Seventy Little Heads

There was no fire for lunch, and they simply ate the steamed corn bread brought over, and the two did not dare to separate.In the sunny day at noon, except for birds that can fly, there are no wild animals coming out to drink water.Goudan and Wang Xuan seized the time to set up traps, which were basically nooses made of ropes, and it was no problem to hunt small animals such as hares and pheasants.

Following the dense footprints by the creek, "There are also goats? I haven't seen the footprints of large beasts yet, so there shouldn't be any in this place."

"There will definitely be, but I don't know if we have that luck."

I brought a lot of ropes, and almost both sides of the creek have been set up. If there are not enough temporary branches, I can make one, which is very simple and convenient.

"Brother Goudan, come and see, is this a wild boar?" There was a tree with scratches on its bark. "There is still mud on it. I guess it was left by a wild boar rolling on the mud by the stream."

"Not sure, but it should be a big guy." Goudan took out the hoe directly, "Dig two traps here, maybe there will be surprises."

"Do you want me to take some medicine?"

"No need for now."

The two of them were busy for a long time, and when they walked back, they checked again.

"It's almost time, let's go back."

They didn't dare to spend the night in the deep mountains. The nights in the deep mountains belonged to the wild beasts' paradise, so it was unnecessary.Generally, wild animals are active at night. If they step on a trap, they hang it overnight and come back to check the next day.

"It's a good thing I have your ointment, otherwise I would have been stared at all over my head for half a day." Mosquitoes were more rampant in the evening, and they buzzed non-stop all the way above my head.

Wang Xuan likes to hear Goudan praise him, "After studying for so long, if you can't even handle this, then you're blind to this condition."

In summer, the days are long, and there is still the afterglow of the setting sun to the west of the village entrance, and boys and girls of all sizes bathe in the small river ditch.A ditch nourishes several villages around it.

In Xikan Village, the average man is not afraid of being shirtless, and some people are not afraid of wearing underpants while bathing in the river ditch beside the road.Of course, women also wash in the ditch, but in the upper reaches where the bend is sheltered.As soon as the work was over in the evening, I saw people in twos and threes carrying buckets and basins and carrying clean clothes to the river ditch.

In the past, Goudan often heard those men speak yellow accents loudly, it was about the upper and lower river ditch.They said that it was a bad idea to take a bath under the women, because they got the leftover water from washing, and they said that the women should take a bath downstream.They sometimes have to wash with their blood.Goudan can understand some of them, and some can't understand, but he knows that men have a little dislike for women in their upper reaches.

"God, what did you two do to come back now?"

"Uncle Baoya, let's just walk around casually. How about taking a bath?"

"Well, on a hot day, you can't just wash it once every few days, you can't look like salted fish on your body." He said happily.

Uncle Baoya is the most optimistic person Goudan has ever met. Whenever he sees him, he always smiles. Maybe it's because of his teeth?Anyway, people are not bad people, except that they like to join in the fun and make a fuss.

"Are you back?" Li Si didn't like his son going to the mountains and forests. His son disappeared before, although he later said he fell into an old well, but the wild is dangerous after all.Haven't you seen that although the adults in the village are poor, no one will go to the deep mountains?

"Well, Dad, you have to take a shower first, we will go later."

"Okay, the food is ready, eat first when you are hungry."

Under normal circumstances, Wang Xuan cooks, and Goudan will help, but if the two of them go out and come back too late, Li Si will do it.

The two looked at Li Siduan's meals on the table. They were very simple, and there were no good dishes at home.However, the private plot secretly ordered a lot of dishes this year, but Li Si still only cooked one dish.Wang Xuan could only dig out another bowl of sour bamboo shoots from the tank, "Just eat it like this, it's hot, so it's okay if you don't cook it."

"Find clothes and take a shower first, it's too hot."

Grandpa San cleaned up and sat at the dining table. It was getting dark, and he ate dinner by the dim oil lamp.

The next day, before dawn, Goudan and Wang Xuan were about to wake up, and they couldn't sleep in. The trap set yesterday had to be checked early today.After a long time, the dead wild animal may stink, or break free from the trap and run away with the noose. After all, the trap made of thin thread is very simple.

Goudan closed his eyes and yawned, "Father, let's go first, and we'll eat when we come back."

"Eh."

"The dew is heavy, and it's sunny again today."

It was only halfway there, and everything below the legs was wet, and it was very uncomfortable for the pants to stick to the skin. Wang Xuan suddenly shivered.

"It's still a bit cold, right? Have you put your thick clothes inside, take them out and put them on."

"Let's forget it, wait until the sun comes out, and the good clothes will be ruined later."

Whatever it is, I don't think it's too cold anyway, if I really can't bear it, I will definitely take it out and wear it.

"Yawn, I seem to be a little unaccustomed to getting up early. When school starts, what should I do if I have to get up early in junior high school?"

"The director of the office said that the schools in the county have to do morning exercises and read early, and they get up earlier than here."

"So they are so busy, what are they doing up so early?"

