By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 256 "Li Ding Carving Up an Ox" [Two Chapters Combined!]

Silent all night.

Li Younan woke up naturally in the early morning. As usual, a sliver of light shone through the gap in the sunshade, illuminating his eyes.

He opened his eyes, a thought struck him, and he quickly sat up straight, then fully opened the blackout curtains on the window.

Looking out the window, a snow-covered landscape immediately came into view.

The snow-capped mountains on the opposite shore of the lake were completely covered by clean, white snow, with only a few specks of gray and black at their base.

The riverbanks of Ranwu Lake are also covered in white snow, gradually transitioning towards the icy blue of the lake surface.

On this side of the lake, the snow had long been covered with fluffy white snow, and the nearby branches were also covered with frost, with icicles and snow white intertwined.

Li Younan took a deep breath, already feeling quite impatient.

He quickly made the bed, put on his clothes and a pair of snow boots, and then opened the cabin door and went out.

The outside temperature suddenly became a bit cool. After opening the hatch, there was a canopy tent. The tent was still quite spacious, and the pull-out kitchen counter had been put away.

Li Younan was thinking about what he could add to the tent. As he pondered this, he walked to the tent entrance and gently pulled back the curtain.

A pristine, snow-covered landscape came into view, with nothing but blue skies, white clouds, snow-capped mountains, and icy lakes.

Occasionally, a few birds would fly by in the distance, the scene so pristine it felt like stepping into a fairytale world, making Li Younan reluctant to leave his footprints on the snow outside the tent.

He quickly went back to the RV to get his camera and took a few photos, including some of the sunlight shining on the snow-capped mountains. Unfortunately, although the photos were so beautiful that they would leave an essayist speechless, he still did not receive the notification to complete the check-in task.

Sure enough, the so-called "golden mountain under the sun" is definitely not just a simple picture of the sun shining on the snow-capped mountain.

However, Li Younan was not annoyed at all; he would never feel bored no matter how long he stayed in such an environment.

The temperature hadn't risen yet, and Li Younan's clothes were relatively thin, consisting of only a leather jacket, making it a little chilly.

Last night's blizzard covered the ground with a layer several centimeters thick, and you could hear a crunching sound as you walked around the area.

We anticipated a blizzard last night, so we packed up the solar panels in advance.

Now that the sun has reappeared, Li Younan plans to unfold the photovoltaic panels again.

When Liu Li returned to the RV, she was already awake.

The diesel heater was running non-stop, so the interior of the RV was always warm and cozy, and you wouldn't feel cold even if you were only wearing a single layer of clothing.

It's worth mentioning that diesel heaters are powered by burning diesel fuel, and the only electrical component is a motor that blows air. As we all know, motors are incredibly durable, so even after running for such a long time, there's no need to worry about them malfunctioning.

Because it was so warm, Liu Li was wearing the same pajamas she had worn when she went to the hot springs before, and her snow-white, straight legs were clearly visible to Li Younan.

Liu Li noticed the camera in Li Younan's hand and asked, "Did you go out to take pictures so early in the morning?"

"Yes, I took a few pictures."

"May I take a look?"

Why are you being so polite?

"Haven't I always been this polite?" Liu Li smiled, took the camera from Li Younan, and then leaned comfortably against the sink, carefully scrolling through the photos on the camera.

She stared at it silently for a while, occasionally zooming in on the photo with two fingers to examine it closely.

Without realizing it, she pulled one foot out of her slipper, hooked it back, and pressed her toes against the cabinet under the sink.

Although Liu Li rarely praised Li Younan's photography skills directly, she would look at the photos he took for a very long time.

Girls are always powerless against beautiful things, including natural landscape photos.

However, this matter is a bit more complicated—because photos and reality are different after all, and she also takes photos herself, so in addition to liking beautiful things, she also feels a little bit of admiration and… jealousy towards Li Younan's photos.

"What's the secret to taking these kinds of photos?" she asked Li Younan, tilting her head after looking at the photos for a while.

"The trick is... just find the best spots in the scenery."

"Uh, that's too general. Are there any more specific tips?"

"To be more specific... we need to pay attention to oblique and diffused light fields, and utilize the gradient spectrum formed by color temperature differences. We need to differentiate and control the light in highlight areas, mid-gray areas, and shadow areas using a metering matrix to achieve overall exposure balance. Then, we need to use the effects of perspective compression or spatial extension, aligning with the Fibonacci spiral, to construct a visual flow..."

