Chapter 4: Foot Injury: The male rabbit's foot is confused, and the female rabbit's eyes are blurred
Hunter's trap.
A day ago, Xu Sirui would never have imagined such a magical phrase would be associated with him. He thought hunters existed only in fairy tales, an endangered ancient legend. After all, it was the 21st century, a time of scarce resources. Anything that could fly or run was considered a protected species. Even sparrows, once considered a pest, were now considered members of the human race. How could there still be hunters in the mountains?
But the truth is, he knows very little about the mountain village. As the saying goes, live by the sea, eat by the sea; live by the mountain, eat by the mountain. In the economically underdeveloped mountainous areas, game is still one of the important sources of meat for some villagers. There are not only hunters here, but also ancient traps.
A large hole about two meters deep, covered with mud and hay.
Xu Sirui had no idea that he had to watch his step while walking on the mountain. As he was walking, he stepped on empty air and rolled into the cave in a magnificent manner. He only had time to let out a scream.
He didn't know whether to call it lucky or unfortunate, there weren't any sharpened bamboo poles at the bottom of the cave. Otherwise, he wouldn't have just fallen flat on his face, he'd probably have lost his life. He rubbed his butt and stood up, his mind racing, cursing every possible curse word he could think of. He was thankful no one had seen him in this miserable state, then stretched out his arms to grab the edge of the cave and scrambled out.
My hands and feet were dirty, and my clothes were covered with mud marks.
This was not the worst. The worst thing was that he sprained his ankle.
He tried to stand up and took two steps when a sharp pain suddenly shot through his right ankle. Xu Sirui cursed, suspecting he'd recently been in trouble. No, it wasn't the Tai Sui, it was this awful place that was unlucky for him. Ever since coming to the mountains, nothing had gone his way. It was like this damn place was sucking his luck away.
There was no way to leave. Xu Sirui was not good at enduring hardship. Compared to the protagonists on TV who dragged their injured legs and gritted their teeth to move forward, he was better at retreating when faced with difficulties.
He turned on his phone without any hope, but sure enough, there was no signal. As a last resort, he typed a message asking for help and sent it to his parents. Then he put his phone back in his pocket, intending to stay where he was and wait for help.
There should be rescue... right?
He was a key member of the program, so Yang Ji had to bring people to find him. He just didn't know if Yang Ji could guess his whereabouts. He had only spoken to Zhu Yingning this morning, and he didn't know if this country bumpkin would take advantage of this opportunity to kick him when he was down and deliberately conceal his whereabouts. The more Xu Sirui thought about it, the more upset he felt. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Zhu Yingning's face was full of sinister and despicable temperament.
Forget it, there is no point in thinking too much.
He shook his head and simply leaned against the tree trunk and closed his eyes to rest.
People are more likely to feel tired when they are injured. In addition, he had not slept all night and was already in a daze. He just wanted to kill time casually, but he fell asleep in a few minutes and slept soundly and unconscious.
**
Xu Sirui was woken up by mosquitoes.
He remembered that he just closed his eyes and dozed off lightly. When he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness. Except for the annoying buzzing sound in his ears, it seemed that he was the only living thing in the world.
I glanced down at my watch——
7:30.
It's not that late, why is it so dark? Is it going to rain?
……etc.
When his sleepy mind came back to normal, he remembered something and quickly took out his cell phone from his pocket. When he saw that it showed 19:30, his mind was completely confused.
Shit, he slept for twelve hours!
The mountains and forests after dark are completely different from those before dark. At daybreak, the mountains are just mountains and the trees are just trees. After dark, the mountains are like the deep sea and the trees are like waves, burying him layer by layer in the darkness where no light can reach. Only the sea surface and the ends of the trees are sparkling with thin moonlight.
At this point, Xu Sirui really started to panic.
He thought Yang Ji and the others would find him quickly, but he waited from dawn to dusk, and no one had even noticed his whereabouts. Were they really looking for him? Were they unable to find him, or had they already returned home?
