Last Totem Novel - Chapter 49
Chapter 49 Harsh Winter
The old bull, who was lost in his memories, suddenly heard a soft sound, like a stone thrown into the mud. He turned around vigilantly and soon discovered that one of the hundreds of honeycomb briquettes had been deformed by the stone. Then he looked at Tie Zha and saw the man half-narrowed his eyes, lying motionless on the beach chair.
Old Niu looked at the deformed honeycomb briquette once again. From the angle of view, it was impossible for it to be thrown from the location of the iron slag. However, there were only three people here. Ye Xinling probably wouldn’t do such a thing, so it was even more impossible for him. Therefore, the biggest suspicion was iron slag. At this time, Old Niu saw Ye Xinling turn around and enter the tin shed. When she left, her shoulders seemed to be trembling …
It must be Tie Zha. Don’t look at that brat who is so serious all day long. In fact, his bones are completely rotten. Moreover, when he gets rotten, no one can compare to him. Over the years, Old Niu had deeply experienced this. However, from the angle of view, it can’t be that position …
Just as the old cow was racking her brains, Ye Xinling, who walked into the tin shed, laughed so hard that her stomach hurt. She had just witnessed with her own eyes that the iron slag had secretly ejected a stone, first hitting the iron barrel beside her, then ejecting into the honeycomb briquette that Old Niu had prepared.
“So bad …”
Recalling Old Niu’s confused appearance, she felt even more pain in her stomach …
At this time, the afternoon sun shone on the neat rows of honeycomb briquettes. At first glance, there seemed to be some sort of transpiring gas coming out. As time passed, the briquette dried up day by day. From the dark black color when it was first made, it gradually turned into a grayish-white color covered in dust …
Time passed quietly. Not long after, a cold wind finally arrived. Then, a thin snow dyed the ground white.
The winter in Tieshan Town was as cold as ever.
There were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the street after the snow. The street vagrants and scavengers seemed to have all disappeared overnight. However, if one looked closely, they could still see the frozen corpses at the corner of the alley. These people were old and weak, or were sick. In short, they could not travel far, so they could only stay here and accept fate’s arrangements.
Every time this happened, Divine Doctor Shui would run to Tieshan Town and make a ruckus. As a doctor, he watched helplessly as the harsh winter took away hundreds of lives. The physician was benevolent, and every time he saw those cold corpses, he would run to condemn the inaction of the authorities (Lena Euclid).
According to the usual practice, the Tieshan Town Police Chief would find an executor (iron slag) to console him. The content of the consolation was about the same every year, and there was only one sentence that came and went–
“Let’s go! Let’s eat hotpot.”
According to past experience, the Narcissus Medical Association had a deep hostility towards comforters, so pulling and pulling was essential. However, this year, there were some exceptions. Perhaps it was because he was old, or perhaps he was not used to seeing it. He just shook his head, sighed, and followed the iron slag to the repair shop.
“Where’s the hotpot?” After arriving, the Water Immortal Doctor discovered that he had been tricked. There was no gerbil hotpot here, only an old cow roasting.
Tie Zha grinned and said, “Wait until it’s dark to catch it. Fresh meat will be crisp.”
At this moment, the old bull who had been silently warming himself by the small coal stove raised his head and said excitedly, “Catch the gerbils? I want to go too!”
The iron slag refused without thinking, saying, “Old cow, forget it. Every time you scare the gerbils away, you won’t be able to catch anything in the end.”
“You think you’re the only one who can catch gerbils? I’ll catch a dozen or so later for you to see.” Finished speaking. The old bull ran into the tin shed and searched for a while, only to see seven or eight broken grenades on his body when he came out …
“You can’t eat fried meat.” The nearby immortal doctor reminded.
“I mean catch gerbils, not meat for you to eat.” Said the old bull, arching his nose. Finally, at his urging, Tie Zha agreed to take him, but only on condition that he could not get close to him and could only look through a telescope two hundred meters away.
It was eight o’clock in the evening, and the iron slag was fully armed. It was prepared with shrapnel casings and drove to the wasteland south of Tieshan Town.
At this moment, the wasteland was covered with light snow, and the gray soil was exposed to the east and west. Even in this harsh winter, some withered yellow weeds could still be seen on the ground. They stubbornly grew in the cracks between the snow and ice, sparsely embellishing the earth.
The ice and snow covered the gerbil’s burrow. Tie Zha could only slowly look for it with his flashlight. Fortunately, he was familiar with this place and soon found the target.
Tie Zha carefully stuffed the small explosive into the rat hole and covered it with sand. When it exploded later, it ensured that thick smoke and vibrations entered the depths of the rat hole and woke up the hibernating gerbil. At this moment, he suddenly sensed footsteps moving behind him. He suddenly turned around and saw the old bull crawling on the ground, slowly approaching.
At this moment, the old bull stopped moving and assumed a motionless posture …
“Don’t come over!” Said the iron slag as an export type.
The old bull made a “understand” gesture. But just as he turned his head, the old cow continued to climb again and again …
Half an hour passed …
The two of them found nothing. Every time their prey was about to fall, they were scared away by the old bull.
“Old Niu, if this continues, we won’t have any meat to eat tonight.” Tie Zha said with a frown.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m here.” As Old Niu spoke, he retreated. Although his mouth was very hard, he still left tactfully. After all, he still needed to eat dinner.
