Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 289: The snail shell pinches the brown bear’s livestock
Yang Shuhua's face was red, and she pulled on her shoes and moved her thighs to walk towards the outhouse. Every step she took, she felt a pain like tearing in her tendons and muscles.

Li Fuqiang looked at his wife and felt a little guilty. She had been so miserable last night, so he hurriedly got up and folded the quilt, put on his clothes and went down to the ground to light the fire and warm up the pot without even having time to wash his face.

Yang Shuhua silently beat five eggs, made a pot of chicken cakes in the pot, and then sat the two remaining dishes from last night in the pot to cook.

Since Xu Ning and the others had to have lunch in the mountains, Yang Shuhua made a new stew of cabbage vermicelli and frozen tofu, and added some pork slices into it...

At 6:08, Xu Ning and Wang Hu came to the door quietly, rubbed their faces briefly, then sat on the kang, grabbed the chopsticks, held the rice bowl, and shoveled the food into their mouths.

"Sister-in-law, you can go over and tell my sister-in-law later to put some salt in the dog's food."

Yang Shuhua put the lunch box into a cloth bag and placed it on the edge of the kang. She nodded: "Hey, don't come back in the dark, so that my old lady won't worry about it."

"Okay, don't worry, nothing will happen."

After dinner in the morning, Xu Ning sat on the edge of the kang and tied his leggings. Then he checked the four guns and bullets. If he didn't feel that anything was missing, he went out with his cloth bag.

Wang Hu was carrying two old pout handles on his back, Li Fuqiang was carrying a cloth bag for lunch boxes, and Xu Ning was hanging on four ropes. He didn't carry much when he went into the mountain, so he was traveling light.

After waiting for a few minutes at the west entrance of Tunxi, Li Fuqiang had just finished smoking a cigarette when he saw a Jiefang car driving from a distance. The driver was Lao Lin. At first, he was slightly stunned, but when he saw Li Fuqiang waving to him, he Slowing down, he stepped on the brakes next to the three of them.

"Brother Lin! This is my brother Xu Ning, and this is Hu Zi..."

When Lao Lin heard Xu Ning's name, his eyes lit up. He immediately opened the car door and jumped out, greeting him with a smile: "Oh my God! Brother Xu, I have always heard of you before. You are very famous in Qing'an!"

Xu Ning shook hands with him and said with a smile: "Haha, I have a bad reputation."

"No way, all I heard was about you hunting animals in the mountains, eh... that story is almost too redundant! Brother Xu, are you going to go into the mountains later?"

Xu Ning nodded: "Yes, didn't my eldest brother work with you in the car? I thought I would put this aside earlier and wait to talk to you, so as to save you a wasted trip."

"Hey, how can I say that my brother is so open-minded in his work? He thinks of everything in advance."

Lao Lin is about the same age as Li Fuqiang, only a few months older than him. Xu Ning and Lao Lin have not known each other before and have barely met each other, but there is no sense of unfamiliarity between fellow villagers.

Li Fuqiang smiled and asked: "Brother Lin, you go directly to the lumber yard?"

"Ah! Where are you going?"

"We have to go to 17 Lingchang first. There is a brother waiting there."

Lao Lin looked at Xu Ning and said, "Brother, you can just get in my car and I will take you there. Otherwise, it will take two or three points to walk from here to the 17th Lengchang!"

Xu Ning was polite, nodded and thanked: "Brother Lin, I'm sorry to bother you, I was originally thinking of asking you to do a favor, take us to the lumber yard, and we'll pass through from behind..."

Lao Lin opened the car door and ran up, saying: "Get in the car quickly, go to the lumber yard, I will send you directly to the 17th Leng yard! Anyway, nothing happens."

Several people got into the car, and Li Fuqiang handed Lao Lin a cigarette. The car window was opened a crack. As Lao Jiefang drove forward, the cold wind poured into the car, but he didn't feel the cold.

