My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 566 A Weapon for Killing Monkeys

"Huh? Going into the mountains in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid the old mammoth will eat you?!"

Wang Zhenzhen opened her mouth in surprise. This girl was fearless during the day, but after dark, she became as docile as a quail.

Of course, it wasn't just her.

Most of the little kids here are like this.

This is all related to the fact that people in the mountains have been frightened by various mountain spirits and monsters since childhood.

“I already have two real tigers, Afu and Ashou, so what am I afraid of, Old Mammoth Tiger?” Chen Ling glanced at him.

When Rui Rui saw his aunt return, he ran over with his short legs and stretched his little head to look at Wang Zhenzhen's two hands.

Because every time Wang Zhenzhen came back from playing outside, he would bring back some little trinkets, such as insects or grasshoppers, or beautiful butterflies or dragonflies, which he especially liked.

Seeing that Wang Zhenzhen's hands were empty, he frowned in disappointment, looked at Chen Ling, then at Wang Susu, and complained, "Auntie is naughty."

Wang Zhenzhen immediately squatted down fiercely and pulled his mouth: "You naughty Rui Rui, you've learned one word, 'naughty,' and you think everyone else is naughty."

Then, remembering that they hadn't caught any cicadas or anything while playing hide-and-seek on the way back, she put down the baby she was holding and said with a panicked little face, "Sister, Sister Dujuan, we really encountered a female ghost! It was so scary!"

Wang Susu immediately reprimanded her sternly: "Zhenzhen, it's dark, late at night, don't talk about this at home."

Rui Rui is still young, and she is pregnant.

It's unlucky to hear people talking about ghosts and gods so late at night.

"OK then."

The little girl was actually scared and uneasy, and wanted to find comfort.

Chen Ling said, "We have a tiger in our house. The tiger is the king of the mountain. The king of the mountain protects the house, so no one dares to come. Be good and don't be afraid."

Besides, our Little White is so amazing! With those bull-like eyes fixed on it, even the strangest creatures would be afraid of it.

Her expression softened after hearing that.

"Brother-in-law, aren't you taking Ah Fu and Ah Shou with you when you go into the mountains late at night? There are so many strange things in the mountains this year, even an old pig demon, who knows what else might be there."

"No need to bring Ah Fu and Ah Shou. We have guns, what are we afraid of? Besides, I've killed that old pig demon before." Chen Ling raised his eyebrows, looking completely unconcerned.

He actually just went to the animal trails on the outskirts of Nanshan in the middle of the night to scout out some yellow-throated martens.

There's no need to bring a tiger and cause too much of a commotion.

Wang Susu rolled her eyes at him and said, "Look at your brother-in-law, he doesn't say anything outside, but he's starting to show off at home again."

Du Juan chuckled to herself.

After laughing, she asked him, "Didn't Fugui say that the village was going to check on the greenery recently? Why are we going to the mountains again, and specifically in the middle of the night?"

"I'm going to go into the mountains to see the wild yak. ​​These wild yak are so cunning and unpredictable, I don't quite understand them, and I want to find out what's going on."

Chen Ling briefly explained the strange features of the yellow-throated marten, which indeed aroused the curiosity of the two adults and one child, who hurriedly began to ask him questions.

Just then, the chicken soup was ready. Chen Ling finished baking the last two flatbreads and put them on the table. As the family ate, they began to tell each other about their encounter with the yellow-throated marten in the mountains.

They also talked about the rumors they heard from Liu Guangli in Kinmen Village.

They eat wild boar and warhorses, some as small as cats, yet they can hunt such large prey.

If they hadn't heard the whole story and learned that this strange little beast could be completely restrained by a falcon, Wang Susu and the others would have been truly frightened.

This thing sounds really weird.

……

That night.

In the middle of the night, around 3 a.m., Chen Ling quietly got up and rode back to the village alone.

The period between dawn and dusk is when wild animals in the mountains are most active.

The small animal trails near the village on the outskirts of the mountain are also quite lively.

Chen Ling changed into a straw raincoat and bamboo hat made by Dongtian to cover up his human scent, then left the little green horse at the old river bend and went into the mountains alone amidst the croaking of frogs and the calls of owls.

For Chen Ling, whose night vision is unimpeded, these small animal trails in the mountains are easy to find.

There's no other reason than that I've encountered these animal trails many times during the day when I take my dog ​​into the mountains, so I already know where they are. There are clusters of footprints and droppings of various small animals, and there are basically one or two such small animal trails on each mountain.

The closest small animal trail to Laohewan in Nanshan is in the southwest of Nanshan, in a shallow and gentle ditch carved out by a stream.

Because small animals frequently roamed the ditch, the vegetation became sparse and flattened. Compared to other places, there were many fallen leaves, forming a thick layer on the ground with all kinds of leaves mixed with wild grass, creating a messy appearance.

