American Landowners: Starting with Hunting in Alaska

"I am here."

Su Wei responded.

The edge of the phone was cold, and my fingertips unconsciously rubbed it.

The sound of fabric rubbing came through the receiver; it was Emily adjusting her posture.

Then came her somewhat impatient opening remarks.

"Suwei, that seven hundred and thirty US dollars must be accounted for."

Emily spoke very quickly, as if afraid of being rejected.

"You paid my medical bills at the clinic. You didn't charge me when you rescued me from the mountains before."

"Moreover, your debt of $160,000 is not a small amount, and I must pay you back this medical bill."

Su Wei swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

I was thinking that I had just earned 14,000 yuan today, so I had plenty of money.

But then he thought about it again and realized that he was currently heavily in debt, so it would be strange for him to refuse to pay others.

Moreover, judging from her tone, if we don't accept the money, this girl probably won't be able to sleep tonight.

"OK."

Su Wei answered readily, "I'll send you the account number."

hang up.

Copy and paste.

send.

Clean and neat.

This direct and straightforward approach brought Emily a huge sigh of relief on the other end of the phone.

Less than two minutes.

Ding.

The screen lit up, and a bank message popped up.

Your account has received a transfer of 730.00 USD. Note: Emily.

The phone rang again.

Su Wei answered the call, pressed the speakerphone button, and casually tossed the phone onto the sofa armrest.

"Did you receive it?" Emily's voice was no longer tense, and sounded much more relaxed.

"arrive."

Su Wei slumped back into the sofa.

The cotton candy in his arms was woken up, and it grumbled in dissatisfaction, snuggling into his arms and finding a more comfortable position to continue sleeping.

After the business was finished, the air was quiet for a moment.

Only the wind and snow outside the window continued to howl, occasionally sweeping across the rooftops with strange, whimpering sounds.

"What are you doing?" Emily started a conversation. "It sounds quiet over there."

"I just finished eating."

Su Wei glanced at the coffee table.

The plate was empty, with only a little brownish-red soup remaining, glistening under the light.

"Eating so late?"

"Well, dealing with that shipment took a bit of time." Su Wei didn't want to go into details and changed the subject. "I made some braised beef brisket with potatoes, and we just finished eating."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the line.

Then, a very unpleasant swallowing sound came through clearly along with the electric current.

"Potatoes...stewed with beef brisket?"

Emily's voice sounded a little unsteady.

now.

In an old apartment building in Kodiak town.

Emily leaned against the headboard, her left leg, in a cast, propped up high on the pillow.

On the bedside table was her dinner—two slices of dry whole-wheat toast, a glass of cold milk, and a box of vegetable salad from a convenience store, the leaves of which were somewhat wilted.

On a cold, painful winter night, this so-called "healthy meal" is pure torture.

"yes."

Su Wei seemed oblivious, his tone calm, yet his words were incredibly powerful.

"The beef brisket we chose had tendons and membranes, and it was stewed until it was very tender. You don't even need to chew it; it melts in your mouth with just a touch of your tongue."

"The meat juices coated the rice, and every grain of rice was soaked with the aroma of oil."

"The potatoes were delicious too, yellow-fleshed, stewed until soft and fluffy, mixed with meat broth and rice... It's a pity there was no cilantro, otherwise I could have eaten another bowl."

(Braised beef brisket with potatoes)

Gudong.

This time, the swallowing sound was even louder.

Emily looked at the whole wheat bread in her hand and felt like she was chewing sawdust.

"Suwei, you're too cruel!"

Emily protested, her voice filled with barely concealed sadness.

"Do you know what I'm eating? Dry bread with cold milk! I haven't had a decent hot meal since my parents moved to Anchorage."

Her mind was filled with the pan-fried venison steak she had eaten at the camp during the day.

The sensation of scalding hot oil bursting in your mouth.

At the time, I was only concerned with filling my stomach, but looking back now, it was simply a delicacy.

"Come to the cabin when your leg is healed."

Su Wei reached for the plate. "Enough is enough."

"Really?! I've written that down!" Emily's voice instantly rose, as if she had grasped at a lifeline. "I want to eat that... Chinese food! Anything, fried, stir-fried, or boiled, as long as the meat is hot!"

"no problem."

Su Wei walked into the kitchen, and the water flowed over the porcelain plate, washing away the grease.

