Chapter 81 Hunting in the Mountains
The next morning, Lin Heng woke up and felt that his waist and limbs did not feel like his own. The slightest movement caused his whole body to ache.
This series of high-intensity work was too tiring for him, as he often did not work in the fields.
"If you are really tired, just rest at home and don't go."
Xiulan noticed Lin Heng's movements.
"It's okay, it's fine, just do some exercise and it will be fine." Lin Heng shook his head, sat up and pinched his legs and waist.
"Let me help you, get down."
Xiulan went to the closet to take out safflower oil, poured a little on her hands, and massaged Lin Heng's limbs, waist and back.
"Are you feeling better?" Xiulan asked after kneading it once.
"Much better. Safflower oil is really effective." Lin Heng nodded and climbed up putting on his clothes.
As a well-known Chinese medicine for external use, it was invented as early as the Qing Dynasty. But it is still used today, which fully demonstrates the excellence of this medicine.
"Don't wake up your daughter. I'll go cook for you. Ask your uncle to come over and eat with you."
Xiulan whispered.
Lin Heng nodded. Xiaoxia was sleeping soundly. The method he thought of was a good way to prevent his daughter from getting into the bad habit of kicking the quilt.
As soon as Lin Heng walked out of the gate of the yard, he saw a figure in black clothes walking down the other side of the river at a very fast speed.
Looking closely, if this isn't his uncle, then who else could it be?
He was also convinced. When he woke up in the morning and looked at the clock, it was half past five, which meant that he left home at five o'clock.
Shaking his head helplessly, he walked towards the old house.
When he came over, he saw that his uncle had just gotten up and his mother was about to cook for him.
Lin Heng looked at his mother and said, "Mom, don't worry about it. Xiulan is cooking. Just let my uncle go over and eat."
"Yes, Hongmei, please stop cooking. I'll go to Lin Heng's house to eat together." The uncle also spoke.
He washed his face, took his things and left.
When the two men came out of the door, Lin Heng found that his uncle had already walked to the street outside the door.
"Quanwazi, you run really fast." His uncle said loudly.
"Is it okay if I don't hurry? What if you run away?" His uncle-in-law chuckled.
"Li Baiquan, are you going too?" Tian Baishun walked over from not far away, with a hunting rifle on his shoulder and a dog by his side.
"Yes, we have company in numbers, and this time a whole big wild boar is back." Li Baiquan chuckled.
"Come home and have some food. My wife is cooking." Lin Heng invited everyone into the house.
Xiulan ordered sauerkraut noodles. Everyone took a big bowl and sat around the table, eating and talking.
"So, which direction are we going today?"
Lin Heng asked after taking a bite of noodles.
Tian Baishun suggested, "Since there are four of us, let's go to Taibai Mountain. There are many things and large forests in that direction."
"Sure, I think so."
"It doesn't matter to me, near or far is fine."
Seeing that his uncle and uncle-in-law both agreed, Lin Heng naturally had no objection: "Then let's go to Taibai Mountain."
The direction of Taibai Mountain is the same as that of Baishigou, but a little further south.
There is a small path leading to Taibai Mountain, which is easier to walk than walking directly through the forest.
"Let's go!" After finishing the meal, Lin Heng was the first to stand up with his things on his back.
The other three did the same thing, walking out with guns in hand and backpacks on their backs.
"Be careful." He actually asked three people to send him to the door and gave him instructions.
"Don't worry, it's okay."
Lin Heng waved his hand and responded with a smile.
The four of them came to Hongfeng Mountain to the west of the village. They entered the mountain and walked southwest. After about twenty kilometers, they arrived at the foot of Taibai Mountain.
Lin Heng did not bring Xiongba this time because just now in the yard, Tian Baishun's dog kept trying to bite Xiongba.
Besides, he didn't want other people to know how special Xiongba was.
After entering the mountain, Tian Baishun let his hunting dog loose, walked in front and said, "I am familiar with this road. I have walked this road more than ten times. I will lead the way."
"I suggest that we start looking for prey here, and don't have to wait until we go to Taibai Mountain." Lin Heng said to everyone.
"Then, let's do this together, or the four of us can spread out a little and look for traces of prey." Uncle Li Baiquan said.
"Okay, let me know if there's any major discovery." His uncle said, and walked to the left.
