Era: Started from raising livestock in the mountains

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, Uncle Liu, what happened here?" 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 remembers 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 the smaller half of the body left at the scene.

It is truly 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 not 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 remaining one, 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 getting home and processing it, 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. 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 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 chestnuts on the tree and they are being beaten." 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 stinks, not the fur." ​​Lin Heng said.

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

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

Generally speaking, no one shakes the hairy chestnut tree. There are chestnuts everywhere. Just pick them up on the ground.

But there are fewer chestnuts. If you find a tree, you will try to finish them.

As the branches shake, it's like rain. Most of the chestnuts fall down, and a small part of the chestnut bags will fall down together.

Lin Heng took advantage of this time to find some horse grass for Hongzao, mainly a kind of leaves and Guotiao vine leaves.

When the shaking is almost done, take the bag to pick up from the ground, one here, one there, like picking mushrooms, and it's also very happy.

"Awoo~"

Xiongba also shook his tail and bit a mushroom and handed it to Lin Heng to join in the fun.

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

This guy picked up all the saliva, and people couldn't eat it.

"Woof~"

Xiongba saw that Lin Heng disliked it, and he barked in dissatisfaction and ran to play.

Lin Heng picked chestnuts silently, and went to the next tree after picking up the chestnuts on this tree.

At this time, the mountain was full of people picking chestnuts, and there was no hope for hunting. The bow and arrow were for emergency use.

Another thing was to teach the rabbits there a lesson when passing by Hongfeng Mountain on the way back.

Unknowingly, the time was already one o'clock in the afternoon. Lin Heng had picked up more than 30 kilograms, of which 10 kilograms were chestnuts with relatively large grains, and the remaining 20 kilograms were hairy chestnuts.

During this period, apart from meeting people, there was no other discovery, and the prey seemed to be non-existent.

After all, the whole Chestnut Mountain was full of people, and the prey was scared away, so how could it dare to come out.

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

"Okay!" Lin Heng went back to lead the horse, and the others carried the chestnuts they picked today and walked to the stream.

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

"What do you want to eat?" Lin's mother opened the bag, which contained steamed corn bread, Jiangba pancakes, and white flour buns.

"Jiangba pancakes." Lin Heng took a Jiangba pancake and dipped it in a little fermented bean curd and chili to eat. It tasted pretty good.

There were many people eating by the stream, and they all took dry food. It was three or four kilometers from here to the foot of the mountain, not to mention going home.

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

Someone shouted from below, and Lin Heng looked and found that it was Yang Zhaotao, Li Caifeng, and several young people in the village who were about his age.

They built a fire and roasted corn and Jiangba buns.

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

"It's not worth much, why be 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 and chatting.

The burnt smell of roasted corn is more attractive than the sweet smell of boiled corn. Yang Zhaotao has good skills in roasting corn. He roasted it until it was brown but not black and carbonized.

Eating corn and listening to them telling dirty jokes to each other is also quite joyful. There are not many entertainment activities in the countryside, and it is inevitable to tell a few jokes when they get together.

But he was not very interested in it and did not respond.

Some women couldn't stand being told and started to fight, sprinkle water, throw mud, and have bad intentions.

Yang Zhaotao took a bite of steamed bun and asked with a smile: "Lin Heng, when are you going to dig a fish pond again?"

"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 by 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 this time, and we will send you a notice to sign up when the time comes." Lin Heng smiled and nodded.

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

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

Even if the hole was cut, the rapid heating would make a muffled sound. When it was picked out, the inner and outer skins could be easily peeled off, leaving only the golden chestnut meat.

It was soft, sweet and delicious. After eating one, he couldn't stop eating it. Lin Heng was satisfied after eating a big handful.

After saying thank you, he ran to pick chestnuts.

He picked them up by the stream in the afternoon. There were many nearby. There was no end to picking chestnuts. Even if the land was carefully picked once, a lot could be picked up again. Some fell from the trees, and some were missed by people.

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

The lilies on the slopes don't grow very deep, so they can be dug out with two hoes. They are not big, only about 300 grams.

