Chapter 270: Survival in the Wild
Editor: Atlas Studios
Before the sun set, Mu Yangling began to look for a suitable place to stay in the wild. The wind was strong in winter, so she didn’t dare to live in an empty space. She stopped in a small forest by the roadside and counted the number of sheep before tying them all to the trees.
Xiuhong and Bowen carried the pasture down from the back of the carriage for the sheep to eat. Mu Yangling took out a bow and arrow from the carriage and waved at the two of them. “After feeding them, go and pick up some dry firewood. Pick up more. Also, pick up more dead leaves. We have to start a fire tonight.”
Although the sun had not set, cold air kept emitting from their bodies. Even though they were wearing thick clothes, they still felt a little cold.
Mu Yangling didn’t go far and merely went nearby to see if she could catch prey. Although they had brought food, it certainly couldn’t compare with fresh prey.
As much as possible, Mu Yangling would not mistreat her stomach. After a while, she discovered a pheasant hiding in the bushes. When the pheasant saw her, it let out a cry and flapped its wings, about to fly up. No time to chase after it, Mu Yangling simply shot an arrow at it. The arrow pierced through the pheasant’s neck and made it fall to the ground. Mu Yangling jogged forward and carried the pheasant back.
She took out a wooden bucket from the carriage. The water in the wooden bucket had frozen into ice. That’s right, it was ice. The night before Mu Yangling left, she boiled a pot of boiling water and poured it into the wooden bucket. Then, she placed it in the courtyard. The next day, a layer of ice had formed on the water in the wooden bucket. Although the ice was only a layer of two to three millimeters thick on the surface, now she didn’t have to fear that the water would spill out when placed in the carriage.
Mu Yangling carefully knocked open an opening and poured the water from the bottom into the pot. She cut open the pheasant and cleaned the internal organs inside, but did not remove its fur. Instead, she dug up some loose yellow mud nearby and soaked it in water before crushing it. She placed the mixture there for the time being so that the soil could fully absorb the water. Then, she went to the carriage and took out some dry goods to soak.
When Bowen and Xiuhong returned with dry firewood, Mu Yangling had already stuffed the dry goods into the pheasant’s stomach.
This being the first time the two of them had seen someone clean up a pheasant like this, they squatted at the side curiously and watched.
Mu Yangling said, “This is the famous Beggar’s Chicken. I heard that it tastes better wrapped in lotus leaves. Unfortunately, we don’t have lotus leaves now, so we can make do with yellow mud.”
Xiuhong looked at the lump of yellow mud on the ground and tried her best to imagine. She asked, “Is it edible when wrapped in this?”
“I haven’t tried it either, but it shouldn’t be a problem. If it doesn’t work, don’t we still have rations in the car?”
The two of them were very depressed by their sister’s answer. “Then you might as well just roast it.”
“It’s easy to get heaty if you always eat roasted meat in the middle of winter.” Mu Yangling smeared a thick layer of yellow mud on the pheasant and dug a shallow hole at the place where she took the mud just now, burying the pheasant.
Mu Yangling went to break the dry firewood and started a fire with dead leaves.
“Sis, will the pheasant be cooked when it’s buried underground?”
“Theoretically, it will.” Mu Yangling remembered that she had once read about this in elementary school. In that story translated into Chinese from a foreign language, a father had used this method to survive in the mountains with his son. It was similar to the ancient Chinese’s ‘Beggar’s Chicken’. Perhaps, it actually was the Chinese’s ‘Beggar’s Chicken’.
Anyway, Mu Yangling felt that there was no problem.
“Didn’t you try it before when you and Father went into the mountains?”
“Father prefers roasted chicken and roasted rabbit.”
Bowen despised her. “You didn’t dare to challenge Father’s authority, right? Sister, you bully the weak and fear the strong. To think you’re using our dinner as an experiment.”
Mu Yangling set the fire ablaze and clapped her hands. “If you have the ability, resist.”
Bowen gritted his teeth. Xiuhong pursed her lips and smiled.
Mu Yangling went to check on her sheep. After walking around, she cleared the flat area around them and swept away the dead leaves.
She had to start a fire here at night to keep them warm, so when she tied the rope previously, she specially tied them in a circle, leaving an empty space in the middle.
Mu Yangling heaved a sigh of relief. The damn weather was at least -10 degrees Celsius, but there was no snow at all. It was dry and cold. Fortunately, the wind in the forest was not very strong. Otherwise, it would be even harder to endure at night.
Mu Yangling looked at her younger siblings and said, “We have to find more dry firewood. The fire must not be extinguished at night.”
Half of the sun was still hanging in the sky, so it was not far from dark. Fortunately, this forest was far from where people lived, so no one came here to pick up dry firewood. They easily found a large pile nearby.
Xiuhong and Bowen liked to find dry firewood that was as thick as a small arm. On the other hand, Mu Yangling preferred those branches that were as thick as a thigh. This was because they could burn for a long time and also produced a very high temperature. Therefore, Mu Yangling only glanced at the forest to see if there were dried tree trunks or branches. If there were, she would pull them out.
With the fire as the center, Mu Yangling walked one round. In the end, she pulled out two withered trees as thick as a calf. One of them had traces of being chopped. Someone probably attempted to cut it as firewood, but for some reason, they gave up halfway. Mu Yangling simply broke the withered tree completely and carried it back.
Xiuhong said excitedly, “There’s nothing to fear with you around.”
Bowen nodded at the side. Seeing his sister come back with a tree in each hand, he was indeed not afraid.
Mu Yangling rolled her eyes and cut each withered tree into three segments. She placed three segments on her side and three segments where the sheep were.
Bowen and the others each dragged back a bundle of firewood. Mu Yang felt that they had enough, so she built a small fire for the sheep. She felt that she had to wait until it was completely dark before she added more firewood to make the fire bigger.
When they were almost done, wisps of fragrance came out of the fire.
It was completely dark.
Xiuhong placed the three relatively large pieces of firewood in a triangular shape into the fire. Then, she placed the pot on top. When the water in the pot boiled, the pheasant buried underground would be cooked.
Mu Yangling moved the fire to the side, then dug up the pheasant and threw it beside the fire. After which, she quickly filled the soil back and propped the tent on the ground. The tent that Mu Yangling brought this time was sewn by Shu Wanniang for them with a thick felt cloth. It was surrounded on three sides and faced the fire on the empty side. Mu Yangling used a stick to erect the tent. Feeling that the temperature on the ground had dropped a little, she spread on the ground some dead leaves that she had picked out just now.
They were petite, and the fire just now was quite big, so it was just right for the three of them to sleep after covering it with dead leaves.
Xiuhong reached out to touch the dead leaves. Seeing that they were warm to the touch, she knew that the heat would continue to surge up from underground. Her eyes sparkled as she said, “Cousin, it’s not cold at all.”
“Don’t get too complacent. The temperature on the ground will dissipate in an hour at most. Bring me those small branches and dead leaves. We have to spread a thick layer and pad two quilts so that it won’t be cold at night.”
“Two quilts?”
“Yes, two.”
The first quilt was brought out by them from Nearhill Village previously. After they moved to a new house, this quilt had been lying idle. This time, Mu Yangling brought it to cushion the bottom of the carriage. After carrying it out, she threw it on the dead leaves. Then, she lay out the new quilt on top of it. With felt to block the wind and these warm measures, sleeping in the wilderness shouldn’t be a problem.