Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Chapter 397 Rat Poison Cannot Be Used When Hunting Sheep

Li Ju'an took on the job of the forest farm's rat-catching team. His team was small, consisting of the Lu brothers, Chen Xiangqian, Song Desheng, Li Guaizi who rushed over after hearing the news, and Old Zhang from the security department.

Old Zhang from the security department figured it was purely because he was craving mutton.

Old Zhang's mouth watered as he recounted the mutton he ate as a child. He excitedly slapped his thigh on the kang table and told a group of young men, "During those three years of famine, we really had nothing to eat. Guess what I found? There was a hole in the backyard. I was young then and thought it was a badger's den. I dug around for a bit, and then I heard a cry."

Lu Zhiqiang sat around the kang (a heated brick bed), drinking deer blood wine while listening to Old Zhang boast. He said, "Uncle Zhang, can't you tell the difference between a sheep's bleating and a badger's call? Didn't you used to brag that you could hunt down any badger in the whole mountain?"

Lu Jinyang glared at him and told him to drink less.

Lu Zhiqiang winked at his cousin with a grin and whispered, "Don't worry, I didn't drink as much as Uncle Zhang. Tomorrow, when Uncle Zhang sobers up, who will remember anything?"

Old Zhang from the security department was eating argali meat in Li Ju'an's self-built building. This meat was from a large argali sheep that Li Ju'an had hunted last time; he hadn't finished it and had hung it up to air-dry. Even just roasting this dried meat over a fire made Old Zhang eat it with relish. He was truly craving wild game; he didn't like stir-fries, but he craved the argali meat strips that had been hanging for days.

Old Zhang from the security department took the honey water from Li Xiao without even seeing what it was, and chuckled, "Little girl, you're really diligent and capable, even better than your brother was when he was a kid."

Li Xiao's voice was still childish, but he said seriously and deliberately, "Of course my brother is strong. I still want to take you into the mountains and bring you out properly."

Everyone laughed, and Old Zhang laughed heartily. He hadn't seen his granddaughter in a long time and adored Li Xiao. He wished he could have such a well-behaved and clever granddaughter by his side, like a warm little cotton-padded jacket.

"Alright, alright, I'm counting on your brother for my old body."

Those around him found it amusing to hear Old Zhang coaxing the child and joked, "Uncle Zhang is already drunk after only two drinks."

Uncle Zhang swung his arms and shouted, "What's the rush? I still want to have a couple more drinks with Little Li, right? Come on, everyone raise your glasses!"

Li Guaizi, who is usually aloof in front of outsiders, is now smiling and raising his glass to drink.

He also recounted some amusing anecdotes about roasting ground sheep in the past, saying, "Roasted ground sheep is quite delicious; the meat is chewy and flavorful, just like eating horse meat."

Song Desheng smacked his lips twice, and Chen Xiangqian teased him: "What, you've even eaten horse meat before? You're actually thinking about this now."

Song Desheng, never one to back down, retorted, "I may not have eaten horse meat, but I've certainly seen people eat it. I've eaten donkey meat before, and it tastes just like horse meat."

Chen Xiangqian muttered to himself, "A donkey is a donkey, a mule is a mule, and a horse is a horse. How can these three things taste the same?"

Well, another guy who's never tasted it but has seen it run.

Lu Jinyang smiled but didn't say anything. Lu Zhiqiang leaned closer and whispered, "You really ate it? You really did steal that piece of braised horse meat from when we were kids. I was wondering why Grandpa was beating me around the kang in the middle of the night. Turns out you tricked me again and made me a shield for you to take the bullet."

Lu Jinyang didn't deny it, glared at him and said, "Who told you not to eat? It's like I didn't tell you to eat."

Lu Zhiqiang was speechless and glared at Lu Jinyang for a long time. Every time Lu Jinyang did something bad, he would first ask Lu Zhiqiang if he wanted to do it, so they could conspire together. He was afraid of being beaten by his grandfather and parents, so he would always shake his head and refuse to conspire. As a result, when Lu Jinyang did something bad, he would always be beaten by his grandfather and parents together, and he never missed a beating.

He really couldn't understand why his parents and grandfather only hit him and not Lu Jinyang.

Later, seeing Lu Jinyang's aggrieved yet obedient demeanor, kneeling down to apologize and write a self-criticism, and then looking at his crooked handwriting and stubborn, defiant attitude, he felt a pang of bitterness. "Hmph, shameless bastard, all he does is pretend to be good, and I even dragged him down with me."

Lu Zhiqiang suddenly remembered the sheep from last time. Li Ju'an had cooked the meat but hadn't eaten any. He asked, "Li Ju'an, last time we worked so hard to hunt that sheep, you skinned it, but why did you cook the meat and not give us any?"

When the topic of the last time they hunted the sheep came up, both Lao Zhang and Li Guaizi stopped grilling their meat and looked up.

Li Ju'an laughed in exasperation and said, "Last time we cornered that flock of wild sheep, how long did it take?"

"Three days."

"Of course! Here's how we finally won the battle."

That day, Li Ju'an took the golden eagle and the goshawk to the mountains to train them. The Lu brothers pestered him to go into the mountains with them, wanting to benefit from the hunting falcons and see if they could catch any roe deer or sika deer, so they could take some back and stew some venison to improve their meals.

Li Guaizi asked them, "How did you hunt the ground sheep? Did you have any experience from last time?"

Lu Zhiqiang shook his head and said, "These earth sheep look like rats. They have poor eyesight, small eyes, and are not very big, but they are very destructive. Apart from catching them to eat, they are really useless, and their pelts don't fetch a good price."

Ground goats eat everything—crops, fruit trees, medicinal herbs. The villagers of Lijiatun had to scare away these goats while farming, making their lives miserable.

Last time, Li Ju'an set a trap outside the Sheep Cave, with hunting dogs and falcons on standby, but Lu Zhiqiang insisted on using smoke.

Lu Zhiqiang said that they had smoked out the badger den before, so why couldn't they do the same for the ground sheep?

He lit the dry branches, and after the fire went out, he blew two breaths into the embers. Thick smoke rose up, and he shoved the smoke into the sheep hole to fumigate it.

Li Ju'an and Lu Jinyang were choked by the smoke and fumes, their eyes and noses watering. Even the hunting dogs couldn't stand it and ran away. The falcon almost fainted from the fumes. In the end, Li Ju'an led the hunting dogs and the falcon to a farther place before Lu Zhiqiang stomped his feet twice to extinguish the sparks from the dry branches.

As a result, the sheep was so frightened that it refused to come out of its burrow, remaining unconscious inside. In the end, Lu Jinyang couldn't stand it anymore and released rat poison.

Lu Jinyang dug up the mound of earth from the ground sheep, turned it over to the entrance of the burrow, and sprinkled rat poison on the roots as bait.

Two days later, the three returned and came back to check, only to find that the bait had been eaten. They dragged the goat out of the hole and found that the once fat goat was now dead.

The group estimated that there should be more sheep in the cave, but none of them were alive, and they couldn't get their hides. They all died from rat poison.

Speaking of this, Li Ju'an sighed, "What a pity."

Using rat poison to kill wild goats is an effective method, but the poisoned goats cannot be eaten and can pollute the surrounding environment. If a predator eats a poisoned goat, it will also be poisoned. If a mountain dweller finds and eats it, they will also be in danger.

A few people were chatting about all sorts of things when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Zhao Pao from Yingtun stared with his wide, copper-bell-like eyes and peered in.