"..."

"Ok?"

"You should be more general in your statement."

"Haha, well... actually, how should I put it, shooting scenery can be summarized in a few words: using light to restore the soul, to establish the structure, to capture the rhythm at the right time... of course, it also needs to be elevated through post-production."

"Okay, I feel like I can't learn it. Li Younan, how did you do it?"

"what?"

"I mean, how did you manage to learn so many things?"

"Well, I guess it's talent."

Liu Li had no doubt about Li Younan's claim of talent. She felt that no explanation could be as convincing as those two words. What other reasonable explanation could there be besides talent? She nodded and smiled, "Li Younan, could you take a couple of photos for me?"

"Okay, I'm going for a walk later anyway."

“I said right now, I’m going to wear this outfit.”

“This…” Li Younan was stunned for a moment, because Liu Li was wearing a nightgown.

Liu Li put down her camera, put her hands behind her back, crossed one foot and stepped forward, twisting her body to strike a very playful and girlish pose.

I made another wink for you. Although it's been a long time since I've done one, the quality is very high.

“I didn’t have the qualifications before, but now I want to be a good model.”

"I also want to be a good photographer, but I'll charge a fee."

"mean!"

"The camera can prove that my fees are absolutely fair and reasonable. Besides, not everyone has the opportunity to have their picture taken by me."

"Am I not a beautiful woman?"

"Uh...that's not really relevant."

"I will reward you."

"Haha, tell me more about it."

"We'll have to wait until the photos I take are satisfactory before we can reveal the answer."

"Ah……"

"Also, let me tell you about Li Younan, the situation regarding offense and defense is different."

"Ok?"

Liu Li stuck out her tongue and quickly slipped away with small, quick steps.

……

After breakfast, Li Younan and Liu Li went out together.

Although it's already April, the temperature outside is still a bit chilly after the recent snowfall.

As the sun rose higher, the temperature gradually increased. Liu Li applied sunscreen to her exposed skin and put on a white down jacket before going out with Li Younan.

The altitude here is over 4000 meters, so just in case, Li Younan also brought the portable oxygen concentrator.

The two walked along the lakeside where they were camping, first taking a stroll around the lake, their feet crunching on the snow.

In this kind of weather, you need to wear sunglasses, otherwise it will hurt your eyes.

With sunglasses on, Li Younan exuded an even more mysterious and dashing aura, and Liu Li would glance at him every now and then.

During this process, she did not forget to use a gimbal camera to shoot videos for Li Younan. Although the quality of the videos was not as good as Li Younan's own videos, they were authentic.

Aside from the path that winds through the woods to get here, there's also the hillside you can climb; it's worth exploring further.

However, Li Younan did not intend to walk there, but instead returned to the RV and lowered the mountain bike.

This time, Liu Li sat in the back row very skillfully, put on the pink helmet, and then naturally hugged his waist.

The mountain bikes then headed towards the hillside, which clearly showed signs of footsteps.

Li Younan drove uphill for about a kilometer from his camp, climbing to a high point. Along the way, he saw prayer flags, mani stones, and a white stupa with incense burning inside.

After crossing this hillside and going downhill, a small Tibetan village came into view.

There are already quite a few people living near Ranwu Lake, so it's not surprising that there's a small village here.

However, it is clear that the village has a small population, with only about a dozen houses.

The road down from here is not accessible to ordinary vehicles. Fortunately, Li Younan had a mountain bike, which slowly drove down the rugged path, giving Liu Li a thrilling experience.

Liu Li has now completely overcome her agoraphobia, and her future life is all smooth sailing. It would be nice to occasionally take a thrilling detour on such a smooth road.

The presence of such a village near the camp was naturally a good thing for Li Younan. After all, their food supply would only last for a week or two. If they stayed here for a longer period, they would need to replenish their supplies. Since hunting was not possible in China, it was best to be able to buy supplies here.

This is a famous travel stop, so when Li Younan's motorcycle appeared on the edge of the village, the local Tibetans were not too surprised to see him.

At the village entrance, an elderly Tibetan woman sat leisurely on the stone steps, basking in the sun. Beside her was a middle-aged man, and the two were conversing in Tibetan.

