In winter, the once noisy crest of the Suifen River has disappeared and turned into a big shining mirror. On 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 on dog-drawn sledges. In addition to hunting sables to be handed over for the Wulin Conference, roe deer and elk are their prey.
With meat to eat and furs to keep out the cold, the Hezhe people either grilled meat and drank wine by the fire every day, or lay down in cellars made of birch bark and slept soundly.
In the birch forest behind a mountain ridge, hundreds of dogs are playing happily on the snow. They play in groups of three and five, happily playing on the snow. Some Hezhe children are sitting on a small dog pulled by three dogs.
Running around on the sled.
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 was wearing a light yellow fur fox fur coat, a roe deer.
The legs of his leather trousers were tied into high-waisted deerskin boots. He wore 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 so dashing and dashing.
Indescribably pretty.
Wu Xiha leaned down, took off his fox fur gloves, and stroked the puppies in front of him one by one. The girl's laughter and the puppies' barks echoed in the forest.
The Hezhe people have been called 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 holding 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 ate them one by one.
Scattered it on the ground.
Seeing that all the puppies in front of him had gone to eat, Wu Xiha 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.
She put on the sled, bent her knees slightly, touched her ski pole on the thick snow, and flew out on the snow like a swallow, leaving only a wave-like curtain of snow.
"Uhiha, why are you running around again? Don't go too far, come back soon!" In the wooden house, a man in his fifties walked out of the wooden house and shouted at Ushiha'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 dense forest.
The wind whistled past Wu Xiha's ears, and the skis wrapped in badger skins suddenly took her up the steep slope, and sometimes coiled up the mountainside. When she had had enough fun and was about to go back down the mountain, she suddenly heard a sound coming from the west.
There was a loud noise.
"boom!"
Immediately afterwards, a wild beast's cry came over.
"It's a tiger!"
Wu Xiha looked nervously towards the valley to the west, but she could see nothing except the lingering sound in her ears. Using her ski poles, Wu Xiha quickly slid from the hillside to the bottom of the valley. With the help of inertia, she quickly
Rushed up the ridge on the opposite side.
In the red pine forest, Liu Sheng pulled the wrench of the lever rifle, and a yellow, still steaming bullet flew out of the magazine. He quickly reached out and grabbed the bullet case, which was already in his glove. He was holding it next to him.
When several of the guards saw this, they immediately cheered in unison.
"It's 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 night of the fourth day of the first lunar month, this tiger broke into the courtyard 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 it is inside or outside the city.
, all the families went to several dining spots in the city to have a meal together. Not to mention meat, each family didn't even have food.
The tiger caused harm to the family's home, and just as the family was returning, the hungry tiger attacked and bitten the man and the child seriously. After hearing the news, the neighbors who came over held torches and were frightened away.
Tiger rushed the injured father and son to the medical station in the city.
After Liu Sheng heard about it that night, he was worried that he had nothing to do during the New Year, so early the next morning he took Serdan and his guard squad into the mountains to hunt tigers. Fortunately, Serdan, an old hunter, was tracking the tigers along the way.
After two days of pursuit by more than a dozen people, he was actually caught.
The tiger in front of them probably weighed more than 200 kilograms, and the Mongolian horses Liu Sheng and the others were riding could not carry it. Several soldiers took out axes and hand saws from their saddle bags, preparing to cut down the wood and make a sledge.
Liu Sheng walked up to the tiger with a gun in his hand. He kicked it twice with his foot uneasily to make sure the tiger was dead. Then he leaned over and touched the fur that was like beating flames, and cursed casually: "You said you were good."
If you don't stay in your den, why are you wandering around here?! Is it over now? There are so many stupid roe deer in the mountains and you don't want to eat them, so you insist on biting people. What a fool!"
"Puch!" A chuckle that was obviously that of a woman came from behind a red pine tree.
"Who?! Come out!" Liu Sheng's eyes widened, he stood up, raised his gun, aimed at the place where the sound came from, and shouted loudly. The soldiers in the guard squad and Serdan also raised their weapons when they heard the sound.
"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.
came out.
"Where did this little girl come from? How can she still speak Chinese?" Liu Sheng was slightly surprised, and then continued to shout 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 came out to ski. By the way, why do you look like a black bear?"
Liu Sheng suddenly had black lines on his forehead and pretended not to hear.
Serdan put down the compound bow 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 from Hezhe too?"
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 that the girl was determined to get into trouble, he quickly interrupted: "Girl, it's getting late, so you should go back early. The 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."
The soldiers in the guard squad relaxed when they saw the pretty woman's harmless and innocent look, and began to do their own business. Liu Sheng returned to his horse and took out a bottle of white wine from the saddle bag.
, took two sips, and then handed it to Serdan. Serdan took it, took a sip, and returned it.
Wu Xiha looked at this group of strangers curiously. She had never seen the clothes, shoes and hats they wore, the tools in their hands, and the strange shotgun they carried. The novel style aroused her curiosity. However,
Seeing that the soldiers were too busy to pay attention to her, she came to Liu Sheng again and said with a smile: "Big man, are you an official?"
