Wild 1979: From Fishing and Hunting to Becoming a Literary Master

Chapter 32 Evenki Reindeer

Hearing Hong Ye's reminder, Chen Tuo glanced at the nearly deserted street.

He wasn't familiar with Chu Maolin to begin with, and since the guy was all bundled up early in the morning, he didn't recognize him.

Chen Tuo's attention was drawn to the reindeer and Wu Laowai, which was one of the reasons he didn't recognize Chu Maolin.

Chen Tuo had only ever seen brown and white reindeer on television, in videos, and in magazines before.

This is the first time I've seen an actual object up close.

Compared to the oil-stained and tattered fur robes of the hunters, the reindeer standing on the gray-white ice shell appeared clean and full of spirit.

"Uncle Wu, you're at the market so early?"

Wu Laowai, who was sitting around the fire with several hunters, smoking a pipe, heard Chen Tuo call out to him.

He simply waved his hand, without revealing the wrong market time or the embarrassment of being caught red-handed.

Going to the early market to trade goods with the hunters in the mountains has a lot to offer.

Didn't you see that embroidered pillow, Chu Maolin, here too?

"Come over here, warm yourself by the fire, have a smoke? Hey buddy, this is Chen, a former educated youth from the educated youth settlement, not an outsider..."

After greeting Chen Tuo, Wu Laowai explained to the group of hunters sitting and smoking.

I stood there for a while.

Seeing Wu Laowai and a few hunters just sitting around the fire, taking turns smoking a pipe, neither buying nor selling and neither speaking.

Chen Tuo stepped forward and asked, "Uncle Wu, aren't we going to the market?"

"What's the rush? They're used to smoking up in the mountains, let them have their fill first. Did you bring any alcohol?"

Speaking of the pleasure of smoking, Wu Laowai picked up a leather bag next to the campfire.

He picked out a pinch of gray tobacco with his finger, put it in his mouth and chewed it, then gestured for Chen Tuo to try it as well.

Just as Chen Tuo was about to try a puff of cigarette, Hong Ye pulled him back from behind.

"I brought it. Shall we cut up some fish to go with our drinks?"

They picked up the sled and got on. Sun Changkui traded two catfish for some loose white wine. Chen Tuo wanted to have some wine and snacks with him, but Wu Laowai stopped him.

"A couple of sips of dry spittle will warm you up, but if you drink a couple more, these drunkards will probably be stuck in the snow."

He expertly pulled a wooden bowl from the hunter's leather bag.

Wu Laowai was very sensible; he only filled half a bowl with wine, but this earned him the contempt of several hunters.

"Old Wai, you're not being fair!"

"Su Dao, the supply and marketing cooperative will open soon, and they'll have some wine for you to change into. It's cold these days, don't drink too much and freeze to death!"

The half-bowl of wine passed through the hands of several hunters, and by the time it reached Wu Laowai, not a single drop remained.

The hunters weren't going to drink Chen Tuo's wine for nothing. After sipping the alcohol from their mouths, they pulled out a dark, smoked piece of meat from their leather pouches.

"Brother, this is smoked reindeer meat, raw. You can eat it or cook it."

Seeing the reindeer meat shoved in front of him, Chen Tuo knew that they were testing him.

Without hesitation, he drew the Eighteen-Cut leather sheath hanging from his waist, cut off a small piece, and stuffed it into his mouth.

The pine flavor has a hint of meatiness, and it's not very salty, but the more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes.

If you don't mind the gamey smell, smoked raw moose meat tastes just as good as frozen sashimi.

"Delicious! This barrel of wine..."

Chen Tuo wanted to compensate Wu Laowai for exchanging half a bowl of wine for several pounds of reindeer meat, but Wu Laowai interrupted him again.

"Wine? What wine? You little brat who doesn't even have a decent knife, who would take advantage of you?"

Wu Laowai was really afraid that Su Dao and the others would drink too much and freeze to death on their way back to the mountain.

In winter, the Evenki hunters do nothing but hunt, eat meat, and drink alcohol.

