Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 147 The leopard is dead? Did a tiger do it?

The villagers surrounding here include not only those from Hongfeng Village, but also those from Shimen Village.

People who didn't know Lin Heng looked curious when they saw him. Whose boy is this? He looks so majestic riding a horse up the mountain.

I was even more surprised when I saw the bow and arrow on his body and the dog at his feet. Is this for hunting?

"Lin Heng, are you here to pick chestnuts too?" A villager from Hongfeng Village recognized Lin Heng and asked with a smile.

Lin Heng took a look and saw that the person speaking was Liu Lan, her father-in-law Liu Yong, and beside him were beekeeper Wang Jin and several other people in the village.

"Yes, what happened here, Uncle Liu?" Lin Heng asked curiously. These people were surrounding him and couldn't see clearly.

"A leopard died here. I don't know what it was that killed it. It was so badly bitten." Liu Yong pointed behind him and said.

"I think it's a tiger. What else could eat a leopard besides a tiger?"

"Couldn't it be eaten by a leopard? Maybe a bear did it."

As soon as this was mentioned, a group of people immediately started arguing again.

"Is the leopard dead? Did the tiger eat it?" Lin Heng was stunned. What was he talking about?

He remembered clearly that the last tiger discovered in the Qinling Mountains was shot dead in 1964. The specimen is now in the provincial library.

Since then, there have been no tigers in the Qinling Mountains. How can there be traces of tigers?

After being stunned for a moment, he immediately turned over and dismounted, and ran over in a few steps.

The leopard's carcass was seen under a large chestnut tree.

This leopard has unique cloud-like patterns on its back and sides; its fur is uniformly light blue to gray in base color, with large cloud-like patches on its sides.

The ears are small, the head is round, and now only a small half of the body is left, and the internal organs and the back half of the body are missing.

There were obvious bite marks on the head and half of the body left at the scene.

It is indeed incredible to kill and eat most of a clouded leopard. After the tiger became extinct, the clouded leopard was the top predator in this mountain range.

The only thing that can be stronger than it is the black bear and giant panda, but it is difficult to catch the clouded leopard with both of them, right?

Is it really a tiger?

Lin Heng felt nervous. It would not be a good thing to have this thing. He would have to be extremely careful when hunting.

There have been precedents in the past where certain animals were said to be extinct, only to reappear later. After all, a mountain range is too big to search all of it.

But he also felt that the clouded leopard might have been injured in a fight or was attacked by something else.

But in the future, you have to be careful when hunting in the mountains, and be prepared if something happens.

Looking at the remains of the clouded leopard on the ground, Lin Heng turned around and asked, "No one wants it?"

"It stinks and there isn't much fur left. Why do you need it?" Liu Yong said in disgust.

"Yes, none of us want it. If you want to take it, just take it." None of the villagers were interested in this thing.

It’s not valuable, so what can you do with it?

"Haha, then I'm welcome."

Lin Heng smiled and said that although it smelled bad, maggots had not grown yet, so they could still use it.

The remaining fur was still useful, and he planned to throw the two front paws and head into the water. After the flesh was eaten by insects and fish, he would turn the bones into a skeleton specimen.

He took out the hundred-smelted steel dagger directly on the spot and peeled off the clouded leopard's fur bit by bit despite the stench.

Fortunately, the dagger is sharp enough and the peeling process is not slow. Some villagers nearby looked at it for a while and then dispersed to look for chestnuts.

It took about ten minutes for Lin Heng to take off the remaining leopard skin. In order to get more fur, he didn't even spare the head and peeled it off cleanly.

"You're not young yet. It's probably enough to make two gloves and a hat." Lin Heng smiled, quite satisfied.

The skin that was peeled off was about fifty square centimeters. It didn't look like much on the body, but it was actually quite a lot.

The skin was peeled off, and the remaining rotten meat Lin Heng found a puddle and threw it in, pressing it down with rocks.

After waiting for more than a month, it is estimated that only the skeleton will be left.

This is the best way to avoid mealworms. He once picked up a complete mouse skeleton in a creek.

After scraping off the remaining rotten meat from the leopard skin, Lin Heng put it in a snakeskin bag and tied the mouth so that there was no smell.

