Above the sky, the moonlight is like water.

Gao Mingcheng led the two dogs, Black Tiger and Elf, and kept moving back and forth in the woods.

The mountain road was rugged and steep, but Gao Mingcheng was very familiar with the surrounding terrain. He took every step steadily and would never stumble and fall.

He already had something in his hands. At this time, he was holding two hares by their feet and hanging them upside down in the air.

However, Gao Mingcheng was not satisfied with this. He planned to hunt more rabbits. If he was lucky enough, he could encounter a wild boar, that would be fine too.

There are not many kinds of wild animals in the mountains near Gaojia Village. If Gao Mingcheng goes into the deep mountains of Niuweiling, he can find many rare wild animals. But if he just stays in the mountains near the village, the most common ones are hares and wild boars.

As for hedgehogs, voles, owls, bats, weasels, etc., those are of course there, but they are not on Gao Mingcheng's menu.

Speaking of which, he has seldom gone into the mountains recently, and he hasn't seen muntjacs and jackals for a long time. Muntjacs don't like to live in groups, and it's normal that they are scattered in the mountains and difficult to find, but jackals like to live in groups, and often gather together to hunt, and when they encounter danger, they will call their friends to come and help.

When Gao Mingcheng was in the mountains before, he would encounter them from time to time. Although there was no conflict between the two sides, they encountered them quite a few times. However, in the past one or two years, Gao Mingcheng has not encountered them again. It seems that the jackals in the mountains have migrated to another place.

In 1986, Gao Mingcheng discovered black bears and tigers in their mountains, but they have long disappeared now.

The reason why the Animal Protection Law was promulgated is naturally related to the decreasing number of these wild animals.

However, Gao Mingcheng is not a moral role model. He used to go into the mountains to hunt rabbits and wild boars, and he still goes into the mountains to hunt these now. As for other rare animals, he just doesn't do anything.

Most of the rare animals here are birds. Some of the birds that Gao Mingcheng doesn’t recognize very well may be birds that have been imprisoned for life.

However, the Animal Protection Law is like a sword hanging over one's head. Gao Mingcheng hunts less frequently now, and even if he catches prey, he will not show off too much to avoid jealousy and reports.

The deeper you go into the forest, the dimmer the light becomes.

Even during the day, the light in the dense forest is dim, let alone at night.

Various nocturnal animals made rustling noises from time to time, and occasionally the cry of owls could be heard, which was really a bit creepy.

But fortunately, as the saying goes, you are not afraid of the owl's cry, but you are afraid of the owl's laugh. If you hear the owl's laugh, even Gao Mingcheng will feel uneasy.

Because for the villagers, owls are a symbol of unpleasantness and bad luck. Once someone in the family dies, an owl will be attracted. In addition, everyone believes that if an owl laughs, it means that someone is about to meet with an unexpected death.

Even after being reborn, Gao Mingcheng grew up listening to these words. Regardless of whether this matter has scientific basis or not, he will always be somewhat afraid of it in his bones.

As soon as Gao Mingcheng walked out of the dense forest, moonlight began to shine down. Taking advantage of the moonlight, he raised his wrist and looked at his watch. It was already half past ten in the evening.

He entered the mountain at eight o'clock and had been wandering in the mountain for about two hours.

The harvest in the past two hours was not great, which made him wonder if the hares in the mountains had changed their route.

Wild rabbits have the habit of walking on old paths. That is, if they liked to walk on this path before, they will continue to walk on this path. Unless they are frightened, they don’t like to walk in the grass. After all, they have short legs and it is not convenient for them to walk in the grass.

Forget it, that’s all for today, let’s go back first!

Gao Mingcheng decided to back out and take another route down the mountain and go home.

After walking for just over ten minutes, Gao Mingcheng stopped. Even the black tiger and the elf stopped. They looked in a certain direction, their eyes full of excitement, but they did not bark.

Gao Mingcheng touched their dog heads with satisfaction, and a look of surprise instantly appeared in his eyes.

I guess this is what they mean when misfortune turns to good times!

He wandered in the mountains for more than two hours, but only caught two rabbits. When he was about to return empty-handed, he encountered a group of wild boars foraging for food!

Yes, in the nearby mountains and forests, there is a group of wild boars foraging for food!

Although he had not seen it with his own eyes, Gao Mingcheng knew that it was wild boars just by hearing the noises, and he could even roughly guess how many wild boars there were!