Often, while hunting, they would get completely drunk.

But even if they got drunk while hunting on horseback, they would most likely not freeze to death.

When people go down the mountain to the market, they all ride sleds. If they get drunk on the way, they could easily freeze to death.

In the Songling Forest Area, in the winter of the Xing'an Mountains, the most important survival rule is to keep warm.

While alcohol can be a way to keep warm, drinking too much can be fatal.

Before the wine was even served, Chen Tuo took out the small Antelope cigar that Hong Ye had given him and started offering it out.

The Bloodhounds are in dire need of material, and these hunters are the perfect source of it.

Sitting by the campfire, chatting with Su Dao and the other hunters, Chen Tuo was no longer as taciturn as he had been the previous two days.

He poured a bowl of wine, called out "Uncle" a few times, and immediately started asking about the lives of the hunters in the mountains.

Unexpectedly, Su Dao, an Evenki hunter, is also a serious folklorist.

Unlike the Solon Trilogy that I was familiar with, which consisted of the Evenki, Oroqen, and Daur peoples, this one is different.

The Solon tribe can barely be considered a collective term for the Evenki, Oroqen, and Daur.

In Su Dao's words, the term "Solon" refers to the Evenki.

In 1957, after soliciting opinions from various parties, the name Evenki was finally adopted.

Before that, the Evenki had many different names.

The Evenki were once known as the Reindeer Tribe, Horse Tribe, Solon, Solonbie, Tungus, and Yakut.

Su Dao wasn't quite sure how to divide it.

But he remained very certain about the Evenki reindeer herder.

After finishing the two bowls of wine, Su Dao also told his story.

It is different from the Dobukuer gathering point on the north mountain of Xiaoyangqi educated youth settlement.

The Evenki who lived by the river was called Dular, while he lived at the foot of the mountain in Tukdong.

This is why they came to Songling so early in the morning.

Because of the high mountains and long roads, it takes several days to travel from their settlement to Songling Town.

Their trip down the mountain was merely to scout the way; they didn't have much to offer in exchange.

The real exchange of goods takes place in Evenk Banner of Hulunbuir, which is reached by train from Songling.

Two bowls of wine, a pack of cigarettes, and we chatted for quite a while.

Su Dao took out a small leather-handled knife from his waist and handed it to Chen Tuo.

"Young man, along the Dobukur route, after crossing five mountain peaks and two meadows, you'll reach our lodging. You're welcome to visit us."

Su Dao invited him, and Chen Tuo was about to nod in agreement when Wu Laowai, who was sitting next to him, gave him a light kick.

"Su Dao, he can't run into the mountains. What if he dies there while you're sending him as a guest?"

"Old Wai, you know where we live, you can take him there..."

Seeing that Chu Maolin was about to cause trouble, Wu Laowai also kicked Su Dao, interrupting the conversation about being guests.

After drinking and smoking, Chen Tuo traded some frozen fish from his sled with several hunters for a lot of smoked meat.

The rules of the trade are set by the hunters; they give a lump of fish or a few pieces of smoked meat, entirely according to their own discretion.

Seeing that Chen Tuo's sled was covered with small fish, such as crucian carp, catfish, and willow rootfish, Wu Laowai shook his head.

In his opinion, and that of most people, carp roe and catfish balls are far less delicious than gizzard fritters and oxtail.

They only chose the big fish; Chen Tuo and the other hunters were all clueless fools.

These small, miscellaneous fish, stewed with some soybean paste and tofu, a hot pot of them, I wouldn't trade them for a roe deer.

There's also the smoked venison from the Evenki people. Even Wu Laowai, a mountain runner, doesn't really like to eat it. It's not only fishy and gamey, but also hard and not oily.

But Sun the Cripple and his gang of soldiers were quite happy to eat this stuff, saying that the more they chewed it, the more fragrant it became.

Chen Tuo took the small hunting knife that Su Dao handed him and took it out to examine it.

Pointing to the corrugated groove on one side of the blade, he asked:

"Uncle Su, is this a Yakut hunting knife from the Russians? That's biased..."