Ghost Blowing Lantern II - Chapter 2: Catch the Winter Famine (Part 1)

In the autumn of 1969, the Vietnamese people’s liberation war against U.S. imperialist aggression was in full swing. At this time, as one of the many educated young people who went to the mountains and countryside, I was arranged by the Educated Youth Office to join the queue in the Daxinganling Mountains and received the highest instructions: educated young people go to the countryside to fight against the wind and snow, to forge red hearts, to fight against the sky and the earth, and to cast iron bones.

Before I knew it, a few months had passed. The excitement and novelty I felt when I first entered the mountains had long since disappeared, replaced by the boring life day after day. The ravine where I jumped in line was only as big as a palm. There are only twenty or thirty households in this place, and the area within a few hundred miles is almost entirely uninhabited virgin forest.

People in the villages rely on the mountains to eat. In addition to clearing a few acres of wasteland in flat areas and growing some daily rations, the rest of the food is mainly obtained by hunting in the mountains. Deer, roe deer, hares, and pheasants in the mountains, There are also fungus, mushrooms, etc. in the forest. They are all chewy, so eating them well is not a problem.

But that winter, the snow fell very early in the mountains, the northwest wind suddenly intensified, and the weather suddenly became cold. The mountain was about to be closed due to heavy snow, and everyone had not had time to stock up on food for the winter. Because in the autumn of previous years, people in the mountains would hunt a large number of wild boars and rabbits when they were fat, dry them and store them in wax to survive the cruel and long winter in the Greater Khingan Mountains.

The abnormal weather that has not been encountered in the past ten years has just arrived. It started to snow just after the middle of autumn, and then the northwest wind picked up. The hunters couldn’t help but feel a little confused. They picked up their shotguns and hounds one after another. Rush into the mountains to “catch the winter famine”, race against time against God, and go all out to trap foxes and shoot rabbits. Otherwise, if it is later, the white-haired wind that only blows in winter will definitely blow in the mountains, and then everything will be beaten. If not, then the entire village will face a terrible winter famine.

Fatty, my friend who jumped in line with me, has been busy lately, wishing for some trouble to happen out of the blue. When he saw the hunters entering the mountains in groups to hunt, he suddenly became interested and eagerly discussed with me how to plan. Go into the mountains with the hunters to hunt some man-bears.

My enthusiasm for hunting in the mountains, especially “fox trapping” and other activities of fighting wits and strength, is no less than Fatty’s, but I rarely have the opportunity to bring a gun and a dog to have fun, so for this time I have long been aware of their actions, and the branch secretary will definitely not let us participate. First, we, the educated youths, have already caused a lot of troubles within half a year of entering the mountain. The old branch secretary got angry and refused to let us do any more mischief. Recently, the tasks he assigned to us include cutting grave bricks and guarding the graves. Harvesting the wood in the forest farm is all a tedious job of squatting; secondly, catching the winter famine this time is a major event in the village. Hunting is a collective action that requires rich experience and tacit cooperation among hunters. For educated youths like this, Shengguadanzi from the city joined in. If something went wrong, everyone would be hungry through the harsh winter. No one can afford this responsibility and absolutely cannot take such a risk.

We watched eagerly as each household dispatched strong hunters to form a “fighting team to catch up with the winter wilderness”, leading a large number of hunting dogs into the mountains and marching through the snow to the front line of hunting. I was really anxious and worried. Fire, even though I knew that there was basically no chance, I still held on to a glimmer of hope and went to the party secretary to find an accommodation. Even if we could arrange some rear support work for us educated youths, if we were allowed to stay in the villages, we would be crushed. No.

Fatty also emphasized Chairman Mao’s highest instructions to the party secretary: “We all come from all over the world and come together for the same purpose. On behalf of our five educated youths, I sincerely request you that you please let us participate in this game no matter what. Go into the torrent of revolutionary struggle to beat the winter famine…”

The old party secretary didn’t wait for the fat man to finish his words, and killed our request with another top directive: “Don’t bullshit me, what are you talking about? Chairman Mao is not asking for that…, by the way…he is an old man. He also emphasized that we must oppose liberalism and obey organizational arrangements. Instead of all the people in our village going hunting, the rest are women, children, old, weak, sick and disabled. Look at the snow under the snow. It’s also troublesome to find a black blind man who has enough food for cats. I think we should just do this. You young people, leave half of them to guard the village. You two, Bayi and Xiaopang, let Yanzi take you to the forest farm to see the farm. Go, just in time to replace the old man Knocking Shan back, let me tell you two, you are not allowed to do anything during these days when I am not here, you know?”

I saw that as expected, there was no room for compromise on the route issue. Since it was the talk, I had no choice but to give it up. I secretly thought that I could find opportunities to trap foxes near the forest farm, which would be better than in the villages. It was so boring to carry out ideological work, so I said goodbye to my three other educated youth companions, packed my bedding on my back, and together with Fatty, led by Yanzi, went to the forest farm under Tuanshanzi to guard the timber.

There are several houses in the village that serve as educated youth spots. The educated youths who jump in the queue live in these houses, and they take turns to go to each house to eat. We eat whatever we catch up with. The girl Yanzi is the “landlord” of Fatty and I. She is also an excellent hunter. The party secretary arranged for her to take us to take care of the forest farm because we were worried that the forest farm would be attacked by wild beasts.

Yanzi lost the opportunity to go hunting in the mountains, but she didn’t complain, because the educated youth were far more knowledgeable than the people in the mountains, especially Fatty and I, who knew astronomy and geography and could talk and talk about it. When we were with the educated youth, she could Knowing that she had never left the world outside the mountains, she picked up the shotgun and some necessary items, and set off with Fatty and me. From the village to the forest farm, we have to climb a ridge and turn two mountain valleys. It is a long way. The northwest wind blows loudly along the way, causing the snow foam on the treetops on the ground to dance all over the sky. In addition, the sky is even brighter during the day. It was also so gray that one couldn’t tell whether it was snowing all the time. I wrapped my head tightly with a dog-skin hat, but the wind still made my head numb gradually.

However, I heard from Yan Zi that this kind of weather is nothing at all. In the late winter in the mountains, the snow in the woods will be waist deep. It is very difficult for people to walk through the snow in the snow. If they can’t walk very far, they will fall. You are sweating all over your body, but you must not stop. Once you stop to take a breath and get hit by the bone-piercing cold wind, the sweat all over your body will immediately turn into layers of frost, and people who have never spent the winter in the mountains will not understand. As you can imagine, the most terrifying thing is the “white-haired wind” that people in the mountains talk about. The so-called “white-haired wind” is a silver-white whirlwind with snow in the wind. It is more powerful than an ice knife and blows onto people. There is no one who can bear it, so the hunters in the mountains have to stock up on food in advance. When the weather gets cold and the ground freezes, they start to winter on the hot kang at home.

We walked for almost a day before arriving at the forest farm. This forest farm is close to “Tuanshanzi” where humans and bears are often seen. A river passes through the forest and snow source, which just separates the mountainous area from the forest. Tuanshanzi is densely covered with vegetation. , there is no shortage of food. The man-bears in the mountains will not easily cross the river into the forest, and the hunters do not dare to provoke the ferocious king of the mountains and forests – the man-bear.