Chapter 74
One day they walked into another forest that Gu Ran had never been to.
Judging from the behavior of animals they spotted along the way, there were quite a few active animals, both large and small. Unfortunately, they did not succeed in finding any large animals to hunt. Instead, they encountered a group of wild boars and a group of jackals on the way. To avoid a head-on confrontation, both of them were very alert and hid in time before the other noticed.
Realizing Pei Liuniang's unusual agility in the woods, Gu Ran was surprised to realize that Pei Liuniang's claim that she had lived in the mountains and forests did not seem to be a lie she made up to please him.
Because she had been a cultivator, her physical fitness could not be improved, but her hearing and vision were better than those of ordinary people. However, as a native of this world, Pei Liuniang was also very sensitive to all the sounds and environment in the forest. Sometimes, before she noticed it, Pei Liuniang had already known it in advance and reminded her.
For example, when she encountered the jackal today, she was not sure what kind of mountain animal the beast's foot belonged to or how far away it was from them, but Pei Liuniang pulled her into the bushes.
jackal.
It is another small but fierce predator from the southern forest.
A single jackal is easy to deal with, but jackals, like wild boars, move in groups. Encountering one means encountering a group. Moreover, jackals are more cunning than wild boars. Not only are they good at organizing a group to chase and capture their prey, they are also agile and move in strange ways, making it impossible to guess their movements and formulate appropriate strategies.
The skin of a jackal can be sold at a high price, but the meat is not of the highest quality.
Jackals were not originally within their hunting range, so there was no need to fight them head-on when they saw them, and they might not even be able to defeat them.
It was just like when he was on exile and stopped at Qingyi, he encountered a group of hungry wolves. Even with so many officials, he could not avoid being bitten. If it were not for the powerful martial arts master Li Jieguan, the outcome would have been even more embarrassing.
Now facing a group of jackals, there are only Pei Liuniang and I. In order to avoid unnecessary injuries, the best strategy is of course to hide.
When Gu Ran saw a group of aggressive jackals appearing in front of him, he broke out in a cold sweat, and then was glad that Pei Liuniang discovered the crisis earlier than him.
Then Gu Ran realized that since Pei Liuniang entered the forest, she had been able to keep up with his pace and cooperate with him in walking in the forest. She seemed to be very familiar with this kind of outdoor hiking, and even killed a lot of poisonous insects and flies along the way.
So, when Pei Liuniang was thrown into the countryside to live, she also went into the woods to beg for a living?
Carrying such a deep blood feud, now she is familiar with the mountains and forests. Combined with her repeated mentions of practicing skills for revenge, could it be that the Pei family wanted to abandon her to the countryside to fend for herself, but she used this opportunity to temper her character and use her assassination skills on wild beasts in the forest, thus becoming the courageous and strategic Sixth Lady of the Pei family?
Pei Liuniang endured hardships and humiliation for many years, and then her chivalrous act of avenging her parents immediately refreshed Gu Ran's previous cognition.
Especially in the afternoon of the next day, they finally encountered a river deer. It saw that it had discovered their intention to chase it, and then it was running fast in the woods. Pei Liuniang quickly caught up with it, nimbly jumping over the big trees, and then seizing the opportunity, she threw the spear in her hand hard and accurately knocked down the river deer.
Seeing the river deer fall down instantly, Gu Ran couldn't help but gasp.
Knowing that Pei Liuniang brought a javelin, she also imagined how Pei Liuniang would use the javelin to hunt. After all, when using the javelin, Pei Liuniang's own strength was an advantage, but she did not expect that the actual situation would be so fast and accurate.
But in a moment, before he could react, Pei Liuniang succeeded.
It seems that Pei Liuniang has really worked hard on this!
Gu Ran suppressed his surprise and quickly caught up with Pei Liuniang.
At this time, Pei Liu was already squatting beside the fallen river deer. She stretched out her hand from under the deer's body and saw that her hand was covered in blood, as was the dagger she was holding.
It was after the river deer was stabbed by a spear that its life was ended as quickly as possible to reduce its pain.
"Is that enough?" Pei Liu asked when he saw Gu Ran catching up.