Lin Heng walked to the right and followed his uncle to see how he found prey.
After walking up the mountain for a while, he didn't find any trace. When he was about to climb the mountain, Lin Heng smelled a foul odor.
"Who set the trap that killed the hairy mouse?" Uncle Li Baiquan saw the stone trap in the distance at a glance.
"There's not much drama in this place, but people come here all the time."
He shook his head and pointed to a trap not far away and said, "Look, this is the King of Hell's Hanging."
The Yama Hanging is a trampling catapult trap, which is a trap set on the ground by bending a tree with a rope.
When the prey steps on it, the mechanism will be triggered, causing it to be launched into the air and hung in mid-air. The mechanism is very sensitive and if it is stepped on, it basically means meeting the King of Hell, hence the name "King of Hell Hanging".
"Uncle, how is this made?" Lin Heng knew this kind of trap, but he didn't know how to make it.
He only knew how to use the simplest noose trap, which was a kind of movable rope that would get tighter as an animal passed through it.
"This is easy. I'll teach you." Li Baiquan said with a smile, and took the wooden stick to trigger the Yama King Hanging in front of him.
With a bang, the whole tree straightened and the rope and the wooden stick flew into the sky.
"In fact, there is a wooden stake with a hook nailed into the ground. A small wooden stick is passed through the hook. The rope is cleverly stuck on it, and branches and leaves are laid on it to complete it."
Li Baiquan explained and covered it up for Lin Heng.
"I understand." Lin Heng finally knew how to set it up.
"Then let's go. There's probably nothing on this ridge."
Li Baiquan said this and continued walking forward.
Lin Heng staggered with him and walked side by side. Before they knew it, it was already noon. They had climbed over three mountains, but there was still no major progress.
He spotted three squirrels and two crows, but didn't stand a chance.
My uncle-in-law Li Baiquan found traces of wild boar, but it had been a while and he couldn't determine its exact location.
I never picked up any mushrooms or anything like that, unless they were precious ones like Ganoderma lucidum.
Lin Heng ate his steamed buns while looking around. The trees in the forest here were basically over 15 meters tall, tall and thick, and many of them had fallen and rotted.
Taibai Mountain can be seen from a distance. It is still winter on the mountain at this time of year, with the temperature around minus ten degrees Celsius.
There is no summer on Mount Taibai all year round. The spring and autumn last for fifty days, and the winter lasts for more than three hundred days. From a distance, it is all covered with white clouds.
Even so, you can still feel its majestic aura, the entire mountain range seems like a giant dragon lying across.
"Lin Heng, there should be something here, pay attention, I found badger feces, it must have been recently excreted."
Just as Lin Heng was enjoying the scenery, he heard a reminder from his uncle from afar.
"Okay, got it."
Lin Heng collected his thoughts and began to search carefully.
“Lingzhi!”
Who would have thought that before finding the prey, a red Ganoderma lucidum was seen first.
When I walked up to the tree stump, I saw that there was not just one flower, but a cluster of them. There were eight flowers growing next to the stump, three big ones and five small ones.
“What good luck.”
Lin Heng couldn't help but smile. They were all newly produced, and none of them had already turned into wood.
He hurriedly looked around. Logically, it should still be there, but unfortunately he couldn't find it. At this time, he began to miss Xiongba.
“Buzz!!”
As Lin Heng was searching, he suddenly heard a buzzing sound. Thinking it was a wasp, he was so scared that he froze and held his breath.
Then he slowly searched for the beehive, looked around, and confirmed that the sound came from the left front of him.
Lin Heng looked at it carefully and immediately turned his worry into joy: "It's not a wasp, but a nest of wild bees."
He walked closer and confirmed it again. Sure enough, the thing that flew out from the stone step was a bee.
"Uncle, come here quickly, there are good things." Lin Heng called hurriedly.
"What is that?" Li Baiquan thought it was prey and walked over quickly.
"I don't know how to make wild honey. Come over and help me. We can split it in half."
Lin Heng said in a low voice.
When hunting in a team, distribution is based on work. Naturally, the spoils of this kind that are discovered alone belong to him alone. If he asks others for help, he will naturally have to share some of the spoils.
"What a good thing! This is a big nest with a lot of bees." Li Baiquan took a look and immediately grinned.
This natural wild honey collected from deep in the Qinling Mountains has extremely high nutritional value and can be sold for four or five yuan per pound.
