Wild 1979: From Fishing and Hunting to Becoming a Literary Master

Chapter 25 Good Luck Continues

Regarding the medicinal properties of wild ginseng, Wu Laowai mostly relied on oral traditions and legends.

The medicine was potent and strong; a young man like Chen Tuo should have been bleeding from his nose and mouth, or even more seriously, bleeding from all seven orifices.

Since there was no bleeding, it means the medicine wasn't too strong.

The medicine isn't very strong; after a day and a night, he should have recovered by now.

But Chen Tuo is still running a high fever.

Wu Laowai shared the same opinion as Xiao Kai: the kid had suffered frostbite to his internal organs and wouldn't live much longer.

Chen Tuo couldn't hear Wu Laowai's inner sighs, and even if he did, he would only give a simple, honest smile.

Mountain dogs are not easy to mess with.

Chen Tuo tucked the little red-haired puppy into his hat and continued fishing in the muddy spot to catch the larger fish.

Sun Changkui is right. There are twenty or thirty large blackfish and catfish at the bottom of the fish nest, about forty or fifty centimeters long.

However, the large catfish were all killed by the otters, resulting in a significant loss.

After cleaning up the big fish, he didn't finish off the remaining small fish. Instead, he followed Sun Changkui and the others' example and used snow to block and tamp down the ice hole.

"Don't you want the little fish anymore?"

Seeing Chen Tuo become a barefoot immortal on the snow crust, Wu Laowai also wanted to see just how resistant to the cold he was.

But the small fish from the fishpond are the real delicacy. Making fish sauce with them is much more flavorful than eating fish meat alone. It's a shame to throw them into an ice hole to freeze them and make them rotten.

"Uncle Wu, isn't this the otter's food depot? We should leave some for them, shouldn't we?"

"Leave some for them? You killed them both, male and female, who are you going to leave them for? What? You want to raise those little water sprites and keep killing them?"

Last night, Chen Tuo killed a male otter with the back of his knife; tonight, it's two female otters.

Based on Wu Laowai's experience, apart from the small ones, there probably can't be any big ones in the water buffalo's den.

"This works?"

"Whether it works or not is up to you. Who told you to be so slow..."

After cleaning the two water sprites and scrubbing their hides clean with snow, Wu Laowai was about to leave when Chen Tuo picked up the ice chisel again.

"What else do you want to do?"

"Fishing for fish, Uncle Wu! Didn't you just tell me to guard the river bend?"

Hearing Chen Tuo's question, Wu Laowai was so angry that he laughed.

This kid really doesn't know his place.

No matter how many fish are in the river.

There are many ponds in the Hetao region.

He can't just dig into every fish nest full of live fish, can he?

"Fine! You're really something! You keep picking at it, I'd like to see what else you can pick at!"

After lifting the bar, Wu Laowai noticed that Chen Tuo was still barefoot, and reminded him:

"You little rascal, aren't you afraid your toes will freeze off? Aren't you cold?"

Glancing at his feet on the snow, Chen Tuo didn't really feel cold, except for the slight chill.

"Just came up here, my feet are covered in mud, I'll clean them off before putting my shoes on..."

After giving Wu Laowai a half-hearted explanation, Chen Tuo rubbed the snow and walked toward the campfire.

"Walking barefoot in the snow is fine! But not on the snow crust. If the ice chips cut your soles, they won't heal easily! When walking on snow crust covered with ice, you need to take small, heel-to-toe steps."

Having shared some of his experience traveling along the Hetao region, Wu Laowai took out his pipe, eager to see what would happen next.

After drying his feet and putting on wool socks and chunky shoes, Chen Tuo felt a surge of palpitations and agitation.

These words are probably impossible to explain to Wu Laowai, so it's better to keep them to yourself.

Following the directions in the diary, Chen Tuo found another pond that might contain fish and continued chiseling ice.

The result was the same as last night: the ice shell was broken open, and amidst the "whooshing" sounds of breathing, there was the sound of crucian carp slapping against the mud.

"Fine! You're really something! Our old foreman, who's a real jerk, is really biased. How about you teach me how to catch fish?"

The thumping sounds coming from the ice hole were similar to those from yesterday.

With two or three hundred catties of fish a day, and catching ten or eight at a time, Chen Tuo wouldn't have to worry about food at all.

