wavenovel Chapter 55 Meeting in Half
Chapter 55 Meeting in Half
One Kaluga sturgeon was exchanged for two guns. Although it wasn't the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle that Chen Tuo had hoped for, it was still better than the Beret gun, wasn't it?
They were ice fishing and fetching water at the same time.
Chen Tuo and Wu Laowai had guns and cannons, but no watches.
Chen Tuo didn't sleep last night. He ate a lot of bear offal from the cooking pot and bear meat from the smoked meat room, so he couldn't tell the time by whether he was hungry or not.
Last night, wolves attacked Lushu Forest Farm, and Sun Changkui and others didn't sleep well. Wu Laowai, who was summoned to the Armed Forces Department early this morning, didn't eat well either.
After applying wax to more than a dozen ice pits, Wu Laowai was starving.
But Chen Tuo didn't invite them to eat, and as a middle-aged man, he couldn't very well complain about being hungry in front of a young boy.
After pouring water into two more ice pits, seeing Chen Tuo still calmly ice fishing, Wu Laowai couldn't help but ask:
"Hey kid, aren't you cold?"
"It's alright! The overcoats at the forest farm are made of sheepskin, and they're even warm when buttoned up!"
Are you hungry?
"Not hungry! I ate bear offal and bear meat before dawn, that should keep me full for a while!"
"Do you still want to eat Tarraja?"
"Uncle Wu, we'll be stabbing you again soon, getting all bloodied! If we light a campfire, will the wolves come?"
Wu Laowai kept asking questions, and Chen Tuo always had a response, which annoyed the old man.
"If you're going to get blood on your hands later, will you have to scrape the bear blood, which is stained with brain matter, off the snow crust? And if you do that, won't you need to start a fire to boil water?"
"That's right! Uncle Wu, shall we make a meal for this big black fish?"
Besides the Kaluga sturgeon, the 1.2-1.3-meter-long black carp at Chen Tuo's feet was the biggest catch.
Apart from one pike about a meter long and more than ten blackfish and pike about two feet long, the rest of the catch consisted of fish about a foot long.
It is estimated that under the ice shell, the Amur sturgeon was fighting for territory with the snakehead and pike. When the snakehead and pike were defeated and caught off guard, they took the bait.
Now that Chen Tuo has pulled the Amur sturgeon ashore, the variety of fish caught is becoming more diverse.
In addition to carnivorous pike and snakehead, catfish, carp, and bighead carp have also appeared.
"Da Lingzi said that freshwater fish have parasites, so we'll eat frozen pike. Didn't you say freezing kills the parasites?"
A black carp over a meter long, a pike about a meter long, and other fish about two feet long—these are all catches that can be properly sold for money.
Wu Laowai, unwilling to eat it, resorted to the parasite theory of the charming forest doctor.
"Okay! Uncle Wu, whatever you say we want to eat, that's fine. Before we go back, load all these big fish onto the sled. I'll eat my fill, and the rest of the family won't be hungry!"
Chen Tuo's words touched a nerve with Wu Laowai, an old man who was most afraid of being called a bachelor.
"It's like my family has one more person than yours..."
Muttering something, Wu Laowai didn't argue with Chen Tuo, after all, he was counting on him to catch more fish!
He picked up four or five pike, each about a foot long, and before going to start a campfire, Wu Laowai gave Chen Tuo another reminder.
"Kid, you can't live on lavish meals and drinks. Money may be limited, but if you don't have it when you need it, it can really be a nightmare..."
"Uncle Wu, I'm an unregistered resident. I'm already quite content with having food and drink. Money doesn't matter to me."
After exchanging guns with Su Dao, Chen Tuo also realized that the fish caught in the Hetao region were indeed not worth much money.
If they were all sturgeon, that would be fine, but for fish like pike or mandarin fish, it's better to eat them yourself than sell them.
"Fine, just stuff it in like that, and see who's going to have a problem later."
Seeing that Chen Tuo didn't know how to manage his life, Wu Laowai didn't try to persuade him further.
People can't be taught!
You'll get it after hitting a few walls.
If you hit a brick wall and still can't figure it out, even a god couldn't cure you.
"Sharpen those knives Sun the Cripple gave you when you have time, especially the bayonets. If those things aren't sharpened, they can't cut your tongue..."
