novelslam Chapter 91 Hunting the Wild Boar Herd
Chapter 91 Hunting the Wild Boar Herd
Liu Xiulan got up with a smile and moved to the camphor wood box.
He took the key from his waist, unlocked the brass lock, hid the money in a gray-blue cotton coat, and then happily moved back to lie down next to Li Doudou.
"Xiangyang, you should come and get some sleep too. You're going hunting tomorrow, so make sure you're well-rested."
"Mmm, it's here."
Li Xiangyang got up, blew out the kerosene lamp, and climbed onto the kang (heated brick bed).
"By the way, Xiulan, the department store got a new fabric today. The color and pattern are really nice. I'll take you there another day to buy some to make new clothes."
"Uh-huh."
Liu Xiulan nodded subconsciously, then quickly shook her head:
"No...no, my clothes aren't torn, they can last at least another two years, don't waste that money."
"Waste...?" Li Xiangyang smiled.
Suddenly, a romantic phrase came to mind, and he leaned close to Liu Xiulan's ear and earnestly replied:
"As long as you're happy, it's not a waste."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiulan's ears instantly turned red. Suppressing her shyness, she turned around and embraced Li Xiangyang.
Li Xiangyang reached out and hugged her, but the heartwarming scene didn't last long. Liu Xiulan suddenly felt something hard pressing against her stomach.
Clenching his fist, he lightly punched Li Xiangyang a few times, and said in a trembling voice, "I...I told you to drink less deer blood wine, it was unbearable to watch..."
After saying that, her face flushed red, and she wisely turned away.
…………
The next day, around 7 a.m.
Li Xiangyang stretched, rubbed his still sleepy eyes, and reluctantly crawled out of bed.
I got up, dressed, and peered out the window.
The snow has stopped.
However, the wind still carried a chill, and the outside temperature was estimated to be around minus twenty degrees Celsius.
It's still very cold.
After arriving at the middle room and having a simple meal, Li Xiangdong returned from feeding the sheep in the sheepfold. Then, he took his gun and went hunting with Wangcai.
At this time, the eastern Inner Mongolian grasslands were already covered with thick white snow, a world of silver and white.
The two men and the wolf made their way eastward across the snow, one deep and one shallow, towards the small hillside where there were scattered groves of trees and thickets of withered grass.
of course,
The most abundant thing is still the vast expanse of white snow.
Li Xiangyang was somewhat worried about taking Wangcai out hunting for the first time. While waiting for Li Xiangdong to return, he found some wire and made a simple wooden muzzle for Wangcai to cover its mouth in case it suddenly went out of control and bit them.
However, Wangcai was unusually docile today, as if it could understand human nature. It knew that they were out hunting today, and as soon as they went out, it kept its head down and sniffed the snow.
Li Xiangyang couldn't help but marvel at what he saw, which made him look forward to today's hunt.
"Good boy, if you behave well today, I'll give you an extra meal when we get home tonight."
"Hehe, little brother, do you really think this little wolf cub can understand human speech?" Li Xiangdong laughed.
"Yes, wolves are very intelligent animals."
Li Xiangyang looked serious as he spoke, then squatted down and stroked Wangcai's furry back.
Wangcai didn't dodge; instead, it obediently lay down.
"My goodness, it really understands human speech?!" Li Xiangdong was stunned.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wangcai suddenly straightened up, stood up, his tail slightly raised, and his ears stood up straight.
Then he bent down, sniffing the snow incessantly, and suddenly growled twice towards the bushes ahead.
"There's prey in the bushes!"
The thought flashed through Li Xiangyang's mind, and the thick hemp rope holding Wangcai loosened its grip:
"Chase!"
He shouted something.
Upon receiving the command, Wangcai lowered its body, pushed off the ground with its limbs, and dashed out like a bolt of lightning, splashing snow everywhere beneath its feet.
