Chapter 224 Winter Solstice Dumplings

“Well…then I’ll listen to you! Tie it up with a rope, cut a suitable sapling, tie the fawn directly on it, and carry it back!” Yue Feng gritted his teeth and made the decision.

Compared to wild boars and roe deer, deer are actually more valuable in the eyes of hunters and ordinary people.

The whole body of a deer is a treasure, including deer skin, deer meat, deer bones, deer antlers, deer tendons, three-piece suits, even deer fetus, deer blood, heart, various internal organs, etc. These things have different values. In the era of scarce resources, if you can collect them, you will not be willing to throw them away.

“This thing is easy to deal with. Just knock it down and tie it up. Watch me!” Xiao Tao received the order, removed the rope from the sled and walked towards the blind elk calf.

Xiao Tao walked up to the elk calf and without lifting its legs or hugging its waist, he directly hugged the elk calf’s head.

The elk calf felt like someone was approaching and tried to move to avoid it but couldn’t break free and could only whine helplessly.

“Fall down for me!!!” Xiao Tao bent the deer’s head and neck, exerted force with his waist and horse, and tripped the deer with his feet, and then he knocked the cub down very quickly.

Brothers Xiaowen and Xiaowu immediately surrounded them with ropes, tied the hemp ropes into diamond knots, tied up the four hooves, and the job was done.

After tying up the deer, Uncle Zhao also cut the pole for lifting the deer, inserted it into the inside of the deer’s legs, and then one person lifted each end easily.

“It’s getting late, let’s go back and have a meal. You might as well go home before dark! Today is the Winter Solstice, and we should be eating dumplings. Your family must be waiting for you!” said Uncle Zhao.

When Yue Feng heard the words “winter” and “eating dumplings”, his heart moved slightly for no reason.

Yes, today is the Winter Solstice. Eating dumplings on the Winter Solstice will prevent your ears from freezing. This is a custom passed down from generation to generation. Even if life was difficult at home in previous years, dumplings had to be eaten on the Winter Solstice.

However, these people all have families, relatives, parents, and brothers, and they can go home and eat dumplings in a lively atmosphere. But what about Uncle Zhao?

Being alone in the mountains with only a few red dogs as companions, I must feel so miserable every winter solstice.

“Let’s go back, uncle! I brought you flour when we went up the mountain. Let’s go back early and eat dumplings at your house! We’ll go down the mountain after we’re full!” Yue Feng said in a deep voice.

Hearing this, Uncle Zhao was slightly stunned. His originally calm eyes instantly lit up after hearing Yue Feng’s words.

“Okay, if you guys have this intention, I won’t refuse your respect! Let’s go back and make dumplings!”

Seeing that Uncle Zhao agreed, Yue Feng handed the gun and the shoulder bag to Uncle Zhao: “Uncle, please help carry the gun and the shoulder bag, and also hold the dog. Xiao Tao and I will drag the sled, Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu, you carry the deer, and we will go back to your house to make dumplings!”

“Let’s go! Let’s try my cooking!”

Just like that, five people, the old man led the way with the dog, and the four young guys including Yue Feng took today’s prey and headed home in a mighty manner.

With the old man leading the way, Yue Feng and his companions returned to the cellar with almost no trouble.

When I got home, it was just past noon and there was still time.

The old man used a knife to pick out the fat and lean parts of the fresh venison that had just been hunted today and cut off a few pounds of it, then chopped it into minced meat on the chopping board with a kitchen knife. Fresh vegetables are in short supply in winter, but Uncle Zhao’s family has dried wild vegetables that were dried in summer and autumn. He boiled water to soak the dried vegetables, then mixed them with the freshest venison as stuffing, and then added soy sauce, pepper water and other condiments, and the meat stuffing for the dumplings was ready.

While the meat was being cut and minced, Xiaowen was not idle either. He was a poor child from the countryside, and he had been doing jobs like making bread and dumplings at home since he was a child, so he was not unfamiliar with them and had kneaded the dough early on.

After preparing the dough and filling, the rolling pin became a problem.

“Damn! These dumplings are hard to eat. There is no rolling pin at home!”

Since Uncle Zhao came to the mountain, there was no rolling pin in the cellar. When Yue Feng and his team were purchasing supplies, they did not consider such niche items, and they felt a little embarrassed at the moment.

Hearing this, Yue Feng felt uncomfortable again. Uncle Zhao had lived in the mountains for so many years and had never eaten dumplings.

“Got it! If we don’t have a rolling pin, we can just use a wine bottle!”

Xiaowen also felt the same emotion as Yue Feng, but he did not respond. He looked around the room and his eyes fell on an empty bottle of white wine.

This wine bottle is somewhat similar in shape to a beer bottle, with a round bottom. Although it is a bit thick, it is just rolled dough, not a delicate job, so it can be used.

“Yes, then use the wine bottle to deal with it! When I go up the mountain again, I will bring a rolling pin with me!” Yue Feng also responded.

Xiao Tao, who was standing beside him, also followed suit and immediately took the wine bottle and poured some water to clean it.

Seeing the younger generations trying to come up with any ideas just to make dumplings, Uncle Zhao’s eyes became filled with complicated thoughts. He held the bowl of meat stuffing in his hand and kept stirring it with chopsticks. He didn’t stop even after stirring the meat stuffing vigorously. He didn’t know what he was thinking about and he was distracted.

“Master, it’s all done, let’s get started!” “Hey! Hey! Okay, get started!”