Gu Ran nodded.
"It's enough, but we have to ship it back as soon as possible, otherwise the meat will be spoiled by the time we get to the county town."
After hearing what Gu Ran said, and knowing that Xu Sanlang would not be harvesting until the fifteenth day, Pei Liu looked at the river deer and felt a dilemma: "This is not good. If we wait a few days to send it to the county town, the meat won't maintain its quality."
Yes, yes, you can put it in your own space grid No. 8 or No. 3. In normal times, if you are alone, just put the meat in the space grid, it’s simple.
But Gu Ran couldn't tell Pei Liuniang the truth, so she pretended to be embarrassed and said, "Yes, we are so lucky to have found such a big beast so quickly."
"How about we eat this one, sell it to Xu San, and then hunt again in two days?"
Gu Ran nodded.
The river deer is a type of musk deer, which is a type of deer with tender and sweet meat.
However, musk deer have no horns and their hair is short and brittle. But after removing the hair, the musk deer skin can be sold at a high price. In addition, musk deer gall is also a precious medicinal ingredient. If it is a male musk deer, it also has a scent sac, which is the famous musk.
The musk deer was not big, only about 60 kilograms. The two men (actually mainly Pei Liu) moved the musk deer to a nearby river.
There are abundant water resources in the island forest, with rivers, streams and springs everywhere, as well as many lakes and wetlands. However, Gu Ran did not dare to drink the water here casually. Even now, just like when he was looking for drinking water before, he would only dare to use it after finding a spring that had just gushed out from the ground.
They chose the river water to process the musk deer, and they went to the upper reaches of the river to make sure that the upstream area was not polluted and there was no dirty things before deciding to cut the musk deer here.
While the musk deer has just lost its breath, tie its two hind hooves with ropes and hang it upside down on a tree, then let it bleed. Then, starting from the underside of the hind hoof, cut a hole to tear open the skin, and then peel off the entire skin along the grain.
This method of peeling the skin is called raw skinning. Before, Gu Ran always brought the big animals back to his small house to process them. Because the conditions were convenient, he mostly used the scalding method.
That is, after boiling water, use boiling hot water to scald it and then peel it off.
There is also a singeing method that does not require retaining the outer layer of fur. The animal hair is burned and then scraped clean before processing the leather.
Let's get back to the topic. Back to the present, Gu Ran was processing the leather with Pei Liuniang. Because he had seen how Pei Liuniang peeled rabbit fur, he was not surprised that Pei Liuniang cooperated with him to peel deerskin.
It was Pei Liu who was surprised.
He had already seen Gu Ran process bamboo rat skins, but he was not surprised that Gu Er Niang could keep up with his pace and peel the skins skillfully.
I originally thought she could only tan the fur of small animals, but I didn't expect that she could even tan the fur of large animals.
He suddenly remembered the skins she had sold him at the beginning of the year to make fur coats, among which was a deerskin.
At that time she said that the deerskin was purchased, but now it seems that she might have set a trap in the mountains to capture a mountain deer and then tanned it herself.
It seems that Gu Er Niang has a lot of secrets hidden on her.
But, same here.
Pei Liu curled his lips into a faint smile and continued to focus on the leather.
When skinning, you must concentrate. When using a small knife to carefully cut the meat and skin, be careful not to bring the fat from the meat to the fur, and do not let the hair that falls off the skin stick to the meat. Grasp the torn skin tightly in order to make the skin taut. In this way, the place where the edge of the inner skin is connected to the meat will be clearly exposed, making it easier to use a knife to slowly separate the two.
In order to prevent too much meat from sticking to the leather, it is best to use the knife close to the leather, so that the cut surface will be smoother. Of course, you should also pay attention to the strength and direction to avoid cutting the leather accidentally.
Of course, deerskin is generally easier to peel because deer have less subcutaneous fat. After peeling off the notch, it is easy to pull down to peel off a large part of it. The remaining part is where the skin and meat fat are attached, where you need to use a knife. The most troublesome thing is to deal with the head and limbs.
