My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 197 Leaving
"Ah Zhong, this medicine of yours is a bit too toxic."

When Chen Ling returned after cleaning the wounds of the two dogs, Han Ninggui and two middle-aged men were surrounding Wang Qingzhong, who had a wolf with an arrow wound in front of him.

The arrow was lodged in the wolf's ribs; other than that, there were no other injuries.

But the wolf was already half-dead, lying on the ground with its tongue hanging out, barely breathing.

Even when dragged out of the bushes, it remained motionless.

"No, it's just scary to look at."

Wang Qingzhong scratched his head and smiled, then pulled out the arrow. "This medicine doesn't contain snake venom. If you drink water promptly after being poisoned, you'll recover."

"Could it be mixed with snake venom?"

Han Ninggui was shocked.

He saw it, though no one else did.

Not long after being shot, the wolf lost its balance and staggered to its death in the bushes.

This level of toxicity is frightening enough, but I never imagined it could be combined with snake venom.

"Yes, these are all used for hunting. Most of them are used as arrow poison, applied to the arrowheads. But my family isn't hunters, so we don't use them much now."

"..."

"I'm getting more and more confused. Ah Zhong, do you think people can still eat prey that's been poisoned like this?"

"Yes, of course you can eat it. It's made from herbs, but you can't eat it if it's mixed with snake venom."

"How many people know how to prepare this medicine?"

"Not many, my family's medicine prescriptions were all passed down from my grandfather."

"Oh, that's good then."

Chen Ling was applying medicine to the two dogs by the fire, listening to their conversation.

For the first two days after he arrived, his father-in-law showed him the recipe for the hunting medicine.

This medicine is made from blister beetles, aconite, and other herbs.

There are also differences between them and those of the old hunters in Kinmen Village.

That area mainly consists of Strychnos nux-vomica and Gelsemium elegans, also known as Gelsemium elegans.

In short, once it's cooked, it's fine to eat.

He was applying medicine to the dog, and the lynx was squatting beside him, applying medicine to his two dogs as well.

His red dog was more seriously injured, with clearly visible wounds on the back of its neck, ribs, and buttocks, which are still bleeding.

Especially on its buttocks, there were many wounds, and blood was flowing out in streams just now, which made Lynx very distressed.

I wiped it with alcohol over and over again until the cotton balls were soaked red. After wiping, I threw it into the fire, where the flames flickered and sizzled incessantly.

Compared to the red dog, the white dog was not seriously injured and even had the mood to come to Chen Ling's side and watch him apply medicine to Heiwa.

After this battle, they became much closer to Heiwa.

Chen Ling patted its head, flipped the fur on its neck to check, and seeing that it was alright, he got up and walked to the side, waving to the golden monkey in the distant tree.

Soon, a female monkey jumped down, clutching a fur hat.

Inside the fur hat was an injured little monkey. Perhaps it was warm; it had initially tried to climb out, but now it didn't want to come out.

When the wolf pack attacked, these monkeys carried their cubs away and then came up in the trees to help. They were even more eager to fight the wolves than the humans.

But the fruit they discarded was of no use whatsoever.

"Ah, ah..."

After being placed on the ground by its mother, the baby monkey poked its head out from under the hat, looked at Chen Ling with its big eyes, and made a soft, hoarse cry, sounding like a little lamb.

With its mother by its side, it is no longer so afraid of Chen Ling.

When Chen Ling applied the ointment to it, the little thing grabbed Chen Ling's hand, put it to its nose, and smelled it curiously.

However, the next moment Chen Ling pressed down on his head and smeared some ointment on the wound. Now that he felt the pain, the little monkey struggled and cried out.

It's like giving a little kid a shot.

"Not bad, you've regained some strength."

At this moment, Han Ninggui came over.

"Yes, I feel pretty good now. I hope you get well soon."

Chen Ling smiled. Actually, the ointment he used was taken from Dongtian.

I believe the little monkey's wounds will heal soon.

