Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 382: Two Little Black Blind Men in the Gutter and Tiancangzi

In the quiet night, the sound of footsteps on dead leaves and branches came from the mountain. A group of six people dispersed, holding four pine torches and followed the little fox, heading straight up the mountain.

The little fox looked back every three steps, fearing that it would be lost by the group. However, it did not make any creepy noises anymore. It just hummed occasionally, trying to remind Xu Ning to catch up quickly.

During this time, the six men did not say a word, but just held their shotguns tightly, with the muzzles pointed upwards. Bullets were already loaded in the guns, so they could react quickly if there was any movement.

Six people with six guns, one 56mm rifle and five old-style rifles. With such firepower, even if a black bear suddenly jumped out, they could kill it.

Following the little fox's footsteps, we reached the top of the mountain, where it turned down the slope, walked another two miles, and then turned south toward the Little Stone River...

At this moment, it was already past nine o'clock. Xu Ning looked at his watch and found that he had been following the little fox for more than forty minutes.

The six people marched in a formation of three by three. Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu were in the front, Lao Jiang, Liu Daming and Da Laba were more than ten meters behind the first three, and they deliberately extended six or seven meters so that if there was any emergency, the six people could take care of it.

More than a mile away from Xiaoshi River, in a ravine with stone rocks, Xu Ning suddenly raised his hand and made a stop gesture. Then several people stopped and heard a "dong dong" sound nearby. The little fox jumped onto the stone rocks in two quick steps and jumped onto a half-dead tree. It lowered its head and hummed twice at Xu Ning.

Xu Ning was slightly stunned, and walked to the standing dead tree. The dead tree was inconspicuous in the ravine.

It is surrounded by a circle of oak and poplar trees, which cover it with branches and leaves. It is also on a shady slope, so few people come here. There is a lot of moss on the ground, and tender green buds emerge under the dead leaves...

"What's going on?"

Xu Ning glanced at the little fox standing on the dead tree, patted the dead tree and said, "It's hollow, there should be something in it."

At this time, Lao Jiang and the other two came closer and stood around the dead tree. The loud speaker said, "Brother, how about I go up and take a look?"

"Okay, be careful."

Da La Ba handed the pine torch and hunting rifle to Liu Daming and Lao Jiang, then walked to the dead tree, hugged the dead tree with both hands, and climbed up by pushing the bark with both feet...

After two pushes, he only climbed up less than half a meter. The big speaker slid down and shook his head: "It's too slippery."

"Brother Huang, I'll give you a rope to tie around your waist." Wang Hu took out a rope from his cloth bag.

He took the loudspeaker and wrapped it around the dead tree, then put it around his waist. He pushed the bark hard with his feet, leaned his body back, and slowly climbed up.

This dead tree is so tall that one person cannot hug it. It is two and a half meters tall. You can imagine how big the space inside is.

Actually, Xu Ning already had an idea in his mind. He reminded him, "Brother, keep an eye on it. If there are any living creatures in there, get down quickly."

"Yeah! Don't worry."

At this time, Liu Daming looked down at the ground, squatted down suddenly, raised his hand and gestured, and said: "Erning, the black blind man's trace!"

Xu Ning walked over quickly, bent down to take a look, and reached out to touch the black bear's tracks. "It's been a long time, it's not a new track."

The black bear's tracks were made when the snow melted and the ground became wet. It is now dry.

As the loud speaker moved upward, he said, "There is indeed movement in this tree."

The little fox had already jumped off the dead tree and was squatting on a rock nearby, looking at the six people.

Lao Jiang held up the old stick and said, "If there really is a bear, should we just call it a warehouse?"

"Yay! You guys are so lucky today. Not only did you catch those wild boars and fish, but you also encountered a black bear barn."

Lao Jiang said with a smile: "Come on, forget it. It's obvious that you hooked that little fox. It has nothing to do with the three of us."

At this moment, there were five people standing on the ground, all holding guns and standing two meters under the dead tree.

If a black bear really shows up at this distance, they can easily kill it.

And the big trumpet will be fine because this is a natural warehouse. Even if there is a black bear in the tree hole, it will take time for it to crawl out.

Some people say that it is difficult to attack the sky warehouse, but it is easy to attack the ground warehouse. It depends on how you attack it.

If you don't have a hunting rifle and only have an axe and a guillotine, then the warehouse will definitely be easier to attack.

Because the axe and guillotine could not reach the bear on Tiancangzi.

If he has a hunting rifle in his hand, no matter whether it is a Tiancangzi, a Dicangzi, or a Mingcangzi, it will be easy for Xu Ning to hit them.

As long as you have strong mental qualities and don't tremble at the critical moment, no matter how many black blinds come out, you can kill them all!

Da Laba had already moved to the top of the dead tree. He grabbed the edge of the dead tree with both hands. Although there were some sharp thorns, Da Laba didn't feel any pain at all.