After processing it at home, it will be a beautiful and good leopard skin. After tanning, my wife can make it into gloves.

"let's go."

After finishing this, Lin Heng got on his horse and continued walking towards the mountain.

My father and the others were probably on the top of the mountain. When they got to the top of the mountain, they searched around and found them under a big chestnut tree.

"Mom and Dad, how many fights have you had?"

Lin Heng led the horse over and asked, "There is no way to ride in the forest."

It's not that the horse can't walk, it's that he can't stand it, and he will be hit in the face by a branch after taking a few steps.

There were four people on Father Lin's side. In addition to the eldest brother, Father Lin and Mother Lin, Lin Heng's second nephew, Lin Tao, also came up with his father.

"I picked up seventy or eighty kilograms. There are a lot of them on the chestnut tree, and I'm beating them now." Father Lin pointed to the snakeskin bag next to him and said with a smile.

"That's not bad." Lin Heng said, it's only half past ten, this is a good harvest.

"Did you see that dead leopard on the way up? I don't know what killed it and ate what was left."

Lin Yue, who was beating chestnuts on the tree, asked.

"Not only did I see it, I also cut off the fur." ​​Lin Heng said with a smile.

"Is it still useful if it stinks?" Mother Lin cast a suspicious look.

"Of course it can be used. It's the meat that smells, not the fur." ​​Lin Heng said.

"Get out of the way, I'm starting to shake the tree." At this time, Lin Yue climbed to a suitable position on the tree and shouted.

Lin Heng and others ran away quickly, and Lin Yue on the tree also put on a straw hat.

Generally speaking, hairy chestnut trees are left untouched and are found everywhere. Just pick them up on the ground.

But there are relatively few chestnuts. If I find a tree, I will try my best to kill it.

As the branches swayed, it sounded like rain. Most of what fell were chestnuts, and a small number of chestnut bags also fell together.

Lin Heng took advantage of this moment to go to the side to find some horse grass for the red dates, mainly the leaves of a kind of tree and the leaves of Guo Tiao Teng.

When the shaking is almost done, I take the bag and pick it up on the ground, one here, one there, it's like picking mushrooms, it's quite fun.

"Ow~"

Xiong Ba also waggled his tail, bit one and handed it to Lin Heng to join in the fun.

"Don't pick it up, go find mushrooms and prey." Lin Heng patted it on the head.

Everything this guy picked up was full of saliva, and no one could eat it.

"Woof~"

Xiongba saw that Lin Heng disliked it, so he let out a dissatisfied cry and ran away to play.

Lin Heng silently picked chestnuts. After picking up chestnuts from this tree, he went to the next tree.

At this time, the mountains were full of chestnut pickers, and there was no hope of hunting. I took a bow and arrow just in case.

Also, when we go back and pass by Red Maple Mountain, we should teach the rabbits there a lesson.

Before he knew it, it was already one o'clock at noon. Lin Heng picked up more than thirty kilograms, of which ten kilograms were relatively large chestnuts and the remaining twenty kilograms were woolly chestnuts.

During this period, apart from encountering people, nothing else was discovered, and the prey seemed not to exist at all.

After all, the whole Chestnut Mountain is full of people, and even the prey has been scared away, so they dare not come out.

Father Lin asked about the time and said, "Let's go and find a place to eat by the stream."

"Okay!" Lin Heng went back and took the horse, while the others walked towards the stream carrying the chestnuts they picked up today.

The trees beside the stream were much shorter, and there was still a lot of grass. Lin Heng put the red dates here and let them graze on their own. He and his parents went to eat under the shade of the trees.

"What are you eating?" Mother Lin opened the bag. There were steamed buns, pulp pancakes, and white-flour steamed buns inside.

"Let's go for the cake." Lin Heng took a cake and dipped it in a little tofu curd and ate it. It tasted pretty good.

There are many people eating by the stream, and they are all getting dry food. It is three or four kilometers from here to the foot of the mountain, let alone going home.

"Lin Heng, do you want to eat roasted corn?"

Someone shouted below, and when Lin Heng saw it, it turned out to be Yang Zhaotao, Li Caifeng, and several young people from the village who were about the same age as him.

They made a fire and roasted corn and glutinous rice cakes.

