Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 363 Is this bear irritated? There is something behind him

Old Hu really had to give face to Xu Ning. The reason was naturally related to finding Hu Zhiyong, but more importantly, it was to give face to the Xu family. At the very least, Old Hu and Du Shoucai were relatives, and when it came to the Xu family, even if they were not related at all, some human touch had to be shown!
Qing'an is not a big city, but there are only a few wealthy families. You never know when they will come to you for help, so most people just want to say hello when they meet and avoid offending them if possible.

For example, didn’t Old Hu use Xu Ning this time? Perhaps someone would say: Ah, without you, Xu Erning, we would not be able to find Hu Zhiyong?

Of course it is possible to get it back, but now that the fact has happened, Xu Ning's role cannot be denied. Did Da Laba, Lan Guodong and Lao Han play a role?

The three of them certainly played an undeniable role! Without the three of them, could Xu Ning drag Hu Zhiyong back by himself? He could, but it would be very difficult, and he would have to stay in the mountains due to lack of strength.

Putting down the bowl and chopsticks, Xu Ning sat on the edge of the kang and tied his leggings. Wang Shujuan came over and cleared the rice bowl, vegetable plate and empty bowls and chopsticks on the table. Liu Lizhen sat at the end of the kang, mending Xu Laonian's socks with needle and thread in her hand.

Seeing him standing on the ground, Liu Lizhen opened her mouth to remind him: "Come back early, if you come home late, I won't leave any food for you!"

Xu Ning grinned and said, "I know. I'll just go for a walk and get back the glaciers that Hu Zhiyong dropped."

After saying that, he lifted the door curtain and went to the west room. Wang Hu and Guan Lei had finished wiping their guns and were putting lunch boxes and ropes into cloth bags. Guan Lei was standing by the edge of the kang, lowering his head and happily tying his leather belt.

"Brother, what do you think?"

Xu Ning nodded: "Very good! You can put the axe behind your waist and insert it under your belly bag. Will it not hurt the basket?"

"Haha..." Wang Hu grinned.

Guan Lei pulled out his axe and put it on his back, saying with a smile: "I just want to show off my beauty, but it does hurt my crotch a bit when I put it on my belly..."

"Let's go. It's almost half past eight. If we go up the mountain, we'll arrive at noon."

"okay."

Immediately, Wang Hu and Guan Lei put the two cloth bags on their backs, carried the guns in one hand, and walked out of the door one after another with Xu Ning.

As soon as he went out, the dog gang came out collectively, looking at Xu Ning and howling. Xu Ning raised his hand and pointed at the dog gang, "I'm not going to the mountain! Just be quiet, I'll take you into the mountain someday."

Green Wolf shrank its neck and went back into its den. It was a little unhappy yesterday because it saw with its own eyes Xu Ning leading Flower Wolf and One-Eye away. Until now, it hadn't seen any trace of Flower Wolf. However, Green Wolf also knew that Flower Wolf was at Lao Wang's house. After all, it was close and he could hear it by just barking.

I met a few villagers while walking on the street. They were mainly out to empty the ashes. If they were standing at the gate of the courtyard smoking, it was only about 8:30 after all, it was a rare leisure time.

When they were still more than thirty meters away from Li Fuqiang's house, they saw Li Fuqiang already dressed neatly, standing at the door with a cloth bag on his back, smoking, while Yang Shuhua patted Li Fuqiang on the back a few times from inside the door. The couple must have been talking dirty again, because Yang Shuhua's face was flushed, and she felt a little embarrassed when she saw Xu Ning and the other two coming over.

After saying hello to Yang Shuhua, she went to visit Old Xu's house. Isn't it the old boss's birthday in a few days? The residents who live off the mountains take it very seriously, and those who hunt in the mountains, carry ginseng, and plant trees take it even more seriously. So she had to discuss with Liu Lizhen and others what tributes to prepare in advance and what dishes to prepare that evening.