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

Lin Heng smiled, broke off a piece and fed it to him.

"Bang bang!"

Xiongba took two bites and spit it out, glaring at his master fiercely, thinking that he was more like a dog than himself.

Then he ran to the stream to drink water and wash his tongue, which almost made him bitter.

"Haha."

Lin Heng was very happy after teasing Xiongba. He looked around and found two more lilies.

This thing is very bitter if it is not processed after being dug out, especially this kind of wild lily with white flowers.

Lin Heng was digging here, and his father suddenly said: "Oh, this yam vine is so thick, Lin Heng, bring the hoe over quickly."

"Wait a minute." Lin Heng dug out the lilies on his side with two hoes, and came to his father with the hoe.

"Look, this yam vine is thick enough, as thick as the little finger." Lin's father said with a smile while pulling the yam vine.

The yam vine is dark red, with vertical lines, and the leaves are triangular, which feels thicker.

Generally, as long as the yam vine is as thick as a normal data cable, three or four pounds of yam can be dug out. It is not uncommon to dig out more than ten pounds of such a thick vine.

"And this one grows on a slope, which is much easier to dig. I'll try to dig it all out." Lin's father took the hoe and said again.

"Then you try, I'll help you." Lin Heng nodded.

At this time of year, the yam can still grow for another month or two. It is best to dig it in October of the lunar calendar or December of the solar calendar.

But it is okay to dig it in advance, it will just be a little less.

Although he said he was helping, Lin Heng just watched from the side while his father kept digging.

About 30 centimeters deep, the main body of the yam was seen. The yam was as thick as an adult's forearm, and it might be as thick as an adult's calf.

"This yam is really big. It will be delicious when it is dug back and stewed with pork legs." After digging out some, Lin's father grinned.

Lin Heng was also a little surprised: "Yes, it is not forked. It is really a good yam."

Many yams look thick vines, but once they are dug down, they are divided into a large bunch and are useless.

It is okay to divide them into two or three, just a little smaller. The most feared thing is to divide them into five or six small ones, and they are still growing in the stone. They are completely squeezed and deformed. It is a waste of effort to dig them.

His father dug for a while. Lin Heng took over and broke the yam skin after digging a few times, and the white meat was exposed.

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

He couldn't stand digging the yam into pieces because of his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Lin Heng could only watch. His father was really patient. He dug for an hour and a half, dug a big hole, and dug out the yam intact.

"It must be more than ten pounds." Father Lin laughed.

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

This complete yam is more than one meter long, as thick as an adult's calf, perfect.

Father Lin took a knife and cut it into three sections and put it in the bag. He sat next to it and had a good rest. He was exhausted.

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

During this period, he also found some Schisandra chinensis and wax gourds. He didn't let them go and picked them all. The ripe Schisandra chinensis was deep red and tasted sour and sweet. It tasted very good.

In the afternoon, not many chestnuts were picked up. After the round at around six o'clock, Lin Heng only picked up thirty kilograms, and with the chestnuts picked up in the morning, it was only sixty kilograms.

Lin's father and mother picked up a hundred kilograms together, and with the chestnuts picked up in the morning, it was a little more than two hundred kilograms.

The chestnuts picked up by the eldest brother Lin Yue in the morning and afternoon were also about one hundred kilograms.

Rural people often carry things on their backs, and they estimate the approximate weight very accurately.

"Let's go down the mountain." Lin Heng said, and walked in front with the chestnuts on his back and the red dates.

The way down the mountain is not suitable for riding a horse, but it is not difficult for people to walk.

When they got to the road, several people put chestnuts on the horses, and they felt much more relaxed.

When they were about to reach Hongfeng Mountain, Lin Heng let his father lead the horse. He took a bow and arrow and took Xiongba to Hongfeng Mountain by a detour.

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

It was around six or seven o'clock, when these guys came out to eat grass.

One person and one dog came to the soybean field under Hongfeng Mountain quietly.

As soon as he walked to the edge of the field, he saw traces of soybeans being chewed, which were obviously dried by the rabbit's three-lobed mouth.

"No?"