"Thank you." Lin Heng was not polite and walked over to get a piece of roasted corn.

"It's not worth anything, why are you so polite?" Yang Zhaotao said with a smile.

"It's not easy to carry it on your back." Lin Heng smiled and sat here eating corn while chatting.

The charred aroma of roasted corn is more attractive than the sweet taste of boiled corn. Yang Zhaotao's skill in roasting corn is good, roasting it until it is brown but not blackened and carbonized.

It was quite fun to eat corn and listen to them chatting with each other. There are not many entertainment activities in rural areas, so when they get together, they inevitably chat with each other.

But he wasn't very interested and didn't answer the call.

Some women couldn't stand it and started to take action, sprinkling water and throwing mud, which made them have bad intentions.

Yang Zhaotao took a bite of the steamed bun and asked with a smile: "Lin Heng, when will you dig another fish pond?"

"We have to wait until the soybeans are harvested, at the end of October in the Gregorian calendar." Lin Heng said casually.

"Don't leave me behind then." Yang Zhaotao said with a smile.

"Add me too." Someone else said next to him.

"No problem, there are quite a lot of people asking for it this time. I'll just send you a notification to sign up when the time comes." Lin Heng nodded with a smile.

He knew that many people in the village now wanted to help him dig fish ponds. He could still make money in his own village, and everyone wanted this job.

After eating the corn, Lin Heng also got some chestnuts, cut them open with a knife, and threw them into the fire to roast.

Even if it is open, rapid heating will make a dull sound. If you detect it, you can easily peel off all the inner and outer skins, leaving only the golden chestnut meat.

It was soft, glutinous and sweet when put in your mouth. After eating one, Lin Heng was satisfied.

After saying thank you, he ran to pick up chestnuts.

I picked them up by the stream in the afternoon, there are quite a few around here. There are endless chestnuts to pick up. Even if you pick the ground carefully, you can still pick up a lot of them. Some of them fell from the trees, and some of them were picked up by people.

Not long after picking it up, Lin Heng found a wild lily under the forest and asked his mother to dig it up with a small hoe.

The lilies on this kind of slope are not very deep and can be dug out with just two hoes. They are not very big, only about three or two.

"Ouch!" Xiongba came over and smelled it, a little curious.

Lin Heng smiled, broke off a piece, and fed it into his mouth.     "Bah!"

Xiong Ba just took two bites, vomited it out, and glared at his master, feeling that he looked more like a dog than him.

Then he ran to the stream and drank water to wash his tongue, which almost caused it to die.

"Haha."

Lin Heng was very happy after teasing the bully. He walked around and found two more lilies.

This stuff will be very bitter if you don't handle it after digging it out, especially this kind of wild lily with white flowers.

Lin Heng was digging here when Father Lin suddenly made a voice: "Oh no, this yam vine is so thick. Lin Heng, please bring the hoe over here."

"Wait a minute." Lin Heng dug out the lilies on his side with a hoe and came to Father Lin's side with the hoe.

"Look, this yam vine is quite thick, it's as thick as your little finger." Father Lin pulled the yam vine and said with a smile.

The yam vine is dark red with vertical lines. The leaves are triangular and feel thick to the touch.

Generally speaking, a yam vine as thick as a normal data line can dig out three or four kilograms of yams. It is not unusual for a vine this thick to dig out more than ten kilograms.

"And this one grows on the slope. It will be easier to dig. I'll see if I can dig them all out." Father Lin took the hoe and said again.

"Then give it a try and I'll help you." Lin Heng nodded.

Yams can still grow for another month or two at this time, so it is most appropriate to dig them in October of the lunar calendar or December of the solar calendar.

But I saw that it’s okay to dig in advance, it’s just a little less.

He said he was helping, but Lin Heng just watched from the sidelines while his father kept digging.

About thirty centimeters deep, you can see the main body of the yam, a large yam as thick as an adult's forearm, and further down as thick as an adult's calf.

"This yam is indeed big enough. It will be very beautiful to dig it out and stew the pork legs." After digging out some, Father Lin grinned.

Lin Heng was also a little surprised: "Yes, there are no split ends. It's such a good yam."

Many yams look like they have thick vines, but once they are dug down, they are divided into large bunches and are completely useless.

