bookrebus Chapter 238 Old Qin Suddenly Opens His Heart
Chapter 238 Old Qin Suddenly Opens His Heart
After some thought, the group realized that the tree was oily wood, so using a landmine wouldn't work. They found an open area and, with great effort, finally retrieved a heavy, solid log.
The four men worked together to load the large solid log onto the sled and found the Xiongzong Mountain that Sun Weimin had mentioned. They used oiled silk rope to tie the log to the sled, panting heavily as if they were working bellows. The cold air they breathed in stung their throats, but they managed to tie the rope securely.
The other end of the oil rope is tied to the root of a large tree, and finally the bait from the cloth bag is placed in front of the snare.
The northwest wind picked up, and the bait was the lantern-shaped bait used in the last hunt. The fishy smell of entrails could travel for miles on the northwest wind, attracting carnivores.
Song Desheng cursed, "What if this attracts some thugs?"
Lu Jinyang wasn't worried about the green-skinned thugs. He said, "Brother, when you went to the Qianjin Ranch to hunt tigers last time, didn't the tiger-hunting team still miss killing one tiger king?"
The Xingan Mountains are teeming with wild predators, and the fragrance of the lanterns will attract not only bears but all predators. Li Ju'an said, "Isn't that even better? We can use a stick to lasso bears weighing over 800 jin (400 catties), so even a tiger king would be easy to catch."
They all grinned. This trap for pulling sticks was really a good thing; all their hard work was worth it.
……
On the other side, Sun Weimin and Lao Qin gave chase to the herd of roe deer.
As Sun Weimin watched the three hunting dogs Old Qin brought chase, the roe deer ran faster and faster, and the two female roe deer separated from the male and ran away. What was originally a herd of four or five roe deer was now scattered and disorganized. He had initially thought that with such a large herd, he could at least take three roe deer back with him. Now, however, only one male roe deer was hot on his heels.
He cursed, "Old Qin, this hunting dog of yours is useless. It can't intercept a spear, and it can't chase a baton. I'll suffer if I team up with you. When we split the money later, we have to split it 50/50."
Old Qin also lost his temper, running and cursing while carrying his gun, saying, "You can find someone else to team up with, but why don't you borrow a dog to track them down?"
The two men, panting, followed the three hunting dogs, chasing the male roe deer from the rocky outcrop and then towards the ditch to the north. They were furious, cursing the dogs and blaming them.
Sun Weimin couldn't take it anymore. He cursed and picked up the No. 16 old shovel, aiming it at the male roe deer far away and started spitting fire.
As he ran, he snapped the butt of his gun open, not even checking if he had hit the roe deer. He just kept firing and loading bullets into the chamber, emptying the magazine as quickly as possible.
He actually managed to shoot the male roe deer in the back. Overjoyed, he shouted, "See that! When it comes to winning the battle, you still have to look to our Sun family!"
Qin Pao was from Changbai Mountain. He had never seen this kind of fire-making method passed down by the old hunters of Xing'an Mountains before. It was as if bullets were free.
The Sun family hunts this way; it's a hunting habit passed down from generation to generation, a tradition of hunting in the mountains for generations. This is because in the past, older hunters used old-fashioned cannons and bows and arrows, which lacked accuracy and power. Moreover, Sun Quande used an old-fashioned rifle in his younger days, which was also inaccurate and weak, making it impossible to hit the prey with a single shot.
Especially with large animals like roe deer, once wounded, unless the heart, lungs, or head are hit, the injured prey will only run faster, so you have to chase them quickly with a rifle.
Sun Weimin roared excitedly as he continued to pry open the gun handle, load bullets into the chamber, then held the gun to his face, swooped down at the roe deer, and continued to empty the bullets, shouting excitedly, "It's all in our own hands, otherwise, no matter if it's money or livestock, it's not ours until it's in our pockets."
The male roe deer was wounded in the back, bleeding profusely after being hit, but the pain only fueled its frenzy. It took off with a whoosh, its four hooves moving incredibly fast, leaving the hunting dogs even further behind. It disappeared behind the ditch.
Sun Weimin lost the roe deer, and Lao Qin laughed at him, mocking his marksmanship and saying that he needed a good sheath to be effective.
