Chapter 99:
Chapter 99:
——In the morning, Mr. Tong burned two braziers in the firewood room, and warmed the car for them in advance, otherwise the temperature outside was so low that the car would be difficult to start. The group of people I met last time was in the house When it was time to sip hot tea, it took more than an hour to start the car, and I almost couldn't drive back.
Before leaving, Xu Ming asked Mr. Tong, "Did the people who went hunting before go to the zoo?"
Mr. Tong—while folding wood—stirred the brazier in the house to make the fire even hotter—pointed: "I'm all going there, I think there are a lot of things that can be hunted there."
Mu Nan said: "Grandpa, you live here, have you seen any animals?"
Mr. Tong smiled and said, "Of course I have. I have seen the herd of deer not long ago, but the distance is a little far away."
Song Jia hurriedly said, "How long ago? Which direction did the deer go?"
Mr. Tong thought for a while: "Seven or eight days ago, I went to Populus euphratica Avenue, but you'd better not go there. I said before that I would artificially build a natural habitat there. I don't know what it was. The swamp is still an artificial lake. Before the weather was hot, the construction was completed there, but it was not open yet, because a child died, and it was covered with green grass or something. It looked like a meadow from a distance. , the parents with children think the scenery is good, so they stop to take a picture, and the children are gone.”
Grandma Tong, who came out of the small kitchen, stuffed the hot pancakes from the kang into their hands: "It's nothing in the past now. It's so cold outside, it's already frozen solid and can't fall down. I gave you kang pancakes. Inside are Pickled cabbage stuffing, you can take it with you to eat on the road.”
The old man made it on purpose, they knew that if they didn't take it away, they might not let them go, so Qin Huai and the others had no choice but to thank them and take it. Because the car was warmed up in advance, the car started smoothly. An old man, Mu Nan opened the car window and waved to them: "Goodbye, grandpa and grandma, it's cold outside, go in quickly."
The two old people still looked at them with smiles, until the car drove out of their small courtyard, the two old people sighed, and Mr. Tong patted the snow off his body: "Come in, old lady."
Grandma Tong put the door curtain in place, and threw a few sticks of firewood into the brazier: "They're all a group of half-aged children, about the same age as Chengcheng, but they have to start struggling to make a living. These days are so hard."
Mentioning their grandson, Mr. Tong stopped talking. He opened the drawer and took out a box of cigarettes, but he hadn't smoked it. He put it under his nose and smelled it. Under the cigarette box was a photo of a spirited guy in military uniform. Mr. Tong Sitting on the kang, I was a little distracted. In the morning, there was a group of young men who were lively and lively on the kang. Now it seems deserted. When people are older, they like to be lively, but when they are older, they can’t leave their roots. , looking at the snow that began to fall outside again, Mr. Tong held his wife's hand, young couples come to accompany each other, there are many sufferings in this world, but there is also a lot of happiness. It's worth it.
Based on the information obtained from Mr. Tong, Qin Huai and the others planned to try their luck on Huyang Avenue. After the wind and snow stopped, Qin Huai said: "Look at the place where you can stay early today. If you —I couldn’t find it all the time, so I had to go around Populus Populus Avenue and drive the night train back.”
Song Jia looked out the window with a binoculars: "Except for Baixue or Baixue, I feel that hunting in the future, unless we can have our own car, we should forget about it." - How much food can be exchanged for more than 100 points? It can be regarded as seeking wealth and insurance, but it is a pity that their luck seems to be not very good.
Mu Nan next to him hugged the blanket and started sleeping since he got in the car. Anyway, he took this trip as a tourist from the very beginning. It doesn't matter whether he has gained anything, the important thing is that he can come out and see what the outside looks like. At this time in the previous life, he had been staying in the private base, eating secretly every day, wrapping his body in clothes as much as possible to keep out the cold, and forgetting about going out. Sweeping snow at the door, people almost froze into popsicles, Because the private foundation has no polar winter clothes to change at all, he wears some winter clothes stored in the space, but in the winter in the south, the thickest is a down jacket, which can withstand the low temperature of minus 40 to 50 degrees outside. .
