pertwk Chapter 22 Driven by Life's Necessities
Chapter 22 Driven by Life's Necessities
After tidying up the day's work, the sky outside the gatehouse gradually darkened.
Although he didn't have a watch, Chen Tuo estimated that it was only two or three o'clock in the afternoon, at most four o'clock.
It gets dark very quickly.
Chen Tuo went out and carried some firewood, so the gatehouse hut would need to be lit.
Instead of turning on the 200-watt light bulb, they lit the small oil lamp that was originally used for lighting.
After lighting it, Chen Tuo realized that the oil lamp was not filled with regular lamp oil, but with waste diesel oil mixed with engine oil.
As the azure lamplight flickered and danced, Chen Tuo was also inspired by poetry.
I turned on the light, spread out birch bark on the table, and wrote down the title of the poem.
The flickering lamplight evokes memories.
The lanterns of my childhood are nowhere to be found in this distant land...
The lamp's flame, its evolution.
Since the invention of electric lights, the flickering light has become a memory...
The lamp wick symbolizes inheritance.
Back then, we had electricity. We didn't want to leave the lights on all the time...
The lamp's flame flickers, whispering in the night.
The heavy snow arrived with the twilight, tapping against the windowpane...
The lamplight, warm.
In the winter forests, night falls early, and the low gatehouse is dimly lit by a single lamp...
Based on a vague memory, I had just written five poems on birch bark when the frenzy brought on by ginseng became uncontrollable.
Chen Tuo estimated that if the poems could be published, the royalties for the five poems should be around fifty to one hundred yuan.
Ten or twenty yuan per thousand words, which is roughly the current market price.
For poems written by unknown authors, payment is only calculated for twenty lines, which is also the standard for a thousand words.
Perhaps the song "New Life" will earn a higher fee?
Moreover, modern poetry doesn't just rely on one payment; with enough accumulated funds, one can publish a collection of poems.
In the 1980s and 90s, this could not only bring fame but also make money.
I weighed down the manuscript with the ink bottle, checked the remaining ginseng hanging on the chimney, and then checked the room.
Finding no small animals, Chen Tuo put on the puppy and went out, filled with rage.
Just like yesterday, we dragged our sleds, carrying axes, ice picks, shovels, firewood, buckets, and burlap sacks, to the river bend to catch fish.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to leave some fish and wolf offal for the two female mountain dogs.
The high-top chunky shoes on my feet were just the right firmness, much more comfortable than the felt boots covered in bicycle tires.
Once they reached the Hetao area, Chen Tuo realized he hadn't looked for his skis.
If he finds it, he can practice his skiing skills in the Hetao region.
Upon arrival, we lit the gas lamp and simply pried open the fish nest that had been blocked by snow.
The crackling sound came directly from the fish nest.
Under the pale white light of the gas lamp, several dark figures were fighting with a large fish in the fish nest.
Chen Tuo reacted quickly, first plunging the shovel in his hand into the fishpond.
He also exhaled and hurled the axe beside him at the shadowy figure.
"And they even dared to steal my food rations..."
The fishpond returned to silence. Just as Chen Tuo was about to go down, Wu Laowai's voice came from the shore.
"You little brat, have you forgotten what I taught you? Before going down into the ice cave, singe yourself with fire first!"
Wu Laowai, who was on the shore, came carrying a bunch of things, just like he did yesterday evening.
"Uncle Wu is here..."
Thinking about how he had betrayed Lao Wu in front of Sun Changkui today, Chen Tuo felt a little embarrassed, which was unusual for him.
How to describe his personality?
I consider myself gentle, especially when I was studying.
But when it comes to matters in society, kindness and gentleness don't always work.
Wolfishness, egoism, or selfishness are mostly things that are forced out of us later in life and become habits.
"If I don't come, are you trying to lure the wolf to the educated youth settlement, you little brat?"
After saying that, Wu Laowai shook the cloth bag in his hand.
