Hello 1983

  Chapter 103 Flying Dragon

  Liu Qingshan took off the padded shoes on his feet, and then put on the big catfish that Master threw over.

  Tai 鞡 is a kind of leather boots in winter at that time. Most of them are made of cowhide. There are half circles of delicate folds on the upper, and a kind of grass must be filled in the inside of the shoes.

   That's right, this kind of grass is the famous scorpion grass.

  Guandong Mountain, Sanzongbao, ginseng, mink fur and scorpion grass.

   This ginseng mink fur is not afforded by ordinary people. Only this scorpion grass is the treasure of the common people.

This kind of grass grows on the pylons of the meadow, in clumps, seemingly slender, but soft and tough. After drying, they are beaten in winter and put into boots, even if they stand in the snow shell. For half a day, my feet won't freeze.

  Of course, if there is no weed grass, you can also put some corn husks or the like, but the heat preservation effect will be much worse.

  The pair of big boots that Liu Qingshan wears are obviously more elegant. They are high-waisted boots, and the outside is not leather, but fur.

  Ask Master, the dumb grandpa gestured and said: It is made of the fur of An Dahan, and it does not touch any snow when walking in the snow.

  Put on the big scorpion and put on leggings, the dumb grandfather and Liu Qingshan both carried a burden and set off with a thick wooden stick in their hand.

   "Master, don't you take a gun?"

  Liu Qingshan is a little worried. During this winter, it is difficult for wild beasts to find food, and their eyes are green from hunger, so don't let the two of them be cushioned.

  The dumb grandpa smiled and gestured a few times: Walking in the mountains and forests, relying on real skills, what's the use of holding a fire stick?

  Fire stick?

   Well, this is the first time that Liu Qingshan has heard someone call a shotgun a fire stick. Master must really call Yigao people bold.

  Two hounds walked unhurriedly in front, they seldom barked, as for the remaining half-sized dogs and little blacks, they were all left in the woodcut in a daze.

  The mountains and forests in winter feel extremely quiet. In the forest, the snow in the usual places does not reach the ankles, and some low-lying places reach directly to the knees.

   Occasionally, there will be a light cracking sound, which is caused by the snow breaking the dead branches. In the quiet forest, it can be heard very clearly.

   Liu Qingshan walked and looked around, seeing the dumb grandpa frowning, stretched out a big slap wearing a hand mask, and patted his dog fur hat.

  Liu Qingshan was a little bewildered by the photo, not knowing why the master did it when he was walking well.

  The dumb grandpa pointed to the tree with his hand, and then pointed to the snow. Only then did Liu Qingshan notice that along the way, the dumb grandpa would leave some marks on the tree every few dozen steps.

  He sort of got it: it keeps you from getting lost.

   There is also the snow field, which looks like a vast expanse of whiteness, but in fact there are animal footprints of various sizes and shapes on it.

  The first lesson the dumb grandfather taught Liu Qingshan was to recognize animal footprints and feces.

  Liu Qingshan is completely convinced, because from these footprints, the master can even distinguish the male and female of the beast, and can roughly judge when he passed by here, whether it was half a day ago or three days ago.

  When he got here, he felt like he suddenly became a primary school student, and he had to learn everything from scratch.

   Fortunately, he has a mature mind, and he studied hard with his master. When he encountered something he didn't understand, he also liked to ask the bottom line.

   Along the way, the dumb grandpa was also very happy, always smiling.

   "Master, this is a herd of wild boars. I'll count how many there should be."

  Liu Qingshan made rapid progress. After checking his footprints, he made a horoscope.

  The dumb grandfather nodded in satisfaction. There are indeed eight wild boars in this family, including the big and the small.

   woo... woo...

  The hound in front barked softly, as if reminding him of something.

  The dumb grandpa came to a stone sill, raised the wooden stick in his hand, poked a few times in a snow nest, and then a hole was revealed.

  If you look closely, there are still wisps of hot air coming out of the snow cave.

   "Bear Den?"

  Liu Qingshan couldn't help becoming a little nervous.

  The dumb grandfather waved his hand, and then made a few gestures, Liu Qingshan was relieved.

   It turned out that it wasn't a hibernating Xiong Xiazi, but his name also had the word "bear" on it, it was a mink bear.

  Although the mink bear is also called a bear, it is actually a member of the weasel family, and is a close relative of the weasel.

  The mute grandpa also asked Liu Qingshan to go to the snow cave to smell it, and it really smelled bad.

   Wolverine is a semi-hibernating animal. The entrance of the cave is covered by heavy snow, and it is hard to avoid breathing in the cave. Therefore, the dumb grandpa will help to clean out the entrance of the cave.

  Is this… a good deed?

  Liu Qingshan thinks Master is very interesting: the dumb grandfather also hunts some wild animals in the forest, but also protects them, isn’t this a bit contradictory?

  The master and apprentice continued to trek forward. After walking for a while, Liu Qingshan was wheezing and wheezing. On the other hand, the dumb grandfather still seemed to be taking a leisurely walk, not tired at all.

  The hound in front let out another low bark, and the dumb grandfather led Liu Qingshan to a big tree that required two or three people to embrace.

   Liu Qingshan saw a big tree hole at a glance.

  Master pointed to the top of the tree hole, he looked up and saw some hoarfrost hanging.

  He understood that there must be goods in this hole, and the hot air he breathed would condense frost on the top of the hole.