- The road was still fruitless, Qin Huai and Xu Ming changed hands halfway, when the car stopped, Mu Nan woke up, although she didn't sleep enough, but she slept all morning, she was a little hungry, stretched She tilted her head and looked out the window, and then saw—Tuan Bai seemed to be passing by in front of her eyes—Mu Nan hurriedly said to Qin Huai: "I seem to see something moving, but I don't know if I'm delusional." .”
Qin Huai asked, "Where?"
Mu Nan pointed out of the window on his side: "There, it's just that snowdrift with scattered heights."
Qin Huai said: "You and Song Jia stay in the car, Niuniu comes down with us to have a look."
When Niu Niu heard Qin Huai calling him, she quickly got up from the back seat of the car. Song Jia patted Niu Niu's head: "Go, go find some meat, you know?"
Niuniu whined, as if responding to Song Jia, then ran from the back seat of the car to the front seat, and got out of the car with Qin Huai.
Xu Ming carefully observed the surroundings, and found that there was a road with a little shallow snow accumulation, as if he had walked on something not long ago, so he walked along that trail, and Niu Niu followed behind them obediently, until She lowered her head and sniffed the ground until she passed a snowdrift, and Niuniu started to plan with her claws.
Qin Huai and Xu Ming rushed to help, when the snowdrift was planed away, a gray shadow jumped out, Niu Niu chased after it vigorously, and bit the fat rabbit with sharp canine teeth. Biting the fat rabbit's neck tightly, and violently swinging it left and right, Qin Huai hurried forward, grabbing the rabbit's ears, Niuniu let go immediately.
Mu Nan and Jian Chu sat in the car and looked out. Although it was hard to see clearly due to the heavy wind and snow, they could still see Niu Niu's pursuit clearly. Seeing that there seemed to be a harvest, the two immediately became happy, no matter what it was, At least it didn't come away empty-handed.
Xu Ming walked up to the hole, and stretched out his hand to check it out. He was wearing thick gloves, and there would be no very fierce things in this rabbit hole, but he was not afraid of being bitten. After groping for a while, he grabbed it out again. I got a fat rabbit, the rabbit is not the pure white domestic pet rabbit, but gray and white fur.
Xu Ming held the rabbit and looked at it, and it was easy to tell that it was wild, with fierce eyes, a small head, and a fierce look. When it was caught in his hand, he struggled hard and even made a very harsh cry.
Xu Ming opened the bag and threw the two rabbits into it. Qin Huai pointed to the hole, meaning to ask Xu Ming if there were any in it. Xu Ming understood Qin Huai's meaning and nodded, there is more in it. When he was groping just now, there were more than one in it, but the hole was a bit deep and not easy to grasp.
After digging in that hole for a long time, Xu Ming took out a total of five rabbits from it, including the one who tried to escape at the beginning, now they caught six rabbits.
Mu Nan ran to the driver's seat, drove the car slowly, Qin Huai opened the door, threw the rabbit in the cloth bag into the car, and took another cloth bag: "You are in the car, I and Xu Ming will look for it again, maybe there is more than one nest."
Mu Nan nodded: "Be careful."
Afraid that the movement of the car would startle the animals hiding in the snowdrifts, Mu Nan didn't get too close, and only followed them when they were far away.
However, the rabbit nest did not find the second one, but found a nest of snakes in a tree hole that was only half left. The two wore thick gloves and were not afraid of being bitten, but Xu Ming cut off the snake's head for the first time. After a few drops of blood, it froze immediately, which proved that the snake was just hibernating rather than dead. U-turns don't bleed at all. After confirming that there should be nothing to catch here, Qin Huai and Xu Ming got into the car, Xu Ming drove, and Qin Huai sat in the co-pilot.
Six rabbits and two snakes, the harvest is not bad, Mu Nan looked at the rabbits who were still kicking the cloth bag, and said, "Can we raise these wild rabbits at home? Rabbits seem to breed very fast."
Xu Ming said: "Don't think about it, the family does not have the conditions to raise it, the temperature, food, and cleaning of the living environment are very laborious."