In the morning, when Chen Tuo left the educated youth settlement, Wu Laowai came over for another round.
They discovered the scavengers he had dumped all the way from the Hetao region to the educated youth settlement.
In Songling, whether in the neighborhood or the town, people don't carelessly discard spoiled food.
The smell of these things will attract wild animals like wolves and bears, which is very dangerous.
"Uncle Wu, I just want to see if Shan Gouzi is coming."
"So what if they come? Can you really feed them?"
While the two were talking, Chen Tuo lit a campfire.
Wu Laowai was slapped in the face by two female mountain dogs.
With a creaking sound of footsteps, two female mountain dogs with frost on their faces stopped at the spot where they had eaten their free rice the night before.
"This thing... it must be pregnant. You should feed it..."
Looking at the two female mountain dogs sitting on the snow, Wu Laowai was speechless.
He knew that deer and roe deer in the mountains would become more friendly towards people because of salt, and he had seen it himself.
If a bear, wolf, or mountain dog is friendly to people, it's probably because it's starving and wants to eat meat.
"Uncle Wu, Chu Maolin gave me a puppy last night. Could you let Shan Gouzi train it?"
Before feeding the mountain dog, Chen Tuo also asked out some immature thoughts that were on his mind.
"What did you say?"
Chen Tuo's question made Wu Laowai on the shore keep picking his ears.
He thought he was hallucinating.
"It's just to let the puppies get used to the smell of wild animals in the mountains."
"Then you'd better feed the mountain dog first, and stop feeding your dog!"
Wu Laowai glared at Chen Tuo with annoyance, but didn't comment on his wild ideas.
As he suggested, raising the puppies with wolves is more reliable than handing them over to wild dogs.
"Okay, I'll feed them first..."
Chen Tuo was in a good mood because his mother, Mu Shan Gouzi, was able to come, so he was extra generous when feeding her.
After feeding the mountain dogs, Chen Tuo hesitated for a moment before taking off his high-top shoes and walking barefoot into the fishpond.
"Don't wait until your feet are numb before coming up. As soon as they start to hurt, come up and warm yourself by the fire, or your toes will freeze off."
Looking at Chen Tuo, who was barefoot on the snow, Wu Laowai scratched his head again.
This kid has absolutely no idea how to survive in the forest.
The loudspeaker announced early this morning that it would be -28 degrees Celsius, and it's sure to be even colder tonight.
At minus 30 degrees Celsius, if your feet get wet, they can easily freeze and cause your toes to fall off.
"These are brand new shoes, aren't they..."
This gave Wu Laowai a reason to be forced by life's hardships.
Chen Tuo looked at the two female mountain dogs that "Kukua" had made; these two must be in the same boat as him.
When Chen Tuo went down into the fish nest, he saw more than a dozen large fish that had been killed by otters, and he couldn't help but curse a few times.
If I had known, I should have had Sun Changkui and his men clear out this fishpond.
The shovel and the axe that had just been thrown in all hit their mark, each striking an otter.
After finishing off the dying otters, Chen Tuo first threw the dead fish out of the ice hole before carrying the two otters out of the ice hole.
"Water buffalo?"
"Ugh! They killed over a dozen of my big fish, and they were all catfish balls!"
"That's alright, after decapitating and bleeding them out, they're still edible."
Chen Tuo's good luck made Wu Laowai on the shore extremely jealous.
He, an old mountain runner from Songling, did not make a living by butchering meat, but by butchering hides.
Having run mountain trails alone for nearly thirty years, let alone encountering three water monsters in two days.
Even if you dedicate all your time to catching the water buffalo, you might not be able to catch three in two days.
While feeling envious, Wu Laowai sighed. Over the past thirty years, hunting in the mountains had become a habit.
He couldn't stand staying at home. Knowing that Chen Tuo would come to catch fish, he wanted to come and see. It was a habit he had developed out of necessity due to life's pressures...