Chapter 33 33. Four wolves visiting their mother?

At the end of November, the new wind is sparse and the fertile fields are vast. It was the first time I heard this strange word from the mouth of the old herdsman - "black plague". In the past, I only knew that "white disasters" were blizzards, thick snow covered the grasslands, livestock could not eat grass, and millions of cattle and sheep froze and starved to death at every turn.Excessive grazing in summer and autumn resulted in no forage reserves in the cold season, which is the reason for the "white disaster".The old herdsman said that "black disaster" is the opposite of "white disaster", that is, it will not snow for a long time!The grass was gnawed away again, leaving a large black soil.In winter, the surface water freezes, and drinking water for humans and animals mainly depends on snow accumulation.If there is no snow for a long time, the livestock will cause blood thickening due to thirst, indigestion, miscarriage, disease, and even death.Even if cattle and sheep are resistant to building, if they don’t eat snow for 20 days, they will become dehydrated; if they don’t eat snow for 40 days, they will lose weight; if they don’t eat snow for two months, they will die!

It seems that God has already dropped all the water for a year during the heavy rain in July.The herdsmen did not expect the cold snap to come so early this year. Not only the surface water was frozen, but also there was no snow to fall. What are you afraid of?The black disaster that the herdsmen are worried about has come!Nothing seems to happen on the dry and cold pasture, but there is a hungry threat of death approaching step by step in the dark.At that moment, the word "black plague" was written into my mind together with the charred black land and frozen black swamp. "There is neither grass nor snow, only black mud! My yaks will starve to death sooner or later, where can they survive?" There is one seam left.

His tearful appearance naturally reminded me of my father in Nanka, and I remembered a sentence that my father said when he was dying: "This is not a good sign. When there is a catastrophe, it will only get worse. It gets worse..." Ever since the first rainstorm this year, the old father had already foreseen all this. The old herdsman raised his shoulder blades and pushed out the two corners of his leather robe, trembling sadly in the cold air.No wonder he was so desperate—the torrential rain in July, the foot-and-mouth disease in August and September, the foot-rot disease in October, the black disaster in November, and the disasters of the year followed one after another.I don't know how long this old herdsman has been wandering before, and where he will go. I only know that his own pasture has been completely deserted.It's kind of sad to be homeless.

We and Tenzin's family helped the old herdsman dismantle the tent, put it on the Lele truck for relocation, and watched him drive the cattle farther and farther.He was only here for a week. Although there were some tall withered grass left on Langdu Beach, Tenzin said that the grass was either poisonous or indigestible, and the yaks could not eat it.The real grass has been gnawed down to the roots. Lack of grass, lack of drinking water, only us and Tenzin's family are left in Langshan.Tenzin's yaks have been without food and water for more than ten days. The yaks were so hungry that they escaped from prison several times, jumped over the fence separating the pastures, and ran more than ten miles at night to other people's pastures to find grass to eat.Tenzin and I managed to find the fleeing cattle.Being so hungry is not an option, but where can I get feed for five hundred yaks?

I thought of distiller's grains: "Sichuan is a place where wine is produced, and the continuous flow of distiller's grains in the winery is also a good fodder." Yifeng sneered, "The yak will get drunk after eating the lees!" "Straw! So much straw is burned in the Chengdu Plain every year, and the whole city is full of smoke. Instead of using it to create smog, it is better to collect it and transport it to the grassland to feed cattle and sheep." "Freight costs are high and collection is difficult. Unless the government mobilizes, it will be impossible to do it with individual strength."

What is the immediate solution?After much deliberation, we found only one way - to buy rice.Every year, the government distributes rice for poverty alleviation and disaster relief. Some herdsmen don’t eat rice, so they sell it cheaply for 50 yuan in a big bag. We just bought it to feed the livestock.There is no way to buy rice to feed the cows. The next step is to solve the problem of drinking water for the cattle. Now the temperature has dropped to minus 20 degrees, and the swamps are frozen solid.The yak's tongue was torn and its mouth was sticky, but it couldn't chew ice.Water, you can see it, but you can't eat it.The creek at the foot of Wolf Mountain froze into an ice waterfall. I managed to break out a spring the size of a washbasin, and the tap water was only thick enough for people to drink.

"It's useless, I'd better move back to my Yuanmu. There is a river on my Yuanmu. Only by driving the cattle to the river and digging through the ice can the problem of drinking water for the cattle be completely solved. If you are thirsty for a few more days, the yak I will be dehydrated and unable to walk, I must hurry up and move, I can’t spend the winter here with you,” Tenzin regretted, “Why don’t you come with me, everyone has a care. The winter in this mountain is too bitter, and there is no supply. You can’t live on. If you slaughter cows and eat meat together, you can survive the winter. Once I leave, you won’t even have to eat meat. If there is another accident, it’s called Tian Tian.”

