Chapter 1695
is almost like a trip.
When Wang An and Wang Li each carried a roe deer and led a wolf and a dog back to the tent, Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong had already started a fire and set up an iron pot, but the water inside had not yet boiled.
Not far from the fire, there was a fairly large pile of firewood. There was so much firewood that it could probably burn for two or three days if it kept burning.
At this moment, Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong were choosing between braised pork belly and wild onions.
Seeing that Wang An and his companion had each returned carrying a roe deer, Mu Xueli was taken aback at first. Then, she casually tossed aside the sand onions she was holding, stood up excitedly, and exclaimed:
"Oh my god, what I say really comes true, hahaha. My magic mouth, quick, quick, leave the rest to me."
Wang An casually tossed the roe deer to the ground and said:
"The heart, liver, and lungs cook quickly, let's boil them and eat them, let's give the meat to Xiao Hei and the other two."
Mu Xueli agreed, casually drew her sword, and slashed each of the two roe deer on the neck.
Although the roe deer was already dead, the stab was still necessary. It was better to bleed as much blood as possible than not to bleed at all.
Immediately afterwards, Mu Xueli placed the tip of her knife against the male roe deer's neck and slashed it from front to back, cutting open the roe deer's belly.
It must be said that Mu Xueli's swordsmanship has indeed reached a level of perfection. You should know that even Wang An wouldn't dare to do such a casual strike, mainly because he doesn't have the skill.
You should know that the intestines and liver are located under the belly. If Mu Xueli cuts even a little bit too deep or accidentally uses too much force, these internal organs, especially the intestines, will most likely be cut open by the tip of the knife.
If the intestines rupture, the feces inside will spray everywhere, making it impossible to eat not only the heart, liver, and lungs, but also the meat on the roe deer's belly and ribs.
The main problem is that many people may not have seen that kind of scene before, where everything in sight is covered in poop, and it smells absolutely awful.
Anyway, a normal person definitely couldn't stand it.
But Mu Xueli's knife seemed to have eyes; it not only avoided damaging the internal organs but also perfectly cut open the roe deer's belly, which was truly amazing.
Immediately afterwards, Mu Xueli began cutting off pieces of meat to feed the dog, and also gutted and butchered it.
Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei had been running around all day, and at noon they only ate a few steamed buns with Wang An and the other three, so they were starving by now.
Therefore, both Xiaobai and Xiaohei ate quite a bit, consuming a total of fifteen or sixteen pounds of meat before they were full.
Fortunately, although dogs can eat a lot, if they eat enough meat, they don't need to be fed for two days. Of course, even if you feed them, they won't eat more than a few bites.
After feeding the dog, Wang An took out cigarettes and offered one to each of the three men, then said to them:
"Lao Wu, come with me to wash the vegetables and fetch water. Xue Li, you unload the roe deer. After that, Xiao Zhong, you're in charge of stewing and roasting the meat."
"Yes, Fourth Brother."
"Okay, brother-in-law."
"Understood, brother."
After Wang An finished speaking, the three of them responded with a comment.
Because they expected to stay in the mountains for a long time, the group brought not only water bladders and military canteens, but also an oil drum with a capacity of 20 liters, which could hold 40 kilograms of water.
Of course, if it's used to store oil, it's called an oil drum; if it's used to store water, it's called a water drum.
Although the mountain spring water is very clean and there is no problem drinking it directly, Wang An still wants everyone to drink hot water whenever possible.
The main concern is that if he gets an upset stomach, he'll suffer a lot in these mountains, and it'll definitely interfere with his work. Wang An did bring some medicine for diarrhea, but medicine takes time to work, doesn't it? Besides, what if the medicine stops working?
So, Wang An and Wang Li went to fetch water, while Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong continued their work.
When Wang An and his companion returned with water, Mu Xueli had already disassembled the two roe deer quite a bit, and Huang Zhong had already stewed the roe deer meat, heart, liver, and lungs into a pot, with many meat skewers stuck around the fire.
I must say, these two are actually quite efficient at their work.
Wang An spread a plastic sheet on the grass, then took out a lunchbox, chopsticks, pickled vegetables, soybean paste, and other food from his bag. With everything ready, he sat down and waited quietly.
Mu Xueli suddenly called out to Wang An:
"Brother-in-law, what should we do with the rest of the meat? Won't it all go bad if we just leave it like this until tomorrow?"
Meat that doesn't contain blood can last for two or three days, but meat that hasn't lost much blood will definitely spoil overnight.
But the four people and two dogs couldn't even finish the 80-pound male roe deer, plus the meat of a whole female roe deer. If you calculate it that way, there's still quite a bit of meat left over.
Wang An stood up, walked over to take a look, and then thought for a moment before saying:
"Roast all this meat into jerky, then bury these four roe deer legs in the fire, and put the remaining ribs in a sack. After we finish eating, we'll throw them into the river over there and weigh them down with stones."
The only downside of this season is the high temperature; fresh meat can't be preserved. It might turn into rotten meat overnight.
Wang An's method of burying meat in the fire for storage was taught to him by Grandpa Kuma of the Oroqen people.
The phrase "buried in the fire" doesn't mean buried in the fire itself, but rather buried in embers without flames.
Even without flames, charcoal fire isn't particularly hot, but it can still char the skin of the meat and dry out some of the moisture before the fire goes out completely, thus reducing the chance of the meat spoiling.
However, it is worth noting that after burying the meat in the charcoal fire, you should only dig the meat out of the ash heap when you are going to eat it. If you are not going to eat it, do not stir it.
Because wood ash has antibacterial, disinfectant, and insect-repellent properties, meat buried in ash will not spoil.
As for why the ribs aren't buried in charcoal, it's because there's not much meat on the roe deer's ribs to begin with. If they were roasted over charcoal, they would basically just be charred bones left.
Such bones are practically useless.
Meat buried in wood ash may not taste very good, but it's still meat, and even if people don't eat it, it's a great food to feed dogs.
After another 20 minutes or so, everyone finally finished what they were doing, and the meat stewing in the pot was cooked.
The four people sat around the iron pot and ate heartily.
Halfway through the meal, Mu Xueli suddenly remarked with great emotion:
“I see on TV that city people go on vacations and picnics all the time, eating and drinking in the wild. It makes me feel like our lives are pretty much the same as going on vacation.”
Wang Li replied with a smug look on his face:
"Absolutely! They spend money to go out and have fun, while we earn money and have fun at the same time. We're definitely better off than them!"
After a pause, Wang Li said in a serious tone:
"Besides, what do we eat here? We eat meat, freshly killed meat, what city people call 'wild game'. What do they eat? Just steamed buns, flatbread, bread, biscuits and the like. Can they compare to us?"
To be honest, what Wang Li said made a lot of sense. (End of Chapter)