Song Jia is more concerned about eating: "Is the hare meat edible?" He has already been scared by Xu Ming's science popularization of those with wild words, for fear that after eating this meal, it will be his turn to be cremated in the next meal up.
Xu Ming said: "You can eat it, but the meat must be cooked thoroughly. Hare, pheasant, and wild boar are actually not that scary. It's just that the Qi family was unlucky, and they ate sick dead pigs like ours. Be alive and kicking, and be a little bit safer."
Mu Nan made some calculations: "Six rabbits may not be enough for us to eat, it seems that this time, we can only fight teeth."
Qin Huai suddenly said, "It's not too early to say anything."
Mu Nan grabbed the back of the chair and moved closer to him: "Is there something wrong?"
Qin Huai said: "Look ahead, is there a row of footprints?"
Their car was going downhill just now, and after driving up to the top now, they can clearly see a series of animal footprints on the snow, as if a group of animals passed by here, looking at the snow on the footprints The group of animals may have just left, Xu Ming said: "Maybe we were lucky and found the herd of deer that Grandpa Tong mentioned."
Xu Ming drove the car to follow the footprints, and soon saw the figure of the deer group, it was a group of sika deer, Xu Ming said: "I know there is a big farm near Sanjiu Road, which specializes in breeding sika deer. and ostriches."
Although Mu Nan is a local, although the names of some districts beyond the third ring road are known, it is not so clear which district they belong to: "Is Sanjiu Road very close to here?"
Qin Huai said: "It's not close, it's crossing the district."
Song Jia clicked his tongue twice: "This herd of deer can come here from across the district, and they can survive so many, shouldn't it be called fate?"
Xu Ming said: "The weather is too cold. This place is relatively deserted. There is no car, so you can't get here on foot. Although you can find a car that can be used after the earthquake, there is almost no fuel, which is what makes them miserable— The road came back to life." Otherwise, how could such a large group of meat survive to this day when there is no food.
Soon the sound of the approaching car alarmed the herd of deer, but the group of sika deer probably belonged to the breeding farm. They seemed to be used to the movement of the vehicle and did not run around in panic, but they ran away in groups at an accelerated speed. The car stopped: "Let Niuniu go out and try." Although the sika deer is several times bigger than Niuniu in terms of size, since Niuniu was brought out and her hunting ability was intentionally trained, how could such a good opportunity be missed? .
After putting Niu Niu out of the car, Qin Huai directly opened the car window and fired at a long distance with a mechanical crossbow. Mu Nan also took his small crossbow and started aiming. Niu Niu quickly rushed towards the deer. When the dog approached, the deer Finally, she became flustered and started to run away. Niu Niu, who had a hunting instinct, jumped up and bit the neck of the nearest deer. The deer fell to the ground in pain and struggled desperately. tighter.
Mu Nan missed several times in a row, the herd of deer was running, the wind and snow were the resistance, and even Qin Huai shot a few times, but luckily, the arrow that had already missed, because the two deer panicked There was a collision between them, just enough to squeeze one of them under his arrow, and it went straight into the deer's neck.
The harvest of this trip depends on the present. Those Xu Ming who fell to the ground ignored them and continued to drive after the deer. Anyway, there are no other people here, so just go back and pick them up later. Niuniu killed a deer. Immediately after that, he changed his target, running wildly in the snow with a vigorous posture, his body with white hair was almost mixed with Bai Xue.
After chasing for about an hour, the herd of deer had already dispersed, mainly because they didn't have many arrows left, and I don't know how many arrows they could get back in this way. Song Jia called Niuniu back. After running in the snow for so long, the dog was frozen stupid. Fortunately, it kept running, and its paws were not damaged by freezing, but they were still icy cold. Song Jia hurriedly gave it Rub the soles of your feet to warm them up.
They caught a total of four deer, three big ones, one small one, even the small one weighed more than a hundred catties, and the big ones felt at least one hundred and five to two hundred. Niuniu killed the big ones ——Xiao, the other two were shot by Qin Huai, and Mu Nan's arrow pierced precisely one of the deer's buttocks.