If Wu Laowai hadn't reminded him, Chen Tuo would have forgotten about the knife.
Only after the ice fishing experience did he truly understand the joy of being a fisherman.
One after another, with a swish, and even a large one over a meter long, the satisfaction of the harvest was immense, making it impossible to stop.
He got up and walked to the shore with Wu Laowai, opening the two grenade boxes he had dragged back.
On the top of the two wooden crates, one contained five or six M1 military knives, and the other contained Ka-Bar hunting knives.
"Uncle Wu, this is an American M1 military knife, and this is a Ka-Bar military knife. These knives are good; they're also called Ka-Bar hunting knives in the US. Shall we each take half?"
There were more than a dozen American military knives, all with sheaths, and below the knives were the bayonets with obvious signs of damage.
Seeing that the knives were of varying quality, Chen Tuo knew that Sun Changkui was deliberately shirking responsibility.
"These all belong to the Armed Forces Department. You think you can just embezzle them like that?"
Although he was a mountain runner and had a nickname "Old Wu the Crooked," he never did anything shady like stealing or taking advantage of others.
Stealing is shameful.
But he didn't have that opportunity.
"What a waste! We, father and son, get up early and work late digging for ice and hunting wolves, but who are we doing it for? For a few wolf pelts, or for a few pounds of wolf meat?"
"If you don't want this stuff and I don't want it either, it might just end up being melted down for steelmaking, which would still consume coal, wouldn't it?"
After hearing Chen Tuo's shameless words, Wu Laowai nodded blankly before squatting down and picking up a handful.
"Uncle Wu, that bayonet is a real gem. With a different handle, it could kill a bear!"
Inside the grenade box, besides a dozen or so sheathed military knives, there were a few pointed bayonets, and the rest were the damaged military knives and bayonets.
The wolf-hunting duo at Xiaoyangqi educated youth settlement only consisted of the two of them. If Wu Laowai didn't take it, it wouldn't be easy for him to take it either, right?
"Stab a bear to death? Are you out of your mind? Hurry up and start a fire, I'm starving..."
He glared at Chen Tuo, who was about to stab the bear with his gun, with annoyance.
This is Chun Biao!
Let alone a spear thrust, even if you put a guillotine around a bear's neck, you might not be able to kill it instantly.
Wild beasts in the mountains become more ferocious the more they are injured.
If you shove a bear, you'll probably get torn into potato shreds.
Using the campfire from which the fish were being cooked, Chen Tuo took a shovel and scooped the bear blood and brains that had been spilled on the snow the night before into a bucket.
Chen Tuo fed the little red-haired puppy in his arms some bear brains. Seeing that the puppy, which had already started to open its eyes, was still a bit listless, Chen Tuo brought up the old topic again.
"Uncle Wu, can we feed this puppy some ginseng? It's been listless since yesterday; it must have caught a chill."
"Feed it!"
Last time Chen Tuo asked if he could feed ginseng to the dog, Wu Laowai ignored him.
Although he runs mountain trails and doesn't dislike dogs, what era are we living in now?
People have to tighten their belts, let alone a puppy.
If a dog can't withstand the extreme cold of the Xingan Mountains, it means it's not a good dog.
If it won't even live long enough to guard the house, what's the point of treating it?
Chen Tuo's persistence also reveals a bit of his humanity; he was willing to feed ginseng to the puppies. Humanity, however strong, always has its limits.
"Start by feeding them ginseng rootlets the size of a pinhead. If that works, then continue feeding! Don't feed them too many at once and kill them!"
After reluctantly finishing explaining the amount of ginseng to feed the dog, Wu Laowai pointed to the whetstone and steel file in the grenade box and said:
"First sharpen the blade with a whetstone, then use a steel file to refine the teeth, creating a cut with each stroke."
Wu Laowai's explanation was rather complicated, so Chen Tuo picked up a whetstone for each of them and then picked up a steel file to reply:
"Uncle Wu, why not just use a steel file? It'll sharpen and grind the teeth in no time. It'll only take a few strokes."
He glanced at Chen Tuo, that good-for-nothing, with annoyance. That's not what he meant at all.
After sharpening, add small teeth; this will minimize damage to the blade.
Using Chen Tuo's method, repairing them only after they're used up will eventually cause these bayonets to chip...