Yifeng and I are undecided.We have experienced the winter here, and this year's winter is more severe than previous years.If it doesn't snow all the time, we will also face water cutoffs.Watching this spring water may freeze completely at any time. Tenzin smiled: "Don't hesitate, the locals dare not live here alone without cattle and sheep. Your purpose is to find wolves, but this time I have attracted wolves to you. In winter, wolves will also Follow the yaks, you follow my yaks, the possibility of seeing wolves is much greater. When it snows, wolf paw prints are often left on the glaciers in my Yuanmu, you can see if there are any you are looking for wolf."

Our hearts were pounding, and we suddenly remembered that the wolves that Green followed two years ago were indeed in Tenzing's pasture.His road to Yuanmu is difficult and inaccessible. During the foot-and-mouth disease period, poaching was rampant, and the wolves went to him to hide for two months. Maybe the wolves really planned to spend the winter there! In the evening, hold a "teleconference" in the hut. As soon as I told the old wolf my thoughts, the old wolf immediately vetoed: "You can't go! You can't go! You didn't listen to me last time. What happened? You and the wolf missed it in vain. You must not make the same mistake again this time! You Believe me, if Green was alive, he would definitely be eager to see you! But because Tenzin lives next to the hut, and there is a camp of strangers, the wolves dare not come, and when the outsiders leave, he will definitely come to you as soon as possible !"

When he put down the phone, the old wolf told him again and again, "Don't go! Don't go!" Green, where are you going? !If we stay and the wolves go away, isn't this winter in vain? Yifeng quietly listened to all our conversations, and stroked his beard: "This time you have to listen to Lao Lang. As far as the wolf is concerned, no one is more accurate than him. We are fans of the authorities. I will stand on his side. .” Two to one, the meeting ended, and I agreed.I don't want to regret it again. A week later, Tenzin's family moved out.Before leaving, Tenzin wanted to leave a cow for us as winter food.

