013, Digging a Trap

013, Digging a Trap

Autumn is the time when small animals are at their most plump. Birds, having devoured much of the farmers' grain, are plump and plump, with even two ounces of flesh left after molting. They couldn't catch any of the big game in the mountains, but they could find a way to catch a few of the sparrows scurrying about in the fields, looking for food.

Farmers had a hard time these days. They had barely eaten meat twice throughout the year. Everyone was hungry. Adults and children alike were craving meat, and these children were no exception.

Before the busy farming season, Lu Mingfei had taken his two younger cousins ​​and a few close friends from the village to dig a trap, catch some sparrows, and roast them for dinner. Apparently, the kids still remember this incident. Today, perhaps because he was at home, his two cousins ​​called him out to "play," but they were actually asking him to go outside and catch some birds.

As for why these kids didn't dig traps to catch birds themselves, a big reason was that he had only led them to catch sparrows once, and these kids had not yet learned how to set the trap, so this time they invited him, their master, back to give them guidance.

Although Lu Mingfei was the youngest in the group, he relied on his intelligence to become the team's leader. Whenever his friends encountered problems, they would turn to him for advice and help. Sometimes, when someone in the group argued over a trivial matter, he would even act as a peacemaker to mediate between the two sides.

But to be honest, he was also a little greedy for the taste of this plump little sparrow. Since he didn't have to go to the city with his father to sell goods today, he would take his friends to dig traps and catch little fat sparrows again.

A group of people got to work immediately and dug holes in the ground in full swing.

The team members who were digging the pit called him over, "Qilang, do you think we dug the right pit?"

"Let me compare." Lu Mingfei held two small tools in his hands. These were rectangular bamboo boards he had asked his father to weave with bamboo strips. They were very thin and lightweight. If they were made of wood chips, they wouldn't be so thin, and they would be heavy. If a bird landed on them, it wouldn't be able to flip over. However, the bamboo boards solved this weight problem.

After the pit is dug, they will place the bamboo board over the hole as a blindfold to confuse the sparrows. Therefore, the size of the hole is very important. If it is too big, it will not cover the hole, and if it is too small, the birds will fly out. It has to be just right.

As a master, he guided his friends in digging holes, measured the size of the holes with the small tools in his hand, and told his friends how big to dig.

It didn't take long to dig a few small holes, and the next step was to install the bamboo boards on top.

"Watch carefully, I'll teach you one more time. Next time, you can do it yourself and don't need to ask me for help." Lu Mingfei also taught these friends how to make the trap step by step. "We put two pieces of bamboo boards on it. There are four ears on it. Do you see them? These four ears are used to hammer nails to fix it here."

"We used four short branches to hammer in the holes and secure the four points. Then we placed two stones there and tied the stones and bamboo board with a rope. We tried to use larger stones, otherwise if a large prey fell in, it would be knocked over and the prey underneath would run away."

"Yes, we have to hammer two short branches into this end to block the bamboo board. That way, even if there are birds flying up from below, they can't fly out. Without these two things blocking it, the birds can get out."

"Look, are these two boards movable now? If birds fly over here, they will fall into the pit." After finishing it, Lu Mingfei poked it a few times with his fingers to show his friends, and naturally received unanimous enthusiastic and admiring gazes from his friends.

"You guys take care of the rest, I'll supervise you."

As he said that, he distributed the remaining bamboo boards to the captains of several teams to set traps, and he was responsible for guiding and supervising the quality of the traps made by everyone.