dognovel Chapter 72 A Near Miss
Chapter 72 A Near Miss
"Brother Zhang, this matter can't be rushed. I have to write it slowly. It's definitely not possible before the New Year. I should be able to hear news before spring or summer."
With the feedback from Longjiang Literature and Art on Kouyuji, Chen Tuo was certain that Blood Wolfhound would receive a good response.
Even basic curiosity is enough to attract many readers.
It's not unusual for a somewhat muddle-headed artsy young woman to marry Zhang Taibao, the "Dog King of Songling," in search of so-called wild romance.
"Alright! I'll wait! Chen Zhiqing, do you still want the dog? I'll bring you a few more puppies."
"No, wait. You could raise more dogs. Patrolling the mountains with a pack of dogs would be so impressive!"
When it comes to raising dogs, Zhang Taibao is much more professional than Chen Tuo.
In Songling nowadays, people are barely making ends meet, so who has the time or inclination to keep a dog?
Having many dogs and incurring high expenses is also a major reason why Zhang Taibao remains single.
"I'd love to raise more Chen Zhiqings, but I can't afford it!"
"Brother Zhang, don't worry about that. The Forestry Bureau will not only assign you a wife, but also provide food for your dog. It'll be done soon, around the New Year!"
With his wife and dog food secured, Zhang Taibao wore a simple, satisfied smile.
Thinking about how he had been called Zhang Dabao for over twenty years, this guy sighed inwardly at how reliable his elders were, changing his formal name to "Zhang Taibao".
When the tractor drove into the educated youth settlement, Chen Tuo realized that it wasn't carrying coal, but rather two small cast iron coal stoves, a bundle of chimneys, and several wooden boxes.
"Chen, the stove is a newly made dual-fuel stove that can be used for both firewood and coal. Shanhao thought the firebox was too small, so Xiao Kai got one for you. I'm giving this one to you too."
Even after getting off the car, Zhang Taibao remained straightforward, immediately dismissing Xiao Kai's feelings and throwing them into the snow.
Seeing that Chen Tuo was about to help unload the truck, Zhang Taibao quickly stopped him:
"Chen Zhiqing, don't do it, I'll do it!"
Reaching out and grabbing a wooden crate, the honest man patted the crate and said:
"Four boxes: three boxes of books, and one box of old account books—all pretty useless stuff. The whole box, including the junk, weighed over 200 pounds!"
Zhang Taibao carried the wooden box, weighing over two hundred pounds, in his arms and strode into the gatehouse, afraid that if he was too slow, Chen Tuo would change his mind.
"Chen, you're planning to work on the stove? I know how to do that!"
Looking at the two small cast iron furnaces, Chen Tuo pointed to the sauna platform built behind the gatehouse and said:
"Brother Zhang, could you use stones to line the inside of the stove?"
After seeing the platform Chen Tuo had built, Zhang Taibao didn't say anything. He picked up nails and an axe and began to reinforce it.
After hammering in a few nails, he finally gave his opinion on Chen Tuo's craftsmanship.
"Chen, if you ever need any manual labor, just come to me. If you set it up like this, it should fall apart after a few steps."
While Zhang Taibao was busy, Hong Ye called out to Chen Tuo.
"Chen Tuo, come and take a look, there are quite a few Russian books in the box..."
Upon hearing this, Chen Tuo looked at Zhang Taibao, who first glanced at Hong Ye before shaking his head.
"I don't know what books are in the box; Xiao Kai asked me to bring them over..."
After taking the Russian book from Hong Ye, Chen Tuo flipped through it, found the book stamp, and saw that it was a book from the 1950s. Then he had another inspiration.
Manchukuo, hunters, Russians, Shanxi merchants, refugees, bearded men, bodyguards—these have left behind a wealth of material on this black soil.
Add themes like forest farms, hunting, the Great Northern Wilderness, and harvests, and you can write a series of works by flipping through county annals and history books.