Although we can't eat fish all the time, we can trade it for food with the people living in the settlement!

"Today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. Clean the fish. There's a small market in Tuosongling Town around noon where you can exchange them for grain."

With the old leader protecting Chen Tuo, Wu Laowai, who was rather superstitious, completely gave up any thoughts of the remaining ginseng.

Mountain runners all rely on the old leader for protection. Which mountain runner wouldn't be afraid to offend Chen Tuo, whom the old leader treats like his own son?

"Uncle Wu, do you go to the market every Sunday?"

"Look at the sky, don't go if it's snowing, there won't be anyone there! If you want a gun but don't have any money, try looking for hunters coming down from the mountains, they don't care much about money."

Since Chen Tuo had an old leader protecting him, Wu Laowai didn't mind passing on some survival experience to him.

"The fish and the others aren't particularly proud, but they do appreciate alcohol, and so do the women, though not as much as the men..."

After giving Chen Tuo his advice, he got up and went ashore, where he started chopping brooms.

Although fish shouldn't be eaten all the time, eating it occasionally is more delicious than eating pheasant or snow rabbit.

He ate quite well last night.

Chen Tuo had dug into the fish's nest once, so he had some experience.

After burning his way through the hole and down into the fishpond, Chen Tuo didn't care how many fish he caught. He first squatted in the shadows with the axe handle, looking to see if any otters would come.

I waited for ages, but the otters didn't come. I guess this fish den is still the territory of those three.

Before the otters even appeared, Chen Tuo began to prepare the fish.

This time, instead of cleaning the fish in the ice hole, he simply put the crucian carp seeds into a burlap sack.

Besides giving the big fish to Wu Laowai and Sun Changkui, he also gave a big fish to the security guards and militiamen who helped clean up the catch last night.

Tonight, instead of valuable mandarin fish, there were a few pike in the fishpond.

"They don't need your two fish, take care of yourselves first."

Just like Xiao Kai, Wu Laowai has fallen into the trap of preconceived notions.

Based on their experiences, if someone continues to have a fever after being frozen stiff, it's most likely because their internal organs have been damaged.

The forest farm had sent patients to the provincial capital for this kind of frostbite before, but it was all to no avail. They were destined to die within half a month, but they never survived more than a month...

"Uncle Wu, I don't need these two fish. If they're gone, I can just get more!"

The old leader treated Chen Tuo like his own son, protecting him from all sides.

Chen Tuo really doesn't act like he's an outsider.

He turned the Kadang River bend between the Dobukuer River and the Xiaoyangqi River into his own fishpond.

Wu Laowai could only watch with envy.

In every year, he dug up dry pits and smashed dry pots, and he did have some harvest, but most of them were not very fresh dead fish.

He wasn't a Jiaodong native who came from Northeast China, and he didn't like eating rotten fish.

"Then you decide what to do. Mountain Dog is full too. Let's pack up and go."

Without these two scoundrels keeping watch, they might attract a bear, and we wouldn't be able to deal with it.

If Wu Laowai had known that Chen Tuo could find a nest of live fish every time, he should have brought his gun.

Then, let him kill fish on the snow, attract wolves to fight wolves, attract black bears to fight bears, and do business right at his doorstep. Wouldn't that be great?

"Alright! Uncle Wu, take as much fish as you can. And these two otter pelts, one for you and one for Dr. Hu. Don't stand on ceremony with me."

Having witnessed Chen Tuo's arrogance, ruthlessness, and solitude, we now see the glimpses of light through his fingers.

Old Wu nodded in agreement, saying that humanity wasn't bad.

"I definitely can't take less fish, you don't need it either, and if you do, you can always take more, right? I don't want the skins, they're too hot to handle!"

Taking into account the old foreman, and also considering that it was only the beginning of winter.

Although Wu Laowai didn't want to refuse Shui Maozi's skin, he chose to defer to him for the sake of his winter's harvest.

"Uncle Wu, I don't know how to clean leather either. I'll leave it with you for now. You can clean it up for me. And please clean up Dr. Hu's too."

Chen Tuo's words were agreed upon by Wu Laowai.

Given Da Lingzi's family's circumstances, even if the two of them worked hard, they still couldn't feed six rascals...