HUN Chapter 113: The Covenant of Dall Sheep Hunting

"How is it?"

Old George proudly patted the solid body of the band saw, his eyes looking at it like he was looking at his own child.

"This guy has been with me for almost ten years. I gave it a more powerful Honda GX390 engine and installed an automatic lubrication system myself."

"As long as you feed it wood, it can spit out lumber of any size you want, with an error no more than two millimeters!"

Lin Yu'an's eyes also showed interested light as he stepped forward to carefully examine every detail of the band saw.

After touring the equipment, Old George turned around and looked at Lin Yu'an again, his face bearing the smile of an old fox.

He spoke, "Alright, young man, now let's talk about conditions."

"My sawmill, mixer, and the experience of these old bones can all help you."

"I won't charge you money, that's too boring. I don't lack that bit of money in my lifetime."

He paused and proposed a very "Alaska-style" condition.

"In exchange, I want you to accompany me in doing something that I'm no longer capable of."

His gaze turned toward the distant, rolling Brooks Range.

"I want you to accompany me to the mountains for hunting after the July thaw ends. My target is a mature Dall sheep!"

"Not just any sheep, I want the kind that lives on the steepest cliffs, the most cunning ram king with the most beautiful horns."

"These old bones of mine haven't climbed those cliffs for several years now. My knees won't allow it, but my marksmanship hasn't declined!"

"I need a strong young fellow like you to help me carry equipment, search and observe, even track the target."

He looked at Lin Yu'an with burning eyes, "I want that pair of the most beautiful, complete ram horns to hang on the wall above my fireplace."

Old George's gaze turned to his wife's photograph on the wall, "This was my wife's wish before she passed. She always wanted to hang a pair of Dall sheep horns above the fireplace."

"If possible, I hope that at my funeral, the priest can tell everyone that 'Old George fulfilled his wife's last wish before she died.'"

Lin Yu'an looked at the longing for his wife in the old man's eyes and immediately understood that this was not just an exchange condition, but also an entrustment and trust.

He answered concisely and forcefully, without the slightest hesitation, directly extending his right hand, "George, rest assured, I have an Alaska resident hunting license, and all the tags are complete."

"Let's make it a deal. When the July thaw ends, we'll set off!"

"Haha! Good lad! It's settled then!"

Old George firmly grasped his hand, and Lin Yu'an's first "Far North Covenant" was thus established.

At the same time, a temporary "foundation engineering team" was officially formed at this moment.

They immediately began discussing specific construction plans.

Old George took out paper and pen, drew a professional pile foundation layout diagram, and listed the approximate quantities needed for sand, gravel, 425-grade cement, and threaded steel bars.

"Portland cement, construction-grade threaded steel bars, 16-millimeter and 20-millimeter ones, eight tons of dry river sand, and well-graded crushed stone."

"You'll need to transport all these materials from Fairbanks."

"Then you need to drill through two meters of active permafrost layer and go four or five meters deep into the permanent frost layer. Your loader can handle that."

"However, you'll need a spiral drilling attachment. You'll have to go back to Fairbanks to rent one."

When all matters were settled, it was already getting dark.

Lin Yu'an and Stan said goodbye to Old George.

Tonight, Lin Yu'an, David, and Mike planned to stay overnight in their rented cabin rather than return to camp.

Stan rode his all-terrain motorcycle, easily racing across the snowy ground.

Lin Yu'an drove the Zongshen three-wheeler with David and Mike sitting in the rear cargo bed.

When they came, they still found riding in the three-wheeler novel and interesting.

But now, as the sun set and temperatures plummeted, the bone-chilling wind poured into the open cargo bed from all directions, and the situation became completely different.

"Oh, my God, Lin! Aren't you cold at all?"

David's voice shook like a sieve in the cold wind as he tightly wrapped himself in his designer down jacket, but still felt the cold air penetrating everywhere.

"I'm fine," came Lin Yu'an's voice from the front.

"Fine?"