Several people lifted the dead deer into the rear compartment, and Mu Nan pulled out the arrow from his buttocks: "At least it hit the target, although it only hit one buttock."
Qin Huai said: "It's very good. We have no experience for the first time. We are very lucky to have such a harvest."
Four deer, a bag of rabbits, and the rabbits are still alive. This trip has completely paid off, and there is still a lot of surplus. Several people tied the cloth behind them, and when they want to return to the residential area, the things on the car are You can't show it to others in a big way, you have to cover it up no matter what. On the way there, I was not familiar with the road conditions and had to observe the surroundings, so I walked very slowly, and there were traces of passing by when I went back. I didn’t have to worry about potholes that I hadn’t walked through, so the return speed was very fast, almost flying.
A few people returned directly by the same route, because it was faster if they had experience. Naturally, they passed by the courtyard of the two old people of Tong's family. Xu Ming got off the car and gave two live rabbits to the two old people. There is a lot of meat earned, and there is no shortage of food. Two old people live here alone. Although there is a lot of food in the cellar, there is not much meat. They have accepted each other's kindness. Now that they have the conditions, they naturally want to give back Some, without waiting for the old man to refuse, Xu Ming left the rabbit and ran out.
Mr. Tong failed to catch up. Looking at the two bunnies **** in the house, his eyes were a little red, and he sighed with emotion: "They are all good boys."
- kept going back and forth, and it was midnight when they got back to the base, they drove directly to building -, building - was always guarded by soldiers, like the handover of rented vehicles was also in building - , but if there is a transfer of goods, you have to go to the logistics department. The logistics department is a greenhouse built later. Some soldiers on duty live here, and some warehouses for goods are also settled here, but ordinary people are not allowed to enter Yes, you can only go in with soldiers.
This late at night, the people in the logistics department had a rest early, they thought something was wrong when they heard the commotion outside, but they saw—the car drove in, and saw the cover of the rear compartment pulled open, and suddenly— A good guy: "What kind of luck is this for you, this luck is too good."
Qin Huai got out of the car and helped them drag the four deer out of the car. It took more than ten hours to get back, and the deer had already been frozen hard.
Xu Ming said: "If these are handed in, how will the points be calculated?"
The logistics department said: "Four points - a catty of meat, directly weighed, including the belt and bone." As for the meat to be sold outside, of course it is not the price. Now that the new currency has started to promote, - points are - yuan, It's just that because of the heavy snowstorm, some machines and equipment were stuck on the road and they haven't come here. When conditions permit, they will get a new ID card, and there will be no points, so they can only pay online.
Qin Huai said, "Where are the live rabbits?"
- Xi from the logistics department: "Is there still alive? Let me see?"
Mu Nan took the rabbits out of the bag and gave two to Grandpa Tong, and there were four left, one was bitten to death by Niuniu, and only three remained alive.
The soldiers in charge of handover skillfully turned the rabbits over for inspection. There were three rabbits, one female and two males.
Because they were caught in a nest, Mu Nan said: "They may be mother and son, father and daughter, or brothers and sisters."
The soldiers in the logistics department said indifferently: "Inbreeding rabbits can also breed, as long as they can be fed." The disadvantages of inbreeding are some genetic defects, slow growth and high mortality, but there are not many living animals that can be kept in captivity. Breeding is successful, and other things will be discussed later.
The rabbit that died at the end asked, as long as it is cooked through, it’s fine to eat. They don’t belong to the jungle area here, and it’s not as virus-infected as some jungle meat. The deer are obviously raised in the farm, but To be on the safe side, they still have to go through a quality inspection. It's too late today, so all these things are left here. After they have checked and the meat is all right, let's see how much they want to take back and how many points they can exchange for.
Qin Huai and the others decided to divide the deer, and exchange the other three, three live rabbits, and two dead snakes for points. They also informed the location of the two old people of the Tong family. He and Grandma Tong would like to come to the base, at least let the soldiers know that there are two old people over there, let them go and have a look.