Upon seeing Li Younan, the man clearly developed a strong interest in Li Younan's mountain bike. He stared at the bike's unique shock absorbers for a long time before greeting Li Younan warmly and friendly, asking in somewhat broken Mandarin, "You rode this over?"

Li Younan and Liu Li got out of the car. He pointed in the direction of the hillside and said, "Let's camp over there. My big truck is parked over there."

Li Younan explained it to the man carefully for a while before he finally understood.

But at that moment, the other person's expression turned serious: "You can live by the lake, but you can't litter."

Li Younan was taken aback. Although the other party maintained a friendly tone, he could still detect a warning in his voice.

Li Younan wasn't angry about this. He roughly understood that the tourists traveling along the way must have created a very bad impression on the local Tibetans.

Li Younan kindly told the other party that he would not create waste, and then asked if it was possible to buy ingredients here.

The other party said that if you want to buy meat, you can come and buy it when the village slaughters cattle or sheep; if you want to buy vegetables, in addition to locally grown potatoes and radishes, every few days a vegetable truck from the town will drive into the village, and you can buy them then, or you can go directly to the town to buy them.

Li Younan briefly learned about the situation. Just then, a young man ran over from a distance to find the man, and the two communicated in Tibetan.

The man said something to the young man, who then left. The man then looked at Li Younan and smiled, "We're going to slaughter a cow today. Would you like to come and watch?"

Li Younan blinked. "This... is okay."

……

Li Younan pushed his motorcycle and followed the Tibetan man along the path of the Tibetan village toward their usual cattle slaughtering spot.

Liu Li followed silently to the side.

This Tibetan man was extremely talkative and had a very pleasant conversation with Li Younan.

Li Younan learned some information about him; the man's name was Jiacuo.

He told Li Younan that in Tibetan, "Tso" means lake, and "Gyatso" means big lake. In some places, lake is translated as sea, but the meanings are similar.

Then, taking advantage of the topic, he said, "For example, Ranwu Lake, where you are staying, is also called Ranwu Tso in Tibetan; and Namtso, which is very famous online, is also called Namtso Lake."

He seemed to sense Li Younan's interest in Tibetan culture and continued to explain with a smile: "Tibetan names all have auspicious meanings. For example, 'Nyima' means the sun, 'Zhu' means dragon, and 'Dingzhen' means pearl. In some places it is written as 'Dingzhu' and in others as the Chinese characters 'Dengzhen,' which are actually different transliterations."

They then started talking about slaughtering cattle, and Gyatso asked with some pride, "Are you from the city?" Li Younan then realized that the other party had been talking for a while, mostly about himself and his ethnic group, without asking him any questions.

Li Younan smiled and said, "Well, I guess so."

"Oh, you're from the city? Which city?"

Sichuan.

"Oh yeah."

Gyatso smiled knowingly. "You people from the city have probably never seen a cow being slaughtered before, right? Don't be scared later, hahaha."

Li Younan smiled but didn't say anything.

Liu Li, who was standing next to her, thought of the scene where Li Younan dissected a grizzly bear and a bison in the show "Living Alone in the Wilderness".

She naturally didn't know much about slaughtering cattle, nor did she know how valuable Li Younan's actions were.

But after thinking about it, I realized that these Tibetans must slaughter cattle frequently, and their skills must be much better than Li Younan's.

Because she didn't understand much about it, she had already categorized Li Younan's exquisite dissection and slaughtering skills as novice level in her mind. As for the Tibetan people she hadn't met yet, their cattle slaughtering skills were elevated to an unbelievable level in her perception.

This is reasonable.

After walking for quite a while through the village, we came to a relatively open meadow where seven or eight Tibetans had gathered. There were two yaks tethered by ropes, which were clearly the ones to be slaughtered that day.

The yaks here are plump and strong, with two huge horns that look very visually striking. Of course, they are still much smaller than the bison that Li Younan subdued in Canada.

Although the area is small, the yaks here have a very fiery temper. Once they are led by ropes, they become very agitated and anxious, and are aggressive towards those around them.

Gyatso then said to Li Younan, "Normally, we Tibetans slaughter cattle in the winter months of October and November. A family usually slaughters two or three yaks a year. But in some special circumstances, we slaughter more, such as when a girl from our village is getting married, so we have to slaughter two yaks."

Afterwards, Gyatso greeted several older-looking men present in Tibetan. While they were negotiating, Li Younan and Liu Li stood at a distance, not interfering or disturbing them.

