Chapter 48: The Wolf Cub

  Not far from the conical forest, there is a sunny slope on a mountain ridge.

  On the mountain slope, strange rocks stand tall, and various trees and wild bamboos grow in profusion.

  The dwarf brother walked ahead, leading Song Wen and the others to jump between the rocks on the mountain slope, and soon came to a huge stone.

  Song Wen and Song Hu looked at each other in confusion, also unsure what Lao Tui had brought them here to do.

  Who would have thought that the dwarf brother would walk to the side of the giant stone again, come to the side of the giant stone, squat down and drill in.

  Two people followed and walked over, only to find a hole more than one meter high on the edge of the giant stone. They looked inside with their heads, it seemed like a cave, so they also drilled in.

  As he entered, the dwarf brother had already lit a kerosene lamp, and the pitch-black cave was instantly illuminated.

  Through the bright light, upon closer inspection, the two of them discovered that the cave was very spacious and vast. The ground inside the cave was covered with layers of sand and soil, making it quite flat and dry. Inside the cave, there was also a small hut made of canvas, which was none other than Shorty's dilapidated old den.

  The three of them put down their things, the short brother went to pick up firewood and start a fire, while Song Wen and Song Hu took the pheasant and rabbit out to dry.

  About 100 meters on the right side of the mountain slope, there is a mountain stream. The water is gurgling and the grass is green.

  Arriving at the place, Song Wen looked into the stream and saw some white fish as long as a palm and two fingers wide swimming in the water.

  This mountain stream fish grows up in the mountains and has a very delicious taste.

  If caught, remove scales and internal organs, soak in salt and vinegar, then coat with flour paste and fry. Sprinkle with pepper salt when eating, it's absolutely a top-notch delicacy. Alternatively, stew with preserved mustard greens, the flavor is also exceptionally beautiful. Unfortunately, there's nothing in the mountains, as the saying goes "a skilled cook can't create a fine dish without ingredients", all I can do is sigh. But catching some to make soup or congee isn't bad either.

  Song Wen thought for a moment, then took off his shoes, rolled up his pant legs and walked into the water. Song Hu didn't pay attention to him and started hunting wild chickens and rabbits instead.

  The creek water is not deep, only reaching halfway up the calf.

  Arriving at the brook, Song Wen lifted his sleeves and bent down to look into the water.

  The fish in the stream saw someone and quickly swam away, some hid. Song Wen also saw that there were still some small shrimp the size of fingers swimming around in the stream.

  He stared intently at the water and saw a trout swimming towards his feet, quickly reached out and in an instant, he had caught a trout which was struggling non-stop.

  Song Wen threw the fish onto the shore and then continued to catch more.

  It's a lot of trouble to kill chickens and pluck their hair in the mountains. Song Hu simply peeled off the skin of the wild chicken, and so did the wild rabbit.

  After a while, he skinned and beheaded the rabbit, opened its belly, removed its internal organs, and washed it clean. Seeing Song Wen still catching fish, he didn't bother him, took the rabbit and left. Now going back to roast meat is the main thing, those one or two small fish are just for drinking some broth to quench thirst, if used to fill the stomach, they would surely starve to death.

  After Song Hu left, Song Wen caught another twenty or so creek fish and also picked up some creek shrimp.

  The crayfish grows in the mountain stream, not worldly, with a natural sweetness, peel off the shell and put it in your mouth to chew, sweet, with a natural flavor, is a delicious taste that can't be enjoyed outside the mountain.

  Look, the fish and shrimp are almost caught, Song Wen pulled a mountain vine from the side, strung the fish together, and made a small basket to hold the shrimp. After shaking his feet dry, he was about to put on his shoes and head back. But suddenly, he saw a cluster of bright red shoots on the opposite bank, tender and lovely, with dew-kissed green leaves, and thought of picking some to bring back for cooking.

  Thinking of it, without hurrying to put on shoes, I walked over and picked some red ones.

  It is also known as Ye Xiaohong, Hongbeiye, Hongyecao, Yangtizhicao and Yelan. It grows on mountain slopes and wet roadsides in central, southern and southeastern China. It is a medicinal herb that can cool blood and detoxify, promote blood circulation and relieve swelling. It is also an edible wild vegetable that can be seen almost all year round in places without snow.

  The edible parts of the plant are its tender shoots and leaves, which can be stir-fried or used in soups or hot pots. The taste is refreshing and has a flavor similar to that of wormwood. It's best to harvest before the red flowers bloom, at which point the tender tips can be blanched in boiling water, then stir-fried with garlic and oil, or made into a soup. The flavor is smooth and fragrant.

  Song picked up a handful of red things, washed them clean in the stream, picked some large leaves to wrap and tie up, shook off the water stains on her feet, wiped them clean with socks, and was about to put on her shoes and leave.