   "Master, this must be a blind man, right?"

  Liu Qingshan is also confident now, in their place, this is called "squatting warehouse".

  The tree hole is like a big warehouse, and black bears hibernate in it, so it is called a squatting warehouse.

  Generally speaking, bears on sunny slopes like to squat in tree holes, which are called Tiancang; bears on shady slopes like to hibernate in underground holes, called "Dicang".

   This is also the easiest time to hunt and kill bears. Of course, Master will definitely not kill bears if he leads Liu Qingshan.

  The dumb grandpa looked carefully around the tree hole, then shook his head with a smile, and gestured a few more times.

  What, Big Horse Bear? !

  Liu Qingshan felt that his legs were getting weaker: "Master, let's retreat first!"

  The brown bear got its name because of its huge size and the face of a big horse.

   And because he likes to stand up and dangle like a human, he is also called a human bear.

   Of course, its scientific name is the most familiar: brown bear!

  Thinking about a big brown bear sleeping in the tree hole, who wouldn’t feel the liver tremble?

  Brown bears are really big. Even Siberian tigers dare not provoke them. They definitely have the qualifications to dominate the forest.

  The dumb grandpa smiled and waved his hands, put his ears on the tree trunk again, listened for a while, then nodded with satisfaction, and then took Liu Qingshan away.

   After walking a few hundred meters, Liu Qingshan secretly heaved a sigh of relief: This silent forest is not as peaceful as it appears on the surface, how many dangers are hidden in the dark?

   Fluttering, there was a sound of flapping wings above his head.

  Liu Qingshan looked up and saw a group of pigeons and birds flying down to the ground not far away.

pheasant?

   Then he shook his head himself. This bird is obviously smaller than a pheasant, and its feathers are similar to those of a wood pheasant. It is not fancy at all. Most importantly, it does not have such a long tail.

  He suddenly thought of something, and spit out: "Flying dragon!"

  The dumb grandfather nodded, and Liu Qingshan became a little uneasy: among the rare birds on the mountain, the flying dragon should be the first.

  As the saying goes, no one has eaten dragon meat in the sky, but the dragon meat is absolutely delicious.

  The scientific name of the flying dragon is called the hazel pheasant. It likes to eat pine nuts and various small forest insects.

  It is said to be very delicious if used to make soup. Anyway, Liu Qingshan has grown up so much, so he hasn't tasted it yet.

  When he saw his apprentice, he was almost drooling, and the dumb grandfather had a loving smile on his face. He just reached out and patted Liu Qingshan on the head, and then led him to continue walking in the forest.

  At the end, Liu Qingshan's legs seemed to be filled with lead, and he seemed to be unconscious, just trudging mechanically in the snow.

  The mute grandpa didn't intend to stop at all, he still walked unhurriedly, knowing that the sky was dark, so he stopped in a clearing in the forest.

  In this open space, there is another woodcut, but this wooden house in the forest looks much older.

   It turns out that there is still a place to rest here!

  Liu Qingshan couldn't help but get excited, he has been wondering: where to stay at night, I can't sleep in the snow shell, if that is the case, I guess it will be hard when I wake up tomorrow morning.

  The wooden house is not locked, but the door is fastened with iron wire. When entering the house, there are candles, a stove in the house, and outside the wooden house, there are all kinds of firewood and wooden boxes.

  Started a fire, lit a candle, and the cold air was dispelled immediately, Liu Qingshan felt his whole body came alive again.

  There was still rice in the tank, and it was tightly sealed. While Liu Qingshan was washing the rice and steaming the rice, he saw the dumb grandpa coming back from the outside with two birds upside down in his hand.

  Looking at the mottled feathers on the bird, Liu Qingshan was dumbfounded again: This should be a flying dragon, how did Master catch it?

  The dumb grandpa gestured a few times: At night, Feilong plunged into the snow shell to sleep, so he caught two and came back to make soup.

  Easy to say, but if it were really that easy to catch, it would probably have been caught long ago.

  Liu Qingshan feels that there are still too many things he needs to learn.

  In fact, the most important thing to learn is the master's not to be greedy: a group of flying dragons caught two and brought them back.

   Take what you should take, and let go of what you should give up. Even Liu Qingshan, who has cultivated the concept of animal protection in his mind, may find it difficult to do so.

  At least he was thinking just now: Can he get some more and give his family a try.

   After the bird feathers fell off, the rest was left to the master to cook, and Liu Qingshan learned from the side.

  I saw the dumb grandpa add a few ladles of water to the pot, throw the two clean flying dragons into it, and then cover the pot and cook it.

  After boiling the pot, throw in a small handful of schisandra, and when it is about to come out of the pot, add a little salt, it's that simple.

   On this point, Liu Qingshan generally understands: the better the ingredients, the simpler the processing method.

  Dinner started, each person had a big bowl of hot Feilong soup, Liu Qingshan took a small sip, and then hissed and gasped.

   This is not boiled, but fresh, as if the essence of the entire forest is conceived in this mouthful of soup.

  The dumb grandfather looked at the apprentice's stupidity, and compared with him: In recent years, flying dragons have become more and more rare, and it is enough to try something new once in a while.

  Don’t make any other plans. If you catch them and sell them for the sake of immediate profit, it is estimated that within a few years, this kind of bird will be extinct.

  (end of this chapter)