Wang Xuan didn't want to discuss this with him anymore. Brother Goudan didn't like to review this method. He thought that he learned it in class, knew it, and just memorized it. Reviewing and so on is a waste of time.I also don't like doing morning exercises, saying that if I need to exercise my body and pull it into the field, everything will be solved.

Walking to the foot of the mountain, the sun rises, and the sun shines on the dewdrops on the grass, reflecting colorful rays of light.

Today they took a different path, and they fell into someone else's trap yesterday, but they dare not be associated with them, or they will have another lawsuit.It's not good to get involved, they like to keep a low profile.

"If you can't afford conflicts, you can't afford them. No matter how powerful you are, you can't stand being surrounded by enemies."

"understood."

The animals in the mountain forest had been active all night, some had a full meal, and some lost their lives. Before the sun rose, all the dust settled temporarily, and like the ebb tide, they each retreated to their respective territories to sleep and raise their meat.

Nothing was left except footprints all over the place.It is said that the restoration ability in the forest is the strongest, which is true.

The sunlight streams down from the gaps in the leaves, and the water vapor on the bark has not yet evaporated completely, so climbing the tree is somewhat inconvenient.

"Let's go and have a look at the trap. I don't know how many things are caught and how many are left behind."

"This one is broken, no."

"This one was taken away directly. It seems that we have underestimated this creek. It seems that it is not only small animals that rely on it to replenish water."

The lasso can trap small animals, but if it encounters something fiercer, it can't stand it at all. If it is not directly dragged away by the lasso, it will be useless at all, and it will be trampled on the ground.

"Brother Goudan, look at this, it's still alive." Wang Xuan lifted a small animal that looked like a chicken, and flopped vigorously in Wang Xuan's hand. "It's not too busy."

He didn't untie the noose at all, tied his wings together and threw them into the bamboo basket at his waist.

What happened next was exactly as expected, all the animals caught were small animals, some were strangled to death, some were dying but still alive.The most frightening thing is that the prey caught by the lasso were eaten by the lynx or something, leaving only the rope stained with blood and fur.

"Looks like it's very lively here at night." Goudan was a little pity, but their prey was caught first, which is really uncomfortable.

The two were busy, while packing up the prey, they restored the damaged lasso back to its original state. They can stay in the tree today and check it out in the afternoon to catch the wild animals that come out during the day. If they are lucky, they can do it in the afternoon. Harvest another batch.

Find an open place, pour heavy powder around it, dig a hole to set up a fire, put a small copper tripod directly on it, pour water to boil.

"That man, nothing else, there are quite a lot of these copper pots."

"That's a medicine cauldron. Those big ones may be used to boil ointments. I think there are some prescriptions in it that he left to turn into ashes. They probably have been discarded for a long time. If they say it's boiled donkey skin glue and deer antler glue, then you have to With such a thick pot, it has been cooked for several days and nights, and ordinary pots can’t do it.” So now they can find something that can be used by searching, and there is nothing that cannot be used in the mountains.

"That's right. They are used for the same purpose. They are used for cooking. Now it is the same for boiling water and killing chickens."

Where is the same?It is impossible to explain it to a layman.

"Does the rabbit need to be skinned? What about the half-eaten one?"

"No need to peel the skin, it's a waste. I've seen people do this before. They burn the fur on the tongue of fire. It's better to eat the skin and meat. Peeled rabbit meat is not good."

Unreasonable.

The firewood was a bit wet and the smoke was heavy. Wang Xuan listened to Goudan and burned the rabbit fur directly without peeling the skin. His eyes were so smoked that weeping.

The two cleaned up the small things they caught, pickled them with coarse salt, put them in a wooden basin, and kept them in the treasure.

"It's hard to deal with small things."

"It would be troublesome if you hunted a big guy."

"It smells so good." A chicken and half a piece of rabbit meat were scurrying by the fire, which were left over after being snatched by that wild animal. "That's good, but those who eat only blood stains will suffer. It's not bad to leave half of it for us."

The two of them didn't feel disgusted and threw it away. They cut off the minced meat around them, washed them clean, smeared them with salt, sharpened a stick to put it on, and then grilled it on the fiery red coals.

Dig a deep pit, throw all the blood, fur, and internal organs into it, sprinkle medicinal powder to cover the thick soil, and then sprinkle the medicinal powder after stepping on it.Clean up the traces of the previous activities as much as possible, extinguish the fire and bury them, rinse the small cauldron and put the treasure back, the two of them wrapped the roasted meat with big leaves, stretched their waists, went back to the big tree in the distance, and started to eat stand up.

"I used to think why no one went hunting in the mountains, but now I realize that not everyone has that talent, luck, or ability."

"That's for sure, otherwise these wild animals in the world will not perish."

"Uncle Kidnap's leg is said to have been bitten by an angry wild boar. His teeth were poisonous. He almost died. When the wound became inflamed, the wound turned green. It was an old lady who knew how to use herbs to pull out the poison. She raised her for half a year. .Although he was lame, he survived anyway. Whoever dares to go up the mountain should work harder, it’s really hard.”