Lao Lin said with a smile: "Qiangzi, just sit in my car and don't tell anyone about your leave. Let's do whatever we need to do."

"Is that okay? Brother Lin, won't you suffer a loss?"

"What's the disadvantage? There are regular workers on the loading and unloading trucks. We are the drivers. We make money every time we pull the truck..."

Xu Ning looked at Lao Lin and said with a smile: "Brother Lin, I'll listen to you then. Brother, when we are playing in the mountains, we should get some for Brother Lin to try."

"Yes!" Lao Lin smiled.

"What else are you talking about? You must get more for me, Brother Lin!"

Lao Jiefang drove on the mountain road for more than half a minute before reaching the 17th Lengchang. Xu Ning asked Lao Lin to pull over and the three of them could just walk to the Lengchang. Old Lin was not stubborn because he had to go to the lumber yard to line up for loading as soon as possible. Car, otherwise why would I leave home so early?

"Thanks, Brother Lin."

Lao Lin held a cigarette in his mouth and waved his hand, "No need to be polite. I'll pick you up at the west entrance of Tuen at this time tomorrow."

"That's it!" Li Fuqiang waved goodbye.

After Lao Jiefang left, Xu Ning and the other two walked towards the entrance of 17 Lengchang. They met a few tenants driving donkey carts on the road, but they didn't chat. After all, they didn't know each other, so what were they talking about? .

As soon as he entered 17 Lengchang, Xu Ning saw a Dongfeng driving out of the venue. Then the car stopped. Yang Jun, the leader of Lengchang, jumped out of the car and greeted: "Hey, Brother Xu! What's going on? Did you come here?”

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Brother Yang, I came here by car from the forestry farm. I will ask for leave for Guan Lei and let him go out with me to do some errands."

Yang Jun took out a cigarette from his pocket, handed one to Li Fuqiang, and nodded with a smile: "My brother has already spoken, there must be nothing wrong with him! He went to work early in the morning, I will find someone to call him back."

"Okay, sorry for the trouble."

"Why are you so polite?" Yang Jun waved his hand and turned to call a returning worker, asking him to run an errand to call Guan Lei back.

After Yang Jun finished making arrangements, he said, "Brother Xu, let's go inside and drink some water first. Guan Lei will have to wait for a while before he can come back. He's quite far away."

"Brother Yang, if you have something to do, go and do it. Don't delay your work."

Yang Jun waved his hand and said: "What can I do? I just pull two carts a day. This cart is for sending firewood to the school. Just deliver it today. Don't be busy. Besides, it's not easy for you to come here, so don't drink some water." Let’s chat.”

Xu Ning said with a smile: "How is Guan Lei doing this year? Can you keep up?"

"Hey, when you mention this, I remember that when he first came here, he was as thin as a monkey. If you look at it now, although he is quite thin, he is really sloppy at work."

Yang Jun lifted the heavy curtain and welcomed a few people into the house. He poured water and said, "Last year he was still a little struggling. This year, he started doing the work of two people. I was shocked at the time. He fell asleep the night before. More than ten points!”

Xu Ning smiled and said: "He will do whatever he wants. I didn't expect him to be able to resist until now."

"I didn't expect it to happen. This guy is so fierce. He used an ax to cut down trees before, and the ax almost started to smoke..."

It was quite warm in Yang Jun's small shack, and he drank some water and chatted. Guan Lei didn't come in until about seven o'clock. He saw the clothes of Xu Ning and the other three and smiled, but he didn't show off. He only chatted with Yang Jun for a few words and then said it. He put on his leggings and left the shack with the four of them.

Yang Jun stood next to Dongfeng Motors and asked: "Brother Xu, where are you going? How about I send it directly to you."

Xu Ning smiled and waved his hand: "No, you should be busy with your business. We will pass directly from the back of the forest farm."

"Okay, then I'll leave first."

