Sam's Dream of Green Horizons Chapter 10

As time went by, I got to know Xiaoqing. Xiaoqing, the forest ranger, said that I was reasonable and he couldn't get angry with me. After I left, he was trembling with anger. The reason was that no farm or pastoral station dared to scold him in all the years he had been a forest ranger. 

He said to me, "Third brother, as long as it is the fire prevention period, I go to any station and ask for help, and they have to give me hundreds of yuan. I never buy oil for my motorcycle myself, and they always give it to me." I asked why they gave you things and money, and he said that if you offended him, he would cause trouble during the fire prevention period. No leader dared to intercede during the fire prevention period because the responsibility was too great.

I really feel sad and helpless that there are such forest rangers in the Forestry Bureau. It seems that the wild rabbit picked up at the mountain was also caught by their forest rangers.

Winter is cruel

In the winter of Daxing'anling, there is white snow everywhere, and the whole forest area is decorated with silver. In this silver world, everything is so quiet, only the birch forests all over the mountain stand in the snow, one piece, one layer. The green world is covered under the snow.

Winter is a good season for forest production, and heavy snow means a good harvest in the forest. The Greater Khingan Range forest area is full of wetlands. In summer, except for a few artificial fire-prevention roads, cars cannot drive through the rest of the area. 

In winter, the ground is frozen solid, and the thick snow covers the uneven grass. The tractor in the forest farm drags a few 20-meter-long logs (the tree is cut down with branches) in the snow several times, and a car full of wet wood is loaded on the Jiefang brand car, and it follows the tractor several times to press it, so that a simple road for transporting wood is formed. The trees in the primeval forest are transported to the timber yard from such roads. 

Then the wood is lifted from the timber yard to the train by a crane, and trains transport the wood to all parts of the country. I remember that it was still a steam engine at that time. Because of the cold weather, the little burner desperately added coal to the boiler, otherwise the train would not be able to move.

The herdsmen on the grassland do not want heavy snow in winter, because heavy snow will cover the grass on the natural winter pastures, leaving the cattle and sheep with no place to graze. The herdsmen call such years "white disasters", and white disasters will cause many cattle and sheep to starve to death.

This year, there was not much grass stored in the mountain pasture. It was autumn when the grass was cut. My second brother came back from Russia. He knew that cutting grass could make money, so he came to the mountain to cut grass. I suggested using a mower to cut grass, but my eldest and second brothers disagreed. 

My second brother said that his heart was not good and he felt uncomfortable when he heard the sound of the motor of a four-wheeled vehicle. Two people cut grass manually, but there were so many cows that the three of us could not cut enough grass. 

I had no choice but to buy two more brush cutters, because one brush cutter is equivalent to three people, so the three of us took turns to cut grass with two brush cutters, which was equivalent to seven or eight people. But my eldest and second brothers did not use brush cutters. Later I realized that they were afraid that I would pay them less for cutting grass if they used brush cutters. 

I had no choice but to use a brush cutter to cut grass myself. The brush cutter was fast. I cut fifteen piles of grass in a day and a half. I specifically looked for places with better quality in the forest to cut those flower grasses. There are many flower grass fields in the flower forests here. 

Every day when I go to cut grass, my black dog named "Beibei" accompanies me, because dogs are very sensitive in the forest and can detect situations well. Beibei is very loyal to me. When I cut grass, he always lies on the grass beside me waiting for me. Every day when I finish work, he comes back with me. I know he must be very hungry, so when I eat, I give him half of the dry food I bring.

One day, we just finished work and walked back, and we heard the eldest brother who went back to cook early in the distance shouting something. We couldn't hear clearly because we were far away. My second brother and I ran back desperately. 

When we got to the mountain, the eldest brother told us: "The farm sent a message saying that our cowherd lost the cows and the herd almost entered the wheat field. The farm sent a lot of people to stop the herd. The cowherd rode on horseback to find the cows but hasn't come back yet. I don't know what happened?" I was also very anxious. I thought that if such a large group of cows entered the farm's wheat field, it would be troublesome. Now it is the harvest season. 

The wheat will be trampled down by the cows, and the harvester will not be able to collect it, and the loss will be great. I didn't care about being tired and went along the foot of the mountain to the big river mouth to find the herd. In the wild in the forest area at night, it was dark and I couldn't see anything clearly. I was very scared because many people who ran in the mountains said there were wolves here. I had a small axe in my hand, but I was still very scared. 

My hair stood up and I was sweating all over. The pair of greedy eyes with blue light always appeared in my mind, as if they were spying on me from somewhere nearby. When I was scared, I suddenly heard the sound of a big bird flying towards my head. I knew it was a raptor attacking me. I broke out in a cold sweat. I hurriedly picked up the small axe in my hand and chopped it wildly above my head. The black bird repeatedly attacked me several times but failed, so it hurriedly flew into the forest. I calmed down and guessed that it must be a big owl that attacked me just now. 

I cursed in my heart: "This beast dares to attack at night!" In the tense atmosphere, I stumbled to the river mouth. In the dark, I could only hear the water of the river flowing, and there was no sign of the cattle at all. I had to go back the same way. When I returned to the mountain point with difficulty, it was late at night. The cowherd had already returned on horseback. He said he would go to find the cattle tomorrow morning.

The next day, something had happened. The cattle had returned by themselves, but my black dog Beibei was missing. I had been looking for Beibei everywhere for more than ten days since I left the mountain, but I still couldn't find any trace of Beibei. Why did Beibei disappear? It has always been an unsolved case. But I clearly remember that the deputy director's car came to the mountain again that night.

Before I left the mountain, I knew that the forage grass for the winter would be unusable. Later, I heard that the straw cut and dried on the farm could be used to feed cattle, so I went to find the farm owner, Brother Yang. 

Brother Yang said to me, "You organize people to pull the straw outside the field. Don't affect the tractor turning the soil. Just pull as much as you need!" I told my eldest and second brothers to hire some people and use their own four-wheeled vehicles to pull the straw.

I don't know how much my brother and his men pulled, but they were paid a lot. I just know that when the Spring Festival came, there was no grass for the cows on the mountain to eat. It is said that the cows went crazy when they saw the haystacks.