It's fine if it's divided into two or three, but it's just a little smaller. What's most scary is that if it's divided into five or six small ones, it's still growing in the stone, and it's completely squeezed and deformed. It's all in vain to dig it out.

Father dug for a while. Lin Heng took over, and within two digs, the skin of the yam was broken, and the white flesh was exposed.

"I'll do it, you just watch." Father Lin was speechless. He took the hoe and did it himself.

He has obsessive-compulsive disorder and can't bear to dig up the yams.

Lin Heng could only watch. His father was really patient. He dug for a full hour and a half, dug out a hole, and finally dug out the yam completely.

"This must weigh more than ten kilograms." Father Lin chuckled.

"Awesome!" Lin Heng gave a thumbs up. He couldn't do this kind of job even if he was reborn.

This complete yam is more than one meter long and has a thick adult calf. It is perfect.

Father Lin took a knife and cut it into three sections and put them in a bag. He sat next to it and took a good rest, but he was exhausted.

Lin Heng handed the water he didn't drink to his father, then picked up chestnuts with a hoe and looked for wild lilies.

During this period, he also found some Schisandra chinensis and August melon, and he picked them all. The ripe Schisandra chinensis was dark red, tasted sweet and sour, and tasted very good.

In the afternoon, everyone picked up not many chestnuts. After the round at around six o'clock, Lin Heng picked up only 30 kilograms. Including the morning's chestnuts, it was only 60 kilograms.

Father Lin and Mother Lin picked up a hundred kilograms in total, and the total in the morning was a little over two hundred kilograms.

The eldest brother Lin Yue weighs about 100 pounds in the morning and afternoon combined.

Rural people often carry things on their backs, and their approximate weight estimates are quite accurate.

"Let's go down the mountain." Lin Heng said, then walked ahead carrying the things on his back and holding the red dates.

The road down the mountain is not suitable for riding horses, but it is not strenuous for people to walk.

When we got to the highway, a few people packed chestnuts for the horses, and they felt much relieved.

As they approached Hongfeng Mountain, Lin Heng let his father hold the horse. He took a bow and arrow and took Xiongba on a side road to Hongfeng Mountain.

Prepare to see if there are any wild rabbits and teach them a lesson.

Around six or seven o'clock, that's when these guys come out to eat grass.

One person and one dog quietly came to the soybean field at the foot of Hongfeng Mountain.

As soon as I walked to the edge of the ground, I saw traces of chewed soybeans. It was obvious that the rabbit's three-petal mouth was responsible.

"No?"

What surprised Lin Heng was that after walking around several acres of soybean fields, he found no trace of rabbits.

In desperation, he went to the fish pond to take a look. The water quality was now very stable, and there was a lot of grass growing on the slopes of the fish pond.

This is a good thing. A pond for raising shrimps must have plenty of grass. Without grass, it is difficult to raise shrimps.

After thinking about it, Lin Heng decided to raise the grass carp fry at home in this first fish pond in a few days.

Under normal circumstances, one acre of pond can only support about a thousand grass carp fry. The number of grass carp fry that survived in his place must be seven or eight thousand, so it stands to reason that there are seven or eight ponds.

But now the fry are still small, so you can keep them first. When they grow up and weigh half a catty next year, you can divide them into ponds.

"But we have to choose a good day then." Lin Heng muttered to himself, turned around and left.

However, he, who had never been in the air force, could not return empty-handed. The pink hibiscus and golden chrysanthemums on the ground were quite good, so he picked some and tied them into a bouquet to take away.

As soon as we returned to the road, we heard a gunshot on the top of the mountain.

After one glance, he stopped paying attention. As autumn gradually arrived, many hunters began to go hunting in the mountains.

He planned to wait until the weather got colder and the leaves began to fall, and then organize a hunting trip to Taibai Mountain.

Seeing Lin Heng coming back, Lin's father said, "I just heard that someone was shooting in Hongfeng Mountain. I guess all the rabbits have escaped."

"Yes, we can only wait until tomorrow morning." Lin Heng spread his hands. He guessed that this was also the case, otherwise it would be impossible not to encounter them all.

After returning home, Lin Heng unloaded his chestnuts from the horse and took them home. His father would feed the horse and send it to the stable.

