Chapter Forty-Nine
The two walked slowly through the forest, observing carefully. Wild vegetables by the roadside, small animals drowned in the rain, wood ear mushrooms on withered tree trunks, and mushrooms under the trees—these were all their targets. Both said they would take whatever they could find, and neither of them would be picky.
After two hours of hiking through the forest, the two had a pretty good haul. Both baskets were almost full, mostly containing wild vegetables and mushrooms, but also three birds, a drowned squirrel, and a porcupine. It was likely that the wind and rain the previous day had snapped a small tree, crushing the porcupine beneath it. When Wang Lun and his companion found it, the porcupine was still alive. Wang Lun first restrained the porcupine, then the two of them worked together to lift the tree trunk and pull the porcupine out. After setting the tree down, they checked on the porcupine and found it dead. It was likely that the tree trunk had injured its internal organs, and lifting it had aggravated the injuries, leading to its death. Wang Lun didn't seem to care; he figured it was going to die anyway, and now he didn't have to do it himself, so he was quite satisfied.
The two drank some water and rested for a bit. Wang Lun noticed that both baskets were almost full. Li Ling's basket was filled with wild vegetables and mushrooms, while Wang Lun's was filled with small animals, and of course, some wild vegetables as well. So Wang Lun said, "The baskets are almost full, and we're almost out of water. Let's stop here and head back." Li Ling had no objection. The two then began their return journey, but not by the same route; they planned to gather some more food along the way.
The two walked for about half an hour when suddenly, Li Ling said, "Wait a minute, there seems to be something in that bush." Wang Lun stopped and looked at the bush Li Ling was pointing to. It was a dense thicket, and they couldn't see what was behind it. Wang Lun looked for a while and said, "There's nothing moving." Li Ling said, "Really, I just saw it; a branch moved." After hearing what Li Ling said, Wang Lun thought for a moment and decided to go and check it out. So, the two of them gripped their wooden spears tightly, touched the knives at their waists, and then led Li Ling towards the bush.
A short while later, Wang Lun and Li Ling reached the back of the bushes and saw a goat lying beside them, its head still embedded in the bushes, its hindquarters sticking out, and an alloy arrow stuck in its rump. Wang Lun spent some time pulling the goat's head out of the bushes. He examined it and found that the goat hadn't started to smell, and even the flesh from the arrow wound hadn't rotted, so the meat was probably still edible. However, the sun was now out, and the temperature was rising. So he said to Li Ling, "We need to hurry back and process these animals as soon as possible." Li Ling nodded. Wang Lun put the goat on his backpack, but Li Ling felt he was carrying too much and wanted to help share the load. Wang Lun couldn't refuse, so he gave her everything except the porcupine and the goat. The two then began their journey back to camp, stopping only to rest along the way.
After nearly an hour of walking, the two finally returned to their camp. They put down their baskets, emptied the wild vegetables from Li Ling's basket into the pond, and blocked the drain with a small fence to prevent the vegetables from flowing out. Then they carried the goat and other game on their backs, preparing to go to the stream to process them. Li Ling followed behind, carrying a basket.
Wang Lun sat on a rock and began processing his prey in the following order: birds, then squirrels, then porcupines, and finally goats. For the three birds, Wang Lun plucked some feathers, then cut them open from the abdomen, removed the internal organs, selected the edible parts, and set the rest aside. He then handed the birds and their organs to Li Ling, who sat on a rock by the water to wash them and put them in a basket. The three birds were quickly processed, and then it was time for the squirrels. Wang Lun spent some time processing the squirrels, skinning them and handing the pelts to Li Ling. Li Ling removed the meat from the pelts, washed the pelts, and put them in the basket as well. At this point, Wang Lun handed over the squirrel's internal organs and the squirrel itself. It turned out that while Li Ling was processing the pelts, Wang Lun hadn't stopped; he was processing the squirrels.
After dealing with the squirrel, Wang Lun didn't stop; next, he processed the porcupine. Because the porcupine was covered in quills, which were difficult to remove, Wang Lun carefully turned the porcupine over, first removing its internal organs. He planned to cook the porcupine before removing the quills. Then, Wang Lun placed the porcupine and its entrails in a basket, told Li Ling, and carried the game back to the camp, asking Li Ling to keep a close eye on it.
Soon, Wang Lun returned with his entrenching tool. Reaching the stream, he first dug a pit and threw in the previously inedible entrails. Then, sitting on a rock, he began processing the goat. He pulled out the arrows and set them aside. Then, using a knife, he began skinning the goat along the arrow wounds. After nearly half an hour, he finally managed to skin the goat completely. Of course, there was still a lot of meat attached to the skin, but that was left for Li Ling to handle. Wang Lun continued processing the goat, cutting open its abdomen, removing the internal organs, and setting aside the edible parts for one side and the inedible parts for the other. He then dismembered the goat's four legs, cut off its head, washed them, and placed them in his basket, followed by the edible entrails. Seeing that Li Ling was still processing the goat's skin, Wang Lun took out the goat's intestines, turned them inside out, and dumped them into the pit along with the inedible entrails. He then covered the pit with his entrenching tool.
Then Wang Lun returned to the stream to process the intestines. He washed them several times, then rubbed them with sand, and washed them again. Then he and Li Ling carried the baskets back to the camp. After washing the intestines a few more times, they were ready to eat.
Back at camp, Wang Lun had Li Ling remove the internal organs; they would eat them for lunch. Wang Lun then took out the hides, made two tripods to support them, and placed them on the shelter to air dry. He then made another rack for smoking the meat. It took him about ten minutes to finish the racks. He placed them near the fire pit in the shelter and hung the goat and squirrel meat on them. As for the three birds and the porcupine, they still needed some processing; the birds needed their feathers removed, and the porcupine's quills needed to be removed. Of course, these things could wait until after lunch, as both of them were hungry, and there was no rush.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com