Chapter 168 Chapter 168 Encountering a Tiger

The mountain was very quiet in the early morning. Although the black market had a long winter, countless treasures began to emerge in the warm spring. Lin Yue and Sun Xilai walked in the forest, and by gently pulling apart a clump of dead leaves, they could inadvertently discover mushrooms hidden under the leaves.

Picking mushrooms is an extremely addictive thing. Lin Yue already has many kinds of mushrooms of different sizes in her backpack, including hazel mushrooms, matsutake mushrooms, pine umbrella mushrooms, etc. However, the more mushrooms she has in her backpack, the less addictive she feels. She always wants to go further in and maybe pick more mushrooms.

Sun Xilai peeked inside her backpack and said with a smile, "I heard that Captain Zhang bought another chicken yesterday. You shouldn't just make chicken soup for Nurse Wang. We picked so many hazel mushrooms today. You can make a nice chicken stew with mushrooms when you get home. The whole family can enjoy it!"

Lin Yue smiled and nodded. She said, "How much can she eat? We eat the most every time she cooks. The children all benefit a lot from her little aunt!"

The two of them walked into the mountain while chatting and laughing. Occasionally, they could see a pheasant or hare flashing by. Lin Yue's heart was itching to chase them, but he forced himself to restrain himself and did not chase them. He just watched them run away with regret.

Sun Xilai smiled and said, "Come on, stop being jealous. They run so fast, there's no way you can catch them! If you really want to catch them, you can set up some traps in the woods, and you can catch some wild animals occasionally."

Lin Yue was a little surprised and asked, "Can we set up traps here? Won't anyone be in charge?"

She remembered that private hunting was no longer allowed in Oda Village a long time ago.

"That's nothing. Life here is hard to begin with. We live off the mountain, so we won't cause any trouble to anyone. Many people in our family have gone up the mountain to catch wild animals, so there's no need to criticize anyone. Look over there, there's a trap under that tree."

Lin Yue looked in the direction she pointed, and saw an old rag hanging on a not-too-tall branch. Having been exposed to wind and sun, the rag had lost its original color, but it was still quite eye-catching after fluttering in the wind.

Seeing that she was curious, Sun Xi took her over to have a look. There was indeed a simple trap under the tree, but if you didn't look carefully, you really couldn't see it.

Sun Xilai kicked it twice with his foot and explained to Lin Yue: "But not all traps can be used. Traps won't work, and traps that are too big won't work. They also have to be marked in a conspicuous place to avoid accidentally hurting people."

Lin Yue found it novel, and walked around the stick and the ring, then asked with a smile: "Sister-in-law, has your family ever made a trap?"

Sun Xilai shook his head. "I don't have the time to do this. It's hard to catch rabbits with this kind of trap. I'm too lazy to bother. But my eldest brother often brings a few small traps to catch sparrows. When he catches one, he builds a fire and roasts it for food. I haven't been in charge of it, but it seems he has caught quite a few."①

Lin Yue laughed and said, "My kids were clamoring to go catch sparrows with Big Brother Dabao yesterday. I thought they were going to climb up the roof and lift the tiles, so I scolded them. But that turned out not to be the case, was it?"

Sun Xilai shuddered all over and said with a bad look on his face, "It will be soon. If the weather gets warmer, the little bird will break out of its shell. By then, there will be many children climbing up the roof and tearing off the tiles."

Seeing Lin Yue nod indifferently, she reminded him, "When the time comes, it won't be a rare thing to catch a snake."

She is afraid of snakes. Even though she lives in the mountains, she is usually extremely afraid of snakes. Last year, her eldest son caught a snake from the roof, and she was so scared that she slept in fear for several days.

Lin Yue knew this. She had lived in Xiaotian Village for so long, and this kind of thing happened quite often every summer. She went from being afraid in the beginning to being able to face it more calmly now. She even dared to put some snakes in the space to enrich the species diversity.

Seeing that Sun Xilai looked unhappy, she knew that she was really afraid of this thing, so she simply changed the subject.

Sun Xilai still reminded: "The forests here are different from those elsewhere. You must take good care of your children and don't let them run into the mountains."

She seemed to have remembered something, and continued, "Not only children, but even adults like us cannot go into the mountains alone, otherwise there will be no one to take care of us. I'm not trying to scare you. A few years ago, someone found a blind bear in the mountains. Fortunately, it was encountered by soldiers in training, otherwise it would have been a disaster!"

Lin Yue had originally thought about secretly going up the mountain to collect some soil and trees and putting them into the space, but when he heard her say it so seriously, he nodded quickly and kept this in mind.

She was thinking about something and her steps slowed down unconsciously. When she came to her senses, she heard Sun Xilai say a little embarrassedly: "How about you wait here for me, I'll go to the bathroom."

The two of them had been in the mountains for several hours. Judging from Sun Xilai's expression, he probably couldn't wait to go home to solve the problem. Lin Yue nodded in agreement, and saw that he was walking deeper into the woods. She was afraid that he wouldn't be able to find her when he came back, so she simply stood still and waited there.

The weather in early May was already warm, but still quite cold in the morning and evening. There was a slight breeze in the woods, and she picked up a large pine cone from the ground, leaning against the tall pine tree behind her, tossing the cone from time to time.

A few gunshots were heard from the distant forest, startling a large flock of birds in the forest. Lin Yue was also frightened. She remembered that a young soldier on guard had told her that when there were gunshots in the mountains, it was usually not peaceful and she had to hurry back to the camp.