After Yang Jun drove away, the four of Xu Ning turned and walked southwest of Lengchang, descending to a rugged and narrow mountain road. Since it snowed heavily a few days ago, no one has walked on this road, so the snow is deep. , Xu Ning was walking in the front, wading in the snow. The snow was up to his knees and just up to his crotch... Fortunately, Xu Ning was familiar with this mountain road, otherwise it would be easy to slip down the mountain and get injured. As he waded through the snow, he told the three people behind him to take more steps. Be careful not to get distracted, because there is a deep ditch of more than 30 meters next to this windlass road.

"Second brother, let's get the pedal."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "You can't trace it with the pedal, and there are some things you can't see. If a dog walks through the pedal, Stone, look at your feet. Don't look into the ditch."

Guan Lei grinned and said: "Brother, I'm wondering if there are any animals in the ditch. If a roe deer gets into the snow shell, I'll just hit it with a sledgehammer..."

"Just thinking about good things, there are no roe deer here. One day I will take you to Dongshan and let you see what the roe deer road is!"

Wang Hu smiled and said: "Second brother, you are not needed. I will take Brother Lei there when the time comes."

"Okay, how good are you two? Brother-in-law and uncle-in-law. Look at how well my eldest brother and his uncle-in-law get along."

Li Fuqiang waved his hand, "What's there to say? We are in a quarrel with each other. The more quarrels there are, the better the relationship will be! But the main thing is to see his little sister live a good life."

Chatting can make people lose track of time. After chatting for a while, the four of them passed by Shizuigou and ran to the mountain on the right side of Xiazigou.

The snow on both sides of the mountain is quite thick, and the thickest parts can reach the chest. This is caused by the wind blowing through the valleys and blowing the snow particles into the depressions.

Xu Ning was walking in the front. There was a mountain ridge at his feet. There was basically not much snow here. You could see pebbles and frozen soil with the naked eye. It was very easy to walk on the mountain ridge. You just had to pay attention to your feet. If there were branches or stones, don’t pay attention. If you trip and get stuck, you will roll down the mountain. At worst, your arms and legs will be broken, or at worst, your brain will explode...

"My brother Lei has very strong legs!"

Li Fuqiang smiled and said: "Then you wonder if your training was in vain before and after? Didn't you listen to what Yang said? The ax is almost smoking."

Guan Lei said: "That's all Brother Yang bragging for me, but it's true that the ax handle broke two pieces. Brother, we have to walk more than twenty miles now, right?"

"Well, it's nearly thirty miles from 17 Lengchang to Snail Shell. It's not too slow for us to walk through the snow in the mountains. It's only around 11 o'clock now. We'll reach Snail Shell in more than minutes. Let's go ahead on the hour. Eat, and then trace..."

Although Guan Lei followed several dog hunts after the New Year, he was still very new to hunting in the mountains. After walking for such a long time and not even reaching the destination, he felt a little anxious.

After all, in the past, when the dogs were surrounded by dogs, they would wander around in the mountains. When the dogs started to pounce, they would chase after them. When they saw the animals, they would fire their guns and flash their knives. Then they would bleed and disembowel the animals and carry them home. This process was very neat, unlike now when they go into the mountains. I walked away in silence. Although I was chatting with a few buddies, it felt like it didn't take long, but it also seemed very boring.

If there wasn't much snow in the mountains, Xu Ning would only be able to walk 30 miles by himself, which would only be a little over two miles. Now that there is thick snow in the mountains, it would not be too slow for a few people to walk four miles.

At around 11:, Xu Ning and others walked to the snail shell and arrived near the small temple that Ma Liu mentioned. Wang Hu saw the footprints of people wading in the snow.

The snow here is not too thick, only reaching below the knees and above the calves. The terrain is a gently sloping forest, and there are many traces of small animals on the snow surface.

"Second brother, Lu Zing!"

Wang Hu pointed at a row of tracks in the snow and shouted.

Xu Ning lowered his head and took a look: "Well, can you tell what day it is?"