As long as you can eat normally afterward and recover your health, it won't be difficult to get through this winter.

...The night passed peacefully, and the wolf pack did not come to harass them again.

However, the howls of wolves and the cries of various wild animals from the distant mountains continued for most of the night without stopping.

This resulted in everyone not sleeping soundly at night.

When it got light in the morning, everyone except Chen Ling was yawning.

However, Lynx still mustered his spirits, pulled Chen Ling along, and had Wang Qingzhong lead the way. The three of them, carrying guns, went to the wolf den from yesterday.

After a careful inspection, it was discovered that the wolf cubs were indeed missing.

Clearly, all the wolves have moved away.

And judging from Xiao Jin's reaction, the wolves from last night were definitely from this pack.

"Perhaps the female wolf in the trap is the alpha wolf of this pack. The alpha wolves in a pack are usually a male and a female, and they hold a high position. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come looking for us at night to take revenge after we released her..."

"That's what the lynx guessed."

I was very confused before I came.

I specifically brought Xiao Jin along to confirm.

It really was that pack of wolves.

"The alpha wolf? You mean the wolf king?"

Wang Qingzhong asked.

"Pretty much. There are too few wolves in a wolf pack, so the alpha wolf is in charge. Only large wolf packs have a wolf king."

Lynx nodded. "Actually, sometimes you don't need to distinguish so clearly, and this isn't the key point."

"Do you remember what I told you yesterday? Wolves like to give birth during the busy farming season because people are too busy to take care of them. But this mother wolf is different."

"This is probably because of the floods this year; the wolf cubs drowned before they could leave the den, so they had to mate again, which is why we are paying extra attention to it."

"After we find the wolf den, we make the wolf pack feel that their cubs are threatened and they will give us a warning."

Wang Qingzhong didn't quite understand, but he just chuckled and said, "Who cares what it is? As long as we chase it away, otherwise the wolf den is so close to the village, this winter will be full of trouble."

"Second brother is right, let's go back for dinner."

Chen Ling didn't care about anything else. He kept observing the wolf footprints and droppings near the wolf den so that he could recognize them immediately if he encountered them in the future.

"Okay, let's go back and eat, then go to sleep."

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it, because as soon as he got to this point, the lynx started yawning again.

He stayed up with that young man for half the night yesterday.

As dawn approached, the wild animals on the mountain stopped howling, and only then did they crawl back into their tents to sleep.

I'm very sleepy right now.

After returning home, I had a simple breakfast.

Those who needed to rest went to rest, while Chen Ling and Wang Qingzhong went to dispose of the dead wolf.

The hunting knife is sharp enough to easily skin and dismember.

The wolf meat that was cut off was used to feed the dogs.

After fighting the wolf pack, the four dogs did not eat anything all night.

When Chen Ling fed them meat, he didn't even hold back on the lynx's two dogs.

Hunting dogs that run together over the mountains are good partners.

They also considered Chen Ling as one of their own.

Four dogs surrounded him, gobbling down their food.

Within minutes, most of the wolf was gone.

You can tell if a dog is a good hunting dog just by looking at it.

A good hunting dog doesn't cling to its master.

Not being attached to the Lord is not unfaithful.

It means being able to distinguish between primary and secondary matters, and to discern right from wrong.

Therefore, good hunting dogs can be borrowed from each other.

For example, some hunters have pregnant hunting dogs, making it inconvenient for them to go hunting.

They would borrow a hunting dog from the same village.

It's still a good helper even when taken up the mountain.

If someone is attached to their master, they will be clingy from a young age and will remain inseparable from their master even as an adult.

These kinds of dogs are only good for guarding the house, not for hunting. The two lynxes were indeed quite good; after accepting Heiwa and his companion, they also recognized Chen Ling as a partner and behaved very docilely.

"Wow, what an appetite! This wolf must weigh at least fifty pounds, and it's already devoured all of it?"

