Chapter 81: Three Boot Prints

A lean-to is a very simple thing to build!

First, cut five tree trunks about the thickness of an arm and one meter taller than a person.

Two thinner trunks, also about one meter taller than a person.

And two thinner trunks, the same length as a person's height.

Cross and lash the two thick trunks on the left about 10 centimeters from the top.

Lash the bottom with the thin trunks that are the same height as a person; do the same on the right!

This forms a triangle on the left and one on the right.

Lay the thick trunk across the top and lash it in place.

Then, take the two thin trunks that are one meter taller than a person.

Connect and lash them to the left and right triangles at the halfway point of the crossed thick trunks.

With that, the frame of the lean-to is finished.

Lay a grass mat over the top horizontal trunk and let it drape down, and you're done!

For the drafty sides, you can build a fire outside the lean-to or hang more grass mats.

Although this thing looks extremely crude and seems useless,

staying inside is much, much warmer than being outside!

At the very least, that bone-chilling cold wind won't be able to blow into your cotton-padded jacket so recklessly!

Use snow to carefully wipe the black bear fur clean, spread it out inside the lean-to, and it’s simply perfect!

Gather firewood, set up a pot to boil water, and first scald the black bear gallbladder. This thing is quite interesting when you scald it.

As the scalding time increases, the skin of this thing shrivels up, and the whole thing shrinks a bit.

Only when it stopped changing did Wang An put it back into the cloth bag and wrap it up.

After scalding the bear gallbladder, it was completely dark. He cut many wet pine branches; this stuff is a godsend for overnight stays and is quite durable for burning.

However, when building a fire, you must find the right wind direction, otherwise, that thick smoke won't just choke you—it could knock you out cold.

The two of them had a lean-to with one side sealed with a grass mat and the other completely open.

They built two fires on the open side, which made it warmer and gave them room to roast meat.

Not knowing how much Mu Xueqing could eat, he cut two large pieces, over ten pounds of black bear meat.

Actually, black bear meat isn't suitable for roasting; it has too much fat. Even the tendon meat on the leg is nearly half fat. Before it's even roasted through, the bear oil is dripping everywhere!

But under these conditions, being able to eat is good enough; why be so picky!

The two drank wild pheasant soup, ate black bear meat, and occasionally took a bite of cornmeal flatbread.

To tell the truth, this feeling really wasn't all that great!

The black bear meat was just too fatty. After swallowing a few big mouthfuls, even Mu Xueqing felt greasy.

She had to take a bite of flatbread to cut the grease. For the first time, the two discovered that this cornmeal flatbread was actually so delicious!

After eating and drinking their fill, the two sat by the fire, leaning against the entrance of the lean-to, chatting aimlessly.

Mostly Mu Xueqing asked questions, and Wang An hummed and hawed in response, because Wang An had no heart for chatting; he was constantly pondering that big bear.

Although no matter how you put it, the value of that big bear probably wasn't as high as this black bear, and the black bear was already in hand, human nature is just like this—if a person isn't greedy, can they still be called human?

Besides, news like this is rare, and the big bear was injured; the opportunity could be called once in a lifetime. He had to go for it!

With three dogs on guard, Wang An lay on the black bear fur and fell asleep without knowing when.

Waking up in the middle of the night needing to pee, he found the fire had long since gone out, yet he didn't feel cold.

Wang An remembered that the night he spent in the mountains with Feng Chengmin, they had frozen awake many times, and every time they woke up, they had to build a fire immediately, or they couldn't stand it!

But tonight, although there was a lean-to, it shouldn't have been enough to keep them from freezing awake!

While building the fire, Wang An pondered, and suddenly he saw the leftover black bear meat nearby. A flash of inspiration hit him.

Is this black bear meat really that magical? That it doesn't freeze for a while, most people know, but that it has anti-freezing properties after being eaten by humans! This is truly awesome!

In the future, when entering the mountains, if you take a piece of black bear meat, wouldn't you have a guarantee of warmth!

After building the fire and piling on wet pine branches, Wang An went back to sleep!

Waking up, the sky was already turning light. Mu Xueqing had also just gotten up. Not far away, she stood with legs apart, hands clutching her abdomen, eyes looking at the sky, a clear spring flowing beneath her feet. Suddenly, a wisp of white smoke rose from the ground, and she seemed dazed, finally shivering once, as if she were about to ascend!

Wang An glanced at his brother-in-law who was peeing and ignored him.

He built a fire to boil meat, heated up the flatbread left from yesterday, and then cut meat to feed the dogs, only feeding them half-full, otherwise, the dogs would have no motivation.

This black bear meat had been frozen all night, but only the surface layer was frozen; the inside was still soft! Too awesome!

After quickly finishing breakfast, they didn't take down the lean-to. Grass mats are everywhere in every household! If you take them, they just take up space and are useless.

The two hitched up the sled and returned to the place where they had found the black bear yesterday!

The two people and three dogs followed the tracks left by the black bear and began to track it in reverse.

Tracking in reverse means following the marks the black bear left behind to find it.

Feng Chengmin had said that as long as a black bear or a big bear is roaming, it won't have a fixed territory.

Because it will go everywhere to find food, and given the weight of a black bear or a big bear, the amount of food it needs to eat every day is simply too much!

They hibernate, which is actually a way to reduce the body's consumption; otherwise, after the heavy snow seals the mountains, it would cover up many food sources or the scent of animals.

Whether it's a black bear or a big bear, their hearing and vision are very poor; only their sense of smell is extremely powerful, dozens of times better than a hunting dog!

Therefore, they rely entirely on their sense of smell to find food, and their diet is as varied as a human's. They eat almost all plant-based things, not to mention that. They eat most things that swim in the river!

Moreover, they eat wild boars, roe deer, or deer!

However, most of what they eat are hoofed herbivores; the specific reason is unknown. Maybe it's just because hoofed animals taste good!

This tracking work is really not easy to do.

The place where the big bear and the black bear had fought had already been found, less than 10 miles away from where they had picked up the black bear.

But from this place where they had fought, they had already tracked for more than 10 miles, and still, there was no sign of the big bear.

Moreover, Da Hei hadn't made a sound the whole time. If Da Hei didn't make a sound, it proved that this big bear was not within Da Hei's scent range!

Perhaps because of this big bear, other prey were nowhere to be seen; only wild pheasants and lynxes were out and about.

In his anxiety, Wang An fired his gun and killed a lynx and a wild pheasant. Mu Xueqing didn't want to be outdone and killed two wild pheasants with one shot.

Looking at her happy expression, maybe it was because she had paid back the bullet she owed earlier!

But after running so far, they had only harvested one lynx and three wild pheasants! Isn't that just ridiculous!

The two were in a bad mood, looked at each other, simultaneously put away their shitty feelings, and continued tracking.

As they walked, Wang An and Mu Xueqing stopped at the same time.

Because something even more magical had appeared!

Beside the marks left by this big bear, three human footprints had actually appeared!

These footprints were very unusual, because whether it was Wang An or Mu Xueqing, they were wearing cotton cloth shoes made at home.

Most of the villagers in every village also wore these kinds of cotton cloth shoes during this season.

The soles were thousand-layer soles made at home, which were many, many layers of cloth stitched together with hemp rope.

Only when it wasn't cold would people wear yellow rubber shoes. The only advantage of yellow rubber shoes was that they were sturdy and durable; they had no other advantages!

But whether it was thousand-layer soles or yellow rubber soles, stepping on this frozen, hard-as-a-board snowy ground, there would be no marks or only shallow marks!

And these three human footprints were very rare leather shoe prints!

Please keep reading.

(End of chapter)