Of the five old men, except Xiao Tao who is not very good at it, the other four all know how to make dumplings. One of them rolls out the dough, and three of them wrap it. Soon, dumplings of different shapes are placed on the lid.

After wrapping three layers of dumplings, Xiao Tao added water to the pot and started the fire.

When the water in the pot boiled and the dumplings were put in, the room was soon filled with white mist. The upper half of the roof was completely invisible.

For dumplings with meat filling, Yue Feng follows the cooking experience he learned from his mother Meng Yulan, which is to cook them in three pots.

The so-called “open three pots” means that after putting the dumplings in the boiling water, continue to keep the fire burning to make it boil again. At this time, use a spoon to pour a spoonful of cold water on it. Wait for it to boil for the second time, add another spoonful of cold water, and then continue to keep the fire burning and wait for the third boil. At this time, the dumplings are floating on the water with their bellies turned up. Take one out and taste it to make sure the filling is cooked, then you can take out the dumplings and start eating.

According to this method, when the dumplings are cooked, if there is no colander, use a spoon to hold the bowl, scoop out the dumplings one by one and place them all on the lid to cool.

In a short while, the first pot of dumplings was cooked, followed by the second pot.

They repeated the previous process, and after all the dumplings were cooked, the five people put down their work and sat down to eat.

Xiaowen poured half a bowl of vinegar into a small bowl, pushed the middle of the dumplings to the side, and placed the vinegar bowl in the middle.

“The vinegar has been poured! Uncle, let’s eat! We still have to hurry on our way after dinner, so we won’t drink! Please don’t complain!” Yue Feng said softly.

Uncle Zhao looked at the white, round dumplings in front of him, the vinegar with ripples in the bowl, and the young faces sitting around the table. Even the iron-hearted man couldn’t help but have tears in his eyes.

“Wait! Today is the winter solstice, I’m going to set off some fireworks outside! Don’t we bring firecrackers with us?!” Xiao Tao was already rummaging through Xiao Wu’s bag while he was talking. He soon pulled out half a basket of red firecrackers.

These firecrackers were bought at the village store. They are two sizes smaller than the firecrackers, but they are enough to scare away wild beasts. I usually carry them in my bag when I go up the mountain.

After finding the firecrackers, Xiao Tao pulled out a branch that was still emitting sparks from under the pot, picked up the firecrackers and went out.

Soon, the sound of firecrackers was heard from the edge of the yard outside the cellar. Xiao Tao rushed into the house excitedly, bringing a gust of cool breeze.

“Okay, let’s light the cannon, celebrate the winter solstice, and eat dumplings!!!”

It seemed that this was the first time that Yue Feng had eaten dumplings stuffed with venison. After adding some soaked wild vegetables to the fat and lean parts, the dumplings tasted very fresh to the naked mouth. After dipping them in vinegar, the taste had an extra layer of flavor. One bite of the dumplings tasted like a meat egg, and it was so fragrant.

The young men had been busy the whole morning and were already hungry. There were three dumplings for five people, so they ate most of them in one meal, leaving about twenty dumplings. Uncle Zhao could heat them up and have another meal in the evening.

The five of them ate a meal of dumplings stuffed with venison, and they all finished their meal. No alcohol was drunk, and Uncle Zhao rarely said a word during the meal. He just ate the dumplings slowly, watching the four young men in front of him wolfing down their food.

After eating and drinking, several people cleaned up the dishes and bowls that needed to be washed. It was already around 2:30 in the afternoon. If they went back at this time, it would definitely be dark when they got home.

Yue Feng left half of the venison from the male elk he had killed for Uncle Zhao, and Uncle Zhao insisted that Yue Feng and his friends take the other half, which was a blind elk calf. So the calf became the property of Yue Feng and his friends.

However, there was a slight disagreement on how to deal with the injured falcon.

According to Yue Feng’s idea, if the injured falcon wants to recover as quickly as possible, he should take the falcon down the mountain, and then Yue Feng should sew a hat for it and feed it with good food and drink every day. It won’t take long, and it should be fully recovered in ten days or so.

But Uncle Zhao felt that he could take good care of the eagle, and he had nothing to do most of the winter, so having the injured eagle by his side would give it some companionship.

Yue Feng also understood the old man’s feelings, so he immediately left the black eagle’s feet and the cage sleeves to Uncle Zhao. After the winter solstice, when the eagle was estimated to have recovered from its injuries, Yue Feng would take the time to go up the mountain again and bring Uncle Zhao the swift eagle’s hat, lures and other equipment.

Anyway, everyone had to come to Uncle Zhao’s place again, so Yue Feng didn’t worry about it. After tying up the injured eagle’s two legs, he handed it over to Uncle Zhao’s care.

After handing over the trivial matters, the four Yue Feng brothers set out on their journey home.

He returned along the original route, went down the ridge from Woniu Mountain, turned a few corners and turned into Chaiji Road, and then went down the mountain along Chaiji Road. Although the journey was long, the well-fed young man could withstand the hard work and went down the mountain with the rich prey.

……

While Yue Feng and his brothers were hunting deer in the mountains, on the other side, in the staff dormitory of Fengcheng Red Star Coal Mine, Yue Shan and his wife Chen Hong were sitting opposite each other at the table, and the atmosphere was a little cold.

“It’s just the winter solstice, we finally have a day off, and you still want to go back home? What’s so good about your hometown? Your parents are not that old, and you have your brothers and sisters at home! We will cause trouble for them if we go back! It’s dozens of miles round trip, and we have to go to work tomorrow!”

(End of this chapter)