He glanced at the pitch-black night outside the window.

Tomorrow I need to go to the fish and game bureau to inquire about brown bear permits, and I also need to purchase living supplies.

It was on my way.

"Actually, you don't need to wait for your leg to heal."

Su Wei turned off the tap, shook the water droplets off his hands, and said, "I have to go to town tomorrow to run some errands."

"Um?"

"I'll come over at your place at noon to buy some groceries and borrow your kitchen to cook a meal."

The person on the other end of the phone was stunned.

A full five seconds passed.

A surprised scream came from the other end of the phone.

"Really?! My God, Suwei, you're practically a savior sent by God!"

"My kitchen hasn't been used in a long time, but all the pots and pans are still there... I want to eat meat! Lots and lots of meat!"

That heartfelt joy spread throughout the cabin via the phone call.

Su Wei's lips curled into a smile.

Surviving alone in this cold world, the feeling of being needed and expected by others is not bad.

"Okay, it's settled then."

Suwei walked out of the kitchen and sat back down in front of the fireplace.

The fire in the stove was blazing, warming everyone cozy.

The satisfaction from that big plate of carbohydrates is quickly turning into sleepiness.

"Oh, right," Suwei remembered the big thing outside the garage, "your snowmobile was too heavy, I didn't unload it. What are we going to do with it tomorrow?"

"That one."

Emily clearly didn't care as much about the machinery as she did about the braised pork. "I'll call Jamie tomorrow and have him tow it away from your place. He's a mechanic at the repair shop; he used to do my maintenance."

"Okay, I'll give him the key tomorrow."

"Um... Suwei, thank you for bringing the car back." Emily's voice softened. "It was a birthday present my dad left me. I would have been very sad if it had been left in the mountains."

"It was just something I did."

Suwei picked up the fire hook and poked at the firewood in the fireplace.

Sparks crackled and popped, and a cluster of flames shot up.

Neither of them hung up the phone.

The conversation started with changes in the town, then moved on to the destroyed research equipment, and finally to the debts of the Soviet Union.

Although she didn't go into details about Sue's hunting process, Emily tacitly refrained from asking further questions, instead offering a long-winded, housekeeper-like reminder to be careful.

Time flies.

It was a wonderful experience.

Since transmigrating, Su Wei has been constantly battling the cold, hunger, debt, and wild beasts, his nerves always on edge.

Now, hearing the girl's voice on the other end of the phone, I slowly relaxed.

This made him feel like he had returned to human society.

Humans are ultimately social animals.

After some time, the back of the phone became slightly warm.

Suwei glanced at the clock on the wall.

It's almost eleven o'clock.

"Get some rest, the wounded need sleep." Su Wei interrupted Emily's recollection of raiding bird nests when she was a child.

"Ah...it's so late."

Emily snapped out of her reverie, her voice tinged with a hint of languor as if she hadn't had enough of chatting, "See you tomorrow, Suwei. Remember my braised pork... or stewed beef!"

"I can't forget it."

beep.

The call has ended.

Su Wei put down her phone and let out a long sigh of relief.

The room was very warm; we were so engrossed in our conversation that it even got a little hot.

Marshmallow was already fast asleep on the sofa, sprawled out in a "big" shape. Her snow-white belly rose and fell with her breathing, and she would occasionally twitch her paws, probably chasing rabbits in her dreams.

Su Wei stood up and stretched languidly.

A series of popping sounds came from his spine.

It was a tiring day, but it was worth it.

I've repaid my debt of gratitude, earned some start-up capital, and even booked lunch for tomorrow.

Life is slowly getting back on track.

He walked to the entrance hall, intending to check the door lock before going upstairs to sleep.

The moment his fingers touched the cold doorknob.

nourish - nourish -

The dim yellow chandelier above my head flickered twice without warning.

The noise from the unstable current was particularly jarring in the quiet of the night.

Su Wei paused, then suddenly looked up.

next second.

Snapped.

The filament went out.

The world was instantly plunged into deathly silence and darkness.

Only the remaining flames in the fireplace cast flickering red light, stretching the shadows of the furniture long, like ghostly figures.

at the same time.

The electric heater in the corner, which had been humming all along, also went completely silent at the same time.

The reassuring sound of the machines running stopped.

Suwei stood in the darkness, still in the gesture of reaching out his hand.

It seems there's a power outage?