After the three of them left Tunxi, Li Fuqiang and Guan Lei lit a cigarette. He and Xu Ning must not have slept well last night, as they only slept until 3 o'clock in total. However, Guan Lei and Wang Hu got enough sleep. They were in good spirits and were looking forward to what to do if they encountered a brown bear.

"Brother, shall we go directly to the back garden?"

Xu Ning shook his head: "No, we should go straight through the old forest and then go to Xiaoshi River from the northeast fork. Li Ye said that they threw the fish they dug out into the grass nest beside the ditch. I also saw a brown bear heading straight for Xiaoshi River yesterday..."

Wang Hu's eyes lit up, "Second brother, we can't run into a brown bear on the way, right?"

Guan Lei said: "I can't prepare for this! Brother, how about we load them with bullets first?"

"Go ahead, Li Ye suffered the loss because he didn't load up his ammunition in advance..."

Li Fuqiang said from the side: "Brother, do you think we can put a safety on the old gun? Otherwise, we can't go into the mountains with an empty gun."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "The structure of the safety is not complicated. We just don't have the right tools. The old pistol I'm using has been around for many years and has been well maintained. Look, the barrel has been polished to a shine."

"Let's talk about it later. We have 56 and a half now, so we can react even if we encounter danger."

"Well, guns without safety are prone to accidental discharge. If a person goes up the mountain alone, it's not a big deal. But if a group of people go up the mountain, it's easy for a gun to go off and kill someone."

"It's not good..."

The four of them chatted as they walked through the old forest to the northeast fork, and followed the path of the northeast fork into the Xiaoshi River. The river flowed slowly, the water level was not deep, and the water was clear to the bottom.

When the spring begins, the river will flood and flow directly to the large reservoir downstream. The reservoir will release water during droughts and flow along the canal to the rice-growing area...

Xu Ning stepped on the big rocks and jumped over the Xiaoshi River, and then he and the three people came to a ditch pond.

"Brother, you and Huzi go to the ditch over there, and Shitou and I will go over here. If anything happens, just fire your guns!"

"Got it."

Xu Ning warned, "Be careful, there is no trace of the bear here, but it is very likely hiding in the grass. Its fur is the same color as the grass."

"Yeah, don't worry."

Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu walked side by side with guns in hand towards the ditch pond on the right, while Xu Ning and Guan Lei went to the ditch pond on the left. The two ponds were about 200 meters apart.

Some people may ask, how are these ditches and ponds formed? The main reason is naturally formed by rainwater erosion, and the second reason is artificial digging of sand and stones to build houses and pave roads.

However, most of the ditches and ponds in Xiaoshi River are naturally formed, because few people go into the mountains to dig sand and stones. Even if they do dig, it is difficult to transport them out, and there is no road for cars to enter the mountains.

The four of them walked around the two ditches and ponds, but did not see any glaciers or brown bears. Instead, there were many potholes on the ice surface of the ditches and ponds, which seemed to have been dug by people.

Half an hour later, Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu hurried over and shook their heads at Xu Ning.

"There are no ditches or ponds here... Li Ye and Hu Zhiyong went to the back garden to walk their trousers, so they can't go too far. Let's go up a little further."

The four of them walked upstream along the bank of the Xiaoshi River, passed through a forest and walked about a mile, then they saw three ditches and ponds. They divided the work into groups of two as before and walked towards the ditches and ponds. During this time, Xu Ning held the 56- rifle in his hand, ready to fire at any time.

Xu Ning had just walked halfway around the ditch when he heard Wang Hu shouting, "Second brother! There's a trace! There's a trace!"

He and Guan Lei turned around and ran over. When they reached Wang Hu and Li Fuqiang, they saw the traces in the snow.

"You three follow behind and keep an eye on the surroundings."

"Okay, brother, the three of us will follow you."

Xu Ning squatted down and rubbed the snow, feeling that it was just stepped on yesterday, because the floating snow was very hard, and the snow around the tracks was very soft. He stood up and chased in the direction the bear went, looking up at the terrain in the distance, which was a series of mountains, which was the cow's tail of Laoniugou.

