of any of them until they had finished eating everything and burped, only stopping with satisfaction.
At this time, I was no longer panicking and I felt strong all over.
Looking at the snow outside, Lin Heng finally had the energy to think about what to do next.
Grandpa Gao stood up and said, "Let's go back and look for prey on the way."
It's past eight o'clock now and the sky is already bright.
"Well, let's go then."
Li Baiquan also nodded.
The three of them packed up their things, put out the fire, and left.
The shelter is left here, and if someone sees it, they can go in to avoid the wind and rain.
Although there was snow everywhere, the view was wide and far during the day, so it was not a problem to identify the way back.
"Luckily I didn't wander around last night. This is exactly the opposite direction of where I was going back."
The three of them were a little frightened when they saw the marks left on the tree last night.
If they had been really stubborn last night, the three of them would probably have been three corpses today.
The dangers of nature always come silently, catching people off guard.
Maybe it's not as intense as a tiger or black bear attack, but once you get caught in one, there's almost no chance of survival.
The three of them walked back with a terrified feeling, and they didn't encounter any prey on the way.
They returned to the camp at around ten o'clock. As soon as they arrived at the valley where the camp was located, Xiongba discovered a new clue.
A series of wild boar footprints, one large footprint, and a bunch of densely packed small footprints.
Li Baiquan looked at the footprints and exclaimed, "Damn, this direction is towards the camp. Could these wild boars have gone there?"
Pigs are omnivores, so they naturally eat meat. The camp not only has meat, but also yams and medicinal herbs that they have worked hard to dig, as well as rations for the next few days.
"Very likely. We need to speed up the process." Grandpa Gao nodded.
"There are too many wild boars in this mountain." Lin Heng shook his head.
Wild boars reproduce too quickly and have no natural enemies, so they are impossible to kill all of them.
Less than five years after wild boars were protected in later generations, they became a disaster and people had to go up the mountains to hunt them.
There is no other way. It seems that the tigers are gone, the leopards are scarce, and the only way to control the wild boars is by humans.
Lin Heng was also glad that he didn't leave ginseng and musk in the camp. If the hundred-year-old ginseng was eaten by a wild boar, he would be so angry that he would vomit blood.
The three of them quickly quickened their pace and soon returned to the camp.
“They’re really eating our food!”
Lin Heng had sharp eyes and saw the wild boar from afar.
Just as they thought, a large female wild boar and eight or nine piglets were eating frantically in the camp.
If we come back any later, the camp will be torn down by this sow.
Li Baiquan looked at Lin Heng and asked, "It's over. Lin Heng, your musk is not in the camp, right?"
"No, I carry it with me." Lin Heng shook his head.
"Leave this sow to me. I'll kill it first."
Uncle Gao said this and quietly approached with a shotgun.
Li Baiquan loaded the hunting rifle with a cannon, and Lin Heng took out the compound bow and hung the quiver on his waist.
They don't have a rule of not killing their own cubs. If anyone dares to attack their camp and eat their rations, then these guys will have to stay and be used as food.
Maybe because there was too much food, the wild boars ate very happily, and with such a wide view, they approached within more than 200 meters.
Grandpa Gao used the barrel of a rifle, aimed at the female wild boar and pulled the trigger directly.
With a loud bang, the bullet flew over and penetrated the female wild boar's head.
It only had time to turn its head before it fell to the ground with a thud. Its four legs twitched for a few seconds and then became motionless.
The rifle bullet is too powerful. It dies instantly after a headshot, without any other unnecessary movements.
“Ahhh!!”
“Ahhh!!”
“Woof woof!!”
At the same time, all the little piglets were in chaos and fled in all directions.
Xiongba chased after him, screaming wildly.
Lin Heng and his uncle also went there.
Li Baiquan fired a shot at the two beasts not far away. With a bang, one of them fell to the ground and ran away covered in blood.
Lin Heng drew his bow and shot an arrow through the one in front of him. The animal ran two steps and then fell to the ground.
“Woof woof!!”
The wild boar cubs frightened by the shotgun all ran downstream, but Xiongba very cleverly blocked them there and chased them up again.
“Ahhh!!”
Lin Heng shot another arrow through one of the heads.
On the other side, Grandpa Gao also joined the battlefield. He used a Mongolian bow to kill the one who was injured by Li Baiquan, and then rushed over to fight side by side with Lin Heng.
This kind of moving target is difficult to shoot, and Lin Heng missed several times when he shot at close range.
Fortunately, there were many people and Xiongba, and in the end only two escaped, and the rest were all killed.
"Go and have a look at it quickly."
Without caring about the harvest, the three of them went to check out the situation in the shelter first.
"damn it!!"
After the inspection, Li Baiquan couldn't help but kick the dead sow a few times.
All the rice and flour in the house were eaten up. Some of it was eaten and some of it was poured on the ground. It was completely useless.
There is probably less than three pounds that can be eaten.
The same goes for yams. Not to mention being eaten, a lot of them have been stepped on and crushed, and there are almost no intact ones.
The chestnut meat and cured pork were not affected because they were hung high and the wild boar could not reach them.
They were already dismantling the camp, but they made it back.
Lin Heng also kicked the dead wild boar twice and sighed, "First bring all the wild boars back, then sort out the things and see what to do next."
They first went out and brought back all the little wild boars. These wild boars generally weighed more than ten or twenty kilograms and were not beaten.
A total of seven were killed, Lin Heng killed three, Grandpa Gao killed two and a half, and Li Baiquan killed one and a half.
Including the sow wild boar, the spoils this time were quite rich.
It can definitely be said that hard work pays off, but it's a pity that many things are lost.
Then the three of them sorted out the things carefully. All the noodles were thrown away, and there were about four pounds of rice after they were picked up.
At least half of them were eaten and destroyed by wild boars.
The most regrettable thing is the yam. We originally dug up more than 40 kilograms of yam, but now there are only about 5 kilograms of good ones left.
They were all rotten and had to be eaten immediately, which meant that almost all of them were wiped out.
Half of the medicinal materials were wasted, which was heartbreaking.
Five of the bags were rotten, and two were completely beyond repair and had to be burned.
Li Baiquan said resentfully: "I had originally planned to stay here for a few more days, but now it seems I have to go back."
Lin Heng patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't be too optimistic, uncle. This shows that God wants us to go back and celebrate the New Year with our families as soon as possible. This time the harvest is rich enough."
Grandpa Gao also nodded and said, "Yes, it's time to go back. This is enough."
The three of them discussed it briefly and decided to leave tomorrow. They would clean up the place today and move their things to Sanchagou tomorrow.
It was only eleven o'clock in the morning, not even noon yet, but all three of them felt powerless.
Hunting is fun, but handling the prey is not an easy job.
This female wild boar weighs at least 200 kilograms and is the most difficult to handle.
In addition, there were seven wild boar cubs, which were also difficult to deal with.
Lin Heng looked at Grandpa Gao and said with a smile: "How about this, we won't deal with the little wild boar. We'll be back soon anyway, and it won't get bad in this cold weather.
We can just deal with the sow today, what do you think?"
"Yes, if the wild boar's stomach is cut open, its internal organs will be difficult to handle." Grandpa Gao nodded.
Li Baiquan had no objection to the comparison. In fact, he didn't even want to deal with the big wild boar.
But this wild boar is too big. If it is not processed, no one can take it back, so it must be cut up.
Grandpa Gao looked at Lin Heng and said, "Well, Lin Heng, you cook first. Let's set up a stand and we can deal with it slowly after dinner."
(End of this chapter)
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