"Oh? You guessed this too?"
"That's it. Everyone else is working, but you don't do it, acting like an official."
Can we still have a good chat? Liu Sheng was unable to say a word because of the criticism.
"Girl, what is your name?" Serdan asked without looking back while helping the soldiers bundle the sledge.
"My name is Ushiha Hezhe."
Serdan praised: "Your parents are really good at naming! This is a great name!"
Liu Sheng said: "Old Se, what do you mean?"
"Wuxiha, in Manchu, it's like a little star."
Liu Sheng said "Oh" and asked Wu Xiha curiously: "Little Xingxing, how come you can speak Chinese?"
"I used to stay in Ninggut City and studied with a private school teacher for two years. That's where I learned Mandarin." Wu Xiha looked at the unique style of the wine pot in Liu Sheng's hand, with a silver-white flat body and an outer surface.
He was also wearing a leather cover. So he said to Liu Sheng: "Big man, you have a nice wine bottle. 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 and shook it, and there was a clattering sound inside. "I'll trade Alchu Kuoqi with you."
What a strange thing, what is this? Liu Sheng took the bag curiously, opened it, and suddenly realized: "It turns out to be a sheep crutch!"
"You stupid guy, this is not a sheep's crutch, it's a roe deer crutch!"
Liu Sheng took out a roe deer skeleton and saw that its color was as white as jade; perhaps because it had been played with for a long time, it had a crystal luster like jade, and he couldn't help but marvel.
"Big man, do you want to change it? If not, return it to me."
"Okay. Just wait a minute." After Liu Sheng said that, he walked to his horse and took out four stainless steel small wine glasses with leather covers from the saddle bag, and also 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 the leather cover of the wine bottle.
At this time, Serdan reminded: "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 looking for you to play." After she finished speaking, without waiting for Liu Sheng to challenge her, she said to Serdan: "Uncle, I'm going to find you in the spring. What do you call me?"
"Haha, my name is Seldan."
"Oh. Remember."
Wu Xiha walked to the place where he had just been hiding, took out his skis and poles, put them on and waved to Liu Sheng and the others. He then used his poles harder and disappeared on the mountain ridge in a short time.
"This girl is really interesting." Serdan looked at the girl's retreating back with a smile.
"That's right, I almost shot just now." Liu Sheng said with lingering fear.
After a while, the sledge for transporting the tiger's body was tied up, and everyone carried the tiger's body to the sledge together and tied it tightly with ropes. Serdan tied the sledge to both sides of his saddle, and then looked up at the sky.
, said to Liu Sheng: "Let's go quickly and find a place to camp later. It will snow again in the evening."
At this time, the sky was getting darker and gloomier. Ushiha skied all the way back. Just halfway through, she met Ama 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 worried! It's almost dark today!"
"Amma."
"Forget it, forget it, just find the person. Let's go back." Several tribesmen on the side advised.
"Come up!" Saharian shouted to his daughter. Ushiha then took off his skis and sat on the dog sledge obediently. His mother glared at her angrily, turned away and ignored her.
He blew the whistle and started walking back on the sledge.
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 victim.
"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? You don't know that Shuang Castle was occupied by a group of bandits of unknown origin. I heard that they captured Hunchun City. Those people you met today might be
Those rebel bandits!"
"Ah! But they are quite nice. There is also an uncle from Kurkaqi who speaks very kindly. By the way!" Wu Xiha thought of the wine bottle she exchanged with the big man, and quickly took it from her arms.
He took it 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. You see, there are cups here." Ushiha said as he unscrewed the lid of the wine jug.
A strong aroma of white wine wafted out.
Saharian felt greedy and couldn't help but take a sip. A stream of heat flowed 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 when he heard this. Ushiha's roe deer bones were made from more than a dozen roe deer when his daughter was a child. In later generations, these roe deer bones were nothing more than children's playthings.
.However, in this era, it is still a divination tool. As the saying goes, "the one who interprets it is bad luck, and the one who combines it is good luck."
Most people make this by picking it from cooked lamb leg bones or roe deer bones. But Wu Xiha's set was cut from raw meat, so it is extremely white. After more than ten years, these six
Because the bones have been used for divination for a long time, they have been nourished by blood and are like jade, which is very rare. In recent years, Saharian has used this thing to predict good and bad luck before going out for hunting. It is very effective. Unexpectedly, Ushiha actually gave
Got it to exchange for a wine bottle!
The jug in his hand is good, and Saharian also likes it very much. But it is even better than the six Alchus. No, the thing must be returned!
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 accompany you to find them tomorrow and bring them back!"
Saharian sighed and said: "It's easy to say, but what if someone doesn't give it to you? Forget it, let's go after it early tomorrow morning."
Early the next morning, Saha tied up the dog pulling the sledge, took dozens of animal skins and three days' worth of dry food, and took his daughter all the way west, toward Fuldan City.