After driving away the old cow, Tie Zha quickly caught a lot of prey. Gerbils at this time of year weigh two kilograms each. After all, they had stored a lot of fat for the winter.
Afterwards, the two returned to the repair shop with full load. At this time, Divine Doctor Shui’s eyes were already black from hunger. The moment he saw Tie Zha, he shouted weakly, “Brother Tie, I’m low in blood sugar. I’m about to die …”
Ye Xinling came out of the tin shed, took Tie Zha’s prey and began to deal with it. She was good at cooking and knife work. She washed and sliced the gerbils in ten minutes and packed them in a lunch box.
At the same time, the old bull and the iron dregs built a fire out of hay and charcoal in the open space, put up a large iron pot, poured half a bucket of snow water into it, and put in the seasoning. Soon, the fragrance of the cooking was overflowing.
The Water Immortal Doctor stood guard beside the fire, smelling the fragrance and urging, “Hurry up, I’m about to die …”
At this time, Ye Xinling came out with a few large lunch boxes. The Water Immortal Doctor hurriedly took over and poured the meat into the iron pot, stirring it up with a mesh spoon. The fire burned so badly that it boiled again in a few minutes. The daffodil picked up the tender white gerbil meat and ate it happily with the spices of pepper oil and garlic.
Tie Zha looked at the wolf-eaten doctor and couldn’t help but recall that he was causing trouble every year. Could it be that he was here for a hot pot …
The tender and crisp gerbil meat melted in his mouth, and Divine Doctor Shui ate it. He turned around and saw that the old cow was busy preparing vegetables. He hurriedly shouted, “Brother Niu, come and eat!”
Not long after, the four of them sat down around the big pot and had a warm meal with a fragrant smell.
It was already midnight after finishing the hotpot. Ye Xinling packed up the dishes, the old cow cleaned up the empty ground, and the iron slag lay on the beach chair and looked at the stars in the sky. She did not know what she was thinking. The Water Immortal Doctor rolled up a cigarette and took a sip. He, who opposes smoking, only smokes one when he is happiest.
“Little Iron Slag, knowing you is truly a blessing.” The Water Immortal Doctor sighed.
Tie Zha didn’t seem to hear his words and stared blankly at the sky. The Water Immortal Doctor understood in his heart that he was staring into Old Man Tie’s eyes …
He was speechless all night …
The next morning.
Winter sunlight penetrated through the clouds and shone on the shallow early snow. The stronghold in the dwarf mountain was peaceful, and Ye Xinling, who was in the bedroom container, slowly woke up. She stretched her waist and rubbed her eyes. She found that the place beside her was empty. So she got up, dressed and washed, and then looked for her master from all over the stronghold.
However, the stronghold was empty, and Ye Xinling felt a burst of panic. These days, she was accustomed to staying by his side. When she couldn’t see him, she felt as if something was missing from her heart.
At this moment, the gate of the stronghold rang with the sound of gears rubbing. At the same time, the rusty iron door slowly rose. Then, she saw Tie Zha pulling in a cart full of plastic barrels. She went up and was just about to snatch the cart when she noticed that the wheels of the cart had slightly sunk into the ground. Looking carefully, the car was loaded with five or six barrels of snow. It looked like it weighed at least a few tons, but she could not pull such a heavy thing.
“Master, why don’t you sleep a little longer?” Ye Xinling asked softly.
“The snow that just fell is cleaner. I’ll go collect some.” Tie Zha replied.
The climate around Tieshan Town was very strange. It rarely rained in summer, but it snowed in winter. Therefore, every winter, the residents of Tieshan Town would collect and store water for their daily use.
Next, Ye Xinling watched as Tie Zha poured barrels of snow into a filter pond made of cement. The snow melts in the spring and settles for a period of time before being put into a stainless steel reservoir.
Not long after, the filter tank was filled, but there were still several barrels of snow left.
“You can take a bath tonight.” Iron slag said.
“Bath?” Ye Xinling looked at the iron slag with some doubts. After staying here for a while, she remembered that there was no bathtub here. Afterwards, she saw the iron slag resist a tin oil can from the corner of the wall, and immediately understood that this was the “bathtub”.
A few minutes later, the cinders were fixed to the bricks and stones, and the snow was poured in. Then, firewood was lit under the cinders, and finally a ladder was found to lean on the side of the cinders.
After doing all this, Tie Zha clapped his hands and asked Ye Xinling to watch for him. She went back to the container to sleep.
When the iron slag woke up again, it was already night. After dinner, he went to the big oil barrel and saw steam rising from it. He tried the temperature of the water and felt that it was just right, so he let Ye Xinling jump in.
There was firewood burning below, and it felt like boiling water for a living person. Under the repeated urging of her master, Ye Xinling closed her eyes and took off her clothes and jumped in.
“Plop!” Ye Xinling slid into the warm water and was immediately surrounded by endless warmth.
At this moment, snow suddenly fell from the sky and fell on his shoulders. The warm Ye Xinling lay on the edge of the oil tank, occasionally reaching out to catch the snowflakes. Looking at the melting snowflakes in her palm, she became more and more lazy.
At this moment, the warm water and the cold winter are like two different worlds …