"Lin Heng, don't you take some yam back to eat?" Lin's father asked.

"You guys keep them while I hunt two pheasants and we'll stew them for dinner." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Carrying chestnuts and holding a bouquet, Lin Heng knocked on the door.

"for you."

When Xiulan opened the door, Lin Heng smiled and gave her the bouquet and the August melon and schisandra in the small bag.

Xiulan took it and blinked her eyes, with a hint of tenderness, and said with a smile: "You have a good harvest today, you got so many chestnuts."

"That's right, there are not only chestnuts, but also lilies and August melons, a little schisandra, and a small half of a leopard skin."

Lin Heng put the things on the table and fucked for a while.

"Dad, I want to eat this." Xiaoxia pointed at the August melon and said.

"You can eat this." You handed her a bunch of schisandra chinensis. She doesn't know how to eat August melon seeds, so she can't eat too much.

"Leopard skin?" Xiulan was surprised, "Did you shoot a leopard this afternoon?"

"It was not shot, but picked up. There was a leopard lying dead on the ground."

Lin Heng told his wife the whole process.

"I'm just telling you, it scared me. I thought you hit a leopard." Xiulan patted her chest.

Then he added: "Is there really a tiger? If there is, it would be too dangerous."

"I guess it's unlikely." Lin Heng shook his head. After thinking about it carefully, he still felt that it shouldn't be a tiger.

"Then you'd better be careful and be prepared in case something happens." Xiulan said. The mention of tigers makes people fearful.

"I know, I'm going to deal with the leopard skin." Lin Heng nodded.

Xiulan smelled the flowers, took a blue and white porcelain bottle bought by Lin Heng, filled it with water, put it on the big cabinet, and went to the kitchen to cook with a smile.

Lin Heng carried the smelly leopard skin out, first made a frame to lift it up, and then used bamboo to carefully scrape off any fat and minced meat that might be left on the skin, making sure to clean it.

After these were done, he went to get quicklime, poured it into a wooden basin and added water to make a lime solution. He threw the smelly leopard skin into it and pressed it with stones to soak it.

This step requires soaking for at least one night.

After finishing it, Xiulan rice was also prepared. In the evening, I made white flour steamed buns and stir-fried three vegetables and one soup.

While eating, Xiulan talked: "My sister-in-law asked me why our chickens are so willing to lay eggs, and I told her the feeding method you taught me."

"Just say it, it doesn't matter." Lin Heng said this and started eating steamed buns.

Cut the buns into pieces, apply some spicy tofu curd, and then add shredded sour radish and stir-fry the bacon. It tastes so delicious that I don’t want to talk about it.

Lin Heng ate four pieces of steamed buns before stopping. He was full.

At this time, I had time to chat with my wife and talked about what happened in the woods today.

Xiulan also talked about what she did at home today. It was all quite ordinary. The only surprise might be the flowers Lin Heng brought home.

After dinner, put the child to bed as usual and go to bed as usual.

Early the next morning, Lin Heng got up and looked at his leopard skin.

I added some boiling water to it, used my hands to remove all the grease and dirt, took it out and cleaned it, and there was no trace of odor anymore.

At this point, the first step of fur tanning is completed.

Xiulan mixed alum, salt and water with the raw liquid for tanning fur. There has always been a tradition of tanning fur to make clothes in rural areas, so the corresponding proportions are naturally very clear.

Throw the leopard skin into a wooden basin, add part of the original solution to soak, and gradually increase the concentration every day for the next seven days. After seven days, the skin will be tanned, and can be taken out to dry and knead until soft, and then used to make clothes, hats and the like. .

"Honey, you make breakfast, and I'll take Xiongba to visit Hongfeng Mountain."

After finishing processing the leopard skin, Lin Heng looked at his wife and said.

"Okay." Xiulan agreed.

Lin Heng took Xiongba to Hongfeng Mountain. His parents were breaking corn today and did not pick up chestnuts.

Just after arriving at Hongfeng Mountain, before even reaching the soybean field, Lin Heng made an unexpected discovery and hurriedly squatted down.

It was so unexpected that he encountered such a thing here, and it was hard to calm down for a while.

　It’s still 6,000 words today. I haven’t adjusted yet. I’m not in a good state recently.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)