Then, as if a consensus had been reached, the people present began to move.

Gyatso chuckled at Li Younan: "We're about to start slaughtering the cow."

Li Younan stroked his chin, watching the scene with great interest, while Liu Li conveniently took out a camera to record it.

These people rely on teamwork to slaughter cattle, so they naturally have to butcher them one by one.

Lead the slightly smaller cow over and use skillful maneuvering to wrap the rope around its leg.

Six or seven people worked together, and every now and then they would be startled by a rabid yak charging at them. Everyone would chuckle and dodge away.

After some effort, they managed to trip the yak's legs. Then, taking advantage of the yak's inconvenience, the two burly men slipped to the side.

Several other people held the rope to control the yak's movement, while the two strong men went up and pulled the yak, tripping it over.

Just then, Gyatso walked out from the side.

Several men holding ropes quickly followed and went up to hold the yak down.

Gyatso was in charge of slaughtering the cattle, but it didn't go so smoothly.

The yak seemed to realize the danger and struggled several times before breaking free of its control. The men scattered immediately.

This scene amused Li Younan somewhat—in his eyes, these men were undeniably strong, but their cattle-slaughtering skills were not as impressive as he had imagined.

Gyatso then explained with a smile, "There are no experienced people in the village today; this is the fourth time I've slaughtered a cow."

Although the first attempt failed, the group's morale remained unaffected, and they quickly followed the same method to control the bull.

However, to Li Younan's slight surprise, they did not use a knife to slaughter the cow.

Instead, everyone worked together to tie up the cow's four legs, and then slaughtered it with a short knife.

Next came the more troublesome dissection. In Li Younan's opinion, their slaughtering and dissection skills were quite average.

Yaks slaughtered in the snowy areas are not bled, but perhaps because of the breed of yak, or perhaps because free-range yaks are raised on a variety of herbs... such as Rhodiola rosea, Fritillaria cirrhosa, and Gastrodia elata, in any case, although they are not bled, the flavor is not hard to accept. On the contrary, it has a unique flavor with a rich beef taste.

After one man was left to process the yak meat, the others went to slaughter another cow.

This bull was larger, and the killing of its companion clearly affected its mood, making it appear more agitated.

The surrounding men were not afraid at all, and they all chuckled and started to help.

Liu Li looked at the yak that had already been slaughtered, and the man who was processing the yak... well, how should I put it, he wasn't good-looking at all.

She recalled how Li Younan had slaughtered bison and grizzly bears before, and how his dissection was done with such elegance, quick movements, and no blood splattering.

Looking at them now... why do their slaughtering movements look so clumsy?

Because there was one less person, controlling the yak was much more difficult.

Li Younan gently rolled up his sleeves and said to Gyatso, "Brother Gyatso, do you need my help?"

Gyatso didn't even turn his head: "Forget about you, you won't do it."

Liu Li couldn't help but say, "It takes so many of you to kill one cow, but he can kill one cow all by himself!"

Upon hearing this, all the men present looked over at the same time.

Liu Li felt a little uneasy under Li Younan's gaze and hid behind him.

Several men laughed heartily, clearly thinking Liu Li was bragging.

Gyatso said, "Brother, your girlfriend has a good sense of humor."

Liu Li blushed slightly and frowned: "I'm telling the truth."

Gyatso laughed and said to Li Younan, "Your girlfriend said you can kill a cow by yourself. Come on, give it a try."

He handed over the knife handle, expecting Li Younan to refuse. Anyone could see it was just a joke, but the next moment Li Younan calmly accepted the knife.

Gyatso's expression stiffened slightly: "No, I was just joking, don't take it seriously..."

He then reached for the knife.

Just then, the man who was dissecting the yak laughed and said "Oh ho" with a hint of helplessness, followed by a few words in Tibetan.

Li Younan didn't understand, but he could roughly guess that he had caused a minor trouble.

Looking over, Li Younan's lips twitched slightly—it turned out that the man had accidentally cut his intestines with a knife, and cow dung was flowing out.

Everyone was laughing, and didn't seem to care about the mistake.

Gyatso had already taken the knife back and said to Li Younan, "We usually hire a professional butcher to slaughter cattle. He's relatively young and still needs more practice, hahaha. Okay, I'm not talking to you anymore, we need to get to work."