Only on both sides of the ditch do plants grow luxuriantly, but they are still mainly small trees and shrubs about the thickness of two fingers.

Chen Ling cautiously arrived at this place, found a spot with protruding rocks and lush bushes on the side of the ditch, squatted down, and hid there.

Begin to wait patiently.

I arrived here from the county town at around 3 a.m., and it's now a little past 4 a.m.

This time had just passed the busiest time in the mountains; he had deliberately avoided the most crowded period.

At this point, the jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards began to quiet down.

In the past, when there were wolves in the mountains but few large wild animals, villagers would come to the mountains early at this time to pick mushrooms and dig for medicinal herbs.

I know this is a relatively safe time.

Chen Ling based his decision on the hunter's experience.

According to Liu Guangli, after the jackals, tigers, and leopards finish hunting, it's time for the smaller animals to come out and hunt, and this is also when the yellow-throated marten's hunting season begins.

It is suggested that Chen Ling choose this time period to stake out the area.

Sure enough, not long after, a rustling sound arose. Amidst the cacophony of frogs and the mournful hooting of owls, a porcupine, bald in the front like a large rat and with a tuft of long thorns on its back, trotted over on its short legs.

It didn't even glance at Chen Ling's location, nor did it lower its head to forage for food; it simply hurried along, focused on its journey.

Soon it moved along the ditch from north to south, leaving Chen Ling with a backside covered in thorns.

Not long after, about three or four minutes later, a wild boar came out of the forest and onto the animal trail.

First, a slightly larger sow walked over, sniffing incessantly in all directions along the animal trail with its nose tilted up.

Only later did three thin, half-grown wild boars, fresh from shedding their yellow fur and not yet fattened up, slowly appear, some sniffing and others looking up, following behind the larger boar.

After the wild boar came the red muntjac, also known as the large yellow muntjac, which is similar in size to a goat and has short antlers on its head. It is a lone bird and sniffs its way across the ground.

Then came a badger.

Behind the badger was a hedgehog, and after the hedgehog came a weasel that was running and jumping quickly.

Later, even tabby cats and stray dogs that had wandered off from the village appeared one after another.

These small animals, except for the wild boar, all appeared alone, including the tabby cat and the mongrel.

They must have just come out to forage.

As they walked along the animal trail, it was as if people were walking on a highway, appearing one after another on this road as if by prior arrangement.

Then, in an orderly fashion, without affecting anyone else, everyone quickly passed through.

Animal trails are, in some ways, similar to highways for mountain animals. The only difference is that there are main roads and smaller trails, as well as large and small animal trails.

The most unique of them are wild boars, which dart back and forth between the large and small animal trails, and they often carve out their own trails.

However, wild boars aren't the main focus today, otherwise things would be much simpler.

Fortunately, after waiting for a long time, Chen Ling finally saw a yellow-throated marten around 5 a.m., when the forest was beginning to lighten.

This yellow-throated marten made its entrance in a manner quite similar to that of a weasel, running and hopping over with its thick, long tail trailing behind it.

However, its appearance is even more bizarre than that of a weasel, with its inverted triangular black face and glowing green eyes making it look even more ferocious and terrifying.

When it arrived near Chen Ling, it suddenly stood up and looked around.

Having heard so many stories about yellow-throated martens these past few days, Chen Ling was quite startled, thinking that the marten had discovered him.

After waiting patiently for a while, Chen Ling discovered that the monkeys were wild monkeys that had fled in panic from the foot of the mountain. In the dim morning light of the forest, Chen Ling could see that the monkeys were clearly injured.

I thought to myself, the villagers started looking for green plants last night, these wild monkeys probably came down the mountain to steal corn and got beaten up.

Just thinking so.

Upon seeing the wild monkeys, the yellow-throated marten's eyes instantly changed. It let out a unique, sharp cry and fearlessly charged towards the rear of the monkey troop, towards an injured and lone monkey.

The monkey troop was only concerned with escaping and didn't care about their injured companions.

At this moment, Chen Ling was surprised to find that another yellow-throated marten had appeared beside the animal trail.

It seemed completely at ease with its companion who had gone to fight the monkey, calmly staying on the sidelines and watching the show.

In terms of size, the yellow-throated marten is clearly smaller than a monkey. The yellow-throated marten is only about the size of a domestic cat, but it weighs less than a typical domestic cat, at most six or seven pounds. Including its tail, its body length is only close to one meter.

They are much smaller than wild monkeys.

However, the yellow-throated marten may look inconspicuous, but it is very agile and moves much more quickly than a monkey, darting behind it in a flash.

It opened its mouth and bit the wild monkey's neck, killing it instantly.

