In winter, the once noisy crest of the Suifen River has disappeared and turned into a big shining mirror. In the mountains east of Fuldan City, the once lush forests in autumn have lost all their leaves.
In such a season, the Hezhefeyaka border residents around Xingkai Lake go out in groups driving dog-drawn sledges. In addition to hunting sables that had to be handed over for the Wulin Conference, roe deer and elk were their prey. With meat to eat and fur to keep out the cold, the Hezhe people either grilled meat and drank wine by the fire every day, or lay down and slept soundly in cellars made of birch bark.
In the birch forest behind a ridge, hundreds of dogs were playing in the snow. They were in groups of three and five, playing happily on the hard snow. Some Hezhe children were running around on small sleds pulled by three dogs.
Sixteen-year-old Wu Xiha walked out of the wooden house, her little face quickly turning red from the cold. When a group of puppies saw her, they cheered and surrounded her. She wore a light yellow suede fox fur coat, and the roe deer leather trousers were tucked into high-waisted deerskin boots. Wearing an otter skin hat on his head, with a few strands of red and blue silk necklaces tied on the tip of the hat, he looked heroic, yet so pretty.
She leaned down and stroked the puppies with her hands wearing fox fur gloves. The woman's sweet laughter and the puppies' barks echoed in the forest.
The Hezhe people have been known as the "dog tribe" since the Ming Dynasty. What they are best at is driving dog sleds in winter and making a living by fishing and hunting in the mountains and forests.
Not far away, a young man wearing an animal skin cloak was carrying a bag and whistled, and the dogs swarmed over. The young man took out small dried fish from the cloth bag in his hand and scattered them on the ground handful by handful.
Ushiha turned around and took out a pair of skis made of ash from the sled standing outside the house, and picked up a pair of ski poles. After putting them on, he bent his knees slightly and placed the ski poles on the thick snow shell. , flew out on the snow like a swallow, leaving only a wave-like curtain of snow.
"Wuxiha, why are you running around again? Don't go too far, come back soon!" An old man came out of the wooden house and shouted at Wuxiha's back.
"I know. I'm not a big bear squatting in a warehouse. I eat and sleep all day long, and eat when I sleep." Wu Xiha complained with a pout, and the figure had already rushed to the bottom of the valley. In the turning point, he quickly crossed the ridge and disappeared. Deep in the jungle.
The wind whistled past Ushiha's ears, and the skis wrapped in badger skins sometimes carried her up the steep slope, sometimes winding up the mountainside. When she had enough fun and was about to go back down the mountain, she suddenly heard a loud noise from the west.
"boom!"
Immediately afterwards, a beast's cry came over.
"It's a tiger!"
Wu Xiha looked to the west curiously, and could see nothing but lingering sounds in the valley. She used her ski poles and slid quickly from the hillside to the valley bottom. Then, using inertia, she rushed up the opposite mountain ridge.
In the woods, Liu Sheng pulled the wrench of the lever rifle, and a steaming yellow bullet flew out from the magazine. He quickly stretched out his hand and found that the cartridge case had already arrived and was held in his glove. When the guards around him saw this, they immediately cheered in unison.
"It's really not easy. I chased him for two days."
More than ten meters away, a Siberian tiger with yellow and black patterns lay on the snow, and the blood gurgling from its abdomen stained a large area red.
On the fourth day of the first lunar month, a tiger broke into the yard of a homeless family outside Fuldan City, seemingly looking for food.
However, Fuldan City is still under a wartime system and has always implemented a supply system. Regardless of whether inside or outside the city, all families go to several dining spots in the city to eat together. Not to mention meat, each family doesn't even have food.
The tiger caused great harm to that family's home, and it happened just as the family was coming back. The hungry tiger attacked and bitten the man and the child seriously.
Liu Sheng was having nothing to do these days. After hearing about it at night, he took Seldan and his guard squad into the mountains to hunt tigers early the next morning. Fortunately, Serdan followed him and identified the tiger's tracks along the way. After only two days of pursuit by more than a dozen people, he was caught.
At this time, several soldiers took out axes and hand saws from their saddle bags, preparing to cut down wood and make a sledge. This tiger probably weighed more than 200 kilograms, and the Mongolian horses Liu Sheng and the others were riding couldn't even carry it.
Liu Sheng walked up to the tiger, touched the soft and gorgeous fur, and cursed angrily: "Don't stay in the den properly. What do you mean you came out and wandered around?! Is it over now? Why don't you leave so many stupid roe deer alone?" Eat, you have to bite people, you idiot!"