Wang Qingzhong was extremely surprised when he saw this scene.

"Not that many. This wolf weighs about fifty pounds. If it yields fifteen pounds of meat, that would be a lot."

Chen Ling shook his head. There's not much meat on a wolf, and he had weighed it specifically last time.

The internal organs, intestines, fur, wolf blood, wolf head—if you cut any of these off, the amount of meat you get is pitifully small.

Not to mention that he and Wang Qingzhong are not very skilled.

The skin wasn't peeled cleanly; too much meat was left behind.

Last night we killed five wolves and shot down one with a poisoned arrow; that's more than enough to feed the dogs.

Chen Ling then picked a smaller female wolf, skinned and butchered it, and continued to feed it to the dogs.

The lynx's two dogs ate until their bellies were round and full, and finally lay down outside the lynx's tent to rest with their eyes closed.

Heiwa and Xiaojin were still not full.

Chen Ling then fed them their internal organs.

In the end, everything except the two piles of intestines went into their stomachs.

After feeding the dog, I skinned off the remaining wolf pelt, and the morning was over.

During this time, after Han Ninggui and the others had rested, they were led by Wang Qingzhong to explore the surrounding mountains.

Let's see if we can take a few more photos.

When I returned at noon, Chen Ling and Shanmao were grilling meat over a fire.

They specifically selected the tenderest parts of the wolf meat, skewered them, and grilled them.

A group of golden monkeys squatted nearby, slowly munching on fruit and watching the two of them curiously.

"Hey, they're grilling meat already. This wolf meat smells pretty good."

Han Ninggui sniffed.

Chen Ling looked up and smiled: "It's a waste to feed all this wolf meat to the dogs. You guys wash your hands and come eat."

"Haha, okay, this will save me from having to eat lunch."

Han Ninggui and the others behind him put their things down and went to the stream to wash them.

When they came over after cleaning up, they were stunned to see the injured little golden monkey climbing up and down around Heiwa with the other monkeys in the troop.

"This little guy is recovering pretty quickly. He only had a little bit of strength left when he ate breakfast this morning."

So they quickly went over and checked it out.

The baby monkey seemed perfectly fine and was in good spirits.

He immediately perked up: "Ah Zhong, your family's traditional medicine is really amazing! Apply it again tomorrow, and this little monkey will be completely cured."

"Of course, Ah Zhong's grandfather was an anti-Japanese war hero. How could the medicine left by the old man be bad?"

"Right, Ah Zhong?"

Wang Qingzhong blushed deeply upon hearing this, and just scratched his head and chuckled.

I felt a little embarrassed, but also quite proud.

He honestly said, "Actually, it was passed down to him by my grandfather's comrade-in-arms. Back then, there were few medics, and sometimes even if you only suffered a minor injury, you wouldn't have time to treat it and would just die from it. These medicines were treasures."

A middle-aged man next to Han Ninggui was very interested in the medicine because of its good effects, and even wanted to ask if he could pay for it.

After hearing his words, she felt too embarrassed to say them aloud.

"Yes, being wounded on the battlefield is no small matter. If you get infected and die, it's even more painful than dying in battle."

Han Ninggui said seriously.

Afterwards, he sat down to eat and praised Chen Ling's cooking skills.

...The roasted wolf meat wasn't particularly delicious, but the group ate and chatted, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Not satisfied with just eating, they went to cut more wolf meat and skewered it with thin tree branches.

Some people skewered the meat, while others grilled it. In less than half an hour, they had grilled about ten kilograms of wolf meat.

The two middle-aged men even picked out a few wolf kidneys, skewered them, and grilled them.

Chen Ling used up more than half of the spice bottles he brought.

It made him so heartbroken that he kept sniffling.

However, seeing that his brother-in-law was also enjoying the food, he said nothing more and went to the side to apply medicine to the little monkey.

Perhaps the wound felt uncomfortable when the medicine was applied the first two times. Seeing this, the little monkey knew it was time to apply the medicine and quickly hid behind its mother.