I was grateful but had no choice: "Even if you keep a cow, I can't kill him. It's too pitiful to be alone, so take them all away." Tenzin thought about it, so he asked his wife to bring us a frozen beef leg: "Keep it, if you don't eat meat, Qiao Mo has to eat it too. In such a cold day, there are no wild animals, and poachers won't come in. You can rest assured." I thanked Tenzin's family and hung the beef legs in the house to freeze. As a result, it snowed lightly the night Tenzin left.But this snow is very thin, more like a layer of hoarfrost, which melts in a breath of heat, and it can't solve the problem of water shortage. After Tenzin left, Langshan suddenly became deserted, and only our lonely hut was left in a radius of dozens of miles.Every day I go out to look around, but there is no one in my eyes.At night, we could no longer hear the humming of yaks, and the surrounding area of ​​the small house was surprisingly quiet, and we lost sleep instead. After two o'clock in the middle of the night, I vaguely heard Yifeng getting up in the dark to find cigarettes.After a while, I suddenly felt a big hand pressing my mouth, and I opened my eyes with a jerk. "Hush—" Yifeng was afraid that I would yell out, so he pointed out the window and whispered, "Look at what that is?" I moved Yifeng's hand away, tiptoedly opened the window, and the cold wind poured in gloomyly.Reflected by the snow light, several strange black shadows were moving a dozen meters outside the house.Keep your head down and your tail down... It's a wolf!One, two, three, four... They sniffed the ground, their footsteps as light as falling snow. I shrugged my shoulders and shrugged my neck, my hair stood on end, I was both excited and frightened, I bit the back of my hand to keep my teeth from chattering, but I heard the sound of Yifeng's fine hair branching out. Lang Ying walked past a hole where we bury kitchen waste.Behind him was a shadow with a curly tail, which should be Qiao Mo. Except for the thin snow and light moon, there is no more light source. The four pairs of wolf eyes are not as bright as when they are illuminated by strong light, but the dark green and dark green land is swimming in front of my window. Pale silver mane.The purer smell molecules are wrapped in the cold air, and the smell of wild beasts floats over.Even though I knew that the wolves must have smelled us at such a short distance, I still instinctively covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve, for fear that the mist I exhaled would attract the wolves' attention. Is there any Green in here?I kept shouting his name in my heart, but my throat was tied like a cormorant, and I couldn't breathe.We dare not shout at all, even if one of the wolves is Green, after all there are three wolves, right?Who knows what these wolves want to do?The three-millimeter-thick glass of the hut can be smashed with a claw, and our two lumps of meat are wrapped in the thin skin. too close!As if spitting out a trace of humanity, the wolves would pounce on them.Although we have encountered wolves at close range on Wolf Mountain during the day, wolves avoid people during the day, and people are afraid of wolves at night. The wolves in the night naturally carry a sense of mysterious oppression.I don't know what to do. I touched the flashlight next to my pillow, but I didn't dare to turn it on even though it was hot in my hand.The camera was at the foot of the bed, and Yifeng didn't dare to take it, for fear of making a noise and angering the wolf.Moreover, the light at night is too dark to take pictures, so I can only listen with bated breath at this moment, any movement may disturb the wolves.We didn't want to photograph them fleeing at all, we just wanted them to stay as long as possible, confirming their existence with all senses.While I was trembling with fear, I somehow developed a sense of attachment. We keep our eyes wide open and our ears pricked up, for fear of missing a detail.The wolves may know that we are watching them, everyone is very quiet, and there is no sound around.The wolves sniffed the ground calmly, digging open the ground occasionally, as if they were looking for something.The four wolf shadows went around to the east of the house, and the dog shadow stayed behind. Let's switch to the east window and look again.The wolf shadow sprinted away and disappeared into the night. "Gone?...Are you sure it's a wolf?" Yifeng actually wanted to confirm whether he was dreaming. "Absolutely wolves! Four wolves, two of which are very large and two of which are a little smaller." Yifeng went back to his bed, put his hands behind his head and lay down, and then let out a long breath hanging in his chest: "Old wolf, the gods! As soon as Tenzin left, the wolves really came! And they came that night Is it! Is Green really back? Why didn’t you follow up? Just left?” He muttered to himself for a while, and gradually began to snore. But I couldn't sleep anymore, I wrapped my quilt tightly and stared out of the window, will the wolves come back? Tick, tick, tick... I counted the seconds and waited for dawn. As soon as it was daylight, I held my camera and followed all the way to the back of the house. The snow and frost are as thin as a veil, and the shape of the paw prints cannot be distinguished, but the route of the wolf can be seen clearly.They came across Langdu Beach and sniffed our household garbage, which smelled of us.They turned to the east hillside, and there were traces of digging and rolling at a place tens of meters behind the house.More than a dozen brown spherical fungus spores were torn and crushed, and the spore powder inside was scattered. The dark brown powder rubbed on the thin snow had been melted away by the melting snow. A pinch of the powder was rubbed by hand and it felt lubricating. The smell of medicine - it's puffballs. Puffball is a natural wound medicine for hemostasis and antibacterial on the grassland.There was no puffball in the Wolf Mountain area. When Green was injured that year, he took a small piece of puffball and licked it on the wound. Not only did it stop the bleeding quickly, but the wound healed quickly. I am amazed at the medicine that the wolf found. It really works.Later, I heard Tashi say that the Tibetan name of "Mabo" is "Boche", which means "wolf's milk dregs". It seems that this medicinal material has a deep relationship with wolves. Since then, whenever I saw puffballs on the prairie, I collected them and kept them at home for Green, in case he was injured.When I said goodbye to Green and left the grassland, I threw the remaining puffballs behind the hut on Wolf Mountain, and the spores scattered with the wind. Later, the hillside behind the hut was covered with puffballs, which looked like golf practice from a distance in summer. field scattered balls. Unexpectedly, two years ago, I accidentally inserted willows to do a charity for the wolves here. While I was happy, I was a little disappointed. It turned out that the wolves did not come for us.They just came to look for medicine last night. Were any wolves