Ghost Blowing Lantern II

We picked our way through the forest and walked not far away. Sure enough, we saw a pool with a mouth of water. Because it was dark and covered with fog, the visibility was less than ten meters, so we couldn't see the size of the pool clearly. However, the sound of the water flowing in the distance was very loud, so I guess This pool is not small. I stood on the bluestone beside the pool and raised my lamp to shine. I saw the water splashing and many fat black fish under the water were attracted by the light and swam over one after another.

People in the Balenzuo Pastoral Area regard fish as gods and never eat or catch fish. The fish in the large and small lakes on this grassland live freely and are never afraid of people. Unlike the fish in the mainland, they stay away when they see people. Escape to the bottom of the lake, but we can't care about this. There is nothing else to eat here except fish and horses. In this desolate grassland, fish are gods and horses are friends. Eat gods or friends? For those of us educated youth who have served as Red Guards, this is an issue that we don’t need to consider at all, and we will choose to eat the former without hesitation.

The fat man and I rolled up our arms and sleeves and prepared to catch fish. Ding Sitian settled the old sheepskin, tied the old army horse, and picked up some gravel to surround the stove. There were many dead branches and leaves in the forest, and she picked up a large pile at random. She quickly lit a fire, used branches to set up a pot to boil water, boiled a little water first, rinsed the pot clean, and then boiled some hot water for everyone to drink.

For young men like Fatty and I who have no wives, cooking is the most difficult task. Even though we are in the wild, seeing Ding Sitian cooking in an orderly manner and seeing her busy back makes me feel a sense of melancholy. However, this mood was quickly driven away by hunger. The two of us discussed that the fish here are not afraid of people, which saves a lot of trouble. We don’t have to fish in troubled waters like in Xing’anling, so we directly found two trees. He took the old sheepskin "Kangxi sword" and sharpened it to use as a harpoon.

Of course, if you have a harpoon, you cannot poke randomly in the water. Instead, you must first hang a kerosene lamp on the water surface to attract the fat black fish. Next, you must be patient and touch according to signs such as water flow, bubbles, and splashes. Understand the swimming patterns of fish. Due to insufficient light, we were not able to fully grasp the movements of fish swimming in the water. Although we were not fully prepared, we still poked seven or eight snakehead fish in the pool, and the rest were larger snakehead fish. Finally realizing the danger, he swam into the deep water without looking back.

I saw that the fish I caught were fat and large enough to feed no matter how many people were there. However, when people are hungry, their eyes become enlarged, and no matter how much they looked at it, they seemed to be in small quantities. So the fat man and I gave the fish to Ding Sitian to put in the pot, and then started again Returning to the pond, we repeated our old plan and forked a few black fish that had just swum from a distance. Then we felt that it was almost enough to feed four people. In fact, the fish we caught could be eaten by four more people, not to mention four people. That's enough.

Ding Sitian told us that the snakehead fish would be dry and inedible after being grilled over fire, so she cut open the belly of the fish with a knife and removed the internal organs, scraped off the scales, cut it into sections and put it into a hot pot. It looked like it was going to make a pot of fish soup. As soon as the hot water vapor came, we could only smell the aroma in the pot. Although there was no condiment, who cared whether it was salty or bland at this time. We swallowed our saliva to suppress the hunger and stared at the pot. The fish was so delicious that my eyes almost fell out of the pot.

The fat man was so greedy that his saliva dropped. He wiped it with his sleeves and said to Ding Sitian and me: "It is said that those guys in the Beidahuang Corps eat soup three meals a day, and they even wrote about the soup." Poetry, I will recite it to you before drinking the soup - ah! Soup, soup, soup, the soup of revolution! If you don't drink one meal, you will feel panic, if you don't drink two meals, you will panic, if you don't drink three meals, you will feel panic... "

Ding Sitian and I were both amused by Fatty's poem. Ding Sitian said: "Where did Fatty's poem come from? That's all from the past. The Great Northern Wilderness used to be very desolate, with rabbits and wolves." , only weeds grew but not food. Later, the number of people in the Corps gradually increased, and the Beidahuang was built into the Beidacang. I heard that it is much better now, and we no longer need to drink soup all day long. One of my classmates is the monitor there. By the way. , what did you two eat in Xing'an League?"