Wang Hu scratched his head, "I can't tell, I guess it's been two or three days."

Xu Ning smiled and said: "Your estimate is correct, but if you combine it with Uncle Ma, you can determine that it is three days, because it is the deer trace that I saw at the south end of Dongdong Mountain the day before yesterday, and I went to pinch it yesterday..."

"Ah! Yes."

On the side, Li Fuqiang stared at a tree and said: "Brother, there is blood on this tree! There is also tala snow here..."

The meaning of tala snow is that the surface of the snow has been pressed by something.

Guan Lei stood there and watched what was going on around him. When he saw Xu Ning and Wang Hu approaching, the three of them gathered together and walked towards Li Fuqiang's position.

Walking up to him, Xu Ning took a look and said, "A brown bear lay down here. No wonder Uncle Ma was able to find a handful of hair. This bear was seriously injured. It must have hurt its front arm at such a height..."

Li Fuqiang asked: "Did this bear kill Li Shan? Does it weigh six to seven hundred kilograms?"

Xu Ning glanced at the tracks in the snow, made two gestures with his palm, and said, "The claws are about the same size, and the coat color is also right."

Wang Huba chirped: "Second brother, you said that this brown bear went to Baishilizi and was about to cross the border to Kyrgyzstan. How on earth did it get so seriously injured and come back again?"

Li Fuqiang and Guan Lei turned to look at Xu Ning and heard him say: "Is there any animal in the mountains that can hurt a brown bear weighing six to seven hundred pounds? There are only four or five kinds of animals in total, one is a big cat, the other is a tabby cat, and the third is a The green-skinned man, the fourth is the jackal, the fifth is the black blind man..."

Xu Ning unloaded his gun, pointed at the cloth bag Wang Hu was carrying, and said: "Go to the leeward place to set up a fire, and we'll have some food."

"Got it."

The four of them walked to the leeward area together. Wang Hu said, "Second brother, do you think we met the old leopard that injured Uncle Jiang?"

Li Fuqiang said urgently: "That's not possible, and there is no deep hatred. The old leopard is so big and tired of living, so he dares to compete with the big brown bear."

"Then my second brother just said that the old leopard can hurt the brown bear."

Xu Ning said: "That being said, if we really fight hard, the old leopard can definitely hurt the brown bear, but it will also die. What's the physique of the brown bear? It's basically impossible for these two animals to fight."

Guan Lei asked: "Why?"

"It's because the old leopard is too sensitive and likes to carry out sneak attacks. The brown bear is too big, has rough skin and thick flesh, and moves clumsily."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "The animals in the mountains are all thieves. Don't take them lightly just because they are animals. Hunting is a delicate job, and you can easily lose your life if you are careless."

These words were meant for Guan Lei. He squatted in the snow and arranged the firewood. As soon as the fire was set, he turned around and asked, "Brother, those people who set up traps are not in any danger, right?"

"What can you do without risk? The same goes for trapping. The year before last, there was a trapper in Nantun. On his way home, he stepped into someone else's yin-yang cellar. When he found out, everyone was smelly... Do you think so? No danger?"

Guan Lei nodded and said, "Then I understand."

Li Fuqiang came back with firewood and said with a smile: "Lei Zi, my brother is telling you these things. Normally he doesn't tell me or Hu Zi."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "You two have some experience in mountain running. Stones belong to raw melons and eggs. If I don't tell him, what will happen to him if something happens to him? Then it won't be numb."

Guan Lei smiled and said, "Yeah, I know."

At this time, the four people sat down around the fire. Wang Hu said: "My second brother also said that the most dangerous thing in the mountains is not the animals but the people! Brother Lei, if you go into the mountains alone and meet people in the future, you will be in trouble." Don’t come closer, it’s better to turn around and leave.”

Li Fuqiang nodded: "That's right, we don't have any intention of harming others, but we must be on guard against others."

(End of this chapter)