Reborn in 1977

Chapter 242: Tang Sanzang Enters the Goblin's Den

Riding his horse, he arrived at Team 9, where the layout was different from Teams 6 and 5.

Team 6 was a line from the front of the slope to the back.

Team 5 was divided into two parts: one was the old Lu family mansion built around the pond, and the other was a row of mud-walled houses built on the ridge, looking like a lollipop from above.

Team 9, however, was built facing south on a small hillside, similar to Team 6 in terms of terrain, but Team 6's hillside ran north-south, naturally forming a line according to the rule of building houses facing south.

Team 9's hillside ran east-west, so all the houses were built on the south slope, with four or five rows of houses from the bottom to the top, but without front or back yards, only "left yards" and "right yards."

In other words, their threshing grounds and vegetable plots were built on both sides of the houses, with neighbors in front and behind.

Chen Fan had been here once before when teaching how to cook soft-shelled turtles, and now that he was back, he still found the layout of the houses very interesting.

Chen Fan rode his horse slowly along the dirt slope road, greeting the villagers standing by the roadside, occasionally looking at the small roads on the left and right, and chuckled, "This really feels like houses in the mountains."

Zhang Wenliang laughed, "Isn't it just a small mountain? It's just a bit short."

He also had a good harvest today. Chen Fan only went for the big ones, but he didn't mind. He caught a lot of rabbits and badgers today. Although he had to hand in a portion for hunting alone, the rest could be processed and eaten for two or three months if he saved a bit, which was a great harvest.

The two chatted and laughed, and soon arrived at a large threshing ground on the top of the slope.

At this time, a large pile of prey was piled up on the threshing ground, but it was basically just those few kinds: foxes, raccoon dogs, badgers, and hares, but not even a single roe deer.

But that's right, roe deer were too big of a target, and Lu Jiawan, with its small patches of woods, couldn't hide them at all. Maybe the Qingshan Commune next door would have some.

The pile of prey in front of him was a bit beyond Chen Fan's imagination.

Usually, he didn't see much going on, just dozens of scattered patches of woods, but he didn't expect there to be so much stuff. It seemed that the ecological environment here was pretty good.

In fact, he didn't know that sometimes things were really dramatic.

As everyone knows, the first Wildlife Protection Law was promulgated in 1988 and came into effect in March of the following year.

So in that year, many people across the country, mainly units, hurriedly rushed to carry out organized large-scale killings before it took effect, and they were so exhaustive that they couldn't wait to hunt all the prey for the rest of their lives.

Taking roe deer as an example, the national statistics in 1987 showed that there were more than one million heads, but one million heads disappeared in half a year. By the following year, it was almost difficult to see this previously very common animal in the wild.

Continuing on, the number of roe deer not only did not increase but decreased. By the new century, the number of wild roe deer had remained at a scale of more than 10,000 heads for 20 consecutive years, and there was no improvement until before Chen Fan's time travel. Compared with 1987, it was not even a fraction.

Roe deer are almost at the bottom of the food chain. With so many roe deer, there are many other wild animals, so it is not surprising that so much prey can be hunted in Lu Jiawan, a place the size of a fingernail.

This was also because the militiamen followed the ancient saying of "hunt the big, not the small," otherwise the harvest would have been even greater.

Seeing the two of them, Wu Fengfei and Zhong Zihong, the captain of Team 9, greeted them together.

Wu Fengfei saw the things on their horses' backs at first glance and quickly said, "Company Commander, Teacher Chen, your prey must be processed quickly to drain the blood and skin it, or it will stink later."

Zhang Wenliang was also polite, dismounted from the mule, took off the two baskets and put them on the ground, "Then I'll trouble you."

Chen Fan also unloaded his two large sacks, and someone immediately carried them aside.

The two horses were led away to be fed, and the others gathered around to see their harvest.

Zhang Wenliang's basket was okay. It was clear what was inside, and several older women immediately carried the basket away to skin and debone it.

Chen Fan's two large sacks, however, had a pungent smell before they were even opened. As soon as the sacks were opened, a strong "fox odor" burst out, causing people to take three steps back involuntarily.

It was for this reason that Chen Fan used sacks instead of baskets to hold the prey.

Zhong Zihong, the captain of Team 9, looked at Chen Fan in surprise, "Teacher Chen, did you only hunt foxes?"

Chen Fan smiled, "Not really, but I wanted to save some fox skins, so I exchanged the other prey for foxes with other teams."

"Oh, so that's how it is."

Zhong Zihong nodded in understanding, and then shouted to the side, "Lao Jiu, how many foxes did we hunt today?"

A voice came from the crowd, "Three."

Zhong Zihong said, "Process them, skin them, and let Teacher Chen take them away."

"Okay."

Chen Fan opened his mouth wide and turned to look at Zhang Wenliang.

Zhang Wenliang laughed, "Since Captain Zhong is so kind, just accept it."

Chen Fan pondered for two seconds and said to Zhong Zihong, "Since Captain Zhong is so kind, I can't be ignorant. I'll accept these skins."

When Zhong Zihong heard this, his smile grew even wider, and he was about to speak, but he heard Chen Fan say again, "But since Company Commander Zhang and I are visiting, we can't come empty-handed. The fox meat I brought will be considered a gift, and you can't refuse it."

