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

Chapter 1 Unregistered Residents in the Forest Area

Deep winter of 1979.

The Green Water Forest Farm, the outermost edge of the Great Northern Wilderness, is Xiaoyangqi, a former educated youth settlement.

The small gatehouse of the educated youth settlement was brightly lit.

On-site doctor Hu Yuling performed CPR again and again.

The worst thing about frostbite is that the patient falls into a coma and also looks like he's smiling.

The only remaining educated youth at the Xiaoyangqi educated youth settlement, which had already been shut down, wore a strange, blissful smile.

Before a person freezes to death, they feel an icy chill.

But in its final moments before freezing to death, it felt a burning heat.

"Quick! Shovel a basin of snow..."

Snow covered his burning chest, and Chen Tuo suddenly let out the extreme deep breath that only a drowning person would take.

The moment his senses returned, the thing he wanted to do most was to beat up those stupid investors who were out partying and drinking heavily during the cold snap and blizzard.

The Greater Khingan Mountains.

Deep winter in December.

A cold wave accompanied by a blizzard in the dead of night.

Because several of his videos had a good number of views, he deliberately drank heavily in a fake shelter made of plywood and plastic sheeting.

This insight is profound...

I realized it was inappropriate before I started drinking, and several attempts to dissuade him were unsuccessful.

Who can understand the helplessness of Chen Tuo, who was forced to accompany a few people to a meeting, when he was frozen and crawled into the snow?

What goose, what bird, what electric intelligence, what mechanical stability? In the frigid minus forty degrees Celsius with a blizzard raging, birds are useless!

The accident was caused by an extreme cold and blizzard in the Greater Khingan Mountains.

This also stems from the extreme cold survival program team's ignorance of extreme cold and blizzards, as well as the arrogance of the investors and producers.

Money can solve many problems.

When faced with the harshness of nature, money is utterly useless.

Chen Tuo's repeated attempts to stop the drinking party failed, and he could only try to save himself amidst the mocking looks of the investors, producers, and crew.

As a result, the temporary compromise led to an irreparable disaster.

When he got up and put on his down jacket, his hands were so frozen that he couldn't zip it up.

To save money, it was built in an extreme cold shelter two kilometers away from the town, with only a small pile of firewood, which was burned up during the drinking party.

Using the warmth from the alcohol, I finally warmed my hands and zipped up the jacket.

The film crew also noticed something was wrong.

But it was too late.

Outside the shelter, the cold wind howled, and the world was a vast expanse of white.

Before the drinking party started, the thermometer, which was still reading above zero, suddenly dropped to minus forty degrees Celsius.

The gasoline-powered car won't start, and the electric car won't start.

After using the phone all day, the remaining battery power was frozen in the extreme cold of minus forty degrees Celsius.

Panicked people dismantled their shelters to use as fuel to heat their oil tankers.

As a result, the lighter wouldn't light again.

Watching everyone huddle into the car, watching the breath gradually freeze on the car windows.

Chen Tuo did not compromise and ventured alone into the white-haired wind, hoping that Ji could walk back to the town.

As a result, he underestimated the terror of the white blizzard in the Greater Khingan Mountains and got lost in the vast snowfield.

Before losing consciousness, the bone-chilling cold turned into a burning heat...

"Good! He's alive again. Let's shovel some more snow and rub Chen Zhiqing's limbs."

"Chen, the educated youth?"

It seems to be a very old-fashioned term.

Before Chen Tuo, whose consciousness was still somewhat blurred, could react, and before Hu Yuling could continue to provide aid, she was left to fend for herself.

Several forestry guards, wearing dog-skin hats, sheepskin military overcoats, and heavy winter boots, squeezed into the gatehouse of the educated youth settlement.

"Chen Tuo, the address you provided has neither your household registration nor your record of being sent to the countryside. We have received notification from the Provincial Educated Youth Office and the higher-level Forestry Bureau that your application to return to the city is rejected!"

"You can stay temporarily at the educated youth settlement, but you are prohibited from taking trains or cars, and you are also prohibited from leaving the Lushulin Forest Farm area!"

"Chen Tuo, did you hear me clearly? If you did, then sign the notification!"

The patient had just narrowly escaped death.

Chu Maolin, deputy head of the security section of Songling Forestry Bureau, forced Chen, whose hands and feet were frozen, to sign the document.

Hu Yuling, who also came from a similar background as a sent-down youth, angrily rebuked:

"Chu Maolin, what are you doing? Don't you know patients shouldn't be agitated at this time? If he dies, are you going to take responsibility?"

After Hu Yuling finished speaking, someone chimed in.

"Yeah! That bastard did it on purpose, just to get rid of the person and be done with it!"

"Old Wu, you scoundrel, who gives you the right to speak?"