injured? Before I finished taking pictures and checking them one by one, Chaoyang gently wiped away these frost marks and snow marks. As soon as I got back to the hut, Yifeng yelled: "I told Old Wolf about Green's visit to us last night, he was very happy!" "Don't just assume it's Green!" I showed him the photos I took, "These wolves are here to find medicine for their wounds, and they're just passing by." After seeing the photos, Yifeng is still optimistic: "It doesn't matter why they come, the wolves always come, which means that the wolves did not follow the yaks, and we are right to stay! And it is the first time that the wolves take the initiative to come so close to our hut , are not afraid of us. This is a good phenomenon! Be confident, even if they come to find medicine, it will take several courses of treatment. Are we afraid that the wounded wolf will not come to see a doctor if we guard the hospital? Let’s spend the winter with peace of mind. Get ready." Just as he was talking, as if agreeing with Yifeng, a few wolf howls came from the other side of the mountain.The first snow is coming, and the wolves are gathering soon!These few wolf howls strengthened my confidence even more than Yifeng's words, and I was overjoyed: "Then save the food! For the winter!" The Zoige Tibetans are a nation on the back of yaks.Fur robes, black tents, meat, dairy products, fuel, transportation...Everything depends on yaks for food, clothing, housing and transportation. As long as there are cattle herds, herders can survive on the harsh grasslands.But we don't have this survival foundation.Thinking about the hungry and cold days I spent on Wolf Mountain in the past, I am afraid.We must not repeat the same mistakes this winter, and we must make sufficient food reserves. Yifeng went to the county to purchase hundreds of catties of potatoes, thousands of catties of lump coal, as well as rice, flour, peanuts, cabbage, carrots, dried corn on the cob, eggs... Yifeng moves coal, and I move grain.I stuffed rice, noodles, and peanuts into the food cabinet. Cabbage, carrots, and dried corn cobs would freeze and be pecked by birds if placed outside the house, so they could only be stacked under the bed.Eggs are not easy to store in winter. When the fire goes out at night and the room temperature drops to minus ten degrees, all the eggs are "cool to death" overnight, freezing into cracked ice lumps, whether they are boiled or fried. , the egg yolks are all hard lumps, frozen eggs are so unpalatable that you cry, but you have to eat them for nutrition, so we call them "tear-jerking eggs". The hut could no longer pile up vegetables, and the old wolf suggested that we dig a vegetable cellar to store potatoes according to the way of winter in the north.But there are rocks under the thin soil layer on the mountainside, how can we dig it?I carried a hoe and shovel and inspected around the front and back of the house, and finally found that the soil layer under a pile of floating soil is relatively soft, so here it is.I spent the whole day shoveling the soil and digging holes, and my palms were blistered. I finally dug two holes more than one meter deep, and then I dug down to the frozen soil.I buried the hundreds of catties of potatoes and patted the soil happily.Feel at ease, with these stored grains, we are not afraid even if the mountains are closed by heavy snow! The food reserves are in place, and we are going to patrol the mountains. Early this morning, Yifeng took out the hiking shoes under the bed and put them on, huh?Can't get your feet in?The shoes rustled with a shake.Yifeng poured out the contents of the shoe and took a look - half a shoe of rice!At least a catty more.I also cried out. My camera bag was filled with a lot of peanuts, and the bottom of the bag was two inches deep.Who did it? Yifeng talked about this to Zeren, and Zeren was delighted when he heard it: "It was done by the mice on the grassland. They like to store their own winter grain. According to the grassland, the mice store rice in their shoes. Good omen, you are going to get rich!" I'm not interested in getting rich or not. Even if you pick up money on the grassland where ghosts can't be seen, you will lose it yourself.What I'm interested in is why the mouse didn't even leave half a footprint after moving so much rice?Moreover, the rice was stored dry and clean, without a single rat droppings.The peanuts are also refreshing, neither sticky nor dirty, and there is no trace of insect bites or rat bites. Why are mice so particular?When did he steal the food, and we didn't notice it.Rats are clever! I got curious. At night, I slept very alertly with a flashlight in hand, and I heard small movements in the quiet night.When the flashlight was on, a small gray thing was stuck in the cow dung basket and turned around. It kept thumping and couldn't jump out.Yifeng’s rice that fell on the ground during the day has been removed, and perhaps a few grains were left in the cow dung basket, so the little mouse jumped in to pick it up. As a result, the smooth inner wall a foot deep in the white iron cow dung basket became Natural trap, small things are easy to get in and hard to get out! Catch the thief!Yifeng turned over and grabbed the mouse with the tongs! This little thing is so sensitive, it slipped down against the tongs, luckily it was catching a mouse in a basket, if it was on the ground, it would be impossible to catch him! "Squeak!" Finally caught!Clamp the tongs, poof!A peanut fell out of the little mouse's mouth, another one, another one, another one, and more!The two-inch long prairie mouse actually hides four peanuts in its small mouth!We were dumbfounded. After the "thief" spit out all the "stolen goods" it contained, the circumference of its head shrunk by half. The two looked at the prisoner carefully by the light of the flashlight. He was round, with a short tail, big ears, and a chubby face.Not only is it not as wretched as the mice in the city, but it is cute and cute, just like Mickey Mouse in cartoons.Squeak!This Mickey Mouse blinked his little eyes pitifully, and shocked us both in an instant. "What should I do?" Yifeng couldn't bear it. I also smiled softly, "Let him go, a Mickey Mouse can't eat much grain, since the herdsmen say it's a good omen, let's keep it as a mascot. Tomorrow, you will seal the door of the grain cabinet , don’t let him get in again. As for the rice and peanuts he stole, just give them to him, it’s hard enough for the little guy to move so much food, the food is enough for him to survive the winter.” Human beings decided to be kind to mice, and Mickey Mouse no longer felt guilty. Sometimes he would come out for a walk or two during the day, and when he was free, he would brush his hair and feet to clean himself up. In the hut, there are birds on the beams and Mickey Mouse under the bed, and they are not afraid of people.One day a sparrow fell into a glass of water after falling into a drowsy sleep, took a bath by the way, and flew back again. With these cartoon-like little lives making noise, this winter is not lonely.