Then the men worked together again to subdue the yak.

Since the other party didn't want Li Younan to participate, he just watched from the sidelines.

This time, having learned from the previous experience, there were no mistakes, and the cow was slaughtered successfully.

After the slaughter, the men talked amongst themselves, but they didn't start cutting the meat.

Li Younan stroked his chin: "Are you selling this yak?"

Gyatso said cheerfully, "This is what a girl from our village ate at her wedding. You can come and eat it tomorrow or the day after; it's free."

Li Younan shook his head: "I want to buy some and freeze them in the refrigerator."

"Oh, that? We're going to slaughter one in a few days, we'll talk about it then."

Seeing that no one went up to dissect the cow, he guessed that the only person who would slaughter the cow at the scene was the man who was dealing with cow dung.

Li Younan was thinking that since he would be staying in the vicinity next, he would likely have many more interactions with this Tibetan village, and it would be necessary to leave a good impression on them. Therefore, he wanted to help them deal with the yak.

He leaned closer to Gyatso and asked, "Do you have any special customs or traditions when you cut this yak?"

Gyatso shook his head: "There's nothing special about it, just sort it properly."

He thought Li Younan was wondering why he wasn't making a move yet, so he pointed to the man next to him: "He'll finish dealing with that cow before he comes over to cut it up."

Li Younan shook his head: "I'll help you with that. Give me ten minutes and I can sort it out."

The men looked at Li Younan with strange expressions once again.

Gyatso frowned: "You really know how to butcher a cow?"

Li Younan smiled and picked up the Tibetan knife next to him: "If I mess it up, it's on me. I'll compensate you with a yak."

Gyatso quickly waved his hand: "I don't need you to compensate me... Alright, come on, give it a try."

This Tibetan man wasn't pretentious, but he wanted to see if Li Younan was really as amazing as he claimed.

After receiving permission, Li Younan smiled slightly, gently scraped the blade with his finger to test its sharpness, and then made a precise cut towards the yak.

The skinning process begins at the cow's horns and extends to the corners of its mouth. A single cut is made to separate the skin from the flesh, and the entire hide is peeled off piece by piece.

From the moment he took action, all doubts turned into looks of astonishment.

The entire process was seamless, with not a single unnecessary cut. The entire skin was peeled off completely within minutes without any tears or even a trace of fat. Only a little effort was required when pulling it.

Gradually, Gyatso and the other men were completely bewildered.

what?
How does this Han Chinese city dweller know how to butcher a cow?
Next, Li Younan made a light, deft cut, slicing along the midline of the neck.

This Tibetan knife is very heavy and can cut open the sternum with one stroke without the need for other tools. Then, it can remove the intestines, spleen and other internal organs in turn, and then cut open the diaphragm to remove the heart, liver, gallbladder and lungs.

Of course... when opening the sternum, the man still used an axe.

When Li Younan actually used his knife to cut open his sternum, the eyelids of the surrounding men twitched slightly.

His every cut was precise, fluid, and extremely fast, truly as he said, completing the task in minutes.

He precisely cuts the beef according to its different textures and uses: tenderloin, sirloin, top, bottom, ribs, neck, ribeye... every cut is precise.

He placed all the separated beef pieces on pre-prepared plastic mats.

Throughout the process, the men who had initially mocked him had become very solemn, their eyes fixed on Li Younan's hands as they observed his movements.

While the cattle on this side had already been slaughtered, the men on the other side were only halfway through their work.

Li Younan wiped the bloodstains off his hands with a towel; the rest of his body was spotless.

He then wiped the blood off the knife, handed it back to Gyatso, and said with a smile, "I wasn't lying to you, was I?"

Gyatso thought for a moment, then belatedly asked, "What's your name?"

Li Younan said, "My name is Li Younan."

"Oh, Li Ding dissects an ox."

"what?"

"Haha, you don't know this idiom?"

"Uh... well, okay..."

"Brother, come to my house for a visit. You and your girlfriend absolutely have to come over for a bowl of butter tea. Oh, and I'll show you the process of making butter; you'll definitely be interested."

Li Younan blinked: "Making ghee? Oh... okay."

At this moment, Liu Li gently patted Li Younan's back, and Li Younan turned around and looked at her with a strange expression.

Seeing that Li Younan's eyes were clear, Liu Li shook her head, "Never mind... it's nothing."

(End of this chapter)