He peered inside and saw only darkness.

"I can't see anything!"

There are four pine torches under the dead tree. The light can only illuminate the loudspeaker, but it is impossible to see the situation inside the tree hole clearly.

Wang Hu quickly responded: "Brother Huang, I have a flashlight!"

Da La Ba was looking down from the tree. Wang Hu took out a flashlight from his cloth bag, pushed the switch up to light it, and then threw it upwards.

"then!"

Da Laba held it in his arms with one hand, fumbled for a few times and grasped the flashlight. He shone the light into the tree hole and saw two black little beasts!

"Oh my god? Bro, there are two little black blind guys in here!"

"What are you doing?"

"Fuck! Dead or alive?"

Lao Jiang, Li Fuqiang, Liu Daming and Wang Hu all reacted strongly. They stared with shocked expressions and took two steps towards the tree.

Xu Ning was also a little surprised when he heard this, but he recovered in a flash. He frowned and thought: The Chang brothers hunted a black blind cat near Xiaoshi River a few days ago. The black blind cat was a mother and her son. It's possible that these two little black blind cats are its cubs!
"Brother, look and see if it's alive or dead?"

Loudspeaker squinted his eyes and said, "Alive! These two little guys are still baring their teeth at me, but I can see that they are not in a good mental state, so they don't have much energy to bark."

Lao Jiang said worriedly, "Guoxing, you should come down first. There are two black bears in the warehouse. They may stay nearby if you can't wait. We should be careful."

"Okay, I'll go down now. Huzi, you take the flashlight."

"Eh."

Liu Daming held up a torch and asked in confusion, "Brother Jiang, I heard from Guoxing that these two little black bears are not very active. I guess their mother must have died outside, otherwise why would she keep them in the Tiancangzi?"

Li Fuqiang said: "Yes, it's so deep, they can't climb out, and we don't even know if they have been weaned..."

Lao Jiang turned around and asked, "Erning, what do you think?"

Xu Ning glanced at the quiet surroundings and said, "I think the mother of these two black bears is the one that the Chang brothers hunted two days ago. That black bear is a mother and her son."

"Yes! When I was selling bear meat, I saw it was stabbed..." Da Laba jumped down from the tree and said this.

"Hahaha...Brother Huang, please stop making me laugh." Li Fuqiang laughed loudly. The little fox standing on the rock also laughed deafeningly.

Everyone looked at the little fox, then turned to Old Jiang and said, "Erning, no matter whether the mother of these two cubs is dead or not, we have to be careful. This is not a joke."

In the mountains at night, visibility is less than ten meters, and everything is dark. Someone would say, isn't there a moon? The ravine where Xu Ning and others were located was a shady slope, and the dead tree was surrounded by poplars and oaks, so the moon could not be seen at all...

"I am very sure of that."

Liu Daming said: "No matter whether the mother of these two bear cubs is alive or not, since we have seen her, we must lend a hand to save her...

If their mother really dies outside, the bear cubs, who have not yet been weaned, will have no food to eat and cannot crawl out, so they will starve to death sooner or later. "

"What else is there to say? There's nothing wrong with what my uncle said. Brother, shall we do it?"

In fact, Xu Ning had already made a plan in mind. He said with a smile, "Let's cut down a small tree to make a ladder. It will be easier to climb the tree. My uncle and I will go around to check for any new traces. If we don't see any new traces, then the bear cub's mother must be dead."

"Okay! Let's hurry up and do it. Qiangzi, let's go cut down the trees." Lao Jiang said.

"That's it."

Then, the six people divided the work. Lao Jiang and Li Fuqiang cut the small trees, Wang Hu and Dalabao cut the small trees into 40 cm sections, and then wrapped the rope around the two small trees. It was not difficult to make a ladder. This thing did not require much technical content. It was disposable anyway, and there was no need to make it too strong.

Xu Ning and Liu Daming searched around with torches in hand and indeed saw a series of traces, but they were all from a few days ago and there was no new trace at all.

"Brother, can you bring these two bear cubs back home to keep as playthings?"

Xu Ning shook his head: "I don't have the time to feed these two toys. I'll go back and see who wants to keep them and sell them to them."

"Buy it? How much can these two little toys sell for? The bear gallbladder is too small."

There are many large-scale breeders now who specialize in raising black bears. They lock them in iron cages and wait for them to grow up before extracting their bile through syringes.

This kind of thing is very common, but of course most people don't have access to it because the extracted bile is made into medicine or exported directly.

Lao Jiang laughed and said, "I don't think we can afford to raise them. How much do they need to eat every day after they are weaned?"

"Not really. What Erning said is right. Whoever has the leisure time to support it can sell it. Two hundred yuan is still money, right?" Liu Daming said.

At this moment, Wang Hu and Da Laba had already put up the ladder, which was just placed on the top of the dead tree. Da Laba turned around and asked, "Brother, who will go up and take care of the bear cub?"

Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang were tying a slipknot on the rope. It was not easy to get the two bear cubs out because it was impossible for people to go down into the hole of the dead tree. If they did, the two bear cubs would bite people with their mouths open, and it would become a fighting arena.

It’s a bit of a stretch to call it a gladiatorial arena. The little bear cubs are not very aggressive right now. On the contrary, they are quite curious because they haven’t learned how to hunt and survive from their mother bear yet.

So one person needs to stand on the ladder and use a noose to fish out the two bear cubs.

Lao Jiang said, "Let me go, you guys take it down and put it in a sack, otherwise you won't be able to sort it out."

"Okay, Uncle Jiang, let my uncle and brother hold the ladder from below, and my eldest brother and Hu Zi will hold the bag."

"OK."

Afterwards, Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang, Wang Hu and Da Laba inserted pine torches into the cracks in the rocks. The little fox still did not leave, but squatted on the rock and watched their actions with its head tilted.

Lao Jiang put the rope on his shoulder, climbed up the ladder with both hands, took down a rope and put it down, holding a flashlight in one hand to illuminate, and then fell into the long bear fishing...

Bear fishing actually involves putting a noose around the bear cub's front legs and neck. You can just strangle the neck, but you have to pull it up in a short time, otherwise there's a risk of suffocation.

Lao Jiang was very patient. It took him more than ten minutes to put the noose around the bear cub's forelimbs. Then he held a flashlight in his mouth and quickly pulled the bear cub up with both hands.

"Hold the bag!"

Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu wore cotton gloves and opened the sack. Looking up, they saw Lao Jiang holding a rope in both hands, and the rope was tied with a small black blind cat. It walked back to the house with its limbs scattered, grinning and howling with its mouth wide open.

The people below only took a quick glance and didn't see the bear cub's face clearly before Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu put it into a sack. Li Fuqiang grabbed the rope, closed the sack and tied a knot.

"It's quite heavy!" Li Fuqiang said while carrying the sack.

"That's for sure. This little bear must be two months old."

The two-month-old bear cubs have not yet been weaned. The mother bear gives birth in January or February, and the cubs are usually weaned after 1-2 months. They weigh only a little over one pound when they are born, and can open their eyes after a month.

"If we don't make them, they will starve to death. How big are they?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do... We have to make money to survive." said Loudspeaker.

Lao Jiang continued to fish for the bear cub with the remaining rope, and after five or six minutes he finally fished the bear cub out from under the tree hole.

Li Fuqiang quickly opened the bag, Wang Hu held one side, and Lao Jiang slowly lowered the bear cub. Then the bear cub was put into the sack, sharing the same sack with its brothers.

Uh oh~
The little bear cubs let out miserable howls, but Xu Ning and the others ignored them. After Lao Jiang got down the ladder, Da Laba and Wang Hu dismantled the ladder, then used an axe to chop the tree trunk smooth and use it as a horizontal bar. Da Laba and Li Fuqiang carried the horizontal bar and hung up the two bear cubs in the sacks.

"Brother, shall we go?"

Xu Ning shone the flashlight towards the rock, but did not see the little fox. Perhaps it had left when everyone was busy dealing with the little bear cub.

"Next time I see the little fox, I'll give him some good food."

"Well, if it weren't for it tonight, we wouldn't have been able to find the two bear cubs!"

Lao Jiang led the way in front, Li Fuqiang and Dala carried the horizontal bar and walked in the middle, and Xu Ning walked at the end. He looked back from time to time, but he never saw the little fox, so he had to give up and walked quickly back the way he came.

After they returned to the place where they placed the wild boar and fish, Xu Ning looked down at his watch and saw that it was almost ten o'clock.

"Hey, second brother, the fish you threw on the ground is gone."

Li Fuqiang said, "Uncle picked it up just now, right?"

“I didn’t pick it up.”

Xu Ning smiled and said, "It's okay. Maybe a little fox took it away. Huzi, throw two more on the ground."

"okay."

Lao Jiang and Da Laba piled the sacks containing the bear cubs into the bellies of the two wild boars.

"Let's go home quickly. I'm starving." Liu Daming said as he tightened his belt.

Xu Ning waved with the torch in hand, "Everyone is a little confused now. It's eight minutes to ten. We'll be lucky to get home by eleven-thirty."

"It's okay to be home at twelve o'clock. We've got two little bear cubs. It's okay if they go hungry for a while."

As they pulled the sled forward, Li Fuqiang said, "Originally, I was thinking of going back earlier to give Lao Lin some meat. His brother-in-law happens to be staying at his house. Wouldn't it be nice if we went over and gave him some meat?"

Lao Jiang said, "You can go there tomorrow morning. His brother-in-law is drinking at his house tonight, so he definitely can't leave."

(End of this chapter)