Mike couldn't help but join the conversation, "I feel like my bones are going to freeze! We're wearing down jackets rated for minus thirty degrees!"

Stan, on his all-terrain motorcycle nearby, heard their conversation and burst into loud laughter that echoed particularly loudly in the open wilderness.

"Hey! Hollywood boys! Those clothes of yours are for drinking coffee in the city. What Lin's wearing is the real deal for working!"

David looked at Lin Yu'an's composed figure, then at himself and Mike shivering with cold, and finally faced reality.

Shivering, he pulled out his satellite phone and, in the weak signal, called the production team's logistics.

"Hans, Arcteryx down parkas, buy two! And matching pants! Rush order! Send them to Fairbanks by the fastest courier! Mike and I are going to freeze to death here!"

Stan laughed even more heartily, "Lin, well done. George is a stubborn character. I can see you're very much to his liking. If he's willing to help you, it means he's already accepted you."

"Dall sheep are no easy prey. The places they live are more dangerous than bear territory. When the time comes and you need help, count me in."

"Thank you, Stan." Lin Yu'an nodded, his heart also filled with warmth.

Returning to the cabin and lighting the fire, David and Mike immediately sat by the stove to warm up.

David, having recovered, looked at those two sets of blueprints and asked curiously, "Lin, today was really a day of huge gains! We met George and borrowed a portable band saw."

"So what's our next plan? Is your 'hundred-day plan' completely achievable now?"

"You're right, David. Today's gains were significant."

"Tomorrow's task is to safely transport the portable band saw back to our 'Wood Forest Land.' Then, large-scale timber processing work will officially begin!"

"We must seize every day and turn all the wood into qualified building materials before the ground thaws and summer arrives!"

"You wouldn't want to still be facing Alaska mosquitoes in the forest during summer, would you?"

The next day, before dawn, Lin Yu'an came to Old George's house again.

He planned to transport the portable band saw while the road conditions were not yet so muddy in the early morning.

"George, can this machine be disassembled? I want to transport it in batches."

"Of course. Its track section consists of two-meter standard components that can be disassembled with hand-twist bolts. The main head and engine can also be separated. The heaviest main head is only about a hundred kilograms."

Lin Yu'an first used professional socket wrenches to skillfully disassemble the band saw's tracks section by section.

"First trip, we'll transport the tracks."

He and David worked together to lift the four two-meter-long steel tracks onto the three-wheeler's rear bed and secured them firmly with professional ratchet tie-down straps.

Lin Yu'an drove the three-wheeler alone, easily making a round trip on the muddy dirt road, transporting all the tracks back to camp.

The most difficult part was transporting the main head.

This big guy, which integrated the saw wheel, lifting system, and various precision components, weighed only about a hundred kilograms but had an irregular shape with a difficult-to-grasp center of gravity.

It took Lin Yu'an, David, and Mike working together to steadily place this main head in the center of the three-wheeler's cargo bed.

"Lin, what do we do when we get to camp? Can you unload it by yourself?"

"David, did you forget about my loader?"

"Haha, I almost forgot you have that big miracle tool."

For this transport trip, Lin Yu'an drove extra carefully.

He put the three-wheeler in the lowest gear, the engine roaring steadily and powerfully like a tireless old ox, moving slowly but steadily through the mud.

This time, Lin Yu'an deliberately wanted to test the limits of this three-wheeler, so he didn't use his space to intervene.

After spending more than half a day, when all components of the band saw had been safely transported to "Wood Forest Land" and initially assembled by Lin Yu'an, all three tough guys were quite tired.

Lin Yu'an took out the pork belly buried in the cooler and decided to make a meal of braised pork to reward the hardworking camera duo.

Actually, they could have completely refrained from helping, but they still actively helped, which warmed Lin Yu'an's heart and made him take note of their contribution.

"Alright, you two worked hard today," Lin Yu'an clapped the dust off his hands.

"To celebrate our new progress and to reward you, I'll cook something delicious for dinner!"