"Puch!" A woman's chuckle came from behind a red pine tree.
"Who? Come out!" Liu Sheng picked up the gun, pointed the muzzle at the place where the sound came from, and shouted loudly. Several soldiers from the guard squad and Serdan also raised their weapons.
"Did you kill this tiger? You are really interesting. How can you reason with a dead tiger?" A pale yellow figure flashed under the tree, and Wu Xiha pursed her lips and walked away with a smile on her face. out.
"Where did this little girl come from? Why can she still speak Mandarin?" Liu Sheng looked surprised and continued with a straight face: "Let your accomplices come out too."
Wu Xiha tilted his head and looked at the burly man seven or eight meters away. He shook his head and said, "I have no accomplices. I asked you, why do you look like a black bear?"
Liu Sheng's forehead was covered with black lines at this time, and he pretended not to hear.
Serdan put down the weapon in his hand and asked: "Girl, which tribe are you from? Why do you speak Mandarin so fluently?"
Wu Xiha said "Yeah" and asked happily: "Uncle, are you also from Hezhe?"
Serdan shook his head and said: "I am a Kurkhaqi."
"Oh, it turns out you are Yiche Manchuria. Which flag do you belong to?"
"It used to be a blue flag."
"Before? What about now?"
"Haha, this girl is really a curious baby." Liu Sheng muttered to himself, dumbfounded.
"Wait! What are you talking about me? What is a curious baby?"
"Okay, I didn't say anything, I just talked about myself. Okay?"
"No! You must tell me today, what is a curious baby?"
When Serdan saw how unruly the girl was, he quickly interrupted: "Girl, it's getting late, so you should go back early. My family should be worried after coming so far."
Wu Xiha turned around and asked: "Uncle, what about you?"
Serdan said helplessly: "We came from the Twin Castles. This tiger broke into a house and injured someone. We are here to hunt the tiger."
When the soldiers in the guard squad saw that this pretty woman was looking at everything with curiosity, they relaxed their guard and began to go about their own business. Liu Sheng returned to his horse, took out a bottle of white wine from his saddle bag, took a few sips, and then handed it to Serdan. Seldan took it, took a sip, and returned it.
Ushiha looked at this group of strangers curiously. The clothes they wore, the tools in their hands, and the strange shotgun they carried on their backs all aroused her curiosity. However, she saw that the soldiers were too busy to pay attention to her, so she came to Liu Sheng again and said with a smile: "Big man, are you an official?"
"Oh? Have you guessed this too?"
"That's right. Everyone else is working, but you don't do it, acting like an official."
We can’t have a good chat anymore! Liu Sheng was unable to utter a word when he was beaten.
"Girl, what is your name?" Serdan asked without looking back while helping the soldiers bundle the sledge.
"My name is Ushiha."
Seldan praised: "Your parents are really good at naming! This is a great name!"
Liu Sheng said: "Old Se, what do you mean?"
"Wuxiha, Manyu is like a little star."
Liu Sheng said "Oh" and asked Wu Xiha curiously: "Little girl, how come you can speak Chinese?"
"I have stayed in Ninggut City before and studied with a private school teacher for two years. Of course I can speak Mandarin." Wu Xiha looked at the unique style of the wine pot in Liu Sheng's hand, with a silver-white flat body and a Wearing a leather case. So he said to Liu Sheng: "Big man, your wine bottle is pretty good. Give it to me? I'll exchange it for you."
Liu Sheng laughed and said, "What do you want in exchange for it?"
Wu Xiha thought for a moment, then took out a small leather bag from his arms, shook it with his hand, and heard a clattering sound from inside. "I'll trade Al Chukuoqi for you."
What is this? Liu Sheng curiously took the bag, opened it, and suddenly realized: "It turns out to be a sheep crutch!"
"What a goat's crutch! This belongs to a roe deer. My Ama got it for me when I was a kid."
Liu Sheng took out a roe deer skeleton and saw that it was as white as jade; perhaps because it had been played with for a long time, it had a jade-like luster, and he couldn't help but marvel.
"Big man, do you want to change?"
"Okay. Just wait a minute." After Liu Sheng said that, he walked to his horse, took out four stainless steel small wine glasses with leather covers from the saddle bag, and took out a funnel for pouring wine. He thought for a while, took out another cloth bag, put the wine glass and funnel in it, and handed it to Ushiha along with the wine bottle.
"There's still half a bottle of white wine here, all for you."
