The Siheyuan of the Young Educated Youth

The cattle shed was built with wooden boards as thick as bowls nailed into the ground every one meter. Straw bundles were wrapped in mud and woven around the boards to form walls, which were then covered with a layer of mud on the outside.

This kind of wall is easy to build, but it is thin, not as windproof as the adobe wall, and not strong enough. If a pack of wolves comes, they can easily dig a hole in it.

Now there is a layer of corn stalks around it, so it is still very warm inside.

There were six large horses and seven cows of different sizes.

When Huo Zhengping arrived here, he first looked around the cattle shed, but there were no footprints of wild animals.

Then he entered the thatched house next door, where lived Yang Waizui, who was in charge of feeding the livestock.

Since he was a child, Yang Waizui's mouth has always been turned towards his ear, and no one knows why.

So since he was a child everyone called him Yang Waizui, but few people knew his real name.

Huo Zhengping knocked on the door. Yang Waizui got up from the small stool and smashed the door with an axe.

"Who?"

It didn't take him much effort, as he had already smashed the door once when he went out to feed the animals in the morning.

Huo Zhengping entered the house and said, "Old Yang, a pack of wolves entered the village yesterday and robbed the pigsty. Captain Qu asked us to come and keep watch with you."

Yang Waizui was also frightened when he heard this. It would be really difficult to fight against this heavy snowstorm.

"Just let you two come?"

In this severe snowstorm, people are about to run away, so how can they have the energy to chase away wolves?

Huo Zhengping, "There should be other people, but I don't know who they are."

Yang Waizui was boiling water to make corn porridge. The water just started to boil, so he rinsed it in his enamel pot and poured a cup of hot water for Huo Zhengping.

"Look, I have only one cup. You can drink from it to warm yourself up."

Then he said to Huo Jun, "Young man, if you don't mind, I still have a bowl of rice here. Can I pour you some?"

He was just an errand boy, and was afraid that the young people would look down on him, so he asked first.

Huo Jun, "I'm not thirsty. I drank some at home. You can do what you want."

Yang Waizui continued to put some shredded pickled cabbage and salt into the pot and stirred it with chopsticks.

“In previous years, there were times when wolves entered the village, but they preferred to chase away pigs, because they had enough to eat and they were fat and tender.

One year, it was said to be many years ago, a group of wolves, about six or seven of them, came into the village. They grabbed a pig's ear on each side and drove the pig away.

The wolf ate the pig last night, and it will probably go to the pigpen again tonight."

Huo Zhengping nodded, "It is very likely that he will go, so we can't be careless."

Yang Waizui nodded as he stirred corn paste into the pot.

"That's right, that's right. I usually stay alert at night and dare not sleep too deeply.

Those sheds contain important assets of our company."

Huo Zhengping glanced around and looked at how many wash basins and rice bowls he had, how big they were, and where they were, and he silently took note.

As it got dark, two more men came, both in their thirties, one was Kong Guicai and the other was Yue Linhai.

Kong Guicai was holding a gun in his hand.

This was given to Kong Guicai by Captain Qu, in case a pack of wolves came, so he would have a handy weapon.

Captain Qu wanted to give it directly to Huo Zhengping, but given his current status, it would not be good to show that he trusted him too much.

That's why Kong Guicai took it. In case of emergency, he could give it to Huo Zhengping to shoot him twice, and no one would be able to say anything.

At night everyone sat in the house smoking, no one dared to sleep, and everyone pricked up their ears to listen for any noise, fearing that the wind would be too loud and would cover up the wolf's movements.

After midnight, everyone was so sleepy that they kept bowing their heads.

Only Huo Zhengping was still sitting there, motionless.

When fighting, we often don't sleep for days and nights, and we have developed this skill through practice.

Huo Jun was a little sleepy and his head fell down uncontrollably. Huo Zhengping caught his son's head with his hands.

This son is soft-hearted and weak-willed, and is not suitable for being a soldier.

I don’t know how either son is doing now?

Huo Jun felt his father's hot and dry big hand and wanted to raise his head. He shouldn't sleep.

Huo Zhengping, "Go get some sleep!"

Huo Zhengping hugged his son and let him lie on his knees.

Soon, someone started snoring.

At around three o'clock, Huo Zhengping tilted his head and listened carefully. There seemed to be rustling sounds outside.

Unable to hear clearly, Huo Zhengping pushed Huo Jun awake.

"Wake up, wake up. Stay in the room with the stick. I'll go out and take a look."

Huo Jun stood up and wanted to follow.

Huo Zhengping, "Be obedient. You just woke up. It's easy to catch a cold if you go out in the cold."

Huo Zhengping took an axe and an enamel basin and left the house.

The wind was a little weaker than during the day, and Huo Zhengping walked towards the barn.

The sound became clearer and clearer, like the sound of scratching the soil.

This really takes a lot of effort. I was so cold that I couldn't scratch through any wall!

Huo Zhengping not only wanted to drive them away, he also wanted to keep a few of them.

The children at home are all craving for meat.

I am now undergoing labor reform and cannot go out hunting casually. If the meat is distributed collectively, maybe my family can also have some.

Huo Zhengping quietly moved to the back of the barn.

No matter how loud the wind is, it cannot stop the wolf's keen hearing.

The sound of Huo Zhengping stepping on the snow still alarmed the wolves.

A wolf pounced towards Huo Zhengping.

Huo Zhengping held the enamel basin in one hand to protect his chest, and swung the axe in the other hand to meet the enemy.

The wolf's front paws rested on Huo Zhengping's chest, and Huo Zhengping's axe also fell.

It happened in a flash, and everything happened in a moment.

Just as the wolf turned its head to bite Huo Zhengping's neck, the axe hit the wolf's shoulder.

The axe was hit and got stuck in the bone, but the wolf was also knocked to the ground by Huo Zhengping's axe.

The wolf howled miserably.

Everyone in the house heard it and ran out in panic.

Huo Jun saw his father go out and walk towards the barn, so he followed him out.

Following his father's footsteps, he happened to see Huo Zhengping fighting a wolf head-on.

The wolf fell to the ground but was not dead yet, and wanted to bite Huo Zhengping's thigh.

Huo Jun shouted, "Dad," and hit the wolf with a stick, knocking it into the snow.

Because the snow was deep, the wolf survived.

Huo Zhengping couldn't take the axe down for a while, so he pushed it back. Huo Jun hit him with a stick again, and this time he hit the axe hard, forcing the axe into the wolf's cavity.

The wolf was dead.

When the other wolves saw the fight breaking out here, they also rushed over.

Huo Zhengping swung an enamel basin to defend himself, but the basin was flattened.

Huo Jun also swung his stick continuously.

Fortunately, the others also came out with their weapons and started shouting.

Kong Guicai fired two more shots, but they were towards the air. He came out later and there were people in front of him, so he didn't dare to shoot in the front.

When the wolves saw that the situation was not good, they ran away.

The strong wind had blown a shell of snow onto the snow surface. The wolves ran on it without sinking, but people could not, and they sank with every step.

Everyone could only watch them run away.

Fortunately, we killed a wolf, so it was a gain, and there was no loss of livestock.

Several people looked around the barn and tidied up the place where the wolf had dug.

He dragged the dead wolf back to the house, intending to skin and gut it first and then process it.

We’ll wait until Captain Qu arrives during the day and then see how to deal with this.