He couldn't think about it anymore. The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became. He stood up, holding onto the tree trunk, and tried to walk back based on his memory. His sprained ankle hadn't been treated in time, and it was even more swollen than before. He only walked a meter or two slowly before he broke into a sweat. He didn't know whether to move forward or stop.
Just as I was struggling, I suddenly heard a rustling sound not far away, which sounded like the footsteps of some animal.
Xu Sirui suddenly remembered what Yang Ji had told him, that after dark, wild bears and wild boars would come out and run around in the mountains.
...it's over.
What should I do?! Should I stay put or quickly sneak up the tree?
He had no experience in dealing with wild animals, nor did he know how people should protect themselves in the mountains. His legs were frozen in place until the footsteps were getting closer and closer to him and a beam of light hit his face unexpectedly. Then he screamed out instinctively.
"Xu Sirui?"
Zhu Yingning held up the flashlight and looked at him in surprise.
"...Fuck! Why is it you?"
Xu Sirui stopped shouting in an instant and stretched out his hand to block the light of the flashlight. His face had a complicated expression, a mixture of relief and surprise at being discovered, and embarrassment at being embarrassed and going back to his grandmother's house.
The two stood there and stared at each other for a moment before Zhu Yingning took the initiative to break the silence and asked him, "Why are you here?"
He was so concerned about his reputation that he deliberately concealed the fact that he was lost, and said ambiguously: "Of course I want to go down the mountain and go home. Who wants to stay in a shabby place like yours?"
Zhu Yingning uttered an "oh" and said indifferently, "But where you are standing now is the opposite of the way down the mountain."
“…”
"Are you lost?"
“…”
Silence was tacit agreement. She sighed and said, "The crew has been looking for you all day."
"They've been looking for me all day and still haven't found me. This crew is really efficient." Xu Sirui couldn't help but complain softly.
Zhu Yingning frowned in disapproval. "Everyone thought you'd gone down the mountain, so they were all looking for you along the way down. If I hadn't come here to pick spring bamboo shoots, who would have guessed you were here? You shouldn't take their efforts for granted."
After she said this, Xu Sirui realized that she was carrying a bamboo basket on her shoulder, which was full of bamboo shoots.
It turned out that she was just passing by while picking something and didn't come to see him specifically. Xu Sirui felt very embarrassed and secretly thanked himself for not showing his self-indulgent feelings.
"Okay, since we've met, just come back with me." Zhu Yingning shook the bamboo basket. Not wanting to waste any more time here, he turned around and prepared to lead the way. "If you have anything to say, we can talk when we get back. It's getting dark, and it's not safe in the mountains."
Unexpectedly, she walked forward for a while, but Xu Sirui didn't catch up with her. She turned her head and asked in surprise: "Why, are you planning to stay here and feed the mosquitoes?"
"...No." At this point, there was no point in continuing to hide it. Xu Sirui could only tell the truth, lowering his voice awkwardly, "I... I sprained my ankle and can't walk."
Zhu Yingning knew the terrain of this area like the back of his hand. When he heard him say he'd sprained his ankle, he instinctively glanced at a nearby trap. Seeing the camouflage grass covering it had indeed vanished, he instantly understood. The trap had been set by an old hunter from their village. The village Party Secretary had repeatedly warned him to fill it up to prevent children from falling into it, but the old hunter was stubborn, insisting, "Kids here are all cunning, like monkeys. Don't worry about whether they can fall in or not." He hadn't done anything until now.
Isn't it? Now one has been caught.
Looking at Xu Sirui's embarrassed expression, it was clear that he felt this was very embarrassing. Zhu Yingning had no habit of exposing others' shortcomings. She pretended to be ignorant, put down the bamboo basket on her shoulder and walked towards him. She stretched out her right hand and pinched it. Regardless of his screams, she pinched his ankle swiftly and skillfully and quickly helped him check the bones.
good.
"The bones are not broken."
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts—!!” He gasped repeatedly.