David and Mike's eyes immediately brightened, and David dramatically clutched his stomach, "Oh, Lin, say that again! I feel like I can already smell the aroma!"

Lin Yu'an smiled without saying much and walked directly to his supply boxes.

From a cooler, he took out several pieces of pork belly well-packaged in vacuum bags and flour, all of which he had purchased in Fairbanks.

Then he took out a special spice box containing star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, dried chilies, rock sugar, and a bottle of dark soy sauce brought from China.

He brought out that huge Chinese iron wok with integrated stove and started the fire to heat the pot.

"Lin, what are you making? Boiled pork?" David asked curiously like a food show host, constantly questioning from the side.

While using a long spoon to skim the foam constantly rising in the pot, Lin Yu'an explained, "This is called 'blanching' in Chinese cuisine."

"Its main purpose is to remove blood and impurities from the meat and eliminate the fishy smell."

When the water in the pot boiled again, he removed all the meat pieces, poured out the water, heated the pot, and added oil, then threw in a handful of rock sugar.

"Now, this is frying sugar color, which gives the dish its beautiful color."

He continuously stirred with a spatula as the rock sugar quickly melted in the hot oil, changing from pale yellow to amber.

Lin Yu'an poured all the previously processed pork belly back into the pot, quickly stir-frying to ensure each piece of meat was evenly coated with a layer of shiny caramel color.

Next, he threw all the spices, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and dried chilies into the pot all at once, then drizzled a large amount of soy sauce along the edge of the pot.

Lin Yu'an added sufficient boiling water to cover all the meat pieces, planning to add cut potato chunks before serving, covered the pot, and let them stew slowly.

While doing all this, he also took out flour and yeast, dissolved the yeast in warm water, then mixed it with flour and kneaded it into a smooth dough.

He placed the dough in a large basin, covered it with a damp cloth, and put it beside the cast iron stove to ferment.

Lin Yu'an vigorously kneaded and degassed the fermented dough on a simple cutting board.

Then he divided it into evenly sized portions and individually kneaded them into smooth, round, and plump steamed buns.

He set up a steamer on another large iron pot and placed the raw steamed buns inside.

Half an hour later, Lin Yu'an lifted the pot lid.

The originally small dough pieces on the steamer had transformed into plump white steamed buns that looked full of elasticity.

A pot of red-bright, tender braised pork with potatoes was also ready, and together with the steaming hot buns, they were brought to the simple dining table.

David picked up a piece of braised pork, "Lin! This stuff is so delicious! This is better than what I've had at Michelin restaurants!"

"Try this, Chinese bread, dip it in the sauce," Lin Yu'an handed him a hot steamed bun.

David followed his example, tearing open the soft steamed bun and dipping it full of the red, thick braised pork sauce from the plate.

"Incredible! Simply incredible! This tastes like God's blessing!" David shouted with his mouth full.

Mike said nothing, holding a piece of braised pork in his left hand and half a steamed bun in his right, his mouth stuffed full, just giving Lin Yu'an thumbs up repeatedly.

Lin Yu'an looked at their exaggerated reactions and said with a smile, "It's not that exaggerated. In China, this is just a very ordinary home-cooked dish with the most basic staple food."

This meal was not only a reward but also Lin Yu'an's way of expressing gratitude and building friendship.

At the dinner table, the relationship between the three men, catalyzed by good food, moved a step closer from simple work partners toward true friends.

After dinner, following a brief rest, Lin Yu'an didn't stop.

By the light of the vehicle headlights, he began assembling the band saw, a process that once again demonstrated his solid mechanical engineering foundation.

He first carefully aligned each track section with a spirit level before joining them into a straight base.

Then he steadily installed the main head on the tracks, carefully adjusting the clearance of each roller to ensure the main head moved smoothly on the tracks without the slightest wobble.

Finally, he installed a brand new band saw blade and conducted final repeated adjustments.

The next morning, the band saw's first test cut officially began amid everyone's anticipation!

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