Seeing that it was getting late, everyone ignored the fruit trees and found an open space to clear away the weeds. To prevent reptiles from getting close, Si Cheng took out the realgar that Yun Qi had stuffed into his bag before leaving and sprinkled it around the area.
After doing all that, he led a few people to set up several traps around the pond that was originally built for irrigation. Because they were worried that other animals might come to drink from the pond at night, they put the camp a little further away from the pond.
"Although it's late autumn now, everyone should still be careful, as there are more snakes and insects around here." Si Cheng, who had sharp eyes, had actually seen snakes appear a few times, but the snakes had all consciously run away from them, so he hadn't paid any attention to them.
"Then let's hurry to the camp. There are weeds everywhere here. What if we accidentally step on them?" Yun Jianying was a little worried, and the story that Uncle Bing had told kept playing in his mind.
The monkey put its arm around his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, even if you get bitten by a snake, we'll make sure you can get home and ask for help."
Yun Jianying shuddered at the thought of that scene. "We'd better avoid it. This is no joke."
As they talked, the group deftly picked up the dead branches on the ground, while Uncle Bing went to the chestnut tree and filled a large sack with chestnuts.
"Uncle, why did you pick so many chestnuts? We're not going back yet," Zhao Dongwei asked, puzzled.
"Wait a minute, the night watchmen can start roasting chestnuts over charcoal. That way, the night watch won't feel so long," Uncle Bing replied as he picked them up. "You probably haven't tried them before. Chestnuts roasted over firewood are absolutely delicious."
Upon hearing that they could enjoy delicious food, the four ignored the prickly chestnut shells and started picking them up with their hands.
Back at the camp, Uncle Bing found two big sticks and taught them how to use them to crack open the chestnut shells and reveal the plump chestnuts inside.
"These chestnuts are growing really well this year." Looking at the plump chestnuts, I silently counted how many chestnut trees there were, and I was overjoyed. Even if the village is notified to come and harvest them, each family can get a lot.
Pick out a piece of ember from the fire, wait for the flames to go out, then place the chestnuts on it and let them slowly roast until they burst open.
After everyone had eaten a round of chestnuts, Si Cheng took out a flashlight from his bag and called Monkey to come with him to check the traps. The others wanted to go too, but Si Cheng stopped them.
"It's dark now, and we only have one flashlight, so the light isn't very good. You should stay here and crack some more chestnuts."
"Listen to your brother Cheng, it's too dangerous to go out now. If you want to see it, you can go tomorrow," Uncle Bing also advised.
The group sat down again, feeling helpless, and continued cracking chestnuts.
After a long time, I finally saw the light of a flashlight in the distance and realized that two people were slowly walking towards us.
"How's it going? Did you catch anything?" Before the man even got close, Yun Xun and the others stood up and shouted.
"Guess?" the monkey teased them.
"Judging from your tone, you definitely won't come empty-handed."
Si Cheng walked ahead, and everyone was a little disappointed to see that he was only carrying a flashlight.
The monkey has its hands behind its back, and you can vaguely see that it is holding something, but it's not very clear.
"Wow, rabbits! And two of them!" When everyone got closer, they saw that he had caught two rabbits in just a short time. He was really amazing!
"We've cleaned the skin and guts over there. We'll dry the skin by the fire later, and then we'll knead it when we get back." The monkey held up a rabbit in each hand, showing it to everyone.
"It's been a long time since I've seen such fat wild rabbits. Each one must weigh six or seven pounds, right? Your trap is really effective." Uncle Bing didn't expect that such a simple trap would be so effective.
"Come on, watch me show you how to roast rabbit." Big Bear looked at the two rabbits in front of him, eager to try.
The monkey said, "We should have Big Bear do this roasted rabbit. He's an expert in this. Whenever we hunted prey, we always had him do it. You guys should learn from him; the taste is absolutely amazing."
Big Bear pulled a large bag of seasonings from his bag and skillfully sprinkled the seasonings on the rabbits in order, then gave them a full-body massage.
By the time he finished doing all that, Si Cheng had also trimmed several long roots.
Spread the rabbit out and support it with two long sticks, then place it near the fire to roast.
Big Bear would occasionally flip the rabbit over, add some seasonings, and after a while, it would start to emit an enticing aroma.
"This smells so good! Brother Xiong, why do you always carry so many seasonings with you?" Several people gathered around the rabbit, no longer wanting to crack the chestnut shells.
"
“Actually, when I first came to our village, I went up the mountain to check and knew there were rabbits here. When I was preparing supplies, I also prepared some seasonings. This time, I came up the mountain thinking that I might be able to catch a rabbit to eat, so I brought them.” As he said this, Big Bear scratched his head shyly, an image that matched his nickname even more.
Even Uncle Bing was gradually drawn in by the aroma of the roasted rabbit: "It would be perfect if we had some wine at this time."
"It smells delicious." Yun Xun and the others stopped even cracking the chestnut shells and gathered around the roasted rabbit, inhaling the aroma in the air. They probably felt it would be a waste to let the aroma dissipate.
Looking at the scene before him, Si Cheng couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Be careful not to drool in it."
After hearing what Brother Cheng said, the group quickly touched their mouths and realized what was going on.
This amused Uncle Bing and the others, who burst into laughter.
Two fat rabbits would barely be enough to fill the stomachs of several strong, adult men.
"If I could have such delicious rabbit meat every day, I'd be happy to camp out every day." Yun Jianying reluctantly tossed the bone away.
Zhao Dongwei smacked his lips and said, "If we can catch another rabbit tomorrow, we'll roast it like this again. It'll taste really good."
The night passed peacefully, except for a few cold-blooded animals that wandered in, probably attracted by the heat of the fire. Fortunately, the watchmen discovered them and drove them away.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Si Cheng and the others were woken up by the noise.
It turned out that those few had already been impatient and woke up early, sitting there waiting. They were eager to see the prey fall into the trap with their own eyes.
Having already been woken up, the group sat up one after another, exchanging helpless glances.
Sicheng said to the monkey, "Take them to see it later, so they won't be tormented here."
At this point, the group felt embarrassed and said with a smile, "Sorry for disturbing you, we were just too excited."
Everyone understands, after all, they've been through the same thing.
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