The soldiers sent them back home. It was so late, and people couldn’t walk back. It’s so cold outside. I’m afraid they’d freeze to death on the way back. I’ve been too tired for the past two days. I’m tired of driving, and I’m also tired of the car. , and the spirit was tense all the way, and I couldn't sleep well at night, so I went back to my respective houses and had a good rest first, before talking about other things.
Qin Huai's stove was burning. When they left, they opened the door of the garage. They said that if they didn't come back in two or three days, they would ask Jian Chu and the others to come over and help to light the fire, so that the fire wouldn't go out. When I got home, the fire in the stove was still very hot, obviously it had just been added.
Mu Nan took off his clothes and sat down directly by the stove, while warming himself, he said, "It's still comfortable at home, shall we go hunting next time?"
Qin Huai said: "I won't go, this time I was lucky to harvest so much, and I don't need to go out so frequently, maybe there will be more and more people hunting in the future, if this is maintained throughout the winter, I will go out once every two months It’s almost the same, that is, there are more people hunting, and the number of animals being hunted is probably less and less.”
Mu Nan nodded: "That's not bad, it won't be too busy and tired for life, and it won't be completely closed at home, brother, do you want to take a shower, do you want to eat something after taking a shower?"
Qin Huai said: "If you're hungry, you can eat a little bit. Let's take a bath first. After washing, we'll sit on the kang and eat. You wash first. I'll go upstairs to see the vegetable garden."
Mu Nan directly took out a big wooden bucket on the spot, the water in it was also hot water that had been prepared long ago, taking a bath next to the stove on the first floor, and there is still a fire to keep warm, if you go to the bathroom to take a bath, it is called cold , Heating with charcoal fire requires a long time in advance of residual heat. Fortunately, I wear a lot of clothes in winter, and I don’t sweat on my body, so I rinse it a little bit, for ten days and a half months, and then take a good and thorough bath with the residual heat in the bathroom, and live the current life, he, a native of the south, I finally got the joy of taking a bath.
The fire at home has not been cut off, the heat upstairs has been maintained, the planted on the second floor has broken the ground, and the fruit on the third floor is also growing well. If this continues, there will be a harvest in half a month.
It’s a bit late, and the supper is too greasy and it’s not very good. It’s probably because I haven’t eaten for a long time. Mu Nan suddenly wants to eat instant noodles. Unlike others, he started from the government’s distribution of relief food,— He has always been eating delicious food, but he has never eaten instant noodles, especially Qin Huai did not let him eat instant noodles. Speaking of it, he seems to have had it—he hasn't eaten instant noodles for two years.
Qin Huai couldn't stand his eager eyes, so he could only say: "Soak for one serving, half for one person."
Mu Nan didn't expect to go to bed soon, Qin Huai would let him eat a portion of it alone, although there is really not much instant noodles, a big man would be gone in three or two mouthfuls, but it is still very satisfying to eat After eating, Mu Nan also sighed: "Sometimes it is good to simply soak it, and sometimes it is cooked separately, and it is also great to add ingredients and cheese."
Qin Huai laughed and said, "I haven't finished this meal, but I'm thinking about the next meal?"
Mu Nan put the finished instant noodles in a bucket—a bucket of snow, and washed them with water before putting them back in the space. Anyway, he put away most of these reusable things, in case it happens to come in handy someday. Useful.
After eating a little bit, he wasn't full, but he wasn't hungry either. Then he lay down on the kang, his whole body relaxed, and Mu Nan felt drowsy.
Just when he was about to let himself fall asleep, his whole body was suddenly moved, and was directly moved into his arms by Qin Huai.
Mu Nan turned over: "No more, I'm so tired."
Qin Huai wrapped his arms around his waist, and hugged Mu Nan tightly in his arms: "I just want to hug you to sleep, where did I go? Or is it a duplicity, is it really what I want?"
Mu Nan kicked him under the quilt: "You are duplicity!"
Qin Huai clamped Mu Nan's cold feet between his legs, and kissed his earlobe: "Sure enough."
Mu Nan hummed: "So what?"
Qin Huai: "Sure enough, I'm still comfortable at home."