Wu Xiha took the thing happily, holding it in his hand and stroking it.
Liu Sheng said at this time: "Girl, it's getting late, should you go back?"
"Oops! Oops! Amma is going to scold me." Wu Xiha hurriedly put the things in his arms and said to Liu Sheng: "Big man, I'm leaving. In the beginning of spring, Amma and I will go to Fuldan City together. I'm here to play with you." After she finished speaking, without waiting for Liu Sheng to challenge her, she said to Serdan: "Uncle, I'm going to come and play with you in the spring. What do you call me?"
"Haha, my name is Seldan."
"Oh. Remember that."
Wu Xiha walked to the place where he was hiding just now, took out his skis and poles, put them on and waved to Liu Sheng and the others. Then he used the poles harder and disappeared on the mountain ridge not long after.
"This girl is really interesting." Seldan chuckled.
After a while, the sledge for transporting the tiger carcass was tied up. Together, everyone lifted the tiger carcass onto the sledge and tied it tightly with ropes. Serdan tied the sledge to both sides of his saddle again, looked up at the sky, and said to Liu Sheng: "Let's go quickly and find a place to camp later. It will snow again in the evening."
Over there, Wu Xiha skied all the way back. Just halfway through, she met Amma who was looking for her with her tribe.
Saharian looked at his sweaty daughter and couldn't help but scolded: "Damn girl! Where have you gone? I'm so anxious! It's almost dark today!"
"Amma..."
"Forget it, forget it, as long as the person is found. Everyone, go back." The tribesmen on the side advised.
Ushiha took off his skis and sat on the dog sledge obediently. His Ama glared at her angrily and turned away from her.
At night, in the Hezhe camp, Saharian, who had had dinner, was asking his daughter what happened during the day.
"You said they came from the Twin Castles?!" Saharian exclaimed.
"Yes. Didn't you ask just now?" Wu Xiha pouted, looking like a doormat.
"Silly girl! You are really lucky!" Saharian sighed with a sigh.
"Amma, what's wrong? Haven't you been to the Twin Castles before?" Ushiha asked in surprise, flashing his big eyes.
"What are you talking about? Do you know that Twin Castles has been occupied by a group of rebel bandits of unknown origin! The people you met today might be those bandits!"
"But they are quite nice! There is also an uncle from Kurkaqi inside, and he speaks very kindly! By the way!" Wu Xiha thought of the wine flask she exchanged with the big man, and quickly took it from her arms. came out and handed it to Saharian.
"What is this?" Saharian asked in surprise.
"The wine flask, I exchanged it with someone else. Thinking that you usually like to take a few sips, I exchanged it with someone else. Look, there are cups here." Ushiha unscrewed the lid of the wine jug as he spoke. A strong aroma of white wine wafted out.
Saharian felt greedy and couldn't help but take a sip. A stream of heat went from his throat to his lower abdomen, making him feel warm all over. “Good wine!”
"It's just good wine. I worked so hard to get it for you, and you still blame me."
"What did you get in exchange for it?" Saharian's expression suddenly changed, as if he had thought of something.
"Al Chukuoqi." Ushiha replied nonchalantly.
"What?!" Saharian became anxious upon hearing this. Wu Xiha's roe deer skeleton was pieced together from the bodies of more than a dozen roe deer when his daughter was a child. The crooked bone was nothing more than a child's plaything in later generations. However, in this era, it is still a divination tool. As the saying goes, "the one who understands is bad, the one who combines is good", "the back is good, the donkey's pit is bad, the bun is good".
Most people make this by picking it from cooked lamb leg bones or roe deer bones. But Wu Xiha's look was cut off from raw meat, so it was extremely white. After more than ten years, these six bones have been used for divination for a long time, and they have been nourished by the blood and become like jade, which is very rare. In recent years, Saharian has used this thing to divine fortune and bad luck before going out for hunting. It is very effective. Unexpectedly, Wu Xiha actually gave it to him in exchange for a wine bottle!
No, this thing must come back!
Thinking of this, Saharian couldn't help but reach out and poke Ushiha's forehead with his index finger, and said angrily: "You, you! You are sixteen this year, why are you still acting like a child who has not grown up!"
Seeing that Ama was really angry, Wu Xiha shed tears of grievance. "What's the rush! At worst, I'll go find them tomorrow and ask for it!"
Early the next morning, Saha tied up the dog-drawn sledge, took dozens of animal skins, and took his daughter all the way west, toward Fuldan City.