Hearing this, Zhong Zihong's face stiffened, and he said with a bitter face, "Teacher Chen, you have 10 foxes here, and the meat is more valuable than the skin. A fox skin is only worth two yuan, but a fox's meat can easily sell for more than two yuan. Aren't you just giving us money? If the people from other teams find out, they'll be scolding me behind my back."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "You're sending me fox skins, and I didn't say I would refuse. Besides, it's just a matter of reciprocity. There's no need to calculate it so clearly. If anyone wants to complain, tell them to come find me."

Zhong Zihong was speechless and could only look to Zhang Wenliang for help.

Zhang Wenliang laughed and said, "In that case, you guys help Little Chen process the skins. By 'process,' I mean tanning them properly. Then, send the skins directly to Teacher Chen."

Zhong Zihong immediately nodded and said seriously, "No problem. Old Peng in our team used to work in the provincial hunting team. He came back from the hunting team after he broke his leg. He knows how to tan leather, and he's just as good as a regular factory. I'll have Old Peng process these fox skins right away."

When Chen Fan heard this, he couldn't help but become interested. He didn't expect Team 9 to have someone like that.

Zhang Wenliang nodded and said to Chen Fan, "Even as a gift, there's no reason to send 10 fox carcasses at once. This gift is enough to marry a wife. Which young lady from Team 9 have you taken a fancy to?"

As soon as the people around heard this, they burst into laughter and started to jeer.

"Teacher Chen, the girls in our Team 9 are very pretty. You're not married yet, so why don't you find one in our Team 9."

"We not only have pretty girls here, but also excellent building sites. Look at this mountaintop, you can pick any location you want. Team 6's Old Yang will give you two acres of land for a courtyard, and we'll give you six acres, three times bigger than his."

When Zhang Wenliang heard this, he immediately waved his hand impatiently, "Go, go, go, stop making trouble. If you poach people at this time, Old Yang will tear me apart."

There was another burst of laughter.

Zhang Wenliang stopped the men, but the married women who were busy nearby began to exert their strength, each one enjoying the excitement and shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Teacher Chen, I have four nieces at home. Just say the word, and I'll bring them out for you to choose."

"Go, go, go, are you going to take all the good things for your family? Our nieces are better than yours."

Some didn't even argue and directly called for people, "Xiao Feng, Xiao Li, Xiao Qing… Teacher Chen is here, come out quickly!"

For a moment, the threshing ground was filled with laughter and greetings. There was also a group of young girls playing around, seemingly shy, but none of them left.

Chen Fan was naturally covered in black lines. Why did sending some fox meat make him seem like Tang Sanzang who had entered a den of demons?

Then he glanced at someone next to him. It was all Zhang Wenliang's fault!

He suddenly had an idea and shouted loudly, "I'm only 16 this year, it's still early. Zhang Lianchang should be getting married soon. You should look for him!"

Zhang Wenliang, who was watching Chen Fan's excitement from the side, suddenly froze and glared at Chen Fan through gritted teeth, "You're not being fair, kid."

Before Chen Fan could speak, he heard an older sister shout, "Don't push anyone, neither of you can escape today!"

As soon as this was said, there was another burst of laughter.

After the laughter, Zhang Wenliang said to Chen Fan and Zhong Zihong, "Don't be too generous and give everything away, and don't refuse everything either. I'll be the referee. You guys take four of Teacher Chen's 10 foxes, counting two for me and two for Teacher Chen. That should be about right."

Only taking four carcasses, Zhong Zihong immediately felt relieved and nodded, "Okay, let's do that."

They had all discussed it, and Chen Fan naturally wouldn't force the meat on them, so it was settled.

Zhong Zihong then smiled and said, "Teacher Chen, Liu Jujiang from your team said that you're a master chef. Can you give us some pointers?"

Chen Fan smiled, "Master Liu is flattering me. I can't compare to him when it comes to banquets."

Wu Fengfei smiled from the side, "But you're still better than us."

Chen Fan was about to be polite, but Zhang Wenliang pulled him away, "You just go take a look. We're the ones eating the food later!"

Hearing this, Chen Fan felt it made a lot of sense.

At this time, on a row of shelves, the prey were hung upside down and skinned. Those that had been skinned were taken to another cutting board and chopped into pieces, then washed with hot water.

Accompanied by water vapor, several kinds of fishy and musty smells filled the entire threshing ground and spread in all directions.

Chen Fan looked around and whispered to Zhong Zihong, "The gamey smell is too strong. If you only wash it with hot water, you won't be able to remove much of it.

You need to soak it in clean water first, soak it several times, and soak out the blood in the meat. Then blanch it in hot water with ginger, scallions, and wine to further remove the fishiness. Finally, stir-fry it in a pot with spices, and then simmer it over low heat. This will minimize the fishy smell as much as possible."

Zhong Zihong nodded as he listened. After Chen Fan finished speaking, he immediately raised his head and called two women over, repeating Chen Fan's words.

Then he smiled at Chen Fan and said, "Teacher Chen, is there anything else to tell us?"

Chen Fan shook his head, "Nothing else. It's the same as soft-shelled turtle. The focus is on removing the fishiness. As long as the fishy smell is removed and the meat is stewed until tender, the method doesn't matter."

Zhong Zihong smiled and said, "It's still Teacher Chen. I've learned another trick today."