Chapter 158 157. Sharpening the Knife to Attack the Little Deer
Zhou Yi followed without saying anything.
The little sika deer seemed to be really frightened and crazy, running around uncontrollably, falling down a hillside and getting caught on a vine. It was still twitching and struggling, trying to get out of the predicament.
“Yo——”
“Yo——”
The cries of the young sika deer are mournful and whimpering, and the calls of the deer in the deep mountains are mournful and urgent.
Sika deer are social animals.
In winter, the herd size of Sika deer is larger, reaching 20-30 or even more. Since Sika deer are polygamous, there is abundant grass and grass in spring or early summer and they have no worries about food and drink. After giving birth, the female deer will slowly separate and form a group of 5-7 or more than 10 female deer and fawns.
It's okay for female deer and fawns, but if there are male deer in the herd in the mountains, and Lei Li and Zhou Yi catch their cubs, it will be dangerous.
When a strong adult male deer stands, including the length of its antlers, it can be as tall as an adult man. The antlers extend and fork like branches, and can be more than 80 cm long. The curved antler tips are very hard and sharp.
If it were to rush forward and hit someone with its hoof, its stomach would be pierced and its intestines would flow out.
Although Lei Li had never seen an adult sika deer, he had heard about the ferocity of the sika deer's antlers. Moreover, he never looked down on these animals. How could they survive without some skills?
Even a lion uses all its strength to fight a rabbit.
Lei Li did not dare to underestimate him.
Without caring whether to hurt the fur of the little sika deer, he went down to the place where the little sika deer was trapped, grabbed the vines with one hand to support himself, and then, when the opportunity arose, he decisively ended the life of the little sika deer.
The little sika deer was dead but its nerves were still alive and its limbs twitched from time to time.
"Wait a moment."
Lei Li said to Zhou Yi without turning his head, cut off a long and flexible vine with a grass knife, tied up the four hooves of the sika deer, and then threw the other part of the vine to Zhou Yi.
"You pull the deer up, I can do it myself."
"Be careful."
Zhou Yi pulled the little sika deer up by the rope, and then reached out to pull Lei Li.
Lei Li's face was splashed with deer blood.
As soon as I got close to him, I could smell the fresh, hot smell of blood, mixed with the faint peach blossom scent from the cream he often used. It was hard to say whether it smelled good or not.
It was just a rosy and bright face with a smile that made Zhou Yi's heart beat fast.
Zhou Yi rolled his Adam's apple.
It is obvious that someone who is so cautious and conservative in business is always reckless and impulsive when hunting, whether it is hunting wild boars, killing snakes, and now catching sika deer.
A knife cut the carotid artery.
The prey didn't even have time to whimper before it was splattered with blood. It died quickly and efficiently. Lei Li's catch was rough and quick, but he always ended up covered in blood and misery.
Zhou Yi took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off Lei Li's face.
Zhou Yi started carrying this handkerchief in his pocket after he had little Jiang. When little Jiang drank milk or ate snacks, food residue would get on his mouth, and Zhou Yi would use the handkerchief to wipe it for him.
"I often use this handkerchief to wipe little ginger's face and mouth. Even her clothes smell like milk."
Lei Li said with a smile.
Little Jiang likes to drink cow's and goat's milk. He drinks a small bowl of warm milk almost every day. His body smells sweet and fragrant like a snow lily. This handkerchief is often used to wipe him, so it also smells of milk.
Including little ginger's clothes, the toys he often plays with, his small pillow and blanket, and the small bed where he usually takes a nap, all have a milky smell.
Suddenly thinking of something else, Lei Li teased, "When I first gave birth to little Jiang, did I also smell like milk?"
Yes, it is.
However, the ginger is picked up from drinking milk, and the thunder chestnut is produced spontaneously due to the stimulation of prolactin in the body. It's just that my brother has too little prolactin, not enough to feed the baby, so he can only feed it with other things or ask the wet nurse to sell a dairy sheep.
Let the child's father do it all.
When Zhou Yi heard this, he knew that Lei Li was teasing him again. His face turned red and he looked at him with pursed lips, then folded the handkerchief he had used to wipe his hair and put it back in his pocket.
"Let's go quickly. I wonder if those sika deer will chase us."
Sika deer are timid, docile and cautious by nature. They will not attack people easily, let alone chase people into inhabited villages. So sneak back to the village as soon as possible. There are many people and there is no need to be afraid even if there are male deer.
"good."
Lei Li nodded.
There was nothing in their backpacks except a handful of wild vegetables they picked while fishing in the river.
This backpack is woven by ourselves. It is strong and large. It can hold a 200-pound adult pig. This little sika deer weighs only about 80 kilograms, which is just enough to fit into the backpack.
Zhou Yi poured the wild vegetables into Lei Li's backpack and carried the sika deer on his back. The fish basket on his waist had spilled a lot of water when he was chasing the little sika deer, but it would not take long to return to the village. Even if the fish and shrimp were dead, they would still be fresh when put into the pot.
The two quickly left the crime scene.
The group of sika deer did not get a response from the fawns, so they cried mournfully for a long time. The cries came from far away and then got closer. For a long time, there was no more cry in the mountains.
—
Lei Li really felt that Zhou Yi was his lucky star.
He had gone into the mountains many times before, but had never encountered a sika deer, and he didn't know that the calling sound meant a deer. Two years later, he suddenly had the urge to go into the mountains, and he encountered a sika deer, a lone young deer.
Zhou Yi also felt that Lei Li was really lucky.