Then the yellow-throated marten, who had been watching the show, leisurely dragged its thick tail forward and lay down on the wild monkey to find some meat to eat.

"Damn, he took down a monkey so quickly, and it was a one-on-one fight! This is practically a monkey-killing weapon!"

Chen Ling knew he still hadn't figured out the true nature of the yellow-throated marten, but seeing this scene with his own eyes still left him shocked and excited.

"What a fierce little thing."

Chen Ling's eyes lit up; he had no interest in figuring out how the yellow-throated marten hunted prey larger than itself, or what kind of squinting technique it used.

He just wants to catch a few to take back, then he can study them however he wants.

However, they were just about to take out bait from the cave to lure them over.

Then a male monkey came back the way it came, seemingly having found the female monkey alone and returned to rescue her.

This male monkey wasn't injured.

It hissed and bared its teeth, baring its claws as it attacked the two yellow-throated martens.

The two yellow-throated martens remained completely unfazed.

The yellow-throated marten that had been hunting monkeys earlier made no move.

The yellow-throated marten that had been watching the show earlier went up to the male monkey.

The yellow-throated marten is not stupid. Despite lacking a size advantage, it may appear to be heading straight for the monkey, but it doesn't actually engage in a head-on confrontation.

Instead, it trails its long tail and leaps and darts nimbly and swiftly around the male monkey.

The monkey waved its arms, trying to scratch the yellow-throated marten with its claws, but the marten easily dodged the monkey's attacks and kept looking for opportunities to fight back, pinning the monkey to the ground several times and trying to bite it.

It's hard to imagine that such a small gadget could actually take down a monkey one-on-one.

Fortunately, the male monkey had a size and weight advantage, and being uninjured and in good health, the yellow-throated marten was unable to defeat it in a one-on-one fight.

However, what we can see is...

The monkeys are attacking and retaliating less and less frequently.

Clearly, just as Liu Guangli said, this male monkey became like many others had observed, no longer knowing how to fight back or run away, only desperately trying to avoid the yellow-throated marten's attacks.

Their movements became increasingly sluggish.

“I can smell it. It’s not just my eyes that are blinded. It’s some kind of foul odor released by the yellow-throated marten’s scent glands.”

Chen Ling sniffed and smelled a peculiar stench, so he took the opportunity to throw two meat baits in front of him.

However, judging from the current battle situation, it's not as dramatic as we all thought.

Even though the male monkey's attack was slowed down by the stench, it was still difficult for a yellow-throated marten to defeat its opponent. Soon, the yellow-throated marten that was biting the female monkey came to help.

One monkey pinned the male monkey to the ground, while the other bit its neck, killing the monkey that had come to its rescue in just a few moments.

It's not time to divide the spoils after killing the male monkey.

The situation here terrified a small deer that had just appeared on the animal trail.

The little muntjac is the smallest deer in the area, about the size of a newborn lamb.

Small in stature and extremely timid, it only dared to stay on the mountain where it was born, never daring to go anywhere else. It would change its location eight hundred times just to drink water, which led hunters to helplessly summarize it as "one deer is worth a hundred sheep".

Such a timid creature, faced with the ferocity of the two yellow-throated martens, was so frightened that the little muntjac fled in panic.

It tried to turn around and jump away, but instead it did a backflip, rolled in the air, and fell to the ground.

The muntjac cub already has very short front legs and relatively long hind legs. Now, in its panic, it thrashed about on the ground, its four legs seemingly cramped up, unable to stand up no matter what it did.

It's like someone who's so frightened they don't know which foot to step with.

It seemed to have a fit of madness again, rolling around on the ground.

They were terrified by two yellow-throated martens.

Two yellow-throated martens were immediately attracted; they had come specifically for the muntjac cub.

But when they passed Chen Ling, they smelled an enticing aroma and hurriedly stopped, sniffing around like two big yellow mice, searching for the source of the scent.

It soon forgot about the muntjac and disappeared into the bushes.

Once inside the thicket, the branches and twigs were so dense, with very few gaps.

Whether they are weasel spirits or mink spirits, they cannot escape Chen Ling's grasp.

So before they even got to eat the delicious meat bait, they vanished into thin air in an instant.

"Damn it, guarding such a small trinket is no less exciting than watching a grand show."

Chen Ling unbuttoned his raincoat and straw hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then slowly walked up to the little deer.

The little deer was already terrified, and when it saw Chen Ling, such a huge creature, coming over, it immediately kicked with its hind legs, but its front legs couldn't provide any strength. It flipped over and rolled twice on the side slope of the ditch before tumbling down into the ditch.

Chen Ling clicked his tongue in amazement: "Tsk, with such a small amount of courage, what are you doing out here? I don't even have the heart to take you back and eat you."

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(End of this chapter)