The little guy now has the strength to run, and is much more agile than when it was huddled in the hat. If it wants to climb a tree, Chen Ling really can't do anything about it.

I had no choice but to put the ointment away and instead wave at it with a fruit: "Come here, come here quickly."

The baby monkey peeked at him from behind its mother, but refused to come closer.

The mother monkey seemed to understand what Chen Ling was doing, so she forcibly took the baby monkey into her arms and brought it to Chen Ling.

After being put down, the little monkey tried to run away again, so the other little golden monkeys came over to help.

A group of people pressed the injured young man down in front of Chen Ling.

Like a group of giggling little kids.

Han Ninggui and the others, who were watching from the side, were drawn in and took out their cameras again to secretly capture the scene.

This situation is truly rare to see among wild golden monkey populations.

After Chen Ling finished applying the medicine to the little monkey, Han Ninggui was still sighing beside him.

"If this troop of golden monkeys hadn't been so friendly to you, you wouldn't have had such a delightful surprise."

After saying that, he suddenly remembered something, "Fugui, I've noticed that many people here don't like monkeys."

"Yeah, that's normal. I don't like monkeys either."

Chen Ling said.

"You don't like monkeys either? I see you're having a lot of fun with them."

"Ah, this doesn't refer to golden snub-nosed monkeys, but to other wild monkeys. Golden snub-nosed monkeys run away when they see people, and they don't bother people."

The people here generally dislike monkeys.

This monkey is not a golden snub-nosed monkey, but a wild monkey from the mountains.

As for why I don't like it?
This actually has historical reasons.

Monkeys are primates, and they are very intelligent. When they spend a lot of time with humans, they learn everything from them, but they can only learn half of everything. They are still unwilling to suffer losses, and when they get into trouble, they can be quite a handful.

In the past, some people kept monkeys as pets, and if they weren't careful, their homes would be turned upside down.

In their area, people in Changle Township used to raise monkeys. These monkeys were raised from a young age and were much more obedient and sensible than ordinary monkeys. They would even help with chores and take care of children.

Logically speaking, this is a good thing. They eat less but can work, which is much better than supporting a person.

Who knew that when the couple was bathing their baby, the monkey saw them and learned from them. The next time the couple went to work in the fields, they asked the monkey to help take care of the baby. The monkey tried to imitate them and bathed the baby, but it only learned the basics. It only knew how to use water to wash the baby, but it didn't know that it couldn't use boiling water. As a result, it scalded the baby to death.

This led to a human tragedy.

This story has spread far and wide.

The news spread to several nearby counties.

People in the mountains already dislike these wild monkeys.

After this incident, I found it even harder to like him.

"Wow, I didn't know that happened."

Han Ninggui broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this; the thought alone was terrifying.

The young student next to him even stood up, keeping a distance from the monkeys, and shouted, "Teacher, please don't let them touch the gun! I'm too scared to sleep at night!"

Han Ninggui and his companions were left speechless, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"It's alright, golden monkeys aren't wild monkeys. They're much better-tempered, it'll be fine."

The golden monkeys of all sizes around them had no idea what they were talking about. The big ones lay down on the tree, squinting in the sun, while the small ones continued to play around Heiwa.

However, they are indeed different from other monkeys.

Even when they're playing around, they give off a well-behaved and sensible vibe.

Especially the injured little monkey, curled up in a ball, squatting behind Heiwa's bottom, intently playing with Heiwa's big, thick tail.

It doesn't make you think it's naughty or mischievous at all.

The next day, after applying the medicine, the group packed up and left.

These golden monkeys, the larger ones carrying the smaller ones, followed them in the trees for a long time.

When they reached the vicinity of Liangkou Village, they stopped far away, facing the rising sun, and called out softly to them.

"No need to see me off, see you next time."

Chen Ling waved his hand, and Heiwa looked up at the distant tree and barked a few times.

(End of this chapter)