Wild boars are animals that go out to forage for food both during the day and at night. They have good eyesight and can see clearly even at night, but they mainly rely on their sense of smell to forage for food, and their food is very diverse, they will eat whatever is edible.

Sometimes when there is no food in the winter, they will use their noses to dig up the soil, pull out hibernating snakes and eat them!

Hearing the noise made by the wild boars, Gao Mingcheng was so excited that he rubbed his hands.

He weighed the javelin in his hand and thought, this javelin finally comes in handy!

Following the sound, Gao Mingcheng groped his way over there. He walked lightly and quickly without making any loud noise. When he saw the wild boar, he stopped immediately.

Gao Mingcheng bent down and put the hare in his hand on the ground first to avoid affecting his subsequent performance.

This was a sneak attack, so there was no need for the two dogs to chase the wild boar. Gao Mingcheng touched the two dogs' heads, and the man and the two dogs hid behind the bushes tacitly.

Gao Mingcheng held the javelin tightly, his eyes fixed on the wild boars foraging in the woods. The wild boars were digging the soil, and thick kudzu roots were hidden under the soil.

Now the leaves of Pueraria root have gradually withered, and the starch content in the rhizomes has begun to increase, greatly improving the taste and nutritional value of Pueraria root.

If people plan to dig kudzu roots to make kudzu powder, they can dig them throughout the winter. After the leaves grow again in the spring of the following year, they can no longer dig them because the starch stored in the rhizomes will be converted into energy for leaf growth. By then, the rhizomes will be full of rough fibers and there will be nothing to eat.

There are quite a lot of wild boars in this group, a total of fifteen. Judging from their size, there should be three adult sows, leading a group of pigs of different sizes. Among them, there are four piglets that look only as big as puppies and are probably only a few months old.

Domestic pigs grow slowly if they are not fed, let alone wild boars. Therefore, at the same age, wild boars look smaller than domestic pigs.

But wild boars, with their violent tempers, are much more difficult to deal with than domestic pigs. If a domestic pig is big enough, it takes several people to kill it, let alone wild boars.

Gao Mingcheng ignored the three adult sows and the four piglets. These piglets were probably born by those sows. If they were left in the mountains, they would be able to produce piglets again in the spring of next year.

As for the piglets, they are so small. Regardless of whether it is cruel or not, the key point is that there is not much meat on them!

Gao Mingcheng searched among the pigs of all sizes and finally found the target. The target was not big, estimated to be around 100 kilograms. It would not be a problem for Gao Mingcheng to kill such a wild boar even with his bare hands.

However, if you are brave enough to rush forward and fight, you will be attacked by a group of wild boars!

So, he might as well be an assassin!

The assassin hides in the dark, waiting for the right moment to strike, and if he misses, he will flee!

Gao Mingcheng was quite confident in his accuracy. When he lived in the county, he also maintained the habit of exercising to keep his body in good condition.

However, he felt that this time he could make a simple target and take it to the county, and then arrange to practice his knife throwing accuracy.

He hadn't thought about these things before because Xiao Xuxu was still young, but children grow up very fast, so some basic training equipment should be prepared.

These thoughts only flashed through his mind. With Gao Mingcheng's high concentration, the javelin in his hand flew out and hit the target's pig head!

Under the tremendous force, the gun tip was completely embedded in the wild boar's head. While its brain was damaged, the wild boar fell to the ground with a bang, but it was not completely dead yet. Its limbs were still moving slightly, as if it was trying to stand up.

This sudden change frightened the wild boars into panic. Black Tiger and the elf immediately rushed towards the wild boars, trying to drive them away, while Gao Mingcheng also made a roaring sound nearby, which frightened the wild boars even more.

Almost in the blink of an eye, wild boars big and small disappeared.

After solving the potential crisis, Gao Mingcheng did not plan to stay here any longer. He picked up the hare he had put down before, and walked towards the wild boar on the ground. He held the javelin with both hands and exerted a little force to pull out the spear head. The spear head was stuck in the bone, and without some strength, he could not even pull it out.

Gao Mingcheng first carried the wild boar on his shoulders. He moved his shoulders and felt that they were not stable, so he adjusted them slightly. If the center of gravity was stable, he would not have to worry about the wild boar on his shoulders falling off.

"Black Tiger, Elf, let's go!" The two dogs excitedly chased the wild boar and were not here. Gao Mingcheng shouted, then bent down and squatted to pick up the javelin and hare on the ground.

