Wild 1979: From Fishing and Hunting to Becoming a Literary Master

Chapter 79 White Hair Wind

"We don't need to take the main road. Let's take the sledding trail at an angle, which will save us half an hour of walking."

Although Chen Tuo's idea was cautious, Wu Laowai didn't want to walk any more.

He pointed in a direction, and the old man, ignoring how heavy the sled Chen Tuo was pulling, headed straight for the sled trail on the North Mountain.

Under the moonlit night, at the foot of the mountain, which was so close at hand, Chen Tuo felt like he had walked for almost an hour before finally reaching it.

The saying "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death" was particularly simple and true for Chen Tuo, who had taken off his overcoat and was now wearing an open fur-lined cotton-padded coat.

Chen Tuo dragged and pulled the sled all the way, while Wu Laowai, who was leading the way, noticed something was wrong.

He wiped the snow off his face from the wind and looked at Chen Tuo behind him, who was just stubbornly resisting.

"Kid, it's getting windy, let's not go up the mountain..."

At the educated youth settlement and in Songling Town, although there was wind, it was never as strong as at the foot of the mountain.

If it's just wind, Wu Laowai isn't afraid.

But what he feared was the snow that had just fallen last night.

Snow in the Xing'an Mountains doesn't just fall from the sky.

When the wind blows, it snows in the town.

Loose snow, swept into the gale, becomes the terrifying white blizzard.

The most terrifying whiteout is when snow falls from the sky and blows on the ground, especially at night when the temperature is minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius.

At this point, Wu Laowai no longer cared about wasting time by taking the main road or the sled track; instead, he wanted to head back home immediately.

"Uncle Wu, we've almost reached the summit, we can't give up halfway."

Looking up at the clear, bright crescent moon in the sky, Chen Tuo, eager to hunt, didn't want to miss the opportunity to go into the mountains and ignored the risks.

"Alright, I'll listen to you, but don't regret it later."

I looked back at the lights in the town and the forestry bureau, and then at the still clearly marked sled track under my feet.

Wu Laowai did not explain the cause of the white-haired wind to Chen Tuo.

Being trapped in the mountains by the wind for a while will also teach him a lesson about the dangers of running in the mountains.

Furthermore, even if the wind blows and snowflakes fall, it may not necessarily create a whiteout.

The wind and snow did not prevent Wu Laowai from finding the settlement on the mountain by following the sled trail.

"Kid, get a pine branch and tie it to the back of the sled. The slope is steep, and with the pine branch there, the sled won't slip."

After stepping on the snow crust under the fresh snow, Old Wu gave Chen Tuo a little trick to prevent slipping on the mountain.

After tying the pine branches together, the two continued up the mountain.

Wu Laowai's reason for not wanting to take the sled trail was simple: the sled trail, which followed the contours of the mountain, would not be straightened.

In the Xingan Mountains, even the straight sled trails are impassable for going up and down the mountain.

Besides the steep slopes, the most crucial factor is the seven-month-long winter in the Xing'an Mountains, where the snow crust can remain for as long as seven months.

If you go straight up and down, wouldn't you have to tumble and crawl all the way down?

Wherever it's easy to walk, cut down the trees; if you encounter a huge rock blocking the way, blast it away. The winding, meandering sled path is the only way to go up and down the mountain.

This takes much longer than going straight up or down.

After turning a bend in the sled track, the two were deep in the dense forest, and Wu Laowai stopped again.

The snow in front of me had turned into a thin mist. If I turned around again, how could I still see the lights below the mountain?

"Kid, is a whirlwind about to break out? Aren't you coming down the mountain?"

At this moment, Chen Tuo still ignored the danger of the white-haired wind and even felt that the snow drifting in the wind was cool and comfortable.

"Uncle Wu, we're on a sled track, and the sleds are loaded with firewood, fur coats, bear oil, and meat and wine. We shouldn't be too badly trapped, right?"

If it were a heavy snowfall accompanied by a strong wind, Chen Tuo would turn around and head down the mountain.