"I just discovered this while picking Ganoderma lucidum, but I have never collected honey and I don't know how to make it." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"It's okay. Leave it to me." Uncle Li Baiquan smiled and patted his chest.
He first found some pine needles, then got some fresh leaves to wrap them around, and when he lit them, thick smoke billowed.
Then he walked in front holding the cigarette, and Lin Heng walked behind holding a knife and a plastic bag, feeling a little nervous.
"Don't be afraid. Even if it lands on you, don't hurt it. It won't sting you."
My uncle gave me some instructions and placed the smoke under the stone step. The bees were immediately frightened by the smoke and flew out.
Their deep-seated instincts told them that this was a sign of a forest fire.
"I'll order one more." Feeling that one was not enough, Li Baiquan ordered another one.
He waited until the bees were dazed by the smoke before he began to remove the stone steps.
"This place is looser and much simpler. I made a nest of wild honey under the roots of a tree before. I was exhausted from digging and chopping."
After dismantling the boxes, Li Baiquan was still in the mood to chat. Lin Heng was relieved when he saw that the bees were not that scary.
Soon, after the stones were removed, the beehive was revealed a little bit, and Lin Heng saw many capped, plump brood combs.
After a spring of collecting honey, the beehive now has the most honey.
"If I become rich, I can harvest at least four or five kilograms of honey. Hand me the knife."
My uncle couldn't hide the smile on his face, he turned around and said.
"Great." Lin Heng handed over the knife with a smile on his face. It was only the afternoon and he had already reaped such a harvest on the first day. This trip was not in vain.
Li Baiquan scraped the rocks and soil a little more to expose more of the beehive, then reached out and cut the first piece of honeycomb.
"This piece weighs two kilograms." He drove away the scattered bees on the honeycomb and then put it into the plastic bag that Lin Heng was holding.
Lin Heng broke off a piece of honey and ate it together with the honeycomb. The sweetness was a bit sickening, but after a while he could actually smell a floral scent.
"No, come back someday and take these bees back and raise them on Red Maple Mountain."
Lin Heng smiled and said that bees are very beneficial to humans. Not only honey, but also the buzzing sound made by bees has a therapeutic effect on the human body.
Studies have shown that beekeepers who regularly manage beehives generally live five to ten years longer than normal people. Placing a beehive barrel at the door of your home will make you more peaceful and less angry or irritable.
"Sure, if you get a beehive, I can help you collect the bees. I collect my own bees on the wild slopes.
Moreover, this period of time is when the bees are swarming, and some newly separated bees are easier to collect, so they will be lured away by just a little honey."
As my uncle spoke, he was harvesting honey. Since it was summer, there was no need to leave any honey for them, so he harvested all four honeycombs.
After the harvest, they covered the hole with stones and scattered some leaves, restoring it to its original state.
"Okay, I'll get some wood to make two beehives when we get back." Lin Heng nodded. It would be convenient to keep two barrels of honey for his own consumption.
"Including the honeycombs, it must be at least 7 or 8 kilograms, and pure honey must be 4 or 5 kilograms."
After the harvest, the two returned to a safe place, and Li Baiquan grinned as he looked at the bag of honey.
"Yes, we each earned ten dollars." Lin Heng smiled.
"You are lucky, and I am lucky too following you." Li Baiquan said with a smile.
Lin Heng put the honey into another bag, put it in his backpack, and went back to divide it.
"By the way, uncle, have you found any trace of the badger?" Lin Heng asked.
"No, I think it's in the Sanchagou ditch below. Looking at the sky, we probably have to find a place to stay in the ditch tonight."
Li Baiquan said.
"Then let's look around. I think there's work to be done here."
The Sanchagou below is where three streams converge, forming a small basin full of trees. From afar, you can see many rocks and large wetlands.
There must be traces of animals in this place.
Lin Heng separated from his uncle again and searched everywhere.
As the sun gets lower and lower, various animals begin to come out of the mountains and move around. From 4 p.m. to 12 p.m. is the golden time for hunting.
At around four o'clock, Lin Heng saw the first prey that could be hunted at noon.
A gray squirrel sitting on a pine tree trunk picked up a slingshot and accurately shot a clay ball at its head.
Basically, as long as you are within the range and your slingshot skills are well-trained, it is difficult to miss the target.
