Sheng Xiping unfastened his skis, took out his gun, quietly hid behind a clump of bushes, pulled the bolt, and waited silently.

After a while, the little creature with long, grayish-brown fur and a round body emerged from a hidden hole on the earthen embankment.

Sheng Xiping finally understood; it was a raccoon dog.

The big guy chasing the raccoon didn't come out, so Sheng Xiping didn't fire and continued to wait quietly.

After a while, something was seen backing out of the hole at the bottom of the yellow earthen embankment.

At this moment, Sheng Xiping got closer and could see the creature's very short tail. Needless to say, it was a lynx.

Unexpectedly, this year's lynx is quite thick. Sheng Xiping was overjoyed. He raised his gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger just as the lynx's head came out of the hole.

With a bang, the unsuspecting lynx was shot and killed by Sheng Xiping.

Sheng Xiping, gun in hand, arrived at the badger's den at the foot of the loess embankment. Only then did he realize that the lynx was carrying a badger it had killed in its mouth.

Sheng Xiping recalled the story that Liu Changde and Qin Qiuyan had told him before.

Raccoons may look small and cute, but they are actually cunning and treacherous.

In the raccoon dog's habitat, there are also badgers, wolves, lynxes, and other animals, making the competition extremely fierce. At the same time, raccoon dogs are also prey for wolves and lynxes.

Yet this tiny creature manages to survive the hunts of both wolves and lynxes, and even manages to find opportunities to instigate conflict between them.

The raccoon king will steal lynx cubs and throw them outside the wolf den. The mother lynx will then follow the scent of her cubs and give the wolf a good beating.

Wolves are ruthless and vengeful. If they are defeated and their forces are weakened by a lynx, they will gather their pack and go looking for trouble with the lynx again.

Lynxes are generally solitary animals. Female lynxes are no match for wolf packs and either retreat or are torn apart by the wolves.

This is a raccoon dog. It looks cute and innocent, but it's actually quite cunning.

By taking advantage of the conflict between wolves and lynxes, they are able to survive in the cracks and live safely.

Therefore, Sheng Xiping suspected that the raccoon had deliberately lured the lynx to the badger's den.

By using the lynx's mouth to kill the badger in the burrow, the raccoon can then scavenge for scraps and easily take over the badger's den.

Oh well, who cares? I unexpectedly got a lynx and a badger, so today's haul is pretty good.

Sheng Xiping found a rope, tied the lynx and badger together, then tied them to the skis, and then figured out a way to drag the skis down the mountain and back to the forest farm.

Sheng Xiping originally went up the mountain to set traps for sables; he had no plans to hunt, so he didn't bring any food.

Unexpectedly, he was delayed on the way because of the lynx and raccoon, and by the time he got home it was already past one o'clock.

The family had already finished lunch. Sheng Xikang and the others went to school, and Zhou Qinglan had put her son to sleep before heading out to work.

When Sheng Xiping entered the house, only Zhang Shuzhen was left sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the east room, doing needlework while watching her sleeping grandson.

"Why are you only coming back now? Didn't you say it would only be for the morning? We were waiting for you to come back for lunch, but you never showed up."

Upon seeing her eldest son enter, Zhang Shuzhen quickly got out of bed and went to the kitchen to prepare the meal.

"Well, I encountered a raccoon and a lynx on the way. I killed the lynx and picked up a badger, which delayed me."

Sheng Xiping took off his coat and hat, turned around and dragged the lynx and badger into the kitchen, and explained to Zhang Shuzhen.

"Mom, don't rush to prepare the food. I'll take care of these two guys first."

It's been quite a while since we started walking back from the mountain. If we go any later, the internal organs will be bloated and the meat will be inedible.

Sheng Xiping wasn't too hungry at the moment, so he decided to finish his work first before eating.

Zhang Shuzhen then noticed the lynx and badger on the ground. "Wow, there are quite a few lynxes this year. We caught another one."

Zhang Shuzhen has a hunter in the family, so she knows a little about hunting. It hasn't been long, and her son has already killed two lynxes. It seems there are quite a few lynxes this year.

"Hmm, maybe."

"Mom, bring me two basins. This badger is quite fat; I'll strip off all the fat and render some badger oil."

Sheng Xiping took out his knife and went to deal with the badger first.

That badger was quite big; it looked to weigh at least twenty pounds.

After peeling off the skin, you can see a thick layer of white fat inside the skin and outside the flesh; that's badger fat.

Peel away this layer, and you'll find the purplish-red meat inside.

This thing spends all day in its earthen burrow and has a muddy smell, so it has to be stewed with big radishes and seasoned with plenty of spices.

After dissecting the badger, we dissected the lynx.

This lynx was quite large, weighing about 30 to 40 pounds, but after skinning and gutting it, there wasn't much left.

After everything was packed up, the lynx and badger pelts were rolled into tubes and taken to the barn for storage.

Sheng Xiping then returned to the house and carefully washed his hands with soap to remove most of the blood and earthy smell.

Then they took the food out of the pot and ate it on the stove.

Zhang Shuzhen thought that while her grandson was sleeping, she might as well render the badger oil herself. Just as she was about to take a knife to cut the badger oil, Sheng Xiping spoke up.

"Mom, you should find a place to freeze the badger oil first. I'll catch a couple more later and render the oil together. This little bit of stuff isn't worth your trouble."

A large badger can probably yield two or three pounds of oil, which isn't worth using in a large pot, and a small ladle might not even be enough.

Badger oil is great for treating burns and frostbite. The forest farm has abundant resources, but what if we tried it in Songjianghe or the county? So many people would be scrambling for it.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!