The hare noticed the commotion and, startled, looked up sharply. It then turned and ran into the depths of the bushes. However, the hare's running speed was greatly reduced in the thick snow, and it was no match for the agile wolf.
In just a moment, Wangcai, who was rushing over, suddenly leaped and pinned him firmly to the snow.
Wangcai instinctively opened its mouth to bite, but because it was wearing a muzzle, it only managed to bite nothing. At this moment, the two brothers, Li Xiangyang and Li Xiangdong, had already caught up with them.
Li Xiangdong quickly pulled the rope around Wangcai's neck to create some distance between it and the rabbit, while Li Xiangyang raised the butt of his gun and smashed it down on the rabbit's head.
The rabbit coughed up a mouthful of blood, twitched its limbs a few times, and then died.
"Hehe, Wangcai is amazing! He caught a wild rabbit in just a short while!"
Li Xiangdong was panting heavily, but he was also laughing.
He bent down, picked up the rabbit, and put it into a sack.
Wangcai wasn't angry when its food was taken away. Instead, it wagged its tail stiffly at Li Xiangyang, its eyes full of self-satisfaction.
"Well done, Wangcai!"
Li Xiangyang smiled and patted Wangcai's head.
He took a small piece of fish from the cloth bag at his waist and stuffed it into Wangcai's mouth through the gap in the muzzle as encouragement.
However, before Wangcai could finish gnawing on the fish in its mouth, its ears suddenly perked up again, it let out a low growl, and then it ran off in another direction.
The two brothers immediately gave chase.
After chasing for about 200 meters, we arrived at a patch of withered grass. We heard Wangcai's low growls and terrified clucking coming from inside the grass.
"Brother, it should be a pheasant."
Li Xiangyang guessed.
Upon parting the withered grass, they found a brightly colored pheasant under Wangcai. The pheasant was frantically flapping its wings, trying to fly away, but Wangcai held it firmly and it couldn't break free no matter what it did.
Li Xiangyang grinned, very satisfied with Wangcai's performance today:
"This pheasant probably weighs five or six pounds. Having a hunting dog here really makes a difference!"
He bent down, picked up the pheasant, snapped its neck, and handed it to Li Xiangdong to pack up.
They searched for another two hours, finding places to warm themselves by the fire when they got cold, and continuing their journey when they warmed up.
One after another, they caught three more rabbits and two more pheasants, filling the sack to a heavy weight.
Li Xiangyang glanced at the sky; it was almost noon.
"That's about enough for today, brother. Let's pack up and go home. Don't make the first day too long, so our family won't worry."
"Yeah, we've had good luck today. We caught four rabbits and three pheasants. That's not bad. Let's head back now."
Li Xiangdong nodded; this gain had far exceeded his expectations.
Li Xiangyang was somewhat surprised by the result, but not unexpected.
He was a reincarnated person, so he must have some luck with him, but how much luck he had was unknown.
of course,
It's also possible that he's been good at helping others lately, and that's just good fortune he's received; it's hard to say.
Just as they were about to go back, Wangcai suddenly started acting strangely.
It was no longer docile; its fur stood on end, it let out a sharp growl, and its eyes were fierce as it raced toward a hillside not far away.
No matter how much Li Xiangyang called out from behind, he did not turn around.
"Oh no, something's wrong with Wangcai! He must have discovered something!"
Li Xiangyang's heart tightened, and without paying attention to Li Xiangdong, he immediately chased after Wangcai in the direction it was running.
From afar, you could see Wangcai run to the top of the hillside and stop, lying prone on the ground, as if there was something below the hillside that made him afraid to approach.
Are they wolves? Wild boars? Or black bears?
Li Xiangyang caught up at this moment, quickly lay down next to Wangcai, and peered down the slope, involuntarily gasping for breath.
About 200 meters down the hillside, a group of wild boars, about seven or eight in number, stood with their heads down, rooting for food in the snow. They were stout, with protruding tusks and covered in brownish-black bristles.
"Run or fight?"