The next day, the snow stopped, but the sky was still gloomy, with no signs of clearing up.
Mufeng said to Yao Xiaoqing: "Xiaoqing, there is a thick layer of ice on the pond. If you stand on it, you can see fish swimming under the water."
Yao Xiaoqing thought of the people in the north who dug ice to trap fish in winter. When she thought of those big fish, her eyes lit up, "Brother, let's go to the river to catch fish."
Mu Feng shook his head and said: "The ice layer is quite thick, how can I use it to cut through it?"
Yao Xiaoqing smiled and said: "That shovel of mine! The pickaxe on top is used for chipping hard things."
"Okay! I haven't eaten fresh fish for a long time. I'll go get the pig and let's go together." After that, he hurried away.
Yao Xiaoqing shouted to him: "I'll take the shovel and go to the cafeteria to wait for you."
Mufeng waved his hand.
Yao Xiaoqing took Yaya and Asen, followed by Mu Feng, Pig, and Xiong Niu, carrying wooden buckets, engineering shovels and nets to the river.
Mufeng wielded the engineer shovel, and several people took turns using pickaxes to dig hard on the river for more than half an hour before they dug out an ice hole as big as a basin.
Yao Xiaoqing looked at the ice layer and felt that it was at least dozens of centimeters thick.
As soon as the ice cave was opened, fish jumped out of the water and landed on the ice with a splash.
Asen and Yaya jumped up, "Qinggu, hurry up, the fish is jumping."
"Stand away a little, you two, be careful of falling into the ice hole." Yao Xiaoqing greeted the two little guys, threw away the net and went to catch fish.
Mufeng pulled her away and said, "Xiaoqing, don't move. If you fall into the river, you will be in trouble."
Yao Xiaoqing looked at him angrily, "Brother, you've gone too far! You won't let me catch the idea I came up with."
She smiled and said: "We were afraid that you would fall. Look how good Yaya and Assen are!"
Xiong Niu was on the side to finish off his attack, "Yes! Xiaoqing, if you fall, who will cook the fish for us!"
Yao Xiaoqing snorted coldly, "If you don't catch fish for me, I won't cook fish for you either."
The pig was chasing a big fish, and with a slip under his feet, he slipped away far away. Seeing him grinning and refusing to let go of the big fish, everyone laughed happily.
"Qinggu, look, golden retriever, golden retriever!" Yaya pointed at the golden ball running towards the river and shouted.
Yao Xiaoqing turned around and saw that it was indeed a golden retriever. He smiled and waved to it, "Golden retriever, we are here!"
Golden Retriever quickly ran to Yao Xiaoqing, jumped up and grabbed her hand, looking at her with a smile.
Asen pointed at the golden retriever in surprise, "Look, it can still laugh!"
Yao Xiaoqing smiled and nodded, looking at the worn hair on its head and neck, and rubbed its head, "Little thing, why haven't you been here for so long? Are you tied up?"
Golden Retriever looked at Yao Xiaoqing and squeaked twice.
"You're hungry! I'll go back and get you something to eat. There aren't many eggs left, so you can't be picky about your food."
The golden retriever squeaked twice as if he understood.
After a while, the barrel was filled with fish, and even the net was full.
Xiongniu said to Mufeng: "You guys send the fish back, and I will dig a hole in the ice and call a few more people. Let's get some more fish back."
Mu Feng nodded and carried the fish back to the tribe with Yao Xiaoqing.
Ah Chong and the others saw that they could catch fish despite the ice and snow, so a dozen of them carried wooden buckets to the river.
Yao Xiaoqing fried a duck egg and chestnut cake for Golden Retriever. Seeing the way it devoured it, he knew it was starving.
Mu Feng and the others took turns catching fish by the river for two days. Yao Xiaoqing estimated that there were at least several hundred kilograms of fish buried in the snowdrift at the entrance of the canteen.
The stone mill has been chiseled. After pushing the grinding rod for a while, the wooden shaft embedded in the grinding disc always becomes loose.
Yao Xiaoqing thought of isinglass, took out the dried fish maw, soaked it in warm water until soft, cut it into small pieces with scissors, poured it into a jar and soaked it for a day.
When the swim bladder turned white and soft, I picked it up, drained the water, poured it into a basin and steamed it for more than half an hour. I took it out and pulled it out, and found that it was sticky to my hands.
Pour the fish maw into the mortar and pound it. Yao Xiaoqing and Hua took turns pounding it for a long time before pounding the fish maw into a paste, pouring it into gauze and wrapping it, then putting it in a bowl and heating it while squeezing out the glue.
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Yao Xiaoqing applied the glue in the bowl to the wooden shaft and found that the fish bladder glue dried quickly. She grabbed the wooden shaft with her hands and shook it hard a few times, and found that the wooden shaft stopped shaking.
After the grinding disc is installed back, push the grinding rod and the wooden shaft will not fall off.
After Yaohu saw this, he used glue to stick arrowheads and arrow feathers. He found that it was more effective than tree glue, so he asked people to collect all the fish bladders.
As the days passed, the consumption of firewood became quite serious. Single people crowded together to live together to save firewood.
Yao Xiaoqing took out his notepad and found that January had passed by in a flash. The weather still showed no signs of warming up. If it gets colder, the cattle and sheep will have no grass to eat.
At that time, the only thing that can be done is to move down the collapsed thatch and dry it to feed the livestock.
The kudzu root powder and poria cocos powder have been eaten, and there is not much pumpkin left. Yao Xiaoqing led them to peel out the green bar fruit and chestnuts, fry them and grind them into powder. The powder from the green bar fruit is bitter and astringent.
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Yao Xiaoqing thought for a while and used the method of making kudzu powder, soaking the powder in water, stirring and filtering the water, and found that the bitter taste was not that strong. After repeated soaking and filtering several times, he spread it out to dry on the kang.
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After drying and steaming the pancakes with chestnut flour, they taste quite good.
Thinking of rice jelly and rice tofu, Yao Xiaoqing tried using Qinggang fruit powder and stirred the jelly twice. After tasting it, he thought it tasted pretty good.
Qinggangguo tofu, Qinggangguo and chestnut flour pancakes were eaten in different ways every day, and everyone thought it was good. Yao Xiaoqing was lucky to have saved so much food, otherwise he would have started eating those seeds long ago.
Several of the matched women were already pregnant. While everyone was happy, they were also hoping in their hearts that the weather would get clearer and warmer soon.
More than half a month passed in a flash, and the sun finally came out.
Yao Xiaoqing and everyone carried the boxes of wild garlic and leeks outside the canteen to bask in the sun.
*****
Outside the wall, Lei led a group of people to the foot of the mountain. When they came down the mountain, they saw the high ice wall.
Mukui looked up and said, "Chief, you can't get in here."
Lei looked at the ice wall and shook his head, "Let's go down the path and take a look."
A group of people carefully walked down the mountain and saw a tall and long ice wall.
Lei led the people down the ice wall.
Ah Chong and A Lin were guarding the door. They were in the house when they suddenly heard a banging on the door. They quickly picked up the stone knife and walked to the door.
Ah Chong asked loudly: "Who is it?"
A man's voice rang out, "We are from another tribe. The snow is too heavy and the hut collapsed. Please let us in to warm up!"
"It hasn't snowed in the past two days! Where did the snow come from to collapse the thatched hut?"
Ah Chong lay down in the crack of the door and saw a group of tightly wrapped people standing in the dark outside, holding weapons in their hands and standing at the door. He hurriedly winked at Alin, who hurriedly called the patrolman