This was also a creative direction, and with this inspiration, Chen Tuo started rummaging through the box.
The books Xiao Kai gave him were mostly Russian literary works, which showed that he had put thought into them.
Chen Tuo also found some written materials from when Eqi was established.
The materials were all handwritten, which made them very important source material for the novel.
"Brother Zhang, go back and ask Section Chief Xiao if you can find more of this kind of investigation material?"
"Okay! Curry didn't count these things. They were all smuggled in over those years, and in the end, nobody wanted them and nobody asked about them."
Zhang Taibao was very knowledgeable about the origins of the books and materials, and Xiao Kai had explained this to him before he came.
After responding to Zhang Taibao, Chen Tuo focused on reviewing the investigation materials in his hand.
This is related to the hunter ranking system that Wu Laowai once mentioned. The main focus of the investigation was the number of hunters from various ethnic groups in the Xingan Mountains and the number of guns they possessed.
The figures in the survey data were not very useful to Chen Tuo, but the descriptions of the living conditions and customs of the hunters in various places were very important.
With these materials, he could then target his efforts effectively.
As I flipped through the documents in my hand, the sky gradually darkened.
He could no longer make out the handwriting, so he slowly looked up and stared at Hong Ye, who was sitting opposite him, for a long time.
Aren't you cold?
Chen Tuo looked up and asked if Hong Ye was cold or warm. After Hong Ye smiled, he said:
"I'm warming myself by the fire! It's not cold! Will this be useful to you? I think our department has some information on this too."
"Let me take a look; it should be helpful."
When it came to the direction of his creative work, even if it was a secondary direction, Chen Tuo didn't reveal the truth, only giving a vague response.
"Are you hungry? I heated up some bear offal for you, have some first..."
Before Hongye could finish setting out the bear offal, the sound of creaking footsteps could be heard outside the educated youth settlement.
"Hongye, get more; those Sun family lads are probably coming..."
The footsteps drew closer, and it was pretty much as Chen Tuo had said: the Sun family's young men had arrived, but Sun Changkui had come along as well.
"Brother-in-law Sun, Hongye just heated up some bear offal, want some?"
Fearing that Sun Changkui would block him from feeding the boys, Chen Tuo spoke first.
"Alright! Eat something then. You guys take it easy, don't let Uncle Chen eat it all!"
After sitting down, Sun Changkui glanced at the wine barrel under the wooden table, then poured himself a bowlful without any ceremony and downed it in one gulp.
"Xiao Chen, we couldn't stop the wolf pack; they escaped into the mountains. This is really troublesome..."
Speaking of the failed wolf hunt, Sun Changkui, who was seething with anger, drank another bowl of wine before explaining the reason for his failure.
For forest areas, the arrival of snow in winter is a call to action for winter production.
At this time, the elite forces of Songling Forestry Bureau and its subordinate forest farms were all waiting at the mountain camp.
Those who remained at the foot of the mountain were mostly empty shells like Chu Maolin.
Although tractor driver Zhang Taibao's skills were not bad, he was an alcoholic, and no one wanted him.
Last night, Sun Changkui requested a six-wheel drive truck from the Forestry Bureau's fleet, but the two drivers turned out to be two apprentices.
The car entered the Hetao region late at night, and they chased after the wolves until dawn before finally finding traces of them.
They were tracking and pursuing the wolf pack, and were about to encircle them when, suddenly, the driver lost control of the car, the wheels broke through the ice, and they got stuck in an ice hole.
Faced with the choice between rescuing people and fighting off wolves, Sun Changkui chose to pull the car to rescue the people, and the wolf pack immediately rushed into the mountains.
Give Sun Changkui another five minutes. Once the light machine gun mounted on the roof of the vehicle fires, even if the wolf pack manages to escape into the mountains, few will survive.
But things just happen so coincidentally. It was only five minutes away, just a matter of the driver casually turning the steering wheel.
They worked for a whole day and night but returned empty-handed, and the wolves even managed to escape into the mountains...