Sun Weimin didn't like hearing that. There's a hierarchy among hunters; they say those who fly eagles look down on those who set traps, and those who set traps look down on those who wield guns. He pointed to the blood-stained ditch on the ground and said, "It has to be the blood I shot. If this roe deer gets chased until it's too weak and collapses, it's all on me. If I don't catch it, it's just that Brother Qin's dog is incompetent."
Old Qin didn't like hearing this, and glared at him, saying, "You can't outrun a four-legged dog with two legs, and you're blaming our slow dog? Look at your attitude."
Just as the two were about to start arguing, their faces turning red and their necks thick, a commotion suddenly came from ahead. A mother roe deer that had gotten lost was leading her fawn back.
Roe deer are silly; they turn and run when they see danger, but once the danger has passed, they become curious and insist on turning back to see what it was. This mother roe deer, whether out of foolishness or recklessness, led her small fawn back through the bushes and rushed out from the tall grass, about 150 meters away from him.
How could Sun Weimin tolerate this?
He set up his No. 16 rifle, aimed straight ahead, and fired, not caring whether he hit or not, while diving down and emptying the magazine. The mother roe deer heard the gunshot, trembled, and turned to run. But the fawn was slower. The shot hit the small fawn.
The roe deer cub cried out in pain, but its mother, terrified, ran away without a care, abandoning her fawn and disappearing without a trace.
Old Qin glanced at the scene and realized that Sun Weimin had injured the fawn, which was against the rules. The roe deer, despite being shot in the hind leg, was still chasing after its mother. Sun Weimin ignored Old Qin's shouts and rushed down, blasting a bloody hole in the fawn's neck.
The small eye went in and the big eye came out, blood gushed out of the blood hole, and the fawn, weighing only forty or fifty pounds, collapsed, its eyes wide open and motionless. Only then did Sun Weimin burst into laughter.
Old Qin scolded him for laughing, saying, "This deer is so small, weighing less than forty or fifty pounds, and half of it is just bones and internal organs. What do you want this little guy for?"
Sun Weimin squatted in front of the fawn, using a boning knife to cut open its belly and take out the lantern hanging from its belly. He said, "Isn't the fawn's meat still meat? We've already hit its leg, the fawn can't survive. Whether it's dragged away by the shrew or by us, it's all the same, it'll be a hot pot of meat. The meat will still be tender."
Seeing that Lao Qin didn't speak, he suddenly said, "That female roe deer just now had a big, drooping belly. Could she be pregnant? Deer placenta is more valuable than deer penis. It can fetch a good price if you take it to a medicine shop in town. Deer placenta and deer penis wine is a great tonic. Even if we don't sell it, we can make enough for ourselves."
Old Qin snorted and asked him, "Do you know where Uncle Qian lives now?"
Sun Weimin then realized that he was referring to Old Qian, who had lost two sons. His younger son, who wore a wolfskin hat, was beaten to death by Old Qian himself. Afterwards, everyone in the village said Old Qian had gone mad. He left all his belongings to his daughter and son-in-law. However, after his son-in-law sold the furs cheaply, the house was burgled, and nearly ten thousand yuan from the sale was stolen. Even after reporting it to the police station, they couldn't catch the thief.
"Where has Uncle Qian gone?"
Old Qin pointed to the hill to the north. Sun Weimin also knew that area; it used to be the site of an old beekeeping farm, not the old industrial area, but the earliest beekeeping base of the production brigade, which had been abandoned for more than ten years.
Old Qin said, "On that old site, there's a newly built dugout. It used to be an Angku. Old Qian became a lonely man and ran away to live in the mountains, living like a savage."
Angku, originally a word from the Hezhe people, means hut. These conical huts, built with many wooden poles, were the traditional dwellings of the Hezhe people.
Sun Weimin's grin vanished, his smile suddenly gone. He glanced at Old Qin, who was also all alone. Since his mother and wife died, he had lost all joy and motivation in life, spending his days hunting, hunting. It seemed that only the life of a hunter, where blood was on the line, could give him a sliver of a sense that he was still alive.
Old Qin suddenly opened up to him, catching him off guard. He quickly rubbed his hands together and said, "This fawn is all greasy. Ask Li Ju'an if he brought any wine. Let's collect some blood and make some deer blood wine to drink on the road and warm ourselves up."