"Can you walk?"
"What do you think?!"
Xu Sirui's coquettishness made her speechless. She stood there with her hands on her hips, thinking for a few seconds, and finally squatted down with her back to him.
"What?"
"Come up, I'll carry you."
He was stunned.
It wasn't that he suddenly had a change of heart, but rather that he was skeptical. Zhu Yingning looked incredibly frail, barely 1.60 meters tall. She looked thin from the front, and flat from the side. She could be used as a shoulder pole without any secondary processing. And Xu Sirui, who had been raised on a diet of delicacies, had naturally grown taller than his peers. Although only a teenager, he was already approaching 1.82 meters. He suspected that if he dared to lie on top of her, Zhu Yingning's waist would break right there in front of him. This was too horrifying. She dared to carry him on her back, but she didn't even dare to lie down.
"Are you..." He chose his words carefully, "Are you sure?"
"What's wrong?" She wondered why he didn't come up.
"I mean, don't you think there's a big height difference between us?" Xu Sirui gestured and, to be more convincing, asked her, "How tall are you?"
"One meter five seven." She answered truthfully.
"Fuck, you're shorter than I thought. How much do you weigh?"
"Eighty-eight pounds."
“…”
Xu Sirui's mouth twitched, and he pointed his index finger at himself. "I'm 18.6 meters tall and weigh 118 pounds."
Zhu Yingning didn't understand: "So?"
"Do you know what this means? Do you think you can carry me?" Xu Sirui widened his eyes in disbelief.
You're actually worried about this? Zhu Yingning found it very funny: "Are you going to come up or not?"
"I feel it's dangerous."
"Okay, then I'll support you and you can walk slowly by yourself." She made a gesture to get up.
"Hey! Wait a minute—"
"What happened again?"
In the end, his pampered nature overcame his concerns for safety. Xu Sirui cleared his throat and said shamelessly, "I've decided. You carry me on your back."
“…”
After saying that, he reached out and pushed her back, carefully adjusted his posture and lay on her back, and said worriedly: "Please don't let me fall."
When everything was ready, he noticed the bamboo basket on the ground and asked casually, "What are you going to do with this basket of bamboo shoots?"
I thought she would reply, "Put it here first, and come back for it later," or something like that, but Zhu Yingning replied matter-of-factly, "You carry it on your back."
"What?!" Xu Sirui was shocked. Forget about asking him to carry such a cheap thing. Just his weight plus the weight of the bamboo shoots would probably weigh 130 kilograms. Is this guy crazy?
But Zhu Yingning was very serious: "Hurry up, don't dawdle, my mother will be worried if you go back late."
Xu Sirui hated being ordered around the most, but because he needed her help, he had to grit his teeth, swallow his disgust, and reluctantly picked up the basket of bamboo shoots on the ground.
So we started to go down the mountain.
The mountain road was difficult to walk on, and the flashlight in Zhu Yingning's hand was of low power, so it could only barely illuminate a small section of the road ahead. Xu Sirui was nervous the whole time, fearing that she would take a wrong step and throw him down the slope.
But the strange thing is that although she has such a small body and is neither tall nor powerful, she walks very steadily step by step and breathes evenly.
In late spring, he was wearing a down jacket, while she wore only a single layer. The rough fabric gradually soaked with sweat, clinging to her body, revealing the slender muscles of her arms. Xu Sirui had originally disliked physical contact, but now that he was covered in mud and filthy beyond measure, his obsession with cleanliness was over. Instead, he reached out and pinched her arm, finding it firm and firm. He exclaimed with genuine admiration, "I didn't expect you to have such impressive muscles. Girls would probably like that."
"?"
Zhu Yingning was stunned. She didn't understand why he had no sense of propriety between men and women. "...Don't touch me."
Xu Sirui felt puzzled: "What's wrong with touching it? It won't kill you." After saying that, he pinched it again deliberately, thinking that we were all men, and he didn't know why this person was being so awkward.
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