"It's past eleven now. Are you hungry?"

"Not hungry!" Guan Lei shook his head.

Li Fuqiang said with a smile: "Brothers, let's go and chase them first, maybe we can catch them." Seeing the three of them so motivated, Xu Ning didn't say much. He just followed the trail. The four of them walked quickly and arrived at a bush in half an hour.

Xu Ning observed the direction in which the bushes grew, glanced at the bear tracks on the ground, pointed to the forest on the right and went around it. This time they went around another half an hour, but they were full of energy. After all, they thought that the brown bear was right in front of them. If they could get the shell, a bear gall would be worth a lot of money!
12:40, ox tail.

Xu Ning looked down at his watch, then looked up and looked around, frowning and said, "Something is wrong. We are back..."

"We've gone back? Oh, that's not a big deal. Isn't that the way we go up the mountain?" Li Fuqiang pointed to the foot of the mountain on the left.

Guan Lei didn't say anything, just looked at Xu Ning. Wang Hu said, "Second brother, what should we do?"

Xu Ning pointed at the tracks on the ground and said, "This bear is not in Madara Mountain. It is just strolling around for fun. Let's go down and look for the glacier that Hu Zhiyong left behind. Even if we don't see the brown bear, this trip won't be in vain."

"OK!"

Madashan means getting lost in the mountains.

When they got to the bottom of the mountain, Xu Ning saw the bear going up the mountain again. He waved his hand and said, "Let's not chase it anymore. Let's look for Bingchuanzi first."

This brown bear seemed to have anti-reconnaissance awareness. It walked around the mountain several times. Xu Ning had no idea where it was going, so there was no way to intercept it by taking a shortcut. Following its trail was a stupid idea. If the brown bear did not stop to rest, Xu Ning and his four companions would not be able to track it down even if they chased it for three days.

So Xu Ning gave up decisively and walked to the middle of the two ditches and ponds. Xu Ning asked Wang Hu to light a fire to heat up the rice first. He, Li Fuqiang and Guan Lei followed the trail to the back and went around to the east side of a large ditch and pond. They found Bingchuanzi in a grass nest. There were a few drops of blood next to it, and it was not known whether it was from a bear or a fish.

But Xu Ning thought it was probably a fish. If a brown bear was seriously injured, blood would ooze all the way. But Xu Ning didn't see too much bear blood yesterday, which meant that its injury was not serious and the bleeding stopped quickly.

Guan Lei was carrying Bingchuanzi and following behind Xu Ning, while Li Fuqiang was walking in front. Suddenly, he raised his hand and pointed at a tree, saying, "Brother, take a quick look! Oh my god, this bear is hiding in this den."

Xu Ning turned his head and saw a pool of blood and ice under the tree, and the snow had been crushed.

"It was used as a dining table. After the brown bear finished eating, it wandered off and circled around this area several times..."

Guan Lei asked, "Is it mentally stimulated?"

Hearing this, Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang turned around and stared at him, almost stunned by Guan Lei's stare.

"It's really unprepared! Brother, you said Li Ye was lying on the ground unconscious, and Hu Zhiyong fired several shots in a row, and the gun exploded. He must have been able to shoot the brown bear, right?"

Li Fuqiang said: "Since we can hit the brown bear, the bear must be injured. Once it is injured, it will feel pain, so it is normal for it to walk around the mountain!"

Guan Lei nodded: "That makes sense."

"Well, don't worry about it for now. Let's eat quickly and then walk around for a while. If we can't find it, we can go home. It's not a good thing to be led around by a bear today."

The last sentence is very important. Most people who make a living by relying on the mountains believe in some weird things. So Xu Ning was led around in a circle by the traces of the brown bear, and he felt very bad. At this time, he must stay calm. Once he acts impulsively, it may lead to serious consequences!

"Okay! Actually, I feel a little uncomfortable too."

