In the autumn of 1969, the Liberation War of the Vietnamese people against the aggression of the US imperialism was in full swing. At this time, as one of the many intellectual youths who went to the countryside, I was arranged by the Education Youth Office to go to the countryside to go to the Daxinganling Mountains and accept the highest instructions: the intellectual youths go to the countryside to fight the wind and snow, refine their red hearts, fight the world, and cast iron bones.

Before I knew it, a few months passed, and the excitement and novelty when I first entered the mountain were gone. Instead, I was replaced by a boring life day after day. The ravine where I went to the line was only a little bit big, with only twenty or thirty families in total, and within a radius of hundreds of miles there were almost all uninhabited primeval forests.

People in the village rely on the mountains to eat. In addition to opening a few acres of wasteland in flat places and growing some daily food rations, the rest of the food is mainly obtained by hunting in the mountains. The deer, roe deer, hares, pheasants, as well as fungus, mushrooms, etc. on the mountains are all easy to chew, and eating well is not a problem.

But that winter, the snow fell very early in the mountains, and the northwest wind suddenly increased, and the weather suddenly became colder. As the heavy snow was about to close the mountain, everyone had not had time to store food for the winter. Because in the autumn of the past year, people in the mountains had to hunt in large quantities while wild boars and rabbits were fat in autumn, and stored them in the air dry and waxy to survive the cruel and long winter of the Greater Xing'an Mountains.

This unusual climate that has not been seen in ten years is coming. It started to snow heavily just halfway through autumn, and then the northwest wind blew up. The hunters were in a mess. They all carried their hunting rifles and took their dogs, rushing into the mountains to "catch the winter famine", racing against time with God, and trying their best to catch foxes and shoot rabbits. Otherwise, the white-haired wind would definitely blow in the mountains that only in winter, and they would not be able to hit anything. In that case, the entire village would face a terrible winter famine.

The fat man, who was working with me in the lineup, was still idle recently and wanted to make some troubles out. When he saw the hunters rushing into the mountains in groups, he immediately became interested and discussed with me, intending to go into the mountains with the hunters to fight a few bears.

My passion for hunting in the mountains, especially the "fox" and other wits and abilities, is not less than that of fat people, but I rarely have the opportunity to bring guns and dogs to have fun. I already know this action. The branch secretary will definitely not let us participate. First, because less than half a year after we educated youth entered the mountains, many troubles have come out, which makes the old branch secretary angry and will not let us do anything wrong. Recently, the tasks he arranged for us, except cutting the grave bricks and guarding the wood of the forest farm, were all depressing errands. Second, this winter famine is a major event in the village, and hunting is a collective action, which requires rich experience and tacit cooperation among hunters. Let the educated youth join the raw melon seeds from the city join. If something goes wrong, everyone will have to go through the severe winter on hungry days, and no one can bear this responsibility, and we must not take such risks.

We watched each household draw out strong hunters and form a "Winter Farrow Fighting Team" and bring a large number of hunting dogs into the mountains and walk on the snow to the front line of hunting. I was really anxious and angry. Even though I knew that there was basically no chance, I still held a glimmer of hope and went to the branch secretary to reunite, even if we arranged some work to support the rear for our educated youth, and let us stay in the village, we would have to kill people.

The fat man also emphasized to the branch secretary that Chairman Mao’s highest instructions: “We all come from all over the world, and come together for the same purpose. On behalf of our five educated youth, I sincerely request you, please let us devote ourselves to this revolutionary struggle to fight the winter famine no matter what…”

Before the fat man finished his words, the old branch secretary stifled our request with another highest instruction: "Don't talk to me, what's the fool? Chairman Mao is not that... By the way... He also emphasized that he should oppose liberalism and obey the organization's arrangements. Everyone in our village went hunting, and the rest were all women, children, old, weak, sick and disabled. Look at the snow, if there is a problem if you find a black blind man who can eat enough food to come over, I think it's better to do it like this. You young people, leave half of them to guard the village. Bayi and Xiaopang, you two, let Yanzi take you to the forest farm to see the scene, and just replace the old man who knocked on the mountain. I will tell you both, I will not be allowed to do anything these days, do you know if you don't know if you don't know?"

As expected, I saw that there was no room for reconciliation on the route issue. Since I had said this, I had to do it. I secretly thought that I could find opportunities to trap foxes near the forest farm, which was better than carrying out ideological work in the village. So I did a goodbye to three other educated youth companions, rolled the bedding on my back, and with the fat man, led by the swallow, went to the forest farm under Tuanshanzi to guard the wood.

There are several families in the village as educated youth sites. The educated youth who went to the countryside lived in these families, and they took turns to eat at each family to eat whatever they caught. The girl Yanzi is the "landlord" of me and Fatty. She is also an excellent hunter. The branch secretary arranged for her to take care of the forest farm, and she was also worried that the forest farm would be attacked by wild animals.

Swallow lost the opportunity to go into the mountains to hunt, so he didn't complain, because the educated youth was far more knowledgeable than the mountain people, especially the fat man and I, who knew astronomy and geography, could talk and blow. When I was with the educated youth, she could understand the world outside the mountain that she had never left. So she carried a hunting rifle and carried some essential items, so she set off with me and the fat man. From the village to the forest farm, I had to climb a ridge and turn two valleys. The distance was very long. The northwest wind blew and screamed, and the snow foam on the treetops on the ground was fluttering and dancing all over the sky. In addition, the sky was gray even during the day, making it impossible to tell whether it was always snowing. I wrapped my head tightly with a dog-skin hat, but the wind still pulled my head gradually numb.

However, I heard from swallows that this kind of weather is nothing. In the deep winter months of the mountains, the snow in the forest will be waist-deep. People are struggling to walk in the snow. If they can't walk far, they will sweat a lot, but they must not stop. Once they stop and breathe, the bone-thrusting cold wind will immediately turn into layers of frost. And those who have not spent the winter in the deep mountains will not imagine it. The most terrifying thing is the "white-haired wind" that changes in the conversation among the people in the mountains. The so-called "white-haired wind" means that the wind is filled with snow. The silver-white whirlwind is even more powerful than an ice knife. It is impossible to stand it when it blows on people. Therefore, hunters in the mountains must reserve food in advance. When it is cold, they start to winter on the hot kang at home.
Chapter completed!