On this afternoon when the little lama had to stop and rest again because he was ill, Wei Ran would feed him two pieces of charcoal that was crispy, but not delicious but not unpleasant, every hour.
He took a few sips of salt water.
Fortunately, under his care, the little lama's diarrhea became less and less frequent. By the time the sun went down, although his face was pale and there was no trace of blood, he finally managed to stop the symptoms.
Almost at the same time, Zhang Erwa and the other two came back each carrying a bamboo basket.
Far away, he heard Zhang Erwa shouting happily, "Hey——! Wei Ran——! Light the fire——!"
"good--!"
Wei Ran loudly responded to the other party's call, took out Captain Liu's can bottle, pinched a handful of tinder from it and pressed it on the flint, struck it with a fire sickle to ignite it, and then clamped the tinder handle between two pieces of charcoal.
The sparks blew up and eventually ignited the pine wood chips that had been cut out in advance.
After he lit the bonfire, Zhang Erwa and the three of them also walked to the halfway slope of the small plateau with great joy.
"Wei Ran! Little Lama! Guess what we found!" Li Zhuang asked happily.
"What did you find?"
Wei Ran asked with a smile, and then his eyes widened. Nurse Ji actually took out a big fish from the bamboo basket carried by Zhang Erwa, with a straw rope pierced through the gills!
This fish is almost longer than Nurse Ji’s hand. Even a rough estimate would probably weigh at least four or five kilograms!
"Where did you catch it?!" Wei Ran asked in surprise.
"there!"
Zhang Erwa, with a smile on her face, turned around and pointed in the direction behind her, "We walked out about three or four miles away and found it in a piece of mud. The three of us used bamboo baskets to hold it fast.
I caught it when I ran out of energy."
"Come up quickly!"
While Wei Ran was talking, he had already run over and took the big fish that Nurse Ji was holding in his hand.
As he got closer, he noticed that the three of them brought back not only such a big fish, but also a lot of wild vegetables and almost half a bamboo basket of dead grass.
"It's probably too far over there. There are a lot of wild vegetables growing there."
Zhang Erwa said regretfully, "If it hadn't been getting dark and if we hadn't brought a lantern, we might have brought back more food."
Looking at the mud that was almost level with Zhang Erwa's chest and the large and small scratches on their arms, Wei Ran couldn't help but ask, "Have you encountered a lot of dangers?"
"Li Zhuang almost fell in"
Nurse Ji said thankfully, "Fortunately, he reacted quickly and lay down on the bamboo basket, and we were able to pull him back."
"I even caught a fish." Li Zhuanghan smiled and scratched the back of his head, his eyes never leaving the big fish that Wei Ran was carrying.
"By the way, how is the little lama?" Nurse Ji asked as she walked up with a wooden stick.
"No more pulling"
Wei Ran supported Zhang Erwa, who seemed to be a little weak, and asked as he walked up, "Shall we have fish soup tonight?"
“Eat fish soup!”
Zhang Erwa said proudly, "Eat half tonight and half tomorrow morning, just in time to give the little lama a supplement."
"But...the old squad leader is gone, who will take charge?" Li Zhuang's question made Zhang Erwa, who was in high spirits just now, fall into silence.
Immediately afterwards, the young acting squad leader burst into tears and said with regret and guilt, "It would be great if we caught this fish earlier. If we had caught it earlier, the squad leader wouldn't have..."
Looking at Zhang Erwa who was sobbing, Li Zhuang who couldn't help but shed tears, and even Nurse Ji who was walking in front but was also wiping her tears. Wei Ran sighed heavily, "Squad leader, I... I'll do it,
Let me take care of this fish."
After waiting for a moment, Wei Ran patted the shoulders of the two young soldiers and said very seriously, "Squad Leader Liu's sacrifice is valuable. This fish will keep us full tonight and tomorrow morning, but those dried meats can
Let's get out of the meadow alive.
So his sacrifice is valuable, and what we can do is to walk out of the grassland alive, one at a time, and walk out of the grassland alive."
After saying that, Wei Ran actually didn't know how to comfort them. He quickened his pace as if running away, and carried the big fish that was still twisting its body back to the bonfire that had just been lit.
Nurse Ji asked for a piece of furoshiki to spread on the floor. Wei Ran used a knife to carefully scrape off the scales of the fish, and cut off the bony fan and fins of the fish's tail.
Gradually, Li Zhuang, Zhang Erwa, Nurse Ji, and even the little lama gathered around and squatted by the bonfire, quietly watching Wei Ran disembowel the fish.
"It's so good! There are also fish roe!" Li Zhuang said in surprise, and then couldn't help but swallow.
"My mother said that children can't eat fish roe because they will lose count." Nurse Ji also swallowed her saliva and said.
"It's a lie, the fish roe is delicious." Zhang Erwa swallowed her saliva and said.
I took a careful look at the pale little lama, who was already reciting the sutra in a low voice.
