The next day, Jiang Xi woke up early. Perhaps it was because of her carbohydrate intake, but she had slept well the night before.
When she went to the river to wash up, she found that the yam peels she had cut off had been cleaned up by the animals, which made her even more certain that two-legged rabbits really loved this kind of food.
She planned to dig a deep pit on the hillside behind the mountain, then use soft branches to cover wild grass, and place a sweet potato on the grass to make a deep pit trap.
But before she could finish explaining her plan, Yan Zheng interrupted her: "Rabbits know how to dig burrows."
Jiang Xi suddenly thought of something and said, "I can seal the cave walls with stone slabs."
This time, Yan Zheng didn't say anything more, only telling her to be bold and do it.
According to Jiang Xi's observation, the two-legged rabbits have very sensitive hearing and are usually most active at dawn and dusk. They will hide themselves at the slightest noise. She calculated the time and realized that it was a cloudy day, so there was no need to avoid the sun. She should be able to dig the trap in a day.
After mentally reviewing the steps, she began to work.
Under Yan Zheng's guidance, two stone shovels were made from stones, vines, and wood. The trap was located not far from the river behind the mountain, where there was abundant water and grass, and sometimes two-legged rabbits would drink water and move around nearby.
Although she had tools, they were too primitive, and she spent half a day digging a hole that was only about a meter deep.
She then sealed the inner walls of the pit with stones, covered it with camouflage branches and dry grass, and finally, she generously placed the two largest sweet potatoes on the trap.
After tidying everything up, she hid by the cave entrance and observed carefully.
Her ideals were lofty, but reality was harsh, which pained her. The rabbit's front paws and body were very agile. After waiting for a long time, one finally came. But the rabbit didn't move forward at all. It stretched out its two paws and scooped up the sweet potato. Not only did it eat one, but it also took the other one.
Jiang Xi had no choice but to continue digging the hole bigger and experimenting repeatedly until mid-afternoon. Finally, she was satisfied with her trap and left without worrying about it.
She wanted to take advantage of the remaining time to dig up some more sweet potatoes, as the two of them needed nutrition right now. The rabbits' food plus the people's food was not enough yesterday.
So she told Yan Zheng and headed straight for the foot of the mountain. As soon as she turned into the banana grove, she heard a faint sound.
"Yo yo"
The voice was weak and hoarse. Jiang Xi was on high alert and froze, her palms sweating as she held the stone shovel.
A few seconds later, another "yo-yo" sound came.
Hearing that it wasn't far from her, Jiang Xi mustered her courage and walked out of the banana grove.
After walking about ten steps, Jiang Xi squatted down to find the source of the sound, and saw a fawn nestled under a banana tree taller than a person. The fawn was brown all over with milky white spots on its back. Perhaps because it was still small, its antlers were only the size of a walnut.
It also saw Jiang Xi. The little thing was obviously scared. Its round eyes looked at Jiang Xi in fear, and it kept making "yoyo" sounds. Its front legs were also trying to paw at the ground, trying to stand up.
Jiang Xi noticed that the antlers on its head looked familiar and realized that it was the fawn that had been separated from its mother yesterday. It didn't look well now, and its hind leg was noticeably swollen.
"Poor little thing, don't be afraid."
Jiang Xi gently coaxed it, put down the stone shovel, approached it, and gently stroked its back.
It seems that it wasn't tired and unwilling to walk yesterday, but rather that it couldn't walk because its leg was injured.
Jiang Xi didn't see the mother deer anywhere around her, and she immediately realized that the animal world is always cruel. The herd would not stop for the injured fawn, and the mother deer must have already left with the main group.
It was so hot, and the little guy must have suffered a lot climbing all the way from the lake to the banana grove. Jiang Xi didn't linger any longer, stopped digging up the yams, and carried the fawn back to the cave.
Yan Zheng was surprised to see her carrying a deer back, but he didn't say anything. After listening to her explanation, he examined the deer's leg. Although there was no external injury on the swollen right leg, he could feel that the bone inside was dislocated. The degree of swelling indicated that the injury had been there for a long time.
After examining it, Yan Zheng said, "I'm afraid this is already the limit for this little thing."
Because of the long migration route, it used three legs to bear the weight for a long time, and the other hind hoof was also severely worn and bleeding.
Yan Zheng temporarily set the deer's dislocated leg bone by hand, applied herbal medicine, and fixed it with a wooden board. He also cleaned the other hind hoof and applied herbal medicine to it.
Finally, fearing that its movement would worsen its injury, they tied its hind legs together with vines to prevent further injury.
Yan Zheng said, "For now, this is the only way. We'll see if it can recover on its own."
Jiang Xi murmured, "The deer herd has already gone far away; even if it recovers, it won't be able to catch up."
Yan Zheng didn't respond to her words, but turned around and washed his hands: "Let's give it a name, it's a girl."
"Name?" Jiang Xi looked at him, a slight surprise on her face.
Yan Zheng said, "Deer are social animals and cannot survive in the wild on their own. Moreover, even if its leg heals, it may not fully recover. It's better to keep it as a pet."
Jiang Xi thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it Little Deer. It belongs to nature, and we will all leave it sooner or later."
A name signifies attachment and remembrance.
She just wanted to leave as few traces as possible of their existence here, as if the more they left behind, the further they would be from their original world.
Perhaps the deer herd will return next spring. Jiang Xi hopes that the fawn can rejoin the herd by then, as humans cannot protect it for long.
The fawn's cries had become hoarse, and after treatment, it was exhausted and lay on the ground, no longer struggling. Jiang Xi gave it some water and tried feeding it some wild vegetables.
At first, the fawn wouldn't eat or drink, but later it got better and drank some water. Jiang Xi noticed that it loved to eat the crescent-shaped grass that had fallen on the ground, so she went to the back and picked some more to feed it.
During dinner, Jiang Xi suddenly had the idea to roast sweet potatoes in the embers. Surprisingly, they tasted quite good, with a texture somewhere between sweet potatoes and potatoes. As the two were eating, the deer behind them suddenly let out two "yoyo" sounds.
Jiang Xi turned her head and saw its pair of wet eyes looking at her: "What's wrong? Do you want to eat it too?"
She broke off a piece about the size of her thumb, blew on it to cool it down, and handed it to the little deer. Without thinking, the deer swallowed it whole, and after finishing, it stared at her with its round eyes.
Jiang Xi found it cute and handed her another piece, saying, "So you like to eat this."
Yan Zheng chuckled and said, "Looks like there's one more mouth to feed in this cave now."
Jiang Xi gently stroked the little deer's head and smiled wryly, "So you need to take good care of your injuries and recover as soon as possible, otherwise you won't be able to support three mouths to feed."
The speaker may have said it unintentionally, but the listener took it to heart, and Yan Zheng's eyes involuntarily darkened.
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