Rebirth: 1977

Ye Tianshui saw that the three hunters had a large backpack on their backs, but there was not much stuff in it. He smiled faintly and replied:

“Okay, try to fill all three of your backpacks.

When the time comes, you will divide the prey in one basket among yourselves, and take the other basket back to Secretary Zhuang for arrangement.

There is another basket, which we and County Magistrate Wu will take back to the county."

"Huh? Really?"

"That's great. We're walking in front. Otherwise, the hares and pheasants would be scared away."

"Mr. Ye, County Magistrate Wu, Secretary Zhuang, can we go first?"

Seeing that Ye Tianshui had no intention of objecting, Wu Pingtao said, "Okay, be careful."

The three men were not from official circles, and when they saw that Ye Tianshui and County Magistrate Wu were easy to talk to, they immediately lost their earlier reserve and left with their shotguns in hand, noisily talking.

Zhuang Guodong apologized embarrassedly:

"Master Ye, County Magistrate Wu, I'm sorry, they are all country folk, used to living in the mountains.

If you are polite to them, they will not know the rules to follow."

Wu Pingtao saw Ye Tianshui walking towards Chen Jun and the others, not paying attention to Zhuang Guodong's words, and explained:

"They are all minor matters. Since Master Ye has promised them, we can just do as he says. He still has things to deal with."

Zhuang Guodong looked at Ye Tianshui who was talking to his three men and whispered:

"County Magistrate Wu, Young Master Ye said he would give me a basket of game, how could I really take it?

Didn't you say you were going to visit Yi's family? My idea was to send them some game. There were sick women and children in the house, and Yi's father needed nutrition to keep healthy.

What do you think?"

Wu Pingtao stood up and said, "You can handle this matter as you see fit.

Let's go down the mountain too. Young Master Ye and his men are fast, so we don't have to wait and hold them back.

We don’t know whether we can hunt game or not. If we do, we can’t go to Yijia empty-handed. We’ll decide after we get down the mountain and see what the situation is.”

All he had with him was a water bottle and a military satchel. The gun he had helped to carry when he came up had already been taken back by Chen Jun and the others.

Ye Tianshui was looking at the various fungi and herbs dug by Chen Jun and his team, among which was the palm ginseng whose fruit stems had matured.

"Sir, we will follow your instructions and dig a little of each and take it back as samples.

Is this thing really precious?" Chen Jun was holding a dug-out palm ginseng with its rhizomes.

Ye Tianshui looked at the object in his hand, which was similar to the pattern he saw in the book.

The plants growing on the ground already have dense flower buds, and they will surely bloom in a while.

"No wonder it's called 'palm ginseng'. Look, some have four fingers, some have five, and some have six."

He looked at it over and over curiously and threw it into the basket.

Wu Pingtao had already walked down: "Xiao Shui, we'll go down first."

Ye Tianshui waved his hand: "Okay, we'll be down right away." As he was speaking, he heard the sound of a gunshot.

The quiet woods immediately became lively, with things flying in the sky and running on the ground, all in a panic.

"Ha, they opened fire, I don't know what they hit." Chen Jun was ready to take action with his gun in hand:

"Sir, can you let us shoot a few shots for fun? These little creatures in the mountains look stupid. We can kill them ourselves and not share what they kill.

I looked at the old shotgun and wondered if they would ever be able to hit anything decent.

Aren’t we going to Yi’s house? We can give some to them.”

"Bang!" Another gunshot was heard, accompanied by the happy cheers of several people.

"Yes, sir, how about we each fire two shots? Don't count on others, our hit rate is guaranteed to be 100%."

One of Chen Jun's men stroked his gun and looked at the woods below with envy.

Ye Tianshui touched the pistol on his waist and smiled: "Let's go, I'll let you guys have some fun today, but no more than five bullets."

Worried about the risks of going into the mountains, they brought three rifles with them this time, and four of them also brought pistols.

The rifle had full magazines, each holding twenty rounds.

Ye Tianshui's pistol was loaded with twenty rounds, while Chen Jun and the other two's pistols only had ten rounds.

"Sir, can you really fire five rounds? That's great!"

The three of them were all happy, and as they walked, their eyes began to search the sides and the sky.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. There were two groups of people ahead of us, and they fired shots. All the living things on this road must have been scared away."

Ye Tianshui gave a kind reminder.