He knew that sika deer were timid and easily frightened, but the probability of them being frightened to death was very low.
In all his time in modern times, he had only heard of a few cases of sika deer dying from fright. He also knew the principle, which was that fright causes excessive compression on the muscles, rupture of muscle cells, and acute rhabdomyolysis. In severe cases, the sika deer died on the spot.
But the people who were most surprised and envious were the villagers.
When they heard that Lei Li and Zhou Yi had caught a sika deer, people working in the fields, making chili peppers in the factory, and taking care of their children at home all ran to see it curiously.
“There really are plum blossoms in Meilu!”
"Oh dear, you're so pretty!"
"Such a large deer must be worth a lot of money, right? I heard someone in the county town was selling wild sheep during the Sheep Festival and only got five taels of silver. This deer is much rarer than sheep."
"How much is that?"
"Ten taels? Fifteen taels?"
"No way! It'll sell for fifty taels! If you sell a live deer to the capital, people will buy it even for a hundred taels! I heard people say when I was working at the county port that people in the capital are rich!"
The villagers were all amazed and envious.
But now the villagers are living a good life. Although a deer is expensive, the villagers are reluctant to spend the money to buy it, but they are not jealous or complain.
Besides, it's too much to be jealous. The Lei family can open a big restaurant and live in a big house in the county town, and they also set up a village school in the village. If anyone dares to be jealous and say something bad, they will be criticized and scolded to death by the villagers.
So when Lei Li and Zhou Yi carried the deer back home, no one dared to say anything about dividing the meat like they did when they hunted the wild boar. Even Gui Fulang just smiled and said he was awesome.
In the past two years, Gui Fulang's attitude towards the Lei family has become better and better. Before, when the Lei family was not around, leaving only Lei Jingsheng and two dogs, he would go to help Lei Jingsheng from time to time, and send him any bamboo shoots and taro he had.
The villagers' aunts and uncles were keen on introducing blind dates to Lei Jingsheng, but Gui Fulang did not get involved and even blocked them for Lei Jingsheng.
"The little girl has her own ideas, so you guys should stop worrying about it."
"Those ugly guys are not worthy of my brother from my mother's family, let alone Miss Asheng. Besides, the girl is already the head of the family. If she gets married and has to wash clothes and cook for a man all day, wouldn't that be a burden to her?"
Lei Li was a little surprised when he heard what Lei Jingsheng said. In those years, he and Gui Fulang were disrespectful to the elderly and unloving to the young. Their love, hate and grudges could be written into a book. He didn't expect that Gui Fulang had reformed.
——It’s not called reformation. Gui Fulang just treated the Lei family well, but he was still aggressive and merciless towards other families.
He returned home carrying the sika deer.
Lei Dashan was working and chatting in the fields and had not come back yet. Liu Ye came back and was cooking in the kitchen.
When she first heard the noise outside her house, she was surprised. She wiped her hands and went out to see that Li Ge'er and his son-in-law had returned with a sika deer.
"Hey, where did this plum deer come from? Did you and Zhou Yi hunt it in the mountains, Li Ge'er?"
“It’s not a fight.”
Lei Li went to A Niang with a smile on his face, pretending to be modest. "This deer has poor eyesight and can't see clearly. I scared it and it died."
"Scared to death?"
Liu Ye'er was also amused when she heard this. This was the first time she heard of something being frightened to death. "Then what do we do with this plum deer? Should we skin it and eat it ourselves?"
"Of course we eat it at home. We haven't eaten it ourselves, so we won't sell it to other people. We don't mind the money."
Lei Li took out his old set of butcher knives and sat in the yard to sharpen them. The blades reflected a dazzling white light in the sunlight, and there was a clattering sound as they were sharpened.
But the people watching the excitement at the door did not feel scared. They had seen many pigs being slaughtered, but had never seen a sika deer being slaughtered, so they were naturally curious.
"Brother Li!"
Liu Xiaocao always loved the hustle and bustle. Knowing about such a happy event, she even came running. She watched curiously from the side of the sika deer, "You are really amazing. A few years ago, wild boars, now sika deer, you are even more powerful than the tiger hunters in the next town."
"This is my first time seeing a sika deer. The fur is so beautiful! If it were made into a collar or deerskin boots, it would definitely look great and keep me warm."
"It just so happens that I'm free lately and can help you. Grandpa and grandma told me to just sit back and do nothing, fearing it would frighten the baby in her belly. I almost got sick from being idle."
"Okay."
Lei Li nodded and smiled, "Today we're having venison. After we pick up Tao Ge'er, you can invite your Niu Ershu and grandpa and grandma. Are your sister-in-law and Dashu brother home too?"
"A Sichuan restaurant" needs a large amount of chili peppers, so the village has to send chili peppers to the county town regularly, and also purchases home-grown vegetables and wild vegetables and mushrooms from the villagers.
Niu Dashu was in charge of transporting goods to the county town. He managed a team of ox carts and was an official. His wife Niu Xiaoxiao sometimes followed him to the county town to sell daily necessities such as cloth, oil, and salt for his family and the village.
“They’re all here!”
When Liu Xiaocao heard this, she knew that their whole family was invited to come for dinner. Knowing Lei Li's temper, she did not refuse. She happily agreed and went to call people.
If the Lei family provided venison, then their family also had to provide some vegetables and eggs and help with the fire and cooking. They couldn't just eat without working.
Seeing that there was no place for him at home, Zhou Yi went to pick up the child. The village school was over early, and little Jiang should have gone home with his brother Xiaobao.
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