Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 28: Hunter's Glory
Seeing that Yu Qiutang was only seventeen or eighteen years old, still a teenager, these people thought that he might have accidentally caught a wild animal to pay back the money, so they all wanted to take advantage of him.

The fact is, most people who intercept goods midway will not make a sincere offer.

Just like some vendors in tourist areas, they never care about the quality of service. As long as they collect the money, they don’t care whether you eat or drink, you won’t get your money back anyway.

They don't care about repeat customers or reputation, because everyone knows that some people only go to many places once in their lifetime, so all they need is to keep attracting new customers.

Yu Qiutang was naturally familiar with this, so he just laughed it off and walked inside without showing the little civet cat to them.

"Hey, who are you? Let us see you and make an offer. You are here to sell something, but you won't let us see the goods. What do you want to do?"

"That's right, this kid is so ignorant and mysterious, as if we are going to take your stuff away. Ask around here, how many years have I, Zhang Laosan, been on the street? Has anyone ever said that I'm not honest?!"

"..."

In order to convince Yu Qiutang, these people naturally talked nonsense.

The mountain people are generally simple and honest, and many of them cannot withstand their repeated lobbying, thinking that they are just hunted wild animals and can be sold anywhere, so they will get a bargain.

Yu Qiutang had been through many battles and would never fall down in such a place.

After pulling and tugging, he walked into the central area of ​​the Wild Animal Market. This was where people with good eyesight and who were willing to bid gathered, and the things here were much richer than those on the outskirts.

The most common ones were hares, pheasants and squirrels, followed by weasels, snakes, and some mustelid skins, etc. There was a wolf skin in front of one person, which attracted many people to stop and watch.

Yu Qiutang felt that this man looked familiar. After thinking carefully, he realized that he was a hunter of some fame with whom he had dealt in his previous life.

This man had a double-barreled shotgun, which was said to be an imported product. He used the gun in good condition. The wolf skin on the ground was still intact. Judging from the size, it should be a moon wolf.

Although the moon wolf is not big in size, it is a wolf after all. The hunter can kill the wolf, which means that he has established a firm foothold in the industry.

There are two kinds of wolves in Qinling Mountains. One is the Eurasian Mongolian species which came from Mongolia. This kind of wolf is relatively small in number. It could still be seen in the early years, but it is basically extinct later.

There is also a species called the Night Moon Wolf, also known as the Moon Wolf.

The Moon Wolf is a medium to small sized wolf, slightly larger than an average domestic dog. It is about the same size as the Wolfhound that can be used as a hunting dog. However, if the fighting power is compared, the hunting dog is no match for the Moon Wolf.

There is a legend here that dogs are the wolves' uncles, as if wolves get scared when they see dogs and can't defeat them.

But in fact, when a wolf and a dog of the same weight fight, the dog has less than a ten percent chance of winning. The difference between the two is not just that the wolf is more wild and aggressive, but also that the wolf's bite force, endurance and burst speed are greater than those of ordinary dogs.

Unless the dog is a special breed such as a hybrid of a wolf and a dog, and has been trained for many years, it may be possible to barely compete.

But if the fighting time is prolonged, the dog's chance of winning will become lower and lower. Therefore, if hunters take hunting dogs into the mountains, they will besiege or drive away wolves when they encounter them, rather than fighting one-on-one.

Wolves are also social animals. The most common group is three or five, and the most perfect group is seven, which is what people like to call a pack of seven wolves.

But in fact, the largest wolf pack can have more than ten, or even close to fifteen, but such a large wolf pack has high requirements for the surrounding environment, and without sufficient support from the lower food chain, it cannot sustain such a large number. The extra wolves will either be killed directly by their own kind, or they will be driven out of the wolf pack and slowly starve to death because they cannot successfully catch prey, or even be attacked by other animals, such as leopards and jackals, and finally die.

In the Qinling Mountains, the largest wolf pack Yu Qiutang had ever seen was five wolves, a male and a female wolves with three cubs.

For hunters in the Qinling Mountains, fame comes from seeing which is the most ferocious prey they have ever hunted.

When selling things, many hunters like to put the skins or teeth of their prey on the side, just to tell others, I am awesome, if you want to buy things, do business, you'd better come to me.

Wolves are the entry-level prey for Qinling hunters.

In fact, there are many carnivorous or herbivorous animals in the mountains that are more ferocious than wolves. No matter how difficult they are to fight or hunt, they are more precious than wolves. Only those who can defeat them can be considered true "academic masters."

If you have hunted and killed wolves, you can only be considered a good student.

When Yu Qiutang walked past the man, he happened to see someone nearby selling a few squirrel skins and a weasel skin, and then he turned around and left with the money. He then put the bag on the ground, untied the pocket, and revealed the little civet cat inside.

This guy was a little listless last night, and I thought he wouldn't be able to hold on for long. But after being fed and resting for a night, he became fierce again today. As soon as the bag was opened, he breathed at Yu Qiutang.

This is a bit like a cat.

Yu Qiutang tapped the little guy's head with his fingers, signaling it not to be arrogant. Their fate had come to an end and they would be going their separate ways soon, so it shouldn't make their relationship so ugly.

The little thing didn't understand what he meant at all. Its eyes rolled around as it looked at the people around it. Its body was tense and the hair on its back stood up, making it look as if it had become a lot fatter.

Its appearance soon attracted the attention of traffickers who were searching for wild animals.

Someone immediately came over and asked, "What is that?" Then they carefully examined it and said in surprise, "Is this... a black-footed civet cat?!"

Black-footed civet is the common name for the small civet. It is named because the calves and even the outside of the paws of the small civet are black or dark gray, and only the pads of the feet have white hair.

This guy has many names, and is called differently in different places. For example, some people call it the arrow cat because its head and body are very pointed, some call it the civet cat because of its scent sac, or some call it the spotted civet cat because its body is partly brown and partly gray-black, etc. In fact, they are all the same thing.

"It's a black-footed civet," Yu Qiutang tapped the little civet's head gently with a small branch. The little guy was very dissatisfied with being teased by him in public, and kept struggling, trying to break free from the rope that tied it.

"Look, how flexible it is! It's a live black-footed civet cat!"

Yu Qiutang emphasized its living characteristics and raised his voice very high, which immediately attracted several people.

Everyone was immediately interested when they saw that it was indeed a lively little civet. This is a relatively rare wild animal. It is difficult to see one in the wild market in several days, let alone a living one.

The reason is that this guy is very alert and good at hiding. He only starts to sneak out in the evening and is very fast. Even if he is caught, he will usually be beaten to death. It is rare to be so lively.

(End of this chapter)