The three of them walked up to Wang Hu and sat on the grass nest. Wang Hu pushed the hot lunch box in front of the three of them and said, "Second brother, how about we catch some fish later?"

Xu Ning looked at the ditch in front of him and asked, "Have you looked on the ice? Are there any floating fish?"

"Yes! I saw a big fish standing nearby. It was this long! I estimated it to be about five or six pounds."

Li Fuqiang said: "What else is there to say? Let's not trace the fish anymore, let's just fish it out!"

"That's fine. We have some glaciers. Catch two more fish and throw them on the mountain. Come back tomorrow to take a look. If the fish are gone, it means the brown bear is nearby! If the fish are still there, the brown bear has gone far away."

Li Fuqiang slapped his thigh when he heard this: "Hey! Brother, you're good at this!"

"Brother, you have a really good brain. Hahaha, let's do it this way."

If the fish was thrown into the mountains and eaten, it must have been eaten by animals. Even if it wasn't a bear, it must have been a ferocious beast. If the fish wasn't eaten, then we can't be so arbitrary. Maybe the animals were alert? Maybe it was watching not far away...

What Xu Ning did was just to throw out the bait tentatively. If the brown bear fell for it, Xu Ning would definitely chase it to avenge itself for having fooled it!
After dinner, it was already past 1 o'clock.

After Wang Hu put the lunch box into the cloth bag, he went down to the ditch and pond with Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang and Guan Lei, carrying ice buckets and searching for floating fish on the ice.

It is impossible to drill a big hole at this time because there is not enough time. If you drill a big hole that is three meters long and one meter wide, you will have to catch one or two fish. After all, there is only one glacier. Besides, the fish that come out of the hole are all small beans, and at most some loaches.

The four of them were looking for fish in the ditch and pond. After seeing the floating fish, Wang Hu, Li Fuqiang and Guan Lei took turns to break the ice, while Xu Ning walked back and forth between the shore and the ice with his 56-, observing the surroundings with his eyes, for fear that a brown bear would suddenly jump out...

The three of them dug for more than two days and pulled out seven fish, including a silver carp weighing four or five kilograms and a carp weighing three or four kilograms.

Then, they put the fish into the cloth bag. Xu Ning pointed to a mess under a tree and said, "Throw one under the tree, and we'll come back tomorrow."

"Okay, second brother, let's hang up the fish?"

Xu Ning said: "It's too high to hang it on a branch. Find a thin branch and hang it under the tree."

"Eh."

Wang Hu was holding a carp weighing more than three kilograms. He passed a branch through the fish's gills and hung it on a branch. The fish was only one meter above the ground, and the brown bear could catch it by just raising its head.

"Hurry up and go home. Your aunt said that if you go back too late, she won't leave any food for you."

"Hahaha, how can my aunt not leave some for me? I just don't know what to eat tonight."

As Xu Ning walked, he said, "There must be cabbage with vinegar! I'll ask my second aunt to sprout some bean sprouts and stir-fry them. It will be so delicious!"

Wang Hu said with a smile: "Let's wait until summer comes, so we can have some food, cucumber with sauce, I want to have a bite of this!"

Li Fuqiang grinned and said, "I'll give you another meal of bad beans, just eat it!"

"Hey, Brother Qiang, I think the beans are delicious now. If I wait until the beans come down, I will have to vomit."

Xu Ning opened his mouth and said, "That's because our family is well-off. Look at the poor households in our village. They don't even want to eat beans. They go into the mountains to dig wild vegetables all day long. They eat Chinese toon and cucumber as delicacies..."

Li Fuqiang said: "That's not so good. I remember when I was a kid, there was a half-year famine. My family didn't even have cornmeal. A group of people went into the mountains to dig wild vegetables..."

Guan Lei looked back, moved closer to Xu Ning, then turned his head and looked behind him. He listened to Xu Ning and the other two talking about the past, but he had no interest in joining in. Finally, he couldn't help it, and grabbed Xu Ning's arm and said.

"Brother, why do I always feel like there's something watching me from behind?"

(End of this chapter)