Du Jianshan smirked and lowered his voice: "You kid? You're alright, but hunting isn't like playing in the mud. You could easily kill someone. Your hands aren't even steady. If there's too much gunpowder, it wouldn't be surprising if you blow your finger off."
"I'm pretty confident!" Wang Tieniu retorted, raising his large, dark hands. "Look at my strength! I could break a tree branch with one punch!"
"Being able to break tree branches is useless; what's needed is sharp eyesight and courage." Du Jianshan curled his lip. "Yesterday, you saw a snake by the river and jumped back three feet in fright. If you panic and lose your composure while hunting, you won't be able to catch anything, and you might even lose your life."
Wang Tieniu scratched the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly: "That's because I wasn't prepared. If you really let me go up the mountain, I definitely won't hesitate."
"Don't be in such a hurry," Du Jianshan said, lighting a pipe and puffing out smoke. "Once I fire this shot, if there's any commotion, you'll see how I stake out and track them down before we talk about whether I can take you up the mountain."
After saying that, he stood up and crouched down, slowly approaching the edge of the woods. Wang Tieniu followed closely behind, his footsteps light but inevitably making a "crunching" sound as he stepped on the fallen leaves.
"Shh!" Du Jianshan turned and glared at him. "When walking on mountain paths, keep your heels in place, don't walk like a cow trampling a field."
Wang Tieniu quickly shrank his neck and, imitating him, took more steady steps.
The two slowly climbed up a small earthen slope. Du Jianshan squatted down, pulled out a small section of copper pipe from his waist, and squinted as he looked into the opposite ravine.
"You saw it?" he whispered.
"Where?" Wang Tieniu peered over, but Du Jianshan slapped him back down.
"Don't move!" Du Jianshan scolded in a low voice. "If you stretch your arm any further, the shadow will fall on it, and the pheasant will have flown away long ago."
"Oh." Wang Tieniu quickly pulled his head back.
Du Jianshan smacked his lips, spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth, and said in a low voice, "See that pine tree on the right? There's a red-billed pheasant scratching at the ground looking for insects."
"How come I didn't see it?" Wang Tieniu craned his neck. "I only saw a few fallen leaves swaying."
"You only see the swaying leaves, you can't see anything still," Du Jianshan sneered. "Hunters need to learn to 'focus on stillness, not movement,' understand?"
Wang Tieniu opened his mouth, but didn't dare to say anything.
With a muffled "bang!", Du Jianshan had already stood up and fired his gun!
A cloud of dust rose from under the pine tree opposite, and then several pheasants took flight with a start. One of them stumbled and flew a couple of steps before tumbling to the ground.
"I got it!" Wang Tieniu slapped his thigh excitedly and was about to rush out to pick it up when Du Jianshan grabbed him.
"Don't move!" Du Jianshan shouted sternly. "Do you know if there are other chickens nearby? What if there's a nest of them in the grass that jumps into your face?"
Wang Tieniu swallowed hard and remained silent.
Du Jianshan, holding the musket, circled the hillside once to make sure it was safe before waving his hand and signaling, "Alright, come over here."
The two cautiously approached the pine forest and saw that the red-billed pheasant that had been shot was still convulsing, its belly riddled with bullet holes and bloody flesh.
"What a huge one!" Wang Tieniu squatted down to take a look and exclaimed in amazement, "It must weigh three pounds!"
Du Jianshan nodded, a smug look on his face: "This is only enough for one pot of stew for your family."
As he spoke, he took out his small knife, folded the pheasant's wings, tied them with a hemp rope, and slung them around his waist.
“This is just the beginning.” He patted Wang Tieniu on the shoulder. “There are also rabbits and wild pigeons in this forest. If we’re lucky, we might even run into a badger.”
Wang Tieniu's eyes lit up: "Badger meat smells amazing! Can we really catch some?"
"Whether we can hit it or not depends on whether you cooperate with me." Du Jianshan glanced at him. "If you make a racket and disturb the forest again, not only will the badgers disappear, but even the mice will run away."
"I promise I'll listen this time!" Wang Tieniu puffed out his chest and pledged.
The two continued walking deeper into the forest. When they reached the edge of a grove of low shrubs, Du Jianshan suddenly squatted down and pulled Wang Tieniu along, hiding in a clump of foxtail grass.
“Look ahead, at that patch of grass,” Du Jianshan said in a low voice. “There’s movement.”
Wang Tieniu followed his finger and saw something swaying gently behind the bushes, as if something small was scratching at the ground.
"Is it a rabbit?"
“Possibly.” Du Jianshan squinted. “But I’m not sure what it is. You’d better follow me slowly, around the windy area, so the smell doesn’t get there.”
"Okay." Wang Tieniu nodded.
The two moved slowly along the mountainside, one in front of the other. As Du Jianshan walked, he kept glancing at the small iron clip tied to the thin rope around his waist.
“If it really is a rabbit, I won’t shoot,” he said. “We’ll set some rabbit traps and come back to check tomorrow morning.”
"Why not just fire a shot?"
"Are you stupid?" Du Jianshan scoffed. "This area is only just inside the mountain pass. Once the gunshots are fired, all the wild game on the mountainside will be gone."
After circling around to the downwind side, Du Jianshan squatted down and carefully parted the grass. Sure enough, there was a wild rabbit squatting in a pile of fallen leaves, digging in the soil with its paws and munching on some grass roots.
"Hey, it really is it." He chuckled in a low voice. "Wang Tieniu, remember this location."
"I've got it." Wang Tieniu said solemnly, "My eyes are sore from staring at it."
"Okay." Du Jianshan carefully placed the traps along the rabbit trail. "These things are active at night, we'll definitely catch some tomorrow morning."
After setting up, the two quietly withdrew.
“We’re not in a rush to fire many shots today. Just consider it a way to familiarize you with the mountain path.” Du Jianshan slung his musket over his shoulder. “Remember the tree shapes, wind gaps, and slopes of this forest. That way, you’ll know where to ambush and where to take a detour.”
Wang Tieniu nodded repeatedly, his heart warming as if he had drunk hot soup: "Uncle Du, don't worry, I'll definitely learn faster than anyone else!"
"Alright, let's see if you have the guts to guard the rabbit hutch alone tomorrow." Du Jianshan grinned and pointed down the mountain. "Let's go, while it's still light, let's go check out that old barn by the woods. Maybe we'll run into a weasel."
"That thing can be used to fight?"
"Of course, weasel oil and gallbladders are valuable, but they are troublesome to hunt because they burrow quickly."
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