She called Sun Xilai a few times, but he might have walked too far away, so she didn't hear a response. Lin Yue stood alone in the woods, feeling a little scared. She was still hesitating whether to go along the road to look for him, but she didn't want to hear the gunshots in the woods getting closer.

As a good citizen who abides by the rules and laws, Lin Yue was instinctively afraid when she heard the gunshots so close. Even though she had been in the army for so many years and was familiar with the sound, she still couldn't help but worry when she heard it in the wild mountains and ridges.

The place where she is now should be considered a safe area designated by the army, which is separated from the place where the soldiers are training. In addition, the army will often come here for patrols, so there should not be any danger. However, nothing is absolute. Lin Yue listened to the noise that was getting closer and closer, and had a bad feeling in his heart.

She was afraid that she might have disturbed something serious, so she didn't dare to make any sound. Thinking about Sun Xilai who had not returned yet, she quickly followed the direction he had left.

Not far away, she heard Sun Xilai's voice. The other party's voice was not loud, and he should be some distance away from her.

Lin Yue had excellent hearing. Even though she was quite far away, she listened carefully and still heard what Sun Xilai said: "Hey, here they come. Which team is training so early in the morning? Why are there gunshots again? Don't scare Lin Yue!"

The other party's casual tone gave Lin Yue some reassurance. It seemed that this kind of thing was not uncommon. It might just be that the place where the warriors trained was relatively close to here.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she heard a rustling sound coming from the trees on the right.

The breath she had just let out was instantly lifted up again. Lin Yue was extremely nervous at this moment. She turned her head suddenly and saw a fat rabbit emerging from the bushes. When the rabbit saw Lin Yue, it did not even stop for a moment, but turned in another direction and flew away quickly.

Lin Yue's heart was pounding, but he couldn't help but find it a little funny. He felt that he was really scaring himself.

She was about to turn around and leave, but unexpectedly met a pair of yellow eyes.

The pair of yellow eyes were hidden in the low bushes, looking at Lin Yue quietly, without a trace of warmth in the eyes, as if looking at a dead object.

Lin Yue's hair stood on end all of a sudden and he fell to the ground.

As if seizing the opportunity, a huge yellow and black tiger suddenly jumped out from the bushes and rushed straight towards Lin Yue.

Lin Yue had never encountered such a situation before. She screamed uncontrollably and stepped back in fear, forgetting that she had already fallen. Now she couldn't even get up.

Following her terrified cry, another gunshot rang out. This time the sound was closer, as if it was very close, and it immediately startled more birds and animals in the forest. After a moment of chaos, it suddenly fell into silence, and even the wind seemed to have stopped.

When Sun Xilai heard the shouting and rushed over, he saw Lin Yue sitting on the ground, shivering with his legs curled up.

She hurried forward and tried to pull him up, but Lin Yue was too scared, and she couldn't pull him up from the ground even with all her strength.

Sun Xilai didn't know what happened to her, but she still patted Lin Yue on the back and shouted her name several times. Lin Yue actually wanted to say something, but her legs and feet were weak at the moment, and her throat couldn't make a sound. It was obvious that she was very scared.

There was another noise coming from the bushes, and this time it was clearly the sound of several people running towards this direction. However, Lin Yue was frightened by what had just happened, and when he heard the rustling sound coming from the bushes, he wanted to get up and run away. However, he was tripped by Sun Xilai and almost fell again.

Several young warriors came out from the bushes. They must have heard the voices talking here a long time ago. They were not surprised to see Lin Yue and the others. They stepped forward and asked with concern: "Sister-in-law, are you okay?"

Many new wives of soldiers would be frightened by the sound of gunfire. Some timid people would indeed be quite frightened. Sun Xilai thought that Lin Yue was in the same situation, but he felt that his reaction was a bit too great. He thought to himself that he had never realized that Lin Yue was such a timid person!

She angrily questioned several soldiers: "What's going on? Why did you come here to practice shooting? I heard you shoot more than once, look how scared you are!"

One of the warriors quickly explained: "Sister-in-law, we found a tiger in the mountains. It ran over here. Did it scare you?"

Sun Xilai was startled. She shook her head blankly, then suddenly thought of something. She turned around and looked at Lin Yue.

Seeing her reaction, several warriors all looked at Lin Yue. The warrior who had just spoken said, "Sister-in-law, didn't you run into a tiger just now?"

Lin Yue was covered in cold sweat at this moment, and the morning mountain breeze made him feel chilly all over.

She had calmed down a bit by now, swallowed hard, and said tremblingly, "I did. I was almost knocked down by it just now, but I heard the gunshot, and the tiger ran away again."

She pointed in a direction and continued, "I was too scared just now and didn't pay much attention to where it ran to. It seems to be that way. You should go and chase it."

The few young warriors did not dare to delay and left one person to escort Lin Yue and Sun Xi back and forth, while the rest followed in the direction Lin Yue pointed.

The young warrior who stayed behind saw that the things in Lin Yue's backpack were scattered all over the floor, so he stepped forward to help pick them up, put the backpack on his back, and comforted them: "My two sisters-in-law, don't be afraid, I have a gun in my hand, and I will definitely guarantee your safety!"

Sun Xi also started to get scared at this point. She held onto one of Lin Yue's arms tightly, not knowing whether she was trying to comfort Lin Yue or herself. She kept muttering, "It's okay, it's okay. The tiger has been scared away. We're okay."

Lin Yue felt her hands trembling, and knew that now was not the time to speak, so he just held her arm tightly, and they supported each other as they walked down the mountain, one step deep and one step shallow.