After a cut was made, Gu Ran and Pei Liu each peeled off one side carefully. If it were Gu Ran doing this kind of work, it would probably take him two hours, but with the two of them working together, they peeled off a whole piece of intact deerskin in less than an hour.
While Gu Ran took the deerskin to the river to wash it, Pei Liu was responsible for dismembering the entire musk deer. The unwanted organs and other parts had to be buried in a hole to prevent the bloody smell from attracting other large beasts. As for the other parts of the meat, they were cut into pieces, then put into the river to wash it slightly, drained, and then put into a bamboo basket.
Now they were in the jungle and could not get back to the cave in time, so they could only choose a place with rocks to lean on and plan to camp for the night.
When the bonfire was burning, Pei Liuniang brought a flat stone over and used it as a cooking board. She cut the musk deer meat in the bamboo basket into small pieces, then picked them up with branches and roasted them by the fire.
Gu Ran was responsible for smearing salt on the rest of the venison, and then placing it near the fire to dry out the moisture.
The weather is hot, and if the meat is not marinated with salt, I'm afraid it will be inedible tomorrow.
Gu Ran glanced at Pei Liuniang, and when he took the meat out of her bamboo basket and rubbed salt on it, he pretended to put the salted musk deer meat into his own bamboo basket, but in fact he secretly put several pieces of fresh unsalted meat into the space compartment.
It is not good to have one more person around, because it is impossible to enjoy freedom openly.
Moreover, Pei Liuniang relied on her own strength and did not want to carry too much venison on her own, so she left it all in the bamboo basket on her side. Since she had less meat, there was naturally less musk deer meat that could be preserved.
Although they planned to eat musk deer meat in the next few days in the mountains, excluding the fur and skeleton, there were more than thirty or forty kilograms. Even if Pei Liuniang had a big appetite, she would not be able to finish it, and it would be wasted.
Gu Ran was so distressed to watch such delicious musk deer meat go bad that he was unwilling to do it.
That's why she had to sneak into Chencang and secretly hide some of the musk deer meat.
After Pei Liuniang had cut the meat for tonight's meal, she came to help marinate the venison. When everything was salted and put into the bamboo basket, she realized that the portion of musk deer meat that Gu Ran had given her was less, so she glanced at her.
Seeing that she seemed to be sitting by the campfire without noticing anything, roasting the musk deer meat on the branches over the flames, he didn't say anything, sat down beside her quietly, and concentrated on roasting the meat.
The musk deer meat cut by Pei Liuniang was not thick. It started to sizzle and release oil after being roasted on the fire for a while, and could be eaten quickly.
Fatty but not greasy, juicy and sweet.
After staying in the forest for three days and eating rice balls for three days, Gu Ran suddenly felt that all the hard work of the past few days was worth it.
Of course, if you are having a barbecue in the summer, how can you not prepare some fruit tea?
Although it is inconvenient to brew fruit tea, Gu Ran brought with him some ready-to-drink lemon jam. This was naturally made from the lemons picked after the lemon harvest last year.
I made a pot of lemon water for myself and Pei Liuniang, and drank it while eating. It was refreshing and helped me to eat it with musk deer meat.
Pei Liu drank the sweet and sour lemonade, and his appetite was greatly increased. He felt that the musk deer meat was more delicious than before - of course, in the past, he had never been so relaxed and enjoyed eating and drinking with others in the forest.
After eating to their heart's content, Gu Ran told Pei Liuniang about his plans while eating.
If she wants to sell fresh big beasts to Xu San, she can't hunt the wild beasts like she did today. She probably has to capture them alive and then transport the living big beasts to the county town. So tomorrow she plans to set up a rope trap that can capture the big beasts alive.
"If you have other ideas, you can also bring them up for us to see?"
Pei Liu took a sip of lemonade and shook his head.
"I'll do as you say."
"good."
More complex traps for hunting large animals, such as cage traps and fence traps, are not feasible because they have to be made on the spot.
If they were to do it now, not only would it be difficult to find so many materials in the forest, but they would also be in a place full of dangers, and it would not be suitable for them to put everything aside and set a trap.
So Gu Ran still made a rope trap.