  Suddenly, a deer darted out from the woods and, lowering its head, began to drink water in the brook, seemingly unaware of Song Wen.

  Song Wen held his breath and didn't dare move, staring at it fixedly like that.

  After drinking a few mouthfuls, the raccoon dog seemed to sense something, suddenly lifted its head and saw Song Wen on the opposite bank. It turned around and ran away. But unexpectedly, it tripped over its own feet, fell to the ground with a thud, but quickly got up again and was about to run into the woods.

  Just as he was about to pounce, Song Wen suddenly stomped his foot on the ground and shot out like a cannonball.

  The creek was only two or three meters wide, he jumped over it, then borrowed force from the shore and stepped on it, quickly rushing towards the deer, swift as a thunderbolt, swift as thunder.

  The raccoon dog took one look and thought it was bad, pulled its legs and ran, just about to drill into the forest when.

  Song Wenruo pounced over, his whole body pressing down on the badger's back, and the badger was knocked to the ground by him. It struggled to get up but he held it tightly in his arms.

  This badger was male, with a pair of sharp fangs, seeing that it couldn't struggle free, it opened its mouth and bit towards Song Wen, the two fangs stabbing straight down.

  Song Wen hastily clamped the raccoon dog with his legs, then grabbed its head with one hand and punched it on the head. After a few punches, the raccoon dog fainted.

  Seeing the wild boar faint, Song Wen took out his waistband and tied up the boar, carrying it on his back. He then picked up the creek fish and shrimp, as well as the wild vegetables placed beside him, and walked back to the mountain cave.

  Back in the cave, Shorty and Song Hu saw the roe deer on Song Wen's back, shocked with their eyes wide open.

  "What's going on?" Song Hu asked.

  "By the water ditch, this guy came to drink water, and I just caught him by the way." Song Wen said lightly.

  "You're really something." The dwarf brother said with his thumb up.

  The raccoon dog runs very fast, jumping three or four meters at a time. In the mountains and forests, it's its own territory, and it's extremely difficult to catch. Unexpectedly, Song Wen actually caught one.

  "What's going to happen now?" Song Hu looked at the roe deer and said. There were already wild chickens and rabbits on the rack, if they roasted the roe deer too, they might not be able to finish it.

  "It's so big that we can't finish it, let's kill another one tomorrow when we get back!" Song Wen said.

  The dwarf elder brother also nodded after hearing this, it's indeed a pity to kill someone so big here.

  Song Wen knew how to catch fish, and the short brother had already set up a stone stove by the fire pit, and took out an iron pot that had been cooked to a dark black color and placed it on top, only without water.

  Song Hu's eyes lit up as he saw that he had caught a bunch of fish and shrimp, and also picked some wild vegetables. He quickly took out a plastic bucket from inside and went to the creek outside to fetch water.

  Song Wen looked and couldn't help but say to Shorty: "Brother, you have everything here!"

  "This side is almost like home, how can I not take good care of it?" The short brother said with a smile, reaching out to help Song Wen take down the deer.

  Song Wen took off his belt and re-tied it with a rope.

  Before long, Song Hu came back with water.

  Song Wen picked up the iron pot and washed the fish again, then poured water into the pot to cook a fish soup. The short brother somehow got a fresh ginger out of nowhere, cleaned it and threw it into the pot.

  After a while, the fish soup was boiling. Song Wen added two handfuls of rice to cook the fish porridge. After the porridge was cooked, he seasoned it and then put in the wild vegetables.

  The pheasants and rabbits on the rack were also roasted to a golden yellow, with drops of golden meat oil constantly dripping onto the pile of firewood, making a sizzling sound, and waves of appetizing aroma wafting out.

  Three greedy men drooled at the sight of delicious meat and porridge, and immediately started eating.

  After having the fish porridge, Short Brother brought out a bottle of wine and several bowls again.

  "Brother, I'm telling you, you really have everything!" Song Wen said in surprise.

  "It's cold on the mountain, we need something to warm us up. How can we go without bringing some?" The dwarf brother said, pouring out wine.

  Song Wen took a swig of wine and then picked up some pine nuts from the bag and threw them beside the fire.

  Delicious roasted meat paired with mellow fine wine, makes one intoxicated involuntarily.

  Maybe it was because of the wine, but the bonfire cast a reddish glow on everyone's faces.

  "Hmm, hmm, hmm"

  A sudden crackling sound came from beside the bonfire, and when I turned my head to look, it was the chestnuts with pointed heads that had been roasted to maturity, their shells bursting open.

  Song Wen took a look and quickly picked up a wooden stick to pry open the roasted pointed head.

  Three people peeled and ate the pointed heads, looking around to make sure no one was watching, then took out a few bags of chestnuts they had picked up during the day and started peeling them.