Wei Ran carefully put the two large lumps of fish roe into the lid of the lunch box that had been cleaned after picking it up in the morning. Wei Ran then took out the internal organs of the fish and inspected them carefully until he was sure that there were no parasites.
I safely put the fish bladder and fish scales together, and then carefully washed the fish intestines with a copper ladle.
He didn't even waste the hearts, liver, gallbladder, and fish gills that were most likely to contain parasites. He threw them all into the bamboo basket, preparing to soak the bamboo basket in the mud under the small plateau to catch whatever he could.
Finally, he cut off the fish head and split the fish in half vertically. Wei Ran first cut half of the fish into sections and threw them into a copper ladle, adding water and slowly boiling them.
"Eat this pot tomorrow morning"
As Wei Ran spoke, he divided the two lumps of fish roe and fish intestines into five equal parts and put them into everyone's enamel jar. Then he cut off the remaining fish meat in half and divided it into five equal parts again and put them into the jar.
.
He put the remaining half piece of fish into the lunch box he had picked up in the morning, filled it with water and placed it next to the campfire.
"These cook quickly, you can eat them later." Wei Ran said as he closed the lid of the lunch box.
"Where are these?"
Zhang Erwa pointed to the remaining fish meat, fish intestines and other items and asked distressedly, "This fish came so hard, he couldn't bear to throw away the fish head."
"As long as the rain doesn't stop and the fire goes out, we can keep eating these."
As Wei Ran spoke, he threw the fish head into the copper kettle he had picked up in the morning, then threw the scraped fish scales and fins into the kettle, and also placed it on the bonfire.
"Gulu..." Everyone including Wei Ran swallowed.
"We don't have much firewood."
Wei Ran put down the knife in his hand, stood up unsteadily and said, "So hurry up and bake the wet clothes on your body."
After saying that, he picked up the bamboo basket containing the fish's heart, liver and gallbladder, walked down the small plateau with a wooden stick, chose a swamp, and pressed the bamboo basket down diagonally.
Walking back to the small highland, Zhang Erwa and others had already sat down around the bonfire. In front of them and beside the bonfire, there were various containers filled with food. Their faces were also full of anticipation.
The smile, and the sadness hidden under the smile.
It would be nice if Squad Leader Liu was here...
Wei Ran murmured and sighed, raised his camera towards them, pressed the shutter towards the young soldiers whose faces were illuminated by the last ray of sunset and the dancing bonfire, and took the 21st photo.
He quickly put away his camera before being discovered. Wei Ran returned to the campfire and sat down. He took out two pieces of charcoal from his pocket and handed them to the little lama. The latter also threw them into his mouth and chewed them.
, then took off the kettle hanging on his shoulder and poured a few large mouthfuls of salt water.
This was an extremely rare sumptuous dinner in so many days, but everyone sitting around the campfire fell into silence one after another after the initial excitement and anticipation.
No need to ask at all, everyone knows clearly that everyone thinks of Squad Leader Liu. Or maybe everyone is cursing the malicious thief God.
When there was a shortage of water, it didn't rain. When there was a shortage of firewood, it rained continuously. When there was a shortage of food, there was no food. Squad leader Liu sacrificed his life in exchange for food, but this thief God immediately sent another such a big fish.
Because he has so much ambition and sacrifice, he dares to ask the sun and the moon to change the sky. This thief who is ignorant of human affairs really deserves a new one...
Wei Ran murmured silently, but at the same time he put his hand into his pocket as a cover, took out the harmonica and brought it to his mouth.
After a while, the melody of the March of the Volunteers also sounded beside the bonfire.
Gradually, Nurse Ji started singing along with her hoarse voice. Gradually, Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa also sang along, and even the little lama sang along - even though he could only barely remember the pronunciation of the lyrics, he still couldn't.
I have no idea what the lyrics are about.
As they sang over and over again, Zhang Erwa and Li Zhuang's voices were filled with uncontrollable crying, but just like Nurse Ji's singing, they sang more and more firmly and powerfully.
Even the little lama subconsciously clenched his fists and waved them vigorously to the melody.
In the singing over and over again, the rain gradually turned into snow grits, and the containers by the campfire were filled with a rich aroma.
When the song ended again, Wei Ran put away his harmonica, and everyone looked at Zhang Erwa in tacit agreement.
"We will set off at dawn tomorrow," Zhang Erwa said seriously, "We must get out of this grassland!"
"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison.
"Have a meal!"
Following Zhang Erwa's order, everyone picked up their own cup of fish soup.
This cup of boiling hot fish soup contains a piece of fish meat and a piece of fish roe the size of a table tennis ball. The fish soup has been cooked to a thick white color and is filled with a rich aroma. There are also some wild vegetables floating on it.
After blowing it gently, Wei Ran couldn't wait to take a sip. Although there was no seasoning added to the fish soup, not even salt, it was so delicious that he kept breathing cold air even though he was burned.
, but couldn’t stop at all.
It would be great if Squad Leader Liu could also drink such delicious fish soup...