But the snowflakes blown by the mountain wind are like a light veil or mist, not only not dangerous, but also giving the mountain forest under the moonlight a hazy beauty.

This trip up the mountain, besides providing writing material for Blood Wolf Plain, also indirectly gave him the right to hunt.

I once worked at a youth settlement for three days and three nights without sleep.

Chen Tuo gently stroked the ginseng fragments he had tucked into his bosom, completely forgetting about the extreme cold of minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius.

"Okay, I'll do as you say! Take out the bear oil, put some on your hands and face, and let's have a couple of bites beforehand. Don't put the bear oil on your lips either..."

Chen Tuo was determined to persevere, and Wu Laowai, still slurring his words with a hint of alcohol, also showed a stubborn refusal to admit his age.

Just like Chen Tuo said.

If this were deep in the mountains, even if he were drunk, he would turn around and leave.

But this place was precisely Songling North Mountain, which he knew all too well.

If you're really trapped in the mountains by the white blizzard, you can find your way up and down the sled by feeling the trail.

It might be cold along the way, but there's really not much danger.

After rubbing off the bear oil, the two each ate a piece of extremely salty fried bear meat before continuing up the sled trail.

After turning a few corners, Wu Laowai started to back down again.

The higher we went up the mountain, the stronger the wind became.

Now the two are no longer facing Xue Yang, but Xue Yan, who can block their view.

"Kid, you want to go again?"

"Uncle Wu, we're halfway up the mountain now, aren't we? I think I can smell burning wood..."

Sniffing the faint smoke, Wu Laowai looked around, but the snowy smoke obscured his vision.

There were lights and the moon at the foot of the mountain, but once inside, all that remained was a vast expanse of white.

Although it is the familiar Beishan Mountain, Wu Laowai rarely walks on the sled trail.

As a settlement of the Evenki reindeer herding tribe, the forests on the northern mountain had been logged, but that was decades ago.

Visibility was already poor in the woods, and with the white-haired wind further obscuring their view, Wu Laowai wasn't sure where the two of them had ended up.

"Kid, you go first. Walk on foot. If the snow is up to your ankles, you have to stop and see if we're still on the sled track."

After walking on the sled track and sweating it out, Wu Laowai realized it was too late for regrets.

The wind will bring down the temperature. It's fine while walking, but once you stop, your sweat-soaked cotton-padded coat will probably freeze solid.

Sometimes, the mountain gods and the old foreman simply don't give people a chance to make a fire for warmth.

Chen Tuo led the way, pulling the sled, and the two continued along the sled track.

Wu Laowai quickly found the source of the smoke.

In a snow pit beside the sled track, charcoal embers were burning, covered with leaves and snow—this was the smell of smoke Chen Tuo had just caught.

"Oh no! It's most likely a pack of wolves has come to the North Mountain, and they're making smoke to drive them away!"

Touching the almost completely cooled charcoal fire, Wu Laowai felt even more regretful.

White-haired wind posed no threat to him.

As long as they stepped on the snow crust of the sled track, the two of them could somehow make their way up the mountain.

But if Bai Maofeng gets involved with the wolf pack, his fate becomes uncertain...

"Uncle Wu, what are you afraid of? We came up the mountain to hunt wolves. I brought deer slingshots this time; one shot will take out a whole bunch!"

Wu Laowai glanced sideways at Chen Tuo, who knew nothing and was only recklessly audacious, and remained silent.

He simply picked up Sun Changkui's small rifle from the sled, tore a strip of cloth from his pocket, and plugged the gun hole.

"Load the buckshot, and use this cloth to plug the muzzle to prevent snow from getting in and causing an explosion!"

When faced with a true life-or-death crisis, Wu Laowai neither complained nor said a word; he simply tore off an extra strip of cloth and handed it to Chen Tuo.

The two men forged a deadly feud with the Russian wolf pack in the Hetao region.

If the wolves are really in the North Mountain, they will definitely come if they smell the scent of the two of them!

Just as Chen Tuo said, they had guns and cannons; no matter how many wolves came, if they didn't kill them, they would be the ones who died...