The fat man said, there are so many delicious things over there. We have eaten dragon meat in the sky and donkey meat in the underground, but I don’t think there is any delicious food. It is not as good as our fish soup. This soup is really fresh. It's a pleasure to smell it.

Ding Sitian wondered: "Is it necessary to eat dragon meat? Is what Old Yangpi said true? Are there really dragons in this world?" I explained: "Dragon meat in the sky, donkey meat in the ground, this so-called dragon meat, In fact, it is the hazel pheasant in the mountains. Its common name is also called Feilong. Because it is delicious and is the best of mountain delicacies, it is euphemistically called Japanese dragon meat. In fact, it is not much different from ordinary pheasant. Next time I will give it to you from there. I'll get two to give you a taste of dragon meat, but what Xiaopang said is quite right. I also feel that our fish soup is too fresh and there are no seasonings. How come it tastes so good? Maybe it's I’m hungry, anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever smelled such tempting fish soup in my life.”

As he spoke, the fish soup was almost done, which only made people twitch their index fingers. Suddenly, he heard a cough behind him. Lao Yangpi slowly woke up and sniffed the pot of fish soup: "Oh, it smells very... What is this cooking, and why does it smell so fragrant?"

When we turned around and saw that he was awake, we all breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he was unconscious after being too hungry. He woke up when he smelled the fish soup. I thought to myself that I couldn't tell Lao Yangpi that it was fish soup. Although this old man He is also a poor and lower-middle peasant, but his superstitious thoughts are still very serious in his bones. The feudal tail has not been cut off. If I tell him that it is fish soup, he will definitely not let us drink it. It is better to let him drink it to his fill first and then tell him the truth. Then he will There is nothing left to say.

Thinking of this, I grabbed the horse spoon in his hand without waiting for the fat man to eat first, generously filled a spoonful of soup and handed it to Lao Yangpi: "We educated youth responded to the call to go to the mountains and countryside in order to learn from the poor and lower-middle peasants. , we should listen more to the opinions of the poor and lower-middle peasants, and accept the education of the poor and lower-middle peasants. Come and taste it first, and give us a comment on how the soup is."

Lao Yangpi might be very hungry, or it might be because the pot of fish soup tasted so fragrant. When the horse spoon was brought to his mouth, he didn't care to ask any more questions. He took two sips and drank it, licking his lips, still wanting more. , tremblingly walked to the pot, and drank spoonful after spoonful. He didn't mind the heat, so he drank half the pot in one go, and even fished out a lot of the fish inside.

The fat man became anxious when he saw that such a big pot was enough for eight people. The old man took half of the pot by himself. How could this dry old man eat so much? Ding Sitian and I were also dumbfounded, as if we were possessed by a demon. It tastes endless? If you eat like this, won’t you be starving yourself to death? He quickly grabbed Lao Yangpi and said, "Do you know whose meat is cooked in this pot? I ate so much without asking clearly. This is the black fish meat from the pond in the forest."

Lao Yangpi had eaten so much that he rolled his eyes and was shocked when he heard it was fish meat: "What? Black fish meat? It's a sin, even this god can eat it? If you eat it, you will get retribution..." I'll bring you retribution..." But as he spoke, he seemed to be unable to control his hands, and continued to use a horse spoon to catch fish and eat them.

I saw Lao Yangpi's eyes were blood red, and he looked completely different from usual. It was impossible for a person to drink so much fish soup and still look like a hungry ghost. My heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition suddenly arose. , I can’t drink this pot of fish soup!