Chen Jun was annoyed: "Master, so today we have entered a treasure mountain but returned empty-handed - without gaining anything?

Well, what a pity to miss such an opportunity."

"Hehe, don't be greedy, we have gained a lot today."

Ye Tianshui chuckled. He really felt that the trip was worthwhile.

I had been dreaming of contracting the mountain here, but after a field investigation, I found that the plan of "contracting the mountain" was a little unrealistic.

The mountain is too big and stretches endlessly, making it impossible to distinguish them clearly. From the perspective of maximizing benefits, it is not worth doing so.

Whether from a public or private perspective, or for the local people in the mountainous areas, Ye Tianshui has not found a balance of interests.

Since there is no profit, we might as well change the plan.

"We'll go a little off the beaten path when we go down the mountain. Anyway, there are only a few of us and no matter how dense the forest is, it can't stop us."

Ye Tianshui expressed his plan:

"It would be great if we could hunt down prey, but if not, we can also look around other places down the mountain to see if we can find a spring.

I think the soil in this mountain is quite moist, there should be a spring or stream nearby, or a water source similar to a waterfall."

Chen Jun was overjoyed. From what his master said, he meant that they didn't have to take the usual route down the mountain?

"Yes, sir, there really is no road. As long as the general direction is right, we can wade through the treetops."

As they spoke, they had already strayed from the path they had taken when they climbed the mountain by about two or three hundred meters.

With the sun hanging low in the sky, they don't have to worry about getting lost.

Walking on the ground, the air in the woods is not good. The thick fallen leaves accumulated on the ground over the years and the withered weeds from previous years give off a foul smell.

Ye Tianshui was listening. The woods was very noisy, with the sounds of various birds, insects, and animals fleeing mixed together.

"Attention, don't move, there is an animal approaching us"

Ye Tianshui pricked up his ears and listened, reminding Chen Jun and the others.

"Is it a wild animal? Will we encounter tigers or bears?"

One of the men asked excitedly in a low voice.

Ye Tianshui smiled secretly. He didn’t feel there was any danger in this woods, otherwise he wouldn’t have separated from the others.

Chen Jun and his two companions were already holding guns and waiting for their prey to come into their shooting range.

"Don't compete with me. I'll take the first shot." Chen Jun softly warned his two men.

But till now they had not heard from which direction the prey was coming.

"Sir, where are you? Why haven't I heard any sound yet?"

He listened carefully for a while and couldn't help asking.

Ye Tianshui listened attentively for a while, then nodded and indicated, "Southeast direction, it seems to have stopped.

Forget it, don't wait any longer, let's go."

Ye Tianshui wondered if such a cautious and vigilant animal might be a species under national protection?

"Let's see if there are any hares or pheasants to hunt. Don't worry about the rest."

"Oh, what a pity! Why didn't any blind bears show up? Otherwise, we could get one and taste the bear's paw."

Chen Jun joked with a smile, saying it was a pity, and he also knew that they were not here to hunt today.

The four men rushed left and right, quickly passing through the gaps in the woods. In the distance, the sounds of "bang" and "bang" from hunting rifles were heard several times. The small animals on the ground in the forest were running around everywhere, and all kinds of birds in the trees screamed and flew to the treetops or flew away with "puff puff".

There were trees blocking the way ahead again, and the four men flew onto the branches.

"Oh no, there's a large animal approaching!

Come on, let's go to them."

Ye Tianshui heard heavy and hurried footsteps in the distance, accompanied by the sound of trees breaking with a "crackling" sound, and the ground in the forest seemed to be shaking.

Most of the large animals here, whether they are ferocious beasts or herbivores, are listed as national protected animals.

This voice frightened Ye Tianshui. He was not afraid of anything, so the three hunters should be no problem either.

I wonder if Wu Pingtao and Zhuang Guodong have caught up with them?

Chen Jun also felt it and said excitedly:

"Sir, how about we take some big ones back?"

Ye Tianshui took the lead and walked quickly on the branches in the direction they came from:

"It's not just one, it's a group. I'm worried about them. Hurry up and catch up with them!"

He wondered if the sound of the shotgun had startled something in the quiet forest that shouldn't have been startled?

He didn't smell any fishy odor, so it didn't seem like a ferocious beast. The information he looked up also didn't reveal any records of such groups of animals appearing here.

But there is one kind...