The first thing is naturally to look for animal tracks. After determining the place where the deer are active, dig a hole around it and set a lasso, and then cover it with mud and dead leaves. Next, unlike setting traps and waiting for prey to come, when the prey appears, you can directly show up and drive them in the direction of the trap.
In this way, most of the initiative is in their hands, and the chance of hunting living things is naturally greatly increased.
After listening to Gu Ran's plan, Pei Liu said nothing, nodded and agreed, and went to find the best place to set the trap the next day.
In fact, for Pei Liu, who had been thrown into the jungle many times to fight with the assassin reserve and survived many times, it was not difficult to capture the big beast alive, especially since she had brute force.
But he had very little experience in capturing wild animals alive, and seeing that the method Gu Er Niang came up with was not bad, he naturally set the trap according to her method.
Because they only wanted to capture one big beast alive, the trap they dug was not big, similar to the trap Gu Ran had dug for big beasts before. Then they put down the ropes and made camouflage, and the two of them decided to divide the work and cooperate.
Pei Liu was agile, so the task of finding the prey and bringing it over was given to her.
Gu Ran was responsible for staying where he was, waiting for the prey to come over, and then scaring it to make it go towards the trap.
After splitting up, Pei Liu left the trap site.
As expected, he found a place where deer were active. He soon spotted a mountain deer walking slowly in the woods a mile away.
Pei Liu narrowed his eyes slightly.
That’s great!
As for Gu Ran, he was staying behind a tree not far from the trap. He chose a place with plenty of shade. He was wondering when Pei Liuniang would be able to drive the beast back when he heard a rapid howl.
Is it a deer?
Judging from the direction, they are coming this way!
Liu Niang has found the prey and is driving them over here?
Gu Ran suddenly became nervous and tightened his grip on the hoe.
I could hear the sound of hooves trampling in the woods, getting closer and closer. Soon, a mountain deer about the same size as the river deer from yesterday appeared before my eyes, its four hooves moving swiftly.
Here we come!
Gu Ran saw the mountain deer rushing straight towards the woods where the trap was set. He was afraid that it would turn around after being frightened, so he did not show up. He only ran over quickly after the mountain deer stepped on the camouflaged grass and fell into it.
In the trap, the frightened mountain deer kept climbing the pit wall with its front hooves, trying to climb out from the bottom of the pit, but it only pulled up the rustling soil. Because of its struggle, its right hind hoof stepped on the noose. After triggering the mechanism, the rope immediately caught its hind hoof. The mountain deer could no longer climb and could only howl at the bottom of the pit.
Gu Ran stood beside the trap and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the captured mountain deer.
"Done?"
Pei Liuniang, who had run back at some point, suddenly appeared beside her and asked.
"Look." Gu Ran pointed happily towards the bottom of the pit.
Pei Liuniang also breathed a sigh of relief.
"We have to find a way to get it up." Gu Ran worried.
She had previously killed all the big beasts she had caught in the trap with a single blow, but now she had to bring them back alive...
"I'll do it."
Pei Liuniang quickly climbed down from the trap. Gu Ran watched her rush towards the retreating mountain deer, raising its two front hooves. But when she saw the opportunity, she suddenly punched the deer's head.
The mountain deer rolled its eyes and then fell down with a thud.
Pei Liu raised his head proudly and looked at Gu Ran.
Having great strength is amazing.
Gu Ran gave Pei Liu a thumbs up.
At this time, Pei Liu already knew that the thumbs-up meant to praise his ability. He smiled, then lowered his head, untied the rope, and tied it directly around the mountain deer's neck.
Then he picked up the mountain deer and climbed out of the pit easily.
It's really amazing to have great strength.
If it were Gu Ran, how could he possibly carry such a large mountain deer? Not to mention being able to climb out of the pit with the weight on his shoulders.
The fact that she was able to catch the big beast and bring it back was all thanks to the space grid.
"What now?"
"Going home, of course."
Now that we have caught the creature alive, we can report to Xu San. Why are we still staying in this dangerous forest?
So Gu Ran planned to go back to the village directly.
Unfortunately, it was already late. Not long after she and Pei Liuniang, who was carrying the mountain deer, walked out of the hunting forest, it was already dark. In that case, they decided to spend the night in the cave they had been in before.