"I dragged him back from the snow, what's it to you? You think you can just say we can't leave the forest farm and that's it? There were about a hundred educated youths here, and he's the only one left. What the hell were you doing all this time?"

The argument between Wu Laowai, who saved the man, and Chu Maolin, the deputy head of the forest farm's security department, made Hu Yuling, the resident doctor who was a former educated youth, look grim.

The living conditions in the Beidahuang forest area are extremely harsh, with winters lasting up to seven months and temperatures often dropping to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius.

The pioneers who came here included educated youth, land reclamation workers, forestry workers, railway soldiers, and the families of soldiers.

As one of the largest recipients of educated youth sent to the countryside, Beidahuang had 60% of its population comprised of educated youth.

After the college entrance examination was reinstated, most of the 500,000 to 600,000 educated youth had already left.

The remaining educated youth, who were already few in number, returned to the city in large numbers once again in the middle of the year.

The once bustling Xiaoyangqi educated youth settlement is now reduced to just Chen Tuo, an educated youth whose identity remains unknown.

Those savvy educated youth who had been sent to the countryside had already returned to the city.

Taking advantage of the resumption of the college entrance examination and the fact that no one was allowed to obstruct it, most of the registered educated youth left.

The remaining registered educated youth seized their last chance and returned to the city.

The already small population of Beidahuang is losing a large number of knowledgeable and capable young laborers.

The return of educated youth to the city has put pressure on the already strained job market in the city.

Only after those who were supposed to leave had left did Heilongjiang Province introduce a policy of easy entry and strict exit.

Chen Tuo's identity was not confirmed, so he was an unregistered resident.

Let alone returning to the city, it will be difficult to arrange work afterward.

In forest areas, no work means no food rations or firewood supply.

The seven-month-long winter had just begun. For Chen Tuo, who was living alone in the educated youth settlement, the lack of food and heating was worse than death.

"Then leave your handprints!"

Dr. Hu Yuling was speechless after being confronted by the vagrant Wu Laowai, and her expression turned sour.

Chu Maolin stepped forward, grabbed Chen Tuo's hand, took out the prepared inkpad, and forcibly signed and stamped the notification form before leading his men away from the educated youth settlement.

Neither Hu Yuling, who looked dejected, nor Wu Laowai, who looked indignant, stopped Chu Maolin's actions.

After all, they represent the forest farm and the forestry bureau.

On a larger scale, they also represent the provincial-level office for educated youth!

"Oh dear... how is he going to survive?"

As a veteran educated youth, Hu Yuling knows best how harsh the winters are in the forest area.

Wu Laowai, who was saving the person, sneered and made sarcastic remarks.

"A fool can't survive anywhere! Look at the shack he built; they used all the best wood when they built the educated youth settlement!"

Glancing at the gatehouse hut, blackened by smoke from the brick kiln, Hu Yuling could also discern Chen Zhiqing's honest character.

Pinus tabuliformis and pine resin are only used as kindling in forest areas; no one would use them as firewood for heating.

However, it was difficult to agree with Wu Laowai's words, as the educated youth settlement was considered public property.

Demolishing houses for heating is easily classified as vandalism, a grave offense.

"Luckily, Chu Maolin and the others got the electricity back on for him, otherwise lighting would have been a problem!"

After simply agreeing, Hu Yuling wanted to rub Chen Tuo's limbs to prevent blood stasis and necrosis.

Wu Laowai, who was rescuing the person, shamelessly came over.

"Dalingzi, we went hunting in the mountains at noon. We caught snow hares and grouse. I'll make you a rabbit and chicken stew when I get home. After you eat, you can bring some back for the kids too?"

Wu Laowai's dirty thoughts caused Hu Yuling's face to darken again.

Although the harsh Songling forest area cannot be described as a place where the strong prey on the weak.

But the phrase "survival of the fittest" is written by countless vibrant lives.

Among them were educated youth, as well as reclamation workers, forestry workers, and railway soldiers.

There are also mountain hunters of the Evenki, Oroqen, and Daur ethnic groups.

Chen Tuo will not survive this harsh winter and will also become a member of the list of casualties in forest production.

But because of his unregistered status, he could only be an anonymous forest pioneer.

"Old Wu, stop with your crooked thoughts. If my man finds out, I'll break your legs. Get lost!"

Hu Yuling, having silenced Wu Laowai who was lustful but lacked backbone, was about to help Chen Tuo improve his blood circulation.

Unexpectedly, this young educated youth grabbed the snow from the basin and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Chen, the educated youth!"

At this moment, Chen Tuo not only wanted to use the snow to suppress the heat in his chest, but also to cool down his confused senses.

The scenes he witnessed upon waking up, based on his experience working in the film and short video industry, told him that it was no exaggeration!

The attire of the emergency room doctor, Wu Laowai's attire, Chu Maolin's attire, and even their expressions—no other film crew could have achieved such perfection and realism…