When he was about to leave, the figures of Black Tiger and Elf jumped out from the bushes. The two dogs were very excited and ran around in the woods. They seemed to be more familiar with the way down the mountain than Gao Mingcheng.

Gao Mingcheng was in a good mood and whistled happily. However, his whistle was like a warning of danger to the animals in the mountains, and all the nocturnal animals avoided this place.

Gao Mingcheng walked quickly and it took him more than ten minutes to get home.

The mountains are endless and the hills are undulating. The evening breeze blows from one hilltop to another, and the branches sway. Especially when there is a large bamboo forest, the bamboos sway in the wind. From a distance, it looks like waves, so some people call it a sea of ​​bamboo.

Unfortunately, Gao Mingcheng had no intention of appreciating the scenery.

He glanced at these scenes indifferently and strode back to his house in the sunny place at the foot of Niuweiling Mountain.

The courtyard door was ajar, but the person staying in the guest room had already fallen asleep. There was no light coming from the outside and the room was pitch black.

Gao Mingcheng put down the wild boar and hare, looked at his watch, and it was almost half past eleven.

According to the habits of the villagers, they have already gone to bed at this time. After all, there is not much entertainment at night, and it costs money to turn on the lights or light kerosene lamps, so everyone is used to going to bed early and getting up early.

But the prey cannot be kept overnight, so it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.

So Gao Mingcheng didn't care whether the noise would wake up Chen Duofu and his wife. He went into the house, turned on the light, pulled out the wires, and hung them on the nails on the wall.

The light bulbs in his main room were either fixed in a certain place, or they were convenient for pulling the lights outside to illuminate the yard.

With lighting, the next step is to take out tools such as the butcher knife, boning knife and kitchen knife, which will come in handy in the subsequent cutting.

The wild boar's hair is rough and dirty. If you use hot water to soak the hair, the water will turn black instantly.

However, Gao Mingcheng always skins the pigs directly and then throws the skin into the mountains.

When he was concentrating on his work, he inevitably made some noise. Not long after, Chen Duofu came out of the guest room wearing a coat.

Gao Mingcheng's house has three main rooms, with the main room in the middle and bedrooms on both sides. The doors of the bedrooms are opened into the main room, so both the light and the noise of chopping meat are quite obvious.

Chen Duofu had fallen asleep a long time ago. After hearing vague noises in his dream, he had a guess in his mind. When he came out and saw the skinned wild boar, his eyes immediately lit up and the remaining sleepiness disappeared in an instant.

He couldn't help but say, "Ming Cheng, you are amazing. You actually caught another wild boar!"

He rolled up his sleeves and said enthusiastically, "I'll help!"

Gao Mingcheng did not refuse his kindness. It was not tiring to clean up the wild boar alone, but it would be better if there were two people. They could clean it up quickly and go to bed quickly.

He cut off the hairy pig heads, feet and tails. He was too lazy to clean them up tonight, so he put them in a basket and covered it with a dustpan to prevent rats from stealing food.

The good meat was also cut into pieces and put into baskets. As for the pig stomach and intestines, they had to be taken out as soon as possible, otherwise they would stink terribly.

Chen Duofu helped clean up the internal organs. He carried a wooden basin and took the things outside to clean them up. This way, the dirty things could be thrown directly outside and would not dirty the house.

Gao Mingcheng took out the pig's gallbladder and hung it under the eaves to dry. This thing is a medicinal material and can be kept for personal use or sold for money if there is enough.

Chen Duofu's wife also heard the noise they made, but Chen Duofu told her not to come out to help. Pregnant women sleep a lot, and she fell asleep again without realizing it.

It was just that in her dream, there were huge bowls of meat, and she ate them with her stomach opened wide, feeling very happy.

After working for more than half an hour, Gao Mingcheng and Chen Duofu finally finished the work.

Gao Mingcheng cut some pig livers and lungs to feed Black Tiger and the elf, and kept the rest.

"It's getting late, you should go to bed. I'll take a shower and go to bed too." Gao Mingcheng looked at Chen Duofu and said.

Chen Duofu nodded. He washed his hands and was ready to go to bed. But when Gao Mingcheng said he wanted to take a shower, he immediately said, "There is no hot water at home. You have to boil water."

Gao Mingcheng waved his hand and said, "Who would be willing to boil water in the middle of the night?"

Rather than boiling water, he would rather take a cold shower! (End of this chapter)