What surprised Lin Heng was that he walked around the several acres of soybean fields and found no trace of rabbits.

Helplessly, he went to the fish pond to take a look. Now the water quality is very stable, and there is a lot of grass growing on the slope of the fish pond.

This is a good thing. The pond for raising shrimps needs a lot of grass. It is not easy to raise shrimps without grass.

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

Under normal circumstances, one acre of pond can only raise about a thousand fish. There must be seven or eight thousand grass carp fry that survived there, so it should be seven or eight ponds.

But now the fry are still small, so they can be raised first. When they grow up and weigh half a catty next year, they can be divided into ponds.

"But we have to pick a good day by then." Lin Heng said to himself and turned away.

However, he never came back empty-handed, so he couldn't return empty-handed. The pink hibiscus and golden chrysanthemums on the ground were quite nice, so he picked some and made a bouquet to take away.

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

He looked at it and stopped paying attention. As autumn gradually came, many hunters began to go up the mountain to hunt.

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

Seeing Lin Heng coming back, Lin's father said, "I just heard that someone shot a gun on Hongfeng Mountain. I guess all the rabbits ran away."

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

After returning home, Lin Heng unloaded his chestnuts from the horse's back and took them home. His father would feed the horse and send them to the stable in a while.

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

"You keep it for me to kill two pheasants and we will stew them." Lin Heng said with a smile.

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

"Here you go."

When Xiulan opened the door, Lin Heng smiled and gave her the bouquet and the small bag of wax gourd and schisandra.

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

"That's right, not only chestnuts, but also lilies and wax gourds, some schisandra, and a small half of leopard skin."

Lin Heng put the things on the table and leaned on his waist for a while.

"Dad, I want to eat this." Xiaoxia pointed at the wax gourd and said.

"You can eat this." You handed her a bunch of Schisandra chinensis. She would not eat wax gourds and would not eat too much.

"Leopard skin?" Xiulan was shocked. "Did you kill a leopard this afternoon?"

"I didn't kill it, I picked it up. There was a dead leopard on the ground."

Lin Heng told his wife the whole process.

"I was just saying that. You scared me. I thought you killed a leopard." Xiulan patted her chest.

Then he said, "Could there really be a tiger? If there is, it would be too dangerous."

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

"Then you should be careful. If there is, you should be prepared." Xiulan said. People are afraid of tigers.

"I know. I'll go 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, and put it on the cabinet. She went to the kitchen to cook with a smile.

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

After doing all this, he went to get quicklime, poured it into a wooden basin, added water to make a lime solution, threw the smelly leopard skin in, and pressed it with stones to soak it.

This step needs to be soaked for at least one night.

After finishing, Xiulan's meal was also ready. In the evening, she made white flour steamed buns, fried three dishes and a 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 her."

"Just say it, it's nothing." Lin Heng said, and then ate the steamed bun in big mouthfuls.

Cut the steamed bun, spread some fermented bean curd and chili, and then put some pickled radish shreds and fried bacon. It tasted so good that he didn't want to talk much.

Lin Heng ate four steamed buns in a row before stopping, thinking he was full.

Now I have time to chat with my wife and tell her what happened in the forest today.

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

After dinner, he coaxed the children to sleep as usual and went to bed as usual.

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

He added some boiling water to it, cleaned all the grease and dirt with his hands, took it out and washed it, and there was no trace of odor.

So far, the first step of fur tanning has been completed.

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

Throw the leopard skin into a wooden basin, add a part of the original solution to soak, and gradually increase the concentration every day for the next seven days. After seven days, the fur is tanned and can be taken out to dry and soften it, and it can be used to make clothes, hats and other things.

"Wife, you make breakfast, I'll take Xiongba to Hongfeng Mountain."

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

"Okay." Xiulan nodded in agreement.

Lin Heng took Xiongba to Hongfeng Mountain. His parents were picking corn today and didn't pick chestnuts.

Just arrived at Hongfeng Mountain, before he walked to the soybean field, Lin Heng made an unexpected discovery and squatted down quickly.

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

It's still 6,000 words today, I haven't adjusted it yet, and my state has not been very good recently.