On the way, the mountain deer seemed to show signs of waking up, but Pei Liuniang punched it again and knocked it unconscious again.
When they arrived at the cave, they first laid the deer on the ground and tied its mouth with a rope - they were afraid that the deer's cry at night would attract large beasts that came to hunt. Then they tied up the deer's limbs. Then they moved it to the side of the cave entrance, tied its body with another rope, and tied it to a large rock next to the cave, completely eliminating the possibility of the deer struggling and escaping.
Because they had completed the mission of entering the forest, both Gu Ran and Pei Liu looked much more relaxed.
"How much money would Xu Sanhui pay for this mountain deer?"
Pei Liu looked at the fallen deer and estimated its weight. "This deer, according to the market price, can be worth fifty taels."
"Really?" Gu Ran also looked back, feeling happy in his heart, "If we can really earn fifty taels, we will split the money in half." That would be twenty-five taels, a huge sum of money.
"Half and half?" Pei Liu was stunned.
"Of course, you came hunting with me. We dug the traps together, and you found the deer and drove them here. You had to carry it back. You worked just as hard as I did, so of course we'll split the money we earn in half." Gu Ran said as he took some meat out of the bamboo basket, preparing to eat tonight. "It can only be half each. If you want more, I won't give it to you."
Pei Liu pursed his lips and smiled: "Okay."
Half each.
She was actually willing to give herself such a large sum of money.
In this world, he had never met anyone who was willing to share money with him, but he often met people who wanted to steal his saved gold and silver and even take his life.
The two happily roasted roe deer meat for another meal, and when they decided who would keep watch, Gu Ran said first, "This time, I'll watch the first half of the night, and I'll wake you up in the second half."
The last time Pei Liuniang spent the night in this cave, she stayed there alone all night.
Gu Ran felt that this was not a good idea.
Although Pei Liuniang is very capable, she is a younger woman than herself, and she was the one who brought her into the forest. So if anything happens, it is normal for her as the elder sister to take care of her. How can she let her younger sister watch over her all night?
So Gu Ran insisted on keeping watch first.
Pei Liu couldn't persuade her and had to agree.
When it was time to rest, Pei Liu went into the cave and slowly fell on the straw mat. He turned around and looked through the gaps in the vines hanging from the cave entrance at Gu Er Niang, who was squatting by the campfire and roasting pieces of venison.
Although three days had passed, there was still a lot of meat left from the musk deer. Every night, Gu Er Niang would take it out, smoke it, roast it, and slowly roast it into jerky, so that the meat would not easily go bad in the hot weather.
Pei Liu looked for a long time until he felt tired and then closed his eyes in relaxation.
Gu Ran was busy by the campfire, with beads of sweat oozing from her forehead. Although she was grilling meat, she was actually paying attention to the wind direction in the forest while also glancing at the movements in the cave.
Because she felt that Pei Liuniang's gaze in the cave was always on her side. After a long time, she felt that the gaze disappeared, and guessed that Pei Liuniang had fallen asleep. Gu Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, and then she reached into the bamboo basket swiftly, and under disguise, she took out a large piece of ice from it, put it in the pot, and placed it next to herself to cool herself down.
Then he grabbed a cup of iced green plum water that he had prepared earlier and placed in the space compartment, drank it in big gulps, and immediately all the heat accumulated throughout the day disappeared.
Although he felt a little guilty, Gu Ran couldn't help but feel happy, and at the same time he didn't forget to look back to see what was going on in the cave.
Very good, Pei Liuniang probably fell asleep.
Even if he was awake, her back was facing away from her, so as long as she didn't see the cup in her hand, she would definitely not notice.
You can't blame her for stealing the secret from Pei Liuniang. After all, Gu Ran had no intention of sharing such a big secret of space with anyone. It was enough for him to benefit himself.
In this way, Gu Ran ate and drank secretly, intending to survive the two hours of vigil.
After an unknown amount of time, when she gradually felt tired, she suddenly heard a strange noise nearby, which made Gu Ran tremble all over: Oh no, is there a big beast coming?
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