The old wolf of the steppe

For the mysterious prairie dad has always been in awe, the blue sky, the endless green meadows and the white sheep of the waves are the most beautiful scenery in his heart, the most beautiful, not one of them. That year, Dad was only in his early twenties, and he was in the same place at the same time as Jiang Rong. It was the mid-sixties.

　　Dad said that the first time he saw the wolf was in the second year of the lower pastoral area, that year, the herdsmen of Dongwuqi because the sheep were attacked by wolves and lost too much, so they not only called on the herders to catch wolves and fight wolves, but also mobilized the enthusiasm of all The Han people, Dad's pastoral area issued a notice about the content that if anyone kills a wolf, three large sheep will be rewarded. Inner Mongolia is not a rare thing for mutton, every year to winter, the weather of minus 356 plus white hair wind will always have a large number of dead sheep sold to the market at low prices. And for them working in the water conservancy department, the enthusiastic compatriots who are enthusiastic at the end of the work every year will always give each person a sheep as an additional reward for their work. So Dad later thought that the reason why he did that year was entirely because of the boring days.

　　The notice was issued by the father not long after they arrived in the pastoral area, at that time Zhang Jun in the team was the leader of the group, because the early stage was the measurement period, so it was nothing for the back project, Zhang Jun quickly gathered his team members after seeing the notice for the first time, Dad, Wang Dong, Zhao Sheng, several young descendants, on a clear morning Zhang Jun found the captain to borrow the jeep and borrowed the ** with the fellow, ready to go, the old jeep with a few young people quickly set off a gust of dust on the grassland, Not long after entering the depths of the grassland, Zhang Jun's eyes quickly saw a group of gray people standing on the top of a mountain in the distance, gray fur, gray eyes, the wind blew their thin bodies, rolling up layers of gray fur to expose the dark red skin inside, only the gaze was resolute, they were motionless like warriors watching the frontier, and the occasional wolf howled bitterly and mournfully, as if warning humans that this was their territory, and foreign tribes should not invade.

　　Wang Dong pointed to the wolves and excitedly said to Zhang Jun, who was driving: Look at the wolves, the wolves, quick, go chase! The jeep increased the throttle and rushed toward the wolves, who looked at the approaching cars for a long roar and then quickly fled separately, some to the east, some to the west, some to the foot of the mountain, and some to another mountain.

　　Oh, oh, oh. fast! Grab it! Zhao Sheng slapped on Zhang Jun's shoulder and shouted, the car rushed into the wolf pack, the wolf and the car began a contest, Zhang Jun locked their eyes on an old wolf rushing down the mountain, the reason why it was chosen was because this old wolf rushed to the bottom of the mountain and did not Run away in a daze, he roared at them in a low voice with his white teeth, until the other companions disappeared without a trace, until the car approached it and ran away quickly with a long roar. The reason why it is called the old wolf is judged by its hunched figure and its eight teeth that are not sharp, the old wolf, although old, is still not reduced in speed, and sometimes goes hand in hand with the car, sometimes parallel, ** constantly flying above its head and in front of and behind it, its body trying to run forward, scarlet tongue, panting.

　　Dad even saw the despair and pleading in the eyes of the old wolf, it was an instinctive desire to survive, for a moment Dad's excitement was reduced, but the other three were chasing more and more courageously. The car flashed around on the grass and didn't know how long it had been running, the jeep chased from Dulan all the way to Shanda Gacha, chasing from morning to noon, until a yellow-green liquid came out from behind the tail of the wolf, Zhao Sheng shouted: Look, look, the wolf is thin, the wolf is thin! This caused another burst of excitement in everyone, dad knew that once the wolf was thin, his physical strength had reached its limit, and he could not convince and stop them, only to pray that the old wolf could escape. The figure of the wolf disappeared in a flash in a bush of thorns. Everyone was confused, stopped the car, several people with guns carefully went to explore, there was a cave under a small hill, Wang Dong shouted: The old wolf has drilled into the hole. A few people looked over, and from the wolf dung outside, it was indeed a wolf's den.

　　What to do? Wang Dong asked Zhang Jun.

　　Zhang Jun looked at the wolf hole with his chin: I went into the hole to pick up the old wolf.

　　yes? You go? Zhao Sheng also said: Are you not afraid of wolves eating you?

　　Not much of a problem. Zhang Jun looked at the wolf cave as if studying: This wolf hole is not big, he went first when he went in, and the hole was so narrow, it must not be able to turn its head again. He said confidently. Then he went back to the car to find the hemp rope for the bundle of luggage, tied one end of the hemp rope to his ankle, and threw the other end to Zhao Sheng, and after a while I climbed in, and if my leg moved, you would quickly pull me out.

　　Dad said nervously: Can it work?

　　If it works, rest assured.

　　Zhang Jun climbed into the wolf cave little by little, the narrower and narrower it became, the smell of the wolf inside became more and more unpleasant, Zhang Jun seemed to have touched the tail of the old wolf, he was happy in his heart, while reaching out to probe, while making a strong upward kick on his legs, outside Zhao Sheng They saw several people pulling the rope violently, Zhang Jun's gray head and dirty face came out when his face was iron blue, more ugly than the old wolf: Why are you dragging me, I am about to catch it!

　　You said, as soon as your legs move we pull you, we thought you were in danger. Zhao Sheng couldn't help but answer.

　　I saw the old wolf just about to pull its tail, and you pulled it back. He tightened his belt disapprovingly: this time it's time to look good.

　　Zhang Jun's second time into the wolf hole was very successful, although he was very hard, but finally the old wolf who had not yet had time to breathe was pulled out, Zhang Jun just came out of the cave, several people immediately put the old wolf in a sack, a shovel, and a stone smashed randomly, until the sack was stained red with wolf blood, until the old wolf was motionless.

　　As they carried the dead wolf back, Dad said that he had faintly heard a few wolf howls, and the voices were desolate, miserable, and miserable and cut through the sky. Chilling.

　　Car data showed that he had run thirty-eight kilometers that day, and Dad said that he had seen the dead wolf, the thin body seemed to have dried, the white foam at the corner of the mouth had not dried thoroughly, and the gray coat color was sandwiched with blood, neither shiny nor thick enough. It was such an old wolf who actually stepped forward for the safety of the wolves, which shocked his father. The fellow said that the old wolf's physical strength could persist for so long was also unexpected. The fellow did not renege on his word, they rewarded Zhang Jun with three big fat sheep, because the sheep is the life of the fellow, so the captain only symbolically accepted one, and the next day everyone ate a delicious mutton meal.

　　Originally thought that the matter was over, the turn of events was the next night, that night many of the sheep in the hometown were inexplicably bitten to death, the sheep's blood spread from the pen to the outside of the pen, from the wound, the sheep without exception was only bitten off the blood vessel, but there was no trace of the sheep being eaten. The fellow villagers said it was revenge from the wolves. No one knows how the wolf crossed the high sheep pen and silently bit the sheep to death and then quietly left. The herders said: This is a contest between wolves and people, and it is also the wisdom of wolves.

　　Later, the notice was quietly withdrawn without knowing when. The herders stepped up their patrols again, and the wolves and herders entered a state of stalemate.

　　Sheep bitten by wolves, the villagers are worried that the dead sheep are poisonous, so they bury all the dead sheep in a mountain pass, when the snowy winter comes, there are always people who see the place where the dead sheep are buried often accompanied by the howl of wolves, and those black figures are like the porters on an assembly line who drag the dead sheep out of the mountain pass one by one and quickly disappear on the other side of the mountain.