With a loud bang, the gray squirrel fell from the tree. When Lin Heng picked it up, it was already dead.
Continuing walking, Lin Heng failed to find any trace of prey, but did find a small piece of chanterelles.
This time, he picked it up because he could cook it in the evening and it would be nice to stew it with squirrel.
After finding nothing on the mountainside, Lin Heng looked for it and then walked down the mountain.
"Large-fruited green pine, a very precious tree species."
As he walked, Lin Heng saw a big tree that was more than ten meters high. It looked like a spruce, with huge oval fruit balls hanging on its branches.
This is a tree unique to the Qinling Mountains. It is very precious and only found in the Qinling Mountains. It looks very beautiful, but unfortunately it has no value to him.
After thinking about it, he picked up two fruit balls from the ground and threw them into the backpack.
This thing produces a lot of pine nuts, and he wanted to see if there were any squirrels nearby.
“Hey, there really is one.”
Lin Heng saw a red squirrel on a big tree not far away. Although it was a bit high, he still wanted to give it a try.
"Bang!!"
Just as he was about to take action, a loud gunshot was heard in the distance, followed by a series of echoes.
When the squirrel on the treetop heard the sound, it ran away.
However, Lin Heng didn't care about these, and hurried over to meet up with his uncle-in-law and walked towards Tian Baishun, wondering if he had caught some prey.
"Lin Heng, did you catch any prey?" Li Baiquan asked.
"A little squirrel, what about you?" Lin Heng showed the things in the backpack and asked again.
"I didn't catch any prey, but I was lucky enough to find a bunch of Buddha's hand ginseng, and I dug out about six or seven kilograms."
Li Baiquan took out what he had dug and showed it to Lin Heng. It was different from ginseng. It was the root of an orchid plant that looked like a human hand, so it was called human-hand ginseng or Buddha's hand ginseng.
Its medicinal value is also very high. It is a very precious Chinese herbal medicine. The wild one can be sold for seven or eight yuan per catty.
"You're luckier than me. You can get about one or two kilograms of fruit after drying." Lin Heng said enviously.
"Hehe, you are lucky. Following you, I am lucky too." Li Baiquan smiled.
"Uncle, do you think they caught some large prey?"
Lin Heng asked as he walked forward.
"It's impossible. I think it's a pheasant or something like that. At most, it's just a white rice seed."
Li Baiquan shook his head.
The so-called white rice is civet cat, and they are used to calling it that here.
"But you never know, maybe they are just lucky."
Li Baiquan said with a smile again.
"It's possible."
Lin Heng nodded.
The two of them hurried over, and only saw Tian Baishun and Lin Heng's uncle Lu Honghai after they were nearly a kilometer away.
Lin Heng asked first: "What did you hit?"
"Two golden roosters. We found these two preys today," said Lu Honghai.
"Your uncle and I found it together. I fired the gun. We each got one."
Tian Baishun picked up the golden roosters and shook them. They were two female golden roosters with gray hair.
"That's not bad." Lin Heng nodded. This golden rooster definitely couldn't be saved, so he could have a good meal tonight.
"You guys? What did you get?" Tian Baishun asked curiously.
Li Baiquan chuckled: "We got wild honey and bergamot ginseng, and Lin Heng even killed a hairy mouse."
"Your luck is really amazing." Tian Baishun looked at Lin Heng and felt that it was the aura of a novice. Although he didn't catch anything, the things he collected were very profitable.
Compared to the golden rooster, the things they made can be preserved for a long time, and the best gain is to be able to take them back and sell them for money.
They can only roast and eat this golden chicken tonight.
"It's probably past five. We need to find a place to sleep for the night. Once we find one, we can go out hunting."
Lin Heng looked at the sky and said.
"Yes, it just so happens that all the prey nearby have been scared away."
Lu Honghai nodded.
The four of them walked down the mountain together. Although it was summer, this was high in the mountains. It didn't feel very hot in the forest during the day, and it was only eight or nine degrees at night.
If you don't find a place to shelter from the wind and rain, you might die in one night if you encounter a storm.
Everyone understands this principle and this matter cannot be taken lightly.
There are quite a few hunters who have died in the Qinling Mountains, most of whom died from the environment rather than from poisonous snakes and wild beasts.
Sorry, there was some problem with my computer. I just fixed it.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
